text:
The PRUNION pruning shear is ideal for growers looking for the most powerful, lightest and most innovative tool on the market. Its grip fits any hand and its large cutting diameter makes it comfortable to prune with. The numerous innovations of this pruning shear make it indispensable for professionals seeking either freedom of movement with the 250 battery.
- Power and manoeuvrability for intensive pruning even with thick branches.
- PELLENC-PRADINES cutting head.
- High performance motor: 92 %.
- Precise blade position management.
- A compact pruner, that is handy and suitable for all hand sizes
- The lightest tree pruner on the market: 1.9 lbs.
- The least expensive professional pruner on the market.
- Adapts to your pruning habits thanks to the different cutting modes.
- Optical trigger for natural control of the half-opening.
- The blade can be removed without tools.
- Alternation of work using the dual connector on the 250 battery.
Item comes with:
- Pruner with electric cord
- Rechargeable 250 battery
- One carrying case with accessories
- Battery life up to 12 hours
- USA cord kit


text:
Here are the minutes from the last Creation Care meeting on September 10, 2023.
Creation Care Meeting Minutes 9-10-2023
Our next meeting will be October 8 after the 11:00 Mass.
In June 2015, Pope Francis published the encyclical "Laudato Si – On the Care of Our Common Home," which describes how Christians ought to interact with each other and the environment. The parish has implemented this vision through various projects in the past - including in the Haitian Coffee Project - and is re-forming a Creation Care Ministry to meet regularly and help further bring Christ the King into harmony with our neighbors and our planet.
If you would like to join our monthly meetings, please email Joe McLoughlin at email@example.com or talk to Jon Stotts. We also plan to regularly include information in the bulletin. Our winter projects include an expanded church garden, tree planting, and reducing styrofoam use at the parish. We'd love to have you join us and share your ideas!
Like-minded organizations:
Read the Encylical:
The encyclical itself is not very long and is written for a lay audience. Give it a shot! (pdf link or website link)
Kevin Glauber Ahern, Religion Professor at Manhattan Catholic College, provides a summarized version of the encyclical below.
After a brief Introduction (1-16) where he roots this text in the teachings of his
predecessors, Pope Francis begins by taking stock of the problem, "its human roots," an
his conviction that "things can change."
Chapter One: What is Happening to Our Common Home [17-61]
Identifies problems including including pollution, climate change, water issues, loss of
biodiversity, links between ecological degradation and economic inequality,
urbanization, and the failure of leadership to effectively respond. He identifies the
interconnection between various elements of the present crisis.
An Environmental Crisis: We are destroying our common home, sister earth
"The climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all. At the global level, it is a complex system linked to many of the essential conditions for human life. A
very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a
disturbing warming of the climatic system...Humanity is called to recognize the need for changes of lifestyle, production and consumption, in order to combat this
warming or at least the human causes which produce or aggravate it." (23)
"Exposure to atmospheric pollutants produces a broad spectrum of health hazards,
especially for the poor, and causes millions of premature deaths"…The earth, our
home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth." (19 -20)
"Because of us, thousands of species will no longer give glory to God by their very
existence, nor convey their message to us. We have no such right." (33)
An Economic Crisis: The poor and excluded cry out to God
"The deterioration of the environment and of society affects the most vulnerable
people on the planet: "Both everyday experience and scientific research show that
the gravest effects of all attacks on the environment are suffered by the poorest"…It
needs to be said that, generally speaking, there is little in the way of clear awareness
of problems which especially affect the excluded. Yet they are the majority of the
planet's population, billions of people…Today, however, we have to realize that a
true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate
questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the
cry of the poor." (48 – 49)
A Political Crisis: We have failed to respond
"These situations have caused sister earth, along with all the abandoned of our
world, to cry out, pleading that we take another course. Never have we so hurt
and mistreated our common home as we have in the last two hundred years. Yet we
are called to be instruments of God our Father, so that our planet might be what he
desired when he created it and correspond with his plan for peace, beauty and
fullness. The problem is that we still lack the culture needed to confront this crisis.
We lack leadership capable of striking out on new paths and meeting the needs of
the present with concern for all and without prejudice towards coming generations" (53)
In the judge stage, the Pope looks at the deeper reality in three parts.
Chapter Two: The Gospel of Creation [62-100]
Offers and overview of Biblical accounts of creation. Humans, created in the image and
likeness of God, are special but the rest of creation also has value. Earth and animals
are not objects that we can own. "Jesus Christ lived in full harmony with creation" (98).
"We are not God. The earth was here before us and it has been given to us…
Although it is true that we Christians have at times incorrectly interpreted the
Scriptures, nowadays we must forcefully reject the notion that our being created
in God's image and given dominion over the earth justifies absolute domination over other creatures…. Clearly, the Bible has no place for a tyrannical anthropocentrism
unconcerned for other creatures." (67 - 68)
"It would also be mistaken to view other living beings as mere objects subjected to
arbitrary human domination. When nature is viewed solely as a source of profit and
gain, this has serious consequences for society. This vision of "might is right" has
engendered immense inequality, injustice and acts of violence against the majority
of humanity, since resources end up in the hands of the first comer or the most
powerful: the winner takes all. Completely at odds with this model are the ideals of
harmony, justice, fraternity and peace as proposed by Jesus." (82)
"Our insistence that each human being is an image of God should not make us
overlook the fact that each creature has its own purpose. None is superfluous. The
entire material universe speaks of God's love, his boundless affection for us. Soil,
water, mountains: everything is, as it were, a caress of God." (84)
Chapter Three: The Human Roots of the Ecological Crisis [101-136]
Examines several cultural trends in support of an anthropocentric worldview. These
include faith in a technocratic paradigm where everything becomes an object to be
used for the sake of profit and "progress."
"There is a tendency to believe that every increase in power means "an increase of
'progress' itself", an advance in "security, usefulness, welfare and vigour; …an
assimilation of new values into the stream of culture", as if reality, goodness and
truth automatically flow from technological and economic power as such. The fact is that
"contemporary man has not been trained to use power well", because our
immense technological development has not been accompanied by a development
in human responsibility, values and conscience. (105)
"All of this shows the urgent need for us to move forward in a bold cultural
revolution. Science and technology are not neutral; from the beginning to the
end of a process, various intentions and possibilities are in play and can take on
distinct shapes. Nobody is suggesting a return to the Stone Age, but we do need to
slow down and look at reality in a different way, to appropriate the positive and
sustainable progress which has been made, but also to recover the values and the
great goals swept away by our unrestrained delusions of grandeur. (114)
Chapter Four: Integral Ecology [137-162]
Lays out an alterative vision with an integral ecology that affirms the
interconnectedness of peoples, cultures, generations, and the planet.
"In the present condition of global society, where injustices abound and growing
numbers of people are deprived of basic human rights and considered expendable,
the principle of the common good immediately becomes, logically and
inevitably, a summons to solidarity and a preferential option for the poorest
of our brothers and sisters. This option entails recognizing the implications of the
universal destination of the world's goods, but, as I mentioned in the Apostolic
Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, it demands before all else an appreciation of the
immense dignity of the poor in the light of our deepest convictions as believers. We
need only look around us to see that, today, this option is in fact an ethical
imperative essential for effectively attaining the common good." (158)
"We can no longer speak of sustainable development apart from intergenerational
solidarity. Once we start to think about the kind of world we are leaving to future
generations, we look at things differently; we realize that the world is a gift which
we have freely received and must share with others. Since the world has been
given to us, we can no longer view reality in a purely utilitarian way, in which
efficiency and productivity are entirely geared to our individual benefit.
Intergenerational solidarity is not optional, but rather a basic question of justice,
since the world we have received also belongs to those who will follow us." (159)
Francis identifies two levels of action.
Chapter Five: Lines of Approach and Action [163-201]
Speaks about the need for leadership and regulatory laws concerning the environment and our relationships with the poor. This calls for dialogue at multiple levels,
including between religions and science.
"Enforceable international agreements are urgently needed, since local
authorities are not always capable of effective intervention…Global regulatory
norms are needed to impose obligations and prevent unacceptable actions, for
example, when powerful companies or countries dump contaminated waste or
offshore polluting industries in other countries." (173)
"Today, in view of the common good, there is urgent need for politics and
economics to enter into a frank dialogue in the service of life, especially human life.
Saving banks at any cost, making the public pay the price, foregoing a firm
commitment to reviewing and reforming the entire system, only reaffirms the
absolute power of a financial system, a power which has no future and will only give rise to new crises after a slow, costly and only apparent recovery. The financial
crisis of 2007-08 provided an opportunity to develop a new economy, more
attentive to ethical principles, and new ways of regulating speculative financial
practices and virtual wealth. But the response to the crisis did not include
rethinking the outdated criteria which continue to rule the world." (189)
Chapter Six: Ecological Education and Spirituality [202-246]
Points to the need for a radical change of lifestyles, particularly for those of us in
developed nations. Law and rules, while important, will never succeed unless we
change people, their views of nature, their views of the economy, and their
understanding of property. This calls for an "ecological conversion" (222) including small daily actions (like the Like the Little Way of St. Therese) and collective organizing.
"Education in environmental responsibility can encourage ways of acting which
directly and significantly affect the world around us, such as avoiding the use of
plastic and paper, reducing water consumption, separating refuse, cooking only
what can reasonably be consumed, showing care for other living beings, using publictransport or car-pooling, planting trees, turning off unnecessary lights, or any
number of other practiceswhen done for the right reasons, can be an act of love which expresses
our own dignity." (211)
"Isolated individuals can lose their ability and freedom to escape the utilitarian
mindset, and end up prey to an unethical consumerism bereft of social or ecological
awareness. Social problems must be addressed by community networks and
not simply by the sum of individual good deeds." (219)
September 1 was proclaimed as the World Day of Prayer for Creation by the Orthodox Church in 1989 and many other Christian Church have joined since then with Pope Francis most recently in 2015. It was then extended to be a month-long Season of Creation, ending on October 4, the Feast of St. Francis. We are asked to make a special effort pray for and take practical steps to protect the environment during this season. Following is Pope Francis's Prayer for Our Earth.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
A net price calculator can be an important tool in helping students and their families determine the true cost of a college education at a particular institution. Institutional flexibility in the creation of the net price calculator is critical to its usefulness to students and families—particularly for those who are considering a private, nonprofit college. This is because each institution has its own aid policies—depending on its resources, mission, and scholarship programs.
The higher education funding model employed by private, nonprofit colleges often produces significantly higher tuition sticker prices than the actual expected payment by a family. "Sticker shock" discourages many students from exploring all their options for higher education. Since many families do not fill out their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) until late in the college application cycle, quite often they do not know what their expected financial commitment will be when considering colleges.
Institutional net price calculators offer a hands-on experience for students to estimate the actual cost of going to a particular college. Net price calculators provide a snapshot of expected costs using real-time data. They offer students and their families the opportunity to properly plan and budget before visiting or applying to a particular institution. Although recent changes to the FAFSA application will help families better estimate their expected family contribution, the net price calculator will remain a vital tool to helping students find their best fit college. In fact, the new College Scorecard directly links to each institutional net price calculator.
Each institution that participates in federal student aid programs must post on its website a net price calculator that is designed to help current and prospective students, families, and other consumers estimate a student's individual net price.
This requirement, which was included in the 2008 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA), permits institutions to choose whether to develop their own net price calculator or use the template developed by the Department of Education.
Legislation has been introduced calling for a "Universal Net Price Calculator," which would enable users to answer a short, single set of questions to receive net price information for every institution. Additionally, a bipartisan amendment offered and passed during the October, 2019 markup of the House Democrats' HEA reauthorization legislation (the College Affordability Act) also proposes the creation of a universal net price calculator.
Requiring a standardized net price calculator would undermine the very reason net price calculators were mandated in 2008—namely, to encourage families to consider colleges for which aid reduces price by providing them with a more accurate picture of an institution's aid policies. While most colleges use the federal model that is already available, many private colleges that give out large amounts of aid have invested considerable resources to build their own models to ensure students have a better sense of what their actual net-price will be. A single national calculator simply won't account for the many forms of aid available.
Further, many colleges and universities have spent considerable resources to develop enrollment strategies that will allow them to attract, enroll, and retain students from diverse backgrounds. A universal net price calculator simply cannot account for such institutional policies. By the very nature of providing information about as many schools as possible, a universal net price calculator can only ask the most fundamental questions in order to produce an estimated net price for large numbers of institutions. Questions that do not appear specifically within the law will likely be ignored. Such a policy could inflate a student's net price if the questions left out of the equation are of particular importance to an institution when determining net price, and may well lead low-income students away from their "best-fit" institutions.
Changes to the current net price calculator provisions will be considered as part of the HEA reauthorization. Contact your Senators and Representatives to emphasize the factors that make net price calculators such a useful recruitment and enrollment tool. Specifically, let them know that:


text:
Advocate, Vol. 37, No. 1 (Winter 2002), pp. 12-13
Enron employees lost over $1 billion in retirement savings when the company failed and filed for bankruptcy protection. Many of these employees also lost their jobs. Enron employees were both visible and vocal about their losses, quickly obtaining the support of both the AFL-CIO and Jesse Jackson's Rainbow/Push Coalition in their fight to get some redress for their losses. Since Enron was current on its payroll at the time of the bankruptcy filing, employees' losses consisted of severance payments totaling $145 million and the losses associated with investments in Enron stock through their 401(k) accounts.
Repository Citation
Johnson, Lorie, "Employee Interests in Bankrupcy: Lessons from Enron" (2002). Popular Media. 14.


text:
Remi Devereaux is a Louisiana born detective working murder cases in Louisville, Kentucky. While shopping for game-day with the guys, he spots the most amazing person he has ever seen. Peter is a man Remi wants with his whole being, a man he just can't let go.
Peter Romanoff is a photographer who possesses the spirit of two creatures. Two beings that are slowly tearing him apart. He needs a Supruga, a mate, to help give him balance. When he meets Remi, there is a magnetic pull he can't deny.
The next in line to lead a powerful coven, Peter is hunted, and the people he knows and loves are being killed. It will take Remi's love and Peter's skills to combat the enemy after them. Can Remi be the balance Peter needs before the coven destroys them both?
Peter paused before his booted foot touched the floor of the car.
"Korol' Krovi," Caleb growled, fire gleaming from his blue eyes. "We don't have time for this."
Korol' Krovi, a title he no longer wanted, one Caleb used in its entirety as some type of admonishment. Given a chance, he would forget it entirely. It didn't matter that he was King of the Blood, successor to his father. He didn't have a coven to rule, people of the blood to follow. He was merely the leader of a pack of wolves, with Caleb at his side. But, if Peter waited, his Second had no choice but to do so as well.
"Silence, Caleb." Immediately, Caleb submitted. It was there in the arch of his graceful tanned neck, the downward shift of his massive shoulders, the appealing scent that wafted from him, tangy and sweet. "He said I was pretty. How can I resist?"
And, how could he? The man whose flesh he craved to sink his fingers into had complimented him.
Why not at least hear what he has to say?
Peter watched as his pursuer closed in, his size formidable. He wanted to go to him, to stand close and inhale him. Who was this stranger that in moments made him want things he'd given up on ever having?
An awareness rose within him, slid along his psyche with curiosity while another uncurled as if awakening from sleep.
Peter enjoyed the silkiness of Remi's voice, the way the sounds and undulations teased along his cock. This was new for him, these feelings, helpless against the desire within.
His wolf listened more carefully, more hungrily, whimpering for more. His nelapsi, the vampire side of him, push to the foreground. His eye teeth lowered, eager to take a bite, a nibble, a sip. It wouldn't be the first time he was aware of its presence, the darkness that floated just below the surface. Nelapsi were feared among all vampires, brutal, deadly and without mercy. But, Peter's differences did not stop the powerful need from rising to the forefront.
The feeling played along the nerve endings of his flesh, the pulse of his blood causing his veins to quiver in anticipation. Peter's breath quickened as both entities within gathered strength.
Kristoff's warnings from the past echoed in the background, but he chose to ignore them more in favor of savoring Remi's racing heartbeat, immersing himself in the heady scent of arousal that rose in the air. He wouldn't force another to become his balance, place on their shoulders responsibilities no person should carry. The tuning fork for his soul, there was no telling how his power would affect his Supruga, or if they would survive the energy that would course through them.
It was too much to think of right now when all he wanted, all he needed was to be closer to Remi.
"Peter," Caleb whispered, loud enough for only Peter to hear.
How long had he and Remi been staring at each other?
"Stand down, Caleb," Peter commanded softly. Stepping away from his Second, he drew closer to Remi. He was delightful, this one. The color of his skin was dark and creamy, holding an appeal that Peter wouldn't—couldn't—resist.
He pulsed with an energy that Peter imagined sampling. His blood. Would it be spicy? Would all that spirit, that vitality flavor it, make him ache for more?
Remi had his attention, those beautiful eyes on him alone.
"You take my breath away. You're beautiful, but it's so much more than that." Remi moved closer. "And," he continued roughly, "I need to know why I feel like you're a part of my soul."
Peter sighed and shook his head. "I don't know." Was this a smart, testing boundaries that only he was aware existed? Too dazzled by the man, he'd been drawn to him like an eager two-year-old to a lightning bug, but neither of them was innocent, especially him. He turned back to the car.


text:
On this week's episode, Sean catches up with Paul Rogers, Head of Digital and Social Media at AS Roma. Sean and Paul met up at the recent Business of Sport Summit and chat about the origins of Liverpool digital and his strategy pivot at AS Roma.
On this podcast you'll learn about:
- How Liverpool were early pioneers in the launch of the internet and social media
- What steps Liverpool took to localise and personalise social media content for international followers
- How your fans consume your content and remembering what content they want which may not always be the pieces that you want to push
- AS Roma's challenge of respecting the tradition of the club but also balancing appealing to hardcore fan base as well as wanting to grow and try new things
Resources from the podcast
- Thanks again to Paul Rogers from AS Roma for being our guests on this week's show
- Connect with Paul Rogers on Twitter @PaulRogers73, LinkedIn and Instagram
- Follow AS Roma on Twitter @ASRomaEN, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn
- Other Sports Geek podcast episodes you might be interested in:
- Keen to see Sean appear at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, get your ticket here
Sign up for these
- Download our new guide – Building Facebook Campaigns
- Have you signed up for weekly Sports Geek News?
- Have you joined the world's largest #SportsBiz Slack Community?
- Looking for a new gig? Sign up for our Sports Geek Jobs Email
Highlights from podcast with Paul Rogers
3:50 Paul's backstory on his childhood and getting to Liverpool FC
6:58 The challenges of sports marketing in the early days of the Internet
10:40 How they drove fans with content without social media
12:22 Transition from TV to social media marketing
13:09 Liverpool's first ever tweet
16:30 The big game changer for Liverpool
17:30 How Liverpool started to provide localised social media content to reach international followers
20:42 Paul on leaving Liverpool and going to AS Roma
24:06 How the Internet and social media impact producing content for AS Roma
27:02 Paul on delivering valuable content to fans
34:07 Paul on empowering fans to show passion using digital
38:55 Balancing traditions and technology at AS Roma
39:54 Paul on using different approach on different platforms to grow their fan base
42:34 Sports Geek Closing Five
Some tweets you may have missed
Great keynote from Paul at BOSS
Loving @PaulRogers73 breaking down common mistakes made and how the @ASRomaEN rebuilt it's strategy "Every decision puts the fans first" #BOSSummit pic.twitter.com/fCnHYaVj8R
— Sean Callanan (@seancallanan) March 13, 2018
Too good not to celebrate!
When #ASRoma score and you forget that you're supposed to be working pic.twitter.com/25LJmZyQqd
— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) March 23, 2018
Good luck for the second leg AS Roma
Click here to buy your ticket for the #UCL quarter-final second leg between #ASRoma and @FCBarcelona ➡ https://t.co/Zyg85oJrht pic.twitter.com/74DDlq80om
— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) March 22, 2018
One of the greatest stories that football has ever seen
#WorldStorytellingDay: Any excuse to re-tell one of the greatest stories football has seen… @Totti 👑#ASRoma pic.twitter.com/uOcA4pxZSf
— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) March 20, 2018
Thanks for the review on iTunes
Insightful and interesting
★★★★★ in Apple Podcasts by sportssasha from UK on January 23, 2018
I can't wait for this podcast to come out. It is so interesting and insightful and is extremely helpful for someone keen to know more about the industry. Keep up the good work!


text:
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Recortabordes Semi Pro BULL 40V battery, 36cm
Battery of high power (more time of work and life). Handle, adjustable length (adjusts to the height of the operator). Monofilament thread of 2...
From €152.10
Battery of high power (more time of work and life). Axis of adjustable length (adjusts to the height of the operator). Monofilament thread of 2 mm of thickness with automatic feed (Thread more thick and durable). Of recortabordes to cortabordes (press and turn to switch between modes). Variable speed. Lower speed = Greater autonomy; higher Speed = Higher power.
Política de seguridad
Política de envío
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Designed for residential users with much work and little time: users who know how to appreciate a century of innovation and durability that characterizes the Toro products.
The new family of garden tools wireless PowerPlex™ 40 V lithium-ion battery to provide more power and save more time with a swappable battery T90 that LOADS IN JUST 60 MINUTES.
With a FULL 2 YEAR WARRANTY in residential use, the products PowerPlex Bull are backed by one of the best guarantees for garden tools of the industry, to keep them running year after year.
|(without battery or charger included)
|Cutting width
|33 cm
|Feeding of the rope
|Line type
|Monofilament (2 mm)
|Design of the handgrip
|Grip extra adjustable
|(with battery and charger included)
|Cutting width
|33 cm
|Feeding of the rope
|Line type
|Monofilament (2 mm)
|Design of the handgrip
|Grip extra adjustable
|3,85 kg
The shaft is adjustable to suit the height of the operator.
A thread more thick and durable..
Lower speed = the time of execution is longer.
Higher speed = More power.
Switching between the modes recortabordes horizontal or vertical by pressing one button only.
Two models. T90 duration of approximately 40 minutes. T180 approximate duration of 80 minutes.
Fits tools Bull PowerPlex. Option of desktop or wall-mounting. Charge the battery T90 at 60 minutes and the battery T180 in 120 minutes. Comes standard with the complete tools PowerPlex.
2-year warranty for the machinery for residential and 1 year for professional machinery. In the case of making a professional use of machinery, residential, the warranty will be 45 days.
Take the reins of the wireless-tools PowerPlex of Bull. The ultimate in versatility, all of these tools work with the same battery of ion lithium, powerful and clean, so that you can change jobs on the fly, ready for any task. Designed to be lightweight and comfortable, the tools PowerPlex Toro are affordable, powerful and easy to use. Here is the lineup:
The blower PowerPlex brushless is located at the top of its class, with variable speed, turbo boost and available accessories that will take your breath away. Trimmer, thread-variable speed 13 "transforms from trimmer to edger with a push of the button and it adjusts to your height without tools. With the trimmer thread PowerPlex 14 "brushless motor" of the Bull can be cut as a professional, with a head of durable cast aluminum and a dual feed line, to a fast cut and efficient means of weed thick. The chainsaw brushless 14 "brushless motor", with performance similar to gas and features low kickback ... requires very little maintenance, so it is ready when you need it. The chainsaw PowerPlex 24, with blades thick and durable, cutting system, double-action, and a swivel head makes cutting it very easy.
All the tools PowerPlex come standard with a battery T90 and fast charger, or as a simple tool, with a cheaper price, without the battery and the charger. But if you want to double the run time. Toro also offers a battery T180.
Information about the battery Toro® PowerPlex ™ 40V Max * - volts, amp-hours, hours of watts
Data sheet
Specific References
Be the first to ask a question about this product!


text:
The stadium in Athens was at its capacity – 85 000. As I lined up with my fellow Canadian athletes, I could hear the roar of the crowd. It was muffled. We were outside the arena and the air was not still. It shook.
When I crossed the threshold, saw the mass of people celebrating, and heard the deafening cheer of voices pounding elite athletes from around the world, I smiled. I had made it. I represented Canada at the 2004 Paralympic Summer Games in Athens, Greece and finished amongst the top Boccia players on the planet.
Some years earlier, my mom Sandy, came out of the caesarean delivery of her first-born very groggy, as her husband Gary waited eagerly in another room. My mom had had an uneventful pregnancy and had to deliver me caesarean style, because I was breech. As she shook off the drugs, she asked the nurse: "Is it a boy?" The nurse replied that it was, with a small smile. Sandy then asked: "Does he have any hair?" The nurse didn't know – she was preoccupied with other, seemingly disastrous features.
The doctors explained to my parents that I had been born missing all of my limbs and gave a prediction of my future so bleak that my parents blurted out: "Is he going to die?!" The doctors, a little surprised, laughed and said no that I was perfectly healthy, just without most of my arms and legs. My parents wanted to see me.
When I was brought out to them for the first time, they both took turns kissing me all over and telling me that they loved me. They spent the rest of my life, so far, showing me.
They encouraged me to set hard goals and do what it takes to achieve them. Instead of putting me into a segregated school for children with disabilities, like the experts advised, my parents – unilingual English speakers – enrolled me in a local French immersion school so that I would have a bit more of a challenge!
As I grew, I became interested in physical activity. I joined a swim team for athletes with disabilities and soon competed in Swimming, Shot Put, Discus and Javelin. Then I discovered Boccia – the international Paralympic indoor version of the Italian past time – and was hooked on the intense skill, precision, strategy and competition of pushing myself to get better and better.
Not having hands or full legs presents many tough obstacles. And, like any obstacles that seem insurmountable, they can be shattered. Some I overcame naturally: I learned to write, play and draw by watching my friends. Others I had help with before I could help myself: my dad built me parallel bars and my mom encouraged me to use them to practice walking upright. Other obstacles, I stared at head on and came up with solutions: learning to dress myself when I was 13, becoming an early riser in my mid twenties, and the more recent realisation that what others think about me, doesn't matter.
I love not having arms and legs, and I love myself (maybe too much – ask anyone who knows me!). I love the things I can do. And, I love the things I can't do, yet.
You should love yourself too. No matter what circumstances you find yourself in, you have the ability to surprise yourself.
Sometimes I wonder whether or not I have an effect when I visit schools, or speak to audiences. My partner, Dalia, and I were watching a show at the Vancouver Centre for the Performing Arts, and at intermission a couple I didn't recognise, approached us. One of them was a teacher at a local school I had presented at; she told me that the students were organising a sports day – several months after I had presented – and they insisted that Boccia be included in the program. An outdoor version was included, and was a great success bringing students of all abilities and backgrounds together in friendly competition.
Sometimes I surprise myself.
At a recent corporate presentation, the nicest lady approached me afterwards in tears and told me that my message had affected her in a very personal way. Neither of us could find the words to express ourselves further, so we hugged and smiled and cried.
Sometimes I really surprise myself.


text:
Paul Cummins, PhD
Educator & Author
Dr. Paul Cummins, President and CEO of Coalition for Engaged Education (CEE), received his bachelor of arts from Stanford University, his MAT from Harvard, and his doctorate from the University of Southern California. In 1971, he co-founded Crossroads School in Santa Monica and built it into one of Los Angeles's most successful educational institutions and a national model for innovative, independent schools.
In 1995, Cummins stepped down as Headmaster of Crossroads and formed New Visions Foundation (now Coalition for Engaged Education) to...
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Cummins has published four books on education, including Proceed With Passion: Engaging Students in Meaningful Education (2004), and Two Americas, Two Educations: Funding Quality Schools for all Students (2007), both published by Red Hen Press. His most recent book of essays, Why Poetry? Reflections on Poetry, Writing and Culture, was published in 2009 by Xlibris, in addition to two volumes of his poetry and two children's books published in recent years. He is currently finishing Confessions of a Headmaster: My Pursuit of Joy and Justice in Education (forthcoming from Red Hen Press).
Cummins and his wife Mary Ann reside in Santa Monica. They have four daughters and five grandchildren.


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I'm not a gamer. I don't even play one on TV. But I know what happens when your laptop's processor gets cooked because the fans that come with it either don't cool the device enough or just wear out. It's this Need For Speed, and gamers survive on it as much as they do Skittles and Mountain Dew. I don't get it, but the gamers in my life do, and the Cooler Master Storm StrikeForce-19 has elicited quite a bit of interest amongst the propeller-heads of my acquaintance.
It is, simply put, a cool device. No pun intended. As laptops become more prevalent in their use over the desktop computer, the gamer understands that he/she no longer need to unplug their tower and lug it to LAN parties. I know a teensy bit about LAN parties. When my husband and I were first married, we had no money so we rented out rooms in our townhouse to his computer science buddies as everyone was still in their final year of college. One night I come home to a completely dark house but plenty of yelling and bells, whistles and what sounded like gunfire from the second floor. The eerie glow of computer screens was the only light to be had as my husband, two roommates and three friends (ensconced on the floor in the hallway) were in the fight for their lives playing some …game… StarCraft… was it… I just remember hearing "My Life for Eire" over and over.
That was the old days. No one at this LAN party had a laptop and everyone had some sort of jerry-rigged cooling system going to cool down their computers while they saved humanity from something called a "Protoss". Now life is made a lot simpler by not having to lug around your tower (although some purists still do), but the persistent nagging issue of cooling down your processor still remains.
The surface of the cooler or CM Storm supports notebooks up to 19″ and features dual 140mm fans with speed control. Fan life is about 25,000 hours, and it runs at 1,200 to 2,600 RPM.
It uses a DC 12V/2.5A adapter, and it should be noted that the devices comes equipped with a 3.0 USB hub. Which from a gaming standpoint is fine, but from a non-techie standpoint… this is great! I'm not rocking the die hard gaming laptops, but I do plug in a lot of stuff because my little Dell has no internal DVD/CD drive. If I want to use the drive, charge my phone, my Nook and rock an external keypad (because I'm an old school ten keyer), I'm going to run out of USB ports very quickly. For the non techie type, this device doubles as a supreme lap desk.
But back to the gamers. It has been suggested to me that, despite the nifty carrying handle and lightweight construction, the Strikeforce is bulky. I tend to not subscribe to that theory, but the gamers are welcome to their opinion. Given what this device does, I think its good outweighs any complaints of bulk. It's spacious for sure, but it is designed to accommodate a 19″ machine.
And now a word about the LED lights. I was going to skip this part of the review because, from my standpoint, the LED lights are almost pointless. However, anyone who has ever been to LAN party knows that it's Lights Out and good luck finding your way to the bathroom. The Strikeforce comes equipped with these color switchable LED lights. Red. Green. Blue. Yellow. White. Whoopity. Doo. The lights can be rotated in a "breathing" pattern (based on fan speed) as well. Yes, I'm excited too. You can turn the LEDs off and I do.
The Cooler Master website boasts 33 pages of retailers that carry this device. At Amazon.com, it's listed at $79.99 and I have Amazon Prime, so I usually go that route rather than sift through several pages of retailers and their contact info.
All told, gamers, non gamers, techie people, non techies, the CM Storm Strikeforce-19 is a good buy and a useful tool.
Product Information
|$79.99 at Amazon.com. Website does offer a series of other retailers that carry this product.
|Cooler Master


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"Blessed are the Peacemakers"
Recent Developments
Tensions between China and Japan over the contested Senkaku/Diaoyu islands continue to increase as both countries improve their military capabilities, particularly their radar and missile systems, in the region. To avoid accidental clashes at air and sea, China and Japan announced a new crisis communication hotline in June 2018. However, although Japan's Ministry of Defense reported that the number of times Japan's military had to scramble jets in response to Chinese air incursions went down 41 percent in 2017, that number increased in 2018 and is on trend to continue increasing in 2019 [PDF]. Recently, Japan has built new military bases on nearby islands, allegedly to monitor the Miyako and Tokara Straits and prevent China from further developing its military capabilities in the region.
The Senkaku/Diaoyu islands were formally claimed by Japan in 1895 and have been privately owned by a series of Japanese citizens for most of the past 120 years. Aside from a brief period after World War II when the United States controlled the territory, Japan has exercised effective control over the islands since 1895.
China began to reassert claims over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands in the 1970s, citing historic rights to the area. Tensions resurfaced in September 2012 when Japan purchased three of the disputed islands from a private owner. The economically significant islands, which are northeast of Taiwan, have potential oil and natural gas reserves, are near prominent shipping routes, and are surrounded by rich fishing areas.
Each country claims to have economic rights in an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of two hundred nautical miles from its coast, but that space overlaps because the sea separating China and Japan only spans three hundred and sixty nautical miles. After China discovered natural gas near the overlapping EEZ-claimed area in 1995, Japan objected to any drilling in the area due to the fact that the gas fields could extend into the disputed zone.
In April 2014, President Barack Obama became the first U.S. president to explicitly state that the disputed islands are covered by the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, but the United States does not take a formal position on their ultimate sovereignty. An accidental military incident or political miscalculation by China or Japan could embroil the United States in armed hostilities with China.
Discussions between Japan and China to develop a crisis management mechanism tool began in 2012. Talks stalled when tensions peaked in 2013 after China declared the establishment of an air defense identification zone, airspace over land in which the identification, location, and control of civil aircraft is performed in the interest of national security. After Japan and China signed a four-point consensus document laying out their differences concerning the disputed islands, bilateral discussions resumed in early 2015, aiming to implement the maritime and aerial communication mechanism. After nine rounds of high-level consultations, the mechanism was launched in June 2018.
Rising nationalist sentiments and growing political mistrust heighten the potential for conflict and hinder the capacity for peaceful resolution of the dispute. Though Chinese and Japanese leaders have refrained from forcibly establishing control over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, unauthorized action by local commanders could result in the unintended escalation of hostilities. Through treaty commitments with Japan, a military confrontation could involve the United States. To preserve relations with China and continue cooperation on various issues, the United States has an interest in de-escalating tensions.


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WTF: Nick Cave And Andy Serkis Making Mo-Cap Threepenny Opera
OK, I'm stunned. What is there to possibly say about the news that actor Andy Serkis and multi-hyphenate Nick Cave are planning a motion-capture version of The Threepenny Opera? It's an idea that sounds so mad and so perfect I can't imagine not rushing out to see it. But mo-cap? Granted, if that's the technique at hand then Serkis is obviously the go-to performer, but still. Berlin has been a source of crazy stories in the last few days, but this one sounds like it is actually happening.
Screen Daily reports the announcement, but doesn't have any further details. The news comes from the Berlinale, where Serkis is on hand to promote the Ian Dury biopic sexdrugs&rock&roll. One Polish report suggests that Cave will be responsible for the music, which is easily the quick assumption to make. As he's also an accomplished screenwriter, will he pen the screenplay as well? And who directs? What house does the digital heavy lifting? Who the hell is going to pay for this? Questions, questions.The Threepenny Opera, penned by Bertold Brecht with music by Kurt Weill, opened in Berlin in 1928. It takes place in Victorian London (or a stylized facsimile thereof) and follows Macheath, aka Mack the Knife, as he marries Polly Peachum and subsequently deals with the wrath of her father, who attempts to use his control over London's beggars to have Mack hanged. The original musical was a capitalist critique, which could make for an interesting thematic basis for what must be a fairly expensive project.
The music is an odd combination of Teutonic stylings and early jazz. As is, it would sound fairly out of date in a mocap musical. Lotte Lenya makes 'Mack the Knife' work, but I'd guess Nick Cave will do a little re-tuning. Or perhaps not, as his own version of 'Mack the Knife', below, is pretty straightforward.
On a more or less unrelated note, as long as famous and creative names are putting together Brechtian mocap films, can someone throw The Tiger Lillies some scratch to make an animated film of Shockheaded Peter?


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Configure social login with Twitter
The following steps are required in order to allow social login in Alma using Twitter.
Note that with Twitter, unlike Facebook and Google, users will need to enter their Twitter's username and password when they log in to Alma even if they have logged into Twitter before that. Twitter explain: "Re-authorization allows a user to make a more informed decision about the access an application has requested."
Configure Twitter to allow login to Alma
- Create a Twitter account for the library. The account will be used for defining the application on the institution's behalf.
- Connect to Twitter' Apps Console with the library's account.
- Create an application for allowing social login. (Details can be found in this blog post but keep in mind that Twitter has made significant changes since this blog was written). Make sure to set the Access Level to read-only and in Callback URL type your Alma URL (with Twitter it doesn't matter exactly which URL you configure).
Twitter's new version isn't supported by Alma, so after generating a key, you will need to generate afterward again from the top of the screen, at the section below "Consumer Keys", as the key from there will work with Alma.
- From the created app, copy the Consumer Key and secret.
Configure and enable social login in Alma
A new "Social Login" integration profile should be defined in general configuration – Integration Profiles. You should define such a profile for each social network provider your institution would like to allow logging in with.
Following is an explanation of each field of the profile:
- System: select Twitter.
- App ID, App Secret: enter the credentials which were supplied by the social network provider (step 4 above).
- Self-registration section: set to Active if your institution allows self-registration of patrons from Primo: Alma will create a user for an unregistered user logging into Primo with social authentication. The user will be created with a patron role, and the other defaults defined in this section (user group, Resource sharing library, and statistical category).


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The news channel will use big data analytics and mathematical models to bring the viewer a holistic news watching experience on March 11
March 9, 2017
Times Now, the English news channel, is all set to redefine election coverage with Mandate 2017. The channel plans to make this coverage more exciting and engaging for its viewers with some engaging properties under Mandate 2017.
The show 'Result Day Live' for the forthcoming elections results will be aired on March 11 from 6 am onwards. It will feature a new-age look at election result analysis along with several unique properties that help viewers understand what is the impact of their opinions on election day.
Times Now will use big data analytics and mathematical models to bring the viewer a holistic news watching experience along with a stellar panel of former journalists and political analysts.
Results of five Indian states, including Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Manipur and Uttarakhand will be declared on March 11.
Rahul Shivshankar, Chief Editor of Times Now, and Navika Kumar, Managing Editor, Politics, will host this special show and will be joined by a panel of eminent experts like Neerja Chowdhury, senior journalist, R Rajagopalan, senior journalist, Sanjeev Srivastava, Founder Edit Platter.com, Saba Naqvi, senior journalist, Shahid Siddiqui, Editor, Nayi Duniya, Rajeev Desai, Public Affairs Analyst, Kumar Ketkar, senior journalist, Alok Mehta, senior journalist and Nalin Mehta, Consulting Editor Times of India.
Media contact:
Hinjal Veera


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Four hours a day.
Three days a week.
Every single week of the year.
That's how long Steve Brown of Ocean Beach spends in a UCSD Medical Center basement with a plastic tube tethering him to a machine.
He's been doing this without exception for the last nine years.
No days off. No time out.
[one_half][box type="shadow this-matters"]With so many people in the nation hooked up to machines three days a week to filter their blood, the quality of care at dialysis centers is important to measure.[/box][/one_half]
"I asked one of the doctors … what would happen if I just quit? Just stopped?" Brown said. "He told me, 'You'd probably be dead within two weeks.'"
Brown, 70, is one of more than about 468,000 people in the nation — roughly 5,000 in San Diego County — whose kidneys no longer remove waste products through urine. They're in stage 4 or 5 kidney failure, or end stage renal disease, and must go through this ordeal called dialysis.
So they settle into big reclining chairs, turn on a TV overhead, fiddle with cellphones and tablets or try to snooze, ignoring the softly purring machines beside them. For nearly four hours these hemodialyzers pump their blood through plastic tubing into a filter, then circulate cleaner blood back through the tubes into their veins. They do what their kidneys can't.
"I tell my patients, being on dialysis is like having a part-time job," said Dr. Danuta Trzebinska, a nephrologist and medical director of the UCSD unit. About 128 patients cycle through, as many as 18 at a time, in the chairs lined up around the room. After dialysis, patients need to stay about an hour longer to assure they're good to leave. Adding that to travel time, she said, "and half your day is gone, or maybe more than half a day."
Star Ratings
Since the start of a federal dialysis quality rating program several years ago, shown with star ratings on the website Dialysis Compare, patient mortality has gone down and other quality measures have gone up in San Diego and across the country.
Federal officials say evidence has shown that dialysis centers that pay more attention to certain processes of care can extend the length and quality of their patients' lives. For example, dialysis clinics work harder to have many more patients accessing dialysis through surgically created fistulas in the arm, which are easier on the body and reduce risk of infection, rather than catheters in the chest.
Brown is one of the lucky ones, because he's a survivor. Annual death rates for people on dialysis are still high, and vary widely depending on factors such as how sick patients are with other illnesses like heart disease, their adherence to medication and low-salt, low potassium diets, and their age and stage of kidney disease when dialysis began.
At UCSD, between 11 and 13 percent of patients who start dialysis will not be alive after 12 months, Trzebinska said. Nationally, five years later, only 40 percent will be alive.
Some are waiting for a transplant. But most patients don't qualify or will die before a donor kidney comes along. Brown, for example, said he was taken off the list three years ago because of hardening of the arteries in the area where the new kidney would be attached.
"It would just be too difficult to do a transplant," he said. So he's resigned to this for the rest of his life.
Over the years, dialysis centers have flourished to provide care to this growing group of patients. Now there are about 6,700 facilities, about three dozen in San Diego County.
Federal reimbursement
For about 80 to 90 percent of patients undergoing dialysis, payment for their sessions comes from Medicare, which paid about $26.1 billion in 2014, or $87,482 per patient. Centers reimbursed by Medicare receive about $240 per patient per session for all center costs during dialysis. Depending on their income and insurance, patients may have to pay 20 percent of the bill, although lower income patients may have that covered under Medi-Cal.
That's why in 2008, the federal agency started to demand quality reporting, so it would know what it was getting for its money. There was a lot of variation in dialysis care, with some centers experiencing high rates of preventable death and infection, and some low.
Other costs for ancillary services like surgeries to create fistulas or catheter access points for dialysis brought the bill to about $30.9 billion in 2013.
In January 2015, after years of planning, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services rolled out a one to five star rating system on its website, Dialysis Compare, to score federally reimbursed dialysis centers on seven quality measures. In part, the rating system was authorized by portions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, parts of which may soon be repealed or unfunded.
Ratings caused the nephrology community a lot of anxiety, Trzebinska said. But the underlying premise is sound. Star ratings and public scoring serve to improve patients' quality of life and survival by helping poorer scoring centers learn from higher scoring ones. Additionally, patients and family members can see on a website how places near them scored and know which places to avoid, and where some centers fall short.
Of the 35 dialysis centers in San Diego County, 18 received five stars including UCSD, six received four stars, six received three stars and three received just one star. Two facilities were not scored.
How dialysis centers compare
A dialysis center's star rating is determined by scores on seven measures averaged in three groupings. The first group includes percentages of patients who died, required hospitalization or required transfusion. The second represents the percentage of patients receiving dialysis through what is considered the safest method. The third shows whether the facility adequately cleared wastes from patients' blood, the time spent on dialysis and whether it monitored patients' bone mineral levels.
Seven measures for five stars
Facilities are star-rated based on seven characteristics, which CMS has determined most facilities have the ability to control and improve the survival and quality of life for their patients, although some center officials strongly disagree, including Trzebinska.
Because the federal agency is serious about driving higher quality of care, it has a second rating system called the Quality Incentive Program that uses a different set of 14 measures — some of which are the same as in the star rating system — but poor QIP performers receive pay cuts of as much as 2 percent for an entire subsequent year.
Currently, centers are being scored on responses to a six-question survey of patients' experiences, including whether doctors and nurses communicated well, whether patients had higher rates of readmissions than expected, whether patients were more likely to get bloodstream infections, whether patients were assessed for depression and pain, and whether the center's personnel were vaccinated against influenza.
Rates of readmission are a big concern, according to the U.S. Renal Data System, which says 33 percent of hemodialysis patients are rehospitalized within 30 days, compared with 17.4 percent of general Medicare patients.
Becky Hensley, of Chula Vista, who worked in administration at the Salk Institute for 28 years, started dialysis a year ago after a long-standing disease got worse and her kidneys dangerously decreased urine output. Anticipating that, Trzebinska ordered a fistula surgically installed a few months in advance, so Hensley was ready when the time came. And it was tough at first, Hensley said.
There were some problems with getting access to her veins, which are relatively thin, and for the first few months, she said, "it was really painful." She almost gave up.
But there wasn't another option. "When I first started dialysis I was told that if I did not go on dialysis at the point that I needed to, I would have approximately two weeks or less to live."
Life expectancy tables for people like her, Hensley said, show they'll have about five or six years left in their lives if they stay on dialysis. But she knows people who have been on dialysis 15 years.
"So it's very important that I come," she said. "I have grandbabies, and great-grandchildren that I want to see."
Not a perfect system
Even though the UCSD dialysis unit got five stars, Trzebinska is not happy with the way scoring systems work.
"Yes, we are at five stars and we are very happy and very proud," she said, all the more so because when the ratings first came out in early 2015, UCSD got only three, and a year later four. So it has improved dramatically.
"It's important that we have some kind of a system to measure quality of care provided to dialysis patients," but after saying that, Trzebinska said she "hates" the scoring system because it doesn't take into account many patient conditions that she said are "out of our control."
She takes issue with measuring transfusions, because patients may have liver or HIV disease, or other conditions that necessitate transfusions. Likewise measuring calcium, high levels of which may be because the patient also has cancer. "But you still get punished for this," she said.
"It's not a perfect system."
- Rate of transfusions: Can reveal whether the center sufficiently provides patients with a drug that stimulates growth of red blood cells to prevent anemia
- Mortality rate: Indicates whether a center's patients lived longer than expected. Patient behavior – including whether they skip treatments – can affect mortality, but the rate also can indicate whether the center fell short of providing necessary care.
- Patient hospitalization rate: Given patients' stage of disease and other factors, better dialysis centers may help patients avoid serious problems such as infections.
- Toxin removal: Treatments should adequately remove a minimum amount of toxins and urea from blood. Session lengths should be matched to body weight by a formula.
- Dialysis process: The center should ensure as many patients as possible are connected to dialysis machines through an arteriovenous fistula rather than a tunnel catheter. A fistula access, which requires a surgical procedure two to three months before dialysis begins, is less likely to cause infections or other complications.
- Tunnel catheter: Ideally, the devices are used only temporarily while a patient's fistula is cleaned or surgically replaced. The ratings measure whether patients have used a tunnel catheter for more than 90 days.
- Calcium levels: Percentage of patients who had an average calcium level over three months that was too high. Those patients may be at greater risk for nervous system and heart complications.
She's not the only nephrologist to push back on the way CMS measures quality of dialysis care.
Dr. Daniel Weiner of Tufts Medical Center in Boston, who chairs the quality, patient safety and clinical practice committee with the American Society of Nephrology and is associate medical director of the Dialysis Clinic Inc. in Boston, has similar views.
"If you're a payer you want measures to be sure you're getting value for your expenditure," Weiner said. "And to some extent, some of these have driven improvements in care. There are a lot more fistulas that are in use today than there were before. Whether it's the QIP that has driven that … maybe it has made a difference to some extent."
Fistula versus catheter
But many patients don't have healthy veins that can withstand a fistula and must be dialyzed through a catheter. His grandfather was on dialysis and was persuaded that he should undergo surgery to get a fistula. He said no.
"So let's say he wants to transfer to a new dialysis unit that's flirting with a penalty (a pay cut from Medicare as high as 2 percent), and you've got a 90-year old with a catheter? Are you going to take him?"
"There's a certain amount of unfairness in the way the system measures care, both for star ratings and for payment," Weiner said.
Others complained that the system does not adequately adjust for very sick patients. Representatives of three San Diego centers that received one star in the latest survey attributed their score to the fact that they were performing dialysis on extremely sick low-income patients in a nursing home.
"These were patients who were really very difficult, with amputations and wounds, low protein levels and very poor phosphorous control, and a lot of different issues related to their chronic diseases that brought our numbers down," said Dr. Ricardo Soltero, medical director of FMC- Balboa South Bay Home Therapies in Chula Vista, owned by the large dialysis chain Fresenius.
For Brown, life goes on. Retired long ago from a company that made elevators, he recently bought a single lens reflex camera, and can't wait to experiment with it on walks along Sunset Cliffs near his home.
That is, on the days when he's not sitting in his dialysis chair at UCSD.


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Professional and semi-professional photographers are like a Top Gun-era Tom Cruise—cocky and in The Need, The Need For Speed. That's why SanDisk's Extreme IV CompactFlash cars are touted as the "fastest cards in the world" at a read/write speed of 40MB/sec. Very speedy compared to the no-name brands the weekend point-and-shoot crowd prefer.
To allow quick reads for dumping pics into the computer, something the crappy 53-in-1 card readers fail at, SanDisk is releasing its Extreme FireWire reader at the same time. Firewire 800 connections will be able to hit the 40MB/sec, and the Firewire 400s will make do at 20MB/s.
The cards will cost around $200, $400, and $700 dollars for the 2GB, 4GB and 8GB cards, respectively.
Press Release [SanDisk via Trusted Reviews]


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Mitas C16 Winter Friction
Mitas C - 17 winter Friction
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**More than 90% of our orders reach the customer in the specified delivery time.
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Disney XD has renewed Kickin' It, their highest-rated TV series, for a fourth season. Production will resume in November in Los Angeles with the new episodes expected to air some time in 2014. There's no word on how many installments have been ordered.
The fourth season of the martial arts series will star Jason Earles, Leo Howard, Mateo Arias, and Dylan Riley Snyder. Olivia Holt is leaving the show to star in a new Disney Channel comedy series, I Didn't Do It, which will premiere in 2014.
Season three of Kickin' It is currently airing and is Disney XD's top series in total viewership and several young demographics. In addition, it's outperforming season two by double digits.
What do you think? Are you a fan of Kickin' It? How long do you think the series should run?


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Page - Blog Single Column Left Sidebar
Web Application to Enhance Security with Milestone SDK Integration
- Seamless 3rd party API integration
- Customization for user requirements
- Compatible with most devices in market
Having large manufacturing unites at multiple location; the client is a leading supplier of automobile equipment's for nearly 2 decades. Their customers are four wheeler & two-wheeler brands.
The client's requirement is to monitor their manufacturing units remotely – anytime anywhere to know the current happenings. Having an existing CCTV monitoring system, they do not backup all the footages. Based on some actions / event happening, they required to watch the videos from remote. This is to ensure to catchup on particular defined actions than to monitor the complete videos.
What We Did
Based on their requirement, we integrated Milestone Integration Platform Software Development Kit (MIP SDK) for the existing video management software. This notifies the user when some specific pre-defined actions / event happens. Ex: fire alarms, door open, server failure etc. Also Milestone SDK in the VMS takes snapshots at defined intervals in the set cameras and stored in the memory. This helps in saving storage memory only for required items. Hence the user is able to watch the snapshots / videos that from remote based on the notification received.
Technologies Used.
- Unbeatable security of the organizations
- Saves time & labour with advanced search tool
- Customization based on the user needs becomes easy
- Support most of the leading devices available in market
- Efficient workflow with customizable and simplified user interface


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Bay and Bow windows Installation and Replacement
Bay and Bow windows are the most cost effective way to increase the room size and/or the square footage of usable space in the house. Just about any regular windows can be converted into bay or bow windows. Anyone will enjoy an extra deep ledge to sit on or put their favourite plants on. We can design your bay or bow window to fit your needs and build it from scratch. You will also enjoy an excellent air flow form your new bay or bow window as they usually come with at least two opening sections. We also insulate top and bottom ledge of the window and the posts. Some applications will require us to build the roof of the new bay or bow, which can be finished with powered coated aluminum or shingles of your choice. Skirts are also optional and can dramatically increase the curb appeal of your bay or bow window as well as your house.
Superior Custom Made Bay and Bow windows
Canadian Climate Zone Map and Energy Star efficiency requirements for Windows and Doors
Features – Bay Window
- Made with triple weatherstripping and 7⁄8" thick energy efficient thermo(Low E Argon Gas).
- Option: Triple, Laminated, Frosted, Gluechip.
- Material: uPVC, uPVC and aluminum (hybrid)
- 90-degree sash opening eases cleaning from the inside (when integrating casement windows).
- Stainless steel hardware guarantees an increased durability.
- Triple, black neoprene compression weatherstripping prevents air infiltration
- Multi-point locks make the window even more airtight
- Grille designs: Georgian 5⁄8" and 1", Rectangular 5⁄16", Tubular 1⁄4".
- Available colours: White, Colour, Brass, Silver, Pewter.
Windows, skylights and doors are not generally assigned with an R-value when they are being tested. Nevertheless, window salespeople and contractors may often refer to an R-value for measuring the window performance. R-value serves as a measure of the resistance to flow of heat. In order to understand this R-value system in a better way, you can sample U-factors in metric as well as imperial units that have been perfectly converted to the R-values in this following table. Since the ER values are actually derived from a mathematical formula that makes use of U-factor as well as solar heat gain, there's no method for directly converting the ER value into an R-value.
Features – Bow Window
- High performance 5 5⁄8 " uPVC frame
- Made with triple weatherstripping and 7⁄8" thick energy efficient thermo(Low E Argon Gas). Option: Triple, Laminated, Frosted, Gluechip.
- Material: uPVC, uPVC and aluminum (hybrid)
- Available colors: White,Brown, Black, Anodized, Custom Color
Most common types of Bay and Bow Windows
Bay and Bow Windows - Recent Projects in Calgary, Alberta
Explore Bay and Bow Windows recent project ...
Explore the Door range
Receive a Quick Quote.
For Immediate services please contact our customer service department on 403-456-6748. You are also welcome to send us an email.
Send us a Service Request.
For Immediate services please contact our customer service department on 403-456-6748. You are also welcome to send us service request via the following form.


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Back in the early '80s, The Bronx was reeling from years of urban decay. "It literally looked like a war-torn country in some places," recalls Grandmaster Caz, one of the founding emcees of the Cold Crush Brothers and a 2008 inductee at the Bronx Walk of Fame. "I mean, it looked like Beirut! But those were the conditions that we grew up in."
In the midst of the chaos, Caz and a wave of young artists — rappers, DJs, break dancers and graffiti writers — were doing all they could to change the bleak landscape. Budding filmmaker Charlie Ahearn heard about their efforts, and together with graffiti artists Fab 5 Freddy and Lee Quinones, he hatched the idea to make "Wild Style" in 1983.
It broke ground as the first feature film to document hip-hop culture, and 30 years later, what began as an underground indie project has become a cult classic. On Monday, SummerStage's "This Is Hip-Hop" series will present a free live show and screening at the East River Park amphitheater. The park is the site of the film's climactic concert scene, so it was important for Ahearn to assemble as many of the original cast members there as he could.
"I want to show and prove that we're all here and that the culture that 'Wild Style' represented is still very much in evidence," says Ahearn. "It's not about me or about any individual. It's about the group — the community — that extends at this point around the world."
Starring Quinones as Zoro, a struggling graffiti writer, with fellow artist Lady Pink as his love interest and Fab 5 Freddy as the smooth-talking Phade, the film was shot almost entirely in The Bronx, and follows a loose story line that quickly gives way to its young stars as they showcase their talents. Ahearn's camera captures a who's-who of hip-hop's old school, including Busy Bee, Grandmaster Flash, Grand Wizard Theodore, Double Trouble, Rammellzee, Rock Steady Crew and the Cold Crush Brothers.
"It was kind of natural for us," recalls Caz, who's slated to DJ and host the SummerStage event. "We were performers, and we were performing in our own element. This wasn't a big Hollywood production; it was basically grass- roots, so we had no idea how far it would go."
When it premiered at a Times Square movie theater in 1983, "Wild Style" sold out for the three weeks it screened. "I wanted to create something that could play to a 14-year-old in a local movie house," Ahearn says. "To me, that meant a narrative, and my heroes at the time were guys like Bruce Lee. So in 'Wild Style,' everyone in a sense was 'acting,' but like Bruce, they could still be seen as themselves. Everyone got their 10 minutes, and together we projected an image of the future of hip-hop."
"Wild Style" 30th anniversary celebration is at East River Park, at the FDR Drive entrance at Cherry Street. Live show on Monday at 6 p.m.; screening at 8 p.m. Info: wildstylethemovie.com.


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The Sun Type 6Hardware
It's been at least a few months since we had a keyboard discussion. This cannot stand; in part given you'd be sitting to use one.
While I'm okay typing on laptops, I've come to use split keyboards on my desktops. There's some evidence so-called "ergonomic" keyboards do little to protect our wrists from strain, but I do find the angle and position of my arms lead to less pain after heavy days of typing.
This has meant I've largely stopped using my beautiful buckling spring Model M clone as my daily workhorse. It also puts certain other classic models out of reach, if we measured typing device ergonomics based on their shelf position.
Take the Sun Type 6, lovingly photographed on the Deskthority wiki. When I first learned Java back in the day, I did so using a Sun SPARC workstation, and one of these gorgeous keyboards. Their rubber domes limited the Ray Charles action one could feel, but the useful shortcut keys and subtle hints of purple certainly left an impression.
Ergonomics aside, their connectors would have hampered their use on a contemporary machine anyway. From Deskthority:
The Sun Type 6 has a fixed cable and the underside has cable channels for both cables going to the left and right. Earlier examples use Sun's proprietary mini-DIN interface, but Sun later introduced USB on their workstations and servers.
I do remember back in the day searching around for a mini-DIN to USB or PS/2 connector in the hopes of scoring one of the keyboards and using it.
So all one needs to do is make a split, mechanical keyboard in light purple and grey. Anyone game?


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The Rise and Fall of Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon was the product of prevailing political, administrative, social, economic and religious conditions in France. The rise of Napoleon as a first counsel in 1799 opened a new chapter in French history. This revolution had played an important role in his rise. The socio-economic order of pre revolution France was characterized by class privileges and intense discrimination. The revolution overthrew these discriminations under the old system. The ideals of nationality, merit and equality initiated by the revolution that allowed a commoner like Napoleon to attain high office in military and earn admiration from French people. The revolution of 1789 had destroyed the existing political order of France. The monarchy was abolished and king was executed and state was declared as republic. These principles allowed Napoleon to claim his right over the state authority. The noble and progressive ideals of revolution had threatened the absolute monarchies of Europe and they joined hands together to invade France. This invasion threatened the very existence of revolution. During this hour of crisis; Napoleon won number of victories and exhibited his military genius.
In 1799 Napoleon was the most acceptable leader in France because of his success on external front had transformed him into an invincible hero. The failure of the rule of directory had played important role in creating conditions responsible for the rise of Napoleon.
The rule of directory (1795-99) was weak and inefficient. It failed to work in cohesive manner and this led to increasing hardships for the common masses. The rule of directory failed to initiate any strong steps to counter the prevailing economic difficulties. Their decision to devalue the French currency led to high inflation. The increasing prices of necessary commodities had led to hardships in masses and they started looking for change. The French forces were losing at multiple fronts. The news of military reversals hurt the nationalistic spirit of French masses.
Napoleon was an epitome of peace and order as he had proved his genius in Italy and Germany. His administrative capability in Italy and France had inspired the French masses to look for his leadership. The military success of Napoleon had brought glory to France. The French people wanted French nationalism to succeed everywhere and they were ready to forsake the grand ideals of French Revolution.
Napoleon was acceptable to all the sections of French population. He was supported by the monarchist as they were looking for the revival of monarchy in France. The bourgeoisie were looking for peace and stability as the ongoing anarchy had ruined their economic activities. The peasants were looking for securing their gains as Napoleon had promised all these to different sections of the society. The excesses of revolution had also played an important role as France was undergoing a phase of anarchy created by the internal civil war. The reign of terror took away lives of many French civilians. After a period of almost a decade the common masses were ready to submit to the leadership of strong man who could pull them out from the morass.
The works of Napoleon were inspired by the ideals of equality, fraternity and he emphasized upon rule of equality and law. He also guaranteed the right to choose profession for the citizens. He undertook steps to end the ongoing exploitation. He also followed the principle of religious freedom for the citizens. He reached an agreement with Pope in 1801 and this led to the soothing of religious sentiments of the masses. Napoleon also represented the ideal of nationalism cherished by the revolution.
In 1803 Napoleon created a new civil service and it became the precedent of modern French civil service. He appointed prefects and sub prefects at local level and this system is continuing to this day. The code Napoleon enacted by him to establish the rule of equality and law is being followed even today and it inspired the legal system of many countries of the world. The economic reforms initiated by him also proved to be long lasting. He founded the Bank of France in 1800.He developed number of road networks in France. The educational reforms were also very effective as he opened many schools and colleges and in 1808 he set up the French university. The Paris Museum set up by him can be seen even today.
By July 1807 Napoleon had captured almost whole of Europe and only Russia was outside his dominance. He had conquered Italy and in 1802 had signed Treaty with Britain where Britain tactically accepted the supremacy of Napoleon. In 1805 he defeated the countries of Prussia and Austria in the battle of Austerliz.They were forced to sign the treaty and accepted French supremacy. The Holy Roman Empire was also dissolved and with this Pope was also come under the political supremacy of Napoleon. He brought together more than 300 smaller states of Germany and created a confederation of Rhine having 39 states. By the treaty of Pressburg Napoleon was accepted as the savior of the confederation. In 1807 he defeated the Russian forces in the battle of Fredland and forced the Russian czar to accept his supremacy by the Treaty of Tilsit.This became the high watermark of career of Napoleon also because after this treaty his decline started.
Napoleon had fought a number of battles against British army. He was successful in most of these battles but since these battles were fought in continental Europe their outcome did not affect the British much. He knew that without subjugation of Britain he couldn't have permanent peace, he made number of attempts to conquer the British mainland but these attempts failed as British had naval supremacy. When he failed to conquer British with help of force he adopted different strategy. He knew that Britain supremacy lies in its flourishing commercial activities and therefore he decided to restrict the British trading commerce .He issued decrees to prohibit all commercial activities with British ports. By another decree he ordered blockage of all commercial ports in Europe for British traders and ships. In another decree he publicly ordered burning of all British products. All of these orders aimed at building French economic dictatorship in Europe.
Napoleon's imperialism linked the history of Europe with the history of France because after 1796 each and every activity of Europe came to be influenced by the conquest of Napoleon for almost two decades. The military success of Napoleon resulted in subordination of large parts of Europe to his authority and over the period of time the liberal and progressive rule of Napoleon turned despotic and exploitative. This resulted in the birth of nationalism in Europe. It raised the prestige of Paris in Europe and led the hunger for glory among French masses. A number of wars and battles erupted in future and it opened new chapter in European history and paved the way for the beginning of new age.
The fall of Napoleon's Empire was also as quick as it emerged. After reaching its peak in July 1807 his empire got shattered within 6 years. After his defeats in the battle of Lipzeig and Waterloo the territorial boundaries of France were fixed at pre 1789 levels. Napoleon was a child of revolution. He proclaimed that he himself was a revolution. But after capturing the political power in France he undermined and negated the grand ideals of revolution. The spirit of nationalism had played an important role in the rise of Napoleon. It was the French hunger of glory that inspired the French men to submit absolute rule of Napoleon. But he himself undermined the nationalist aspiration of masses outside France. He established his despotic rule over Italy, parts of Germany and Spain. The undermining of Spanish nationalistic aspirations had resulted in creating unforeseen problems for Napoleon.
The inherent contradictions of Napoleon's policies also found expression in the implementation of his continental system. The system was devised to carry out the economic blockade of Britain. Though he pressurized the other countries of continental Europe to stop all kinds of commercial transactions with Britain but he himself continued commercial activity with Britain secretly. He supplied food grains to Britain when the continental system had succeeded in blockading the inflow of food grain in Britain. He also used to purchase the daily necessities of his palace from the British merchants. He had failed to undertake effective steps to develop French industries to fill the void of necessary commodities. This led to sufferings among the common masses and anti Napoleon ideals emerged in many parts of the empire.
The limitation of personal character of Napoleon played an important role in his downfall. He was highly ambitious person. His ambition had inspired and motivated him to work for grand success but his ambition knew no limit. His early successes motivated him to look beyond the frontiers of France. He controlled most parts of continental Europe. But he wasn't satisfied. With the unconventional strategies adopted by him to subdue Britain exposed the limitation of his empire. He did not discriminate between moral and immoral means. He changed the game plans as per the convenience and used the weaknesses of his adversaries to oust them. The act of cheating committed by Napoleon in case of Spain also weakened the moral foundation of his empire. This exposed the real character of Napoleon to the Europe. His facade of singular revolution became ineffective and the masses of Europe realized his real intentions. It led to popular reaction against the rule of Napoleon.
Napoleon in the beginning of his career represented the liberal and progressive forces and he was welcomed as liberator. But over the period of time he became the symbol of despotism and exploitation. His despotic domination over parts of Europe resulted in the birth of nationalism in many countries. In the battle of Lipzing he found himself standing against the soldiers of Europe inspired by nationalism. He lost support of the masses.


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Civil society organisations from across the globe are highly critical of an international oceans conference being held in Singapore this week. Mis-named the Sustainable Ocean Summit, the conference is touted as providing a platform to advance industry-driven solutions to ocean sustainability challenges.
Continue reading SOS: The World's Oceans Facing Emergency Singapore Summit Set To Worsen The Crisis


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Another year changes, at least according to the default calendar in most modern computers. For me it brings new challenges and the promise of even more time spent "to the dogs." Although literally in my case and not figuratively.
I hope you had a good and safe start to the new year!


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Ancient Rock Carvings in South Central Sri Lanka, and a Jataka Tale Of A Tortoise Who Loved Its Home Too Much
Ancient Rock Carvings in South Central Sri Lanka, and A Jataka Tale Of A Tortoise Who Loved Its Home Too Much
Hidden in the rural countryside of Sri Lanka, amidst thick jungles with old growth trees, there are large scale stone carvings that have stood there for centuries.
We visited several of these rock and stone carvings, over a period of two days, staying overnight in a lovely jungle resort.
They had a large, clean pool and fine dining served poolside.
In our cabin room, we had no walls, just thick bamboo trusses lined with mosquito netting, a great outdoor shower, a toilet and a ceiling fan.
While we were reading in our comfortable, king size bed, the turndown service arrived. It included tucking us into bed, while attaching a mosquito bed netting around us, and showing us how we can get out of the netting, should we need to pee during the night.
At night, we heard the sounds of the jungle and they lulled us to sleep.
The symphony included the cries of the peacocks, the songs of jungle birds, the calls of monkeys, the chirping of insects, and the sounds of the young buffalos.
It was very harmonic to me.
Dowa (also Dhowa) Cave Temple
Located about 6km from Bandarawela, nestled amidst the hills, this historic cave temple complex was the sanctuary for King Walagamba.
The temple and the carvings date back over 2000 years.
This area is located within a ring of mountains, with a river which flows across the plateau.
The temple is modest, built on a rock, but it has a beautiful ornamental gateway with very unique paintings on each side.
Nearby, there is a large rock with a small white stupa on the top.
A 38 ft Buddha image is carved from the rock.
This image is not carved very deep into the rock, and there is some deterioration of the lower parts of the carvings.
Some say that the shallow carving is an indication that this carving was never finished.
To enter the temple, you have to climb down from the top where the small stupa is located, and, passing by a Bodhi tree, you remove your shoes and enter the temple area.
To see the carving, you have to walk on the rock outcropping that stretches to the left and behind the temple.
Inside the temple there are paintings, belonging to the Kandyan era, which depict various Jataka stories.
The Jataka stories are a collection of 550 folk tales, dating back to 300 B.C., that carry a spiritual message or a moral for the people.
At the end of this post, I will share one story from the Jataka tales.
Located about 8km south of Wellawaya, Buduruwagala is by a lake in a forested area that is alive with wildlife.
The name literally means "Images of Buddha," and it has the most impressive rock carvings of the ones I am describing here.
The images are carved into a grey-blue rock, about 196 feet (90 meters) long and 69 feet (21 meters) high.
The largest of the standing Buddha statues is 51 feet (16 m) from head to toe; it is the largest standing Buddha statue on the island.
The complex consists of seven statues, and belongs to the Mahayana school of thought.
The statues date back to the 10th century AD, but no inscriptions have been found nearby to date it exactly, nor to indicate who created it or what kind of temple once existed here.
Perhaps it was a forest hermitage for monks and nuns, who wanted to do their spiritual practices without being disturbed by the outside world.
The gigantic Buddha statue still bears traces of its original stuccoed robe and some orange color, suggesting that once, all these images were brightly painted.
The central image is of the Buddha.
To His right, there are three images; the middle one is the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, (the bodhisattva of compassion), and at his side is his female consort, Tara, and Prince Sudhana.
Prince Sudhana is also mentioned in the Jataka tales, as a prince who fell in love with one of seven beautiful Kinnari, who were half women, half birds, who came to earth to bathe in a clear lake and got captured.
The main figure of three on the left of the Buddha is thought to be Maitreya, the future Buddha, who is standing in the center.
To the Maitreya's left stands Vajrapani, a Bodhisattva who is a protector and guide of Gautama Buddha.
Vajrapani always holds a vajra, which is an hourglass-shaped thunderbolt symbol.
This vajra is a very unusual symbol in Sri Lanka, and it is rarely found on the island, although this Tantric symbol of power is a very common in Tibetan Buddhism, and is often seen in Bhutan, China and Tibet.
The figure to the left of Maitreya is believed to be either Vishnu or Brahma.
Several of the rock carving figures hold up their right hands with two fingers bent down to the palm – a Mudra which encourages and beckons people into the wisdom of Buddhism.
The stone images in Maligawila and Dambegoda are located a short walking distance from one another.
These massive stone statues are thought to have been created in the 7th century A.D., and to have been part of a huge forest temple complex.
Both statues suffered much damage through the years, and laid face down, on the forest ground, for centuries, which is now thought to have actually helped to preserve the facial details of the statues.
Attempts to raise the broken pieces and restore the statues to their original location were not successful until the 1990's.
Finally, the massive statues, weighing 60 tons each, were restored and placed in their original locations.
One must wonder how, in the year 700 AD, the monks were able to quarry a 60 ton slab of stone out of the Far hills, bring it to the temple location and carve it, then raise it up into a standing position, all without any heavy equipment…
Perhaps this was a massive human group effort…. but maybe it was one of those mind over matter spiritual powers that these hermit monks might have acquired through spiritual practices…
Here are the details:
Maligawila Buddha Statue
Located about 15 km to the south of Monaragala.
The location is popular because of the two colossal stone statues of Buddha, which date back to the 7th century A.D.
Both statues are carved from crystalline limestone, taken from the cliffs in the area.
One of the statues is 11 meters high and is considered to be the world's largest free standing Buddha figure.
It was found broken into three pieces, and was restored with a red brick arch to support it from its back side.
Dambegoda Avalokitheswara Statue
Located about 1km from the Maligawila Buddha statue stands the massive stone statue of Avalokitheswara, the Bodhisattva of compassion.
It is 10m high and is believed to be of a Divine Being who chooses to incarnate and reside in the human realm, in order to help people attain Enlightenment.
This Avalokitheswara looks grand with Her jewelry and fineries, and it radiated so much glowing light, that in the past, marauders believed that there were real jewels hidden inside the statue.
As a result, in later years the marauders blew up the statue with dynamite.
No jewels were hidden inside.
The statue broke into 117 pieces that laid scattered in the jungle, until the extensive restoration job was completed.
It now looks wonderful, and hopefully will stay looking glorious for centuries to come.
Near the Avalokitheswara statue, we saw a large group of people who had come to worship, perform pujas, have lunch and picnic at this holy site.
I think it is wonderful that most of the temples we have visited are still used by the people as blessed places to worship, and have not become museum pieces open only to those who have the funds to pay.
These temples and carvings were always made FOR the people, and if in the attempt to preserve them we end up keeping the people away, the places will lose their original holiness.
As promised, here is a tale from the Jataka which I have arbitrarily chosen.
Or maybe I chose this because it fits my own belief that we grow and stretch higher when we do not cling to the familiar, to what is comfortable, but like me, when we become nomads, roaming the earth in search of wisdom and spiritual Truth….
I have changed some of the wording of the tale to make it easier to understand, but the moral of the story is the same.
The Tortoise That Loved His Home Too Much
Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares, a Bodhisatta was born in a village as a potter's son.
He worked making clay pottery, and soon he had a wife and family to support.
At that time, there was a great natural lake close by the great river of Benares.
When there was much water, the river and lake became one, but when the water was low, they were apart.
Now fish and tortoises know by instinct when the year will be rainy, and when there will be a drought.
So at the time of our story, the fish and tortoises who lived in that lake knew there would be a great drought coming, and when the river and lake were one water, they swam out of the lake and into the river and onwards toward the sea.
But there was one tortoise that would not leave the lake to go into the river.
He said: "Here I was born, and here I have grown up, and here are my parents, my friends and my home.
Leave it I cannot!"
Then when the hot season arrived, the water in the lake all dried up.
The tortoise dug a hole and buried himself in the moist clay, hoping to preserve himself with the moisture in the clay until the rainy season came again.
Sadly, it was the same place where the Bodhisatta was used to coming, to dig for clay.
One day, the Bodhisatta came to get some clay.
With a big spade he dug down, and accidentally cracked the tortoise's shell, turning him out on the ground, as though he were a large piece of clay.
In his agony, the tortoise moaned:
"Here I am, dying, all because I was too fond of my home to leave it, even though I knew the drought was coming.
Here was I born, and here I lived, thinking it is my refuge.
And now the clay in which I seek my refuge, has played me false in a most grievous way.
Thee, I call, oh Bhaggava, hear what I have to say!
Go where you CANNOT find comfort.
Leave the place where you believe happiness resides.
Wherever the place may be,
Be it forest or a village,
Anywhere, the wise can find her home
And there, her new birthplace will be.
Go where there is life,
Do NOT stay at home for death to master thee…"
And with these words, the tortoise exhaled his last breath and passed on.
The Bodhisatta picked him up, and gathering all the villagers together, addressed them thus:
"Look at this tortoise.
When the other fish and tortoises went into the great river, he was too fond of home to go with them.
When the drought came, he buried himself in the place where I get my clay.
Then as I was digging for clay, I broke his shell with my big spade, and turned him out on the ground in the belief that he was a large lump of clay.
Then the tortoise recalled to mind what he had done, lamented his fate in a few verses of poetry, and expired.
So you see he came to his end because he was too fond of his home.
Take care not to be like this tortoise.
Don't say to yourselves:
"I am so blessed, I have sight, I have hearing, I have smell, I have taste, I have touch, I have a son, I have a daughter, I have numbers of men working for me and maids for my service.
I have social standings and precious gold."
Do not believe that these things offer you protection and joy and are to be craved and desired.
Seek only the Eternal Truth, for the things of the world all pass away through the three stages of existence."


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Exposures, financial contracts, and operational techniques
July 19th, 2020
Your company is considering expanding into the international markets. The Board of Directors has asked you create a 5-to-8-page report that defines and explains the various types of exposure the company could experience and the types of financial contracts and operational techniques that will be used to deal with these exposures.
Of particular interest to the Board are the relationships among different types of exposures, financial contracts, and operational techniques. The Board has asked you to address the following issues in your report:
- Define the different types of exposure the firm might encounter, including transaction exposure, economic exposure, and translation exposure and explain why they occur Use examples to support your response..
- Explain the relationship between the three types of exposure. Provide examples to illustrate how and why it occurs.
- Describe the different types of financial contracts and how they are associated with each type of exposure.
- Explain the operational techniques that are available for each type of exposure.
- Make sure to include at least three outside resources to support the claims you present in your report.


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Apache Mesos Build scripts
The Getting started instructions are a good start (no surprise there!) but are somewhat incomplete and currently look a bit outdated (I plan to fix them soon): however, the outcome has been that I have struggled more than I felt necessary in building and running Mesos on a dev VM (Ubuntu 14.04 running under VirtualBox).
Some of the issue seem to arise from the unfortunate combination of Mesos Master trying to guess its own IP address, the VM being (obviously) non-DNS resolvable and, eventually, the Slave and the Framework failing to properly communicate with the Master.
In the process of solving this, I ended up automating all the dependencies installation, building and running the framework; I have then broken it down into the following modules to make it easier to run only parts of the process.
There are two ways of obtaining an Apache Mesos distribution: either via a tarball, or cloning the repo; either are supported, but will require running the scripts differently: they should all be copied inside the same directory (eg
/home/user/scripts) and run from there.
Obviously, make them executable via
chmod a+x /home/user/scripts/{build,install,run}-mesos.sh
This has been tested both on a VM and a physical box, both running Ubuntu 14.04.
If you want to download and install from the tarball, execute:
optionally followed by the version number (eg,
0.23.0): it currently defaults to
If you have already cloned the git repo, just run:
optionally followed by:
NOTE As these scripts need to
cd in the correct directories, due to the expansion of
dirname $0, this will fail unless it's run with an absolute path (as shown above) or using shell expansion wildcards (eg
Running it like ``./my_scripts/mesos-install.sh`` will most likely fail.


text: Set oceanfront on popular Napili Bay, Napili Shores offers the ideal resort experience many visitors to Maui are looking for in a vacation rental condo. Two separate pool areas, including a stunning ocean view pool, highlight the amenities along with two fantastic restaurants on the property. Relax and soak in the sun or jump in the ocean to enjoy fantastic snorkeling nearby or catch some waves. Napili Shores is in a class of its own with a rare combination of affordability and location in a well maintained and well managed oceanfront resort. Short term rentals offer excellent income for owners.