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A striking example of 1520 edition of Waldseemuller's modern map of Northern Europe, including part Scandinavia, Poland, the Baltic and the British Isles.
This work was based on the manuscript maps of Sanuto and Vesconte of c.1320, which were updated by Nicholaus Germanus in 1482 to include more cities and textual information. At noted by Ginsberg:
Waldseemuller's map . . .appeared in the supplmental section of modern maps. A faithful coy of the Ulm map published thirty-one years earlier . . . it too, is a woodcut. The title, however, differs from the Ulm 1486 edition by no longer referring to Prussia and Livonia. As on the 1482 map, Norway is shown as "norbegia." Most of the same cities are also included-- "asto" (oslo, 'begensis" (Bergen), Nodrosia (Niadros or Trondheim), and "Stauargnsis." . . .
The first modern atlas, prepared by Martin Waldseemuller using the translation of Mathias Ringmann. This is one of the most important editions of Ptolemy, containing many new regional maps. Twenty new maps based on contemporary knowledge were included by Waldseemuller, in addition to the traditional twenty-seven Ptolemaic maps derived from the 1482 Ulm edition.
Martin Waldseemuller and his associate Mathias Ringmann, prepared this edition of Ptolemy, partly at the expense of Duke Rene of Lorraine. It was brought to completion by Jacobus Eszler and Georgius Ubelin. The atlas contains the first map in an atlas entirely devoted to America (Tabula terre nove), often called the "Admiral's map" after Columbus. The map of Lotharingia (the first map of the Duchy of Lorrain), printed in black, red and olive, is one the earliest examples of color-printing. This edition was reprinted in 1520 using the same woodcut blocks.
The 1520 edition is recognizable by the removal of most of the text outside the map neat lines.
Martin Waldseemüller (c. 1475-1520) was a sixteenth-century cosmographer best known for his 1507 world map in twelve sheets, the earliest surviving map to include the name "America." He was an influential mapmaker during his time whose work affected many of his contemporaries and successors. Waldseemüller was born near Freiburg, in what is now southwestern Germany. His family moved to Freiburg proper when he was young and he attended university in the city beginning in 1490.
Waldseemüller gathered information about the New World discoveries and geography from St.-Dié des Vosges in Lorraine, where he was a professor of cosmography under the patronage of René II, Duke of Lorraine. He was a member of an intellectual circle who produced work from the St.-Dié Press. However, the press failed when the Duke died, and Waldseemüller moved to Strasbourg.
He is best known for the 1507 map and another world projection, the Carta Marina published in 1516. He also published an edition of Ptolemy in 1513, in collaboration with Johann Schott, a friend from Freiburg and St.-Dié. Besides his innovative use of the toponym "America", Waldseemüller was the first to create such a large printed world map, the author of the earliest known printed globe gores, the first to create a published collection of modern maps, and one of the first to create maps from ground measurements. He was knowledgeable in surveying methods and designed a quadrant and other instruments. He returned to St.-Dié late in life as canon, although he continued to return to Strasbourg for work and for carnival. He died in St.-Dié in 1520.
Waldseemuller is generally credited with having named the continent of America, based upon the then current belief that Amerigo Vespucci had been the first modern explorer to reach the continent of America in 1497, during the first of four expeditions to America which were then credited to Vespucci between 1497 and 1504. The report which described the 1497 expedition is now generally believed to be a forgery. Later in his career, Waldseemüller elected not to use the toponym for the continents, preferring to leave them unnamed. However, the name had been taken up by his contemporaries, in large part due to the influential nature of Waldseemüller's earlier works.


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subset: commoncrawl


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At Freedom Smart Labs Ltd we have been working to build an ecosystem which works on Predictive analytics & enhances productivity for retailers. The intricacies of data management and analysis are supposed to be out of the sight of consumers. Shoppers should simply be able to find what they are looking for without having to be gurus of breaking down data.
The Freedom.desi App contains inherent practical and prognostic data that business users can conveniently work with for the planning and implementation of promotional campaigns. We did few small tests in Malls of Gurgaon and Delhi & found footfall improvements in results of retail promotions using Freedom.desi App. The learnings of same are tabulated by our team as 3 easy ways to improve retail promotions effectiveness.
1. Targeting Offers to the right customers at right location.
Customers generally use numerous channels for looking up, recommending, deliberating on and buying products. You can be able to gain data from this and when you use relevant analytics and deployment methods, you are able to harness the intercommunication with greater applicability. Predictive analysis helps you to determine the next best decision for customers.
The Freedom.desi App helps you to put the customer at the center of everything. With this app, you are able to plan and execute various levels of functions that give you greater advantage and help you with serviceability for your clients. The app helps you to be much more responsive in your promotion planning and execution as far as retail promotion planning is concerned.
2. Ecosystem Rankings for Making Decisions.
You make a Google search & trust that first 3 organic searches are most appropriate for you. This is derived from ocean of big data & Google helps in full filling needs of information of its users. Think big with retail ecosystem & how data analysis enables an effective outcome for shoppers.
We work on algorithms which derive Ranks of Malls, its retailers & shoppers. Everyone wants to engage in a meaningful conversation & data makes it possible in the form of Ranks. We are maturing with data & every day the ranking system is becoming more meaningful.
Shoppers become more proactive in buying planning and relevancy rather than waiting until it is either too late or you are caught unawares. At same time retailers are able to determine how much of their shoppers like them, love their products and/or services and when they will need it. Hence retailers can determine how to approach promotional plans and in general, gain insights that enable everyone to make decisions that are prudent.
3. Establish relevance through personalization
A personalized message always brings plus alpha. The process of advanced analytics approach is vital in determining customer segmentation as well as in determining price elasticity. When you have a promotion, instead of basing your prices on what other competitors in your segment are doing, you can base your prices on what customers are actually willing to pay.
This gives you a very huge competitive advantage. Using the science approach, you are also able to rank the promotions that you hold and this helps you to determine their success. Another way the App helps is in making quick and accurate business decisions.
Whether you are a retail chain, mall management or an individual store owner we have built the engine to suit the needs of every player of the game. Finally, the App will help shopper, retailer & facility to enhance relevance because you are able to make decisions based on data & offer the best experience to each other. Mall owners & retailers can signup at www.freedom.desi & shoppers can experience the app from play store. Give us a missed call at +91-8882300500 to download the Mobile App.
We appreciate your feedback & reviews.
Yogesh Huja, Founder
Freedom Smart Labs Ltd


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Every parent wants his child to be the best, including the knowledge of foreign languages. But before determining a child to school, you must decide how to teach the kid and who will do it. Parents should inquire about the qualifications of teachers who will teach your child language. And those parents who believe that the power to self-help in learning the language, are sadly mistaken. At an early age, when learning a foreign language should adhere to this principle: "Do no harm", and the wrong choice of a teacher or lack of it may be lamentable impact on the knowledge of the child. As has been said that when choosing a teacher should be paid attention to the training of teachers. Because it depends on how and by what methods it will act in the classroom. Because to them you will not be present, so find out all your details before upcoming sessions.
Teacher should own methods of teaching a foreign language just for preschoolers. If he would have a teacher-education preschoolers and foreign languages, this variant will be for your child the most correct and optimal, because it is such individuals who own languages, knowing the techniques employed, will give the student a good base. He is perfectly familiar with the peculiarities of perception material in primary school and preschool age. Choosing a teacher, ask what he will emphasize in teaching. It would be correct if the teacher uses the communicative approach, aimed at development of the technique correctly speaking (in terms of pronunciation), understanding a foreign language and the correct answers to questions.


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Downtown Pittsburgh Wedding Venue
Featured Pittsburgh Wedding Venue
Omni William Penn Hotel
There is no shortage of wedding venue options in Downtown Pittsburgh, but the Omni William Penn is one of my favorites! From its origin in 1916 to today, this iconic hotel has stood as a classic symbol of elegance. Designed by Benno Janssen and Franklin Abbott, the Omni William Penn was designed to mirror the Old World style of the great European hotels of its time. Beautiful designer solutions may be found at https://eventscape.com/.
The Omni William Penn has four spaces perfect for your wedding celebration, The Grand Ballroom, The William Penn Ballroom, The Hope Room, and The Urban Room. The largest space is the Grand Ballroom with the ability to accommodate 500 guests. The Grand Ballroom is, in fact, Grand! It has two-tiers with a decorative gold leaf balcony overlooking the ballroom. These balconies are a perfect backdrop for wedding pictures. I also like to shoot from the upper floors to get an expansive view of the wedding celebration. The Bride and Groom can enter from the second floor and make a lasting first impression as husband and wife. Two huge crystal chandeliers and numerous wall sconces fill the ballroom with just enough light.
The William Penn Ballroom is smaller but still exceptionally beautiful. The single story space can accommodate 350 guests. The room has 10 brilliant chandeliers running the length of the ballroom. Multiple archways with gold leaf accents line both sides of the room. I love to capture the bride and groom as they descend the stairway, into the room, to greet their guests.
For a different feel, you can choose the Urban Room—named after designer Joseph Urban. This space is perfect for around 225 guests. It has 25-foot ceilings covered in a dramatic circular mural, with a unique, modern chandelier centered in the room. The colors are deep and regal with black Carrera glass and marble accents. Wedding pictures in this space are always awe-inspiring. Pictures of the bride and groom standing against the ornate murals are simply magnificent.
For a more intimate feel, choose the Hope Room (named for Bob and Delores Hope). This room can seat 150 comfortably for a ceremony or reception. The white plastered ceiling and classic chandeliers beautifully contrast the dark paneled mahogany walls.
This Historic treasure has seen the likes of celebrities, politicians, heads of state and other national and business leaders. You too can choose this lavish hotel and event space for your special day. The talented event staff will ensure you're treated like royalty and I'll be there to photograph it all so you never forget a moment!
Call me today so we can discuss the endless wedding photography options available in Downtown Pittsburgh.


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Gentoo Penguins Learning to Swim
- Pygoscelis
papua papua
This is one of my favourite events that I was privileged to see when I was in Antarctica. Gentoo penguins - one of my favourite Antarctic animals being cute, comic and noble all at the same time. The Gentoos - they're the ones with the orange beaks - in these pictures are youngsters that have only just moulted their juvenile down and have grown their adult plumage, though are the penguin equivalent of young teenagers I guess.
It was a calm, mild day and nearly all of the adult birds were off fishing in the favourable conditions leaving the youngsters behind in their crèche. For some reason, though these birds had never been in the sea before, they decided pretty much altogether that it was time to learn to swim and so they all waddle down to the shore-line where there is only a very gentle swell with waves of just an inch or two high coming in - ideal conditions.
Unlike seals, penguins learn to swim without their parents and these started off paddling in the shallows. Some of the less adventurous types mis-timing the waves and suddenly getting about two inches of water over their feet would turn round and run back up the beach flippers outstretched in considerable horror. Eventually, they did all end up standing around in the water like a collection of matronly old aunts "taking the waters", they'd go in up their waists (or where the waist would be if they had one) and look quite pleased with themselves waving their flippers around a bit. Every now and then, one of those pesky waves would come again and take them by surprise, so it was jump up, flippers out and all rush out of the sea again. All in all it was about half an hour before they were all standing in the water and appeared to be anything like comfortable with being there.
A few of them laid down in water about 2 or 3 inches deep and put their beak in the water, a bit like children daring themselves to put their face in the water, then over the next half an hour or so, they moved back out of the sea and went back to wait for mum and dad to come with an after-dip snack.
Other penguin species are much more forthright about the whole process, Adelies for instance, stand en-masse at the waters edge and then jump into "the deep end" right from the start. I thought the Gentoo approach was far more civilized and genteel.
Back to thumbnails
Photo copyright - Paul Ward / coolantarctica.com


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I love croutons. Crunchy, coated with herbs and garlic. And I love Caesar salads. Ever wonder who invented the Caesar salad? I'll bet you thought it came from Rome, Italy, right? Nope. Guess what? This Italian restaurant mainstay comes from . . . Mexico. That's right, Mexico.
So our story begins in the era of Prohibition. And our protagonist, Caesar Cardinia, was running restaurants in San Diego and across the border in Tijuana. Now, Caesar was an Italian immigrant who had built a successful business, and as a successful businessman, he realized that he could maximize his profits if he concentrated on his Tijuana operation – after all, he could serve alcohol and people in Southern California flocked to Mexico on weekends so they could freely imbibe and party in their high-heeled sneakers (as the Steely Dan song goes). Good thing there wasn't a wall.
Now, according to legend (Caesar's daughter, Rosa), the restaurant was so busy, that they often ran out of food and had to improvise. And according to Rosa, on the Fourth of July in 1924 the kitchen ran out of the ingredients needed for a traditional salad. So what did Caesar do? Quick thinking, Caesar decided to kind of fake it by going from table to table and personally tossing each patron's salad. And, since he only had limited ingredients, he made do with a combination of romaine lettuce, croutons, hard-boiled eggs, parmesan cheese, olive oil and vinegar, Worchester sauce, and of course, plenty of freshly ground pepper. Caesar's patrons loved the table-side preparation and they loved the salad.
Now, after some years passed, the Caesar salad became all the rage in Hollywood. By the time it became the most popular salad in L.A., chefs were adding things to it like chicken or steak. And, soon anchovies were added into the mix. That's right, the original Caesar Salad didn't have anchovies. Caesar's original dressing had that teensy bit of Worchester sauce that gave off the slightest of anchovy taste. So adding anchovies made sense.
Today the Caesar Salad is one of the most popular and best salads out there. When it is done right, it's a salad sensation.
And that's the story behind the Caesar salad. Hail Caesar, Bon appétit, and thank you Mexico.


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Tuesday was a day filled with emotions for me… we designed and ordered the headstone that will mark the place where Ben is buried for hopefully the rest of time. It was both an emotional task and a healing one. How do you decide what to say about someone who meant so much to so many people? His mom and I talked about the scriptures and the quotes that we would love included as a reflection of him and there was only one that came to mind for me, 2 Timothy 4:7. There was healing in knowing that years from now people will be able to see how loved and cherished he was.
Tuesday also marked five years since Benjamin's first brain surgery (and today marks only two years since his last surgery). I can still remember the hours sitting in the waiting room at Vanderbilt waiting for them to call me to the lobby phone for updates from the doctor. I can recall the flood of emotions as I left my two barely one year olds at home to travel to Nashville and face the unknown. And I can still see the faces of the friends and family who gathered to sit and pray with me during the wait.
We had no idea what the next five years would hold for us, but we trusted a God who we knew would bring us out on the other side. The weeks to come were filled with appointments and decisions and in the end we were told that even with the recommended treatment he would only have 1-2 years before there would be nothing left that the doctors could do. Ben faced the news with grace and with faith that God was in control of it, just like he did with everything in life.
I don't remember a day going by in the next 4.5 years when we didn't pray and thank God for Ben's healing. He long outlived the doctor's prognosis and he lived his life well and to the fullest. He never stopped believing he would be healed and often last summer I would hear him tell people that his latest scans were coming back clean. Not for one minute did he doubt that God was going to heal him. He had more faith than anyone I have ever met. And I think he knew his healing was coming… even though it wasn't in the way we expected it to happen.
He fought cancer long and hard, and he gave it his all… just like he did everything in life. His healing didn't come in the way we expected, but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is completely healed from head to toe. It has been a long five years and at the same time, it has flown by. For four and a half years cancer defined everything we did. And even now, I find that it defines what I do some days… whether through the choices I make to eat well or to eat poorly; and through the things I am willing to expose myself and the kids to. I pray that as time passes we will be able to forget some of the affect that cancer had on our lives, but I pray that Ben is never forgotten by me, my children, or anyone else that loved him. He fought long and hard, and with a smile on his face trusting in a God who would eventually bring him healing. He finished the race and never gave up on his faith. If my children can see the impact of that on my life, and on theirs I will feel like I have truly succeeded as a parent.


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Chief Keef is giving his Glo Gang artists access to his beats. Lil Flash is the latest Glo Gang rapper to go in on a Sosa production. Flash is sippin on "Hennessy" in his new joint.
Flash hits this record, rapping, "All the dope, all the h-es, you know that I got the most/Arsenal at the home, flexing with all the poles."
Flash announced his new album "T'd Up In Da Coupe" is currently available on iTunes. Listeners get 100 percent Flash on this project. The 16-track album features zero guest appearances.
Fans are able to preview Flash's project in a full stream was made available on YouTube. Head over to iTunes to download project.
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The difference in perceptions couldn't be clearer at this point, now could it?
And if all of this is causing so much confusion among reasonably well informed economic observers, then what chance is the layperson likely to have? As it happens, reading through this piece by PIMCO's Mohamed El-Erian this morning a number of thoughts started to come together in my head. Essentially what we have on our hands are a number of distinct (yet inter-related) problems, but few studies seem to go to the trouble to differentiate these analytically, and the end result is often a hotch-potch, which given the seriousness of the European situation is an outcome which is a long long way from being satisfactory.
One point that is often not stressed hard enough and long enough is that the backdrop to this whole debt issue is the underlying problem of rapidly rising elderly-dependency ratios (and increasing population median ages) across the entire developed-economy world. Normally this implies the imminent arrival of a wave of heavily underaccounted-for-liabilities which will simply increase the pressure on the underlying structural (rather than cyclical) deficits in the worst affected economies. The strange thing is that this development had in principle been long foreseen, and indeed formed part of the underlying raison d'être for drawing the 3% deficit/60% debt Maastricht line-in-the-sand. The other part was, of course, an attempt to stop spendthrift governments being spendthrift. As is now abundantly clear, in neither case can the Maastricht package be said to have worked, but the unfortunate historical accident is that we have come to realise this in the midst of the worst global economic crisis in over half a century (indeed arguably the second worst one ever, and - disturbingly - it is still far from being over).
So one part of the sovereign debt concerns which are currently so preoccupying the financial markets is associated with the containability of state debt in the context of ageing societies, and this issue is further complicated by the fact that different developed societies are ageing at different rates. This underlying uneveness is leading some people to draw some surprising conclusions. For example, according to a Financial Times/Harris opinion poll published this morning, the French turn out to be the most nervous of developed economy citizens when it comes to thinking about the sustainability of their country's public finances.
Some 53 per cent of those polled in France thought it was likely that their government would be unable to meet its financial commitments within 10 years, while only 27 per cent thought this outcome was unlikely. Americans were only slightly less worried, with 46 per cent saying default was likely, against 33 per cent who saw it as unlikely. Curiously, only a third of the British people polled thought a government default was likely in the next 10 years, and I say curiously since on many counts the UK economic position is far more critical than the French one is. In fact, I am inclined to think that the British here are being reasonably realistic, while the French and the Americans are not, and I say this for one simple reason: all these countries have had substantial immigration in recent years, while the fertility levels in each case are quite near population replacement level. And this means that their population pyramids are much more stable, and if what is worrying you is rising elderly dependency ratios, then this is important. Let's put it this way, if you assume (a big assumption I know) that underlying GDP growth rates are similar, and that the level of pension entitlement is the same, then the more rapidly the elderly dependency ratio rises the greater the pressure on deficits and accumulated debt.
On the other hand, the Spanish respondents were remarkably more positive about their situation, with only about 35 per cent of Spaniards questioned saying they considered default to be a likely eventuality over the next decade. Which is strange, not because I have any special insight into whether or not Spain will default, but Spain's problems are clearly worse than any of the other three aforementioned countries (in part, as Krugman stresses because they lack some key economic policy tools which could help them correct the distortions in their economy) and, even more to the point, Spain's citizens are showing very little appetite at this point for making the changes which will be needed to stave off the worst case scenario.
Without reform in the labour market, and in the health and pension systems, France's finances are just as capable as going careering off a cliff as anyone else's, but the French do have a little more time, and this, at the end of the day, could be critical. Also the French (like the Swedes) have done their homework in one department - the demographic one - so their population pyramid is inherently much more stable than the Spanish one. Indeed the Spanish government clearly indicated last week just how little they understand the importance of this question, since rather than facing up to the wrath of the Spanish pensioners (who of course vote) by cutting back on pension payments, they took the easy route (since babies don't vote, and those who never get to be born even less so) and slashed the so called "baby cheque" (which may well not be the best of pro natality policy tools, but still). Basically cutting the baby cheque instead of cutting back on pensions has to be the next best thing to slitting your own throat, just to see what happens. Societies need to invest in their future, not in their past, and having children is an investment, indeed in the age of the predominance of human capital it is one of the most important ones there is.
Basically this whole area (of the impact of ageing populations on GDP growth performance and with this the consequent debt dynamics) remains largely underexplored by most mainstream analysts, but for now I will simply state that those "doctors" who wish to offer cures for our collective ills yet fail to mention the underlying dynamics of the demographic transition all our societies are passing through (even in a footnote) have missed one very important dimension of the overall picture, and their analyses and remedies are likely to be correspondingly deficient as a result. The musings of Mohamed El-Erian, interesting as they are, would fall into this category, since I fear he is missing the biggest part of the big picture.
Secondly, there is the issue of the financial rescue which has been carried out during the crisis itself. Something strange seems to have happened to the discourse over the last three years, since a problem which originated in the financial sector has now metamorphised into a fiscal crisis for almost all modern democratic states. Indeed, such is the sense of panic being generated out there on this issue that I am already starting to see articles from investor circles asking whether or not democracy is compatible with fiscal rectitude. This is rather putting the cart before the horse, I feel.
So having identified an underlying structural issue with government spending in the previous (demographic) argument, we should not fail to notice the fact that another significant part of rising state indebtedness comes from having recently bailed out a significant chunk of the private sector. Look at Latvia for example, and the Parex bank bailout, as the extreme case, since government debt to GDP was something like 12% before the crisis, while it is now heading up to near 80%, or Ireland, where debt was around 35% of GDP before the crisis but will probably rise above 70% this year.
In fact, a rather weird circle has been created. The private sector (possibly as a result of the absence of adequate public vigilance) got itself into a huge mess of its own making. Governments all over the globe (understandably and correctly) rushed in to put the fire out, and in the process transferred the problem over to their own balance sheets. But what is most interesting to note about what happened next is how, given that the crisis itself means there are few positive investment outlets in the first world, the money generated by the bailouts is increasingly being used to encircle those very governments who initially made them. Basically a massive moral hazard conundrum has been created, as markets leverage a discourse which pressures governments for fiscal rectitude (which is contractionary - given the depth of the crisis - as far as aggregate demand is concerned), in the process creating the need for yet more bailouts, and so on (the possibility of ultimate Greek default being perhaps the clearest example here).
Actually, while the initial "fire prevention" intervention was evidently necessary, people may have been mislead into thinking that action, in and of itself, would do the trick (see Bernanke's speech on Milton Friedman's 90th birthday - with its this time we got it right theme - also see note at the foot of this post) due to a slightly faulty diagnosis of what happened during the great crash. There was, of course, a bank run: but this was by no means the whole picture, and in any event doesn't explain why the whole global economic system took so long to recover, even back then in the 1930s.
So something decisive needs to be done to break the circle which currently binds us, although at this point I am not exactly sure what. If we could agree that Mohamed El-Erian's most striking insight is that: "Industrial countries are running out of balance sheets that can be levered safely in order to minimize the disruptive impact of past excesses. ... The balance sheets that are left -which reside essentially in central banks - are not made (and, I would argue, should not be forced) to assume permanent ownership of dubious assets." then the logic would seem to be that the dubious assets need to be put back where they belong - on the balance sheets of the private sector in general (including households) and the likes of AIG, Goldman Sachs, UBS, and naturally PIMCO.
But we should be clear: any such move to do this would also be significantly growth "unfriendly" across the first world.
And thirdly, and certainly not least importantly, as Paul Krugman is constantly pointing out, here in Europe we have an additional complicating factor: the euro experiment. Whatever the pros and cons of all the various arguments here, one thing seems evident: under the existing set-up the 16 economies are not converging. Exactly why this is would take us into areas which lie far beyond the objectives of this short post, but I would say that, personally, I feel the different demographic trajectories of the countries concerned must form part of the picture. As Angela Merkel is stressing, even in the best of cases (the euro holds) the bailouts which are being prepared can only buy time in which to carry out the much needed adjustments, which in countries like Spain/Portugal/Ireland are as much to do with restoring competitiveness to an extremely distorted private sector as they are to do with applying fiscal correction measures.
As far as I can see, measures like collectively financing state debt via EU bonds and bilateral loans - plus operating some variant of Quantitative Easing at the ECB (if this can all credibly be made to stick, and the vicious circle meltdown mentioned in the second point be avoided) - could temporarily stabilise the patient while the much needed surgical intervention is carried out. But my guess is that one by-product of doing things this way would be that a lot of the toxic stuff would then work its way onto the ECB balance sheet. Thus, instead of recapitalising Spanish Cajas, what we would then be collectively into would be recapitalising the central bank, which would be just another form of fiscal sharing through the back door (with the result that, following a good Brussels tradition, what you can't explain to people directly and from centre stage, you explain to them in footnotes and in the small print). The latest data from the ECB (see this useful post from FT Alphaville), suggest that the bank is not only busy buying peripheral bonds, it is also buying private paper from countries like Spain and Portugal (although there is no breakdown available on this point).
The measures which need to be applied on Europe's periphery are all more or less obvious at the micro level - labour market reform, pension reform, reform of the public administration - but (and assuming we have at most three years to see all this though before the respective populations get very, very restless), on the macro economic side it is very doubtful such measures will have the impact which is expected for them in terms of restoring competitiveness and growth, and fiscal order can only be restored by restoring competitiveness and growth.
Given this I can see only two plausible alternatives:
a) Either the peripheral economies undertake a sizeable internal devaluation (say 20%, but this is just a rule of thumb estimate). The snag here is that at the present time most EU policymakers remain unconvinced that we need a shift of this magnitude. Yet there is surprisingly little detailed study of how the economies concerned are going to get back to growth without this price correction. Indeed the EU Commission itself has strongly pointed out that the rates of domestic private consumption growth being assumed for these economies by the respective national governments in their Stability Programme estimates are highly optimistic. What would be nice would be for someone to set up a small model to try to examine just how much ongoing growth in the combined goods and services trade surplus countries like Spain now need to achieve to get positive growth in headline GDP under a variety of different assumptions, including low or negative inflation, stagnant domestic consumption and reduced fiscal spending.
This should enable people to calculate just how much of a drop in unit costs (from a combination of productivity growth and price adjustment) you need to have to get the kind of surplus you need given the relevant elasticities (etc). In particular one of the problems I see in basing too much hope on using productivity improvements to do the heavy lifting in the correction is that while you can surely get significant efficiencies at the micro level (though not by a long way enough to do the whole job), you can in fact only achieve the result in the short term by slowing a recovery in the labour market (since you will be going for more output with less people), which means aggregate productivity (say GDP per capita as a proxy) doesn't improve that much, given that there is a huge fiscal burden and continuing stress on the financial sector as a result of all those long term unemployed. Alternatively we have another possibility;
b) Germany (and possibly one or two other smaller economies) temporarily leaves the eurozone and revalues.
Now, since option (a) looks very, very difficult to implement (especially since virtually no one apart from people like me and Krugman apparently wants to even hear of it),to which problem we could add the fact that German politicians are having increasing difficulties convincing their citizens that the "qualitative transformation" of the ECB is what is really in their best interests, then on a purely pragmatic level (b) may well end up being what happens in the end (and we had better just hope any eventual German exit is only temporary).
Having Germany temporarily separate from the Eurozone would, in fact, have a number of evident advantages. The first of these would be that citizens in the South would not need to see their wages slashed, while those in Germany would not be asked to pay for bailouts via their tax bill, or lead to blame Greeks or Spaniards for having their hospitals closed or their pensions reduced: ie it would all be politically much easier to handle at this point.
Evidentally German banks would have to swallow a write-down, as loans paid back in Euros would not be worth the same in (new)marks, but 70% of something (say) is better than zero or 20%, and the big plus would be that as the Euro devalued sharply the peripheral economies could rapidly return to growth, and government finances could be quickly turned round as exports grew, tourists returned, and (in addition) many of those coastal properties that currently stand empty could be sold. At the end of the day, what would be left would be a private sector, and not a public sector, problem, and it was (in part) the private sector who got us all into this mess (wasn't it?).
Indeed this solution does to some extent coincide with what could be termed the new economic reality, since economic growth in emerging markets mean that these are fast becoming key trading targets for German industry, as consumption in Southern and Eastern Europe looks to be increasingly "maxed out". In fact, according to the recent March trade report from the German Federal Statistics Office, the rate of interannual growth in exports to ex-EU "third" countries (34.7%, as compared with 15.1% for the euro area) was significant, while the volume of trade (34.2 billion euros as opposed to 35.2 billion euros for the Euro Area) is roughly comparable, and indeed at this rate countries outside the EU will soon replace the Eurozone group as destinations for German exports.
I say I hope this move (if undertaken) would be temporary, since I think in the mid term the German economy is neither so strong, nor the peripheral countries so weak, as many commentators assume. But being out of the zone would give the Germans the opportunity to see this for themselves.
The important point to emphasise, I feel, is what we now need is an orderly and credible solution to our problems. Simply standing back and watching things deteriorate, and keeping our fingers crossed that what won't work will, is not going to produce an orderly outcome. Au contraire! Even those precious exports we are winning as a result of the falling Euro are being put in doubt, try these headlines from Bloomberg: Mexico's Peso Falls Third Day on European Fiscal Deficits, Yuan Appreciation Unlikely This Year Due to Europe Debt Crisis, Emerging-Market Stocks Drop Most in Six Days, Russian Stocks Slide Most in Week on Oil, Europe Debt Concern. And this is just a quick selection.
The problem is that any gain to exports outside the EU can be offset by falling risk sentiment as the currency slide continues, and markets which were previously being funded lose the ability to attract money. What we need are some serious measures which can turn the tide, and restore confidence that we are applying measures which will work.
Actually, the argument I am presenting here was first put to me by a young Barcelona IT engineer - David González - and you can find his argument in this blog post (below the Spanish introduction). As David says:
In conclusion, at the moment the EMU lacks the necessary economic long term policies to become a stable monetary zone. Obviously, we lack the free currency exchange rate needed in any free trade zone, which would work as an automatic stabilizer between different countries. But we also don't have enough automatic stabilizers (only the exception of cohesion funds) needed in any monetary zone. First we need to recover the balance, and then we have to make sure it is a stable balance implementing measures that keep it. Otherwise the EU construction process will fail, and the hopes it has bring to so many people and countries will be forgotten. The implications this failure would have for democracy and peace in Europe should not be underestimated.
Or as Krugman puts it: "If the euro isn't workable without highly flexible nominal wages, well, it isn't workable". It's a sad conclusion, but that would seem to be where we are at this point. Basically, it is obvious that any road forward is now fraught with difficulty, but a situation where none other than the head of Deutsche Bank is saying that in all probability Greece will not be able to pay, and where an ECB which badly needs to operate a policy of Quantitative Easing but is at desperate pains to try to show that it isn't, is evidently not sustainable for long. Money has been put on offer, and the financial markets are now chafing at the bit to try to force it up and onto the table as quickly as possible. July promises to be another sweltering month here in Spain. Maybe it's time for a rethink.
Note: At the end of his "On Milton Friedman's Ninetieth Birthday" speech Ben Bernanke arrived at what now looks like a rather hasty conclusion: - "Let me end my talk by abusing slightly my status as an official representative of the Federal Reserve. I would like to say to Milton and Anna: Regarding the Great Depression. You're right, we did it. We're very sorry. But thanks to you, we won't do it again". In fact, what is at issue here is a question of causality, whether the real economy problems are ultimately caused by the absence of a "stable monetary background", or whether in fact, the demand shock unleashed by the unwinding of a highly leveraged economic boom may not be the main factor in preventing the recovery of a "stable monetary background", as we have already seen in the Japanese case. The critical question facing all developed economies in addressing their fiscal sustainability problems is where the aggregate demand is going to come from to make the adjustment both viable and socially palatable.


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Soil sterilization – it can be a new idea to many people. But you will be benefitted knowing how to sterilize soil so that nothing will grow. Like we humans need food to stay alive, the soil must be suitable for the seeds or plants to grow. You should prepare soil while killing all the chances to grow pathogens, weeds, fungus, etc.
Sterilization methods are mostly used in making potting soils free of unnecessary things. Managed soil from stores or a new place, it can be the birthplace of these things:
- Gnats and nematodes are tiny insects. They enjoy living inside the soil and making it unfertile. They lay eggs in the soil and reproduce for longtime shelters. They can be found even if you buy soil from the nurseries or the stores.
- Unsterilized soil may be a way of planting weeds beside the plants you want. Weeds consume necessary soil nutrients and liquids.
- Soils from the stores may come with the mold and fungus too. The ventilation holes, including humidity and moisture of the soil bags, help to keep them functional.
- Pathogens (different bacteria and viruses) can destroy the fertility of the potting soil. They can restrict the normal growth of the plants. They can even be moved from one place to another.
Soil Sterilization and Its Benefits
You may have done it but did not know the term. Commercial greenhouses, agriculturalists sterilize the soil with a frequency as some do it once a year; some do when there is an attack of pests and diseases. Sterilization costs less than damaging or treating all the crops and plants.
Soil sterilization makes soil perfect in condition to germinate seeds, propagate stem and shoot cuttings, juvenile plant transplants. It also cures the soil with mold, fungal, and other infections. However, there has been a argument about whether you should sterilize soil or not. It is because sometimes you may repel the necessary and good bacteria and other microorganisms.
You can get these benefits from soil sterilization:
- Sterilization makes soil ideal for the proper growth and development of the plants.
- Eliminates the chances of growing fungi, gnats, nematodes, pathogens etc.
- Boosts the soil fertility that helps to grow high-quality crops or plants.
- It requires less time, cost, and manual labor to complete the project.
So, sterilization is indeed helpful to keep your garden lovely and lively.
How to Sterilize Soil
These are the methods of soil sterilization prohibiting the growth of unnecessary things:
Sterilize Soil With Heat
Most of the gardeners or home garden owners use this method. It is so much effective than other soil treatments.
Heat treatment is basically heating the soil by raising its temperature. You can use steam, dry heat the soil directly to kill the harmful microorganisms, fungi, weed seeds, etc. You can heat the soil to the threshold.
When you maintain the threshold heating time, the internal soil temperature reaches a certain point. This increased temperature becomes unsuitable for the weeds and pests. However, most experts suggest heating the soil for a minimum of 30 minutes to prepare the soil for pots.
The excessive temperature of the soil may boost the phytotoxicity for different organic compounds.
Sterilize Soil With Solarization
If you need to sterilize a huge amount of soil, you can follow this method. Solarization can purify the whole garden or the field. The common way to conduct this method is you need to cover the field or garden with a couple of plastic layers. It increases the temperature of the covered soil due to the continuous absorption of the sun rays.
You can also trap the heat in different ways, like keeping pot soil inside the bottom and top plastic layers. If the amount of the soil mix is small, then you can use zip-lock plastic bags and keeping it under the sun.
You should choose transparent plastic over other colored plastics. If it is black, then some solar energy may be deflected. But transparent is better in this case. The thickness should be 1-2mm in different conditions. Thinner plastic can work best, but there's a risk of winds or animals tearing it. These thicknesses are good for large areas. You can arrange thicker plastics for use in smaller spaces.
However, you must prep your mineral soil or potting soil before covering with plastics. Remove the litter and break all the clods up off the soil. For potting soil, spread soil over the plastic layer in such a way that the plastic edges are at least six inches away. Secure the covering with keeping rocks over the plastics at the edges.
The duration of solarization is also essential. It can be 4-6 weeks in the summer days. If the area is more aloof, wind flows mostly, or cloud is common, increase the duration to 8-10 weeks.
Sterilize Soil with Boiling Water or Steam
Steaming the soil is a faster way of sterilizing the soil. You may need at least 30 minutes to prepare the potting soil. Professionals suggest steaming or boil water at 180°F (82°C). You can use two different methods of steaming water: pressure cooker or non-pressure cooker.
If it is a pressure cooker method, then follow these steps:
- Bring a pressure cooker and fill it with 8-10 cups of water. Put the rack into the cooker. Now, you need to set containers (heatproof) on the rack that you've inserted. It should be placed above water with maximum 4" soil in each container.
- Then, take foil paper and cover each container securely. This will act like plastic like solarization.
- Then place the cooker lid slightly open so that steam can come out a little. If your pressure cooker allows heat adjustment, then set it in such a way to build steam. Maintain the pressure at 10-15 pounds to process the soil. Keep the steam valve closed for 15-30 minutes.
- Switch off the heater. Then, remove the lid after allowing pressure for subsiding. Now you can keep the sterilized soil with aluminum foil.
If you want non-pressure cooker method, follow these:
- You can use a non-pressure cooker to heat the soil. For this, add some water (2.5cm height from bottom) in the steam container. Make sure you put a rack below the container.
- Keep the maximum 4" soil in each container. You need to place the heatproof containers on the rack above the water. Then cover all the containers securely with the foil paper.
- Then place the cooker lid slightly open so that steam can come out a little. Leave the cooker alone for 25-30 minutes to boil the water.
- Switch off the heater. Remove the lid after allowing pressure for subsiding. Now you can keep the sterilized soil with aluminum foil.
Sterilize Soil in Oven
Oven sterilization can be a prolific idea if you want to sterilize small to medium batches of soils. Some experts give an opinion that this method is safer than boiling water or microwave. The only thing you need to keep in mind that there will be odor inside the kitchen after processing the soil. So, better will be if you maintain proper ventilation and windows open.
To sterilize soil through the oven, add almost 3" soil in an oven-proof container. Then, moisten the soil by adding some water into it. Avoid making it too soggy with water which may slow down the sterilization.
Then cover each container with aluminum foil securely. Keep the container in an oven. The heat setting should be 200°F. Keep your eyes on the oven display monitor. If the thermometer says temperature reached to 180°F, bake the soil for 30 minutes. Keep the oven door open.
After baking, turn off the device and cool the soil. Then store it to use when you need.
Sterilize Soil With Microwave
This method is good for soil for potting mix. You can purify a small amount of soil through the microwave method. But you should filter the soil from any metal particles in it. Otherwise, accidents may occur due to metals.
To start this method, you will need a clean, transparent zip-top plastic bag. Then, fill it with two pounds of moist soil that holds together in a clump. Like the oven method, do not make the soil too wet or runny.
Keep the zipper on top open. Then put the bag inside the microwave. Adjust the temperature in between 180°F-200°F. The duration of reaching this heat may depend on the quality of the microwave.
Turn off the microwave and bring the bag outside. Close the zipper and let it cool parallel to room temperature.
Sterilize Soil With Hydrogen Peroxide
This method may sound tough if you think it in a much technical way. But it is actually easier to perform. You can practice for better satisfaction.
You should arrange a bucket filled with water. Then mix Hydrogen Peroxide into it. You can choose the bucket size depending on how much soil you want to be sprayed. Then use a sprayer to spray the solution on the soil. You may find different sizes of garden sprayers at the market. However, cover your body and hands before spraying the solution.
Excessive uses or direct uses of Hydrogen Peroxide may cause harm to your skin. This aggressive and extremely concentrated chemical can destroy many materials. You can use 3% or 35% Hydrogen Peroxide for best outcome.
Soil sterilization is the best way to create right conditions of soil to plant seeds and plants worry-free. Using the same soil or the soil from stores may contain harmful living beings. You can keep them away for a long time with sterilizations.
Above mentioned methods are the most popular ways to sterilize potting mix or garden soil. Choose any method according to the needs and regulations.
Happy Gardening!


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A shoe storage solution was way over due when I decided to sew a new one. This is my old one that I made 22 years ago from leftover fabric. I think I randomly chose the size because it holds 4 1/2 pairs of shoes. 4 1/2 !?
The whole thing hangs from a wooden dowel. It is so nice to have my shoes off the floor. Easier to sweep now and I'm not tripping over or stepping on them any more. My husband's reaction was "you have a lot of shoes!". Oh no. I also noticed that I have very boring shoes- 3 pairs of black, 3 pairs of brown, and 3 sneakers. I think Stacy and Clinton of What Not to Wear would have a lot to say about that!
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Hanging Shoe Storage
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Spyros Chatzivasileiadis has received an ERC Starting Grant to remove the barriers for the application of artificial intelligence in the electricity grid. This will unlock opportunities for a much safer and more efficient management of rapidly increasing renewable energy sources and electricity demand.
Spyros Chatzivasileiadis has just received one of the prestigious ERC Starting Grants for promising young researchers awarded by the European Research Council. The funds will be used to introduce completely new methods for developing and certifying the use of artificial intelligence over the next five years, so that electricity sector players can build the missing trust in the new technology.
The supply of electricity is currently undergoing major changes in line with the green transition. Where electricity was previously supplied by large power plants with stable supplies, it will—in future—come from a large and continuously increasing number of renewable energy sources with varying supply volumes depending on weather and wind. Concurrently, our society is becoming increasingly electrified, which significantly increases the demand for electricity.
"Today, the electricity sector uses many tools and resources to create possible scenarios and perform a lot of calculations for these scenarios in order to ensure stable electricity supply. If artificial intelligence is used for this work instead, we could perform these calculations 1000 times faster, thus saving both time and money," says Associate Professor Spyros Chatzivasileiadis, DTU Electrical Engineering.
"However—until now—artificial intelligence for the electricity sector has been a 'black box', where you only have an idea about the structure of the algorithm, but have no detailed insight into how the technology works. This has led to a lack of confidence in artificial intelligence for safety-critical systems, such as power systems. I will develop the tools necessary to change this," says Spyros Chatzivasileiadis.
After completing his studies, Spyros Chatzivasileiadis has worked in a wide range of research fields in the electricity sector. In recent years, he has also become interested in artificial intelligence and has thus spotted the many opportunities this offers for efficiency improvements in the sector, if barriers to the use of artificial intelligence can be removed.
"My first initiative will be to provide guarantees for how artificial intelligence will behave when used to optimize the electricity sector. The guarantees are necessary to convince the key stakeholders in the electricity sector. For them, avoiding blackouts is the most significant factor in security of supply, as a blackout lasting just one hour costs society several hundreds of million kroner," says Spyros Chatzivasileiadis.
In the coming years, he will use neural networks for the task. The networks must be trained in predicting the stability of the electricity grid while providing guarantees for their behavior. Novel neural network traning algorithms will then be developed which also incorporate the physical models that have been developed and used by the sector over the past 100 years. Neither of these activities has previously been performed by others.
"The plan is to develop a new training process for neural networks which will enable the extraction of performance guarantees. This will give the players in the industry a guarantee about how methods based on artificial intelligence behave. This will build trust on these methods, which can then be used to increase the speed, optimize operations, and reduce electricity supply costs, thus boosting the green transition," says Spyros Chatzivasileiadis.
Electricity companies both in Europe and in the USA have already shown interest in the project.
"My hope is to be able to prove that artificial intelligence isn't a 'black box' for systems like the electricity grid, where security of supply is the top priority. Instead, I want to show that it's both comprehensible and valuable. This will open the door to the use of artificial intelligence to optimize a wide range of sub-elements of the sector, and it can also contribute to secure and reliable operation of the electricity grid," says Spyros Chatzivasileiadis.
Once the algorithms have been developed, they can also be used in other areas in which security of supply is a top priority, and existing physical models can be involved. For example, this could be in aeroplanes or self-driving cars.
The received ERC Starting Grant amounts to EUR 1.5 million—or just over DKK 11 million. The amount will be used to employ four young researchers to help Spyros Chatzivasileiadis achieve the desired results over the next five years.


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Upgrade your everyday walking jacket with Lorton! This sleek, tech-packed waterproof is built for the rugged outdoor trail and designed to deliver practical performance in all weathers. The AquaDry Membrane recycled polyester stretch construction with grown-on hood will keep you bone dry in a downpour, while six neatly positioned pockets provide a safe haven for your trail essentials. Anything but ordinary.
Approximately 85g of recycled material went into making this product.
- Aquadry Membrane
- Stretch
- Waterproof 10,000mm
- Breathable 25,000g/m2/24hrs
- Grown on hood with toggle adjusters to front & adjuster to back
- 6 pockets: 2 bellowed stud fastening lower with zipped side handwarmers,1 waterproof zipped chest,1 inner map
- 100% polyester
- 690g


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Self-Help Basics
In past articles we have presented a whole pile of information related to doing those things that can help make your life better and in general, more enjoyable. OK, so there are a bunch of silly things scattered indiscriminately throughout the server too, but that's a different story. I think it has something to do with my addiction to coffee but I'm not really sure about that.
In an attempt to simplify these self-help (or self improvement, personal growth, whatever you want to call it…) concepts that I – and a whole gob of other people and organizations – have been bombarding you with, here are five basic principles that have worked well for me.
1. Learn to think differently: We are who we are and do what we do because of how we think about stuff. Because of our experiences and life influences so far, our minds have learned to respond – or react – to situations and events in a set way. To change our life, we need to change the way we think about these things. We need to change our perspective of life.
This principle is the foundation for every – I repeat… every – valid self-help program or concept that has ever existed. Once we accept that as being true, we can start working on the details.
2. Adopt a positive approach to life: Positive thoughts, attitudes and inputs (from any source including the people we spend time with) will influence our life in a positive way. Our positive thoughts and words about events, other people and especially ourselves will accelerate our transition to a better life. Positives help produce more positives. It's just the way it works.
3. Look for life's lessons: We all have a lot to learn about ourselves, other people and the world we live in. Life will, without fail, provide us with the opportunity to learn – especially from the uncomfortable events or situations. It just makes sense to pay attention to the things that are happening to us and learn from them as quickly as possible so we can move on to the next (and perhaps, easier) lesson.
4. Ask questions: In a positive way, question the concepts, principles and "truths" that are prompting you to think, believe - and as a result, act - in the way you do. Commonly, at least some of the information we have received in our lifetime tends to be misleading and therefore, inhibits our ability to do those things we need to do to move on toward a better, more enjoyable lifestyle. Be open even to answers that vary considerably from your present viewpoint. They may hold a key "truth" that will open the doors to a whole new world.
5. Get spiritually connected: Tune in to whomever or whatever you believe is your spiritual teacher or mentor. Listen. Learn to follow your "gut feelings". I am convinced that we are all a part of something far greater than this physical world we experience every day. And, from what I have seen and experienced, allowing this spiritual realm to play a greater role in our lives helps immensely with our transition to a happier, more enjoyable life.
There truly is a better world awaiting all of us…
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. . . are not a professional theatre troupe, nor are they producers of or actors in television shows; they are just a bunch of average Joes and Josephines who appreciate how boring it must be for law enforcement officers to watch the video images constantly being displayed on the closed-circuit television surveillance systems that perpetually monitor our behavior and appearance all over the city. The only time these officers have any fun watching these monitors is when something illegal is going on. But the crime rate is down and the subways (which are filled with surveillance cameras) are the safest they have been in 30 years. Thus, for untold numbers of police surveillants, there is less and less to watch -- less and less to watch out for -- every day. And so we have both an opportunity and a problem here. The opportunity is to get those law enforcement officials watching something on TV that isn't all sex and violence; and the problem is that a bored surveillant is an inattentive surveillant, and an inattentive surveillant is a waste of space, time and money.
Answering the call of Guerilla Programming of Video Surveillance Equipment, the members of the SCP have banded together to present a specially-designed series of famous dramatic works of the modern period for the entertainment, amusement and moral edification of the surveilling members of the law enforcement community. Because nothing prevents or relieves boredom so much as surprise, the SCP aim to present each of their spectacles at a different time and place. Neither the location nor the exact time of any of the SCP's performances will be given in advance.
The first work to be performed by the SCP -- Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi -- will take place somewhere in Manhattan on 10 December 1996, exactly 100 years after the play's first public performance. For this special centenary performance of Jarry's classic work of "avant garde" theatre, the SCP have called upon internationally-known playwright and screenwriter Art Toad to create for them a silent adaption of Ubu Roi, so that it may be performed in front of surveillance cameras (which are rarely or more accurately not yet equipped with microphones). The SCP will be under Monsieur Toad's direction.
Other works to be performed by the SCP during the 1996-97 year will include Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, Eugene Ionesco's Rhinoceros and a special adaption of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest for the silent stage. All performances will be free and open to the public, which can attend either the actual performances of the plays or the video monitors that will display them as they are taking place. Members of the SCP, who will be watching the performances on the monitors as well as performing as actors, will try to videotape everything within sight for future display and/or broadcast.
-- November 1996.
Contact the Surveillance Camera Players
By e-mail firstname.lastname@example.com
By snail mail: SCP c/o NOT BORED! POB 1115, Stuyvesant Station, New York City 10009-9998
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Ancient giant sloth bones suggest humans were in Americas far earlier than thought
(Phys.org) —A team of Uruguayan researchers working at the Arroyo del Vizcaíno site near Sauce, in Uruguay has found evidence in ancient sloth bones that suggests humans were in the area as far back as 30,000 years ago. The team describes their evidence and findings in a paper they've had published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
Most scientists today believe that humans populated the Americas approximately 16,000 years ago, and did so by walking across the Bering Strait, which would have been frozen over during that time period. More recent evidence has begun to suggest that humans were living in South America far earlier than that—just last month a team of excavators in Brazil discovered cave paintings and ceramics that have been dated to 30,000 years ago and now, in this new effort, the research team has found more evidence of people living in Uruguay around the same time.
In this new effort, the researchers found over a thousand bones at the Arroyo del Vizcaíno site, (from approximately 27 different animals) most of which once belonged to the now extinct giant sloth. What was most remarkable however, were the deep slash markings on some of the bones—indicative of human stone tools. Also interesting was that the bones were all from the remains of large, full grown sloths—all in a single place where they wouldn't have died in other ways such as from falling off a cliff. Taken together, it appears the sloths were killed individually, as needed, and eaten, most likely, by humans as no other known animal could have pulled off such a feat. The team also found a stone that appears to have been fashioned to serve as a scraping tool.
The researchers suggest that if humans were indeed in living in South America as far back as 30,000 years ago, they likely arrived there by floating over from Africa—the prevailing winds would have carried them directly there without the need of paddles or sails. Sloths, they suggest would have been an excellent food source once they arrived—adults would have been up to 15 feet tall and weighed approximately two to four tons, offering enough food for a group of people.
More information: Arroyo del Vizcaíno, Uruguay: a fossil-rich 30-ka-old megafaunal locality with cut-marked bones, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Published 20 November 2013, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2013.2211
Human–megafauna interaction in the Americas has great scientific and ethical interest because of its implications on Pleistocene extinction. The Arroyo del Vizcaíno site near Sauce, Uruguay has already yielded over 1000 bones belonging to at least 27 individuals, mostly of the giant sloth Lestodon. The assemblage shows some taphonomic features suggestive of human presence, such as a mortality profile dominated by prime adults and little evidence of major fluvial transport. In addition, several bones present deep, asymmetrical, microstriated, sharp and shouldered marks similar to those produced by human stone tools. A few possible lithic elements have also been collected, one of which has the shape of a scraper and micropolish consistent with usage on dry hide. However, the radiocarbon age of the site is unexpectedly old (between 27 and 30 thousand years ago), and thus may be important for understanding the timing of the peopling of America.
Journal information: Proceedings of the Royal Society B
© 2013 Phys.org


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The right use of debits and credits is extremely vital when dealing with primary accounting practices. Single entry might be as simple as making a list of the gross sales income and the purchase expenses. Such a bookkeeping system is efficacious to the smaller business because it requires little or no bookkeeping or accounting knowledge. A smaller enterprise can produce its personal accounts without the need for a bookkeeper or accountant notably if it has entry to bookkeeping templates by bookkeeping software program to produce the accounts within the accounting format required. SlickPie – SlickPie is on-line accounting software for freelancers and really small companies. Two plans are available: The Starter plan is free, and the Pro plan carries a monthly subscription fee. Features include financial institution feeds, on-line and recurring invoicing, automated previous-due reminders, invoice and expense tracking, gross sales tax monitoring, and reporting.
Management or value accounting is a administration data system which analysis data to supply info as a foundation for managerial action. The priority of a management accountant is to current accounting data in the kind most helpful to management. d) Excessive finish accounting software program is also referred to as Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP software. These expensive options cater to the needs of big organizations. Nature of the reviews produced. Financial accounting stories are usually basic goal. That's, they include financial data that will be helpful for a broad vary of customers and decisions quite than being specifically designed for the needs of a particular group or set of selections. Management accounting reports, alternatively, are often for a specific goal. They are designed either with a specific decision in thoughts or for a selected manager.
Vary and quality of data. Monetary accounting experiences concentrate on information that may be quantified in financial terms. Management accounting also produces such stories, however is also extra prone to produce studies that comprise data of a non-monetary nature similar to measures of bodily portions of inventories (stocks) and output. Monetary accounting places higher emphasis on the usage of objective, verifiable proof when preparing experiences. Management accounting studies may use data that is less goal and verifiable, but they provide managers with the information they need.
Create e-Approach payments from within your accounting software program. Zoho Books mechanically detects transactions that require e-Approach bills and helps you seize the e-Means bill information in your invoices and transport copies. At its easiest, accounting is a approach to talk the financial health of a business or a company to any and all interested parties. It's a approach of assessing the property, liabilities and cash flow, or the way forward for an entity for all present and future buyers. It's the lifeblood of a enterprise and all sorts of business have primary information that's recorded to get that job done.
Entry stage accounting software preferrred for sole traders and micro companies. A small business is mostly carried on by the sole dealer or by the partners. But a big enterprise is often conducted by an included firm which separates administration from possession. Managers' duty is to function the enterprise efficiently and maximize the return on capital with out jeopardizing the fund. When a buyer owes you cash, it appears as Accounts Receivable (AR) in your balance sheet This is both ready by accounting software program or your accountant.


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Nona Brunt
Oct 22, 1937 – Jan 10, 2018
Nona Judith Brunt was born on October 22, 1937 in Blackfork, Ohio and passed away peacefully at Methodist Hospital in Omaha on January 10, 2018. Nona accepted Christ at an early age and was a faithful member of Eagle's Nest Worship Center for many years.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Luther Scott and Hazel (Keele) Scott; husbands, Dave Vell Love and Floyd Brunt; sisters, Lorella and twin Nina.
She is survived by her children: David Phillips, Mark Brunt, Sadra Harris (Steve), David, Valomark (Susie), Melody, Nathan (Sandra), Jonathan (Juanita), Daniel (Shervita), Kendra Adams (Tarike), Phillip, and Donovan, her sisters, Wanda and Ollie; her grandchildren: Tia, Sharee, Jovan, Stephanie, Raven, Crystal, David, Jacob, Damari, Alex, Shawntee, Indea, LaTashia, Aja, Dujuan, Mykah, Jyair, Brandon, Ellenina, Ian, Brittanie, Deone, Skye, Devin, Khiya, Jade, Jamal, Micaela, Logan, Deonte, Marcus, Emma, Eli, Ethan, and Gianna, her great-grandchildren: JuQuari, Tiara, Sierra, DJ, Zariyah, Prince, Davion, Christopher, Caleb, Jaelyn, Mya, Elaina, Aaliyah, Kaliyah, Keeman Jr, Kymora, Naomii, Isaiah, Landon, Janiye, Jhordyn, Jarell, and Jazmin; several loving nieces, nephews, cousins and many great friends.
Nona was born and raised in Ohio and lived in Dayton for many years while raising her children. She was an active member of the Worldwide Church of God and a dedicated homemaker. After the death of her husband, Dave, Nona moved to Omaha where she met Floyd.
Nona had many hobbies, including gardening, playing the piano, and making her famous rolls. She was also an avid card player with a competitive spirit—always willing to teach others how to play but never keen on losing, despite her friendly smile. Nona enjoyed spending time with her many children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. No one who met Nona was a stranger; always friendly, helpful, and loving, she would give you her last.
SERVICES will be held on Monday January 15th at 10am at Eagle's Nest Worship Center located at 5775 Sorensen Parkway in Omaha, Nebraska, 68152. In lieu of flowers the family requests donations to Eagle's Nest Worship Center Pathway of Light.


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Rock Into Spring 2017
This coming weekend in Las Vegas, Rock Into Spring will provide three days of live music, DJs, tattoo artists and a pool party. The event is presented by Gangster audio and hosted by Cranked Up Live, Yourlisten.com, The Rocking Comedy Show, and Radio Vegas Rocks, where there will also be lots of games from https://www.sun-sentinel.com to play all night.
Further, Gangster has been drawing the name of one active military member every week and giving away a set of three day tickets to the winner. The location for this over-21 event is the M Resort Spa and Casino on South Las Vegas Blvd and, in total, M REsort Spa Casino and Gangster have donated over $50,000 worth of tickets to active and retired miltary.
Below is the current schedule of 22 artist who will be performing at this event:
|Friday, April 28th
|4:00 pm
|Chino XL and Rama Duke
|4:15 pm
|Battle of the Bands winner
|4:50 pm
|State of Mine
|5:35 pm
|Reclaim the Sky
|6:20 pm
|DJ Josh Todd of Buckcherry
|6:55 pm
|Never Say Die
|7:40 pm
|8:25 pm
|DJ Lethal from Limp Bizkit – House of Pain
|9:00 pm
|Alien Ant Farm
|10:30 pm
|Saturday, April 29th
|3:15 pm
|Behind the Fallen
|4:00 pm
|4:45 pm
|Silent Theory
|5:30 pm
|6:15 pm
|7:00 pm
|American Grim
|7:45 pm
|Shallow Side
|9:00 pm
|Adelias Way
|10:30 pm
|Art of Anarchy
|Sunday, April 30th
|2:00 pm
|The Broken Thumb
|2:45 pm
|Lola Black
|3:30 pm
|Alive in Barcelona
|4:15 pm
|Blacklite District
|5:00 pm
|Another Lost Year
|6:00 pm
|7:30 pm
|Eve to Adam
|9:00 pm
|4:00 pm


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Multnomah Falls is located in the Colombian River Gorge and can be found in northwestern Oregon. Spanning two tiers on basalt cliffs, it is the tallest waterfall in the state at 620 feet or 189 meters. There are many travelers that consider the site, to be Americas most beautiful waterfall. It is the 27th stop in our travel series Off The Beaten Path.
Multnomah Falls is the most visited natural recreation area in the Pacific Northwest, with over two million visitors annually. They provide a year round attraction for tourists, that is absolutely stunning in natural beauty.
According to the legend from the native Multnomah tribe, the waterfall was formed after a young woman sacrificed herself to the Great Spirit, by jumping over the cliff. She did this to save the Multnomah village from a plague. After her death, water began to flow from above the cliff, thus creating the waterfalls.
Another Native American story tells that the Falls were created, to win the heart of a young princess who wanted a hidden place to bathe.
The Falls are credited by the United States Forest Service, as being the second tallest year-round waterfall in the United States.
This distinction is in dispute, as the World Waterfall Database does not differentiate between seasonal and year round waterfalls. It lists Multnomah as the 156th tallest waterfall in the country.
The Multnomah Falls are ranked 434 in height, globally. The Falls encompass a 10 foot (3M), average width.
Multnomah Falls consist of cascades of water that drop in two major steps. There is the Upper Falls of 542 feet or 165 meters and Lower Falls of 69 feet or 21 meters. In between there is a 9 foot drop in elevation between the two. These two separate drops are the result of more easily eroded basalt, at the base of the Upper Falls.
Larch Mountain provides underground springs, which are the year-round source of water for Multnomah Creek. Runoff from snow in the spring and rainwater throughout the year, supplement this supply, which maintain the falls constant flow.
However, late winter and early spring is when the water is most abundant and therefore making the falls most spectacular.
The land surrounding the falls, was developed by Simon Benson in the early 20th century. Over time, he constructed an easily traversed pathway, and a viewing bridge.
In early 1915, the Portland Progressive Business Men's Club organized an effort to build a trail from the base of Multnomah Falls, extending to the top of Larch Mountain.
The Club along with Portland financier Simon Benson,who pledged an additional $3,000 USD (United States Dollar), worked to fund the project.
The United Forest Service agreed to add $1,500 USD to the undertaking. The government agency agreed to survey and engineer the trail to a lookout, on top of the mountain.
Benson for his part, financed Italian stonemasons to design and construct a bridge at the Falls, which would permit future visitor access.
Named Benson Footbridge, it spans the Lower Falls at the height of 105 feet. It also provides an expansive view of the Upper Falls.
A paved foot trail leads to the 45 foot Benson Footbridge. It allows travelers to cross 105 feet above the lower cascade.
After providing a viewpoint of the Upper Falls, the trail continues to ascend to an elevation of 785 feet.
The pathway then later descends to an observation deck, 660 feet overlooking the edge of the Falls. From there one can view the Colombia Gorge and the Little Multnomah Falls,located further up the stream.
The same year, Benson donated over 1,400 acres or 570 hectares of land, which included most of the Multnomah Falls, as well as nearby Wahkeena (most beautiful in the Yakima language)) Falls to the city of Portland.
The 240 feet high Wahkeena Falls, are accessible by a 0.6 mile trail.
A mile high trail from the base of Wahkeena Falls to the top, is quite popular among locals for its spellbinding views, wildflowers and lack of larger crowds of tourists. These falls are presently closed due to the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire
The Oregon and Navigation Company, would donate the land at the base of the Falls. This was done by agreement, that a lodge would soon be built at the site.
Architect A. E. Doyle was commissioned by the city of Portland, to build Multnomah Falls Lodge in 1915. It was constructed in the Cascadian architectural style, using native split field stones laid irregularly.
The lodge features, a steep pitched cedar shingled gable roof. Included in the design are a number of large chimneys for heating and dormers for the windows.
Through the mid part of the 20th century, travelers could obtain both accommodation and meals at the Multnomah Falls Lodge.
Today there is still a restaurant on the second floor, that serves breakfast,lunch and dinner. There is also a visitor and interpretive center, snack bar, and a gift shop.
The Lodge completed in 1925 and the surrounding footpaths, were added to the National Register of Historical Places in 1981.
Today, the state of Oregon maintains a switchback trail that ascends to a rock formation, that is 100 feet above the Falls. This pathway descends to an observation deck that overlooks the edge of the Falls.
There are a number of trails that lead out from the main pathway. These allow access to nearby waterfalls.
The Falls themselves, would be later donated from the city of Portland to the National Forest Service.
Multnomah Falls were formed about 15,000 year ago,likely the creation of the Missoula Floods, at the end of the last ice age.
The now famous Falls were identified by the famous early American explorers William Clark and Meriwether Lewis, during the 1805 expedition through the Columbia River Gorge.
The actual naming of the Multnomah Falls remains a mystery. It has been suggested that a prominent mercantile clerk in Portland by the name of S.G. Reed, may have been the first to use the moniker.
His objective would have been to popularize sites along the Colombia River, for the new steamboat excursions, that were taking place in the 19th century.
How To Get There
There are 3 different routes that one can take to arrive at the Multnomah Falls.
- The most direct is 30 miles from Portland, eastbound on Interstate 84. It will will take about a half-hour by car. The road signs will direct you to Exit 31, which will be on the left side. This will bring you to the parking area. The pathway under the highway, will take you to the viewing area.
- The Scenic Route will take about 45 minutes. From Interstate 84 you will take Exit 28 known as the Bridal Veil Exit. The extra 15 minutes will be well worth it. The three miles drive east on the Colombia River Gorge Scenic Highway, allows one to see a number of other waterfalls on the way.
- The Ultra Scenic Route will take at least an hour or more, depending if you make any stops to take a few photographs, which most tourists do. The view is utterly spectacular. Take Interstate 84 eastbound and depart the highway on the Troutdale Exit. This will take you to the Scenic Loop Drive, which is The Old Colombia River Highway. It was the first in the country, to be named a National Historic Landmark. One will be able to see Mount Hood, a number of other famous waterfalls and see various points of the Colombia River Gorge.
Arranging Transportation
If one does not have a car, or chooses not to deal with parking, one can take the Colombia Gorge Express Shuttle from Portland.
Mailing Address
Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Office
902 Wasco Avenue,
Suite 200
Hood River, Oregon 97031
Phone Number (541) 308-1700
Website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/crgnsa/recarea/?recid=30026
Entrance Fee
There are no fees, to visit either Multnomah Falls or Wahkeena Falls.
Days and Hours of Park Operations
The Visitor Center and the site in general, is open from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.
Facilitates are open and available year round,7 days a week.
The Multnomah Falls Lodge Visitor Center phone number is (503) 695-2372.
Is available in the city of Portland.
Helpful Hints
- Wear suitable footwear (closed-toes shoes), for walking and hiking outdoors.
- Pets are allowed at Multnomah Falls, but must be kept on a leash and under control.
- Spray and water mist do cause a cooler micro-climate, within the viewing area. A windbreaker is advisable in the spring and autumn. Warmer clothing will be needed in the winter time.
- The trail to the top of the falls on Larch Mountain from Benson Bridge is a mile hike up on a very steep path. It may often be closed, due to hazard conditions. There are steep drop-offs and the ground is uneven, as well as slick at times.
- Parking quickly fills up during the summer season, especially on weekends between the hours of 11:00 am to 4:00 pm. The gates close, once there is no more parking available.


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On February 29th we woke to a headline that should have never come about: famine was declared in parts of South Sudan, the first to be announced anywhere in the world in six years. This is on top of "imminent famine" warnings in northeast Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen, putting a total of 20 million people at risk of starvation.The world is now facing the largest humanitarian crisis since 1945. The possibility of four famine declarations in one year would present an unprecedented situation in modern times.
The formal declaration of famine in parts of South Sudan means that certain measures of mortality, malnutrition and hunger have already been met. Famine conditions are likely to have existed for up to two years but inadequate access to data has prevented a formal declaration. That had to wait for the rapid further worsening of food security that developed in recent months.
The main cause of the famine is conflict, which has left 40 per cent of South Sudan's population in need of urgent assistance and forced more than three million people to flee their homes. Families have lost everything – land, livestock and many of their children – and are now reduced to surviving on whatever vegetation they can find.
People in Somalia, Yemen and northern Nigeria are facing similarly desperate circumstances, and the common theme binding all four crises is conflict, which has compounded pre-existing problems of deeply ingrained poverty throughout the regions.
Though the timing of desperate food crises arising simultaneously across numerous regions is devastating, all were predictable. Unlike a hurricane or an earthquake, famines do not appear suddenly. It takes years of growing crisis to reach this point of catastrophic food insecurity.
Early warning
We have the contextual knowledge, the technology and the early warning systems to predict where and when famines will occur, and we always have the time to prevent them. There were warnings throughout 2016 that food security across each of these regions was deteriorating dramatically.
But the ample warnings failed to move us. The world seems to be waiting for more horrific images of starving children across its television screens and, by then, it is too late for too many.
If we are unconvinced of the need to respond rapidly we should remember what famine does. It kills people. The weakest, the young and the old die first. It also has long term effects on those who survive. Children subjected to acute malnutrition are often permanently affected, both physically and mentally, even after adequate nutrition is restored.
This is especially tragic because it is avoidable. Famine itself is a declaration of failure, a failure to prevent. Famines occur when conflict is allowed to fester and societies and economies are progressively torn apart.
It is still possible to avert the worst of these crises. It is not inevitable that these people will starve. Right now averting famine will require two things: a rapid injection of funding to enable the delivery of more humanitarian assistance, and full and unimpeded access for humanitarian agencies to all affected populations. That includes an immediate end to blocking food aid to certain areas, and ensuring safe passage for humanitarian convoys. None of this is impossible. What is required is leadership.
Humanitarian responsibility
Ireland with its own tragic experience of both conflict and hunger knows the difficulty of being at the mercy of the elements for survival, but also of being the victim of the politics and conflicts of the time. And we know how these can damn innocent people to starvation and death. That experience has afforded us an authoritative humanitarian voice, but also a responsibility.
Generations are defined by the responses to the greatest challenges of their time, and we cannot allow ourselves to become immune to the unprecedented levels of displacement, starvation and overall suffering that exist in the world today.
It is imperative that Ireland continues to raise a loud and insistent voice with the greatest powers in the world by urging the immediate release of the $4 billion needed now to enable life-saving relief efforts to scale up.
To declare a famine is to declare a failure of the political will to prevent it from occurring. To have four countries facing famine at one time is unprecedented and the continued failure of the international community to prevent or adequately respond to them is unacceptable. Former US president George W Bush recognised this and challenged his officials to ensure that famine never happened while he was in the White House, a policy known as "No famine on my watch". His intention may have been as political as it was altruistic, but it put political pressure on his administration to respond earlier and faster to looming food crises. The question is, who is watching now?
Dominic MacSorley is chief executive of Concern Worldwide


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Preserve MBA battery
Hi, I have done a lot of research on this subject. But I don't seem to find a definitive answer about the best way to keep keep the better healthy.
My habit is whenever I see the battery goes below certain percentage, sometimes 80%, and sometimes 45% I just plugin the power, And sometimes I leave the power plugged in for a long time even tho the battery is fully charged, should I be doing this? Will this harm the battery in long run? What is the best way to prevent harms to the battery?
Esta é uma boa pergunta?


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It's the end of an era over at Kubuntu.
Jonathan Riddell—who founded Kubuntu a decade ago—has stepped down as release manager and will be headed upstream to KDE. This comes after a lengthy period of spats between Riddell and the Ubuntu Community Council. On Reddit, Riddell punctuated his resignation by once again accusing Canonical—the company behind Ubuntu—of defrauding donors and violating copyrights.
This is an ugly subject. Thanks to Kubuntu's open development model, we get to see a lot of the ugliness that would normally happen behind closed doors.
Want to stay up to date on Linux, BSD, Chrome OS, and the rest of the World Beyond Windows? Bookmark the World Beyond Windows column page or follow our RSS feed.
The resignation
Jonathan Riddell resigned as release manager shortly after Kubuntu 15.10 was released. The official announcement posted to the Kubuntu website begins with a positive tone. "Making Kubuntu over the last 10 years has been a fantastic journey," he writes. "Bringing together KDE and Ubuntu has created the best operating system we can and the best community to work on it."
At the end of his statement, Riddell takes a turn and addresses his grievances with the Ubuntu Community Council. "Community made open source software needs people to be able to take out what they've put in," he writes. "However for the last three years Ubuntu's main sponsor Canonical has had a policy contrary to this and after much effort to try to rectify this it's clear that isn't going to happen."
The same message was posted to the Ubuntu development mailing list, but it contains an additional paragraph addressed to Ubuntu's developers: "Ubuntu now needs to work out if it still wants to be a community made project. I've heard from too many people who feel they have been bullied out of the project for this to be a personal problem."
Jonathan went even further on Reddit, saying of Canonical; "They defrauded donors and broke the copyright licenses. They are only free to do this because they're big enough and vague enough that nobody will take it further."
Whoa, what?
This situation has been simmering for quite some time.
In May 2015, the Ubuntu Community Council took the unprecedented step of "requesting" Riddell step down as leader of the Kubuntu project. "Over a long period of time Jonathan Riddell has become increasingly difficult to deal with. Jonathan raised valid issues and concerns, but reacted poorly when he received answers he did not agree with," they wrote.
The Kubuntu council fought back, voting to reaffirm Riddell him on the Kubuntu council. Riddell also wrote that he was confused because he'd never had the title of "leader" of Kubuntu. The Ubuntu Community Council issued a statement further explaining the reasons for their actions, but refusing to change their minds. Scott Kitterman, who had been a Ubuntu developer since 2006, resigned, writing "This is not the Ubuntu project I joined in 2006."
Riddell did eventually "step down," but there was certainly tension—and a clash—between the two projects.
Donations that weren't accounted for
Riddell's concerns deal with donations and copyright. First, let's start with the donations.
When you download Ubuntu, you're asked to donate money. This webpage contains a variety of sliders you can adjust so you can provide input on what the Ubuntu project should do with that money. Riddell explained his concerns in an email to the mailing list. One of the options previously on this page was "better support for flavors." Riddell was concerned that Kubuntu and other Ubuntu "flavors" hadn't actually received any of this money.
The Ubuntu Community Council looked into it, and—for the period of October, 2012 to April, 2013—there was a total of $143,000 in donations gathered for the community. $47,042.42 were assigned to "flavors" via the sliders. This $143,000 wasn't properly accounted for, and "there is no accounting of how the money was spent." Under the current process, thankfully, the money is now properly tracked and reported. But no one knows exactly where that $143,000 of donations went.
Canonical's IP policy
Copyrights are Riddell's other concern. Riddell recently attempted to draw attention to this problem with the "Jonathan Riddell IP Policy." This IP policy, posted to his blog, states that you have to give Jonathan Riddell a hug if you use any of his "intellectual property"—packages he's uploaded to the Ubuntu archives. It also states that nothing in this policy should be taken to contradict any of the licenses in each individual package.
It's silly, of course. Packages in the Ubuntu software archive have free software licenses that allow you to do anything you like with them, and simply compiling a package doesn't make it your intellectual property. (At least, that's the usual understanding—I'm not a lawyer.)
But this silliness serves to highlight Ubuntu's own IP policy. Canonical has an "Intellectual property rights policy" that it asserts covers the Ubuntu archive. Jonathan Riddell himself walks through his complaints in a blog post. Canonical asserts that, by compiling the packages, Canonical gains copyright over the compiled form and can limit what people can do with them and require additional licenses. Matthew Garrett calls this IP policy "deliberately obfuscated" and asserts Canonical benefits from the uncertainty over whether it's actually enforceable.
Again, I'm not a lawyer. But, traditionally, Linux distributions haven't asserted that such a copyright exists and have let the software licenses stand alone.
The Free Software Foundation believed that this interferes with GPL rights and negotiated with Canonical for two years on this subject. Eventually, Canonical added a note was saying that the IP policy should be read with each package's individual license to see whether it applies or does not. If a package's license allows redistribution, Canonical's IP policy can't override it. But, as the FSF writes, "the policy remains problematic."
The UCC and Kubuntu are okay now
At the end of the day, the Ubuntu Community Council and Kubuntu Council aren't at war. A few days after Riddell resigned, the Ubuntu Community Council and Kubuntu Council issued a joint announcement:
"Members of both the Kubuntu and Community Councils have been approached by community members and asked what the relationship is between the each other. Both councils would like to confirm that the relationship is strong, and mechanisms are in place to ensure a healthy and open relationship between both councils. We would all like to point out that both councils collaborated and resolved any tensions together."
And, with that, this chapter of Kubuntu's history is now closed.


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Normann Copenhagen - Form Chair Brass - Various Colours
With the misson of creating a shell chair with a more unified look that would stand as one cohesive unit, Simon Legald has created the Form Chair for Normann Copenhagen.To achieve this seamless, integrated look, a new and innovative solution for gathering the seat with the legs has been developed. The molded plastic seat and frame of oak, walnut or steel are naturally integrated with the seat using a unique cup system. The plastic seat and wood or steel legs meet elegantly, accentuating the high quality craftsmanship of the design.Form is an armless modern chair with a minimalistic expression. With a simple and contemporary design Form Chair has a soft and welcoming silhouette and a distinctly residential look. The legs appear almost as if they are growing out of the shell. This gives the design flexibility and makes it possible to vary the frame in a great number of ways, accommodating a vast number of interiors.The Form Chairs have great back support and provide freedom of movement. The strong materials and contoured shape ensures a comfortable seating experience. Combined with a clean design that makes Form a flexible and functional chair for any room as an office chair, a dining chair or occasional chair.
Material: Plastic Shell with Brass frame.
Size: h80 x w48 x d52 / seat height: 44 cm
Care Instructions: Clean with damp cloth.
Note: Pre - Order item - depending on stock can take 2 - 4 weeks for delivery.
*Please check our Pre - Order terms on our website
* For local delivery from our East Dulwich store please select store pickup at the checkout and contact us for a quote
- Made to Order
Many of the items we sell are made especially for you using your unique choice of colours, materials and fabrics. We love the experience of seeing what our customers choose for their home or project and we are here on hand to help anyone who may need some guidance.
All Pre-Order items are 'made for you' to your specification so these cannot be refunded, canceled or exchanged, this includes all items where a choice of fabric, colour, material or size has been made at the point of order or the item is stated to be a Pre-Order item in the description of the item online or in-store.
Any questions then please get in touch.