text:
Nokia's great Windows Phone hope: Beauty without brawn
The poor fit of Microsoft's 'Mango' OS to business needs is no surprise, but the Lumia 900 flagship device's weak hardware is
Nokia may sell more cellphones than any other company in the world, but it's been all but excluded from the United States for years -- and it's seen its global sales steadily shrink as the iPhone and Android smartphones have become the darlings of buyers in an increasing number of countries. Nokia's relevance has been fast receding, and its Symbian, Maemo, and MeeGo efforts became a pattern of failure for a company that just didn't get it. In response, a year ago, Nokia bet its future largely on Windows Phone 7, Microsoft's answer to Apple's iOS and Google's Android.
The first fruits of that partnership -- the Lumia 600 and 800 -- shipped last fall in Europe to disappointing sales. But the Nokia and Windows Phone faithful told skeptics to wait for the Lumia 900, which would prove that both Windows Phone and Nokia were poised to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat across the globe, particularly in the United States where it would be Nokia's turnaround product. Unfortunately, this Windows Phone flagship is no battleship. In fact, it can't even engage the competition in any serious way.
[ See all of InfoWorld's mobile deathmatch comparisons and personalize the scores to your needs. | Discover what Microsoft has in store for tablets in its forthcoming Windows 8. | Compare the security and management capabilities of iOS, Windows Phone 7, Android, and more in InfoWorld's Mobile Management Deep Dive PDF report. Download it today! ]
That's too bad because aspects of both the Lumia 900 and Windows Phone show real promise and class. It's easy to be entranced by the "basic black dress" simplicity of the Lumia 900's design (available in blue, white, and black models), and the tiled interface of Windows Phone is truly inspired, elegant, and alluring. But if you look deeper, you find that the Lumia 900, like Windows Phone 7 itself, is a deficient product whose surface beauty masks a weakling.
The Lumia 900 costs $550 ($100 with a two-year contract) and runs on AT&T's network. It uses the standard Windows Phone 7.5 "Mango" operating system, adding nothing to address Windows Phone's many business shortcomings. Windows Phone 7.5 can't be used in most businesses because it lacks security features such as on-device encryption, VPN support, and support for Microsoft Exchange ActveSync (EAS) policies beyond the very basic set. Its Office suite is also primitive, with bare-bones capabilities far exceeded by apps available for other mobile OSes, such as the popular and capable Quickoffice for Android and iOS (but not for Windows Phone).
The iPhone's iOS of course offers the essential security and management capabilities, as well as business app selection, that make it a great fit in business. Android devices also have a decent selection of business apps. Though Android itself has weak security and management capabilities, Motorola Mobility's Android devices all add such iOS-level capabilities, as do some Samsung Android smartphones. A mom-and-pop shop might get away with using a Windows Phone device, but not most businesses. Windows Phone 7 -- and the Lumia 900 -- is more plausible for personal use.
In many ways, the Nokia Lumia 900 is similar to the Samsung Focus S, perhaps the best-known Windows Phone smartphone in the United States. Both are as thin and light as an iPhone but a tad wider and taller (0.25 inch in each direction); they deliver a nice-size screen without taking up much more space in your pocket -- the same strategy of many Android smartphones. Their screens are 4.3 inches in diameter versus the iPhone's 3.5 inches. It's the size an iPhone should be, and the size of many Android smartphones.
At first blush, the Lumia 900's AMOLED screen is attractive: clear and bright, without the cartoonish colors of some Super AMOLED screens. But the more I used it, the more it bothered me. The screen resolution is a paltry 480 by 800 pixels, for a resolution of 217 pixels per inch (ppi). An iPhone's smaller screen has a resolution of 640 by 960 pixels, for a 326-ppi resolution. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus flagship Android smartphone has a 720-by-1,280 screen (316 ppi), and the no-nonsense Motorola Droid Razr Maxx has a 540-by-960 screen (256 ppi). In other words, the Lumia 900's screen is coarse by comparison and gives the impression of being lower quality.
The screen is just the start -- the Lumia 900's hardware is underpowered across the board. Like the Samsung Focus S, it uses a 1.4GHz single-core CPU, versus the faster dual-core CPUs of Android and iOS devices. Its 512MB of system RAM is half that of its Android and iOS competitors; its graphics coprocessor is also subpar. The 8-megapixel camera sounds impressive, but the results are disappointing compared to what the iPhone 4S and flagship Android devices' cameras deliver; the Lumia's pictures are a bit muddy and have a narrower tonal range. The battery power is also on the low side. Like the Focus S, the Lumia often can't make a full workday on a single charge, and its rated usage times are about half to two-thirds that of competing Android and iOS smartphones.
I'm surprised and disappointed that the Lumia 900 -- meant to be Nokia's best foot forward -- uses the same middling hardware as the Samsung Focus S, a device not trying to be the king of the hill. It's almost as if they are the same device in different bezels. The only real hardware difference is in the cellular radio: The Lumia 900 supports LTE 4G networks in addition to 3G GSM connections. As AT&T's LTE service is available in only a few dozen cities, that faster radio speed is one you may only rarely experience.
Few serious apps are available for Windows Phone, so the Lumia 900 feels snappy, but only because it's not doing much when in use. Microsoft is working on Windows Phone 8 (code-named Apollo) that allegedly will fix the many gaps in Windows Phone's capabilities, but I find it hard to trust that the underpowered hardware of the Lumia 900 will be able to run serious applications or games as Android and iOS flagship devices can today. I simply don't see the Lumia 900's hardware being able to keep up with Windows Phone and new apps if Microsoft were to get serious about the OS.
The Lumia 900's bezel is pleasant to hold. Although a slab, it's an elegantly simple one that draws character from its minimalism and subtle lines. There are the usual volume rocker, audio jack, MicroUSB jack, camera button, and front camera (1.3 megapixels), as well as the Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and 3G-plus-LTE cellular radios. The simple design means the power and camera buttons are both unlabeled and identical in appearance, so it's easy to press the wrong one until your motor memory kicks in. There's no video-out capability, so forget about using the Lumia to make presentations via an HDTV or projector as you can with iPhones and many Android smartphones.
Beyond the hardware, the Nokia Lumia 900 offers no alterations to the Windows Phone 7.5 OS; you get the standard "Mango" experience.
|Test Center Scorecard
|Nokia Lumia 900


text:
- From: Maciej Stachowiak <email@example.com>
- Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2006 16:28:06 -0700
- To: Chris Lilley <firstname.lastname@example.com>
- Cc: email@example.com
On Aug 10, 2006, at 7:17 AM, Chris Lilley wrote: > > Formal Objections > ================= > > 1. Maciej Stachowiak registered a Formal Objection on 22 March 2006 > regarding the provision of a text wrapping facility. > > SVG 1.1 already has a mechanism for text breaks (the tspan > element) but requires that the author choose the position of the > break in advance. > > For SVG which is generated automatically, or includes strings of > unknown length drawn from a database, or where the font to be > used is not known, it is desirable to allow the line break > positions to be calculated at display time. A common use case is > text callouts on a diagram, which must fit into a rectangle of a > given size and where part numbers etc. are drawn from a database. > > Given that this is a popular and much-requested feature, and > given that a critical mass of content authors and implementors > have stated that they want this feature, the SVG Working Group > declined to remove it, over the objection of Maciej > Stachowiak. However, the line wrapping requirements were softened > so that an existing engine (e.g., a CSS or XSL engine) could be > used to perform the wrapping and still be compliant to the SVG > specification. The Director agreed with the Working Group's > approach. I have implemented SVG text in a browser that supports HTML/CSS CDI, using the existing text layout engine. I disagree with the working group's assertion that an existing CSS text layout engine could be used to implement textArea. To cite two examples, the set of CSS properties that must or must not be respected when determining line height or line spacing is incompatible, and the whitespace processing model is incompatible. SVG text as currently designed is not at all well suited for implementation in an HTML/SVG compound document user agent, whatever the Director may think of the matter. I ask the SVG WG not to make misleading claims to the contrary. I would also like to note that I am not the only one who objected to inclusion of this facility. Others may not have used the magic words "Formal Objection", but they objected just the same. I ask the SVG WG not to imply that wrapped text was left in over my objection alone. Given the working group's relative disinterest in interoperability with HTML/CSS, and its willingness to repeatedly violate the W3C process with no explanation, I don't think it makes sense for vendors of browser-hosted implementations to continue to participate. Instead we should work out amongst ourselves what makes sense to implement in a web browser. Regards, Maciej
Received on Friday, 11 August 2006 23:28:16 UTC

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Took my breath away.
Now, I don't know how accurate the title is to what I'm actually about to tell you, but a friend of mine taught me this, and it drives me WILD to say the least. I'm sure many of you do this technique without even knowing what it's called and if you do, BRAVO! Apparently, Chinese Rhythm i... » Read more


text:
ASEAN and the US.Perspectives of Southeast Asia on Relations with the US since Donald Trump - Regional Programme Political Dialogue Asia
Asset Publisher
Country Reports
ASEAN and the US.Perspectives of Southeast Asia on Relations with the US since Donald Trump
Asset Publisher
Relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are economically and politically relevant to the US for a variety of reasons. ASEAN's ten member states are home to 635 million people. Moreover, Southeast Asia is one of the most economically and politically dynamic regions in the world. In recent decades, ASEANS' share of the world's GDP has risen significantly. Observers believe that by 2030, ASEAN will be the fourth largest economy in the world after the US, China, and the EU (European Union).[1] Booming economic and population growth makes the region attractive to foreign investment. The emergence of a new middle class has created lucrative markets for trade and consumer goods. As a result, ASEAN plays an important role in the clash of hegemons. ASEAN and the US have a closely entwined history. The US supported the founding of ASEAN in 1967 at a time when the Vietnam War was escalating. Trade remained in the foreground of this remarkable relationship.
Political change in Asia, as in many other parts of the world, is increasingly accompanied by populism, nationalism, internal divisions, and anti-globalization voices. However, the inauguration of Donald Trump in 2017 has led to further political developments in the region. Shortly after taking office, Trump shook a once stable, largely economic relationship by withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). In particular, the current trade war between China and the US has direct implications for the ASEAN states. Against the backdrop of growing protectionism and the hindering of worldwide free trade by the US, China is actively presenting itself as an alternative trading and investment partner. For the countries of Southeast Asia, this manifests as the rising influence of their powerful neighbor in ASEAN. China is seeking to open up the region for its economic, and perhaps even for its military goals, as exemplified by its huge Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) infrastructure project. Trump's policy has enabled China to take on a much more offensive stance in the Indian Ocean in recent years.[2]
This dispute between the US and China is also highlighted by the recent failure of the Asia-Pacific Economic Community (APEC) to release a joint statement following the 33rd ASEAN summit held in Singapore in November 2018. The summit was attended by Vice-President Mike Pence who engaged with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a game of mutual criticism of their respective trading practices and punitive tariffs which essentially prevented the 21 APEC states to agree on a final communiqué.[3]
Are these developments signs of the growing distance between ASEAN and the US? The following analysis of the ASEAN summit and the situation of some individual ASEAN member states provides deeper insight into this question.
The Rule-based, Liberal Order is Uncertain
Although the ASEAN Summit, which took place from 11-15 November 2018 ended on a less negative note compared to the one before, the region continues to face many complex challenges.[4] Five conclusions may be drawn from the Summit: there is movement in the South China Sea; the major powers continue to rely on ASEAN; joint pressure on Myanmar seems to be bearing fruit; the economic integration of ASEAN is progressing; and, the US under President Trump has become a less reliable partner than the region wishes for. However, based on the discussions at the Summit, it is apparent the rule-based order usually understood as the foundation for relative stability and economic prosperity is being challenged.
This order is being challenged as never before not only because of the rise of China as an important regional power but also because - not only because of China's rising influence in the region – but also from the increasingly critical stance the United States as the superpower, which first propagated this order and then enforced it has taken towards it. Under the leadership of President Trump, this order has been called into question both rhetorically and in practice. To the US President, multilateralism and liberal trade regimes do not signify the cornerstones of an international order but instead pose obstacles to the future progress and power of the United States. President Trump remains an unknown in the diplomatic calculations of states in the region – states that are reliant on the permanence of the US security guarantee. As such, the future of the established international order – an order that impacts upon the US and China – is uncertain.
Prior to these significant developments, the ASEAN Summit brought together by far the most important multilateral forum of the Indo-Pacific region, the East Asia Summit. During this Summit, US behavior as directed by Trump unsettled and worried participants. The obvious disinterest of the US president was confirmed by his decision to stay away from this extremely important forum while sending his deputy Mike Pence in his place.
ASEAN states are concerned about the apparent successive replacement of the Asia-Pacific's geopolitical space with the Indo-Pacific – a concept propagated initially by Japan, the US, India, and Australia (QUAD). In particular, the involvement of India suggests the Indo-Pacific is a neo-containment strategy vis-à-vis China. There was some relief within ASEAN when all four of the QUAD states not only emphasized but also championed the role of ASEAN. While Mike Pence faithfully stuck to the new terminology "Free and Open Indo-Pacific"[5] throughout the EAS, the three other heads of government underlined ASEAN's role as an essential partner in their foreign policy. Pence reassured ASEAN by underscoring the Association's key role at the US-ASEAN summit on the same day, while also emphasizing the "US-ASEAN Strategic Partnership" as one of the pillars of US strategy in the Indo-Pacific. If this had come from the President himself, ASEAN would have been even more inclined to believe it true.
Nonetheless, some calm has returned to the ten states of Southeast Asia. Effort will now be made to integrate the Indo-Pacific concept into its own strategic and institutional plans.
Internal and External Economic Connectivity
The volume of trade between the US and ASEAN amounts to approximately USD 330 billion while trade relations between China and ASEAN total just under USD 520 billion, with an annual increase of approximately 13 percent. The withdrawal of the US from the TPP agreement reinforces the fear that Washington may relinquish its role as the guarantor of free trade. Owing to this, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement is what all free trade negotiations are now focused on – an agreement held to be the future of trade relations in the region. Negotiations are expected to be concluded next year when the agreement will also enter into force. As the agreement will unite ASEAN along with its regional dialogue partners Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand, under one trade agreement it will further strengthen the position of China and India in the region relative to the US.
Internally, ASEAN must accelerate economic integration within the framework of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). In particular, the ASEAN Single Window, the synchronization of national customs and trade regulations as well as improved connectivity between Southeast Asian companies, must be promoted. This measure will strengthen ASEAN domestic trade which even three years after the establishment of the AEC remains far below that of Europe with 25 percent and 70 percent respectively. An expansion is not only sensible, but it is also an easily achievable goal.
Regional Integration
Faced with these challenges, internal unity within ASEAN is clearly important. While there are various internal institutions and processes in ASEAN, final decisions are made by individual governments as ASEAN remains fundamentally an intergovernmental organization. Essentially, it is ASEAN that holds itself back as, without the consent of all ten-member states, movement on an issue is impossible owing to the principle of consensus.[6] For years, Southeast Asia has suffered from weak regional institutions vis-à-vis matters of transnational security. ASEAN is effectively the sum of its individual parts. As such, the following analysis of the relationship between the US and five ASEAN countries is enlightening.
The American Influence on Myanmar and the Rohingya Crisis
During the ASEAN Summit, ASEAN states - flanked by US Vice-President Mike Pence - for the first time put real public pressure on State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi to address the fate of the at least 700,000 Rohingyas who had fled. It was clearly communicated, as never before in ASEAN, that this is a humanitarian disaster harming ASEAN and presents the regional organization with its largest stumbling block.
Though the positive interaction between Aung San Suu Kyi and President Obama may suggest that many would have wished Hillary Clinton won the US presidency, some Myanmar citizens – especially religious leaders – were delighted with the 2016 election results. Their support for Trump can be explained by their anti-Muslim and nationalist attitudes – positions they perceive they have in common with Trump. Commenting on Trumps election success, the monk U Wirathu from the extremist Buddhist group Ma Ba Tha maintained,
The world singled us out as narrow-minded. But as people from the country that is the grandfather of democracy and human rights elected Donald Trump, who is similar to me in prioritizing nationalism, there will be less finger-pointing from the international community.[7]
Nevertheless, the US has condemned the Rohingya crisis. In September, President Trump demanded the UN Security Council "resolutely and quickly" tackle the crisis, and Vice-President Mike Pence called for an end to the violence. Two months later, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited Myanmar, the first high official from the Trump Cabinet to visit the country. His approach to tackling the situation was not as confrontational as the previously expressed positions by the Trump administration, and Aung San Suu Kyi herself was grateful for his "understanding of the situation [in Rakhine]".[8] Trump's government has been divided over what position it should take in response to Myanmar's actions in Rakhine. On the one hand, the State Department has spoken out in favor of imposing sanctions such as the freezing of assets and restricting visas for travel to the US on individuals in Myanmar deemed responsible for such action. On the other hand, the Treasury Department was skeptical of the effectiveness of these sanctions.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a longtime advocate of democracy in Myanmar, also called on the US government and the public to place blame squarely on the military. He argued that the State Councilor was unable to exercise control over the military. Finally, in August 2018, the State Department and the Treasury Department agreed to impose sanctions on four military and border police officers as well as on the 33rd and 99th light infantry divisions.
On the ground, however, US support for Myanmar's democratization and development has continued through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), and the Carter Center. This year, the number of members of US Peace Corps volunteering to teach English in parts of Myanmar tripled. In addition, wide-ranging scholarships were offered to Myanmarese wishing to study in the US. As for the Rakhine, aid to the Rohingya from the US has doubled since September 2018. In October, the US State Department maintained that Myanmarese officers involved in the operations of the conflict would not benefit from any US aid program. Based on these different approaches by different elements of the US government, the role of the US in Myanmar and, in particular, its approach to the violence in Rakhine, seems as ambivalent as the positions taken by various US officials.
Vietnam - The Balance Between Human Rights and Security Strategy
The relationship between Vietnam and the United States has been shaped historically by the war in the 1960s and 1970s. At the same time, what has dominated Vietnamese foreign, security, and trade policy for decades has been a forward-looking pragmatism striving for balance – a balance especially regarding its position concerning US-China rivalry. Neither the ideological similarity and geographical proximity of Beijing nor the administration of Donald Trump has changed this strategy fundamentally.
Despite serious shortcomings at the national level concerning the rule of law and human rights, in the international arena Vietnam continues to present itself as a proponent of international legal standards as well as multilateral trade and political agreements (even if its own actions do not always reflect this, as demonstrated by the glaring violation of German sovereignty in the Berlin abduction case in 2017). This realist approach is clearly informed by the superiority of China in their bilateral relations. At the same time, Vietnam's political leaders know that this is a policy strategy that is not supported by the Trump government with its current focus on protectionism, or at least only in those instances where it serves American interests. Nonetheless, the decreasing focus on the respect of human rights in the US foreign policy suits the leadership of Vietnam.
There is further consensual rapprochement. Vietnam is identified as a potential strategic partner in both the US security and defense strategy. The country will undoubtedly continue to pay attention to the Trump administration. Prime Minister Phuc was the first head of government received by Trump in the White House. Trump, in turn, attended the APEC meeting in the Vietnamese port of Da Nang in November 2017 and then traveled on to Hanoi. Both the US Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense have visited Vietnam since the change of government in the US. In addition, there are regular meetings at a higher level of bureaucracy. Great attention has been paid to the fact that in 2018, for the first time after the war, an American aircraft carrier dropped anchor in Vietnam. Further opportunities for cooperation with the US could arise in the context of Vietnam's ASEAN Chairmanship in 2020 and membership as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council 2020-2021.
In terms of security strategy, the Indo-Pacific strategy for a free and open Indo-Pacific – which is largely driven by the United States, Australia, India and Japan – is of great interest to Vietnam especially as it calls for open sea routes, stimulates trade, and pushes back against China's desire to expand into the South China Sea. Vietnam benefits from both the strengthening of the principle of freedom of navigation as well as tacit US recognition of claims of various littoral states of the South China Sea.
Although the US withdrawal from the TPP has been a bitter economic disappointment to Vietnam, it has been assuaged by the remaining 11 states agreeing to ratify a modified trade agreement without the US. Vietnam has so far been spared trade or customs restrictions by the US. This is somewhat surprising given its significant trade surplus with the US, similar to China, Mexico, Germany, Canada and Japan.
Vietnam's leadership sees both threat and opportunity in a trade war between the US and China. On the one hand, there is hardly a country in Asia whose economy depends more on free global trade than Vietnam. More barriers to trade, tariffs, and thus higher prices from suppliers could suffocate its economic upturn. On the other hand, there is the legitimate assumption that companies still producing in China may relocate their production to other countries because of the penalties and rising costs. Vietnam may be considered as a very attractive location as it is an investment-friendly climate, has comparatively low wages and is politically stable – albeit in defiance of human rights and the rule of law.
The situation is different in Cambodia.
US and Cambodia: A Strained Relationship
Relations between Cambodia and the US are currently very tense. However, this has less to do with US foreign policy under Donald Trump than with the troubled US history in Southeast Asia as well as Cambodia's current domestic political developments. The Cambodian experience of the Vietnam War remains fresh and shapes present-day attitudes. This is because the bombing of Cambodia in 1970 by the US was billed as a "sideshow" of the Vietnam War as well as US support for the then Lon Nol regime. This is another reason why the Cambodian government repeatedly argues against Western influence in the country. To add, in 2017, the largest opposition party – the Cambodia National Rescue Party (KNRP) – was dissolved by the Cambodian Supreme Court as it was accused of planning a "colorful revolution" in Cambodia with the help of the US. As a result, the US-funded National Democratic Institute (NDI) was closed in August 2017 and its staff expelled from Cambodia.
While opaqueness and corruption have long been a problem, these repressions against the main opposition party, foreign NGOs, media, and social media users in the middle of 2017 led to a further deterioration of the situation. The day after the dissolution of the KNRP, the US immediately ceased support of the National Electoral Commission. This was followed by visa restrictions on responsible officials and the passing of the "Cambodia Democracy Act" on 10 May 2018. The law enacted further sanctions against the Cambodian government. This included the blocking of accounts, the freezing of assets, and the maintenance of visa restrictions. While the European Union reacted more hesitantly than the US, it eventually also withdrew its support for the National Election Commission. This year's election victory of the Cambodian People's Party (CIP) was thus inevitable.[9] Observers see the country on a path to a one-party state and with little sign of declining repression. A China that is rapidly gaining political and economic power is filling the vacuum created by the strained relations with the US. These strong links and simultaneous distancing from Western partners are interpreted differently by Cambodians. The majority hopes that the country will develop economically and politically to rise above developing country status. Nonetheless, at times attempts are made to explain Cambodia's problems with references to cultural idiosyncrasies.
As a small power, Cambodia needs alternatives to choosing a side. It is crucial for it to stay connected to all while building its economy and democracy. At the same time, the susceptibility to being influenced is great. Preserving neutrality remains difficult at best.
Thailand as a Reliable Partner
The depth of US-Thailand relations has increased significantly since Donald Trump took office in January 2017. Under the former US President Barack Obama, the climate between Washington and Bangkok cooled owing to the US pressing for a return to democracy. However, with the Trump administration, relations between the two states are based on being reliable military partners to each other. The background to this is the growing tension between the US and China – a China that demands a dominant role in the region. This demand is illustrated by China's continued rise in defense spending and its disregard of maritime borders in the South China Sea.
Demonstratively, US President Trump received the head of the Thai military junta General Prayut Chan-o-cha and his large delegation to the White House around the turn of the year. Since then, there have been several meetings between senior Defense Department officials - including the US' Secretary of Defense - and senior Thai military officials. An even closer security cooperation agreement has been agreed upon – an agreement that also includes an intensification of US arms exports to Thailand. The symbolic highlight of this decades-long partnership is the annual joint military exercise named "Cobra Gold".
Thailand aims to find a balance between its relations with the US and its relations with China. An example of this is buying weapons from China, while ignoring Chinese wishes by participating in "Cobra Gold". Similarly, Bangkok has ignored American proposals to set up a central US military commander for Southeast Asia in Thailand. At the same time, Thailand is very careful that Chinese investors are not dominant in major domestic industrial projects. It balances this by considering Japanese and American partners.
Thailand remains the most reliable US military partner in the region, followed by Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, and the Philippines.
The Economic and Security Relationship between the US and the Philippines
Despite President Duterte's emphasis on an "independent foreign policy"[10], Filipino government officials are trying to make it clear this does not mean severing ties with the US. Instead. The government has emphasized that its focus on independence should be read as merely a move to reduce dependency on Washington while the Philippines continues to understand itself as an ally of the United States.
At the same time, it was important for the Philippines to clarify that this policy is not a rapprochement with China, but merely the strengthening of economic cooperation and the reduction of tension – especially in the territorially disputed waters of the South China Sea. In response to China's increased maritime territorial claims, the Philippines, similar to Vietnam, are therefore cooperating more closely with the US than before. Since October 2015, there are, for example, naval operations of the United States Navy (USN) where vessels have intentionally crossed Chinese claimed territorial waters.[11] Nonetheless, relations with China are as good as they have been in a long time. Although the International Court of Arbitration in The Hague justified the Philippines' action against China's maritime claims, the Philippine government has so far waived pressing for the political implementation of the legal decision.[12]
The US and the Philippines have long been working on concrete measures to improve economic relations, especially in the spheres of agriculture and e-commerce. President Trump has welcomed the proposal for a free trade agreement between the two countries. Negotiations are due to start towards the end of the year.
This analysis shows that the alteration of US policy to the region is a great challenge. As the ASEAN summit in Singapore in late 2018 and the situation in Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and the Philippines illustrate, the US-led retreat from multilateralism to bilateral relations has caused uncertainty. Also, given current US protectionist inclinations, this has led to a shift towards a greater emphasis on security issues.
President Trump puts less emphasis on multilateralism and a coherent relationship with all in the region via the political body ASEAN. Nonetheless, Chinese initiatives increasingly pose a threat to the sovereignty of many ASEAN states. In this context, the region remains of great significance to the US during the Trump presidency – China's influence is to be controlled and contained through closer military and economic cooperation not with ASEAN, but with the organization's individual member states.[13] While bilateral relations are intensifying in parts, the US is increasingly distancing itself from ASEAN as an institutional partner.
[1] See Deutsche Welle 2018: China summons free trade at ASEAN summit, 13.11.2018, in: https://p.dw.com/p/388Nw [06/10/2014].
[2] See Rimmele, Peter / Huchel, Philipp, 2018: Further stage in the competition of the great powers, in: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Auslandsinformationen 2/2018, p. 37-49, here: p. 42.
[3] See Tagesschau 2018: APEC summit ends in dispute, 18.11.18, in: https://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/apec-gipfel-pence-xi-103.html [20.11.2018].
[4] See Kliem, Frederick 2018: The 33rd ASEAN Summit - A résumé, in: Country Report Regional Program Political Dialogue Singapore, November 2018.
[5] According to Pitakdumrongkit, "free and open" refers on the one hand to freedom from coercion by other players and includes concepts such as sovereignty, a rule-based order, and conflict resolution. On the other hand, "free" also encapsulates open trade. In their view, trade and industry are key to the Trump administration (see Kaewkamol Pitakdumrongkit, presentation at the KAS conference "International and Regional Security Developments 2018: Implications for Myanmar, 27.11.2019).
[6] See Kliem, F., ASEAN Imperfect: The Changing Nature of Southeast Asian Regionalism, in: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Panomara 01-2018, p. 23-24, here: p. 24.
[7] U Wirathu, Ma Ba Tha's U Wirathu: Trump's 'Similar to Me', Nov 18, 2016, in: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/ma-ba-thas-u-wirathu-trump-similar-to-me.html [20.11.2018].
[8] Aung San Suu Kyi, Joint Press Availability With Burmese State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, 15.11.2017, in:
https://www.state.gov/secretary/20172018tillerson/remarks/2017/11/275603.html [20.11.2018].
[9] See Schmücking, Daniel / Hör, Robert 2018: On the way to a one-party state, in: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung country report, 31.07.2018, pp. 1-5, here: p. 3.
[10] Galang, Mico A. 2017: US, China, and Duterte's 'Independent Foreign Policy', The Diplomat, 06.04.2017, in: https://thediplomat.com/2017/04/us-china-and-dutertes-independent-foreign-policy [28.11.2018].
[11] See Nolte et al. 2016: Donald Trump and the Foreign Heritage of Barack Obama, in: GIGA Focus Global Number 7, 11.2016, p.1-14, here: p. 3.
[12] See Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 2018: Suddenly best friends, 22.11.2018.
[13] See Nolte et al. 2016: Donald Trump and the Foreign Heritage of Barack Obama, in: GIGA Focus Global Number 7, 11.2016, p.1-14, here: p. 3.


text:
On Saturday this weekend, I started my christmas crafting. This is the first year that gifts from me have not been predominantly jewellery.
It feels kind of good.
It starts with this...
Oh the cuteness! It's the same itchy (for me, everyone else is probably fine, I'm just lucky) gorgeous green tweed of the Top. The Cuteness as I will call it.
And I tried my hand at embroidery, which I think might be my new favorite thing right now. It's like drawing with thread, and I REALLY like that right now.
So I might have to embroider everything I own.
You know how it is.
On top of that fun project I've been preparing gifts for christmas as well.
(I can't post pictures though, I don't want to ruin the surprises!)
Today has been about food.
These cookies are amazing.
I haven't made them since we lived in Halifax, and a friend who couldn't eat gluten used to come over for tea. I had used a straight quinoa flour and it was pretty darn good, a little nuttier tasting than the originals, but still delicious.
Today I made them with the GF mix that I make here at home (Bette Hagman's four flour mix) and they were much closer to the original flavour.
So wonderful!
(makes three dozen accordingly to the recipe, but about 2 when I made them today)
3/4 C butter
3/4 C granulated sugar
1/4 C brown sugar
1 egg
1 t vanilla
2 squares unsweetened chocolate
1/4 t salt
2 C flour (and I substitute my flour 1:1, it's such a good mix)
1 C chopped walnuts (but I've never used them)
Cream the butter until light.
Gradually beat in the white and brown sugar until creamy and light
Beat in the egg and vanilla
Meanwhile, melt the chocolate over LOW heat.
Stir the chocolate into the butter mixture.
Slowly stir in the salt and flour, combine thoroughly (but don't overbeat, it will make the cookies drier.)
Shape into walnut sized balls, and make an imprint with your thumb.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes, until JUST done.
Cool on a rack.
Although I will be perfectly honest and admit that they rarely reach the rack they are so good.
And I am currently waiting for Gnocci to dry out so I can cook up some Sweet Potato gnocci.
This is the first time I've tried this recipe, so we'll see how it goes!
(I apologize for the super dark picture! I always bake the stuff I want to take pictures of at night!)
I'm thinking that I will sprinkle the top of my gnocci with some shredded goat's milk, gouda cheese.
Should be good.


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Little surprise that the EU should be bankrolling the production of flagrantly misleading maps (however PC the map projection may be). Sure is ashame the postwar economic fortunes of the US mirror those of Argentina and Sudan--after all they are the same color, right?
And the trend-lines remind me of the classic statistical fallacy where they plotted the Boston marathon times of men and women and, due to the rapid decline in times among the latter, concluded that women would be running faster than men by 2010.
Thanks for my morning laugh.
Brian Timoney


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Vortex Tubes are the perfect solution when dealing with a variety of spot cooling applications. They use compressed air to produce a cold air stream and a hot air stream, with temperatures ranging from as low as -50°F up to +260°F (based on ambient supply temperature) and providing as much as 10,200 Btu/hr. of cooling capacity. By simply adjusting the valve in the hot end of the Vortex Tube, you are able to control the "cold fraction" which is the percentage of air consumed by the vortex tube that is exhausted as cold air versus the amount of air exhausted as hot air. Our small, medium and large Vortex Tubes provide the same temperature drop and rise, it's the volume of air that changes with the various sizes.
When looking at the below performance chart, you will see that "Pressure Supply" and "Cold Fraction %" setting all play a part in changing the performance of the Vortex Tubes. Take for example, an operating pressure of 100 PSIG and cold fraction setting of 20%, you will see a 123°F drop on the cold side versus a 26°F temperature rise on the hot side. By the using the same Vortex Tube and keeping the operating pressure at 100 PSIG but changing the cold fraction to 80%, you will now see a 54°F temperature drop on the cold side and a 191° rise at the hot end.
We've looked at how the cold fraction changes the temperature, but how does it change the flow for the various Models?
Say you are using a Model # 3240 Medium Vortex Tube which consumes 40 SCFM @ 100 PSIG. Again with the cold fraction set at 80% (80% of the consumed compressed air out of the cold end), you would flow 32 SCFM at the cold air exhaust.
40 SCFM x 0.8 (80% CF) = 32 SCFM
Using the same Model # 3240 Medium Vortex Tube but now with a 20% cold fraction (20% of consumed compressed air out of the cold end), you would flow 8 SCFM at the cold exhaust.
40 SCFM x 0.20 (20% CF) = 8 SCFM
As you can see, to achieve the colder air temperatures, the volume of cold air being exhausted is reduced as well. This is important to consider when making a Model selection. Some other considerations include the operating pressure which also has a significant effect on performance. The compressed air supply temperature is important because the above temperatures are temperature differentials, so in the example of the 80% cold fraction there is a 115F temperature drop from your inlet compressed air temperature.
If you need additional assistance, you can always contact myself or another application engineer and we would be happy to make the best selection to fit your specific need.
Jordan Shouse
Application Engineer
Send me an Email
Find us on the Web
Like us on Facebook
Twitter: @EXAIR_JS


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Scary photos show the terrible toll that four months of captivity in Russia have taken on one Ukrainian Marine.
He was among the heroic defenders of Mariupol and the Azovstal plant from the Russian hordes in the early months of the war. Now, he's been freed in a prisoner-of-war exchange.
High-Profile Major POW Exchange
A total of 205 Ukrainian fighters were exchanged for a sum of 55 Russian troops and one Ukrainian oligarch close to Putin, earlier this week.
A total of 55 Russian POWs were given up by Ukraine in exchange for the five commanders from the Azov Battalion and the 36th Marine Brigade.
It held out for months against vastly superior Russian forces in the coastal city of Mariupol, eventually fortifying themselves in a vast steel plant before surrendering at the orders of the Ukrainian command in order to be saved later.
Another 200 Ukrainian troops – including 120 more of the Azovstal defenders – were released by Russians in exchange for Viktor Medvedchuk, a wealthy pro-Russian oligarch, whose daughter was christened by Putin back in 2004.
Medvedchuk was supposed to become the leader of the puppet government of Ukraine which Putin planned to set up after conquering the country in February – a prospect that never materialized.
After the war failed to put down the Ukrainians, Medvedchuk fled his house arrest to try to leave the country, but was caught disguised in a military uniform.
As part of the POW exchange, the government of Saudi Arabia also secured the release by Russia of ten foreign volunteers fighting for Ukraine, including two American military vets, five British, one Moroccan, one Swede, and one Croatian.
Left: Ukrainian marine Mykhailo Dianov inside the Azovstal steel plant during the siege of Mariupol in May.
Right: Dianov in a Kyiv hospital after his release from Russian captivity in late September.
📷 Olena Lavrushko/Dmytro 'Orest' Kozatskyi pic.twitter.com/C681jJPOxj
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) September 23, 2022
Left: Mykhailo Dianov, Ukrainian POW from Azovstal
Right: Russian POW giving comments on RT after release pic.twitter.com/M1TPRgqYHO
— Melaniya Podolyak (@MelaniePodolyak) September 23, 2022
This is how the hero of Ukraine Mikhaylo "Pianist" Dianov returned from Russian captivity. Mykhailo did not receive the necessary treatment and was constantly tortured, he is missing 4 cm of the arm bone.#RussianWarCrimes pic.twitter.com/kPWVHDrpbG
— Iryna Voichuk🇺🇦 (@irmachep) September 23, 2022
This is what the hand of Mykhailo Dianov, the defender of Mariupol, looks like. Recently, his photos were everywhere, and only now the hero showed the consequences of being in Russian captivity. Mykhailo's injured hand did not grow back — it is missing 4 cm of bone.
🔽🔽🔽 pic.twitter.com/pERpfHJ09w
— Igor Kyivskyi (@Igor_from_Kyiv_) September 23, 2022
Pianist-Turned-Marine Now All Bones After Russian Captivity
One of the 125 Mariupol defenders now released in the prisoner swap is Mykhailo Dianov, a senior sergeant at the 36th Marine Brigade of the Ukrainian military and a professional piano player in civilian life.
Dianov, who has an underage daughter, became world-famous in May before the defenders of Mariupol and Azovstal surrendered to the Russians. Then, a photo of his hit world media.
In it, the wounded man with a long beard, a bandaged right arm, and on clutches was photographed slightly smiling and flashing the peace sign.
The Ukrainian pianist and Marine was founded in his arm and leg during the defense of Mariupol from the Russians.
The first photos which emerged after his release in captivity show him to be all bones, with a maimed arm that didn't heal properly, looking nothing like his old self.
Dianov is seen pale and bruised all over his body and face; the inhumane conditions in which he was kept by the Russians caused him to miss almost two inches of his fractured right arm, The Daily Mail reported.
After the release, he was sent to a hospital in Chernihiv, a city of 300,000 in northeast Ukraine, where he got reunited with his family.
Some 2,000 of the heroic defenders of Mariupol – including national guardsmen, Marines, police officers, and border guards – still remain in the hands of Putin.
Hand of Mykhailo Dianov, Azovstal Defender who was freed after 4 months in captivity.
His wounded hand is missing 4⃣ cm of bone. Treatment and rehabilitation will take a long time now (and more pain).
That's all we need to know about 🇷🇺 captivity.
📷: Violetta Kirtoka pic.twitter.com/A4KzeXwRbL
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) September 23, 2022
Another Hero from Mariupol, Mykhailo "Beard" Dianov, returns home.
The whole world saw his photo from Azovstal. pic.twitter.com/9FgMfMdmuZ
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) September 21, 2022
Mykhailo Dianov, a musician and a Ukrainian soldier recently released in a prisoner exchange.
First photo — Mykhailo during the siege of Azovstal.
Second photo — Mykhailo after Russian captivity.
I have no words. Terrifying. pic.twitter.com/EaDzGKmc2B
— Ostap Yarysh (@OstapYarysh) September 23, 2022
Left: Mykhailo Dianov, Ukrainian POW from Azovstal
Right: Russian POW giving comments on RT after release pic.twitter.com/M1TPRgqYHO
— Melaniya Podolyak (@MelaniePodolyak) September 23, 2022
These are the indicative estimates of Russia's combat losses as of Sept. 24, according to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/yz2yDssT9x
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) September 24, 2022
This article appeared in MorningPress and has been published here with permission.
These are the indicative estimates of Russia's combat losses as of Sept. 23, according to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/lvnL5CT9tp
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) September 23, 2022


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1. Building begins on site of Sequoia Apts fire on Telegraph
2. Once in a lifetime chance to see plant bloom in Berkeley
3. Photos: Departing Cal students leave debris piles behind
4. Berkeley officials hold off on minimum wage task force
5. Surveillance camera registry a possibility for police
6. Authorities uncover drug operation on Oregon Street
7. Potential Walgreens suit brews as Berkeley officials tackle new drugstore ordinance
Find all Berkeleyside's recent articles in our "All the News" section.
Do you rely on Berkeleyside for your local news? You can support us by becoming a Berkeleyside Member. Choose either a monthly payment or a one-time contribution. Help make your independent local news source sustainable for the long term.


text: Cause the recurring question of what to wear to work is pertinent from Monday all throughout Friday, why not take a deep breath and put our creative fashion minds to work. With one side note: we need to figure out how to stop dressing boring to work. The classic look is probably the most common and easiest way to dress for office, regardless of your job, but also the most likely to get you looking boring, unless you remember this one tip: always wear a statement piece, or just a more fun item to your look shoes, bag, jewellery, watch, lips, nails. It's all in the details. Glamorous at the office is a look for all those sexy women who rule the world, and would rather do it in bright lips, sky high heels and outfits that can go from 9 am to late dinner cocktails.


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Serving the animals and citizens of Iowa County and its surrounding communities
We're Keeping Our Promises
An update on adoptions, sanctuary, treating animals with behavior issues and more.
The bylaws and rules voted into place by ICHS members at the 2013 annual meeting started many things in motion. Here's an update about what's been going on as ICHS works to tend to the animals in our care and serve our community. We are a no-kill shelter and will not euthanize adoptable animals.
Prior to 1998 the odds of survival were not good for a stray or abandoned animal in Iowa County. The best scenario, but least likely to occur, was that the stray would be taken in by some kind soul and allowed to become a part of their family. The next best thing would be if a stray animal was captured and taken to the local vet clinic and hopefully claimed by its owner within the seven day holding period. If the animal went unclaimed, it was euthanized. Or, finally, the things which are never good but are what usually happened to abandoned animals: being hit by a car, killed by other animals, starving to death or dying from disease or illness or being shot by humans. Because of this, the Iowa County Humane Society was formed by a group of concerned, caring citizens who decided to find a humane solution to help save the stray, the abandoned, the unwanted and the neglected Iowa County animals from a tragic life or early death.
The Iowa County Humane Society (ICHS) began in 1998 with a simple goal in mind: "Find loving homes for stray and abandoned animals: save the animals!" With this in mind came many hours of meetings and many months of organizing. The group surveyed municipalities, formed by-laws, elected officers and made decisions. The most important decision by far was the unanimous vote by the newly formed humane society to embrace the philosophy and ethics of a no-kill shelter.
ICHS members began fostering animals who were not claimed by their owners from the local vet clinic. Phone calls were made, ads were placed and soon unwanted animals were finding forever homes. The word was spreading and ICHS members were receiving more and more calls about stray and neglected animals. Calls also came from people who were experiencing a lifestyle change and needed to find a new home for their devoted family pet.
ICHS became an incorporated business and 501c (3) non-profit organization in 1999. Since 1998, ICHS has found homes for over 2900 animals. In 2007 alone, over 600 animals found their way through our doors with almost 300 pets finding their new forever homes. Because of our no-kill philosophy, ICHS has been able to help and find homes for many animals who would have been euthanized in other areas. Euthanization of animals occurs only in the case of terminal health reasons for which there is no hope of a cure or in the case of behavioral issues which make an animal a danger to the community. ICHS incurs all of the costs for medical treatments as well as the costs for food, bedding and daily care for our average animal population of 130 cats and 45 dogs. In 2007, our income was approximately $165,000 with expenses of around $190,000.
ICHS offers adoptions of animals, assistance with re-homing pets, shelter services for stray/homeless Iowa County animals, educational programs for schools & community organizations, a Junior Humane Society as well as a Humane Officer for the investigation of cruelty/abuse cases. Please consider helping make a difference for the animals of Iowa County by becoming a member, adopter, volunteer or making a donation.
Use GoodSearch for internet searchs and earn money for ICHS
Shop using iGive and earn money for ICHS - More than 500 of your favorite stores!
Kwik-Trip Fund-Raiser
We have chosen Kuranda dog beds because they are so good for our dogs. We don't have enough for all of our kennels. You can help by donating a bed.
Iowa County Humane Society
305 Co. Rd. YZ
P.O. Box 195
Dodgeville, WI 53533
Phone: 608-935-1381
Fax: 608-935-2884
e-mail: email@example.com
For additional contacts go to:
Board of Directors and Staff
WI Dog Seller & Dog Facility Operator license #267019-DS
ICHS NEW Hours:
Volunteer Login
Find out more about volunteering by
Employment Opportunities:
Kennel Attendant
apply here
Interested in joining the Board of Directors?


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I've formulated recipes for you based on the best essential oils and the best methods of application.
Below you will find links to more information on this topic, including expertly formulated recipes, located inside the EO RECIPES CLUB. If you are not a member yet, you can enroll here (free level available): https://www.leajacobson.com/recipes
- Congestion Notes
- Steam Inhalation for Congestion #1
- Steam Inhalation for Congestion #2
- Personal Inhaler for Congestion #1
- Personal Inhaler for Congestion #2
- Diffusing for Congestion #1
- Diffusing for Congestion #2
- Chest Rub for Congestion #1
- Chest Rub for Congestion #2
- Success Stories for Congestion Recipes
These recipes, although effective, are not intended to be used instead of getting professional help or to replace medicine you are already taking.
DISCLAIMER: This information is provided for educational purposes and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of a qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking care because of something you have read here.


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By chef Christos Christodoulou
16 medium shrimps
1 full of spoonful of flour
1 egg lightly beaten with 2 tablespoons of milk
1 cup breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon grated Indian coconut
Salt and pepper
Oil for frying
For the vegetable tagliatelle:
1 medium zucchini
1 medium carrot,
10 tender green leaves of fresh onions
2 tablespoons of olive oil
Salt and pepper
For the sauce:
1 teaspoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon chopped onion
½ clove of chopped garlic
6 tablespoons (90 ml) pineapple juice
½ cup coconut milk
½ teaspoon grated fresh ginger
Salt and pepper
4 hot chilli peppers fried for garnish (optional)
Step 1:
Prepare the ingredients for the tagliatelle. Peel and salt the prawns. Mix crumbs with coconut. Fry the shrimps first, then add the beaten egg and then wrap them one by one in the coconut mix, pressing it to get stuck. Fry them in plenty of oil.
Step 2:
In the meantime, pour the vegetables in hot salted water and allow them to boil for 2. Strain them, salt them and grease them.
Step 3:
Sauce: Melt the butter in a small pot and gently moisten the onion and garlic. As soon as they wither, pour in coconut juice and ginger. Let the mixture to the heat until it evaporates and leave half and stir in the coconut milk. Salt and pepper and let it simmer on low heat until it evaporates and leave half. Place the vegetables on the base of the dish, put the shrimp on top and pour the sauce all over. Garnish with fried hot chili peppers.


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Wednesday, March 04, 2015
Department of Justice legalized 100,000 illegals by executive action before Texas court injunction
The Department of Justice admitted in a court filing that it legalized 100,000 illegals by executive action from November 20, 2014 until February 16, 2015 before a Texas federal judge blocked President Obama's executive immigration action. The DOJ said that it started issuing three-year work permits "to approximately 100,000 individuals" who signed up for the 2012 DACA program "out of an abundance of caution."
"Defendants nevertheless recognize that their identification of February 18, 2015, as the date by which USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) planned to accept requests for deferred action under the new and expanded DACA eligibility guidelines, and their identification of March 4, 2015 as the earliest date by which USCIS would make final decisions on such expanded DACA requests, may have led to confusion about when USCIS had begun providing three-year terms of deferred action to individuals already eligible for deferred action under 2012 DACA.
"In light of these circumstances, Defendants file this Advisory to ensure that the Court is aware of these pre-injunction actions taken by USCIS.
"It is Defendants' understanding that the preliminary injunction does not require them to take affirmative steps to alter the status quo as it existed before the Court's Order...For this reason, Defendants do not understand the Order to require Defendants to take affirmative steps to revoke three-year periods of deferred action and work authorization...that were issued for recipients of deferred action under the original 2012 DACA eligibility guidelines prior to the Court's February 16, 2015 Order.
"Defendants nevertheless provide this Advisory to ensure that the Court is fully aware of Defendants' pre-injunction actions, in light of any potential confusion from the intersection of the (injunction), the 2012 DACA guidelines that remain in place, and Defendants' statements about when grants of DACA under the revised eligibility guidelines would begin taking place," the DOJ said in a March 3 "Advisory" to the federal court in Brownsville, Texas.
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Do you know that being popular like Bollywood celebrities or television actor actresses not only brings fame and money but also embarrassing moments sometimes especially when they have to go for any promotion or between crowd?
Their fans are crazy for them and some even do inappropriate activities in the heat of the moment or just to gain public attention. A lot of similar incidents have been reported by a number of Bollywood celebrities, especially actresses. Let's look at a few of them when the situation became really embarrassing for our Bollywood divas.
Tamannah Bhatia
Tamannah Bhatia faced the worst situation when a person tossed shoes towards her at the opening of a jewelry store located in Hyderabad. We have seen this kind of "shoe tossing" only for politicians yet.
Heena Khan
Heena has been a former Bigg Boss 11 contestant. She faced a similar situation at the shopping center when from the crowd of her fans, a man came out and pulled her hair, that video went viral instantly on social media.
Deepika Padukone
Deepika Padukone was at the promotion of Diwali Edition Magazine, suddenly one of her fans came out and started touching her improperly.
Gauhar Khan
Gauhar Khan was performing anchoring of India's Raw Star show, suddenly a man lifted upstairs and slapped her in very hard in public said a real Muslim lady should not wear uncovered clothes.
Bollywood Celebrities Who Look Exactly Like Other Celebrities
Gul Panag
Gul Panag had been a member of a marathon race. Once she was on the campaign and suddenly a couple of men came and they started touching her in her private area.
Ileana D'cruz
Once Ileana was got stuck in heavy traffic, a couple of fans misbehaved even in the traffic with her. What a shame for those people.
Kareena Kapoor Khan
Kareena Kapoor Khan had to be the victim of a viral incident of groping while doing the promotion of the famous movie of Salman Khan Bajrangi Bhaijan.
16 Bollywood Celebrities You Didn't Know Have Biracial Heritage
Katrina Kaif
Katrina was passing through the way between the crowd of her fans and suddenly some of them started misbehaving with her. She told this in an interview.
Minisha Lamba
When Minisha Lamba went for the photo-shoot in Goa, a bunch of fans touched her improperly.
Priyanka Chopra
While having the shooting of the famous movie Anjaana Anjaani, a fan of Priyanka tried to touch or catch her hand. She instantly brushed him away and even slapped hard.
Sonakshi Sinha
Akshay Kumar saved her friend Sonakshi Sinha from the public when people started touching her improperly as can be seen in the above image.
Sonam Kapoor
Sonam, when she was doing the shooting of the movie Ranjhana, the crowd tried to touch her in wrong places improperly but her actor and friend Dhanush saved him luckily.
Sushmita Sen
Sushmita Sen was out for promotion opening of a gems store lots of chaos there and many of the men reportedly tried to touch her very badly.
Vidya Balan
When Vidya was doing the promotion of her movie Begum Jaan, A man forced her to take a selfie with him. Not only this he even tried to pull her towards her when she hesitated to take a selfie. Felt very annoying to Vidya, she told in an interview.


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Finally we had our first Snow of the season this weekend. Not that I was missing the snow, but I get a little paranoid when weather is not normal for a season, it makes me think of global warming and it's extreme effects. Well for now, I can be rest assured that real winter is here and will probably be here for sometime.
For this month's Taste & Create, being hosted by Min of Bad Girl's Kitchen, I got paired with Veena @ Veg Nation. Veena blog has tons of delicious vegetarian dishes and I had quite a few bookmarked to try. But as always got busy with other things and was able to make 2 of dishes. One is this easy peasy Corn rice and the other one is the Spring onion Dal. I couldn't take pictures of dal since I made it on a weekday and had no time to take the pics.
Corn rice is a great one-pot dish that can be made in no time in a pressure cooker. My addition is a carrot to make the dish a little more colorful and tad bit healthy. Here's how I made it.
Basmati Rice - 1 cup
Corn kernels - ½ cup
Carrot - 1 medium, chopped
Onion - 1 medium, thinly sliced
Ginger + Garlic paste - 1tsp
Cinnamon stick - 1" piece
Cloves - 4
Bay leaves - 2
Garam Masala - 1tsp
Red chili powder - ½tsp
Cumin seeds - 1tsp
Lemon Juice - 2tbsp
Salt - to taste
- Rinse the rice and soak in water for at least 15minutes.
- Heat 2tbsp oil in a pressure cooker. Add cumin seeds, cinnamon stick, cloves and bay leaves. Once the seeds start to splutter, add onions and saute till they turn translucent.
- Add ginger + garlic paste and cook for another minute.
- Next add corn and carrots and saute for 2-3 minutes.
- Add red chili powder and garam masala and cook for a minute.
- Drain the rice and mix gently. Add 1½ cups of water, lemon juice and salt. Mix well, cover and cook for 2 whistles.
- Serve hot with a side of pickle, curry, dal or yogurt.


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New method to estimate bleeding risk in heart attack patients
September 15, 2015
Using clinical variables, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Duke University and collaborating institutions have created a new method to estimate bleeding risk and help lessen the chances that heart attack patients will experience this common complication.
"Until now, there hasn't been a simple tool applicable to the general population that can predict the risk of bleeding before patients are treated for heart attack," says one of the study's authors, Richard G. Bach, M.D., a Washington University cardiologist and medical director of the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. "Older methods for estimating risk either were derived from a low-bleeding-risk population or used variables that aren't available until after treatment is begun."
The bleeding-risk assessment tool is described in a study that appeared April 14, 2009, in the journal Circulation .
Doctors treat heart attacks with medications and procedures intended to prevent ischemic complications, or damage caused by lack of oxygen to the heart. But these treatments -anticlotting drugs and catheter-based interventions to the heart - also increase the likelihood of bleeding, which can be deadly.
"The risk of bleeding is substantial in people with heart attacks," says study co-author Brian F. Gage, M.D., a Washington University internist and director of the outpatient Anticoagulation Service. "We found that this population could be risk-stratified, so that people at high risk of bleeding could receive less aggressive anticoagulant and antiplatelet therapy while those at low risk could receive full-dose therapy."
Led by Sumeet Subherwal, M.D., formerly a Barnes-Jewish Hospital medical resident at Washington University Medical Center and now a cardiology fellow at Duke University, and in collaboration with several investigators including Karen Alexander, M.D., a cardiologist at the Duke Clinical Research Institute, the researchers analyzed the medical histories of more than 89,000 patients hospitalized in the United States for non-ST-elevation heart attack. This type of heart attack is the most common and usually results from a partial rather than complete blockage of the heart's arteries.
The patient histories were part of the CRUSADE Quality Improvement Initiative, a national multicenter program that aims to improve outcomes for heart attack patients. The risk assessment tool is called the CRUSADE bleeding score.
"A lot of treatment decisions have to be made very promptly after the patient arrives," says Bach, also associate professor of medicine in the Cardiovascular Division at Washington University School of Medicine. "So we designed a bleeding-risk stratification tool that would require only those variables that can be obtained up front. It's a practical tool that can be used in any hospital setting."
The CRUSADE analysis identified eight factors that could predict the odds that a heart attack patient might suffer a bleeding event. The factors are gender, heart rate, blood pressure, hematocrit (the concentration of red cells in the blood), creatinine clearance (a measure of kidney function), diabetes, peripheral vascular disease or stroke, and congestive heart failure.
The bleeding score calculation assigns points to each factor so that the total score coincides with risk of bleeding evidenced in the CRUSADE cases. The range of possible scores is divided into five categories from very low to very high risk of bleeding.
The bleeding risk score is intended to help guide critical early treatment decisions for clinicians caring for heart attack patients, but the impact of its use on outcomes will need to be tested in clinical trials, says Bach. Potentially, the score will be used in conjunction with other practice guidelines to optimize heart attack treatment and minimize risk.


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The MD Revolution Care Management Platform offers clinical support for your patient population.
Our trained Health Coaches employ M.I.B.N. (motivational interviewing & brief negotiation) techniques to engage and build personalized, accountable relationships with patients. MD Revolution Health Coaches will operate within your existing workflows to become a virtual extension of your care team.
Health Coaches will meet your patients where they feel comfortable by phone and through MD Revolution's proprietary web-based application RevUp. The team will onboard eligible patients to relevant programs, establish a baseline for their health, coordinate care plans, and track their progress. Distributed workflow data is stored in the cloud and is available to your team anytime, anywhere.


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Commentary: Syntax includes: NP1[agent] WRENCH NP2[theme] (PP[source]) NP1[agent] WRENCH NP2[theme] (PP[destination])
He wrenched the window off its hinges.
She wrenched herself free from his grip.
A deep sigh was wrenched from his chest.
You have just wrenched from the Germans one of their best and richest colonies.
Danny wrenched her arm up behind her back.
Red Spring chirped as she wrenched her arm free.
Quit Wrenching The Steering Wheel.
VerbNet: remove-10.1
FrameNet: NP
PropBank: wrench.01
WordNet 3.0 Sense Numbers: 1, 2
Commentary: Syntax includes: NP1[agent[animate]] WRENCH NP2[theme[body_part]] (PP[cause])
He was wrenching his hands, rubbing his hands on his legs, and he was sweating.
She has started wrenching her hands together continuously.
She was actually smiling all over her face, wrenching her hands in excitement.
The Queen was wrenching her hands in despair.
She paced up and down nervously near the window, wrenching her hands in utter misery.
VerbNet: NM
FrameNet: NP
PropBank: wrench.02
WordNet 3.0 Sense Numbers: 3
Commentary: Syntax includes: NP1[experiencer] WRENCH NP2[patient[body_part]]
Before Kyle could react, his ankle wrenched.
She wrenched her knee while getting to her seat.
Claimant spun sideways, wrenching his back.
Gaborik did not practice Sunday after wrenching his neck in a mid-ice collision.
He wrenched himself out of alignment.
VerbNet: hurt-40.8.3-2
FrameNet: NP
PropBank: wrench.03
WordNet 3.0 Sense Numbers: 4
Commentary: Syntax includes: NP1[patient[body_part]] WRENCH (PP[cause]) NP1[cause] WRENCH NP2[patient[body_part]] NP1[cause] WRENCH NP2[experiencer]
It wrenched her to watch them go.
She could not deny herself the inner turmoil that so wrenched her stomach.
Dry heaves wrenched her stomach.
Her stomach wrenched with dread.
Her stomach wrenched.
VerbNet: pain-40.8.1
FrameNet: NP
PropBank: wrench.01


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The breakup of the Soviet Union flung the doors open to the lands of 50 million Muslims. Workers flooded into Soviet Central Asia in the nineties, eager to engage those who had been isolated so long from the Good News.
Their initiative was rewarded. By the early 2000s, thousands of Central Asian Muslims had become followers of Jesus in an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. One Kazakh pastor remembered, "In those days, we'd get together Saturday evening to pray and prepare Bible studies. The next day, anywhere from three to 20 Muslims would repent from their sins and become saved. This happened every week – month after month! We just thought it was normal." Dreams, healings and miracles occurred regularly.
In other Central Asian countries, China included, the breakthroughs among Muslims were just as real, even if the numbers were less dramatic than in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
But leaner times followed. Persecution, materialism, and disillusionment thinned the ranks by as much as 50% in some countries. Though all of the major Central Asian Muslim people groups – Uighurs, Uzbeks, Tajiks, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and Turkmen – experienced breakthroughs, on average less that one half of one percent of the populations are Christ followers.
With the mass exodus of foreign workers, local leaders have been challenged to take initiative and ownership of God's work in Central Asia. Growth has been slow and incremental, but encouraging. Additionally, fledgling initiatives have sprung up to take the Good News to Muslims further afield with remarkable early success.
Pray For:
- Boldness for Central Asian believers to share their faith. New religious laws and persecution have caused many to succumb to fear.
- Encouragement and spiritual vitality for Christian leaders, personally, in their families and in their communities
- Holy Spirit inspired faith and creativity for followers of Jesus to see their financial needs met. Most of the early work was driven by foreign funds that have since dried up.
- Divine blessing on the mission initiatives coming out of China and Soviet Central Asia. These sending efforts have the potential to advance the Gospel in the remaining task in unprecedented ways.


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Freesat awarded 'best contribution to digital TV'
Freesat was presented with the DTG Council's 'Best Contribution to Digital TV in the UK' award at the International Broadcasting Convention (Amsterdam) last night, Friday 12 September, beating the BBC iPlayer launch on Virgin Media.
Freesat won the award because it has "potential to provide HD to millions of viewers at an economical cost", it is "pushing the boundaries of the specification to improve the viewer experience" and it "should form a vital element of helping to ensure the UK goes through a successful DSO process", according to quotes from the voting members of the DTG Council, who back the presigious annual award.
This award recognises the project, product or service that has made, or has the potential to make, the biggest contribution to the development of digital TV in the UK.
Freesat MD, Emma Scott, was delighted for her company, saying "amidst some strong competition, it's great recognition of the expertise and commitment that's gone into launching and developing such a great service."
"With the support of our shareholders BBC and ITV, as well as our channel, manufacturer and retail partners, we have delivered upon our promise of brilliant free digital TV for everyone and provided an excellent value option for those who want high definition TV without subscription. We are very much a vital piece in the future development of UK television."
Neil Gaydon, from Pace commented: "Technology innovation has been central to Pace's success throughout our history and our reason for creating this Award. The Freesat service is an excellent example of how this industry is constantly evolving and how consumers are benefiting from new services to access digital TV services."
Digital TV Group' Simon Gauntlett, added: "The UK is one of the leading digital TV markets in Europe. We are leading the way in new technologies and penetration of services. The Freesat service is a leading example of how the UK has achieved this position, and why we remain at the forefront of the marketplace."
This can only mean that there will be Pace Freesat boxes soon.
Congratulation to all at Freesat!
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As the events within the 16th edition were, 2015's 104-page magazine is thematically centred on the topic "Un Tune." This subject investigates how the immediate effects of frequencies, sound and music confront and disturb the human body, and explores the extent to which pre-conscious, psycho-physiological affects influence the perception and interpretation of sound and music. The word "tuning" is used as a metaphor for aligning, fixing, and optimizing, often to a norm or standard. Untuning, therefore, signifies sound's ability to dismantle expectations and bend pre-established rubrics as well as to affect (both positively and negatively) humans' physiological and psychological balance.
As the festival did with its eclectic mix of contributing artists, the magazine incorporates and excavates the Un Tune theme through a multiplicity of approaches, from discussions of the use of sonic weaponry in psychological warfare to the healing power of ASMR, and from "archaeoacoustics" to inspection of the racial politics of Berlin's techno scene. Articles address the use of classical music in public spaces as an anti-loitering tactic, AutoTune's potential to neutralize gender binaries, and the observation of sound as a manifestation of unexplained, paranormal phenomena. The collection also features of a handful of artworks that relate to the Un Tune theme.
The CTM 2015 Magazine costs 9 € and is available in Berlin at Motto. Anyone outside Berlin can order the magazine online via the Motto Online Shop.
Design & layout by Marius Rehmet of Vojd.
Un Tune– CTM Magazine 2015
Edited by CTM Festival and Jan Rohlf
Published by DISK – Initiative Bild & Ton e.V., 2016
104 pages, paperback
Un Tune
By Jan Rohlf
Un-sound: Sound, Affect & Alien Agency
By Chris Salter
Sound & Ancient Sacred Places
By Paul Devereux
The Horizon of an Untuned Ear
By Lawrence English
Sound in Motion: Understanding Space
Jakub Juhás in conversation with Lucio Capece
Always Here For You: On ASMR, AutonomouS Sensory Meridian Response
By Claire Tolan
You Don't Know Me, But I Know You
By Annie Gårlid
A Memoir of Disintegration
A project by Soundwalk Collective featuring Nan Goldin, Samuel Rohrer, live visuals by Tina Frank, and excerpts from the writings of David Wojnarowicz
"White Brothers With No Soul" — Untuning the Historiography of Berlin Techno
Interview with Alexander G. Weheliye by Annie Goh
T Talk
Lorenzo Senni in conversation with Marc Schwegler & Remo Bitzi
Ambivalent Sounds and Systems
Nik Nowak in conversation with Heimo Lattner
Rough Muzak — Affect & the Weaponised Use of Classical Music
By Marie Thompson
Sonic Anomalies
An Interview with Eberhard Bauer & Michael Schetsche at Freiburg's Anomalies Research Institute (IGPP) by Annie Goh
Listening to Wetware Circuitry – Sonic Experimentations and Algorhythmics
By Shintaro Miyazaki
"Viruses, Like Art, Need a Host. Preferanly a Popular One."
Virus painting by James Hoff
Sonic Beams – On the Perception of Ultra-directed Acoustic Radiation
A conversation between Toby Heys & Anke Eckardt
Internal: AUDINT (Phonoccultural Studies)
By Marc Couroux
Screen resolution PDF


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The Investigative Project on Terrorism
Christian persecution is on the rise throughout the Muslim world, and the United States is leading from behind on the issue, according to a panel that gathered at the Hudson Institute in Washington Wednesday to discuss the book, Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians.
The U.S. State Department and Western governments have been largely silent on the issue of Christian persecution because of political correctness and multiculturalism, panelists said.
"If there is a hiker … abducted in Iran, the State Department has no hesitancy to come out and make a major issue of these cases, but it seems like when Christians are involved, they shy away, " said panelist Nina Shea. "It is found in both Republican and Democratic administrations."
Panelists cited the case of Iranian-American pastor Saed Abedini, who was sentenced to eight years in prison in Iran, as an example of the State Department's failure to take action on its own when Christians are being persecuted. However, the State Department announced Wednesday that Secretary of State John Kerry had called on the Iranians to release Abedini after being pressured to do so by the American Center for Law and Justice and others.
The Obama administration recently refused to send a representative to a hearing by the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission two weeks ago to discuss Abedini's plight.
Commission Chairman Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., slammed the administration in a release on March 20, saying that the State Department's failure to send a representative showed that religious freedom was not a priority of its foreign policy. Several State Department officials did meet with Abedini's wife and counsel that same day, however, so claims no one was available to appear at the hearing seem disingenuous, he wrote.
"In short, the Department misled the commission and in doing so sent a dangerous message to rogue regimes the world over – even human rights abuses that compromise the safety and security of American citizens will be met with virtual silence from the U.S. government," Wolf wrote in his letter to Kerry.
In Egypt, the Obama administration is asserting a moral equivalency between actions by government forces and the Coptic Christian minority, said Shea, director of Hudson's Center for Religious Freedom. She noted that the State Department failed to forcefully condemn the Egyptian government for sending tanks and bullets after Copts protested the burning of their churches in October 2011.
The massacre left 24 Copts dead and 272 injured.
"The U.S government put out a response condemning it and asking for both sides to refrain from further violence," Shea said. "Sam Tadros said in NRO at the time that I should tell the military to stand down and tell the Copts to stop dying."
Moderator Eric Metaxis suggested that the Obama administration chose to throw the issue of religious freedom "under the bus" in the interest of greater peace.
But this situation is just a recent manifestation of an increasing wave of radicalism that has swept the Muslim world over the past 10 to 15 years. Christians have found themselves subject to increasing persecution in places such as Indonesia and Senegal that were previously known for their tolerance of non-Muslims.
"The Arab Spring had made things much worse, and it looks like it's not going to get any better," said panelist Lela Gilbert, a co-author of Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians.
Examples of Gilbert's point include recent attacks on Coptic churches in Libya, the sentencing of an Egyptian woman and her family to 15 years in prison for converting to Christianity, and a Fox News report Tuesday of an Egyptian mosque being used to torture Christians.
Additionally, Shea criticized the Obama administration for not stopping the Karzai government from closing Afghanistan's last remaining church in 2010, making it the only country other than Saudi Arabia that doesn't have a church open in it. This event occurred as the U.S. troop surge into the country was on the upswing, and resulting in forcing American diplomats and contractors to worship in secret.
"I attribute this to political correctness, to multiculturalism and an unwillingness to say that Christians are victims in that part of the world," Shea said. "It's trying to be nice … and I can't find any other explanation."
Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Paul Marshall noted that the State Department takes a very different approach to confronting the persecution of Bahais in Iran. While it usually is quick to come to their defense, he said, for some reason it is reluctant to even acknowledge that the persecuted people are Christians.
The United States doesn't seem to want to be seen as a Christian nation protecting Christians, Marshall said.
"There seems to be a tendency to go easy on our friends and on people who want to be our friends," he said. "We seem to be more outspoken on Iran and less outspoken about Afghanistan and what goes on there."
Islamic radicalization during the past 10 to 15 years has fueled much of the persecution of Christians throughout the Islamic world. Countries such as Indonesia and Senegal that had relatively tolerant Islamic populations have become more radical, and Christians have found themselves subject to persecution where they hadn't been before.
Marshall dismissed the idea that Muslim radicals have targeted the United States in recent years because of its foreign policy. Instead he says that groups like al-Qaida target Americans because they view the U.S. as Christian.
"How many mosques have been burned or attacked in Egypt?" Marshall asked. "To my knowledge zero, but large numbers of churches [have been].
"In terms of the clashes it's not a clash between two forces; it's Islamists versus the West, and Christians are one of the principle targets."
You can view the panel discussion here.
The Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) is a non-profit research group founded by Steven Emerson in 1995. It is recognized as the world's most comprehensive data center on radical Islamic terrorist groups. For more than a decade, the IPT has investigated the operations, funding, activities and front groups of Islamic terrorist and extremist groups in the United States and around the world. It has become a principal source of critical evidence to a wide variety of government offices and law enforcement agencies, as well as the U.S. Congress and numerous public policy forums. Research carried out by the IPT team has formed the basis for thousands of articles and television specials on the subject of radical Islamic involvement in terrorism, and has even led to successful government action against terrorists and financiers based in the United States.


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Postmater e vignetta più grande.
9 Commenti
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"You're such a shyster."
A remark by my friend and best man, Scott, at my bachelor party while having a beer at the Budweiser Brickhouse Tavern outside Wrigley Field in the summer of 2017.
He didn't actually mean I was being fraudulent or deceptive, which are words used in the definition of shyster. Rather, he probably meant it to mean I was like one of those salesmen that would flip anything for a buck. The flip life is a term used for people who look for deals at garage sales, auctions, online, etc. and turn around and sell for profit.
The flip life. It's gained a lot of steam in recent years, and this blog post was inspired by two tweets. First, a great Twitter follow, @ExamineBaseball, posted a picture of a long line of people waiting for an estate sale.
It's true that flipping deals for profit has been around for a while. It has gained popularity in the past decade or so with those aforementioned shows. Gary Vaynerchuk is also a big voice among the flip life community, and certainly his popularity combined with instant communication via social media has led to an influx of flippers looking for some supplemental income.
Back to my conversation over beers in Wrigleyville. The conversation was about some fantastic flips I made when working in radio. Several years earlier, I was working for a radio group in western Illinois. We had a station in a small city about 30 minutes away and for feasibility moved it into our studios which housed three stations in a larger city.
One Friday was set aside for cleaning up and moving out the small-town radio station and our company had rented a large dumpster as much of the contents of the building were going to be thrown away. Or would they be thrown away?
As my co-workers were tossing pieces of old, antiquated audio equipment I was grabbing the "trash" and putting it into my SUV. By the end of the day I think there was more "trash" in my Ford Explorer than was left in the dumpster. All told, I listed the stuff on eBay and was surprised at the results. Some of the old radio manuals were selling for $40 to $50. Pieces of audio equipment were netting the same as I listed in each item description "sold as is, have not tested." After all was said and done, I raked in over $1,000 from emptying out the dumpster.
Just a couple years later, our radio group of four stations was sold. I stayed with our company and worked at a sister radio group about 30 minutes away. Once again, we had a massive clean out before the station changed hands. Though, this time there wasn't manuals or audio equipment. It was cabinets upon cabinets of compact discs. I was well aware the resale value of CD's was terrible, even ten years ago. But, how could I let old CD's of Poison, New Kids on the Block, Madonna, and Michael Jackson be tossed into the trash?
I couldn't let them be thrown away. So, I grabbed one of the black trash bags and kept a collection to take home. This was in 2008. About three years later while cleaning out my backyard shed, I came across the dozens and dozens of old CD's. "Maybe, I can throw a pile of 20 together and list them on eBay and make ten bucks," I said to myself.
The lot of CD's was a mish mash, and frankly I only recall one of the discs that was posted, because almost immediately I was receiving private messages. Within one hour of listing I had three people ask me about a Michael Jackson CD that was a part of the lot. Each of these eBay users wanted to buy the MJ CD. With zero bids on the lot of 20 CD's (starting price was $9.99), I took the post down.
(image from eBay)
With a bit of research, I discovered the "Jam" promotional Michael Jackson CD had sold between $150 and $300. At auction, I pulled in $200 for the single Jackson CD. Most of the CD's were promotional for radio stations. Next, I listed a Madonna disc and it sold for $75. A handful of others pulled in between $5 and $20 each and in all I made about $500.
In the attic of our radio station there were a couple large bins filled with old record albums. Anything of any value (or so I thought) had been rummaged through long, long before we moved out of the building. It was mostly Christmas albums, big band/jazz, and "worthless" commercials.
(image from popsike.com)
But, apparently not so worthless. The commercials and public service announcements were from the 1950's and included Coca-Cola, Disney, Ford, General Motors, and AMC. On a whim I posted a couple and they sold like hot cakes. Some of the albums fetched $50 and the total haul was in the neighborhood of $1,000. Looking back on these $0 investments by saving pieces of "garbage" from a dump have me inspired to look out for some deals and reignite my flip life.
I'm not a shyster…just aware of opportunities to live that flip life.


text: Is your life too stressful and busy lately? Don't have time to loosen up? Well, chill out girl! Life's too short to be taken seriously. Just look at me, always thinking of new ways to spice up my weekend. And so when I saw this upside down museum on my news feed, I didn't let the week pass without visiting this not so usual museum. For some of us, we want to indulge in history, in those old pieces that can take us back to the old times. We marvel at the paintings and its amazing strokes, we look at the things used by known people in our history... We're intrigued with that sculpture... You know, traditional art. And if your not part of that population who goes to a museum to see different paintings and works of art, then you are probably the ones who want to let loose and be a kid again. You probably get bored easily so you don't use time visit those. And if you don't like visiting those kinds of museum, then probably will like modern ones! You know, Madame Tussauds, Trick Eye, Art in Island.. those kinds of museum? Sounds familiar, right? March 19, 2017 7 comments


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These Three Orders Will Make Chick-Fil-A Employees Hate You
Chick-fil-A is known for a few things: a fast food chicken sandwich that is surprisingly good, extremely conservative corporate beliefs, and employees that kind of hate all their customers.
OK... that last one isn't true. Most of their employees are lovely. But according to a recent Spoon University piece -- where a contributor got a Chick-fil-A employee to dish candidly -- there are a few orders that customers give that seriously piss off people who work at the chicken chain.
Here are some of the highlights. Tread carefully with your breaded chicken.
Asking to handpick fruit for your fruit bowl
Don't be that person asking for a strictly blueberry fruit bowl. "Think about it -- how many fruit bowls does Chick-fil-A serve in a day? Way too many for them to handpick your fruit for you," said the anonymous employee, and we don't blame him.
Digging through fruit is time-consuming, inefficient, and a little unsanitary. Maybe just order waffle fries next time? There are no garbage mushy apples in that.
Asking for an obscene amount of sauces
Another major pet-peeve of the employee is when guests order one item, and request a veritable bounty of dipping sauces.
While Chick-fil-A fans are rabid about their sauce selection, I can see how this could bug someone. Ordering a small fry and pairing it with seven different dipping sauces is some Caligula-level hedonism. It has no place in a family friendly establishment like Chick-fil-A.
Ordering your sandwich with no butter, no salt, no pickle, and well-done on a multi-grain bun
This is an oddly specific, and frankly not great tasting sounding order, but to each their own. It's annoying to employees because they have to stop their usual flow and take precious time to make your bland order.
So, if you are this picky, you probably shouldn't be eating at Chick-fil-A in the first place, right?
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Link to view video (that aired *live* on Nov. 29th) HERE!
Stunning. Grand. Unique. Just a few of the words used in an builder-guided Walk-Through Wednesday tour of The Pineapple Corporation's NEW Plan Four Model in The Vista at Twenty Mile.
The 5,430 square foot Plan Four floor-plan, built exclusively for Nocatee, features exquisite attention to detail and unique architecture. Plan Four offers 3 bedrooms, 4 full baths, 2 half baths, 4 car garage, and 2 guest casitas. Both casitas include a full bath and can be transformed into many different options such as an at home gym, guest bedroom, office, and more.
Some of the most remarkable details of the Plan Four floor-plan include the large auto courtyard (perfect for hosting an event) with two, 2-car garages on either side, the master suite's large walk-in closet, the grand living room's 2 story high ceilings with wooden beams, the European butler's pantry, and arched walkways. These and more are what make this home so distinct and remarkable.
The Vista at Twenty Mile is a gated neighborhood with 44 homesites, all backing up to preserve or water to offer stunning back-yard views. All homes are built exclusively by The Pineapple Corporation and feature wood floors, tile roofs, quartz or granite counter, and Wolf kitchen appliances.
Not familiar with the Walk-Through Wednesday video series? Then visit the official Walk-Through Wednesday web-page.
For more information about new homes at Nocatee and the Nocatee lifestyle, stop by the Nocatee Welcome Center or call 1-800-NOCATEE.