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Women and amateur science
Last month, Reptile Channel's Russ Case posted a blog entry on women and reptiles — specifically, on the growing presence of women in the amateur herpetocultural community. Whereas once reptiles were "usually considered a guy thing," Case argues,
Somewhere along the way, things changed. The next time you're at a reptile expo, pay attention and you'll notice just as many women wandering the aisles and enthusiastically examining the reptiles on display as there are men. And they're not just in the aisles — you'll see plenty of women vendors selling reptiles and amphibians, too.
It's something I've noticed as well — not the trend, because even after 11 years, I haven't been in the community long enough, or paying attention to it enough, to be aware of the trend — but the presence of women in the herp community, wrangling frogs, snakes, and lizards with the best of them, and I was aware that it was counterintuitive insofar as common sense or received wisdom was concerned. I've also met women who were bolder and less afraid of snakes than their male partners (which I found very interesting).
But then Case had to go and wreck the point by pointing to the existence of a calendar of "herp babes" — the 2011 Florida Girls of Herpetology Conservation Calendar (available here). The problem is that photos of women with snakes and other reptiles aren't exactly uncommon; a calendar of women whose "reptile-related credentials are very impressive" runs the risk of lowering skilled herpers to the level of eye candy. Not that I'm opposed to eye candy; I'm opposed to the conflation of female participation and "look! babes!" — the kind of response I'd expect from a bunch of adolescent gamers to a girl attending one of their game nights. Only if there's irony or high camp involved does this avoid being demeaning, and I haven't seen any evidence of either.
(For all I know the calendar itself is all right — I haven't seen it, and don't know how much pulchritude is involved — but including it in a discussion of women's participation in the reptile community is decidedly off.)
And if you think that this bit of cringeworthiness is limited to amateur herpetology, well, then, you've never heard of the Celestron girls. Telescope manufacturer Celestron had ads during the 1980s that, Ed Ting recalls,
show[ed] pretty women (some in dresses and high heels) posing provocatively at the eyepiece. Most of them looked as if they had never been anywhere near an astronomical telescope before that morning's photo shoot. Many astronomers I've talked to still resent these ads today. "I'm insulted" is a typical comment. What they were silently saying was "I'm buying a Meade — they respect my hobby."
In other words, when women are seen as more or less the equivalent of a trade show model, there's a problem. One that doesn't do much to encourage more women to take up the hobby, or make those who are already in the hobby feel like they're being taken seriously, I'll bet. Clearly, the science-based hobbies have not had a good track record on the gender front. But it could be worse: it could be model railroading.


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Art underfoot: Artistic flooring trends for your space
You might not realise it, but the type of flooring you fit can say a great deal about you and your home. Just as in fashion, there are trends in flooring, and here we take a closer look at some of the latest ones.
Image Credit
Oversized tilesRather than opting for small floor tiles, larger sizes are on trend this year, which gives a smooth and seamless look, by limiting the amount of joins that are needed. These can be used across both residential and commercial spaces and works well in any type of room.
Natural tones
Inspiration for interior décor is definitely leaning towards pastel and natural tones, across the various types of flooring. This creates a warm feel to a space and gives it a fresher look, for example, oak grey laminate flooring, which has the style of real wood, but in a much more cost effective form.
Polished slabs
Within the home improvement market, flooring is expected to see the biggest growth in 2017, with around 29% of property owners spending more in this area. To give your room a high quality finish, you can opt to use a rustic or marble look polished slab, which is becoming extremely popular. These tend to be natural stone, marble or wood styles and come in a range of different finishes, including soft satin and highly reflective.
Image Credit
Wood, stone and cement
Creating a rustic look in your home is also on trend this year, with a variety of natural looking tiles and laminate flooring designs available. This type of flooring, such as the grey laminate flooring available from stockists like www.woodfloorwarehouse.co.uk, will give your property a unique look and is much easier to maintain than real wood or stone.
Stand out from the crowd
If you want to make a bold statement with your flooring, you can bring in different textures and patterns. For example, there are some stunning geometric patterned carpets now on the market.
The simplicity of white
White tiles might seem like a simple option to go for, especially when there is so much variety, but they give you the advantage of complementing any type of décor, so that the property flows seamlessly from one to the other, and will also create the feeling of space, which can be important in compact rooms.

subset: commoncrawl


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Chen Dongfan // Shanghai Restoration Project
February 22, 2020On February 22, Chen Dongfan will complete his painting The Sanctuary Club in response to the improvisational music of electronic duo Shanghai Restoration Project.
4 p.m.
4 p.m.
Free and open to the public.
Image: Shanghai Restoration Project performs at Chen Dongfan's studio, 2019. Photo by Inna Xu.


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Leslie and I went to Belfair on Mother's Day, and Leslie thought I should get a picture of this mallard and her flock. Unfortunately, I could never manage to get a picture with all of the ducklings in the picture, but here are most of them:
Leslie also wanted me to get a shot of this Rufous Hummingbird, which turned out much better than I thought it would since the sun was behind it and it flew away before I get to the other side of it:
While Leslie was looking up, I was looking across the creek at the far bank, where ducks tend to gather. I don't think I've ever gotten a picture of a Northern Pintail out of the water before. I was rather surprised that the color of the feet matched the beak:
I know that if I were that beautiful I would be careful not to get my white feathers muddy.
Without a doubt, my favorite birds at Belfair this time of year are the Swallows. The barn swallows
and the Violet-Green Swallows
have finally joined the Tree Swallows at Theler Wetlands.


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Hsin-Yao Tseng biography
Hsin-Yao Tseng was born in Taipei, Taiwan in 1986. Around the age of ten, he started painting in watercolors, as well as other mediums. The early exposure instilled in him the foundation needed to excel at an early age.
In 2004, after graduating from high school in Taiwan, Hsin-Yao came to the United States to continue his studies. In 2009, he received his Bachelors of Fine Art Painting from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. And in 2012, he received his Masters degree in Fine Art Painting. Hsin-Yao, having already developed his signature style, has had his work recognized by the major art magazines, as well as by unprecedented number of highly prestigious galleries. Hsin-Yao's technique in oil is brilliant and sure. He paints in a romantic and expressive manner that honors the Western tradition while signaling an edgy, contemporary complexity. Hsin-Yao's curiosity and energy propels him to experiment and innovate. He works in a range of genres: from lush evocations of San Francisco and other cities, to expressive portraits, and to lustrous interiors in which multiple figures enact a story. While his technical mastery is superb, it is never arid or facile. Hsin-Yao's prose testifies to the fact that he is ambitious and he is eager to push his art beyond what is immediate and popular toward the timeless and real. His dedication and interest in the arts is apparent from many years of hard work and academic studies.
Hsin-Yao has been recognized by the Art Renewal Center (ARC) as an ARC Living Master in 2014. He has exhibited his artworks in different shows across the United States, including solo shows, two-person shows, and group shows. He has won many awards at the Academy of Art University Spring Show; received both Exceptional Merit Award and Certificate of Excellence in International Portrait Society of America, 2010 and 2012. He has been on the Top 100 Finalists of the International ARC Salon competition from 2009-2012. In the 2012-2013 ARC Salon Competition, he received a total of six (6) awards in three different categories of the salon competition, which included one Honorable Mention Award in Landscape category, three Honorable Mention Awards in Drawing category, one Finalist Award in Animal category, and one Finalist Award in Figurative category. He was in the top 50 in the 2009 Salon International at Greenhouse Gallery. He earned Second place in The Artist's Magazine's 25th annual contest – Portrait/Figure; and Third place in the International Artist Magazine (June/July 2008).
Available paintings:
Click on images to enlarge.
"North Beach Sunlight"
Hsin-Yao Tseng
Oil 12″ x 12″
See additional information about "North Beach Sunlight".
"Waiting Room"
Hsin-Yao Tseng
Oil 16″ x 12″
See additional information about "Waiting Room".
"Heading To Downtown"
Hsin-Yao Tseng
Oil 16″ x 16″
See additional information about "Heading To Downtown".
"Santa Cruz Sunset"
Hsin-Yao Tseng
Oil 11″ x 14″
See additional information about "Santa Cruz Sunset".
"Sunset On Sutter Street"
Hsin-Yao Tseng
Oil 14″ x 14″
See additional information about "Sunset On Sutter Street".
"Central Park Winter"
Hsin-Yao Tseng
Oil 8″ x 10″
See additional information about "Central Park Winter".
"Cloche Or Fascinators"
Hsin-Yao Tseng
Oil 30″ x 30″
See additional information about "Cloche Or Fascinators".
Hsin-Yao Tseng
Oil 38″ x 23″
See additional information about "Control".
"Guarding Sorolla"
Hsin-Yao Tseng
Oil 30″ x 30″
See additional information about "Guarding Sorolla".
"The Moment"
Hsin-Yao Tseng
Oil 8″ x 8″
See additional information about "The Moment".
Sold paintings:
Hsin-Yao Tseng
Oil 12″ x 9″
Interested in any of these paintings, call us 800-958-5360 or email us firstname.lastname@example.com.
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- B338 Black-Eyed Susan Strip
- B126 Grass Border
- B533 Mayan Butterfly w/Angel Wing
- B315 Ivy Corner Flourish
- FRM144 Chicken Wire
I hope you have enjoyed my tutorial and I look forward to seeing all your beautiful Daffodils in our future Weekly Challenges. Good Luck to everyone entering Our Challenge this week.
Also, welcome to our new talented Design Team members, Lisa, Jenny and Eva. Click HEREto read all about them.


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Why is it that Ash Wednesday and Lent remain relatively popular even in highly secularized times like these? It's a serious question that touches on matters deeper than might at first be supposed.
The popularity I speak of can be seen year after year on Ash Wednesday, when people—some of them perhaps not all that often in church—stream up the aisle to get their ashes. Not a few then return for Mass or Stations of the Cross on weekdays during Lent. How come?
The answer can found in Blessed John Henry Newman's insistence on the supremacy of the "real" over the "unreal" in religious matters. In one of his early Oxford sermons, Newman remarks that it's only insofar as people grasp the meaning of disobedience and their own sinfulness that they also grasp "the blessing of the removal of sin, redemption, pardon, sanctification." Otherwise, he says, these are "mere words."
You might say Ash Wednesday and Lent help to make this objective reality subjectively real for us.
That's not the case with a lot of feasts and festivals that have religious roots but, over time, have been drained of religious meaning. Think of Halloween. How many Americans today link this celebration of ghosts and goblins and trick-or-treat with the Christian dogma of the communion of saints? Even Christmas is in danger of suffering this fate—the great feast of the Incarnation all but submerged in commercialization and holiday schlock.
But it's a different story with Lent. Yes, the Easter bunnies and chicks are out in force, but Ash Wednesday and Lent resist sentimentalization by the greeting card people and commercialization by sellers of consumer goods. After all, it's hard to find a bright, chirpy greeting or a slogan for hawking merchandise well suited to a season of sorrow for sin. "You'll look great in ashes"? "Be the first in your neighborhood to do penance"? It doesn't sound quite right.
But the words spoken at the imposition of ashes do: "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." Or the only slightly less apposite: "Repent, and believe in the Gospel." Stark, uncompromising, admirably real.
In a way, we have here a kind of paraliturgy of prudence. Prudence? Indeed yes. Prudence in the classical sense that you find in an aphorism from the Christian Middle Ages, which the Thomistic philosopher Josef Pieper quotes: "A man is wise when all things taste to him as they really are."
Prudence is the virtue that confers that highly desirable accuracy of "taste"—realistic perception—in the moral sphere. It's the virtue by which the truth, the reality, of God and the world become, as Pieper says, "the measure and standard for one's own desire and action."
And this or something like it is something whose presence people intuit in Ash Wednesday and Lent and what brings them back year after year so as to "taste"—to experience—life-giving contact with the deep reality of mortality, sin, redemption, and the human condition. Not so coincidentally, such people also are seeking an antidote to the grim escapism of secular America's entertainment culture and its obsessive fixation on everything and anything except what is real.
"We are all sinners," people think to themselves as they receive the ashes or make the stations, "we are all going to die. Help us, Lord, help!" This year, like so many other years before, the season of penance promises to point us in the right direction for obtaining that help. Have a realistic Lent.


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Active Vacations and Spa Delights in Gastein Valley – Your Summertime Paradise
Just imagine, if you would, a perfect summer holiday in the mountains of Austria grass that tickles your toes, wind in your hair and the sounds of cowbells in your ears, dipping your hands in the cool, rushing water, drinking clear spring water. Milk, still warm, fresh from the cow, the crisp snap of fresh bread. The magnificent peaks of the Alps before your eyes. Experience all of this and so much more during your summer vacation in Gastein valley! Give yourself and your family the precious gift of an unforgettable time spent together.


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Teen Sibling Rivalry
Sibling rivalry can be one of the most frustrating aspects of raising children. So perhaps you'll be surprised when we suggest that it can actually be beneficial. We'll explain why sibling rivalry occurs, how it helps your child develop, and what you and your teen can do to manage it.
Reasons for Sibling Rivalry
Relationships within a family are emotionally and physically close. Because they are so close, family members have a greater power than anyone else to make other members feel angry, sad, confused — and loving. This is as true for children and adolescents as it is for adults.
One of the first reasons siblings may not get along is their profound differences. They are of a different age and temperament. Consider that the oldest child may be burdened with responsibilities for the younger children or the younger child may be trying to catch up with an older sibling. A son may be jealous of his sister because his father seems more gentle with her. On the other hand, a daughter may wish she could go on the hunting trip with her father and brother. Our society teaches that to win is to be better. So, they feel compelled to compete.
Siblings are inevitably forced to share the one person, or the two people, they most want for themselves: their parents. The both want their parents' attention, and the parent only has so much time and attention to offer. They also fight because they are jealous. They may perceive a parent prefers the other sibling to them.
Sometimes parents believe that teens should be old enough to stop this type of behavior, but lessons about jealousy, competition, sharing and kindness are difficult to learn. Adolescents are under pressure from many different directions. Physical and emotional changes and changes in thinking cause pressures, as do changing relationships with parents and friends. Fighting with siblings may be a way for teens to get parental attention they crave when they are too embarrassed to express those needs verbally.
Sibling rivalry offers your teens the opportunity to learn how to handle conflicts. Siblings are the people with whom we use our first attempts at socializing, and our experiences tend to define how we interact with our peers in the future. Through sibling rivalry, teens learn:
- sympathy and respect of others
- how to deal with other personalities
- how to negotiate
- conflict resolution
- why 'being fair' isn't always what happens
- how to deal with not getting their way
- how to win
Tips for Parents to Manage Rivalry
As teens get older, direct mediation is not required, but rules are.
If you jump in to their argument, it might make it worse. It reinforces fighting as a way to get your attention. Of course, there are limits – you cannot allow them to scream at the top of their lungs or hurt each other. Make it clear to your children that physical violence is not allowed. Set up consequences for this rule before the act occurs.
Spend some time alone with each child.
Recognize that each child is different and do something separately that the specific child likes. Everyone has their own talents and interests. Take the time to bring these out in each child. Try not to make one child's interest more important than the others. Praise each child for who they are and not just for what they can do.
Give Them a Forum.
If your teenagers know that there is a time and a place to air their grievances, they will use it. For example, you could have weekly family meetings or have an open policy to discuss issues after dinner. Insist they are respectful to their sibling as they air their grievances, but do hear them out. No problem is too small.
Recognize cooperative behavior.
If your teenagers are able to work out a problem, take notice and give some praise. This will reinforce cooperation and help with future 'battles'.
Tips to Give Your Teen for Handling Rivalry
- Before you act, take deep breaths. 10 deep breaths are all you need to regain your temper and keep yourself from saying or doing something you'll regret. If you stay composed, you might actually be able to resolve the argument peacefully.
- Don't let their words get to you. They're only words, after all. No matter how nasty your brother or sister is treating you, be the mature one: instead of fighting back with more insults, just walk away.
- Pick your fights. Most fights between siblings aren't even worth fighting. Ask yourself, "Do I really care about winning this argument?" If the answer's no, save your breath.
- Go to your parents, but only if it's a serious problem that you can't solve yourself. And don't approach them in the heat of the fight. Wait a couple of hours, and if you still want to involve your folks, sit down with them and make your point in a mature, even tone, as if you were an adult, too.
- Give them space. You absolutely need to take a couple of hours a day to have sibling-free time. If you don't have your own room, then do some of your homework at the library, or find a spot to volunteer, or go for a jog. Consider making a pact with your sibling to respect closed doors.
- Give yourself a break. There's no use aiming for a perfect relationship with your brother or sister, because perfect relationships with siblings don't exist. Know that it's normal to feel jealous, annoyed or frustrated every once in a while. Cherish the happy times with them, even if they're rare occurrences. Those are the moments that'll really stick with you when you're living on your own.


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As technology advances, so do cybercrime. In 2017 alone, several cybersecurity breaches have triggered troubles for man or woman organizations or even whole industries. Still, when militaries are hacked, the leaking of data could depend on lifestyles and dying. A…
As technology advances, so do cybercrime. In 2017 alone, several cybersecurity breaches have triggered troubles for man or woman organizations or even whole industries. Still, when militaries are hacked, the leaking of data could depend on lifestyles and dying.
A team of Korean researchers, led by using Yang-Kyu Choi from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) School of Electrical Engineering, got here up with an ability solution that would work extraordinarily well within the harshest of environments, which includes those in which the armed services function.
In a look published in the journal ACS Nano, the researchers detail a new kind of bodily unclonable function (PUF) tool that's potentially unhackable and extraordinarily durable.
PUFs have become a popular hardware method for safety hacks, specifically seeing that software tests are frequently no longer enough to prevent breaches. Each PUF is fabricated with random physical versions that function like fingerprints — no two PUFs are equal.
The trouble with these days' PUFs, but is they aren't sturdy enough for harsh environments, which is mainly a problem for an army or outside use.
The researchers evolved what they call a nano-electromechanical PUF (NEM-PUF). It is made from a small silicon-nanowire stored suspended in a liquid between gates, which constitute both zero or a one.
During manufacturing, the liquid inside the NEM-PUF evaporates, and the nanowire sticks to one of the gates in a random style. When grouped collectively, the NEM-PUFs create a complex safety code that's almost impossible to interrupt.
According to the study, the NEM-PUF is also extremely long-lasting, status up to exams beneath excessive temperatures, high-dose radiation, and microwaves. The chip was even designed with the ability to self-destruct within the event of a breach.
Better Security
The army is an obvious application for Choi's NEM-PUF. Not most effective are navy electronics often subjected to harsh environments that usual hardware can't resist, safety is also of the utmost significance.
However, it's now not tough to imagine these NEM-PUF gadgets, in the end, finding their way into civilian use. After all, GPS, drones, and wristwatches all have army origins.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) state-of-the-art net crime record, Americans lost greater than $1.Three billion due to cybercrime in 2016, so anything that could make smartphones, private computer systems, and different regular devices extra comfy would possibly be welcomed by the general public.
Beyond the monetary implications, protection breaches are sincerely a problem. Millions of human beings could be coping with the fallout of the current Equifax hack for future years. Then there's the WannaCry security breach in May that rendered a few 200,000 computers inaccessible, crippling hospitals, businesses, and governments in greater than 150 international locations.
Any manner to minimize or altogether prevent security hacks from going on is valuable. Eventually, progressed encryption techniques and those that quantum computer systems are predicted to provide might be sufficient.
Still, the hack-proofing hardware is well worth severe attention, and the NEM-PUF may be the device we want to protect our information during this period of cyber battle.
Interactivity and interdependence of devices are growing with time because the concept of IoT (net of things) strengthens with time. While IoT pursues maximum comfort for individuals and companies, it has its related challenges too. The extra intertwined the present-day devices end up, the better the chance of cybersecurity threats will be. Small, medium, or big, your publicity to critical net threats does now not rely on the size of your enterprise. If you're a small commercial enterprise, you are exposed to simply as many risks as large enterprises. In fact, the disadvantage for small agencies is that they're not as organized as large agencies in opposition to cyber threats.
How are cybersecurity risks growing with time, and what sort of dangers dealing with small companies nowadays? Take examine the many methods cyber threats pose a threat to small agencies.
The Ever-increasing Count of Cyber Security Risks
· The BYOD Issue
BYOD (convey your tool) is an attribute of IT consumerization. To live efficiently and green simultaneously, more and more businesses allow their employees to apply their personal devices to get entry to and use company facts. An instance of this would be a worker using his pill to open the organization's worker-associated record repository or an employee gaining access to paintings emails from his smartphone. Unless you have strict guidelines and requirements set on your BYOD implementation, your commercial enterprise can be vulnerable to being inflamed via malware coming from customers' devices.
· Software Update Delays
Do you ever marvel why corporations are so adamant about making their users update to the most up-to-date software program model? This is due to the older versions of the same software program, application, plugin, etc. Are open to the dangers of cyber assaults. With small agencies relying on numerous programs, net applications, and plugins for clean website operations, database works on-premise safety, and so forth. They ought to be extra careful at updating all of them. Any non-updated software program or application is an open window for net thieves to leap into your system.
· Internal Threats
You have to be extra careful when authorizing get admission to any of your personnel in your network and database. Many of the assaults on massive corporations inside the past have been allegedly perpetrated by "internal men." Sometimes the threats out of your personnel are not intentional but rather harmless. The legal person may have get admission to their account and forgot to log off at the same time as leaving the station. Some third man or woman can then take benefit of the situation and motive damage to the device.


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A Step To Health
Thanks for your food drive donations!
Thank you to the wonderful students who donated to our June food drive! With your contributions, we were able to donate 3 large bins of donated food to PORCH, a hunger relief nonprofit that stocks the Orange Congregations in Mission food pantry. We had a great turnout and loved seeing the A Step To Health community give back to the greater Hillsborough community.
Emily Burrows (Studio Manager) and Dr. Jena Friedel (A Step To Health and The Studio owner), with students' food drive donations.
With the Fourth of July holiday coming up, don't forget that The Studio is open! You can check our up-to-date schedule, including substitute teachers, on the MindBody app and website. See you soon!


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opensuse v11.2
The Gnome help describes how to install fonts: copy the font files to </usr/share/fonts>. I have some Type1 fonts with PFB, PFM, AFM and sometimes INF face files. The only ones I see in the <Type1> directory are AFM and PFA.
Which font files does Gnome actually require? Is a PFA needed? Are the font files moved/deleted from </usr/share/fonts/> after installation?
Is there a more obvious way to install fonts in Gnome?


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Digital marketing agency a growth demanding strategy to manage the best business process
SEO services have changed the phase of marketing services. This has been a great processing way. Digital marketing agency has really transformed World Wide Web into an exceptionally aggressive world with around two billion sites clamoring for a position in the market. As an agency they are serving to reach an international SEO organization since that supports as a winning deceivability. Really getting recognized among this extreme rivalry is nothing separated from a test that needs to be countered by all online business. This is precisely the spot where a firm giving backing to SEO services steps in and provide their business a chance to build online vicinity.
SEO priority
Digital marketing agency has developed the potentiality to understand the desire of the society towards any product. Their experienced experts who have been providing the updates regularly with their market studies have conferred this kind of strategies. With those strategies they have cleared the hindrances that have been arising on the way of the trade and commerce in the country. Their initiative as a SEO organization has made it one of the most significant agency to create, advertise and market the products. They have been the true mentor who has the proper process of making and understanding the client's demand with the product and what the market wants. The changes and the additives that is desirable to make the product look the best among all. Their service has been encouraging all sizes of business to make their way to the global market. They have a significant process which they only know with a proper procedural implementation. This is what is the true friend of any business, as they have been identifying the requirement in particular. Every time they show new developmental strategies as because of the changing world.
Image Source: Pixabay
Why SEO
It is always necessary to always facilitate with the best of the SEO services that can give the gold quality service. There are heaps of seo services suppliers which guarantee modest SEO benefits however services offered by those organizations are not quality services or such organizations rehearse on dark cap SEO methods which brings about getting your destinations punished from real web search tools. The most ideal approach to check the unwavering quality and nature of a SEO services supplier firm is by checking online audits and testimonials of that association. Digital Marketing Agency has made a new entity of business they have described business with a new phase that would explore its new world to every users. With this SEO they are going to get identified with the best of performance relating to web designing
For business, SEO is a credit and it will help every business to makes its own stand by with the service. Their stand by with exclusive web designing has created a tremendous change to every business.
The digital marketing agency has made it possible with the team effort for dealing with every client in a better and perfect manner.


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Exhibition Dates:
Jan. 27-May 6, 2018
Bill L. Harbert and Gallery C
One of JCSM's cornerstone collections, the Louise Hauss and David Brent Miller Audubon Collection, has inspired far-reaching investigations into the artistic and scientific representations of the natural world, particularly in North America. Within that collection, one of the true gems is a complete set of the bound volumes of The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, a publication John James Audubon began working on almost immediately after he completed his more well-known project, The Birds of America. The Quadrupeds was published in three volumes between 1845 and 1848, though work on the project began in the early 40s.
JCSM's set is particularly beautiful, since the original binding is of high quality, the set has been cared for and the individual prints have had little exposure to light and other damaging environmental factors.
JCSM will exhibit the three-volume Imperial Folio and a selection of unbound prints on loan from the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. Loans have been arranged for other materials, such as paintings by John Woodhouse Audubon produced as part of the original folio production process, maps of the journey and assorted ephemera from the Edward Harris Collection at the Alabama Department of Archives and History.


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So we continued onwards, eventually winding up standing right outside Hannover's extremely picturesque town hall, an old building that seems to have been one of the few to escape the destruction of the Second World War. With the weather – which seemed to be always bordering on freezing – apparently worsening, we decided to head inside and check out what was going on.
This I have to say – if you're stuck in Hannover and not sure what to do for an hour or two, without doubt a trip to the town hall is well worth it. The place is all very 'grand', but more than that, it's all completely open – if you don't mind doing a bit of exploring by yourself. In our case, we wandered inside, looked around the displays of Hannover through the ages that they have filling the central atrium, and after that, we wandered up the grand central staircase and took in the rest of the building. To be honest, we could have stayed a few hours here just wandering around but decided to carry on and wound up at the entrance to the 'lookout'. For a small amount (€2.50 if I remember correctly), you can go right up to the top of the building and look out across Hannover. Admittedly, I've done so many 'observation' attractions like the CN tower in Toronto and so on, that I wasn't really excited in any way, but we decided considering the bargain price that it was, to go for it.
First things first, if you're doing it yourself – go on a quiet day. A Tuesday afternoon should do the trick. Because as we'd come to discover, the first elevator we took actually brings you to more of a queuing area, where we queued for upwards of 40 minutes, with the rain lightly beating down on us. The reason of course, is that being such an old building and having originally been more than likely not designed to accommodate an elevator of any sort, the lift that they do have to bring you the rest of the way takes no more than 6 people, which is basically one healthy-sized family or tour group.
The lift itself however, deserves a special mention. While we didn't initially note its 'special feature', it actually has a glass bottom and top, so you can either look up at how much of the journey is left to go, or you can look down and see how far you'd probably fall were the glass to crack and disintegrate beneath your feet all of a sudden. Not only that, but it also has a slightly disorientating tilt to it; I presume because the lift has been added retrospectively to the building, the only place it could be added was inside a narrow, off-vertical chimney shaft. So, when you start off in the journey, the whole lift is sort of tilting strangely in the direction of the entrance, making you feel like you might fall back out of it again until the doors close. Then, as the journey progresses, it starts to shift the other way, so that by the end of the journey, you quite literally fall out of the lift when the doors on the opposite side open. Quite bizarre.
By now it was really a very cold day, and the thought of ascending all the steps to the very top of the tower, when you could feel the wind rushing through the place, wasn't a very exciting proposition. The view though, was something spectacular – one of the things that's annoyed me so much about observation towers in the past has always been how it doesn't feel very 'real' because of the windows and/or fencing and/or construction supports in the way. Here however, you can stand right outside the tower, facing into the wind and looking down on all of Hannover if you so wish. Even though the sky was grey and the whole place looked a little sad, the view was unbelievable and it was definitely worth the paltry €2.50.
Getting back down from the tower was, unfortunately, also a slow process because of the queue of the same people we'd been waiting behind to get up in the first place, now standing in front of us once again to return back to terra firma. The red line from there sort of degraded a little we felt, taking us back to the main railway station quite shortly afterwards.
After a busy day's touring, we spend the evening at a Greek restaurant, which was delicious, before repairing back to the Ibis for a bedtime beer. Something which had been puzzling us during our stay with the Ibis was the bathroom however – the building was quite old, and I presumed by looking around that it wasn't part of a giant 'prefab' construction. But the bathroom had the strangest pod-like qualities to it – firstly, it was shaped like a quarter of a circle; then, compared to the bedroom which was all very solid and well-built, the bathroom was strangely very modern and of a mostly plastic construction. Think of an airplane toilet and you have the idea (or see the picture, right). I know it's worrying, but we must have easily spent an hour or more wondering had the toilet only been added lately or why it looked so out of place (even though it was perfectly fine). In fact, I'm still wondering – thoughts on a postcard please.
Sunday though, meant it was time for us to return back to Frankfurt for another week of hard work – before we get to plan our next escape!
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Top 10 Android Games to Play Online with Friends – Android has changed the scenario of gaming as now there are innumerable games available online with multi-player support. There are racing games, board games, and war & action games. Here are 10 best online games played with the friends, all free with in-app purchases.
#1 Clash of Clans (COC)
High on popularity ranking, this game requires strategy and presence of mind to build a town. By attacking other players, the resources such as elixir, dark elixir, and gold are accessed. The players can also join hands with other players (maximum of 50) to form a clan. They, as a clan, fight and build their towns by taking over other clans.
#2 Chain Reaction: Online
This game is the very interesting game and can be played online with Gmail accounts among maximum eight players. It is a 9 x 6 cell board game, the red and green balls and players bombarding and exploding other's color balls to win. This is complete fun when playing with the friends, together they can play for hours.
#3 Call of champions
It is about destroying enemy towers with the orb of death, and the opponent would do the same to destroy the tower and get Orb of death. There are streets, minions, and item shops all for an action-packed five minutes a game. If a human player drops off a bit takes the place and game goes on.
#4 Asphalt 8: Airborne
This game is hit with game lovers because of its graphics, although it takes more memory space on your device. A car racing game that supports online multiplayer option. Its visuals are breathtaking with great speed simulation and effects.
#5 Modern Combat 5: Blackout
This is a highly-rated game and loved by players who like shooting games. The player can shoot, sprint, crouch and throw hand-grenades. Online multiplayer option makes this graphically superior game really challenging and engrossing
#6 Dungeon Hunter 5
Made for online multiplayer with a fight in CO-OP arenas in PVP mode. It is called party hunt where you can fight along with your 3 friends. It is an action-packed game to fight with other warriors in TEAM DEATHMATCH games.
#7 Real Racing3
A cool android car racing game played online to outrace your friend. The graphics are too good and the game gets on you. There are 100 vehicles to choose from and race on in 22 car race grid. The players are needed to repair and maintain their cars, they need to collect points to buy cars.
#8 Respawnables
This is a third person shooter game complete with exciting action, weapons, and other gadgets. This is awesome in graphics and effect you think that you are out on a mission to destroy enemies. You can play with your Facebook friends.
#9 Order of Chaos online
The game is an online multiplayer game with high viewer's rating for its total impact. Explore the world of Haradon in a fantasy universe, make friends, enemies, trade and much more. The multiplayer fight to conquer Haradon is very exciting.
#10 Riptide GP2
This is an intense multiplayer online game with upgradable racing hydro jets and riders. It has superior graphics and virtual challenges to make your game time exciting.


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Editor's note: This blog post is part of a series for the 'Bureaucracy Lab', a World Bank initiative to better understand the world's public officials.
State capacity is clearly fundamental to development, and the motivation and productivity of the personnel working in the state is clearly fundamental to state capacity.
, and 50 to 60 percent of formal sector or salaried workers in developing countries. This fact alone warrants a detailed understanding of the functioning of public sector labor markets and their influence on the broader labor market, particularly as the characteristics of public sector workers—their gender, age, and skills profiles, for instance—can be quite different from their private sector counterparts.
But more importantly, the motivation of government workers and thereby the productivity of government bureaucracies impacts almost everything else in an economy, from business regulations, to infrastructure provision, to the delivery of services.
Our understanding of the personnel dimension of government bureaucracies is patchy at best, despite bureaucracy being a rich field of academic and policy research. Until recently though, this was a largely qualitative pursuit, focusing more on de jure analysis of civil service laws and regulations, and case studies, and laced with a strong normative tone of how bureaucracies should look (i.e. "like Denmark") and emphasizing "form" over "function".
Empirical studies such as Rauch and Evans (2000), which used surveys to measure aspects of government bureaucracies, and found a cross-national association between the core characteristics of "Weberian bureaucracies"—meritocratic recruitment and insulation from political interference—and good governance were an exception. But the field is evolving rapidly, with an array of recent rigorous observational and experimental studies on public service motivation, recruitment, monitoring, performance incentives, and management.
Here's what we know so far about the internal workings of government:
- Higher wages can improve the quality of the applicant pool, but this may come at the expense of attracting less socially motivated individuals
- Digitally-enabled monitoring, combined with rewards and sanctions, reduces service provider absenteeism (references)
- Digital registration and payment systems reduce pilferage of funds for welfare beneficiaries
- Performance bonuses can be a powerful incentive for improving worker effort and outcomes in jobs where measuring effort and outcomes is relatively easier, such as revenue collection and teaching
- Better managed schools and hospitals—those that systematically set targets and monitor progress against those targets, and which reward high performing staff—have higher student learning outcomes and lower in-hospital mortality rates
- There is considerable heterogeneity in the quality of management across ministries and localities within government, pointing to the potential of targeted reform initiatives even in weak governance settings
- Politicians often frequently transfer senior bureaucrats -- in India there is a 53 percent probability that a senior official will be transferred in a given year, which increases by another 10 percentage points when there is change in administration -- and as a result junior-level bureaucrats under-invest in the acquisition of skills
Nonetheless, there are some significant hurdles that need to be overcome if this is to happen. One is the lack of data. Many governments do not collect good information on the personnel they employ and if they do they are averse to sharing it with the public despite the fact that public tax pesos pay for these employees. Another is that it is hard to do experiments for most core government functions unless there is a phased roll-out of a particular initiative that enables randomization, which is rare.
Getting this data systematically across a range of countries will require partnerships with governments for which the World Bank is uniquely positioned.
We—the Governance Global Practice and Development Economics Research Group — recently began an initiative called the Bureaucracy Lab which will gather administrative data, conduct surveys of government bureaucrats, and conduct field experiments of various public sector reform initiatives. A better understanding of the personnel employed in government—their numbers, gender, age, academic qualifications, earnings, and the occupations—is the bare minimum for analyzing state capacity and its impact on a variety of development outcomes.
Surveys of government workers can complement these descriptive statistics by offering insights on a variety of human resource and management practices; for example, a recent survey in the Philippines found that teachers were largely motivated by mission while administrative workers were largely motivated by job security.
Opening up the "black box" of the internal workings of the government bureaucracy is critical for understanding the determinants of state capacity. Our work is just beginning and it promises to be a challenging and exciting journey!
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Government workers are often refered to through the weaknesses of public administration. Some government vorkers are harder workers than some people from the private sector r international organizations. One problem that hampers the personnel employed by the government performance is the politization of public administration. Rewards are not often equal to efforts and performance but equal to membership of the ruling political party or close relationships with high authorities.
This is excellent, collecting, compiling and analyzing data and transforming them in to information and policy actions would have an indispensable role not only in realizing an ambitious SDGs but also they are eminent in achieving national development priorities. Accordingly, the Bureaucracy Lab, will be instrumental in generating this type of information and enhancing informed decision and researches.But, since bureaucracy is conceived as a machine by politicians and even government employees in developing countries there has to be some form of initiatives/action to differentiate between politics and governance.
This is a very timely research. You are spot on with your observation that the characteristic and the composition of government workers have an impact on their performance and productivity. Your observations on the what motivates public servants in different sectors is interesting, so is the observation on the type of people attracted to the service.
As a practitioner and a researcher-with primary interest in the Bureaucracy Lab- it would be of interest to also understand the impact of NPM -orientation on public servants. The lack of uniformity in areas such as tenure of service, some offices being short-term contracts and others being permanent and pensionable! Has it robbed of public service the esprit de corps where for example a cohort of public servants- joined together, went through same - induction and in service management training programs eventually eventually rose to head differnt departments shared a more or less similar background???
I am persuaded that a deeper understanding the bureaucracy will yield a better understanding of implementation of reforms, especially in developing countries. I would wish to be actively involved in such areas.
Sylvester O. Obong'o PhD,
Performance Management and Public Service Reforms,
Public Service Commission (Kenya)
We need more evidence based approaches to strengthen rationality in policymaking. Way to go!
Bureaucracy lab - sounds interesting. Developing south is rampant with governance issues and bureaucracies, without any exaggeration, are one big hindrance to faster progress and innovation. The rules regulations and even laws are mostly influenced if not designed by these public servants in the highest offices and thereby protecting their own existence, legacy and continuity. Unfortunately, most of these bureaucracies traditionally attracted the most educated and influential from the society in the immediate aftermath of decolonization and the 'babus' got jaded in the old colonial style of exercising influence and power. The absence of any counter-force from the private sector and heavy dependence of the corrupt political governments on the 'babus' (bureaucrats) ensured not only their survival but also perpetuated the old and the rustic.
The development institutions needs to pay more attention to understand the working and the nature of these bureaucracies as the success of their developmental work in the developing countries depends hugely on the functioning and cooperation from this 'fourth indispensable arm' of the government machinery.
The initiative that is Bureaucracy lab, is very welcomed in Liberia and is already our partner, especially since Liberia is undertaking major reforms in the Public sector which includes improved pay and pay management, and performance management. The statistics provided through this lab increased our understanding of the opinions, qualifications, skills and general approach to life in the public service, and how this increased understanding can assist with the formulation of policies or fine-tuning techniques to produce optimal performances or services which is the ultimate goal of Government.


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These case studies emphasizes PTN's broad electrical knowledge across the various electrical sectors and how adaptable our team is. The scope of work we cover can easily take an electrician to a million dollar server room in the morning, to replacing a retail shop light fixture in the afternoon and finishing off the day in a residential attic crawl space. We specialize in extraordinary and is why PTN Electrical Solutions Limited should be the solution to your electrical needs.
Colonel Talbot Road, LondonRead Study
Hamilton Road, LondonRead Study
Residential Home, LondonRead Study
Southdale Road W, LondonRead Study
Wellington Road, LondonRead Study
WarningRead Study


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Hey there!
We're still in Brazil, but we are heading back home on Wednesday, already. I say that because we haven't had time to do all the things we wanted yet, oh well... life, that's life.
Last Friday we threw a costume party here at my sister's house, it was a lot of fun! On Saturday we went to a birthday party, today we went to my brother's for lunch and ended up spending most of the day there, and after that we went to the mall so I could have my favorite capuccino in the whole world - seriously, there are some things that I look forward when coming to Brazil, one of them is that capuccino!
I don't have pictures to share with you guys yet, there are in my camera, I didn't bring my laptop this time, I was packed with baby stuff and had my hands full, so pictures will come later.
Oh, last week I paid a visit to the yarn shop, they didn't have a large variety of fibers, mostly cotton and acrylic, however the cotton threads were stunning! I had to get some and I just can't wait to create something with it.
I apologize for not blogging, but I just haven't had time, we always have someone over visiting or we go somewhere, but as I said before, I miss you guys!
Before I leave I want to let you know that I am being featured on 62Cards' blog and if you pop over there and check the rules you can enter for a chance to win one of my button necklaces. Just click here.


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Samsung EVO Plus (2017 Model) 128GB UHS-I U3 microSD Card Quick Look
Today Samsung released an update to their EVO+ microSD card line. The new model is the 'EVO Plus'. Yes, I know, it's confusing to me as well, especially when trying to research the new vs. old iterations for this mini-review. Here's a few quick visual comparisons between both models:
On the left, we have the 'older' version of the Plus (I mean the '+'), while on the right we have the new plus, designated as a '2017 model' on the Samsung site. Note the rating differences between the two. The '+' on the left is rated at UHS-I U1 (10 MB/s minimum write speed), while the newer 'Plus' version is rated at UHS-I U3 (30 MB/s minimum write speed). I also ran across what looked like the older version packaging.
The packaging on the right is what we had in hand for this review. The image on the left was found at the Samsung website, and confuses things even further, as the 'Plus' on the package does not match the markings on the card itself ('+'). It looks as if Samsung may have silently updated the specs of the 256GB '+' model at some point in the recent past, as that model claims significantly faster write speeds (90 MB/s) than the older/other '+' models previously claimed (~20 MB/s). With that confusion out of the way, let's dig into the specs of this newest EVO Plus:
For clarification on the Speed Class and Grade, I direct you to our previous article covering those aspects in detail. For here I'll briefly state that the interface can handle 104 MB/s while the media itself is required to sustain a minimum of 30 MB/s of typical streaming recorded content. The specs go on to claim 100MB/s reads and 90 MB/s writes (60 MB/s for the 64GB model). Doing some quick checks, here's what I saw with some simple file copies to and from a 128GB EVO Plus:
Our figures didn't exceed the specified performance, but they came close, which more than satisfies their 'up to' claim, with over 80 MB/s writes and 93 MB/s reads. I was able to separately confirm 85-89 MB/s writes and 99 MB/s reads with Iometer accessing with 128KB sequential transfers.
Pricing (MSRP)
- 256GB: coming soon (but there is already a 256GB EVO+ of similar specs???)
Pricing seems to be running a bit high on these, with pricing running close to double of the previous version of this very same part (the EVO+ 128GB can be found for $50 at the time of this writing). Sure you are getting a U3 rated card with over four times the achievable write speed, but the reads are very similar, and if your camera only requires U1 speeds, the price premium does not seem to be worthwhile. It is also worth noting that even faster UHS-II spec cards that transfer at 150 MB/s can be had and even come with a reader at a lower cost.
In summary, the Samsung EVO Plus microSD cards look to be decent performers, but the pricing needs to come down some to be truly competitive in this space. I'd also like to see the product labeling and marketing a bit more clear between the '+' and the 'Plus' models, as they can easily confuse those not so familiar with SD card classes and grades. It also makes searching for them rather difficult, as most search engines parse 'Plus' interchangeably with '+', adding to the potential confusion.
*edit* a reader requested a CrystalDiskMark run. Here it is:


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Is a low-carb diet really effective? I suppose it depends on your definition of effective. Yes, a low-carb diet will help you lose weight quickly, sometimes faster than anything short of a complete crash diet. However, there are some things you should know about carbohydrates that will help shed some light on why a low-carb diet is by no means a permanent weight loss solution, how it will affect you, and why it is not particularly safe.
The Truth About Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are a fundamental source of energy for your body. Even if you do not know why (and the why is not particularly important for the scope of this article), you know that if you eat a lot of sugar, which is a carb that your body digests very quickly, you get a sudden boost of energy. It follows, then, that if you eat less carbs, you'll have less energy; so if you choose to pursue a low-carb diet, be prepared to feel a little more sluggish than usual. Also, as I'm sure you know, exercise is an essential aspect to any weight loss program, but if you are not eating enough carbs, you will find it more difficult to get through your workout. Mental toughness will only get you so far – at some point your body is going to need fuel.
The Truth About Low-Carb Diets
When you eat, your body can essentially store excess carbs for later. These carbs are stored as fat, which is why a low-carb diet can help you lose weight so quickly. When you stop eating enough carbohydrates, your body will pull on its reserves (fat) to give you the extra fuel you need. Sounds great, right? You can just let your body rely on fat to get you through your day. After you lose all of your unsightly fat, you can simply start eating carbs again to supply your body with the energy it needs and like magic, you'll be thin!
Unfortunately, there's a problem that anyone who advertises a low-carb diet conveniently ignores. Having an excess amount of food to eat (at least in some parts of the world) is a very new problem that our bodies have not yet learned to deal with. Our metabolism is much better at preventing us from starving than it is at letting us lose weight, so if you try a low-carb or even a crash diet, your metabolism will slow down and your fat will become even more stubborn. You'll lose less weight that second week than you did your first, and even less during that third week. When you finally do start eating carbs again, your body will convert even more of them into fat than it normally would in preparation for another fast. This is why a low-carb diet is not a permanent weight loss solution – in fact many people will end up even heavier than they were before the diet because their bodies will take a while to realize that another fast is not imminent.
Finally, carbohydrates should be part of any balanced diet that will also include protein and fat. If you are lacking any one of these elements, you are likely to feel hungry even after eating a high calorie meal because your body is not having its nutritional needs met. This is true even if you are eating the same number of calories as before.
How Many Carbs Should I Eat?
With all of this said, there are some things that you can do to make sure your body is not constantly converting all of your carbohydrates into fat. First, it's entirely possible that you can eat less carbs without eating too few. For a 2,000 calorie diet, you should be eating about 300 grams of carbs, which comes to 1,200 calories (you'll have to adjust this if you're taller than average and / or are exercising a lot, but 300 grams should be a minimum). It may seem tedious, but one day you should take the time to measure out your foods and use the nutritional information on the labels to calculate about how many carbs you're eating in a normal day (you can also search online for foods that don 't have a label, like fresh fruit). If you're eating more than 300 grams worth, then you can cut back without risking low energy levels or having your body go into starvation mode (just make the change gradually over time if you're over by a lot).
Upgrade Your Carbs!
When you're at about 300 grams of carbohydrates daily, you can focus on upgrading the carbs you eat. Fruits and vegetables are the highest quality sources of carbs you can find – they're complex carbohydrates which means they'll provide you with sustained energy over a period of time (as opposed to most sugars that break down quickly and lead to a crash) and they're easy for your body to digest (they're also very nutrient-dense). When you do eat grains (and it's hard to get to 300 grams without eating grains), opt for 100% whole grain options. Whole grains pack a good dose of fiber that will help keep you full longer and will ease some of the pressure you're putting on your digestive system. Whole grain cereals are becoming increasingly more popular and most of the bread in the bread aisle will say something like 100% whole wheat or 100% multigrain. You can also pick up whole wheat pasta, brown rice instead of white, and whole wheat pizza crusts, tortilla shells, and crackers. Make these upgrades a part of your everyday diet and you can watch your body permanently transform safely without sacrificing your energy levels.


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I have a confession to make. I have a problem with spinning my wheels- if you are a parent of multiple kids maybe you can relate. I have such good intentions but lately I find myself wasting time and not being very productive. I used to be so organized - I mean I am a professional coach afterall - but something's happened to my brain. It got all murky and fuzzy and somehow I sort of lost my way. It got worse as I had more kids and now with homeschooling 4 it is amazing I get anything done at all.
This past week I had this growing sense that I was reaching the point of overwhelm or being burned out. I couldn't really put my finger on what was bothering me but instead of fighting it and pushing through like I normally would do, I decided to listen to that inner voice that said I needed a break. I completely cleared our schedule which with 4 kids ages 5, 8, 13 and 16 is no easy feat. I cancelled all our appointments, told the soccer coaches we would not be at practice and let go of the pressure to go anywhere at all. I set up a playdate for each day this week so my kids would still have something to look forward to and asked the moms to just drop off so I ( and they) could get some time to ourselves.
Let me tell you it was heavenly. I spent the first day planning my daily rhythm and cleaning up my to-do list and then I got to work. I cannot tell you how much I got done.
started poetry tea-time with kids
scheduled a workshop I host on getting started homeschooling
caught up on laundry
cleaned my carpet ( just bought an awesome new machine!!)
washed the couch slipcovers
organized my photos
cleaned up my computer
set up coffee dates with a few friends
wrote a newsletter for my gifted group
ordered groceries from Amazon Fresh ( Can I tell you I just LOVE this service)
downloaded photos from my phone to computer
contacted a bunch of potential piano teachers
created a monthly meal plan for April
ordered throw pillows for my new to me ( bought on craig's list ) sectional
ordered a towel rack for the bathroom- it broke over a year ago! ( yikes)
Wow! I must say I am impressed with myself. However, I don't share this list with you to brag. I share because in the midst of doing all of this- I realized that I felt more relaxed and at peace than I had in many months. Why is that? As you can see I wasn't spending my week off lounging- I was actually pretty busy.
I'm realizing that part of living a spacious life is living life with intention and purpose. Most of us have our schedules so filled to the brim that we spend our days just doing the next urgent thing that is right in front of us and never getting to the things that will bring us the most peace and joy. We long to have a life well lived but we are slaves to our schedules. As a result, during those rare moments when we actually do have a few minutes, we spin our wheels, randomly check facebook or watch mindless television.
I want to live my life differently than the mainstream and set an example for my girls. It is important to me that we eat a mostly whole foods diet, cook from scratch, read aloud voraciously, learn something new everyday, spend lots of time in nature, play board games together and explore the world around us. I want to have weekly date nights with my husband and spend quality time with friends. I definitely want to have more fun. Sounds pretty awesome , right?
This week taught me some valuable lessons on slowing down, getting focused and finding the balance between being productive and relaxation. I am sharing my list below so that you can begin to implement it into your life and hopefully find the success that I did. As always, I am available for private coaching if you find you need a little extra focus and support:) Just fill out the contact us form and we will set something up.
Top Ten List for Being Organized for Homeschoolers ( and Everyone Else Too!!)
1- Create a Daily Rhythm and Post It
2- Write Out Your To-Do List Daily with No More than 7-9 Items
( I Keep a Master To-Do List Separately)
3- Only Look at Your Daily T0-Do List As You Work On Tasks
4- Do Chores First Thing and Get Kids Involved ( Even 5 year olds can empty trash cans)
5- Order Groceries (Amazon Fresh) and Supplies Online ( Target Delivers Free Over $25!!)
6- Create a Monthly Meal Plan and Post it
7- Let Go of As Many Commitments as You Can
8- Delegate (I hired my 16 year old to work on my photo project for example)
9- Reduce Mindless Television and Internet Surfing
10- Get Plenty Of Sleep ( I find at night is when I waste the most time)
4/13/2016 08:37:48 am
Wow! and Yes!
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They are charging $3500 for a website (that's an average design using a Microsoft font logo) and charging for "updates". Hello? This is the 21st century people, we don't have updates. We build clients content management sites with things like Joomla and teach them how to easily update it themselves.
They have an awful lot of copy about SEO, and their SEO services. One bit of killer advice for their customers was to register multiple domains to "capture web real estate". Unless I miss something, at best this will get you problems with PageRank dilution, at worst a possible duplicate content penalty of some kind.
Speaking of content penalties, they also offer a service of "pet health articles" and "newsletters". It took me about 2 nanoseconds to find the exact same content on several hundred other vet websites. Somehow I don't think that Google is going to find that fresh, valuable content – as claimed. I also don't think its especially respectful to the vet's customers to be fed content from a library bank. The web is for original content thank you very much!
Everytime I go to Joomla conference, I always seem to hear one story or another about "web designers" offering lackluster services at inflated prices. It seems that for some reason the "web design industry" seems to have a prevalence of these scenarios.
- Are we missing some kid of licensure in our industry?
- How do these practices continue, do we need to educate the customers?
- Do you have a story like this to share?
- Is licensure a real word?
Can the Real Web Design Industry Please Stand Up


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Prof. Nagarajan Ramamoorthy assumed charge as the Director, IIM Amritsar on 15 July 2019. He has received his P.G., Diploma in Personnel Management & Industrial Relations from XLRI, Jamshedpur and his Ph.D.in Business & Management from the Robert H. Smith School of Business., University of Maryland, U.S.A.
After working for Indian Airlines, Brakes India Limited of TVS group and Voltas Limited of Tata group he left for the USA to pursue his doctoral studies from the Robert H Smith School of Business., University of Maryland, USA. He has taught at University of Maryland, Marymount University, and University of Houston-Victoria, where he held several positions such as the founding Chair of the Management and Marketing Department, a member of the School's executive team for AACSB accreditation, member of the President's cabinet and academic council, and President of the Faculty Council.
He has extensive international experience which include two Fulbright teaching and research scholarships to Bulgaria (University of National and World Economy, Sofia) & Latvia (University of Applied Sciences, Valmiera), Inter-Country exchange scholarship to Austria (University of Applied Sciences, St. Poelten) among others. He has served on the Peer Review team for Fulbright council for three years in the USA. He has been on the editorial boards of several leading international journals.
Stay informed, Stay ahead and stay inspired with MBA Rendezvous


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New LASIK Technology Featured with the First WaveLight® Refractive Suite in Utah
LASIK Surgeons at The Eye Institute of Utah Integrate the World's Fastest Refractive Surgery Platform in the U.S.
SALT LAKE CITY, UT – On May 2, 2014, Darcy Wolsey, MD – Director of LASIK Services at The Eye Institute of Utah – was the first surgeon in the state of Utah to perform custom wavefront guided LASIK using the latest state-of-the-art WaveLight® Refractive Suite (Alcon, Inc.), the fastest refractive surgery platform in the United States.
Doctors at The Eye Institute of Utah have been providing advanced vision care to Salt Lake City and the Intermountain West for more than 30 years. With the introduction of the advanced laser technology system to the practice, the team of refractive surgeons in Salt Lake City will be able to better predict outcomes and further customize surgical treatments for each patient.
The advanced laser system combines the EX500 Excimer Laser and the FS200 Femtosecond Laser, connected by a swiveling patient bed and advanced internal data sharing network to increase speed, precision, and patient comfort during laser vision correction surgeries such as LASIK and PRK (photo-refractive keratectomy). Not only is the WaveLight® Refractive Suite faster than any commercially available laser system on the market, it also integrates advanced data transferring technology that allows the lasers to communicate patient specific data so the surgeon can utilize the information real-time, during surgery.
Some of the advanced features of the WaveLight® Refractive Suite include:
- Multi-dimensional eye-tracking technology allows for precise and dynamic pupil tracking, helping reduce the risk for patient fixation fatigue1
- Online Optical Pachymetry for increased safety – measuring corneal thickness in real-time while laser is working
- PerfectPulse Technology® allows for a larger treatment zone, which can reduce the potential for nighttime glare after surgery2
- Networked lasers allow for a higher degree of customization and efficiency
- Innovative engineering reduces the potential for stromal dehydration of the cornea, flap shrinkage, and sensitivity to eye movements.2
"We are excited for the increased level of precision, speed, and patient comfort that the WaveLight® Refractive Suite will bring to our LASIK and PRK patients. With some of the advanced treatment profiles available, our team of surgeons will now be able to further customize treatments to ensure patients receive the best possible vision outcomes," explains Darcy Wolsey, MD, corneal and refractive surgeon at The Eye Institute of Utah.
Future enhancements with the WaveLight® Refractive Suite include the much anticipated ability to perform topography-guided LASIK custom treatments for patients who would benefit from an even more customized treatment technology. This technology was cleared by the FDA in September of 2013 and an article published by Eyewiretoday.com on 11/14/2013 stated:
"WaveLight users will be able to perform individualized ablations based on the unique topography of patients' eyes, according to a company news release.
Unlike wavefront techniques that address aberrations in the entire optical path, corneal topography utilizes topographic measurements based on a patient's corneal irregularity. This is beneficial for patients and for surgeons who want to provide a more personalized treatment than with conventional LASIK systems, according to Alcon. The treatment incorporates refractive error of the eye and corneal irregularities into the custom laser ablation for myopia and myopic astigmatism."
1 Mrochen M, Wüllner C, Krause J, Klafke M, Donitzky C, Seiler T. Technical aspects of the WaveLight FS200 Femtosecond Laser. Journal of Refractive Surgery. 2010;26(10):S833-S840.
2 Table 16 RMSH rates of decrease FDA PO20050/S004 7/26/06 Section i Patient Satisfaction via QOV.
About The Eye Institute of Utah
The Eye Institute of Utah is a comprehensive eye care facility in Salt Lake City, serving the Intermountain West for more than 30 years. The world-class doctors at The Eye Institute of Utah offer clinical and surgical treatments in a variety of specialties including standard and custom cataract surgery, LASIK, PRK, advanced glaucoma treatment, corneal transplants, ICL surgery, retinal disease, dry eye therapies and eyelid and facial plastics. The Eye Institute of Utah was one of the first and largest office-based surgical centers in the state of Utah and continues to be a leader in the eye care industry. The Eye Institute of Utah physicians are available for interview upon request.


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So, finally getting moved into my new Dell beast ( A MAXED out 7710) , and ran across an odd "feature" that is driving me crazy. When I drag a window, I get a weird popup, that forces the windows into a quadrant if you drag your mouse into the shaded area. When running large numbers of VMs, it quickly becomes more than a small annoyance.
After a bit of research, I discovered that this is NOT a feature of Windows 10, but a feature of the Dell PremierColor application. While annoying, I imagine someone out there likes it, but for how I use my notebook, it's more than annoying.
So, here is how you disable it!
First, in the Task view manager, select the PermierColor application
Now, select the Display Splitter option
Next, uncheck the "Display Splitter on" box
And your done!
All is good now!


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Beat Radio are the indie pop romantic transmissions of passion from Brian Sendrowitz who premieres his new single "Dreaming Wide Awake" from the forthcoming Awkward For Life album Hard Times, Go!. We heard the recent album opener "Hurricane XO" that navigates through the heart of both personal and sonic storms as today's debut conjures up a cupid-struck-dream-state that rips out the selector switch that divides between an alarm clock's sleep and radio modes. Having given us the previous vast sound-sewn waters of The Great Big Sea, Safe Inside the Sound, Golden Age and numerous demos; Sendrowitz takes on the world's challenges with the heart-song valor of Hard Times, Go! recorded in his Bellmore, NY home studio.
The guitars egg on the fluttering synthesizer pinwheel bouquet that creates the sense of new beginnings. The opening setting of ballroom signals and repeated eye locks from short distances closes crevices, gaps and voids as the song's couple find new discoveries after an evening of playing it coy. "I've been thinking of that moment my eyes met yours, after hours stealing glances from across the floor, then we're talking standing closer and losing track of time, when we go I don't think twice before I take your hand in mind".
Keeping the awake-and-walking-through-dreams story in pace, the narrative moves like a daybreak stroll along the edge of reason in a lakeside town before the rest of the town awakes. "Feels like dreaming wide awake and there's a no one else around, kiss you in the tall grass under the weeping willow tree, put my arms around your hips and I pull you close to me". Like the reckless abandon of park-side-P.D.A.s; the shelter of overgrown foliage and early hour advantage gives the new lovers a fresh, wide awake start in a dream world that is theirs to embrace.
In the song's confessional break down toward the end, Brian wears his heart-thought feelings on a long sleeve of honest reckoning of desire and recognizing a moment larger than fear itself."I was frightened before, I was stumbling around in the dark, and I never wanted anything more, but I didn't even know my heart". The soul searching finds a companionship where the past melts like salt on snow on a winter's path. "I was busy making plans there were things that I wasn't ready to face, now is the only time and this is the only place," as a cameo of distorted-jagged synths are interjected before the alliterative key swells kick back in.
The central waking moment is illustrated in the chorus of, "And everything I know is going to change and now it's hard to tell where things fit in, but now I feel my heart beating faster in a state I've never been". This statement conveys a conscious level of being while in the grips of enamored states that recognizes the road to the present, inexplicable uncertainties, life's evolutions and the love-struck moment of new sensations that were never known pior.
The new Beat Radio album Hard Times, Go! will be available February 19 on limited edition 150 grams of your choice of red or clear 12" vinyl from Awkward For Life Records.


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Central air conditioners sometimes need regular maintenance to perform well. You can do some of the simple maintenance yourself. Sometimes it doesn't need major repairs, just tweak or clean it. Here are some of the simple steps you need to do in cleaning your AC.
- To clean your central air conditioner; you need to turn off power to the unit. There should be a switch outdoors next to the compressor.
- Next, vacuum or use a soft brush to rid the outdoor coil of dirt, debris and grass clippings.
- Inspect the filters on your air handler, or furnace. If they look dirty, you will need to replace or clean them, based on the manufacturer's instructions. The air handler moves heated or cooled air through the ductwork of your home.
- Clean and oil the indoor furnace fan, or air handler fan. Also clean the fan on the outdoor unit. Again, check the manufacturer's instructions in your owner's manual.
There are a variety of alternative you could choose from if your furnace or boiler is not available.
- Active solar heating. The sun heats air or liquid. Homeowners often use solar heat as an additional heating source.
- Electric resistance heating. A costly way to heat your home, it converts the energy in electricity to heat. Electric heat is often more expensive than heat produced in the home using natural gas, propane, and oil furnaces.
- Heat pumps. Heat pumps draw heat from a cool area to a warm area, making the cool space cooler and the warm space warmer. Because they move heat rather than generate heat, heat pumps are energy efficient.
- Radiant heat. These systems heat floors or panels in the wall or ceiling of a house. They may use a variety of energy sources -- electricity, boilers, solar energy or wood and pellet-fuel heating.
HVAC systems can stop unhealthy mold growth if it performs efficiently. All you have to do is to keep indoor humidity low to prevent mold growth. They dehumidify, ventilate and filter the air. Their smooth operation is vital to the health of employees and customers. Buildings also need to be well-maintained for the HVAC systems to function well. Here are problems to watch for, and tips for maintaining indoor air quality:
- Check for wet spots and condensation in your building. Mold grows rapidly in a wet environment, so scrub and dry wet areas within 48 hours.
- Keep indoor humidity low.
- Reduce moisture levels in the air if you spot condensation.
- Repair leaks and increase ventilation if outside air is cold and dry. Dehumidify, if outdoor air is warm and humid.
- Raise the surface temperature through better insulation or by increasing air circulation.
- Clean heating, ventilation, and air conditioning drip pans.
- Perform routine repairs and cleaning of your HVAC system.
You must check your HVAC system because it may be the reason why the office or building is too humid. Sometimes humidity may result from problems with air quality system.
- Is the HVAC system well-maintained? Clean dirty coils, which reduce cooling and dehumidification. Clogged pans may hold standing water. Leaks in the mechanical system let moisture enter the building.
- Is the indoor air quality system being operated properly? Make sure the cooling fans run at a moderate speed. Sometimes air velocity is set too high, because spaces are not adequately cooled. But the result can be higher humidity levels in a building.
All mechanical equipments are designed to operate within certain limits. Having your HVAC system undergo preventive maintenance or service on a regular basis is very important because it will help the equipments to function properly and that extensive and costly repairs can be prevented. A regular inspection of the equipments where in proper operation of the equipments are checked and verified is the key thing for preventive maintenance program.
Preventive maintenance is a good investment and it is your assurance that your HVAC system will function properly. On a regular basis, heat pumps and air conditioners should be tune-up by professionals. Gas-fired equipments function with greater efficiency should be maintained every other year. Inspections on boiler and furnace systems should include ductwork, pipes, dampers, valves, the chimney, registers, radiators, pumps, blowers, fuel lines, the gas meter, oil tank and every part of the actual furnace and boiler. Meanwhile, heat pump and air conditioning unit inspections should also include inspections of the fan, compressor, indoor coils, outdoor coils and refrigerant lines.
Buying or upgrading your HVAC is a major investment that you have to do, maintaining and keeping your equipment to run efficiently is also costly but it can be a good decision to make. Having a new HVAC system can help you save money in operation cost and repairs. Considering an evaluation from a certified professional can help you make sound decisions. Congressional HVAC can conduct an evaluation of your current HVAC system and that we can also provide you quality HVAC needs.
Nowadays, heating and cooling systems are more sophisticated and that repair requires special diagnostic equipment. HVAC systems repair should be done by specialist and not by weekend handymen because there is some air-conditioning and heating condition/repairs that only specialist can perform. If you have encountered a repair problem, call HVAC service technician to fix your HVAC system.
Yes. Air ducts should be cleaned because the cleaning process can help eradicate bacteria, dust, debris and other dirt that can improve the air quality of your home and office. It would also mean cleaner environment. Cleaning your air duct can help your HVAC system to run efficiently and that it can result to lesser time run and most importantly, lower heating and cooling bills.
Here are several tips to help you keep your heating and cooling system running at its most efficient level:
- Thermostat should be at a constant temperature, suggested temperature is 78º even no one is at home.
- Filters should be change every month
- Regularly check the outside condensing unit for any grass or leaves jammed to the coil.
- You have to first disconnect the power to the circuit breaker
- Use garden hose and spray water through the coil until it is clean or when the water passing through is already clear.
- Turn the power back on.
- Have your HVAC unit serviced and maintained every spring by a licensed specialist/service company.
Furnaces, flues and chimneys can emit deadly gases like carbon monoxide if you do not have a regular maintenance of the heating equipment. The air flowing inside your house can be a harmful pollution.
Here are some tips to prevent harmful gases inside your house:
- Read the owner's manual and follow the instructions in changing and cleaning air filters. Always change the filters monthly or twice every winter.
- Release furnaces to the outdoors or check the EPA website for more helpful advice.
- Contact a service professional about your heating system if you cannot make it on your own.
We can easily fix simple leaks in heating systems without calling service professionals. First you should drain the heating system, connect the joint that leaks and replaced it. Compression joint leaks can be fixed by tightening the nut by a quarter turn. Keep the other nut in place with a wrench so the joint is not pulled from the pipe.
Low refrigerant charge is the cause of freeze up most of the time. It can also be caused by a dirty blower wheel, dragging motor or a dirty evaporator coil. Also make sure that your filter is clean.
In pneumatic control system , it has simple components and no complex structure, easy to maintain and useful in flame proof application. It has a slow response and limited power capacity for a large mass transfer but it's difficult to operate in sub-normal temperatures. While in electronic control system, it has a low power, linear and quick response and accurate but it is not possible for flame proof areas. It also requires good wiring layout.
You need to lose the air from the heating system in the radiator every winter, then add a corrosion inhibitor if you see a sludge buildup. Add a liquid inhibitor to the feed and expand cistern of the open vent system. For the sealed system, use a cartridge that injects the inhibitor through the air bleed valve on the radiator. Always read the manufacturer's manual to make sure proper procedure is made.
- Have the sealed supply of ductwork that will provide proper air flow.
- To maintain neutral pressure, balanced air flows between supply and return systems.
If your water system is not working after checking if the power supply is on, set the thermostat on high and the heating system on, then check the pilot light.
Older model that has been for more than 12 years are oversized, so noisy and sometimes inefficient. They are usually high in maintenance and will cost you too much. Try upgrading your central air conditioner. It will make you feel comfortable and it will saves time and energy too compared to old models.
They usually used the standard filter but they don't really improve the indoor air quality. In order to remove more the dust and particle, use the media filter. The media filter rest between the main return duct and the blower cabinet. You can also upgrade it to pleated media filter. It helps in removing everything including insecticide dust to airborne viruses.
Your air conditioner may be operating just fine but it doesn't mean that you're receiving the cooling or heating comfort that you're paying for. The dirt accumulated in your air filter slows down the flow of air. This makes the HVAC system works harder. Always change your filter every month .It will prevent your HVAC system from building up dirt and dust that will lead to a high maintenance. This will also help you save money in the long run.


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Up a Wire Outfit
To set up a wire outfit you will need to know how to tie an Albright Knot and a Trilene Knot. Make a wire splice and weave distance markers into your wire. These knots are explained in our sites Knots and Knot Diagram section if you are unfamiliar with them. Maybe you'll have a Tackle Shop set you up and don't think you need to know this "stuff". But remember, doo-doo happens. If you loose a wire setup, "whatcha gonna do?" Go home, fish with one outfit, carry a costly spare outfit or fix the one that got screwed up. It shouldn't take too long to come up with the correct answer.
Now use an Albright Knot to attach 300 feet of 45# wire to it. There's Stainless Steel and Monel. Stainless tends to be harder and kinks easier than Monel. Monel is much better. I don't want to get into a long explanation here, just spend the few extra bucks for Monel. Next is the leader. 80# test monofilament should be tied to the end of the wire using another Albright. I like 20 feet of the mono so you can get several loops of it onto your reel when landing a fish or putting up your tackle. Having wire dangling off the end of your tip top when doing one of the above is inviting disaster. You'll kink it or bend it back and forth so many times that U GET one of those mystery break offs. Tie a GOOD snap swivel to the end of your leader. Use a Trilene Knot to do this. I don't want one of those 100% knots here for reasons I have earlier explained. You're ready to do some wire line trolling.
If you have followed the above instructions, you're ready to troll with the best of em'. If you are unfamiliar with wire trolling read the section on Trolling With Wire for some helpful hints.


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German grocery chain Lidl buys Philly site, aiming to blanket eastern U.S. with 150 stores
German grocery giant Lidl has acquired the site of an aged industrial building in Port Richmond for what may be the expanding chain's first location in Philadelphia.
Lidl's Arlington, Va.-based U.S. unit paid $2.88 million for two parcels covering nearly four acres at 2270 and 2300 E. Butler St., near Aramingo Avenue, according to city property records.
The discount-oriented retailer would be taking a bold step by putting one of its first stores in a shopping district that other new entrants to the region might consider too far off the beaten path, Lars Kerstein, a vice president with brokerage Metro Commercial Real Estate, said in an interview last week.
"They came in very aggressively with a lot of capital, with the intention of buying the best real estate in every one of the nodes in this entire area," said Kerstein, who is not currently involved in any deals involving Lidl. "They're trying to blanket the region."
The Butler Avenue site, near a Walmart Supercenter and a ShopRite grocery store, also shows the company's confidence that it can compete with big grocers operating in the area, Kerstein said.
Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG, a unit of the Schwarz Gruppe grocery conglomerate, has been quietly identifying store locations along the East Coast since establishing its U.S. headquarters in mid-2015. It aims to eventually own and operate 150 stores in the eastern United States, according to the German Embassy's website.
Its first stores are expected to open by 2018, company officials have said.
Philadelphia-area locations previously disclosed in news reports include Warminster (at the site of a former Pathmark supermarket on York Road); Ridley Township (a former Pathmark site on MacDade Boulevard); and the Cumberland County, N.J., city of Millville (on an underdeveloped lot near Union Crossing Boulevard and Second Street).
The company's website also includes a store-management job listing in Burlington County, but no specific location is identified.
Also, Lidl is portrayed in an online marketing presentation by brokerage MSC Retail as anchoring a retail-and-residential project proposed by developer Bart Blatstein along the Delaware River in South Philadelphia.
An earlier version of MSC's plan for the retail space at the 21-acre site, where a Foxwoods casino had once been proposed, featured an Aldi supermarket rather than a Lidl.
Property records show no transactions at the site involving Lidl, which generally buys its own real estate rather than leasing space from landlords.
Jason Bock, an MSC vice president marketing space at Blatstein's property, did not respond to an email.
Lidl U.S. spokesman Will Harwood declined in an email to discuss specific locations, but said the company was "actively preparing a number of sites in the area, and throughout Pennsylvania."
The company also opened a regional headquarters and distribution center in Cecil County, Md., in August that will be capable of serving multiple states, Harwood said.
According to real estate criteria on its website, Lidl plans to open stores of about 36,000 square feet. That's about half the size of a standard supermarket, but around twice as big as a typical store operated by fellow German-based deep-discounter Aldi. The companies are longtime rivals in their native country.
Lidl is turning its attention to the Philadelphia area after concentrating most of its real estate activity in the Southern states where it plans to operate, especially North and South Carolina, said Robert Gorland, a supermarket-site-selection specialist with Rahway, N.J.-based Matthew P. Casey & Associates.
Lidl is expected to adopt a retail strategy similar to Aldi, which sells its merchandise under its own private-label brand, Gorland said.
The chain appears to be targetting consumers across the socioeconomic spectrum, with locations in neighborhoods of varying wealth, Gorland said. Its primary objective, he said, is just to be where the most shoppers are.
"They like to be in retail hubs," he said. "They like to be in main thoroughfares with high traffic."


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Seamless Gutters
Professional Installation with attention to detail.
The SunSetter Awning is Americas' #1 selling brand and is sold and serviced through A1 Seamless Gutters
The A-1 Difference . . .
Local family owned business with a history of quality workmanship and customer service.
Customer Comments
We wish to thank you and your crew for the great job on our gutter and downspout installation.
Cordially, Dave and Rhonda Sande"
Dear Sir, Thank you for the beautiful job you did on our new white gutters. Thanks for the nice Job!
Sincerely, Jean Hyapponen
"Steve, Thank you so much for taking care of us before we had to leave town. Our gutters look great! Your workmen did a wonderful job and we will happily recommend you. Best Wishes, Tess"
"Thank you for a job well done Steve…Your crew did a great job, very polite and hard working guys. I will refer your company to others when I can. Thank you, Jim Morgan
"Hi, I want to thank you for doing a great job on our gutters. Jack was so pleased with the work, the price and such nice guys. You made a grumpy old man happy for a few days. We will recommend you to anyone who needs your service.
Thanks again, Elaine Callahan"
"Thank you so much! We love the way the gutters and downspouts blen in so you can't tell they are there! Awesome, Thanks, Jody Bushey
"Hey Steve, Your guys did an amazing job! Everythin looks great. We are very pleased with our new gutters and how they make the house look. Thanks for everything! Isaac."
"Thank you for doing our gutters so promptly! The young men did excellent work and were most congenial. They should be complimented."
"Thanks! Everything looks great!" Connie Peterson
"Thanks for the great job. I will recommend you to friends and family." Mark
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"Thank you for a job well done. I would love to reference you and your crew anytime. Thank you Dan Howe
Thank you so much. Your work is great and the extras were greatly appreciated! P. Johnson
Your guys did a great job, we are very happy with the work! Thank you! Todd and Jean Raeber
"The gutters look awesome! We are very impressed! Thank you, Leah and Tim Sarko
"Please pass along my thanks to the crew who installed my gutters. They were most professional, and the job was completed quickly and in a quality manner" Regards, Phil
"I appreciate your promptness and professionalism. We knew right away that you were the guy for the job! Any future business we will be calling you or referring you to others. Thanks a bunch! The gutters look Great! Joe Van Overmehan
"Just want to say Thanks to you and your crew for your fine work, professionalism, courtesy and how efficiently you got the job done! We will be sure to spread the good word about A-1 Seamless Gutters! Sincerely, Steve and Sue Baker
Thanks for doing a fantastic job on my gutters. You did a great job and working with you was almost completely painless. I've been putting off several larger projects at home that I was dreading , but this experience has given me the courage to move ahead!"
Thanks, Sara Fitzgerald


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U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch issued what Second Amendment supporters likely see as a dark warning about the White House's looming executive order on guns, telling a group of reporters the federal government would be actively searching out those firearms' owners who want to sidestep registration.
RELATED: Obama tightens gun restrictions through executive order
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RELATED: Valerie Jarrett: Obama 'not circumventing Congress' on guns
In her words, as reported by Breitbart: "We will be looking for those individuals who seek to avoid registering," she said, after a meeting with President Obama about his upcoming executive orders on gun control.
TRENDING: Schools purging all books from before 2008 to guarantee 'inclusivity'
Her statement was in reference to the widely reported portion of Obama's executive order that's supposed to expand the definition of "gun dealer" to include even those who make private, one-on-one transactions. Specifically, his order would then require anyone who's "engaged in the business of dealing in firearms" to register as a dealer, and thus become subject to the background checks' process, as Breitbart reported.
The biblical mandate for armed self-defense – especially in church! Get "Shooting Back" today!
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The order doesn't make any exceptions based on the numbers of gun sales, and as Fox News legal analyst Andrew Napolitano pointed, that means even an individual selling one firearm to another individual would have to abide the mandate.
"Police State USA: How Orwell's Nightmare is Becoming Our Reality," marshals the terrifying evidence to show the world of Big Brother is much closer than we want to admit.
As such, Lynch vowed the feds, through her Department of Justice and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, would be on the watch for violators.
Wonder why Barack Obama does what he does? Andrew G. Hodges, a psychiatrist who specializes in forensic profiling, may have the answer, in "The Obama Confession: Secret Fear. Secret Fury."
"[We'll watch for private sellers who] seek to avoid registering [as] engaged in the business of selling firearms," she said, CBS News reported.
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Lynch did say the order would include an exemption for "the hobbyist and collector" but that private sellers would no longer be able to "hide behind that [label]," CBS News reported.
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