text:
Amelia Has RetiredBut still providing support!
Due to difficulty with night driving and the grueling nature of birth work, Amelia has made the very difficult decision to retire from birth work after sixteen years of serving the Hampton Roads community. This decision has not been an easy one, but a necessary one. She has loved serving her hundreds of beautiful and amazing clients over the years and feels a great deal of sadness about leaving birth work. But she is not a quitter!
She is busy birthing a new blog to continue with her passion to support women and their families during the peripartum period. She is planning all kinds of free resources for expectant parents, new doulas, and homeschoolers.
Thank you to all of my precious clients and my doula friends who have supported and encouraged me over the years! I love every one of you!
Please check back soon for the upcoming birth!
About Amelia
Image credit: Anita Avila
Amelia has served Hampton Roads since 2006. She is certified as a birth doula by DONA and Mercy in Action, a childbirth educator by CAPPA, rebozo certified in the Gina Kirby method, and has extensive lactation training. Amelia is mom to eight beautiful breastfed people and wife to Horace, a thirty year military veteran. She has access to all bases and offers a 10 % military discount to active, retired, and veteran families.
Doula Services
Image credit: Michelle Lynn
Amelia is slowing down on her doula work after June of 2019, and won't be taking too many doula clients. She will continue to serve repeat clients or the occasional home birth client. To serve you, Amelia recommends Liz Pelletier, of 757 Doulas, who has been her amazing partner. Also, check out Peninsula Doulas, Doulas of Tidewater, and Doula Match, to help you in your search for a doula.
Photo credit: Amelia Avila
"Amelia was incredibly supportive of me (and my husband) throughout the entire labor and birth, and if I were to have a third child I would definitely want her to doula by my side. My husband, who was initially unsure of why we needed a doula, later said that having Amelia there was "like having another husband there…one that knows exactly what to say and do." And he was right."
"If you are looking for calm, quiet encouragement during your birthing experience, then Amelia is an excellent choice!"
"She stayed with me for nearly a full day, and kept in touch afterwards to see how I was doing physically and emotionally, as well as to see how my baby was. I could truly see her being a lifelong friend."
"Having Amelia at the birth was so beneficial. She was such a calming influence on the entire experience. I truly feel that I owe my VBAC experience to her."
"Su apoyo fue esencial mucho más en nuestro caso que no contábamos con la ayuda de ningún familiar ni amigo."
"Amelia came and rescue us like an angel when we were in a dire need of some motherly figure. She is very knowledgable, compassionate, loving,caring, super positive and overall a very calming presence."
"After birth I was having trouble with my milk and breastfeeding and I completely feel that Amelia helped me become successful at breastfeeding."
"Amelia is so patient, loving, kind, and such a calming presence. I don't know how I could have gotten through the experience of birth as a first time mother without her gentle support."
"Amelia helped in so many ways, it is hard to list them….the magic she worked on my lower back was priceless. She also did a great job of involving my husband; she really was there to support the whole family."
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb...Psalm 139:13
Serving All of Hampton Roads Since 2006
Photo credit: Michelle Lynn Photographic Artist
Newport News
Virginia Beach
Serving these Birth Locations:
Riverside Regional Medical Center
Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center
Naval Medical Center Portsmouth
Langley Air Force Base Hospital
Sentara Careplex Hampton
Sentara Obici Hospital
Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center
The Midwifery Center at DePaul Medical Center
Sentara Princess Anne Hospital
Sentara Leigh Hospital
Sentara Norfolk General Hospital
Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center
Chesapeake Regional Medical Center
Homebirth attended by CPM or CNM


text:
Over 40% of Singapore's population is made of the expats who have made the city more or less their permanent residence. For new expats it is natural to consider the cost of living and other details before they move to Singapore.
Thankfully, working and living in the cosmopolitan city of Singapore is far more enjoyable than moving to any other country in the world.
Here's a quick guide for expats who are planning to move to Singapore:
Cost of living: A lot of expats take help from relocation consultants in Singapore to find accommodation. Rent for condominiums varies according to the location and the newness of the building. Be sure to explain your home requirements and budget limitations to the consultants to help you find the most suitable shelter.
Transportation and Food: The government of Singapore highly encourages the use of public transport to reduce pollution and congestion on the roads. Public transport in Singapore has one of the best networks and is highly reasonable. Even taxis charges are quite inexpensive as unlike in most other countries. Owing private cars in Singapore for expats is not recommended as heavy taxes are levied. You can always hire car rental services with reasonable fee if you require a transport medium of your own.
Healthcare: As with transportation costs, healthcare is not expensive either in Singapore. As a health-conscious country Singaporeans take aside a sum each month for medical consultation. Health cover is given by most employers and a lot of people also have personal health insurance. Consultation charge of a qualified doctor in Singapore is reasonable and the hospitals here are quite clean and pleasant.
Education: Singapore offers world-class education opportunities for you and/or your children. There are both local and international schools where English is also a medium of instruction. Schools are less stressful for children here and also there are a very few reportings of violence, abduction or other such crimes in school.
Lifestyle Cost: A lot of expats will tell you that Singapore is far better in terms of safety as compared to other Asian as well as European countries. That's because the city has stringent rules and regulations on drugs and other illegal activities. This enhances the feeling of "being secured" for the Singaporeans and even more for the expats.
Costs of living can be kept in check by cooking food in the home oftener and eating out only occasionally. Similarly, public transport can be used for all daily commuting and private cars can be used only for weekend outings. Shopping in Singapore again depends on the kind of stuff you buy. Branded items are naturally high-priced. But you can also find unbranded quality stuff for cheaper rates.
All-in-all, life as an expat in Singapore is an enjoyable and memorable experience for a majority of people. In fact, an increasing number of expats are choosing to become permanent citizens of Singapore given its wonderful lifestyle amenities. Chances are if you are moving to Singapore to work and live, you'll feel at home away from home!
Latest jobs in Singapore
- Software Developer (Java)
- Software Developer (.NET)
- Nursing Sponsorship
- Nurse Trainer (Nursing Home) #HCG
- Software Development Engineer
- Software Developer _ AFC
- Java Developer
- Senior Java Developer
- Software Developer
- Marketing Executive

subset: commoncrawl


text:
SQL Server 2008 R2 Best Practices Analyzer
Maybe I'm a little late to the party, but I thought I would share with you the most recent release of Microsoft's Best Practices Analyzer for SQL Server 2008 R2 (you can also read the original blog announcement from CSS). Let me be clear: this tool is not just for people who are already on SQL Server 2008 R2. It will also happily analyze your SQL Server 2008 instances, so don't be fooled by the label.
That said, getting the thing installed was an exercise in patience. Like most people, I clicked the download link:
And I was off to the races. Or so I thought. I still haven't developed a healthy habit of READING before CLICKING. The first time I ran the installer, I got this complaint about not having the Baseline Configuration Analyzer installed (I'm typing out the error message so that users experiencing the same thing can find this post, and I'm showing a screen shot to show how asinine it is to put a URL in a dialog but not have the ability to click or copy it):
Microsoft Baseline Configuration Analyzer 2.0 is not installed. Please install it from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=1b6e9026-f505-403e-84c3-a5dea704ec67
To help out a bit, here is the link to download the Configuration Analyzer (which, I will admit, was much easier to obtain from a Google search than by transcribing the link from the dialog) :
If you're not on Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2, you have the potential to receive error messages about missing PowerShell 2.0, as follows:
Microsoft Baseline Configuration Analyzer 2.0 requires PowerShell 2.0 to be pre-installed on the system.
No worries, you can download PowerShell 2.0 as part of Windows Update:
Or if you don't want to go through the hassle of Windows Update, you can also get it by installing the Windows Management Framework Core Package individually:
(Now why, since PowerShell 2.0 is only a 6 MB download, it couldn't be published as part of the Configuration Analyzer setup, or at least to go fetch it dynamically during installation, I have no idea.)
I got a little bit further into the installation once I had the Configuration Analyzer installed. But then, I discovered in a very round-about way, that there is an issue with the installer when you try to put the BPA on a machine that is not connected to a domain (e.g. just about every virtual machine I own). When it tried to run the PowerShell commands during setup, I saw a PS window briefly, along with some scary-looking red text, and then it disappeared and setup returned this error message (again typed out for SEO goodness):
There is a problem with this Windows Installer package. A program run as part of the setup did not finish as expected. Contact your support personnel or package vendor.
Which is great to know that it wasn't BPA's fault, but something else's. But would it have been that hard to consume the error message that obviously came back from PowerShell? Or better yet, return an error message like this:
Google "BPA 2.0 error powershell"


text:
Come and Find Me by Elizabeth Robins (Chapter 11)
Come and Find Me by Elizabeth Robins
Hypertext formatting by Joanne E. Gates
page 187
Hildegarde's sense of anxious responsibility had grown with every month that passed after her father sailed out of San Francisco harbor. Bound for-- "the Klondike!" people exclaimed with envy, rather than asked in any doubt.
"No--no," he had said, and then hastily--to keep outsiders off the track--"well, perhaps. Who knows?" Who did n't know! And, after all, why should any man stay at home who was n't obliged?
It was natural that no one else should take Mr. Mar's enterprise as seriously from the start as did his daughter. For she knew how large had been her share in it. She had been the first, the only one, to cheer him on. she it was who had got "the boys" to finance the undertaking. She who had broken the fact to her mother. But for his daughter, Nathaniel Mar would not now be--where was he? How faring? Many a time Hildegarde's heart contracted sharply, as in silence she framed the question. her own fault that she could n't answer--her fault that half Valdivia could no longer set their clocks by the big, lame man's passing--her doing that he sat no more of a morning in the warm, sunny room of the San Joaquin, sending out smoke and absorbing news. Others sat there in peace and safety, discussing their absent townsman;
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and Hildegarde sat at home trying to keep at bay the thought: if anything dreadful should happen to him!
It had eased her a little to write to Cheviot, and beg him to look out for her father. She was tempted to say, "Bring him back safe and there 's nothing I won't gladly do to prove--" But she had pulled herself up in time, and only promised an unending gratitude.
The steamer President, which had taken Mar north, brought on her return trip a brief letter from him, saying merely that the journey was safely accomplished as far as St. Michaels. His family knew they would probably not hear again till the following summer.
Life was easier when Bella was there. To her one might say, "Will he come back by the first boat in June, or shall we only have letters, do you think?" And say it in one form or another so often that, but for reasons unavowed, the speculation would have wearied friendship.
But Bella was full of sympathy and tonic suggestion, always prepared to pore over northern maps, always ready to discuss probably conditions "up there."
What a friend was Bella! "I 've talked of a standard," Hildegarde thought humbly, "but she lives up to it--in these days." It was a shame ever to remember the lapses long ago.
And how intelligent she was! How curiously well informed! But Bella was always surprising you.
"I keep thinking about him in the night. I lie awake wondering if he 's cold," Hildegarde confessed, and Bella, why, to look at her face you 'd think she knew all about that lying awake and wondering--did the same herself. "Father does so love a fire. Don't you remem-
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ber when all of us would be baking he used to draw closer to the hearth?"
"That was only because he lived so much indoors. He 'll be quite warm in that beautiful furry sleeping-bag. He 'll probably sleep better than he 's done since he was a child. They all do."
"Who do?" "Oh--a--people who--go to the Klondike."
Another time, "I am haunted by the certainty that he did n't take enough provisions. Trenn says that in intense cold people eat a great deal more than--"
"That 's true," said Bella sagely, "but it 'll be all right. People are very good to one another in such out-of-the-way places. They always share with anybody who runs short."
"How do you know?"
Well, that 's what the accounts all say."
"What accounts?"
"Oh, in the--the papers."
"I never see any such accounts. It 's all horrors--freezing and starving to death. Besides, father will be the one to do the sharing and then have to go without. Oh, why did I help him to--"
"Don't be absurd," Bella said, almost angrily. "In any case he 's not gone beyond the reach of supply depots." Neither met the other's eye.
"But suppose his money gives out--it will give out if it 's true they charge two dollars for a potato. He never could keep any money in his pockets. Oh, it 's all very well for you, your father is n't sitting on an iceberg starving to death."
A queer look came into Bella's little face. It was
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there, now and then, and gone like a ghost, leaving a troubled tenderness behind.
"It 's not as if he were near a settlement, as the Klondkiers are to Dawson City," Hildegarde went on, yearning for reassurance. "The place father was going to is quite uninhabited, except by a few Esquimaux. Often I can hardly eat for thinking--thinking"--her voice caught--"maybe he is hungry."
"That 's impossible. He 's much too sensible and clever."
"What good is it to be sensible and clever if you 've got nothing to eat?"
"But being sensible and clever will help him to find things to eat."
"How do you make that out?"
"Oh, as far south as that--"
As far south? Was she out of her mind?
"There are plenty of ptarmigan and rabbits and things, where Mr. Mar is."
"Are there? But he 's lame. How can he go shooting--"
"Other people can, especially the natives, and you may be sure your father will have his share. Besides, he 'll fish. Mr. Mar 'll like that part of it."
"How can you be so heartless!"
"What do you mean?"
"How is my father to fish in rivers frozen hard as iron?"
"Through holes in the ice, of course!" Bella defended the idea warmly. "You 'll see," she spoke as if she 'd personally tested the efficacy of the device; "you 'll see they 'll get fish all winter that way."
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"How do you know? Now don't say you get it out of the newspapers, for I never see these things, and I look for nothing else."
"No, I found that in a book."
"What book?"
It turned out to be a two-year-old volume upon Arctic Exploration. On the fly-leaf Bella's name and the date, 1896. A whole year before Cheviot went to the Klondike, or Mr. Mar to Alaska. The year that--
The light that had glimmered broke in a flood.
"Let us read it together, Bella," said Hildegarde softly.
"No, there 's a newer one I 've just sent for. We 'll read that if you like."
They finished it at the Waynes' country place. "I wish," said Hildegarde, "we had another book about--"
"There are plenty more." Bella unlocked a little chest. It was full of nothing but books, and the books were about nothing but arctic life and exploration. For nearly two years, Bella had been buying and reading everything she could hear of published on the subject in America or Europe.
Hildegarde hung above the store. "We must go through them all together. It is the most fascinating reading in the world."
"It is the most horrible in the world. The most ghastly, it makes you ill. But, yes; I agree with you one can't not know."
They read the books together. Even the honest-hearted Hildegarde, who began with her father agonizingly present in her mind, abandoned him presently to his probably less terrible fate, and pushed forward with
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strange men on their farther journey; fitting each new fortune or mischance to the One on the other side of the world, never mentioned either by her or Bella. Though Hildegarde kept her oath not to speak Galbraith's name, she felt a strange new excitement now in saying "He" as for her father, yet thinking of the One who had gone farther afield even than Cheviot, and much, much farther than Mr. Mar. Each girl played with the ruse. It gave to reading and speculation a subtilty--a sprit--that never flagged.
And now spring was here. Although still far too early for such forecasting, both felt the need of returning to Valdivia, to be within easier reach of papers, of telegrams, and of returning travelers. For all the world knew when once the spring was come up yonder, the summer followed hard. How natural it was to be looking forward to something great and wonderful that was to happen in June! Hildegarde and her father had done that as long ago as when the girl was in her early teens and Jack Galbraith expected back from his first arctic enterprise. What more natural than that Hildegarde and Bella should be doing very much the same to-day. To call their expectation by Mar's name, merely gave it manageability. For, apart from Bella's interdiction, the word "Galbraith" was, in this, like a hot iron. If it were to be touched in safety, some shield must come between you and the too ardent metal. "Galbraith" would scorch. But wrap "Mar" about the forbidden name, and you could use it to significant ends.
Summer and Mr. Mar! Oh, Mr. Mar served well as symbol of that mightier issue, that both dared hope for out of this year's opening of the ice gates of North.
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And yet the month of wonder, June, went by without a word or a sign coming down from the top of the world. July brought a letter from the Klondike--Cheviot's second. He had done well, and he was coming home. Hildegarde might look to see him by the next boat. No word of Mar; plain he had n't had Hildegarde's news when he wrote. Not the next boat, however, nor the next, brought Cheviot, nor any word of Mr. Mar.
"I don't know how I should get through this time but for you, Bella." Hildegarde and she were seldom apart.
Not till mid-August came the sign from Mar, a letter written from a queer-sounding place in early June, a letter strangely short and non-commital. He had reached St. Michaels too late the previous autumn to go any further than Golovin Bay, before navigation closed. He would push on as soon as travel was practicable. He was well. He sent his love. And no more that summer. No more up to the time the boats stopped running in the autumn.
Cheviot had not come after all. And silence, like the silence of the grave, wrapt the fate of that Other, on the far side of the world.
"I shall burn a joss to those who travel by land or by sea, by snow or by ice," said Bella, one day in December, and she lit the stick of incense on the flower altar, whence no heathen smoke of prayer had risen for a couple of years now. But more prayers than ever before had been offered up in the little white room. And what need of a face on the wall above the roses? The picture was not really shut away in a drawer. Vivid in each girl's mind, it was borne about as faithfully, as in the
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old days, when on Hildegarde's breast in a setting of silver it hung on a velvet string.
Now and then Bella remembered Cheviot, and when she remembered him, she spoke of him. Sometimes she spoke of him when she was thinking of him little enough. As on the night when she was n't well, and Hildegarde, sleeping on the sofa in her friend's room, had waked in misery over a dream she 'd had. Bella was lying wide-eyed in the dark, "A dream about--?"
"Yes," Hildegarde said hurriedly, "a snow-storm in the night, in the wind; a slipping down into blackness. I thought I saw him fall, and I knew it was the end."
"They go by contraries. Your father 's quite well and happy." Hildegarde had not said the dream concerned her father, but she offered no correction.
"Still," Bella went on, "for the moment it makes one feel--I 'll tell you! we must have a little light to comfort us."
"No, no; it will hurt my eyes," Hildegarde was surreptitiously crying. But Bella was already up, and before Hildegarde could forestall her, she had opened the door across the hall leading into the opposite room, and there she was striking a light. Hildegarde followed her, still a little dazed by the vivid horror of the dream, and when her eyes fell upon her own little white bed, she flung herself down there, and buried her face in the cool pillow.
"You are n't crying, are you, Hildegarde, over a silly dream? Look here, I 'm lighting a joss for Mr. Mar."
A little silence.
"I 've lit another," said Bella's hurried voice, still over there by the table, "one for Louis." Hildegarde,
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with face half-hidden, imagined rather than saw, that three slender smoke feathers were curling above the flowers, drowning the meeker fragrance of the roses.
She lay there feeling the oppression of the dream fading, and a waking oppression take its place. Yes, they "went by contraries." Galbraith had n't fallen and been swallowed in the gaping maw of a crevasse; but when he came back what was going to happen? He belonged to Bella. But he had left Bella. And he had belonged first of all to Hildegarde. What would befall friendship in that coming wrench!
"Go back to bed, Bella; you 'll be worse."
"You must come, too."
Hildegarde made no answer.
"You can't lie there with all these flowers in the room. I did n't know you had n't set them out. The doors can't be left open either."
"The windows can."
"I shan't go unless you come, too."
Hildegarde forced herself to get up. Bella put out the comforting light. But some things show plainer in the dark. Those symbols on the altar, they were only tendrils of smoke by day, or in the glare of gas. Now they were sparks of fire puncturing the blackness of the scented room. One fiery eye to watch over the fortunes of Nathaniel Mar, one to shine for Cheviot, and an unnamed third to pierce the darkness that shrouded the fate of that Other. Even when the two girls turned their backs, and groped their way to Bella's room clinging hold of each other in the dark, the third spark not only shone before their inner vision still, it pricked each bosom with its point of fire.
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What would happen when he came back?
Each wondered, and each held faster to the other with fear in the bottom of her heart.
MEANWHILE, life outwardly went on pretty much the same. With Trenn and Harry, Eddie Cox and others swains, the girls went to parties and picnics, to concerts, and the theater, and did all the usual things. The one unusual thing those days brought was the Charles Trennor fancy ball. It was going to be a great affair, and Valdivia conversation for weeks had begun by some such statements as, "I 'm going as the Goddess of Liberty. What shall you be?"
Of course Trenn and Harry were coming up for the great occasion, and their costumes called for endless consultation with that great authority, Bella. They had, moreover, told their sister she might on this occasion be as glorious as ever she liked, and they would "foot the bill." Hildegarde deeply appreciated such generosity, but what was more to the point, did Bella?
She only said: "Yes, Hildegarde 's going to be glorious. But I don't think it 's the kind of glory you can buy."
Even before the Mar boys had come forward in this magnificent way, Bella had decided that Hildegarde must go as Brunhild. Her gown was to be white cloth, embroidered with silver dragons--strictly adapted from an ancient Norse design. She was to wear silver sandals on her feet; on one bare arm would be a buckler, a spear in her right hand, and on her fair hair a silver helmet.
Bella was going as Amy Robsart, and that was easy enough. It was those dragons of Hildegarde's that took
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the time; and, as Bella had said, they would n't have been easy to buy. She and Hildegarde were embroidering them every spare minute, day and night. Even now, though almost, they were not quite done, which was a pity. Trenn and Harry were coming up from Siegel's again this evening--the excuse, the necessary inspection of Brunhild, at Bella's expresss invitation. For this had been the one costume not ready in time for the "dress-rehearsal" two nights before, when Bella and "the boys" had put on their Elizabethan finery, and peacocked about in great spirits.
"I want your brothers to be what they call 'knocked silly' when they first see you, Hildegarde. You must be all dressed and ready, and we can turn up the bottom of the skirt and work at that last dragon while we 're waiting."
In pursuance of this plan, the two girls had gone upstairs directly after supper, though it was hardly probable the boys could get there before half-past nine.
Mrs. Mar sat waiting for them in the parlor, on that side of the center table where the book rest supported an open volume. She rocked while she waited, and she crocheted while she rocked. At times she glanced at the clock--not once at the open book. Not for her own edification was the volume there, but for the enlargement of Hildegarde's literary horizon, while she and Bella stitched at silver dragons. But this latest choice in standard works had not pleased anyone. Victor Hugo was much too fond of fiery love-scenes to prosper with Mrs. Mar, but the miserable man had become a classic, and after all, Hildegarde was old enough not to be infected. Bella--she read everything, the minx!
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Although Hildegarde was in her twenty-fifth year, Mrs. Mar knew her so little, she felt no assurance that the girl would keep up her languages, or read "the best things" in any tongue, without her mother's dragging her by main force across the flowery fields of belles-lettres--as though over stubble and through brake.
Listening to Mrs. Mar's reading of a classic was an experience of some singularity. For if she macerated descriptive bits with a chin-chopper despatch, to get them out of the way (not disguising the fact that she considered these passages in the light of the salutary self-torture that no disciplined life should evade, any more than vaccination or a visit to the dentist), she did far deadlier things to scenes of sentiment or passion. These she approached with a sturdy determination not to give in to their nonsense, to make them at all events sound like sanity by sheer force of her own impregnable common-sense--a force so little to be withstood, that it could purge the most poetic page ever written. It made even Victor Hugo sound as reasonable as the washing list. If you did n't inwardly curse or secretly weep you must have laughed to see how effectually she could clip fancy's wings, slam the door on sentiment, bring high passion down to a sneaking shame, and effectually punish a great reputation. In short, listening to Mrs. Mar reading romance was so sure a way, not only to strip it bare of its traditional glory, but to rob it of every chance of "going home," that Hildegarde, as soon as she got wind of what was the next work to be attacked, hastened to borrow it of Bella, devoured it along and so got a first impression that could more or less hold its own against the maternal onslaught. It is but fair
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to say that to any comedy passage Mrs. Mar gave excellent effect, and, by way of appreciation, a grim smile peculiarly her own; while for a spirited encounter between wits sharp and merciless, she had open approval.
"That 's something like!" she would say. "Old Dumas" (or whoever it might be), "he can do it when he likes!" and the great one was patted on the back: This man 's going to live."
Bella had known that Mrs. Mar would sit in the half-light till even she could see no longer. But Hildegarde was not suffered to make her entrance in the dusk. Bella ran in first and "lit up." She did not stop to draw the blinds, she was in too great a hurry; besides, it was nice to let in the mild and beautiful night. "Now, Hildegarde! Look, Mrs. Mar," and Bella ushered in a living page from an old Icelandic Saga; "is n't she glorious?"
Mrs. Mar pecked at the regal figure with her hard, bright eyes, "White does n't make her any slimmer," she said.
"Oh, it would n't do for Brunhild to be a mean, little, narrow creature."
"That helmet, too! It makes her look ten feet high."
She wants to look high!-- and 'mighty!' and she does. No, no, stop Hildegarde, you must n't take it off."
"Just till we hear the boys coming. It--it 's--" Hildegarde contracted her broad brows under the helmet's weight.
But Bella flew to the rescue. "Don't, don't! Hands off! What does it matter if it is heavy? You must get used to it. You 've got to be a heroine!" she wound up severely, "so don't expect to be comfortable!" and
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Bella pulled a chair under the drop-light. "Sit here where Trenn and Harry can see you the minute they open the door. Now we can go on with the last dragon while we 're waiting."
Mrs. Mar cleared her throat, "'Acte Cinquième. La Noce.'" And the two girls, raising their eyes from the work, saw through the open window, in front of them, not the close-massed syringa underneath, nor the soft Californian night above, but "une terrasse du palais d' Arragon," in the town of Saragossa, four hundred years ago. And no sense visited them of any jarring contrast between the picture of life as they knew it best. Thanks to the poet that lives in most young hearts, even Victor Hugo's gallant vision of a civilization that was old before California was discovered, brought no envious sense of the difference between then and now--rather a naïve surprise that those others so far away, so long ago, should have understood so well.
Older, more self-critical, they might have lost this sense of comradeship--might have gone over to the gray majority that insists only the past is picturesque, or that if any grace remains unto this day, it must needs be far removed from places we know well, precariously surviving under other skies, speaking an alien tongue. Those who would persuade us there is no scene in our every-day life but what is sordid, barren, or at best (and worst) meanly commonplace--stuff unfit for poetry or even for noble feeling--what do the carpers by such comment on our times but confess an intellect abject, slavish, blind. To find the beauty and the dignity that lie in the difficult familiar days that we ourselves are
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battling through, to detect high courage in the common speech, to get glimpses of the deathless face of romance as we go about the common streets, is merely to know life as it is, and yet to walk the modern world as gloriously companioned as any Viking or Hidalgo of the past.
So true is early youth's apprehension of these things, that not even Mrs. Mar could make wide enough for envy or embarrassment the gulf in the two girls' minds between an Old World bandit chief, and a New World soldier of fortune. The transition, that to the sophisticated seems grotesque, between the Hernani of 1519 and the modern American pursuing perilous ways to the Pole--this feat was accomplished without misgiving although in Sargossa, "on entend des fanfares éloignées," and in Valdivia an indefatigable woman, on the other side of the street, was strumming the old tune, renamed, "The Boulanger March"; and now Mrs. Mar was beginning Scene III with an air of cold distrust, that Bella foresaw would mount by well-known degrees to a climax of scorn.
The lady turned the page.
"'Mon âme
Brûle--Eh! dis au volcan qu'il étouffe sa flamme,'--
"How long are they going on like this, I wonder?" she interrupted herself to durchblätter the pages.
"'Ah! qui n'oublierait tout à cette voix céleste!'"
And more fingering of the leaves. "Four more solid pages of this sort of thing," she announced. "Well, if
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the rest of the world has stood it, I suppose we must." And she went on--
"'Ta parole est un chant où rien d'humain ne reste--'"
And on, in a measured staccato, exactly as if she were adding up a column of figures, or telling off yards of tape.
"'Doña Sol.
Viens, ô mon jeune amant,
Dans mes bras.'"
Bella dropped the silver dragon, and with, "Wait, Mrs. Mar, dearest Mrs. Mar!" she seized the book.
"What 's the matter with you?"
"This is my part!" said Bella, shutting the volume convulsively. "I know it every bit."
"'Voilà notre nuit de noces commencée!
Je suis bien pâle, dis, pour une fiancée?'"
And on to--
"'Mort! non pas! nous dormons,
Il dort! c'est mon époux, vois-tu, nous nous aimons,
Nous sommes couchés là. C'est notre nuit de noce.
Ne le réveillez pas, seigneur duc de Mendoce,
Il est las. Mon amour, tiens-toi vers voi tourné.
Plus près--plus près encore--'"
Hildegarde, with tears, put out her hand and took
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Bella's. No word, just the clasp of hands, till they fell apart to work.
"H'm," said Mrs. Mar dryly. "I suppose you 've seen Sarah Bernhardt go on like that."
"No, oh, no. I don't like Sarah in this. I do it much better."
"A good many people seem to be able to put up with the other lady."
But Bella, smiling, shook her head, as she drew a new strand of silver thread through her needle. "I don't like seeing her make dear Doña Sol so--so snaky, and so wildly unnatural."
"Well, if you think Doña Sol 's a natural--"
Bella laughed. "You 'd think she was nature itself compared to Sarah."
"People said the same thing about Curly what 's-his-name."
"Yes, the Englishman who acted with the red-haired woman."
"Oh, you mean Kyrle--"
"Curl! Is that how he calls himself? Well, I 'm sure I 've no objection. I liked him. But people went about saying he was n't natural."
Bella looked up. "Did you think he was?"
"Certainly not. But I 'm a person who likes acting. I don't want them natural." She wound up in a tone of delicious contempt, "I can see people being natural every day of my life, without paying for it."
Bella laughed. "Oh, I 'm so glad I know you, dear Mrs. Mar!" That lady, unmoved by the tribute, began to do her duty by the notes. Bella never listened to
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notes, and by and by her little face took on again the tragic look with which she had declaimed, "La fatalité s'accomplit."
Bella was a good deal changed in this last year. Hildegarde, looking at her paling beauty, was sometimes stricken with fear. "What should I do without her!" The postman's ring. Bella jumped up without ceremony in the middle of Note 2, and ran out to see what had come. Only a paper. It was n't the postman. Merely the little boy outrageously late with "'The Evening News."
Bella returned to her dragon--Mrs. Mar read on.
After all, who could be sure but what that paper lying there--how did Bella know but it had a Norwegian telegram in it, saying word had come of the rescue in the arctic of a party of Russians under an American leader? Or no, the leader had done the rescuing--against awful odds. Not Bella alone, but two entire continents were celebrating his name. For this was the intrepid explorer of whom nothing had been heard for nearly four years--who had been given up for dead, by all but Bella Wayne.
And this man--oh, it made the heart beat--this man had discovered the Pole. That was why he 'd been so long away. It took four years to discover the Pole. But it was done. The whole civilized world was ringing with his name. And natural enough. It was the greatest achievement since Columbus' own, and the hero's name was--
No, no, it would n't be like that at all. He would want Bella to be the first to know. The next ring at the door would be a telegram for her. Or no, he would
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hardly want to break so long a silence in that brusque way. No, he would write her a beautiful long letter--telling her--explaining--No! Far more like him just to appear. Without writing--without telegraphing. Just take the swiftest steamer across the Atlantic, and the fastest train across the Continent, and some evening like this, she, little thinking in the hour that should bring such grace, she would lift up her eyes and there he would be!--standing before her. Not only without a long explanatory letter, without words, her face would be hidden in his breast.
"There!" Mrs. Mar interrupted an alternative soliloquy of Don Carlos, and Bella started. "They 're early! There are the boys, now!"
"I don't hear them." But as Hildegarde spoke the words she was conscious of steps on the graveled path, that wound its rather foolish way round this side of the house, leading nowhere. No one ever walked there but Hildegarde herself, cutting or tending flowers. She glanced at Bella, and saw in the wide hazel eyes a light she knew.
On the step came crunching gravel. Bella's needle arrested half through a stitch, and all Bella's face saying, "John! John Galbraith!"--and only Hildegarde, through her eyes, hearing. But even Mrs. Mar was under some spell of silence and strained expectation. Now the firm tread paused, and there--there, in front of the low uncurtained window, above the syringas, showed the head and shoulders of a man. Not Trenn, not Harry. Who? Hildegarde held her breath.
Next Chapter
Available on the web since July 2000


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Check It Out: Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom Trailer #2
I am not big on posting Superbowl movie TV spots, because they are just that: TV spots. However when it comes to things like the shocking Cloverfield 3 news, I could not help myself. In a surprising turn of events right before kickoff of Superbowl 52 Universal decided to drop a full trailer for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.
Once again it feels like we are going to be treated to the empty calories of another nostalgia bomb at the abandoned Jurassic World Park. One interesting development from this trailer is that it looks like we are going to be treated to Dinosaurs in housing developments, which could either be complete dino crap or truly terrifying.
Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom hits theaters June 22nd 2018
Let us know what you thought about the trailer in the comments below!


text: We always say this – we love every wedding we capture, but we are especially touched when it's a wedding of a friend. Jessica and my wife Magy used to work together a couple of years ago and when it came time to start looking for a photographer we were so happy to be the lucky ones choses for Jessica + Kevin's big day. It was a great day and their laid back approach (with lots of style of course) to their wedding was simply a reflection of the couple's personalities. The Gardiner Museum was a beautiful venue to photograph. It was my first time there and I really enjoyed it-what a cool venue for a wedding! It was really hard to pick just a couple photos for the blog, so I hope I picked the ones that really captured the essence of Jessica + Kevin's wedding day! Congratulations Jessica + Kevin!


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Lake Oswego NLYM
The Lake Oswego Chapter of National League of Young Men, Inc. was founded in 2015. Our chapter is open to mothers with sons who live in the city of Lake Oswego or attend high school in the Lake Oswego or Riverdale school districts.
During the young men's four years of membership, we introduce them to education, practical training, guest speakers and direct involvement in four areas.
Leadership – Our young men are encouraged to serve in at least two leadership roles during their membership. NLYM activities and events focus on character development, responsibility, and accountability.
Service – Our young men have the opportunity to serve non-profit organizations of their choice. We hope they embrace service and find this work rewarding and important in their daily lives.
Culture – We believe there is significant value in enriching and stretching the young men's knowledge of human creative achievements such as fine arts, music, dance, theatre, and literature.
Protocol – We prepare our young men to be adept in social etiquette. They learn that being a true gentleman is about having genuine respect for yourself and for others.
Our chapter engages with a wide variety of local community service organizations, including the Autism Society, Habitat for Humanity, Lake Oswego School District, Lakewood Center of the Arts, Northwest Children's Outreach, Oregon Food Bank, Oregon Humane Society, SOLVE and With Love.
Lake Oswego Chapter of National League of Young Men, Inc.
PO Box 1514 Lake Oswego, OR 97035


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Light Fiber Cool Cloth
Kimono Cotton Vest
Thrum Cotton Vests
Hug Shawls (Shown in Purple and Chartreuse)
Little Girl's Shawl or 2020 Hug
The Kimono Long Vest
This is a vest with a contemporary answer to a vest that has more coverage in the front. It has an additional 3" on each side in the lapel with inlaid novelty yarn accents. Even though I weave it on a different loom and a different time, the yarns and dye lots are designed to match. It also has a square pocket to coordinate with the lapel.
My Ponchos
These are a limited edition or custom order--either in one color or yarn type or in the popular two color. They are woven with a lightweight quality cotton yarn or cotton rayon yarn, most hand-dyed, have a novelty yarn accent at the bottom with a vertical cotton accent to coordinate, and a double-knotted fringe. They may be worn asymmetrically or horizontally and also by changing the front color--i.e., in AruSoWe, the Aruba may be worn in the front or in the back. Currently available are: AroSoWe, ChocAru, PuPeri, PuFu, PeriFu OlSpice, MajorMinor, and MaWhi. All ponchos are washable.
Price range is $140-$150.
My Thrum Cotton Vests
These vests are extremely limited as they serendiptously occur after several warps or items of the same color have been woven. There are over 1000 knots in these pieces. They speak to me as I am weaving them and I decide the batik finishing they will have, beading, and embellishments, and their name. They go quickly at shows, I provide a wait list for interested customers. Some past ones have been: Grandma's Garden, Purple Rain, Spring, Cheshire Spring.
I welcome your questions and queries. Please see my Contact Page for complete contact information.
To purchase or order, please contact me regarding the item, sizing, color you wish. I may have it on hand and will send you more detailed photo options. If it is an order, I require a deposit. I will invoice you the amount owed (which includes the most efficient shipping).


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It's a big day for City Council as they hold their first General Issues Committee meeting of the fall term.
Huge items on the agenda today include:
- The proposed Scott Park / Stadium high school project – Council is being asked to spend $17-million today. There is no MOU or detailed plans on the table; and the proposal is to take money from the Future Fund to pay for the unbudgeted expense.
- Two-way bike lane pilot on Cannon – Councillor Farr is moving a motion to install two-way bike lanes on Cannon Street
Other items on the agenda include:
- Auchmar Estate
- Sale of 241 Stuart Street to CN Rail
- BIA Advisory Committee recommendations
There are 7 delegations today on Cannon Street, Jimmy Thompson Pool, and Canadian Comedy Hall of Fall.
Consent items are straight-forward today and shouldn't spark debate.
There are two closed session items
Items of Wider Interest
| |
Public Delegations
Delegation requests
Consent Items
Discussion Items
Closed Session


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Get Traffic To Your Blog in 2023
When running a website or a blog, the question that gets asked more than anything else is how to generate more traffic. This doesn't have to be a daunting task and with these handy tips, you'll be well on your way to creating tidal waves of traffic to your website. There are many ways to increase your blog traffic, and while some may seem obvious, I will provide you with a detailed breakdown of each one.
1. Content is King
Create content that really helps your visitors. Content is king in attracting readers who will return to your website for more. This helps establish your reputation as a thought leader and innovator in your field.
2. Create Great Headlines for Your Articles
Great headlines drive traffic and encourage visitors to click to read more. Using a headline formula is the key to creating effective headlines that appeal to your visitors.
3. Create 10x Content
Create content that is 10 times better than your competition. This will distinguish you as a leader in your niche.
4. Set a Writing Schedule and Stick to It
You might have to be prolific to gain more exposure to your content. Visitors will get used to the consistency in your writing schedule when visiting your website.
5. Write List Posts
Writing a list post is a sure-fire means of getting visitors to your website. List posts are popular in the blogosphere and have great potential for going viral.
Related : The Best Website Builder in 2023
6. Link to Your Older Content
Linking to your older content reminds visitors that despite the date on the post, the content doesn't lose its relevancy. Recycling older posts often provides new visitors with relevant information, so they don't have to go digging through your website's archives.
7. Interview Experts in Your Niche
Email those who are considered experts in your niche. This shows visitors that your website is a trusted source and encourages the expert interviewed to share your content with his or her audience.
8. Create How-To Articles
People on the internet always search for the best way to accomplish their goals. Creating how-to articles show your visitors that you are an expert in your target niche, and it helps you become a trusted source for information.
9. Link Out to Your Sources Generously
If you want to get noticed by those whose opinions you value, don't be afraid to mention their expertise. Let them know. Send a short email to everyone mentioned in your article.
10. Use Relevant Keywords
To attract an audience for a specific niche, research the keywords necessary to get the targeted traffic you want. I created the most detailed guide on how to use Google's free keyword research tool – Keyword Planner. Doing keyword research helps you get the traffic you want to give the visitors what they want.
11. Use SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an important part of digital marketing. You can learn more about it from my extensive post about the 116 SEO Myths. You should also check my extensive WordPress SEO guide.
12. Use Proper Spelling and Grammar in Your Articles
This may seem obvious, but many visitors skip over content that uses poor spelling or grammar. Poor grammar and spelling are bad for your website and create speed bumps for your visitors, slowing them down.
13. Use Visual Content (Pictures and Videos)
Articles that contain many pictures and some videos increase the stickiness on your website. Adding visual media increases readership.
14. Allow Others to Guest Blog on Your Website
Allowing those in your niche to guest blog creates a double audience for your content. Guest blogging adds value to someone else's website while building relationships with other writers.
15. Guest Blog On Top Industry Blogs
Guest blogging is a great way to get more traffic and backlinks to your blog. It is one of the most effective tactics to grow your blog on a low budget.
15. Write a Round-Up Post
Round-up posts are a great way to connect with industry influencers who will help you to create content faster.
16. Enable Website Comments and Reply to All of Them
Ensure that your blog comments are enabled so visitors can leave their opinions on your articles. Blog comments allow the readers to share their voice or questions, thus encouraging them to come back for updates on the conversation. Stay engaged by replying to comments because it lets the visitor know that you are paying attention and care about the words they've shared.
17. Always Reply to Visitor Correspondence and Questions
If visitors reach out to you via blog comments, email, or any other method, always take the time necessary to give them a reply. Replying connects you with visitors and keeps them engaged. It also gives you interesting content to tackle in the future, thus creating more traffic.
19. Hold a Contest or Giveaway on Your Website
Creating a contest or giveaway on your website encourages visitors to read and share the contest post. You could offer money, products, or services. If you can afford to give anything you can contact companies or bloggers and asked them to sponsor your giveaway with free product or service.
20. Use Videos to Keep Users on Your Website Longer
Using videos on your website is a good way to keep visitors on your website longer. However, don't place a video in the content without explanation. Create a short text version of the video. Drive traffic with how-to videos or videos you've produced yourself
21. Study Your Current Traffic Stats
Your traffic stats should not be a mystery to you. Learning how visitors landed on your website helps you figure out what works for your readership, and you want to continue what works, right? Google Analytics is one of the best free tools to help you in the process.
22. Keep Track of Your Traffic in an Excel Spreadsheet
Create a spreadsheet that details the dates and content that generated the most traffic. Keeping track can offer you ideas on marketing products that turn visitors into sales.
23. Add Your Article Links to Wikipedia as Sources
If your website is considered a reputable authority, you can add your source link to Wikipedia. Wikipedia is the most visited content source in the world and it offers unbiased information.
24. Bold Certain Words or Phrases in Your Content
In the content creation process, bolding certain words or phrases immediately draw the visitor's eyes to those particular words. While there is no evidence that using bolding or italics affects your website's SEO, it makes your visitors' content easily consumable. Who wouldn't want content that is easy to read?
25. Always Write a Call to Action in Articles
At the end of each post or article, create a call to action that begs readers to reply in the comments. Well-executed calls to action create a sense of urgency in the visitor, making them follow your instructions.
26. Seek Out Referral Traffic
If you have proven your website to be a leader in your niche, then others will link to your content because it's useful and relevant. Create awesome content and you will get backlinks from many big and reputable websites and blogs, bringing referral traffic.
27. Repurpose Your Content
Create a podcast, slideshow, infographic or e-book based on your content. When repurposing your content to a new format for listeners or readers, you can reach a new audience for your website.
28. Share Your Content on Facebook
Share your content on Facebook, but include a relevant photo with the link. Share interesting tips, tools, and news along with a call to action that leads visitors to your website.
29. Create a Facebook Page
Creating a Facebook page is essential to your website's traffic. Posts on pages that contain photos or video are considered more valuable in the newsfeed and will remain longer.
30. Encourage Others to Share Your Content on Facebook
Ask family members or friends to share your content with their friends on Facebook. This increases the reach of your content and increases your overall website traffic. You should also ask for shares at the end of your article.
31. Run a Facebook Poll
Create a question that you will pose to your readers on Facebook. If the question is compelling or controversial, people will share it on their timelines.
32. Run a Facebook Contest and Reward Those Who Share Your Content
Running a contest on Facebook increases traffic and allows collecting email addresses. Fans can subscribe to an email list while sharing your post, which generates more traffic.
33. Add Social Sharing Buttons to Your Website
Readers don't want to copy and paste your links into their favorite social media website, so make the process easier for them by including social sharing buttons on your website. The easier it is to share, the more shares you will receive and that equals more traffic.
34. Get More Facebook and Twitter Followers
Create a sentence or two that encourages readers to like your page on Facebook or follow you on Twitter. Copy this text into the bottom of each article to get social media interaction. This is a tried and true method of pulling readers into your circle to dispense even more content to them on a wider array of channels. Example: If you found this blog post useful, follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
35. Ask for Re-Tweets When Sharing Content on Twitter
When you share content that is awesome, there is no harm in asking for your Twitter followers to re-tweet your message. Using the words: Please re-tweet in Twitter messages garners FOUR times the number of re-tweets. Don't be afraid to ask; it helps to widen your audience.
36. Use Quora to Answer Questions and Include Website Links
Quora is a question and answer website. If you are an authority in your niche, browse questions and answer them, while including a link back to your website when appropriate. This also works for placing your website address in your profile so that those who see it may visit your website to learn more about you and the information you provide. This Quora marketing guide is useful in reaching the website's 6.5 million monthly visitors.
37. Share Articles to Twitter Using the Proper Hashtags
Using hashtags on Twitter helps users find your content which leads to more traffic. Even those who don't follow you on Twitter can see the content created when they search a specific hashtag.
38. Direct Tweet to Influencers
Send direct tweets to influencers in your niche. Chances are good that if the content is valuable, these influencers will share it with their followers.
39. Share Articles to LinkedIn
Share relevant articles to LinkedIn to generate quality traffic from the website's 414 million users. Begin with completing your profile, build connection post status updates and join groups relevant to your niche.
40. Add Your Website's URL to Your Twitter Profile
Use the space in your Twitter profile to share a link to your website. Your Twitter followers might follow the link to learn more about your business.
41. Add Your Website's URL to Your Instagram Account
Similarly to Twitter, Instagram provides a space to put a link in your profile. Use this space to put your URL in or a link to a blog post that you're especially proud of.
42. Add a Link to Your Skype Status
If you spend a lot of time using Skype, place a link in your status to give those you speak with a reminder to check your website for updates. It's wise to use any space that websites give you to promote your website or brand.
43. Add Your Link to Your Pinterest Profile
Let your Pinterest followers know where you conduct your business by including your website's URL in your profile. You can also include your web address in every description when adding photos to the website.
44. Start Your Own Podcast
Make a list of influencers in your niche and interview them on a podcast. Staying persistent in the promotion of your podcast will grow your audience and website visitors.
45. Create a Quiz to Increase Reader Engagement
Websites like Qzzr allow you to create and embed a quiz into your website. The longer the visitor remains on your website, the more likely they are to share your content.
46. Share Video Content on YouTube
Videos are a great way to get your message across to visitors while keeping them glued to your brand. Be sure to include a link to your website in the video's description to send traffic back your way.
47. Share Content with LinkedIn Groups
Join groups on LinkedIn and expand your audience by sharing your content. Seeing your content is key to generating traffic while providing valuable information.
48. Share Your Content on Google+
While Google+ might not seem like it's the most popular social media website, it does have quite the following of users. Learn how to drive traffic from Google+ with this handy guide by Ankit Kumar Singla.
49. Update Your Google+ Profile with a Website Link
In your Google+ profile, include a link back to your website. For every view or follower you have on the service, the chances are greater that they visit your website.
50. Share to Communities on Google+
Find communities on Google+ that are in your niche and share your content with them.
51. Share Posts that Contain Images to Pinterest for Maximum Effect
Posts that contain a few images are guaranteed to bring in traffic if shared on Pinterest. The website caters to an image loving audience, so why not cultivate a post that caters to them?
With 100 million users, it's hard to ignore Pinterest. According to Jeff Bullas, 88% percent of people have purchased items they've pinned. That sends traffic that converts to sales.
52. Share Articles in Photos on Instagram
Instagram doesn't allow users to share links to articles, but you can create photos that instruct followers on how to reach your website.
53. Use Periscope
If you haven't heard of Periscope, now is the time to get started using this service. It allows you to connect with your audience using live video.
54. Create Custom Infographics
Infographics are a great way to get people to read your website. Share Infographics on social media along with a link to your website so they can learn more about your business and your content. Use a service like Canva to create a great infographic that will likely be shared. If you are short of time or skills, you can find great freelancers on Fiverr and get stunning infographics for $10-30
55. Use Twitter Chats to Get Targeted Traffic
Twitter chats are found using a specific hashtag relevant to your business. If a user posts a question that is relevant to your content, share a link, but don't forget to use the proper hashtag in order to be seen.
56. Start a Twitter Chat
If you can't find a Twitter chat relevant to your business, start one. This provides a great way to engage with followers and those seeking information in your niche.
57. Comment on Others Websites
Commenting on the websites of others usually allows for a spot where you can share your website's URL. Use this space to share your website or the URL of a post you're especially proud of.
58. Share Others Content if it's Useful and Interesting
To show your followers that you don't only care about self-promotion, be sure to share useful content created by others. This shows that you are a trusted source of information. You can get a chunk of traffic if you use Sniply.
59. End Blog Posts with a Question
Ending your blog posts with a question encourages your visitors to comment. When they come back to further the discussion, it creates more page views for you.
60. Follow the People that Twitter Recommends
When logging into Twitter, the service offers up the handles for those it recommends for you to follow.
If you follow these people, there is always a chance that they might follow you back. Those who follow you back provide you with an extra audience that sees your content.
61. Follow the Followers of Influential People in Your Niche
Check out the followers who follow the influential people in the same niche as your website. These people are more likely to share your content if they share similar interests (and they do!)
62. Share Your Posts on StumbleUpon
Stumble every post that you create on StumbleUpon. This puts your content into a specific category for those looking to discover certain content types.
63. Submit Useful Posts to Reddit Sparingly
Submission to Reddit is a double-edged sword. Use this tactic sparingly because the users on the website may come to know that you are seeking traffic. Tip: Have a thick skin when reading comments on any postings but don't be afraid to be controversial.
64. Outreach to Other Bloggers
Reaching out is one of the most effective tactics to spread the word about your content. It also helps you to build connections and benefit even more in the long run. Reach out to other bloggers in your niche and make an agreement to share content. Getting more links is the key to getting more eyes on your content.
65. Submit Your Website's URL to Google and Bing's Webmaster Tools
Utilize Google to diagnose and repair any errors found on your website. Not only can you improve your website, but you can also find out the search terms visitors used to access your website.
66. Include Your Web site's URL in Your Email Signature
Use the area in your email's signature to create a link to your website. Whenever you contact another person or business, they will see your website.
67. Use Forums to Get Traffic
Locate forums relevant to your niche and offer any articles relevant to threads created there. This sends traffic to your website from those interested in learning more about you or your business.
68. Spy on Your Competition
Find Their Link Sources and keywords they get traffic from Google. You can use tools like Ahrefs to check their backlinks and SEMrush to find their keywords.
69. Use a WordPress Plugin to Share Related Posts in Every Article
Gain more visibility for older posts automatically by installing a WordPress plugin that shares related posts at the end of each new post.
70. Create a Slack Team
A Slack team comprises a community of people interested in the same topics. Create a Slack team and invite the community members to share content that you are proud of.
71. Host a Reddit AMA
If you are an expert in your field, then you have value to add to a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) session.
72. Use an Email Auto-Responder
If you go on vacation, you may not be available to answer questions or other emails from your readers.
73. Get Your Website Listed in Google News
If your content is based around a news cycle, then you should consider submission into Google News. Follow Google's guidelines to learn more.
74. Use HARO to Gain Visitors
HARO (Help a Reporter Out) offers the ability to be interviewed if you are considered a source of valuable information.
75. Go on Television (Local Public Access or Other Channels)
Taking a spot on a local public access channel can put your face in front of people interested in your website or service.
76. Create Business Cards
You don't have to be online to get readers to visit your website. Pass out business cards that contain your URL. Ask friends or family members to do the same and leave cards where they can be seen (bulletin boards, inside books, etc.)
77. Create Merchandise that Contains Your URL
Create a coffee mug or hat that contains your website's URL. Whenever you leave the house, you become a walking-free advertisement for your own business.
78. Host a Workshop to Educate People with Your Expertise
Host an in-person workshop if you feel that you're an authority in your niche. This allows you to educate those who look to you for advice and it encourages readership.
79. Host a Conference to Share Your Knowledge
Like hosting a workshop, hosting a conference is a great way to get the word out to larger crowds about your website. Prepare for any speaking engagements by creating an outline of points to discuss.
80. Start or Attend a Blogger Meetup
Starting and/or attending a blogger meetup puts you front and center with bloggers like yourself. Use this opportunity to talk about your niche and create networking opportunities.
81. Create Branded T-Shirts and Give Them Away
Use a t-shirt designer services such as Spreadshirt.com to create a branded t-shirt design. Wear your t-shirts and give them away to visitors for free advertisements.
82. Offer a Free Product or Service
Visitors love free stuff and will continue to return to your website if a product or service is provided free of charge. Giving away a small service or low-cost item can boost web traffic and get others to link to your website.
83. Do Company or Product Reviews
Reviewing companies or products in your niche can amount to increasing your expertise on these items. If you're considered an expert, visitors will count on you for your honesty and will return to your blog.
84. Post a List of Jobs on Your Website
If you have any positions available to work for your website or business, create a WordPress page that aids in listing the available positions. WP Job Manager plugin offers the functionality of posting jobs as well as letting your visitors do the same.
85. Create a Forum to Gain Reader Engagement
Use a forum using bbPress – to create a forum that you can increase the reader's engagement. The longer visitors interact with one another, the better for increased traffic and pageviews.
86. Offer Awards to Bloggers
Make a list of people in your niche and rate them about certain achievements. Give them a blog award to flatter their egos. Everyone likes to be recognized and creating an award that you give to others is a great way to get the word out about your website. Bonus points if you create a graphic that can be used as a badge for other bloggers.
87. Submit Your Website to Aggregators
Submitting your URL to various aggregators like to receive a surge in traffic.
88. Create an E-Book and List it on Amazon
Repurpose content from your website into an e-book format and list it on Amazon. Be sure to include your website's URL in the first ten pages so that readers can see it when they preview your book.
89. Be on FourSquare or Yelp
Yelp and FourSquare want to know your physical address, but you can also include information on your website. This is especially useful if you offer a physical product or service.
90. Buy an Established Newsletter or Email List
A site in your niche that is no longer active may have an established newsletter or email list. Contact the business owner to see if you can purchase their email list in order to offer his or her former customers some fresh content.
91. Allow Other Websites to Syndicate Your Content
Allowing other websites (especially those in your niche) to syndicate your content gets your blog posts in front of fresh eyes.
92. Repurpose Content for Use on Medium or Similar Websites
You can create shorter versions of your best content and publish them to popular platforms like Medium. Put a link to your original article at the end.
93. Create a Wikipedia Page for Your Website or Yourself
Creating a Wikipedia page for yourself or your website increases your reputation as an influencer in your niche. Use the page to link back to your website and detail your knowledge on the niche.
94. Create an Affiliate Program to Sell Your Products
An affiliate program puts other people to work for you, but benefits both parties if the product or service sells.
95. Create an App for Your Website or Business Extensionizr
If you possess app development knowledge, your branding will benefit if you can create an app for your website. To do so, try a website like App Institute (appinstitute.com) in order to create something useful. If you don't possess the knowledge or have the time, hire a freelancer on Upwork to do the work in app creation.
96. Create a WordPress Theme and Include a Footer Link
If you possess the knowledge to create a WordPress theme, you can get free advertising by including a link in the footer to your website. Those who review WordPress themes will be happy to link back to the source, generating, even more, traffic.
97. Optimize Your Website for Mobile Users
Most visitors will pass up your website if it is not optimized for smartphones. WordPress plugins such as WPTouch offer the ease of use in making your website responsive. Google has also stated that mobile optimization is the key to getting better search rankings.
98. Follow Various Twitter Users
If you follow various users on Twitter, the chances are good that they will follow you back. A small percentage will return the favor, but it still gets your content in front of new eyes.
99. Link to Older Posts on Social Media
When using your social media accounts, share links to older content to move traffic around. This is especially useful for content that doesn't get old.
100. Search Niche Related Forums for Relevant Content
To keep visitors returning to your website, you must get a good grasp of the type of information they seek. Find relevant forums in your niche to read and take away any ideas that could make for great blog posts.
101. Ask Your Readers What They Want to Read
Ask your current visitors what they would like to see covered on your website. In doing so, you show them that you care about their opinions and it keeps them coming back for more.
102. Create a Browser Extension
Using a website like Extensionizr.com, you can create an extension for use with the Chrome browser. If your website has a product that is something users need to access quickly and easily, use this service to remind visitors to return to your website.
103. Create Content That is Your Expertise
As the old saying goes; go with what you know. If you create content, make sure that it is a topic of which you're very familiar. Your readers will understand if you write about something you don't know well.
104. Credit Others for Their Images and Ideas
Link out to those of whom you've used their images or ideas. It is always a good practice to share the link love and in doing so, it encourages others to do the same.
105. Create a Youtube Channel
Youtube is the 3rd most visited website in the world. If you can create quality videos you could launch your own Youtube Channel and direct traffic to your blog.
106. Create a Widget or Badge
Use Canva or some other image editor to create a widget or badge for others to use on their websites. Use HTML to embed the widget onto the websites of others, thus creating a backlink for your website. It is very important to use a no-follow link to your website from this widget.
107. Affect Visitors Emotionally
If you know how to pull at someone's heartstrings or cause a debate, then do so. Be controversial in your headlines and articles. This can trigger big discussions and build user engagement
108. Share, and Ask for Opinions
When you create great content, sometimes you find that there is an already existing article out there that deserves your point of view. Instead of leaving a comment, link to the article and create your own post with your opinion. In the end, survey your readers for their opinions.
109. Study Competitors Content
Learn from the best content of your competitors. Check which articles get the most comments and social signals. You can check social signals count with Ahrefs Content Explorer or Epictions.com.
Setup Google Alerts in order to find industry-specific keywords for fresh content ideas to cover on your website. Google will notify you when the terms come up in news articles so that you can create your own article with your own point of view.
116. Don't Ignore Negative Website Comments
People usually don't leave negative comments on your website if they don't care about the type of content you create. Pay attention to the negative remarks and remedy any errors on your part.
117. Don't Be Afraid to Build Great Links
Even the best content needs some promotion. For starters contact anyone who is mentioned in your post. You can also check your competition links and try to contact bloggers who link to them.
118. Try Newsjacking
Not sure what Newsjacking is? Don't worry, you're not alone. The good news is that it is a legal way to use trends to increase brand awareness for your website.
119. Get Testimonials for Your Product or Service
Testimonials tell future buyers that your website is useful in the products it offers. This is basically the first-hand experience from other visitors who sell your website for you.
120. Offer Online Games
When visitors come to an online game that is fun and entertaining, the chances are good that they will share the website where they found the game. If your website is sticky, visitors will stick around longer and even bookmark your site for future visits.
122. Create an Online Petition
Creating an online petition shows visitors that there are causes you care about. If your website is related to something that could affect social change, you can use Change.org to start a petition. If visitors find your cause worthy, they will share it with others.
123. Meme Customization
Hire a developer who can create a tool that allows visitors to generate and customize memes. You can also use a blog plugin. Think about I Can Have Cheezburger and the customizations it offers. It sounds like catching lightning in a bottle, but it can be a fun experience for your visitors, leading them to come back for more.
124. Live Blog Events in Your Niche
Liveblogging is when you update your content in real-time for events that are happening in your niche. Coveritlive.com is a great tool in live blogging events so that your visitors can follow along with the action.


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A tailgate is the closing door of the boot compartment of a vehicle. The smart tailgate is a type of tailgate that is generally incorporated in fully power operated passenger cars. A smart tailgate detects and senses foot movement through sensors and transmits the information to the control module, which opens and closes the tailgate. Smart tailgate offers safety precautions while operating. For instance, if some obstacle within the tailgate range is sensed by it, then it stops the operation
Global Smart Tailgate Market: Competitive Landscape
- In 2018, Covestro AG showcased its concept study of one-part tailgate with joined backlight and indicator where its lightweight polycarbonate materials are a seamless solution. This reduces the wires complexity of the backlight and provides weight savings of roughly 30%, as vis-à-vis to the conventional tailgate structure.
Magna International Inc.
Magna International Inc. was founded in 1957. It's headquartered in Aurora, Canada. The company designs, develops and manufactures automotive systems, assemblies, exterior parts, and equipment. It supplies these parts to the automotive industry worldwide. Magna International Inc.'s major customers include Aston Martin, BMW, Citroën, Chrysler, Cummins, Suzuki, Harbin, John Deere, Hafei, Liebherr, Jatco, MAN, Navistar, PACCAR, and Kubota.
Plastic Omnium
Established in 1946, Plastic Omnium is presently based in Levallois Cedex, France. The company is one of the leading global companies that manufactures automotive equipment such as body modules and structural components, emissions reduction systems, and fuel tanks. The company operates through a network of 124 manufacturing plants and 24 research and development centers located in 26 countries around the world. Plastic Omnium has over 3,725 patents to its name.
Are you a start-up willing to make it big in the business? Grab an exclusive PDF Brochure
Global Smart Tailgate Market: Dynamics
Demand for enrichment of vehicle appearance
A complex vehicle part, such as a tailgate, has to meet high standards of visual appearance and stability. Moreover, the tailgate has to be a perfect watertight fit, as it greatly influences the esthetic appearance of the vehicle due to its location at the rear end of the vehicle. The smart tailgate has a compelling design, which enhances the external and internal appearance of the vehicle.
Additionally, increased preference for a sporty appearance has prompted automakers to offer trim and valance in the automotive tailgate in order to optimize the appearance as sports cars mostly have engines located the rear end. This, in turn, is projected to propel the demand for smart tailgate, as it reduces the human effort and can be designed into diverse shapes and sizes.
Rise in demand for smart tailgate in high-end vehicles
Currently, the automotive industry is witnessing rapid technological advancement and innovation in conjunction with a growing trend for vehicle electrification. High-end vehicles are continuously upgraded in terms of technology with desirable features. Additionally, these vehicles are integrated with new and advanced sophisticated systems and components that offer high comfort, safety, driver assistance, and improved navigation, which are likely to prompt consumers to opt for such vehicles.
For Right Perspective & Competitive Insights, Pre Book Report Of Smart Tailgate Market
The smart tailgate system contain sensors and mechatronic components that are used to open and lock the tailgate. Furthermore, a smart tailgate does not generate noise during operation even in case of heavier and larger tailgates of automobiles. These key factor as high-end and premium vehicles opt for quitter application system. This is projected to augment the smart tailgate market during the forecast period.
Slow operation and higher maintenance cost of smart tailgate to hinder the market
Rear-end collision of the vehicle can result in damage to the smart tailgate and its components, which leads to repair and replacement of the smart tailgate. This is anticipated to increase the maintenance cost for passenger cars, as the entire smart tailgate acts as the rear door of the vehicle. Moreover, a smart tailgate system contains sensors and mechatronics components that ensure safety while opening and closing the vehicle tailgate. These integrated components make the tailgate heavy, which can result in a slow closing or opening operation of the tailgate. These factors are projected to hamper the smart tailgate market in the near future.


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Gasa Hot Spring Trek is an easy trip in Bhutan, which is suitable for the family trek. The trek covers the Thimpu and Paro sightseeing as you start the trip. You have both opportunity to walk on a countryside of Bhutan, explore the hidden communities and experience their cultural practices. Bhutan is a country of various Buddhist culture and you can feel the wonderful hospitality of the Bhutanese during this trek.
Before starting the Gasa Hot Spring Trek, you take a sightseeing tour in Thimpu and explore the Memorial Chorten, Tashichho Dzong, National Library, Art School, Traditional Medicine Institute, Handicrafts Emporium and Textile and Folk heritage Museum. Then the trek leads you to Punakha. During this trip, you cross the Dochula Pass (3100m) and enjoy the side trip to visit Punakha Dzong, built in 1637. Trek to Damji goes through the semi-tropical forest of orchids. Gasa is a famous hot spring place, where thousands of travellers from different part of Bhutan itself and the foreigners visit every year. At Tashithang, the lush vegetation entice you and also some fauna species. While retracing to Thimpu, you can visit the Punakha Dzong and some other historical Dzongs in Bhutan. Then the drive takes you to Paro, make a sightseeing in Paro and fly further to your destination. To organize the Gasa Hot Spring trek, please, feel free to contact Himalayan Joy Adventure company and get perfect services and feel the expert arrangement.
At Paro airport you will be picked up by Bhutan Travel representative and transfer to Thimphu. Overnight in hotel.
After breakfast you will visit to Memorial Chorten (third King's memorial stupa), Painting School, Tashichho Dzong (capital of Bhutan)Traditional Medicine Institute, Handicrafts Emporium and Folk Heritage Museum in Kawajangsa. Overnight in Hotel.
You will drive to Punakha through the Dochula pass (3,100m), past magnificent forests of rhododendron and magnolia. On the clear days, you can have the panoramic view of eastern Himalayan peaks meanwhile, you will enjoy the view of Punakha Dzong, was built in 1637 during the time of Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal. The Dzong is now used as the winter residence of monk body and administrative centre of the district. After lunch drive on to Tashithang following Mo Chhu River. Camp at Tashithang 1,600m. Overnight in tent.
Your day will start by the riverside, following a well-made path through semi tropical forest. There are plentiful wild orchids For flower lovers. The trail is fairly slightly climbing up to Damji village 2,250m. After lunch, you will continue walking through sub-tropical forests and villages up to Gasa hot spring. The hots pring is a famous place where local people come to take a bath from throughout country, due to its curative powers. You will ascend up to the Dzong in the evening. Overnight in Tent.
You can spend either in the hot spring or take a pack lunch and climb about two hours to visit Gasa village and the Dzong. Overnight in Tent.
After a short climbing, the trail winds through the rolling hills and passes through the forest of pine and oak, villages and wheat fields. You will have a beautiful view of the Gasa Dzong glued to the valley wall seeming to float in space. Overnight in Tent.
The trail descends through the high agricultural benches above the Mochu River into a lush semi-tropical gorge filled with banana trees, creepers and variety of vegetation. You will also see monkeys and few other animals occasionally. Arrive at Tashithnag1700m. Your car will be waiting here to transfer to Punakha. Overnight in Hotel.
In the morning, you will visit to Punakha Dzong, the former capital of Bhutan. The Dzong lies between two rivers known as Phochu and Mochu, which mean 'Male River and Female River'.After lunch, drive to Thimphu. While in Thimphu you will stroll in the town visiting some handicraft shops. Overnight in Hotel
After breakfast you will drive to Paro and check into your room. Then hike to the Tiger's Nest Monastery. The hike is about 3 hours to the Monastery. It is said that 8th century spiritual master (Guru Rimpoche) meditated in the cave for three months. Hike back to Paro in the evening. Evening stroll freely in Paro town. Overnight in Hotel .
The Bhutan travel representative will drop at the Paro airport.


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It's still unclear how the new coronavirus affects the body, so scientists and doctors have many more questions to answer. Social distancing and washing hands frequently with water and soap are recommended to prevent the virus from spreading.
But, people are wondering if there's anything else they can do to boost their immune system in the prevention and fight against the virus. In particular, are there any supplements that can be helpful?
When it comes to COVID-19, there's no evidence of how a specific supplement can help the immune system defend you against it. According to microbiologists studying the immune system, globally boosting it or increasing it to be on high alert to protect against every possible germ is not very useful, says the professor of microbiology at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Michael N. Starnbach.
Dr. Starnbarch explains that the immune system recognizes foreign substances and ensures they are eliminated from the body, but those responses and cells are finely tuned. So, if your immune system is on high gear or overly active, it may attack your own healthy tissues. This is exactly what happens in Crohn's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and other autoimmune diseases.
Dr. Starnbarch points out that supplements have so far proven to be effective in boosting the immune system only in malnourished populations. But, this is rarely the case in the U.S. A serious malnourishment can make people more prone to diseases, but this doesn't mean that getting higher amounts of nutrients and vitamins they need will make their immune system stronger or more effective.
The president and founder of Consumer.Lab.com, Tod Cooperman, MD, says that vitamins and supplements may lower the risk of respiratory viruses or shorten their duration, especially if they have some deficiency. It's still unknown whether these vitamins and supplements would affect the new coronavirus the same way.
Dr. Cooperman says that what you can do for now to protect from COVID-19 is ensuring you're not deficient in any vitamin by taking a basic multivitamin every day. Other things you can do to keep your immune system strong is exercise, get enough sleep, and eat well.
Research on how zinc affects other viruses may suggest it can reduce the severity of symptoms. So, Cooperman recommends taking zinc lozenges if you start noticing symptoms of the coronavirus or any other virus to help coat your throat. Still, there's not enough research to prove these effects.
What Experts Know About Supplements for Now
The integrative medicine doctor at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, Yufang Lin, MD, says that the evidence they have about supplements suggests that some of them may help lower infection or its duration.
However, there's not enough research to prove that supplements can prevent you from catching a pathogen in the first place. Also, there's no such thing as one supplement for boosting the immune system in the fight against all threats.
Plus, COVID-19 is a completely new threat, so there's still no evidence of how specific supplements or vitamins can help prevent it. According to Dr. Lin, it's not even known whether they can help support the immune system in the fight against it.
However, here's what researchers know for now:
A 2019 study published in the Journal of Functional Foods suggests that elderberries contain compounds that can help prevent the flu virus from entering and replicating in human cells, as well as boosting the immune system in the fight against the virus.
So, elderberry taken in lozenges, pills, gummies, or teas may help reduce the production of the flu virus and speed up the recovery process.
There's certain evidence that zinc can support the immune system in the fight against the common cold and infections. In May 2017, the journal JRSM Open published a study which suggests that zinc lozenges can reduce the time people are sick with the common cold by 30%. Namely, the lozenges didn't contain salt citrate or citric acid.
However, there's still no evidence about how zinc affects other viruses, including the new coronavirus. What these lozenges can do, however, is prevent the activity of the viruses in the throat when the infection begins to spread, thus reducing the symptoms.
That's why Cooperman believes that sucking zinc lozenges, not chewing, as soon as you notice symptoms can be beneficial for your throat in keeping it coated with zinc. However, don't take more than the recommended dose of the lozenges.
Vitamin C
According to Lin, this vitamin can be beneficial in treating colds, the common cold being a type of coronavirus. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews published a study conducted on 11,306 people who took 200 mg of vitamin C a day to see how it affects the common cold.
It turned out that the vitamin doesn't prevent the cold in adults, but it does shorten its duration by 8%. Another group of studies conducted on Army troops, skiers, and marathon runners doing heavy exercise in extremely cold conditions show that taking 200 mg vitamin C supplements a day can lower the risk of colds by 50%.
Still, Lin believes that the best way to get the necessary vitamin C is through diet and not supplements. According to the National Institutes of Health, the recommended daily amount of this vitamin for adults is 75-90 mg. For example, a half cup of Brussels sprouts contains about 50 mg of vitamin C, one green pepper contains 60 mg, and one orange contains 75 mg of this vitamin.
The Harvard Health Letter doesn't recommend taking more than 400 mg of vitamin C a day, as any excess is eliminated from the body through the urine.
Vitamin D
Cooperman explains the importance of this vitamin for the immune system. The National Institutes of Health links the lack of vitamin D with frequent colds and flu. You get this vitamin mainly through sunlight, so the levels may drop during the winter. If you decide to take vitamin D supplements, take 15 to 20 mg or 600 to 800 IU.
In 2017, the journal BMJ published a meta-analysis of prospective trials which discovered that this vitamin lowers the risk of respiratory infections by 42% in those with vitamin D deficiency. It turned out that taking 300 to 4,000 IU a day was more effective than taking a high monthly dose.
The journal Clinical Infectious Diseases published a double-blind placebo trial which showed that large doses of vitamin D didn't help prevent respiratory infection in 5,110 vitamin D deficient older adults.
Researchers didn't find a reduction in the cases of acute respiratory infections in comparison with placebo.
So, Cooperman says that unless you have vitamin D deficiency, taking this vitamin won't really help you.
Apple Cider Vinegar
According to Lin, there's no evidence that apple cider vinegar boosts the immune system or helps you fight against infections.
Even though turmeric does provide certain health benefits, such as glucose control or cholesterol management, Lin says there's no evidence that it can help fight against viruses. Still, the Journal of Clinical Immunology published a review that shows curcumin, turmeric's active ingredient, does affect the immune response in some way.
Nevertheless, make sure your doctor is informed about all the supplements you plan to take or are already taking as they may cause side effects if taken with other medications.


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Valley of Flowers- Nature at its Best
Valley of Flowers is situated in the Chamoli district in the state of Uttarakhand and was established by a personality named Frank S. Smith back in the year 1931. Later on, in the year 1982 valley of flowers was officially announced as a National Park. The reserve spreads across an area of around 87.5 square kilometers. The place remains full of tourists from all around the globe throughout the year. Valley of Flowers has been declared as a world heritage site in the year 1988 by UNESCO. Nanda Devi National park lies in the close proximity of valley of flowers.
The aroma of fresh flowers can be felt in the air once you are close enough to the valley of flowers. It is situated at an altitude of nearly 3600 meters and is enclosed with snow-capped mountains. The valley was known by the name of the Bhyundar Valley in the past. Several mythological tales have been linked to this place and one of the most popular one says that it's the same place where Hanuman searched for Sanjivani to cure Lakshman.
Adventure enthusiasts love to visit this place as one needs to trek for about 17 Km from a place called Govindghat located in the neighborhood of Joshimath. Some of the varieties of fauna found in the valley of flowers include Snow Leopard, Musk Deer, Serow, Himalayan Black Bear, Red Fox and Pika. There are tons of species of butterflies to be found here. Birds like Himalayan Golden Eagle, Griffon Vulture, Snow Partridge, etc. can also be spotted here. In terms of flora one can find Orchids, Marigold, Daisies, etc.