text:
Leaving the NZMCA Park in Bell Block, Dave, our safari leader had arranged for us to stay in the grounds of the TSB Stadium. Whilst this is not a place that you can usually stay Dave has a good working relationship with the local council and as we are all self contained they were OK with this. Also with the large number of motorhomes in the area for the garden festival it was another place to squeeze some more tourists willing to spend money in the area.
The carpark area is planted with cherry trees between each row which at this time of the year are covered in blossoms making the carpark a pink spectacle and much more than a carpark as our overnight destination. The only drawback with these trees was given the height of our van we couldn't park between the trees and had to park across 4 car park spaces but nobody seemed to be worried about this.
One of the great things about traveling with this group has been the happy hours and how everyone has made us feel so welcome into the group. It was a warm and sunny evening sitting under the blossoms with each person sharing their adventures for the day and reliving the bike ride earlier in the day that I wrote about in my previous blog.
That evening we had arranged to all go out for dinner for a smörgåsbord at the Devon Hotel in the interests of road safety I won't say how most of the group arrived but lets just say a lot of fun was had by all in Des's bus. With 22 of us there for dinner it was just as well that they had an amazing amount of food on display as I have never seen so many people able to match me plate for plate as we all feasted up large.
@$32.90 per person with the gold card discount and yes they counted Sarah and I as gold card holders it was amazing value for money and a place that all of us would highly recommend. At the end of the night Sarah and I decided that with very full stomachs a good walk was in order so we walked back up the hill to the stadium and the motorhome.
Click on the gallery to see all the photos.
The following day once the rain had cleared it was time to get out and about. With the stadium right next to Pukekura Park the main park in New Plymouth and the home of a huge botanical garden it seemed like the perfect place to start. We had no sooner entered the park than the rain started again giving us the perfect reason to head into the Fern Houses. A set of 4 greenhouses that are connected to each other through a series of tunnels.
I don't think it matters where you start here as each of the greenhouses has something special to offer but what they all had in common was they all had an absolute blaze of colour inside. I don't think I have seen such a profusion of flowers before. The display was truly staggering and one than we would both recommend you come and see.
I actually wondered if the camera would run out of battery given the number of shots we where taking. It seemed almost every direction you looked there was another flower demanding your attention.
Click on the gallery to see all the photos.
Coming out of the Fern houses we wandered down towards the waterfall a gift to the city from NZI Insurance who paid for the creation of this artificial waterfall back in the 1960's. It was here we met Roger and Berice (correct spelling) who asked us if we had found the zoo and the talking parrot. We replied that we didn't even know there was a zoo but would be happy to go accompany them to try and find it.
As we wandered through this enormous park we passed through stands of huge trees some of which must have been there for much longer than the park has been in existence. Sadly most of the Azaleas had finished flowering but the Rhododendrons were in full flower and in a city that's famous for them it was quite a show.
We also walked past the arena where the Womad festival is staged yearly and saw the stage hidden from view as it undergoes a massive refurbishment maybe we might back here one year and attend something it looks like a great place to sit on the terraced slopes.
We arrived at the zoo, which in all honesty is probably what you would expect from somewhere that charges nothing for admission but actually delivers a surprisingly enjoyable hour or so if you do take the time and trouble to visit. Although the monkeys kept fairly much to themselves we had a great deal of amusement from the Meerkats who were playing with a Halloween pumpkin.
For Roger and Berice the highlight was this cheeky parrot who after perching on Roger's finger proceeded up his arm before settling on his camera. This parrot was so friendly that despite Roger shooing him off a couple of times he kept returning. A friend for life!
It felt good to have been a kid again for a period of time wandering around this small zoo and it's something I would highly recommend that you take the time to do if you are visiting this park. The Zoo did a fantastic job for Halloween with each enclosure having something to associate with this time but we thought this little display was one of the best.
The surprises kept coming when right next to the zoo we stumbled across this historic house and gardens. There was an art show inside the house on that day that we didn't visit as time was beginning to get away on us. Wanting to be back at the motorhome in time to join the others for happy hour.
In a place that had given us so much already the Kunming Chinese garden and pagoda was the final garden to view for the day. A very peaceful place.
One thing we have learnt on this safari is how important happy hour is to our fellow travelers and it's not just because it's wine o'clock time it's also because it's an important time for all in the group to catch up with what the others have been doing for the day. Tell each other a few stories and maybe a few exaggerated truths but over all just unwind after another day motorhoming. As they say "It's a hard job but someone has to do it" and that may as well be us.
It's usually around this point in the blog that I post my ratings system for the place that we stayed but as the TSB Arena is not an official camping area. In fact they would ticket you $200 if you did park here normally I will not be doing a rating for this place. Tomorrow we are moving on to stay at the Pukeiti Gardens and we are all hoping that the forecast rain holds off.
During our cycle along the Coastal Trail we did stop in at the Belt Road Camping Ground and if you were looking for somewhere central and close to everything this would be a good place to spend a night or two. They have great spots sitting right on the cliff top overlooking the port with rates starting from $23 per person per night (unpowered) not the cheapest place to stay but very well set up.
Continuing the short story about who is traveling with us on this safari are Roger and Berice who have been motorhoming in this their first motorhome a Mitsubishi Fuso for 5 years. They hail from Taupo and have been on a number of rallies and safaris and find it a great way to see the country and meet a wide range of people with similar interests.
Next up are Margaret and Tony hail from Katikati and proudly drive the smallest motorhome in our group an Explorer built on a Toyota Hilux cab chassis that they have owned for the last 7 years. this is to be one of their last trips in this motorhome with construction of their new Fiat Ducato starting in early November.
To view the places we have visited click here to see them on Google maps. You can click the links to read the blog about that area.
To view the Ratings we have done for other camps click here


text:
The most complete Spanish course for fast and efficient learning
The Intensive General Spanish Course ELE20, available in our centre in Barcelona, targets people who wish to quickly acquire a working knowledge of Spanish. Among all our courses, this is the most popular course.
This course is ideal for foreigners who are starting to study Spanish in Barcelona. Also for those who need to improve their Spanish in order to live, study or work in Spain.
The Intensive General Spanish Course ELE20 consists of 4 hours of classes a day and is divided into 2 complementary sessions: Communicative Grammar and Conversation and Vocabulary.
This course guarantees study and practice of all 4 Spanish language skills (listening, reading, writing and speaking), which makes it the most suitable course for progressing adequately in all areas of the language.
If you are looking for Spanish courses in Barcelona so you can learn Spanish fast but with the conviction that you are doing it well, this intensive Spanish course is the solution: in a few months our students are able to speak Spanish fluently in any situation.
You can start now, contact us
Ask about our courses and any other questions you may have.
In many cases, it is possible to join throughout the course.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Cancellation of Subscription Taken on December 1, 2019
Krishnakumar Posts: 1 New Member
edited September 2020 in F-Secure VPN
I took a subscription for Freedome VPN about an year ago, The reference number is xxxxxxx using mail id [email protected]
I wish to cancel this subscription before it auto renews and am at a loss to understand how to do it. Your online support chat system is not functional. For two days I find no one there to assist me. Kindly do something about this. I do not wish to continue with this subscription
Accepted Answer
Sethu Posts: 687 Former F-Secure Employee
The order cancellation request can be initiated by our Support team or payment partner clever-bridge. Our F-Secure Chat support available 24/7 so please click here to find the Live Chat or Phone support numbers or Clever-bridge- Support.
This discussion has been closed.


text:
Riparian Areas Regulation (RAR) Notification System
The Riparian Areas Protection Regulation (RAPR) Notification System is the means by which Qualified Environmental Professionals submit RAPR Assessment Reports as per Part 4 of the Regulation.
This system generates notifications the appropriate levels of government that a report has been uploaded to the system.
- Riparian Areas Notification System (RARNS)
- RAR Notification System User's guide (Febuary, 2008) (PDF, 489KB)
Important information for RARNS users
August 17, 2018: Please note the RARNS interface has undergone a systems upgrade. The URL address has changed and links on this page have been updated accordingly. If you have bookmarked the previous URL address, please update your link. If you encounter any issues with access or errors, please Contact Us.
The QEP assessment report that is submitted to the Notification System must use the Standard Report Templates that have been developed specifically for the Riparian Areas Regulation. The reports created in Word format must be converted to PDF format for submission.
Qualified environmental professionals will need a Basic BCeID to access the site and post reports.
On the BCeID website
- Select "Register for a Basic BCeID"
- Scroll down to the "Riparian Areas Regulation Notification System" link listed under "Environment," and proceed from there


text:
I apologize for the lack of content here on the site yesterday and today. I've been quite busy at my real world job. . .yes, again. . .and simply haven't had the time to throw anything new up here yet.
Wanted to put a heads-up out there to let everyone know that fantasy football time is fast approaching again already. The league this year will be a bit different from last year's league. . .it will be on a different platform, for starters. There will be some other changes as well, but those will be revealed as we get closer to the start of the actual season.
Also, in addition to the fantasy football league, I'm pretty sure we'll be having a picks pool of some sort, and possibly one of those "suicide" pools where you pick one team to win each week and, if they win, you get to continue. There will be fun and prizes (but mostly fun. . .hell, I'm not rich) for everybody.
So, bear with us here, ladies and gentlemen. And just think. . .in a little more than three freaking weeks, there will be NFL football once again as the Beloved Purple (and the other 31 less important NFL teams) kick off Training Camp prior to the 2008 NFL season. With all the excitement that's been building with this team, I simply can't wait for this whole party to officially get underway. The dead period is almost over.
There will be news again soon, folks. . .oh, yes. . .there will be news.
Tune back in tomorrow when we'll (hopefully. . .fingers crossed) start projecting the defensive side of our 53-man roster. Until then, enjoy the rest of your Tuesday!


text:
Meek Mill had thee dopest entrance to the Summer Jam stage!Meek Mill rocked Hot 97's 25th annual Summer Jam concert on Sunday night (June 10) at MetLife stadium in East Rutherford, NJ.
The 31-year-old Philly rapper, who was recently freed from prison back in April, circled above the stadium in a helicopter for about an hour, according to local residents in the area. When it was his turn to perform, the helicopter landed, Meek and his entourage walked out and hopped on dirt bikes where they rode around Meadowland's racetrack up to the MetLife stadium entrance and unto the stage infront of thousands of screaming fans.
How badass is that?!!
This year's Summer Jam was headlined by Kendrick Lamar. The event also featured appearances from Lil' Wayne, Swizz Beatz, A$AP Ferg, and Remy Ma, and had surprise guest appearances from Timbaland, Lil' Kim, Bun B and more.
Check out the intro below to Meek's Summer Jam set after he stepped off the helicopter:
Sign up for my free newsletter: LA LA's Insider.
"Like" OooLaLaBlog on Facebook.
Tweet me: @NJLALA .
Social media & blog tips: Blog Like A Boss!
Tweet me: @NJLALA .
Social media & blog tips: Blog Like A Boss!


text:
Tuesday, September 26, 2023
Any Category
Select Category
Press Releases
Event Photos
Keeping Time: Southern Tall Case Clocks
Saturday, 15 December 2012 05:45
Fig. 1: Tall case clock, movement by Thomas Walker (d. 1786), Fredericksburg, Va., 1765–1785. Black walnut, yellow pine, oak, and glass; brass, silvered brass, steel and iron. OH. 96½, OW. 20⅞, OD. 10⅜ in. Gift of Elizabeth
M. Nicholson (2005-105).
Tall case clocks, also known today as grandfather clocks, evoke a nostalgic sense of family and home. Acquired originally for their timekeeping properties, they were functional, decorative, and costly. Due to the expense, clock ownership was quite limited in the eighteenth century and reflected economic status. It wasn't until the commencement of mass production in the early nineteenth-century that the middle class could afford to own the form.
Eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century American tall case clocks were housed in cases that ranged from the simplest box to the most ornate cabinetry. The product of distinct crafts, a cabinetmaker or joiner built the wooden case while a clockmaker produced the mechanical movement. Specialists in America and England were often involved in the production, from casting the brass wheels for the movement, engraving or painting decoration or the maker's name on the dial, or producing inlaid wooden elements or painted motifs and patterns to ornament the clock cases. While American tall case clocks often emulated British examples in their forms and decoration, American clocks were quite distinct, incorporating local and cultural preferences from the selection of the woods to the choice of design or ornamentation into the finished object.
Fig. 2: Tall case clock, movement by Thomas Walker (d. 1786), Fredericksburg, Va., 1765–1780. Case maker unknown, Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, 1765–1780. Black walnut, chestnut, yellow pine and glass; brass, steel, and iron. OH. 95⅛, OW. 21⅝, OD. 11⅛ in. Museum purchase (1951-578).
Tall clock cases produced in the American South combined the ingenuity and artistry of their makers with inspirations from various American and European sources. Although there were concentrations of clockmakers in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and the Shenandoah Valley, far fewer clockmakers resided in the South than in the Mid-Atlantic or Northern regions of the country during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and correspondingly fewer Southern clocks have survived. Working in Fredericksburg during the late eighteenth century, Thomas Walker, the most prolific clockmaker in colonial Virginia, used a combination of imported and locally made brass parts in his bracket and tall case clocks that he housed in locally made cases. The Fredericksburg cases with Walker movements that survive tend to follow British prototypes, often with pyramidical shaped hoods and the lightweight construction typical of British design and training. Indeed, Scottish-born cabinetmaker James Allen (1716–1789), who employed British-trained journeymen in his Fredericksburg shop, may be responsible for these cases.
Fig. 3: Tall case clock, movement by Thomas Jones (n.d.), Strasburg, Va., 1790–1800. Black walnut, tulip poplar, light and dark wood inlay and glass; brass, steel, and iron. OH. 101, OW. 19½, OD. 17 in. Museum purchase (2002-69).
The clockmaker, Thomas Jones, is a bit of a mystery. Although no clockmaker with that name is known from Strasburg, two Thomas Jones were listed on the 1810 census of Shenandoah County, one of whom was identified as a blacksmith in 1813. Perhaps Thomas Jones was the owner of the clock, or perhaps the blacksmith of that name also sold clocks, a possibility for craftsmen in the metalworking trades.
One example (Fig. 1) descended in the family of John and Elizabeth Porter Grigsby (m. 1764) of Culpepper County, just west of Fredericksburg. Another eight-day clock by Thomas Walker ended up further west in the Valley of Virginia (Fig. 2). With so few clockmakers in Virginia during the late eighteenth century inhabitants of inland locales might look to a Tidewater city like Fredericksburg to purchase a clock movement. A clock without a case would have been far easier to transport over the mountains than one with a large wooden case. A local cabinetmaker could construct the case once the clock was procured. The design and construction of this clock, like much of the furniture produced in the Valley of Virginia, was heavily influenced by the migration of Pennsylvanians down the Great Wagon Road. The broken scroll pediment with carved rosettes, fluted quarter columns, ogee bracket feet and urn and flame finials were standard Pennsylvania design elements.
In addition to the Pennsylvanians, Virginians, Germans, French, Scotch-Irish, English, Welsh and numerous other settlers of various ethnic and religious backgrounds flooded down the Valley from Maryland, through Virginia to North Carolina and Tennessee. A few clock cases highlight these non-Anglo European influences. One exceptional clock signed by Thomas Jones of Strasburg, Virginia, near Winchester, has a case that appears to be influenced by mid- to late-eighteenth-century Dutch clocks (Fig. 3). Made around 1800, the case exhibits a baroque aesthetic with its heavy bombé base and moldings, round lunette in the trunk door, arched hood and five turned finials.
Fig. 4: Tall case clock, case decorated by Johannes Spitler (1774–1837), Shenandoah County, Va., 1800. Yellow pine, paint, and glass; iron, steel, and brass. OH. 97¾, OW. 20, OD. 11⅜ in. Museum purchase (1973.2000.3).
Spitler, who decorated but did not build the clock case, painted the date 1800 and his initials "J.Sp" on the clock's door along with "No 2." This latter inscription probably refers to this being the second clock (number 2) he painted.
While Germans were the predominant continental European group in many parts of the American Backcounty, this clock suggests that some Dutch were present as well. Many high style Dutch tall case clocks from the second half of the eighteenth century had elegant bombé bases and three or five finials. While the Jones clock is very different in its ornamentation from these marquetry covered Dutch prototypes with figural finials, the case maker was certainly familiar with and thinking about that form when he crafted this purely American version in black walnut and tulip poplar with a light and dark diagonally cut (or barber pole) banding on its moldings and corners.One great example of the culturally expressive painted tradition found on some furniture produced by craftsmen of Germanic descent is the tall case clock ornamented by Johannes Spitler (1774–1837) of Shenandoah (now Page) County, Virginia (Fig. 4). Like the Thomas Walker clock in the Valley of Virginia case, the form of this clock follows Pennsylvania prototypes.
Fig. 5: Tall case clock, movement possibly by David Whipple (m.1805), case possibly by Peter Rife (1762–1858), Southern Valley of Virginia, probably Montgomery (now Pulaski) County, ca. 1810. Mahogany, cherry, tulip poplar, oak, black walnut, holly, maple, bone, horn, silver, and glass; iron, brass, and steel. OH. 108½, OW. 24, OD. 15 in. Museum purchase (1996-107).
The painted decoration in Prussian blue, red lead, lampblack, and white lead includes the iconography of a leaping stag, birds, hearts, and rosettes: elements also found in other decorative arts of German Americans.
Another Valley of Virginia clock that is also highly decorated, albeit with inlaid motifs rather than paint, was produced further down the Valley of Virginia, probably in Montgomery (now Pulaski) County, Virginia, around 1810 (Fig. 5). This clock is an ambitions tour de force of whimsy, elegance, and artistry. According to tradition, this clock was commissioned around 1809 by a wealthy landowner and tavern owner of German descent, Sebastian "Boston" Wygal (1762–1835) of Montgomery County. Tradition is that the clock was produced by local cabinetmaker Peter Rife who moved to the Valley from Pennsylvania and clockmaker David Whipple. The form of the clock case is highly unusual with its chamfered corners, scrolled feet and correspondingly scrolled hood projections. But it is the wide variety of inlaid motifs that makes it a truly remarkable case. Rife used a number of intricate geometric bandings on the clock as well as somewhat traditional inlays of an American eagle and vines emanating from urns. But he also created highly unusual inlays of a conch shell, a pinecone type flower, flowering witches' hearts, and bellflowers emanating from striped shields. The imagination of this maker in devising these elements was only exceeded by his technological success in crafting the case.
Fig. 6a: Tall case clock, movement by George Woltz (1774–1812), Hagerstown, Md., ca. 1800. Black walnut, sumac, holly, yellow pine, and glass; iron, brass, and steel. OH. 102⅛, OW. 22¾, OD. 11 in. Gift of Dr. David C. L. Gosling (1998-155).
Made further north in Hagerstown, Maryland, clockmaker George Woltz's (1744–1812) clock (Fig. 6a) illustrates an important aspect of clockmaking: not all clocks by one clockmaker have cases by the same cabinetmaker. The first Woltz clock case illustrates one Hagerstown cabinetmaker's use of local sumac for his inlaid fans, banding, and bellflowers on a traditional Pennsylvania influenced case. While sumac provides a strong aesthetic, most urban cabinetmakers chose to use a finer grained wood like maple, holly, or satinwood for these elements.
Fig. 6b: Tall case clock, movement by George Woltz (1774–1812), Hagerstown, Md, 1795–1805. Black walnut, yellow pine, tulip poplar, holly, and glass; iron, brass, and steel. OH. 100, OW. 18, OD. 11¼ in. Gift of Perry Van Vleck, 1980-200.
A second clock, also with a movement by Woltz (Fig. 6b), illustrates another local maker's nod to a British-inspired tradition popular in urban centers like Baltimore with its more restrained inlaid broken scrolled pediment over a horizontal molding and its elegant oval patera on the trunk door of ruffled leaves. This western Maryland cabinetmaker probably imported the inlaid oval panel from a specialist maker in Baltimore. Depending on their origin, training, or even the trade patterns of their current locale, cabinetmakers in the same region might produce very different objects due to the variety of influences on them.
Fig. 7: Tall case clock, movement variously attributed to Eli Terry, Seth Thomas, and Silas Hoadley, or Seth Thomas and Silas Hoadley, Plymouth, Conn, 1809–1814. Case maker unknown, Eastern Shore of Maryland, ca. 1825. Cherry, yellow pine, tulip poplar, and glass; oak, cherry, and steel/iron. OH. 85 ½, OW. 16⅜, OD. 1013⁄16 in. Museum purchase, partial gift of Robert P. Fondes (1997-9).
A very different Southern clock case is found in the example that descended in the Farlow-Parker family of Parsonsburg on Maryland's Eastern Shore (Fig. 7). Housing an imported Connecticut movement from around 1809–1814, the later, but original case from circa 1825 is quite plain and rather architectural. Made of cherry, this flat topped case does have some ornament in its quarter columns and reeded trunk door, but overall, the aesthetic is much simpler than many of the Southern clocks discussed so far. Part of the owner's decision to purchase this streamlined case was perhaps impacted by the type of movement used. In the early nineteenth century, Connecticut clockmaker Eli Terry and his associates began manufacturing wooden clock movements, a change from the previous hand production of either wood or the more typical brass examples. These early mass produced clocks were far cheaper than their predecessors and made clock ownership possible for many middle-class consumers. Less expensive woods ornamented with paint were often used for the case. The cherry example in figure 7 was not painted but its simplistic form and minimal decoration is in keeping both with the tradition of architectural joiner-made furniture on the Eastern Shore as well as the use of a cheaper manufactured Connecticut movement. What the case might lack in ornamentation is more than made up for by the unusual painted dial with its double portraits and native figure representing America (Fig. 7a).
Fig. 7b: Painted dial of clock shown in figure 7.
Boston-area clocks, including those by Aaron Willard, were also exported to Southern markets. One such tall case clock in the Colonial Williamsburg collection was retailed by William McCabe of Richmond, Virginia. McCabe clearly labeled a New England clock and case with his name so that customers would know where to purchase such a clock locally and where to have it repaired. John McKee of Chester, South Carolina, also imported Boston clocks. Some of the extant clocks with his name or label also retain the label of Roxbury maker Aaron Willard and are housed in Massachusetts cases. This example (Fig. 8) has McKee's name on the dial and a history of ownership in the Pheifer-Quinn family of Charlotte, North Carolina. The local cabinetmaker appears to have been familiar with Willard's Roxbury case style as the lower half of the case echoes that design. But he added his own artistic twist to the top of the case with his unusual shaped pediment suggestive of C-scrolls with inlaid rosettes and plinths, and he included a wider band of contrasting veneer around the trunk door and base than was typically seen on Northern examples. Perhaps the cabinetmaker's distance from an urban style center freed him from the encumbrances of coastal fashion or popular taste and allowed him greater creativity in his design.
Fig. 8: Tall case clock, Movement signed by John McKee (1787–1871), Chester, S. C., 1815–1820. Mahogany, satinwood, yellow pine, and glass; iron, steel and brass. OH. 108⅞, OW. 19⅝, OD. 10⅜ in. Museum purchase, the Sara and Fred Hoyt Furniture Fund (2010-64).
Creativity and inspiration appear to have been driving forces in the appearance of Southern tall case clocks. While the cases typically reflect the maker's training and geographic or cultural background, each craftsman's unique creativity and artistry produced visually exciting Southern objects.
Tara Gleason Chicirda
is the curator of furniture at Colonial Williamsburg. Her exhibition Keeping Time: The Tall Case Clock, which includes Northern and Southern American as well as British tall case and bracket clocks, is on view at the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum at Colonial Williamsburg through February 2, 2013. Additional clocks in the Colonial Williamsburg Collection can be viewed at
under the "Museums" tab.
back to top
Any Category
Select Category
Press Releases
Event Photos
Copyright © 2023 afanews.com. All Rights Reserved.


text:
The PAP Women's Wing will be contributing to a series of conversations through a parallel project focussing on women's perspectives and aspirations.
This effort will be led by a team of 7 Members of Parliament and former MP, Penny Low. The discussions will encompass four major themes: Leadership and Social Impact, Employment and Entrepreneurship, Family and Caregiving and also Financial Well-being.
Chairperson of the Women's Wing Minister Grace Fu said that, "Women have an important role to play in building the future of Singapore and the PAP Women's Wing. We believe strongly in enabling women's participation in the political discourse over a broad range of issues."
Click here to read the press release


text:
Best Boodle Fight in Boracay
Wednesday August 28th, 2019 • dsbmco
A trip to the beach is never complete without indulging in fresh seafood and grilled meat with family and friends. Located in Station 1, Discovery Shores Boracay, you'll find Sands Restaurant. Blessed with spectacular views of the ocean, it is the perfect place to get your fix of deliciously crafted coastal dishes in the island.
They are popular for serving the best boodle fights in Boracay where you can…Read More


text:
Primary House renovations primarily embody the Normal residence repairs like fixing a roof that doesn't leak throughout rains, stable flooring, good conditioned and retaining Partitions, correct water circulation by pipes and gutters, basements and other frequent repairs that consumers anticipate once they buy a home. Background noise from a busy avenue may be just as annoying as seeing your neighbor's weedy backyard. Clear up this kind of problem by including a fountain or other water function to your deck. Even a gentle trickle of water could make an enormous distinction in how a lot you get pleasure from your time outside.
Officials who oversee Medicaid in Kentucky concede that the state would not have sufficient counselors to serve these patients, despite the opioid epidemic. Before Kentucky's adoption of the Affordable Care Act, counseling for drug addicts was not lined by Medicaid. It takes time to respond and construct up,†explained Dr. John Langefeld, the medical director for the state's Medicaid companies.
In the daughter's room, he created a reading nook in a window seat, with built-in bookshelves and storage beneath. In the boy's room, he opened up the attic to create a loft accessed by a wall-mounted ladder, and closet doors slide aspect to facet as an alternative of swinging open into the room.
The Colonial style—relationship back to 1876—is likely one of the most popular dwelling types in the United States. Colonial-type houses normally have two or three stories, fireplaces, and brick or wood facades. The traditional Colonial-model house floor plan has the kitchen and family room on the primary flooring and the bedrooms on the second floor.
Having an outdoor kitchen in Lutz is a manner to enhance your lifestyle and your property value, however out of doors kitchens in Lutz can be very costly. With some planning and a inventive strategy to constructing, you possibly can have the outdoor kitchen that you dream of. Listed here are some low cost out of doors kitchen ideas for you to attempt.


text: On 10/25/2013 11:02 PM, Thorsten Glaser wrote: >> Supporting two different init systems is something I don't think >> *anyone* wants to get into. Remember they use different files, so this > > Erm, we already support sysv-rc, file-rc, systemd, upstart… > so my favourite GR outcome would just say that Debian fully > commits to continue doing that. Plus if we choose Upstart or Systemd, then that's effectively what we are going to do (I mean, we'd have to support 2 init systems, because of Hurd & kFreeBSD). On 10/25/2013 10:27 PM, Thorsten Glaser wrote: > or something like that, but not a decision whether we want to support > one or multiple init systems, and if not all currently existing ones > (plus maybe OpenRC which had a GSoC after all) OpenRC has been waiting in the NEW queue (targeting experimental, as this is what it is right now: experimental!) for more than a month. It'd be nice if someone from the FTP master team could review it, so that at least others can try it. As much as I can tell, it works, though I'm sure there's a lot of problems that I didn't see, and having it exposed would help (so that others can fill bug reports). Cheers, Thomas Goirand (zigo)


text:
The road to business success is rough. The business literature is crammed with descriptions of processes that would challenge the top executives while leading their companies to success. Commoditization, innovation, globalization, disruption, and others—we've heard it all. Simultaneously opportunities and threats, these processes can blur the leaders' visibility, making it hard to set and/or manage the right direction for their companies.
So what is to be done? How can leaders and their organizations see clearer through this foggy business environment? How can leaders find a solid ground amid this informational storm? The answer is relatively simple: deeper customer insight.
Achieve higher knowledge
The first step in getting closer to the customer is to go beyond his needs and understand the mechanics of his problem-solving behavior.
Although its necessity has become more obvious in recent years, the quest for a higher degree of customer knowledge is not new. The past decade, for instance, has been characterized by advances materialized in concepts like "customer experience" and "customer status." Both concepts identify that in addition to the obvious customer's need, which can be addressed with a particular product or service, there are other complementary needs, which are also of high importance to the customer.
The sum of these needs form a system or cluster of needs, which is usually referred to as "customer experience" or "customer status." For ease of understanding, just think about the experience of buying a pair of jeans and that, in many cases, additional needs like accessible parking and friendly personnel seriously influence the entire shopping experience.
Unfortunately, despite these valuable breakthroughs in the understanding of the customer, its value beyond the sales and marketing departments was never really clear. But, recently, we have managed to move forward and cross these boundaries by identifying the mechanics of the customer's problem-solving behavior, which revealed a direct relationship between that behavior and the foundation for a healthy vendor strategy.
We discovered that the customer's life is characterized by a continuous quest to address issues. Each customer, based on his knowledge at a particular time, possesses a hierarchy of issues.
It starts with the very important ones, which due to their uniqueness cannot be addressed by existent solutions in the marketplace, but which can be simplified through "disaggregation." This process of disaggregation continues until the resulting issues can be addressed by solutions existent in the marketplace. At this level, the issues can be also referred to as needs, in the traditional sense, because the customer is deliberately seeking to address them.
As an exemplar of this disaggregation, think about a young person's "cool wardrobe" issue, and notice the subordinated issues that may include "cool jeans" and "cool sneakers." (Although a subjective term, we use the term "cool" here because it almost invariably refers to a premium product, or a product that commands a premium price.)
We also observed that as the customer accumulates more knowledge related to an issue over time, he will downgrade that issue within the issues hierarchy, replacing it with another issue that presents a higher grade of uniqueness. As an issue evolves along the hierarchy, so does the associated solution that addresses the issue. This process represents the commoditization of that particular solution.
A few centuries ago, ownership of a pair of pants was for the most part limited to the noble class. The "pants" issue was a status issue, and it was positioned high within many individuals' issues hierarchy. Today this issue is very common, and therefore positioned low in the issues hierarchy. Other status issues, like the "cool jeans" issue for some individuals, have recreated its initial high position of centuries past.
Make knowledge relevant
After getting a grasp on the mechanics of the customer's problem-solving behavior, it is important to make this knowledge relevant to practice. Therefore, we have identified three basic aspects of the process of setting and managing a company's direction that can benefit greatly from deeper customer insight:
1. Choosing the right strategy
Using the model described in the previous section, we can now make the connection between the customer and the vendor's strategy. On the one hand, the unique character of the issues positioned high within the customer's issues hierarchy is that they require the vendor to adopt a consultative approach. On the other hand, the common character of those issues that are positioned lower is that they require convenience, speed, and price. Therefore, depending on the position of the issue associated with the vendor's offering, the company must choose one of the two dominant approaches, consultative or transactional.
For example, when it comes to jeans, in most cases we are talking about a simple transactional approach. But there are also cases of companies that through constant innovation, style, and quality have managed to address a slightly higher-level issue, which we've been referring to as "cool jeans." One such company known for the coolness of its products is Diesel.
2. Solving the 'approach-or-offering dilemma'
Another very important practical aspect of our theory is the effect of commoditization on strategy. While a solution is commoditizing, the associated issue evolves along the issues hierarchy, moving through different stages of the customer's problem-solving behavior.
This means that, in time, the customer's problem-solving behavior relative to a particular issue will change. Hence, the vendor's approach corresponding to a particular solution should change over time. So, in order to be successful, the vendor must choose between (a) maintaining the same approach over time while altering his offerings portfolio and (b) changing the approach while maintaining the same offerings portfolio. We refer to this situation as the "approach-or-offering dilemma."
Going back to the "pants" issue, in the past, most pants were made to order, which can be easily considered a consultative approach. Today, the average pair of pants is produced in series and sold in malls, illustrating the transition that took place over years from a consultative approach to a highly transactional approach.
In the jeans world, it is interesting to examine how Levi's jeans company has failed to properly deal with the approach-or-offering dilemma, being caught by surprise by the commoditization of its aging jeans portfolio. It lost its status of premium brand to much younger companies like Diesel that are constantly innovating, introducing new models, and retiring old models each year. More so, forced to compete in highly commoditized spaces, Levi's has slowly moved from quality to quantity in an attempt to make up for shrinking margins.
3. Identifying opportunities and threats
In the previous section, we described how each customer possesses a unique hierarchy of issues at a particular time. Although this knowledge is important in understanding the theoretical model, identifying all the issues within a hierarchy is unnecessary.
The uniqueness of each customer, and therefore the uniqueness of their issues hierarchies, makes such an attempt irrelevant (if not foolish). But, it is very important for the vendor to single out the clusters of interrelated issues surrounding each issue that is addressed by his solutions.
These clusters also have to be shared by a number of customers large enough to constitute a marketplace. Once detected, they would allow the vendor to identify potential opportunities for expansion of his offerings portfolio, as well as potential threats posed by the solutions' commoditization or by the introduction of new solutions by the competition.
For example, some of the potential customers of a jean company may be looking to address their "cool jeans" issue. But, as mentioned earlier, this issue, among others, is subordinate to a higher-level issue, "cool wardrobe," describing a cluster of interrelated issues. Having an awareness and understanding of this cluster of issues will enable the vendor to identify potential opportunities for expansion of his offerings portfolio by adding "cool shoes," for example.
This approach has been taken by Diesel, which not only added new clothing lines to its existent jean portfolio but also successfully introduced its own line of footwear and accessories.
Engage the organization
As expected, a deeper customer insight can generate great results even when only a few members of an organization make use of it. However, the results have the potential to be far more powerful when the entire organization is engaged in the process of getting closer to the customer.
When attempting to transform an organization that strives to employ a deeper customer insight, training the employees to think and act for the benefit of their customers, internal and external, is just the first basic requirement. A higher level of organizational transformation demands that the company's structure be enhanced with communication channels that would allow a free exchange of customer knowledge within the organization and between the organization and the marketplace.
But the most valuable initiative, and the highest level of organizational transformation in the process of employing a deeper customer insight, is the creation of a distinct department (even if only virtual) that would collect, analyze, and make decisions about the customer knowledge that flows throughout the company and the marketplace. This cross-functional department would employ the leadership team as well as other key people from the organization who would share their unique insights about the customers.
In general, the jeans marketplace is a commodity market, where buying decisions are made on price. Most jeans companies employ a highly transactional approach. In spite of this, as mentioned earlier, there are a few innovative jeans companies like Diesel that manage to maintain a premium brand status.
The source of their success resides mostly in the "coolness" of their products. But for this "cool" to actually be cool, these companies have to employ a higher understanding of their customers. They know what is in, they know what is next, they set trends, and they also know what is out.
In conclusion, successfully setting and/or managing a company's direction in these turbulent times can only be achieved with a strong foundation into deeper customer insight. We call this Customer Issues Centricity.
Note: The concept discussed in this article was first introduced in my white paper "Strategy, Redefined," published at RedefiningStrategy.com in June 2004.
MarketingProfs provides thousands of marketing resources, entirely free!
Simply subscribe to our newsletter and get instant access to how-to articles, guides, webinars and more for nada, nothing, zip, zilch, on the house...delivered right to your inbox! MarketingProfs is the largest marketing community in the world, and we are here to help you be a better marketer.
Sign in with your preferred account, below.
Know someone who would enjoy it too? Share with your friends, free of charge, no sign up required! Simply share this link, and they will get instant access…


text:
A view from Hoboken
You are a young man in your late 20s who grew up in Hoboken, in the "garden state" of New Jersey just across the Hudson River from Manhattan. Your family was blue-collar Italian and staunch Republican, and in the fall of 2001 you had graduated from high school and were planning to go to college after a year earning some money. On that Tuesday morning you were already at work at Jimmy John's sandwich bar on the corner of First and Hudson when, just before nine, everyone turned to look at the TV as a shot of the World Trade Center's north tower came on screen, burning fiercely as an agitated newscaster tried to explain what had happened. Half the staff rushed out across to First Street but the view was blocked by buildings. The manager saw there was no point in carrying on with trade and locked up as everyone rushed along First to the waterfront, crossing Sinatra Avenue to the small park on the Hudson River.
You were one of the first there, just in time to see the second plane hit the south tower and you all knew at once that this was no accident - America was under attack. To add to the horror you then watched with crowds of stunned and silent people as first the south tower and then the north tower collapsed. Making matters far worse, you learned later that day that one of your uncles, a New York firefighter, was among those missing. It was at that moment that you decided to ditch plans for college and join up.
With your sporting skills and high-school education, enlisting in the Marines was no problem and your training took you all through the early months of the war in Afghanistan. Like all the others in your group you were hugely determined to confront the terrorists, and the early collapse of the Taliban and President Bush's brilliant state-of-the-union address in January 2002 gave a boost to your entire class.
By the time you were in your unit and fully trained it was very clear that the next target would be Iraq, where the Saddam Hussein regime was part of an axis of evil, supporting terrorism and, worst of all, working as fast as it could to get weapons of mass destruction. By the end of 2002 your unit was already forward-based in Kuwait and on the following 20 March you were part of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit crossing into Iraq. Within days you had had your baptism of fire as your unit, along with British and Polish troops, met full-scale opposition from Iraqi terrorists as you tried to capture the key port of Umm Qasr.
Even so, elsewhere everything went much better and you were heavily involved in the move up the Euphrates to Baghdad, watching with delight when the president gave his "mission accomplished" speech at the beginning of May. That early experience outside Umm Qasr, though, was a taste of what was to come, and your unit was right at the centre of the bitter fighting around Fallujah nearly a year later. You were due for leave but were determined to stay on, only to be involved in one of the toughest firefights of the year when your convoy, moving to reinforce a unit in the city, was caught in a terror ambush.
You all survived as the relief force came through but some of the injuries were horrific. You were in a Humvee hit by an RPG when one of the crew lost both legs and another his jaw and much of his face. The trauma for the whole unit was huge and everyone involved was utterly delighted when the unit commander called in AC-130 gunships that night and destroyed that part of the city. For you, also, it was some recompense for the loss of your uncle.
You did three more tours of Iraq, including a key period in 2006 supporting SEAL Team 6 in Operation Arcadia and while peace seemed at last being restored to Iraq by 2010, you were not convinced it was over. Even bin Laden's death was not enough since you had seen at first hand just how determined the Iraqi extremists were. You would never admit it outside your unit but you, and some of the others, even had a grudging respect for their fighting abilities and willingness to die. Perhaps your own religious upbringing helped.
After ten years in the Marines you left to take a highly paid job with a private military company - serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen in a series of ultra-low-profile operations. From all your many contacts you could see that al-Qaida might be much reduced but the new threats arising in Iraq and Syria were a very different matter. You watched in horror as Islamic State was formed and took over much of northern Iraq including, unbelievably, even Fallujah.
The war started up again with the airstrikes in August 2014 but you knew they could never work on their own. To you it seemed your country was walking into a disaster, with all the efforts to turn things round in the decade after 9/11 coming to nought. Then, in April 2015, you heard that the director of the CIA, John Brennan, was restructuring the entire agency to prepare it for an extended war against the terrorists. Someone, at least, had his head screwed on and you applied to join the company. This, you knew, would be a long war, but that experience fourteen years ago on the Hoboken waterfront of watching the twin towers collapse was more than enough to motivate you. You were, and are, in it for the long term in the defence of freedom and democracy.
A view from Fallujah
You are a young man in your mid-20s and you were born and brought up in Fallujah, the "city of mosques" in the heart of Sunni Iraq to the west of Baghdad. Your family - mother, father, two brothers and two sisters - lived comfortably enough under the Saddam Hussein regime and even the sanctions that followed the 1991 war did not have too much effect, given that your father was a high-ranking municipal engineer in charge of water supplies for the whole of the city and the surrounding area, including the key irrigation systems leading south from the Fallujah barrage.
When you were just into your teens the regime was terminated by the American crusaders, supported every inch of the way by the Zionists. This was supposedly in response to the 2001 attacks even though you and all your friends knew full well that those massacres were staged by the American government to provide an excuse to go to war and take full control of Middle East oil, especially in Iraq where your leader had been the only person in the region to stand up to the Americans. The evidence was everywhere - after all, hadn't Bush actually said that Iraq must be dealt with and the regime destroyed, even before the New York and Washington attacks, and hadn't the Americans been absolutely clear that the whole world should follow their way and be part of the "new American century"? It was all so obvious.
Once the war had started, you watched as the resistance formed even as the city authorities tried to maintain a tolerable existence for the people. You remember your father working eighteen to twenty-four hours a day and coming home utterly exhausted as he and his staff tried to repair the damage being done by the constant bombardment of the city. You remember one occasion in particular when an American convoy was attacked by the resistance and beaten back, only for them to send in their gunships that night and destroy hundreds of houses in reprisal, killing your elder brother's young wife, two of your closest friends and wiping out all three families.
That, alone, was enough to make you utterly convinced that you must join the fight, that the Christian crusaders were at the root of the problem and they must be expelled from the country. A few months later, though, much worse was to follow. That autumn the Americans came back with overwhelming force to take the city, and you and most of your family hurriedly left to take refuge with friends in Ramadi. Your father and eldest brother were determined to stay - your father because of the need to try and protect not just what was left of the city's public works but also the Fallujah Barrage and the extraordinary network of canals downstream from the city that used the Euphrates water to irrigate some of Iraq's richest croplands. For your brother, though, the aim was to fight and defend the city against the Christian invaders, killing as many as he could, even if he died.
That was the last you saw of them and it was weeks later that you all learned that your father had been horribly burned when his Nissan pick-up was hit by a missile as he and his crew drove out in three trucks to try and repair a key part of the barrage just south of the city. May be it was a crazy thing to do, given that they were in the middle of a war-zone, but he feared that if the irrigation system was wrecked and the land dried out it would do as much damage as scores of bombs. To the Americans, no doubt, his truck was full of "terrorists" and was probably "taken out" by a Hellfire missile fired by an F-16, or rockets fired from an Apache gunship. He died in appalling pain three days later, trapped in the city where all the medical facilities had been destroyed.
The fate of your brother was a mystery for many months but you eventually heard that he had been wounded, captured and taken to a prison twenty miles east towards Baghdad along the old Highway 10 at Abu Ghraib. You found out that, in spite of his injuries he was waterboarded repeatedly for information by the CIA and special forces but refused to say anything. Reduced to little more than a human wreck he was handed over to the ordinary American troops and along with hundreds of others was repeatedly abused. After a few months a deep-rooted infection of one of his wounds flared up and he died of septicaemia, his body dumped in a mass grave.
The next five years were sheer hell as the Americans tried to take control of the whole country, handing over power to the Iranians and Maliki and his Shi'a lackeys and allowing them to use any force they wanted to crush your people. Resistance was strong but the Americans and the British used every conceivable method to suppress dissent, with hundreds of night raids, inevitable "kill lists", incarceration and torture. Within a year of the deaths of your father and brother you were already a seasoned urban fighter with a growing reputation even though still in your mid-teens. Their deaths had made you fearless and your willingness to take huge risks was widely admired. Even so, like so many of your friends who weren't killed, you were eventually captured, tortured and ended up in Camp Bucca to join 20,000 others in one of the world's largest prisons.
That was the making of you as the close confinement of the prison and the complete lack of control by incompetent guards gave free reign to the inmates. You had learned in school that prisons only ever function with the consent of the prisoners and Bucca was no exception. Here, though, the prisoners were increasingly organised and educated by enlightened and charismatic preachers who were brilliant at renewing in your own mind the value and supreme relevance of your religious beliefs.
You, and many hundreds of others, understood in those months and years of detention that true Islam, returning to the early days, was the only way forward and that those freedom-fighters who had avoided death or capture were now quietly building up what they called al-Qaida in Iraq, AQI, ready for the day when the Crusaders would eventually leave.
When that time came, most of the prisoners were released but several thousand who were considered dangerous were handed over to the Maliki government. You were one of them and ended up in early 2011 with hundreds more at Abu Ghraib, now a high-security government jail housing the "worst of the worst". Conditions were appalling and the Shi'a warders brutal, but it was not to last long. By the end of the year AQI under Baghdadi had been reinvigorated, was already linking up with fellow freedom-fighters in Syria, and was embarking on a brilliant programme of prison breaks right across central and northern Iraq. This started towards the end of 2012, with Abu Ghraib a priority, and the following July you were one of the hundreds released in one of the best of all the operations.
Because of your reputation you were moved to Raqqa and took part in many operations, but within a year you were back in Iraq leading a platoon that helped retake first Fallujah and then Mosul. To see your home city back in rightful hands was one of your greatest joys, almost as good as the leader's declaration of the Caliphate in the Mosul mosque a few months later.
As everyone expected, the Crusaders finally recognised what was happening and started their air attacks in August, intensifying them in the following months and bringing the French, British and other Christian forces as well as apostates from across the region. The air and drone attacks had little effect which is hardly surprising since there were hundreds of able officers and NCOs who had had years of experience of the Crusader ways of war. They certainly lost some, but many ordinary people were also killed, further stirring up anger directed not just at the Crusaders but the Iranians as well.
As the not-so-young man now sees it:
"Our resilience and capabilities are remarkable, born out of our complete conviction and absolute belief that ours is the rightful path. Since we are the vanguard protecting the whole of true Islam we welcome the attacks and are utterly sure that we will wear the enemy down. Indeed much of what we do is to incite them to attack us - an element they simply cannot understand. Do they think we killed that Jordanian pilot out of sheer brutality? No, it was to provoke. For me, though, it has an added element - as I watched him I thought of my own father, also burned to death but taking three days, not three minutes, to die. This war will take many years for victory. I will most certainly not survive it here on earth but will still witness it with joy."
Read more
Get our weekly email


text:
As part of their new advertising campaign, Airbnb launched Birdbnb to celebrate and to show similarities between the ever traveling bird and Airbnb's passion for travel. Birds continually take off and land in new places, always seeing the world from an enviable perspective and one that all travelers seek. To acknowledge the journey, Airbnb commissioned five artists to create birdhouse models of some of their most interesting listings for rent around the world. The result is 50 birdhouses that were strung up at the "Tree of Life" in New Orleans' Audobon Park where they shot this "Home to You" video:
See more on birdbnb.com.


text:
Sponsored Post
Gwen Stefani is going to be a judge on "The Voice" for the third time now. She has also been on the show twice as an adviser. The last time she appeared was in season 10 when she appeared as an adviser. After season ten she took a break from the show to go on tour. She is touring North America. Her tour is titled, "This is what the truth feels like".
In coming season Stefani will be a coach. This means that one of the current four will not be in Season 12 of "The Voice". Definitely it will not be boyfriend Blake Shelton who is a perennial coach. Neither will it be Adam Levine the other perennial coach.
It is pointless to attempt to create suspense where it is not. If you wanted suspense you would be playing real money online casino games. After all online casinos are the hub of suspense, thrills and real money rewards. Visit http://www.casinouk.com/ to find more online casinos, that offer real money online casino games.
We do wish the love birds the best in their relationship. There is no doubt the pair bring a certain level chemistry to the show that adds that "Shefani" feel.


text:
Dave Koz didn't particularly want to sing on his latest album, Hello Tomorrow on Concord Records, but he had fallen in love with the idea of including a remake of Herb Alpert's "This Guy's in Love with You" on that record. "So I took it to my producers [Marcus Miller and John Burk] and they said, 'Yeah, we love that song but, you know, are you going to sing it?' And I said, 'What? I'm not really a singer!' and they said, 'Well, neither was Herb-so you're singing it!'"
So now we can add singer to Koz's already lengthy resume of job titles within the smooth jazz genre (though he had already recorded one vocal tune on an earlier record). The saxophonist also hosts a nationally-syndicated radio show, as well as a very successful cruise. And he's appeared as a guest on numerous TV shows. He's currently getting ready for his Smooth Jazz Christmas tour with Brian Culbertson, Candy Dulfer and Jonathan Butler. It seems as if he's cultivated a multi-faceted profile for himself, perhaps as a form of strategic leverage in tough economic times, but Koz says that all that diversification was not part of some larger master plan for his career. "I think it was like ADD more than anything," he says, laughing. "I get bored easily and I like all those challenges. The cruise for example is a great challenge because it's like programming a network for a week, every hour of every day-coming up with something for people to do. I love that."
His new album Hello Tomorrow reflects that restless creative urge, starting of course with his own foray into vocals in the remake of Alpert's improbable hit of 1968. It turns out that Koz was a big fan of both the song and the singer. He had first played it at a special event honoring its co-composer Burt Bacharach. "I played it on the alto sax," he recalls, "and the power of that melody was made very clear to me." But the song's lyrics also connected with Koz. "I love the message of that song for right now because there is so much intolerance and so much fear and hate," he says. "With all these things out there, this is just a beautiful, poignant message of love to put out there into the world."
Koz, who not long ago came out publicly as a gay man, told JT's John Murph in an article about the "Gay Aesthetic in Jazz" in the December 2010 issue of JazzTimes, that he hoped the song could be an anthem of sorts for the issue of same-sex marriage or be a wedding song standard. "Yeah, that was the subtext for me of that song. That's the way I heard it. Obviously for me that's a big topic, although I'm not in any position right now to get married to anybody. But it's just a message about love for right now. I just read recently that a lot of Republicans who previously to this point would never be on the sort of pro marriage equality bandwagon are starting to come to the party and so I think this is kind of a foregone conclusion. The train has left the building and it's only a matter of time before it becomes the way of the U.S. as far as marriage equality and that would make me very happy."
Koz also points to his absolute affinity and deep appreciation for the original singer of that tune. "I think Herb Alpert is one of the unsung heroes of the world, not only for his music but for the incredible philanthropy that he does. He's my hero. The guy is an ever-evolving, creative spirit which to me is like the ultimate and somebody that I would aspire in my fantasy to be even remotely like." It's perhaps no coincidence that Alpert himself was not really a singer and had to be encouraged to do that song. "It fit into so much of how this record unfolded for me-which was, constantly, at every turn, being pushed into my discomfort zone and sort of embracing it and kind of finding that I can do these things." Koz again credits co-producer Marcus Miller specifically for that impetus. "One of his main mantras for me on this record was just to push me in new directions."
Nonetheless, Koz readily admits that he's no budding Al Jarreau. "You know, you don't have to be a Pavarotti to pull that song off," he explains. "In fact, it probably works best if you have this vulnerability, that you're not too sure of yourself because the lyric is so much about that moment when you like somebody and you're not too sure how they feel about you. If you sing it too confidently, it sort of takes away from the sincerity or authenticity. So I'm pleased with the way it came out, but believe me, I had a lot of help from my producers on that one."
Koz also got some hands-on input from the primary source, so to speak. "After I got a vocal that I was pleased with, I sent it to Herb just to get his blessing and he called me right back and he said, 'Look, you've got my blessing, but I thought maybe there might be a place for me to play on this.' And when that actually happened, I have to say I thought that might be right up there with one of my favorite musical experiences of all time-having him [Alpert] play on a recreation of a song that he made a hit over forty years ago."
Lots of notable jazz players, past and present, have branched off into singing, including Louis Armstrong and Chet Baker, and in recent years, Chris Botti and Kermit Ruffins. In a recent interview for jazztimes.com, Ruffins talked about how singing also gave him a chance to rest his lips during his performances. Although the aforementioned are all trumpet players, Koz likewise has been mixing in the occasional vocal spotlight in his frequent live performances. "I don't envision doing an all vocal album anytime soon," Koz says, chuckling. "The one thing is that I have done it live. I just got back from a week of shows at the Blue Note in Tokyo and I sang it there every night so I've gotten a little more confident."
He acknowledges that he still has a ways to go as far as feeling truly comfortable as a singer. "I've made a living from playing the saxophone live and knowing how that feels. But it's weird because no matter how you slice it, being a singer, it's of a different ilk. As a saxophonist, you have an instrument that, in effect, is separating you from the audience. There's this piece of metal between your soul and people's receptors. When you're singing, it's so much more personal. If you're not really a singer, per se, then you want to talk about feeling vulnerable and feeling self-conscious? But that was a good lesson for me to kind of learn and walk through."
Koz feels his discomfort at trying something new matched his concept for the entire album. "That's what this whole album is about-embracing a lot of this new stuff that we're all having to embrace in our lives. This is what it means to be alive in 2010 with the sheer volume of change everywhere you look. So every one of us has to be sort of adaptable to that."
Koz also collaborates with plenty of "real" singers on this album and in albums and performances of the past. He explains that it takes a different approach as a saxophonist when he's backing or accompanying singers. "For sure, it's a very different head space to play where basically you're the solo voice to support a singer. I've found that over the years, musicians that are supporting a singer often play too much-they feel like the need to be heard. And I've fallen prey to that many times too. It's like, 'Hey, I'm here, don't forget about me!' And I've found that with more wisdom of age and experience that even just playing an eight bar solo (and that's about it when somebody's singing) is fine. It's really not how many notes you play. It's exactly how you're there to support. I had some great teachers about that aspect. One of the biggest teachers was from my first gig- Bobby Caldwell. He's such a music-oriented singer and he really taught me a lot about the finesse of backing a singer up."
When asked about some of his favorite singers to work with, Koz, the inveterate multi-tasker, immediately talks about one he hasn't work with, at least yet. "I've gotten a chance to work with some pretty unbelievable folks-singers like Stevie Wonder, Michael McDonald and Luther Vandross. But my dream album is to-now this may just be in my head and of course I've not talked to her about it-but I would like to re-create the Nancy Wilson and Cannonball Adderley album with k.d. lang. That's something that's in my mind. She's one of my all-time favorites."
His dream project quickly imagined, Koz moves on to name several other vocalists on his shortlist of favorites. "I love Nora Jones too," Koz says. "I love those chanteuses. As far as communicators are concerned, there's Joni Mitchell who is unbelievable. George Benson is so filled with talent too for all these years. I love Maxwell too. And further on the youthful side, there's this singer that just came out last year named Janelle Monaet-unbelievable, an incredible spirit that just came out of nowhere. It's like 'Wow, who's that?'"
Co-producer Marcus Miller comes from both the jazz and R&B world and in fact has worked with many "dream" singers, including Luther Vandross, Aretha Franklin and Roberta Flack, as well as a few dream instrumentalists such as Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter and David Sanborn. Miller's touch is apparent on the album, particularly on the opening cut which features his jangling loose-change bass anchoring a solid funk groove, overlaid with lead melody and interesting harmonic voicings. Koz says that he had wanted to work with Miller for many years and, although the two have known each other from various gigs and sessions, this album marked their first real collaboration.
"I think when most people-especially jazz musicians or jazz critics-would look at the combination of Marcus Miller and Dave Koz, it might be a bit of a head scratcher," Koz explains. "But it was exactly what I needed at this point, 20 years into my career. I needed to be pushed and prodded. I needed to work with someone that I had so much respect for and admiration for that I would just be willing to go wherever. And I think that the reason why it worked with Marcus and me is that he and I met in the middle. He was able to have the respect for what I do and the career that I've had. So we kind of became partners and met in the middle to create something new for both of us. It was very inspiring to work with him, his work ethic, his sheer musicianship-his casting ability."
Koz points to the rhythm section that Miller put together for the album as setting the tone for whatever success it might have. With Miller on bass and either Omar Hakim or John Robinson on drums, Koz found himself transported musically. "I was sitting there in the studio playing with the best musicians in the world," he says. "When you have that rhythm section in the room, there's such a solidified bottom end and foundation that's not going to go anywhere. So I found a freedom that I had not experienced before with music because you know that nothing is going to rock that foundation. When you have that foundation that you can really rely on, then you can take a lot more chances and take a lot more risks musically."
John Burk, longtime producer for Concord Records, was also an important part of the team. "He was kind of like the big idea guy and he kept us focused on the mission statement of this album," explains Koz. "We basically worked on all that together-what this album was to be. It made the decision-making process a lot easier. Every little decision was put through that sieve of: Does this fulfill our mission statement of what this album is supposed to be?"
Perhaps because of that "sieve" approach, there was plenty of material left of the cutting room floor. "The funny thing I like to talk about that nobody knows is that there are incredible outtakes. I mean there's an album-at least another sixty minutes of outtakes of music that will never be heard. Or maybe one day it will be heard. But each song that we recorded live, we finished the four minutes or so of the song and then the band wouldn't stop. All of a sudden when the song was done, Marcus would sort of go someplace else feel-wise and then this other kind of jam would take place for another five minutes. And it killed me because we couldn't use any of that because, you know, you can't have thirteen songs at ten minutes each."
It makes us wonder if Koz has ever wanted to do a straight-ahead jazz record and show jazz geeks that he has mad chops. But the saxophonist doesn't go for that logic at all. "It would have to flow from something that was authentic, from something I really wanted to do musically as opposed to trying to prove anything," he explains. "I'm past the point of trying to prove that I can play. I do what I do and it's different from everybody, thankfully. Everybody's got their own thing. That's not the kind of player I am. I have great respect for it and appreciate it so much but when I choose to sit down and make music, all I can really do is do what's in my heart. But maybe one day."
Actually Koz's previous album, At the Movies, dabbles a bit with the mainstream sax style, at least the jazz with strings variety. "That record had more of a traditional kind of approach. I loved the symphony. I think it's just surrounding yourself with musicians to take you on a ride – that was a different ride certainly. But this ride, for Hello Tomorrow, was really more of a groove ride. I think it was the record that I wanted to make since it had been a long time, like seven years, since I had an album with all original material (save for one). But I think that it was not only the record that I wanted to make but that my fans-the ones that have stuck by me, God bless 'em-wanted to hear too. That made me feel good, because you never really know. You just go to the studio and make the best music you can. Especially now, because, as you know, it's just such a weird time for our business."
Indeed the idea of an album concept in this age of singles and online sales seems almost quaint. Koz doesn't deny that trend, but sees a brighter future once the music industry catches up with the music and its audience. "I think that music is very healthy right now but the music business is kind of in this gulf of trying to figure itself out. It's on the way but it still seems like the early days of trying to figure itself out. But every business is like that now."
And speaking of business, Dave Koz, tour organizer, is currently working on logistics and rehearsing for the Smooth Jazz Christmas tour that begins on November 26. And, yes, sometimes it can all be a bit much even for the peripatetic saxophonist. "My head is spinning and I always wonder: Why do I do this to myself? I could just go out with myself but, no, I like to mix it up. I think it's challenging, and it keeps me fresh and keeps my mind nimble and plus, I'm a just a born collaborator. I have the most fun working with other musicians. I'd get really sick of me if it was just me all the time."
The idea of doing a tour of Christmas music sounds fine on paper, but if you think about getting in the holiday spirit night after night after night, well, it sounds more like a manifestation of Groundhog Day. But for his part, Koz looks forward to the tour, because of both the music and the presentation. "I do like the music a lot. I enjoy playing it. The music brings out another side of me. Christmas music for some reason is more tenor sax oriented and I'm not really much of a tenor player. I don't really play it that much but at Christmas time I do and so it kind of gives me a chance to really hone that horn a little bit more. We do a big tour that has its own lights and set and backdrops. It's the one time of year where we can really put on a show that is very consistent from night to night. We work six nights a week and travel by bus so it's kind of fun actually."
Naturally, the veritable jazz elf does get a little worn out with the whole thing, at least physically. "We work hard and at the end of it, people say, 'What are you going to do for the holidays?' and I say, 'I'm going to be in my bed for Christmas time!' But I love it because people come out to the shows. They're in such a great mood already, it's really a very fun time of the year to be out there doing shows because people are sort of predisposed to enjoy themselves."
The songs themselves are like standards in a way. Koz has a few favorites to perform. "Pretty much every year I do a solo alto sax feature on 'White Christmas.' That song gets me. There's something about that melody that really connects to me and I love playing it. We do a really funky version of 'Winter Wonderland' which I really enjoy. And I love listening to Jonathan Butler's 'Oh Holy Night.' That's like a major highlight for me every year. When he sings that song, it transcends the setting. No matter how many people are in there, they're completely taken away by that performance of his."
When he finally does get to his own home for the holidays, Koz says his favorite Christmas songs to spin are not much different than most people's. "Well, I go for the classics at Christmas time-Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, etc. Nat King Cole would probably be in the number one position. His Christmas album is so frickin' great. And Mel Torme. I like the Carpenters. And Dean Martin too. Something about that old-fashioned and melodic sound feels right at Christmas time. It's about setting that atmosphere with nothing too jarring, but to just fill the room with that music. In the more modern era, I think that Harry Connick is channeling that former era very well. He made a great holiday album a few years ago."
For more information about Dave Koz's new album, radio show, cruise, Smooth Jazz Christmas tour or any other of his many ventures, you can visit his website.
Dave Koz's Smooth Jazz Christmas 2010 Tour Dates:
11/26 Ft. Pierce, FL Sunrise Theatre
11/27 Atlanta, GA Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre
11/28 Sarasota, FL Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall
11/29 Ft. Lauderdale, FL Au-Rene Theater
11/30 Naples, FL Philharmonic Center for the Arts
12/1 Clearwater, FL Ruth Eckerd Hall
12/3 Cleveland, OH Playhouse Square/Palace Theatre
12/4 Chicago, IL Chicago Theatre
12/5 Columbus, OH Palace Theatre
12/6 Bethesda, MD Strathmore Music Center
12/7 Newport News, VA Ferguson Center for the Arts
12/9 El Paso, TX Plaza Theatre Performing Arts Center
12/10 San Diego, CA Balboa Theatre
12/11 San Francisco, CA Nob Hill Masonic Center
12/12 Palm Desert, CA McCallum Theatre for the Performing Arts
12/14 Santa Rosa, CA Wells Fargo Center for the Arts
12/15 Sacramento, CA Radisson Hotel
12/16 Mesa, AZ Mesa Arts Center/Ikeda Theater
12/17 Cerritos, CA Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts
12/18 Cerritos, CA Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts
12/19 Los Angeles, CA Nokia Theatre L.A. Live
12/20 Modesto, CA Gallo Center for the Arts
Dave Koz: The Born Collaborator
Smooth jazz saxophonist, radio show host and cruise majordomo adds singer to his job description and talks about his upcoming Smooth Jazz Christmas tour
Dave Koz didn't particularly want to sing on his latest album, Hello Tomorrow on Concord Records, but he had fallen in love with the idea of including a remake of Herb Alpert's "This Guy's in Love with You" on that record. "So I took it to my producers [Marcus Miller and John Burk] and they said, 'Yeah, we love that song but, you know, are you going to sing it?' And I said, 'What? I'm not really a singer!' and they said, 'Well, neither was Herb-so you're singing it!'"


text:
Our mission is to create a safe and secure environment for our users where their information is safe and cannot be misused. You can only connect with those who you want to connect. Random/Unknown people cannot search you unless you want them to. It is designed in a way to make personal connections, where you can make your own private community. To provide you the best services on EEStone we need to collect some information about you.
We collect all those information about you, which is necessary to use EEStone services and features. The types of information we collect depends on how you use EEStone.Registration
To create an EEStone account you need to provide some information about yourself such as your name, Email address, Mobile number, Username, Password, Gender and your Country. This information is required in order to use EEStone services.Profile Building
After registration on EEStone you have a choice to complete your profile by giving more information about yourself. This information includes your profile picture, cover picture, your preface and biography about yourself in the description box. This information will also help you make more contacts by letting other people know about you.Contents and communications
We collect the content information you share/post with your contacts or in public view such as photos, videos or text phrases. we also keep the record of your communications with other users on EE Stone.Entrepreneurs information
When you create an entrepreneur profile, you must provide some more information about you and your company and type of services you're offering to your clients on EEStone. The information we collect here includes your official/company Email address, official contact number, official/company website (if you have), your service providing location, time zone, billing address, financial information, IP address, company logo and GPRS location. This information is necessary to make you an ethic Entrepreneur, this will also help us to control the situation in case of any dispute between you and clients. However when you add 'company's portfolio, new services, milestones, or post pictures in gallery' we also collect the record of those information. We also collect the information when you create contracts with clients. This information is necessary for us to collect in case of any misunderstanding between Entrepreneur and client.Clients Information
We also collect the information of users who buy services from Entrepreneurs. We collect their personal information, projects infomation, IP address, location, financial information, reviews, ratings and contracts. This information is necessary for us to collect in case of any misunderstanding between Entrepreneur and client.Identity Information of Entrepreneur
We collect the identity information of the Entrepreneurs for the proof of originality. The identity information may be a clear picture of national ID card, driving license or passport. We will also required to collect your tax id when you earn revenue. For local service Entrepreneurs we need to collect the proof of physical address, which is Utility bill in addition with above information.Financial Information
We also collect your financial information if you get involve in transactions. From clients we collect their transactions detail and payment account details like credit card, paypal, skrill. From Entrepreneurs we collect their transaction detail including members, and their payment processor detail (e.g. Paypal, Bank account). We may share your financial information with our 3rd party payment processors in order to make your payments secure.
By using EEStone you agree to this privacy policy, which explains how we collect your information, and where do we use it? We reserve the rights to change this policy at any time. We will write the changes in our policy and notify you before we make those changes applicable. The information we request, collect and process is primarily used to provide you the product or service that you requested. However more specific information about how we use your data.
We use various third party web analytics tools such as Google Analytics to collect information on how you interact with our website. This data may include information on which pages you visit, how much time you spend on each page, which operating system and browser you use, and geographic location information.
These tools will place cookies in your browser for this purpose which can only be used by the service providers. The data collected may be transmitted to and stored by these service providers in a country other than where you reside. This information does not include personal data such as names, addresses, email addresses, etc, and will be stored and used in accordance with their own privacy policies. You can control the technologies that we use through our Cookie Policy.


text:
Facebook India head Kirthiga Reddy quits a day after closing down of Free Basics
The social networking giant has started looking for a successor to Reddy, who would be moving to Facebook's headquarters in the US in the next 6-12 months.
NEW DELHI: A day after closing down its controversy-ridden Free Basics programme here, Facebook India Managing Director Kirthiga Reddy today stepped down from her current role and will relocate to the US.
The social networking giant has started looking for a successor to Reddy, who would be moving to Facebook's headquarters in the US in the next 6-12 months.
Reddy said she along with William Easton, Managing Director of Emerging Markets (APAC) and Dan Neary, VP Asia Pacific, have started looking for her successor in India.
Facebook yesterday shut down 'Free Basics' in India, days after telecom regulator Trai barred operators from charging discriminatory rates for Internet access based on content.
"When my family relocated to India, we knew that we would move back to the US some day. It's a bittersweet moment to share that the return timeframe is coming up in the next 6-12 months," Reddy said in a post on the social networking site today.
"It will be business as usual over the next 6-12 months. I am working closely with William Easton and Dan Neary as we search for my successor in India. I have also begun to explore new opportunities at Facebook back at Menlo Park," she added.
Free Basics was offered in India in partnership with Reliance Communications and was earlier known as Internet.org.
Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has also slammed Free Basics saying such differential pricing modes are "plainly not acceptable" and Internet should not become a monopoly of few.
After months-long consultation process, triggered by the net neutrality debate, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) earlier this week barred operators from charging different rates for data access, dealing a blow to Free Basics and other such plans like Airtel Zero.
While Facebook had promoted Free Basics as a programme aimed at providing basic Internet access to people in partnership with telecom operators, critics slammed the service saying it violated the principle of net neutrality.
Reddy said over the last six years, starting as the first employee for Facebook in India, she has had the privilege to be part of its amazing growth journey, from the firm's operations in Hyderabad to being a business partner for its clients."Above all, it's all been about our mission: Give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. We have only just begun," she added. KIR RAM MKJ


text:
Banks cut deposit interest rates as credit growth lags
to the latest mobilising rates at ACB, one- to two-month deposit rates
have dropped to only 5.5 percent yearly, down to 0.4 percent compared to
the previous rate. The three-month rate fell to 5.6 percent yearly
compared to 6 percent earlier.
The interest rates of long-term deposits also fell sharply. The six-month rate fell from 6.55 percent yearly to 6.1 percent; the nine-month rate fell from 6.6 percent yearly to 6.3 percent; and the 12-month rate fell from 7.7 percent to 6.9 percent.
Sacombank also cut deposit interest rates slightly. The seven- to eight-month rates fell from 6.55 percent yearly to 6.4 percent; the nine-month rate fell from 6.7 percent yearly to 6.5 percent; and the 11-month rate fell from 6.8 percent yearly to 6.7 percent.
According to the banks, as the competition for lending among banks is now fierce, a further reduction in deposit interest rates is intended to cut costs for more attractive lending rates.
Data from the central bank revealed that deposits rose 3.09 percent by April 20, while credit growth was only 0.62 percent, much lower than 2.11 percent of the same period last year.
In the interbank market, interest rates have also continued to slide for short-term deposits. The overnight rate on May 6 stood at 1.65 percent yearly, down to 0.15 percentage points against last week. One-week term rate also declined 0.15 percentage points to 1.9 percent yearly. The declining rate for two-week terms was 0.3 percentage points.
Industry insiders forecast that interest rates will continually reduce soon as there are no optimistic signs for the abundant deposits at banks.-VNA


text:
Manufactured Landscapes explores the work of famed environmental photographer Edward Burtynsky as he travels to China and Bangladesh to photograph the nature of industrial manufacturing and waste. The film premiered at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival and was immediately admired by both critics and audiences. Acclaimed documentary director Jennifer Baichwal follows Burtynsky through his Eastern journey, adopting his attitude of revealing the reality of the human-created industrial landscapes, rather than passing judgment on their existence. Burtynsky shies away from didacticism and instead asks the observer to consider the issues at hand in his photographs. The film becomes a powerful meditation on industrialization and human waste as we see the world through Burtynsky's lens. Burtynsky asks his audience to truly look at what he presents rather than agree or disagree with his motivations.
The film opens with a ten-minute tracking shot of a factory in China. As the camera slowly moves past the hundreds of workers at their assembly line stations and mechanical ambient noise fills the soundtrack, one cannot help but be reminded of the famous grocery store shot in Jean-Luc Godard's Tout va Bien (1972). The cinematography by Peter Mettler [Family Viewing (1987), Artist on Fire: Joyce Wieland (1987)], echoes the tone of Burtynsky's photographs, as Mettler's camera quietly captures both the mundane and the beautiful in the industrial landscape. These live-action shots of manufacturing in Asia are complemented by shots of Burtynsky's photographs in their gallery spaces, as well as interviews with Burtynsky and several of the Asian workers as he interacts with his subjects and discusses his process and product. The film more a portrait of our changing industrial world than it is a rendering of Burtynsky as an artist, yet it continues to bring these industrial portraits back into the sphere of art.Manufactured Landscapes manages to make the political beautiful through its contemplation of the way humans have affected nature. If there is one thing the film insists upon, it is that there are no easy answers.
Manufactured Landscapes struck a chord with critics and audiences. Some hailed the film as the most important to see that year due its strong and unsettling message. The film was often associated with An Inconvenient Truth (2006) and Al Gore himself endorsed Baichwal's work, calling it: "An extraordinarily beautiful, insightful, touching and thought-provoking movie." While the two films both dealt with ecological issues and attempted to change the way people think about how humans interact with the environment, Manufactured Landscapes was a very different project, both in its attempt to be apolitical and in its ability to reveal not only the destructiveness of the industrial environment but also the beauty. Manufactured Landscapes was not a political call to action but rather a meditation on the world that did not ask its audience to "buy" the message the film was selling but rather to reflect on the images presented to them.
Manufactured Landscapes had a long and successful festival run after its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival where it won the Toronto-City Award for best Canadian feature film; it was later also selected as one of Canada's Top Ten films of the year in TIFF's annual juried initiative. The film was also an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival where it was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize. Manufactured Landscapes went on to collect numerous awards, including the 2007 Genie for best Canadian documentary film, best feature documentary and best Canadian film from the Toronto Film Critics Association, the Al Gore Reel Current Award at the Nashville Film Festival, best Canadian documentary at both the Atlantic and Calgary film festivals, and best feature documentary at the 2007 Riverrun International Film Festival.
Despite its critical success, Manufactured Landscapes received only a limited release in North America and saw limited box-office returns. The film is now distributed by the National Film Board (who co-produced with Foundry Films), as well as six international distributors in the United States and Europe. Despite its limited commercial success, Manufactured Landscapes remains highly regarded as one of the best Canadian feature documentaries of recent years. The film speaks to trenchant contemporary concerns but does so poetically rather than politically. Manufactured Landscapes continues to be admired not only for its important message but also for its astonishing beauty. The film does not limit itself to environmental concerns on a local level but rather connects audiences with the other side of the world as Burtynsky explores the global human footprint. Showing audiences the face of industry in China and Bangladesh and the actual dumping ground for most of their North American waste has served to open people's eyes to the consequences of that waste, not only its effect on the environment but also on the human condition of those living in these industrial areas. The beauty of Manufactured Landscapes comes from the fundamental humanity found in the film, which makes its message hard to ignore.


text:
Mermaid Cottages' new Back To School Special supports education! We're offering a 10% discount off of our rental price PLUS for every reservation made that mentions the Fall Special, we'll be making a donation for School Lunches to two schools where the children need help: East Broad Street Elementary School in Savannah, GA and Westgate Community Conservancy School in Samburu, Kenya. Our goal is to serve as many children as possible. So, come enjoy some Tybee Time and help children in need of school lunches!
How can you help? The Davenport House Museum in Savannah hosts a day long program each year for East Broad Street Elementary students in Mrs. Jones' class. You can make a difference, too, when you donate supplies for education as a part of your stay using our Back to School discount. Here's a list of some of the things Mrs. Jones could use for her classroom:
3X5 index cards (lined or unlined)
copier paper (white)
composition notebooks
pens (black or blue)
protractors for measuring angles
pencils #2
colored markers
multiplication flash cards
lined notebook paper
You can book your Back To School special conveniently online any time. Just type "Back To School Special" in the Comments section of your reservation or mention it to the Mermaid-on-Duty when you book by telephone. Once you check-in, just call our Guest Services line to let us know you have school supplies ready for pick up. A Mermaid will stop by to collect them at your convenience.
This offer is valid on new reservations for rentals from Monday, September 5, 2016 through Monday, November 21, 2016 (Not valid with any other Mermaid Cottages offers. This is for new reservations only, please.)! Mermaid Cottages' new Back To School Special supports education and we want you to be at the head of the class when it comes to enjoying Tybee Island and supporting education, too!


text:
New York Knicks down Celtics 116-92 in Boston
Conversely, the Knicks have now strung together a five game win streak, tempering the intense (but well deserved) criticism they've received throughout the season.
New York blew the game open with a 20-7 start. When Jeff Green settled for a post-up 18 foot fadeaway early in the shot clock, effort for a W seemed futile. Hot shooting by the Knicks led to a 68-48 halftime deficit for the Cs and New York never really looked back.
It wasn't quite all bad for the Celtics, as Kris Humphries (15 PTS, 5, RBS) put a monster block on a Hardaway Jr. fast break to start the third quarter. Jeff Green played 41 minutes and posted a team high 27 points on 10-21 shooting but tallied just 2 rebounds. Green got hot at times in the second half, but maintained his 'tease' reputation by combining strong scoring stretches with some questionable shots and little else.
It seemed anything with a blue jersey was hitting for at least the first half of the game (90% from three), though the Knicks eventually cooled down. Nevertheless, New York (as a team) shot 53% from the field, 58% from three, and 88% at the line. Tough to win ball games allowing those numbers.
Carmelo Anthony dropped 34 PTS to go with 9 RBS while J.R. Smith chipped in 13 PTS, 4 AST, and 3 RBS. Young rook Tim Hardaway Jr. showcased a hot hand with 22 points on 7-11 shooting.
Despite stringing together a couple of runs in a relatively strong third quarter, the Knicks ran away with it 116-92.
The Celtics (22-43) take on the Phoenix Suns (36-27) Friday at 7:30 in Boston.


text:
Last week, Finnish startup Jolla announced that it would build its own smartphone with software based on Nokia's MeeGo operating system. The short-lived N9 handset, which was the basis for the Lumia 800 design, was an amazing piece of engineering but suffered from a lack of apps and developer support.
Jolla said that it was licensing Nokia's MeeGo patents but would build an entirely new UI using the Linux-based code. The company was started by former Nokia employees using their new "Bridge" program which helps groups at risk of getting fired start up something brand new.
Nokia has issued a statement pertaining to the licensing of patents to Jolla: "We're proud of the support from our Bridge program to start-ups founded by former Nokia people, but we have not gifted Nokia patents to any of them, including Jolla. Jolla has said that it will sell new MeeGo-based smartphones with Jolla technology including its own brand new UI."
We're unsure of whether the company can find success in this competitive market, but their home country of Finland is likely to be more receptive than North America, certainly. We'll follow this with interest as MeeGo has a lot of potential to be a powerful and successful mobile OS — it just needs to be marketed properly.