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With Alabama officials certifying Doug Jones' win in the U.S. Senate election, Republican Roy Moore has few options left to turn back a defeat that he has yet to concede.
The state's Republican governor, secretary of state and attorney general on Thursday certified Jones' win by 21,924 votes, a margin of 1.6 percent, over Moore. Jones is scheduled to be sworn in on Jan. 3, when Congress returns from break. Jones' win came after Moore was dogged by accusations of sexual misconduct involving teenage girls that occurred decades ago.
In a Thursday statement, Moore seemed close- or at least closer – to acknowledging his loss but stood by his assertion of fraud in the election that saw him battling both deep-pocketed Democrats and establishment Republicans.
MORE: The Latest: Judge rejects Moore's attempt to finalize vote
"I have stood for the truth about God and the Constitution for the people of Alabama," he said in a statement. "I have no regrets. To God be the glory."
He filed a last-minute lawsuit Wednesday night claiming he was the victim of "systematic voter fraud" in an unsuccessful bid to stop the election's certification. A judge dismissed the complaint. Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, a Republican who said he voted for Moore, said his office has so far found no evidence of voter fraud in the election.
Merrill said Moore could pay for a recount at his own expense or launch another lawsuit seeking to toss out the result. He could also ask the Senate not to seat Jones, but that is unlikely because President Donald Trump and other Republicans have said Moore should concede.
Moore's attorney and campaign chairman did not return telephone messages asking if Moore would pursue additional action.
Jones is a former U.S. attorney best known for prosecuting two Ku Klux Klansmen responsible for Birmingham's infamous 1963 church bombing. As he launched his campaign, he said he saw an opening for a rare Democratic win against Moore, a polarizing figure who was twice removed as the state's chief justice after thwarting federal court orders regarding the public display of the Ten Commandments and same-sex marriage.
"As I said on election night, our victory marks a new chapter for our state and the nation," Jones said Thursday. "I will be an independent voice and work to find common ground with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to get Washington back on track and fight to make our country a better place for all."
Angi Horn Stalnaker, a Republican strategist who ran previous campaigns against Moore, said it should not come as a surprise that Moore is not following the standard post-election script of conceding a loss and wishing his opponent well.
Moore previously blamed his two ousters from the court on those he said didn't like his push to "acknowledge God" with a Ten Commandments monument and a "politically motivated effort by radical homosexual and transgender groups," who targeted him because of what he called his "outspoken opposition to their immoral agenda."
MORE: Firm convictions, uneasiness at churches before Senate race
"His whole shtick relies on martyrdom," Stalnaker said. "The big fat Republican establishment joined up with the big fat hippy dippy liberals, and 'Once again look at me, crucified on the cross.'"
The ink was barely dried on certification papers before speculation began on what Moore might do next – whether taking additional steps in a legal war or running for another state office, such as governor, in 2018. The Alabama Republican Party opens qualifying for the 2018 races on Jan. 8.
"I think they should expect it to happen as much as they expect the sun to come up tomorrow," Stalnaker said of the possibility of Moore's name appearing on another ballot.


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What the data says: India faces bigger threats from Jihad and Maoism
Rupa Subramanya Rupa Subramanya | 12 May, 2016
IN 2009, ACCORDING to WikiLeaks, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had told the then US Ambassador to India, Timothy Roemer, that "the bigger threat [than Islamic terrorism] may be the growth of radicalised Hindu groups, which create religious tensions and political confrontations with the Muslim community." We have no way of knowing on what basis Gandhi made this assessment, nor do we know quite what his fears were. He could perhaps have had in mind communal violence or perhaps even acts of terrorism.
Then Home Minister P Chidambaram was more explicit at a gathering of intelligence experts when in 2010 he warned of the danger of "saffron terrorism". He further pointed to "many bomb blasts of the past", again without giving any analytical basis for his claim or furnishing data to back it up.
Not to be outdone, Chidambaram's successor Sushil Kumar Shinde raised the spectre of 'saffron terrorism' in 2013, pointing to a few alleged incidents, but without putting them in the larger context of all terror acts committed by all perpetrator groups in the same period. Almost a month later, after a backlash, Shinde apologised for his remarks.
Recently, the historian and commentator Ramachandra Guha argued that 'Hindu fundamentalism' is a greater danger to India than 'Islamic terrorism'. Guha's stated reason for saying so is that Hindus constitute an overwhelming majority of India's population and therefore fundamentalists from their ranks pose a bigger threat. However, he presents no data or any serious evidence to support his thesis.
These are but a few examples of the types of claims around 'saffron terror' and Hindu extremism one hears from establishment politicians and commentators. It's not surprising that politicians of a party which relies on minority votes make vague claims about 'saffron terror' without backing them up. What is less excusable is a scholar of Guha's distinction making similar claims.
Do such claims stand up to scrutiny? Is 'saffron terror' a greater threat than Islamic terror in India? Such assertions need to be weighed against the evidence.
A large and as yet oddly unexploited dataset exists and is the basis for the analysis presented here. The Global Terrorism Database (GTD) is maintained by the US-based National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START). It is the largest and most scientifically compiled database on global terror and is being constantly updated. For India, there are close to 10,000 events identified between 1972 and 2014.
The demolition of the Babri mosque in 1992 shows up in the Global Terrorism Database as a terrorist act committed by a Hindu group
The GTD has a precise and rigorous definition of terrorism. A terrorist act is defined as 'the threatened or actual use of illegal force and violence by a non-state actor to attain a political, economic, religious, or social goal through fear, coercion, or intimidation'. This excludes the legitimate use of violence by the state, and is confined to non-state actors who intentionally use violence or its threat to try to achieve a well-defined goal.
Each event is coded with a varying level of detail, which allows researchers to determine with a fair amount of accuracy the identity of the perpetrator group. Analysing this data will therefore let us test the data-free hypotheses put forth about the threat of 'saffron terror'. It took me more than a month to code such a huge dataset, as I manually worked through each incident and where possible, fact-checked the coding in the database by looking at relevant reports of that alleged terror incident. While extremely time-consuming, this methodology is superior to using mechanical algorithms to code events as the judgement of the researcher is required when the facts are incomplete or uncertain.
Scholars like to think of terrorism and communal violence as two distinct categories, each with different causes and explanations, but in practice they're not always easy to separate. Even with a rigorous definition of terrorism, there are grey areas. For instance, what is the status of a terror incident which then morphs into an episode of communal violence? Whether it is coded as 'terrorism' or not depends on whether the subsequent communal violence contained elements of it or not.
The assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards, for example, appears as it should in the GTD as a terrorist act. However, the anti-Sikh pogrom in Delhi orchestrated by senior Congress leaders does not figure in the database, as it did not contain elements of terrorism. As another example, the demolition of the Babri mosque in 1992 shows up in the GTD as a terrorist act committed by a Hindu group. But in this case, the riots which erupted in several Indian cities (including Bombay), orchestrated by various political parties, also show up because they featured elements of terrorism such as bomb throwing.
In incidents of Pakistani terror in India, it is difficult to disentangle the role of Pakistani agents as against local Indian recruits
One unfortunate gap in the GTD which should be noted is that due to a transition from one keeper of the data to another, the 1993 record was lost. My analysis, therefore, does not pick up incidents of that year—such as the Bombay serial blasts—that represented the continued aftermath of the Babri mosque demolition.
In some cases, information that was unavailable at the time of an incident allowed me to more accurately code the perpetrator. For instance, on 29 May 2002, serial bombings occurred in Ahmedabad and were coded by the GTD team as having an 'Unknown' perpetrator, since no individual or group claimed responsibility. However, since then, four individuals were convicted of them by the Gujarat High Court and it was established that the motive was retribution for the communal violence that took place earlier that year sparked by the burning to death of Hindu pilgrims on a train in Godhra. Therefore, I've coded these incidents as caused by a Muslim perpetrator group.
So as to stack the deck against myself, I have furthermore coded several incidents which are still working through the legal system as 'Hindu' where the GTD refers to perpetrator group as 'Unknown'. These include so-called saffron terror incidents such as the 2008 Malegaon blasts, where Hindu groups are suspected, but the case is still ongoing. Revelations at the time of writing cast serious doubt on whether the perpetrators were Hindu; but again, to be fair, I've retained the Hindu coding. What is more, the few incidents of caste-related violence of the type perpetrated by Bihar's Ranvir Sena, which show up in the GTD and are coded as 'Unknown', have here been coded as 'Hindu', even in a few cases where it's not clear whether the motivation was necessarily religious.
As we've seen in several incidents of allegedly caste-based violence, the motives may sometimes be economic and have nothing to do with the caste or religion of either perpetrators or victims. By coding the small number of such cases as 'Hindu', if anything, the number of incidents of Hindu terror would be slightly higher than the reality.
We should focus on the principal existential threats emanating from extreme left wing ideology, which fuels Maoist extremism
With these caveats in mind, the overall coding of the dataset reckons with the fact that the perpetrator group can be clearly identified by religion in some cases, and in other cases by highly specific, geographically well-defined insurgencies, which may or may not have anything to do with religion. Thus, following other research on terrorism within India, incidents within the regions of Jammu & Kashmir, the Maoist belt, and the Northeast are coded as such not by religious or any other identity of the perpetrator group. Another small group of incidents are coded as referring to the Tamil insurgency in Sri Lanka which spilled over into India.
By contrast, incidents that took place outside these well-defined geographical insurgencies are categorised by the religion of the perpetrator group—in particular, Hindu, Muslim or Sikh. A very small number of incidents fall into the category 'Foreign', such as terror strikes, which occurred in India but were unrelated to Indian issues. Two examples from 1972 were hijackings by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Japanese Red Army, both involving aircraft which had landed on or taken off from Indian soil.
Readers might wonder why there is no separate code for terrorist incidents in India emanating from Pakistan, the obvious example being the Mumbai attacks of 26/11. The difficulty is that in many incidents of presumed Pakistani terror in India, be it in J&K or elsewhere, it is often difficult if not impossible to disentangle the responsibility and role of Pakistani agents and mercenaries as against local Indian recruits and sympathisers. Thus, as mentioned, all incidents in J&K are coded by the geographic region, not as 'Muslim', even if some evidence exists in a particular incident of direct Pakistani or jihadi involvement. By contrast, the 26/11 attack is coded as 'Muslim', given that the motivation was religious. Recall that one of the targets was a Jewish cultural centre in Mumbai.
Lastly, where too little information was known to properly code an incident, or it was related to violence between political parties but unrelated to religion or identity, it was categorised as 'Unknown, Other'.
Islamic terrorism is five times more likely to occur than Hindu terrorism, even excluding Jammu and Kashmir
Bearing all of the above in mind, here are the main findings, from a total of 9,069 incidents between 1972 and 2014: Maoist: 29 per cent; Northeast: 25 per cent; J&K: 21 per cent; Sikh: 13 per cent; Unknown/Other: 6 per cent; Sri Lankan: less than 1 per cent; Foreign: less than 1 per cent; Muslim: 3 per cent; Hindu: 0.6 per cent.
If one breaks down the data into decades, the numbers reveal that the 1980s were dominated by Sikh terrorism and the 1990s were dominated by terror in J&K. In the 2000s, the Northeast overtakes J&K. Finally, from 2010 to 2014, we a see a big spike in Maoist terrorism—the largest during this phase, as indeed for the whole period under consideration.
These striking results do not bear out the fear-mongering and alarmist hypothesis of 'saffron terror'. What is reconfirmed is that the Maoist conflict is the biggest threat that the nation faces, accounting for almost a third of total incidents. Maoist terrorism, as we know, is not motivated by religion but by the extremist left wing ideology of perpetrator groups such as the Communist Party of India (Maoist) whose stated goal is the destruction of the Indian republic. As against this, such violence tends to be confined to an admittedly large swathe of central and eastern India.
Likewise, the large share of incidents in the Northeast are not related directly to religion, but reflect the ambitions of various local insurgent groups in places like Manipur, Nagaland and Assam.
As noted before, the large share of terror incidents in J&K requires care in interpreting. While related to a geographically defined insurgency, namely by groups which believe that the state should be either independent of India or join Pakistan, it is also true that the major perpetrator groups in J&K do have an Islamist motivation. That accounts for incidents of violence directed at Kashmiri Pandits, many of whom have consequently been driven out of their ancestral homes— which some would argue amounts to ethnic cleansing.
It would be disingenuous to claim that the large share of J&K incidents are unrelated to Islamism, which clearly is a motivation both for perpetrators within the region and those they might be working with in Pakistan's military and intelligence establishment.
If terrorist incidents in J&K were considered Islamic and added to the non-geographical 'Muslim' category, then almost a quarter of all terror incidents in this long period would be considered Muslim and be tied with terrorism in the Northeast as second only after Maoist terrorism.
Suppose, for the sake of argument, we exclude J&K from the analysis and assess the 'saffron terror' claims purely on incidents of Islamic terrorism outside that state—we would still find that incidents coded 'Muslim' were five times as many as incidents coded 'Hindu'. Given that Hindus account for about 80 per cent of India's population, according to the latest census, and Muslims for about 14 per cent, so that there are roughly five times as many Hindus as Muslims, the data tell us that the likelihood of a terror incident coded 'Muslim' is disproportionately higher than one coded 'Hindu' when you adjust for their respective population shares.
This means that in India, Islamic terrorism is five times more likely to occur than Hindu terrorism, even excluding J&K. These hard numbers fly in the face of glib assertions that 'saffron terror' rather than Islamism-motivated terrorism is a bigger threat.
As a test of whether these results are an artefact of my coding, compare this with a similar coding exercise conducted by a different research group, the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), which comes up with broadly similar findings. Note that this dataset includes both acts of terror and low-intensity conflict and therefore has a larger number of events. For a total of about 20,000 events between 2005 and 2016, Maoist or Left Wing Extremism again tops the list at almost 35 per cent, with the Northeast at 30 per cent and J&K at 29 per cent. Islamist terrorism outside these regions was about 4.1 per cent and Hindu or saffron terrorism was about 0.6 per cent. While the methodology and time periods are different, these findings are broadly consistent with mine, which covers a much longer time period, but with a narrower definition of terrorism.
Far from pontificating about so-called 'saffron terror' and Hindu fundamentalism, we should focus on the principal existential threats to the Indian state emanating from extreme left wing ideology, which fuels Maoist extremism, as well as the jihadi Islamist ideology, which is at the root of terrorism in J&K and other such terrorism outside that state.
Sensible folk, those not wearing ideological and other blinkers, should be concerned by the story that the hard numbers tell us.
(Rupa Subramanya is a co-author, with Vivek Dehejia, of Indianomix: Making Sense of Modern India)
Musk Mystique Madhavankutty Pillai
Love and Longing in Kalimpong Kaveree Bamzai

subset: commoncrawl


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10 Reasons Your Big Sister Is The Best Person In Your Life
"There is no better friend than a sister, and there is no better sister than you."
As much as I hate to admit it, my big sister might be sort-of, slightly cooler than I am. Sometimes. She's the one I call when I can't call mom and the only one in the family who can properly handle my attitude. Big sisters are the people you'd choose if they weren't already family, and here's why.
1. She is your first and truest friend.
Big sisters are (literally) there from day one. They see every dirty diaper, every bad haircut, and every melodramatic breakup. They deal with every bad day and drama queen attitude and still love you in the most unconditional way.
2. Her closet is your closet.
For some reason, her clothes always look better on you. Funny how that works, huh? With a big sister comes a big closet; and who doesn't love having a double wardrobe? I'd also like to take this opportunity to apologize for the clothes I will never give back (but I'm not really that sorry).
3. She knows what it's like to deal with your parents.
Anything you could possibly be going through, they went through it first. It's kind of like having an instruction manual, or a key to the future. Either way, it's always nice to have someone who will always understand the struggle.
4. There are no boundaries.
Wanna dance around in your underwear all day? Cool. Life talks while she's on the toilet? Also cool. There's no awkward moments or changing in the bathroom with the door locked. There's just the kind of freedom that only comes with siblings.
5. Thanks to her, you know about all of the cool movies/music/fashion trends from years back.
Thanks to my sister, I have every Too $hort and Ludacris song you could ever think of downloaded on my phone. I've seen every cheesy '90s movie, and when a fad from 10 years ago comes back in, I already have the hookup.
6. She tells you like it is.
We all have those friends who tend to sugarcoat everything. Yeah, sisters don't do that. She's the first person to tell me when I'm making a terrible decision and that I really shouldn't triple text that boy again. She keeps it real with me and deals with my attitude, and that's why she's the best.
7. Her home is always open.
Sometimes you just need to get away from life and binge watch Netflix, and sometimes you need all of that plus your sister. She always has her door open when you're two seconds away from losing your mind, and she also has good takeout and a dog.
8. She knows what you're capable of.
My sister knows exactly who I am and what I can do. She knows when I'm not doing my best, and when I need to be set straight. She's always there to remind me who I am and what I'm capable of accomplishing. She's always been my biggest fan.
9. She's a lot cheaper than therapy.
For some reason, my sister always knows just what to say. Even if I don't see it at the time, she's usually right (don't tell her I said that). Big sisters are like wizards; somehow, they always magically make you feel like life's gonna turn out alright in the end. If she wasn't already awesome at everything else, I'd suggest she be a therapist.
10. She will always be your go-to gal.
No matter the situation, she will always be by your side. There is nothing you could say or do to make a big sister leave, and that's why they're the best. Whether it's a speeding ticket, a mean girl or you just need to laugh, big sisters are always going to be there to lift your spirits and set you straight.
I couldn't make it without ya sis, I'm sorry for ratting you out on Thanksgiving that one time, and for running away at the zoo. Thanks for taking me to see Aaron Carter even though he's way too old to still be singing "I want Candy," and thank you always for being the best role model, sister and friend I could ask for.
By Michaela Smith


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Employees can become complacent if they are not properly motivated. This can have disastrous results on your business. Luckily, motivating your employees can be as easy as reinvigorating your Employee-of-the-Month award. Try these tips to better motivate your employees.
Give Out Physical Awards
Firstly, consider giving a physical representation of the Employee-of-the-Month award. Use this as a workplace benefit to keep your employees happy. After all, it is very common for offices, restaurants, and anyone partaking in the Employee-of-the-Month tradition to neglect this aspect. It is simply not enough to tell someone they are a wonderful employee. You need to really recognize them.
Giving a physical award does that. It gives them something to take home to the family. Their spouses will revel in the quality of the award. And, most importantly, their children will see them as a hero. To any employee, that is worth the effort.
To achieve these results, consider giving your employees crystal awards. They are beautifully crafted and make the receiver feel important. Spouses will see the quality of the craftsmanship and appreciate the award. Children will also see the crystal glass and think it came straight out of a fantasy world. That is a wonderful and fun award. Keep this idea for reinvigorating your employee-of-the-month award in mind.
Offer A Reward
To energize your workforce, add a reward for being Employee-of-the-Month. This can be as little as half a day of paid time off or as grand as a Caribbean cruise. Employees feel appreciated and grateful regardless of the cost of the reward they receive. What really matters is that something can be obtained for being a great employee. If interested, potential rewards fall into three categories: cash, knowledge, and gifts.
Cash rewards are self-explanatory. It is giving your employee a bonus for being Employee-of-the-Month or giving them something of monetary value. When you reward an employee with knowledge, you work with them to progress in their career. Moreover, offer free programming courses or a foreign language class for your Employee-of-the-Month. You might be able to partner with training companies to provide employees with such educational rewards at a low price.
Finally, giving your employee gifts means a type of upgrade for their home or office space. Give them a new coffee-maker or a cool pencil holder. Gifts can improve their life or give them bragging rights in the office.
Throw A Party
It is time to celebrate! Receiving Employee-of-the-Month does not have to be an enjoyable experience just for the employee. Let their coworkers in on the fun and throw a celebratory party in honor of the Employee-of-the-Month. The celebration could be a small affair, like a luncheon held in a conference room. Or, it can be a larger one. Booking a private event at a restaurant or bar is not as outrageous as you may expect. Consider throwing a party for your best employees to show your appreciation for their hard work.
Recognize Your Employee
Additionally, show employees recognition. Like the physical award shown, recognition is of utmost importance. Often times, recognition enables personal development in employees. They feel that they have produced quality work. In turn, their confidence levels rise. Unlike the physical award, recognition should be made available for the public. Show pride in your workforce by publishing information on your Employees-of-the-Month on your company website.
The description should be well written, informative, and complimentary. Do this with your employees. They work hard and you should be proud of them. Plus, posting about their work ethic online can help them in their future business endeavors. Clients are more likely to work with them if they know of their accomplishments. If the employee were to ever depart from your staff, they would have a great piece of evidence to offer as a reference to their prospective employers.
Diversify The Awards
Finally, more people should be recognized for their efforts. Far too often, high performing employees go unrecognized because of steep competition. It can be disheartening for some to be snubbed again and again. To avoid this problem, you should recognize multiple employees.
Separate your Employee-of-the-Month award into multiple awards focused on different tasks and achievements. Award someone for their improvement, someone for their effort, another for their perseverance, and another for their insanely productive week. Everybody deserves to be recognized for their greatness; do not let them feel left out!


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New Year is always a time of reflection, and hope, for the forthcoming year.
The start of 2020 seems particularly poignant as we're entering a whole new decade. So much has changed across society and work within the last ten years, and we're now on the brink of further unprecedented shifts, as we move away from the close relationship we've held with the European Union for more than 45 years.
We ended 2019 with a fabulous Engage for Success Volunteers' event in London, which was filled with the usual stimulating conversations, and updates from the various Thought and Action Groups.
One panel session in particular stood out for me, as it considered the whole concept of Employee Engagement.
It's been ten years now since Nita Clarke and David MacLeod submitted their findings on Employee Engagement to UK Government, together with their recommendation to set up a national taskforce to promote Employee Engagement as a key driver of organisational productivity, sharing stories of good practice along the way.
In the last decade, the movement has achieved extraordinary things with very few resources.
We've seen the publication of strong evidence linking Employee Engagement to organisational performance. We've seen an abundance of Thought and Action Groups that have coordinated some fantastic research initiatives, digging further into Engagement, and lobbying to convince more UK organisations of its pivotal importance.
And yet, in parallel, there's still ongoing debate about what Employee Engagement actually is, and how best to measure it. It seems there are still many organisations in the UK who continue to view employees as simply 'resources' to be managed, with scant regard for the psychology of work, and the key ingredients for optimally performing teams.
In my organisation, we analyse and distil emergent work trends, to help UK SME business leaders implement strategies that help them successfully adapt to rapidly evolving operating landscapes.
As a topic, the future of work has its roots in academic thinking that goes back several decades, but even a review of events that have changed the nature of work in just the last ten years, shows the size and scope of the change that is all around us.
Change is only set to accelerate in the next decade. When we look back ten years from now, my guess is that we'll hardly recognise our workplaces and our working practices.
How organisational leaders choose to set their strategic course through this period of uncertainty remains to be seen. Technology will inevitably and irrevocably transform the work that we do and the very nature of commerce itself.
There are many who say we're approaching the end of 'work', and that software and machines will replace humans in the workplace.
I don't doubt that technology will create vast efficiency, but I'd argue that there is still much work for humans to do, to bring highly personalised and bespoke experiences to customers and stakeholders, across the piste.
To create these customised and standout experiences however, we'll need workers who, regardless of employment status or contract type, are more engaged than ever before. Employee Engagement is set to become a stand-out superpower for those organisations that recognise the value of human connection and empathy in driving creativity and innovation.
We live in a data driven world. Peter Drucker's famous statement, "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it", governs management and leadership thinking today.
Yet how do we measure human emotion? How can we quantify things like belonging, connection and satisfaction?
We know in our hearts when we're engaged, and when we're not, be that at work, or in everyday life. Employee engagement can be hard to measure, because we're searching for hard proof points in the messy intangibility of what it means to be human and to feel motivated.
As we look forwards into 2020, my bet is that those organisations who continue to search for empirical evidence of engagement before taking positive action, are largely missing the point.
Those organisations who just get on and focus on humanity at work will win – both market share, and access to a whole different level of human performance. Here's to continuing to champion the Employee Engagement cause.
Cat Barnard, Partner, Working the Future / EFS TAG Chair, The Future of Employee Engagement


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Halsey Isn't The Only One Who Can't Make Eye Contact With Jimin
Suga's eyes weren't on Jimin at BTS's FESTA photoshoot.
Jimin and Halsey's eye contact (or lack thereof) is a running joke, but she's not the only friend who can't look him in the eye!
On November 1, BangtanTV dropped a new "Bangtan Bomb" from BTS's FESTA photoshoot. It shows what happened behind the scenes on their split-worlds set.
During this "Serendipity" x "Agust D" shoot, Suga was supposed to hold Jimin's gaze…
…but he just couldn't do it!
When Suga bashfully glanced away…
…Jimin burst out laughing. "This hyung can't look straight into the face," he said.
Check out the whole behind the scenes video with subtitles here:


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Mateusz Kusz
[ Head of Content Development, Selsey.pl ]
E-commerce experience for over 10 years that includes creation and development of products, catalogues and content of well known and appreciated by users websites like: Ceneo, Allegro, Pixers and Selsey. For many years he was managing the projects and teams. He was responsible for online marketing and brand development.
Topic: Dream products in your interiors? How to use AR to personalize your interior shopping online!
Everyone dreams about having a beautiful interior design. Would you like to find your personal style? What if you are arranging your apartment and you are looking for some inspirations? E-commerce gives us many varieties but thanks to mobile apps you may check if new furnitures and accessories will consort with your interior design in a very fast and convinient way.
What kind of new sales elements must appear in next AR apps versions and why? How using new technologies Augmented Reality can help to make a purchase decission by letting to place the furnitures and accessories in your apartment in a real time? Are there elements who are not acceptable for a user in mobile apps and why? Can you furnish your apartment without leaving your place with using your smartphone only nowadays?
You are going to know more about a new reality very soon.
[ Releated Sessions ]
All Sessions by Mateusz Kusz
Day 1 - 16 May 2019
Dream products in your interiors? How to use AR to personalize your interior shopping online! 12:45


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Carmela Trombetta, Vice-President Hamilton Commercial Financial Services at RBC Royal Bank, is passionate about Corporate Social Responsibility in the city of Hamilton. We were excited when Carmela agreed to write a guest blog post for Innovation Factory; we knew she would have some great advice for Hamiltonians and talk about the importance of getting your business involved in the city! Here's what she had to say:
At RBC, we believe in the power of communities and the people who live in them. As one of Canada's largest corporate donors and with a tradition of philanthropy dating back to 1891, we recognize that our success depends on the health and prosperity of our clients and our employees. As a member of Hamilton's growing business community, it was important for me to highlight the returns that come from community investment and encourage you to think about your role in our city, province, country and the globe.
The Innovation Factory is a hub for Hamilton's entrepreneurial and social businesses. We all know the passion and drive that is required to bring ideas to life and see them through to completion, but commitment to your business goals is equally as important as the dedication that you show to your community.
As entrepreneurs and business leaders we are tied to the community in many ways – big and small. Whether you're a sponsor, donor or volunteer, every little bit helps.
Many companies talk about The 3P's: People, Planet and Profit. Successfully balancing your social and business goals can be done by businesses of any age or size. Remember, it's not just about how you spend money. It's about how you make it.
Through the values of your organization, you have an opportunity to define a roadmap for your future.
At RBC, we strive to operate every facet of our business with integrity. This ensures that we provide financial services responsibly and ethically, are a respected employer, and a sound purchaser of goods and services.
If you're looking for inspiration to help your business start or improve its commitment to corporate social responsibility, I would suggest you take a moment to review a recent RBC white paper called Meaningful Business – Understanding Social Entrepreneurs which describes how social entrepreneurs combine passion with business acumen for triple-bottom line success.
Understanding Social Entrepreneurs is a fascinating study of the mindset of leaders in this area and includes an interview with Tom Heintzman, co-founder of the now ubiquitous Bullfrog Power, to gain some insights into his motivations.
Thank you to the Innovation Factory for the opportunity to post about the business of corporate social responsibility. I strongly believe in the passion of Hamilton's business leaders and I believe that we can all be catalysts for change. Every effort – big or small – makes a difference in the lives of our clients and customers, suppliers and employees.
Carmela leads a team of specialized Commercial Account Managers as Vice-President of Greater Hamilton Commercial Financial Services for RBC Royal Bank. She has had a very successful 24 years with RBC with various roles in retail, wealth management, and commercial banking. Carmela leverages her experience, knowledge of the community, and industry contacts to provide timely financial advice to her managers and clients, and provides best in class service and value.


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By Ansley Brackin
Communications Specialist
A pulse shifted across the room as Bishop Mike Watson delivered a tender and influential message, sharing the news of the tragic shooting in South Carolina at Mother Emanuel A.M.E. A heaviness was felt across the entire room, but there also began a strengthening in the United Methodist and Pan Methodist connection.
Difficult decisions and voting duties continued in preparation for 2016's General Conference, but discussions were covered by thick blankets of grace and love.
Sides supported each other without degrading, as Bishop Watson suggested. In a room filled with people, wired by their Creator to serve, there was a buzz of unrest and a swell of a thousand hearts aching to respond. A lay person's request to immediately travel to the hurting brothers and sisters was answered with a valiant "YES!" Empty buckets were carried from backstage in response to a spontaneous request to collect an offering. When the buckets were returned, they were filled with cash, around $6,500.
Props originally created to display the names of churches who support the Action Ministries were flipped over to write words of prayer and support to one church in need. They were seen across social media as they made their way to South Carolina.
There is beauty in the urgency that the clergy and laity felt that week to be with the mourning Pan-Methodist family, both actively and prayerfully. The North Georgia Conference craved more than sending words, it sought to send people and spirit, to be present.
There is also beauty in the care and time taken to raise money and awareness for Imagine No Malaria. People knew the organization would be the Annual Conference focus months in advance, encouraging congregations to embrace their creativity and work towards the denomination's $75 Million goal.
Dodgeball tournaments, benefit concerts, special offerings and so much more have brought the conference's donation total to $678,320.45 so far in 2015.
Jamie Jenkins successfully expressed the passion he has for the organization through presentations and videos throughout the sessions. The Conference responded to his words with compassion and provision, resulting in a total of $231,491.45 donated at Annual Conference alone.
The money donated to Imagine No Malaria goes to fund parts of the organization that most people of the conference can't physically manage. Clergy and laity may not be able to personally assemble bed nets or diagnose patients with the correct medicine, but through monetary involvement have provided Africa with people who can. It's a different feeling of connection, knowing that your dollar, and his dollar, and her dollar combined keeps children safe.
Serving in the name of The United Methodist Church means that no country is out of reach, and no congregation is too small. 2015 Annual Conference represented what a real connectional denomination looks like. It's a confetti of people, talents, and ideas, all going at different speeds and pathways – all of equal importance.


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Ezekiel "Zeke" Emanuel, a world-class scholar of bioethics and health, leads a class of 22 new Wharton faculty members.
Emanuel's appointment as the Diane v.S. Levy and Robert M. Levy University Professor is shared between Wharton's Department of Health Care Management and the Perelman School of Medicine's Department of Medical Ethics & Health Policy. He will also be Penn's Vice Provost for Global Initiatives and the inaugural chair of the Perelman School's Department of Medical Ethics & Health Policy.
"I'm beginning to wonder why I've been against cloning all these years. It will be necessary now," Emanuel jokes.
The newest Penn Integrates Knowledge (PIK) professor, Emanuel chose Penn because of the opportunity to bridge disciplines. He is an oncologist who served as head of the Department of Bioethics at the Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health and special advisor for health policy to the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. His work has spanned topics such as health-care reform, end-of-life care and the physician-patient relationship.
"No other university was so daring to put it all together," he says. "When I teach, I want business students in there with law students, med students, nursing students, advanced undergraduates. I want that combination in the room. Penn is one of the few places where that can happen."
As vice provost, Emanuel will work closely with Dean Thomas S. Robertson and Harbir Singh, Mack Professor of Management and Wharton's Vice Dean of Global Initiatives.
"I'm looking forward to benefiting from the work and thought they've put into this. Wharton and Lauder have an unbelievable alumni network that will help us tremendously in terms of identifying collaborations in the future," he says.
In keeping with this interdisciplinary focus, Wharton welcomed two other PIK appointments earlier this year: Barbara Mellers, an influential scholar of decision-making, and Philip Tetlock, an award-winning scholar of political psychology and organizational behavior. Mellers is the I. George Heyman University Professor with an appointment shared between the Department of Psychology in the School of Arts and Sciences and Wharton's Department of Marketing. Tetlock is the Leonore Annenberg University Professor with an appointment shared between the College's Department of Psychology and Wharton's Department of Management.
The PIK program was launched by President Amy Gutmann in 2005 as a University-wide initiative to recruit exceptional faculty members whose research and teaching exemplify the integration of knowledge across disciplines. PIK professors are jointly appointed between two Penn schools.
Wharton's faculty now includes 230 full-time professors.


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There are no Car-Insurance Loopholes or Do-Overs
Question: Is there a way to make a claim for something even if there is a restriction or exclusion against it in my policy? For example, if my 16-year-old crashed my car and my policy excludes drivers under the age of 21, can I still make a claim for my car's damages?
Answer: Policy exclusions and restrictions are for real. If your auto insurance policy says you're not covered for something, believe it. There may be cases where a court decides otherwise, but in most instances if the language of your auto insurance policy is clear and adheres to state insurance laws, the exclusions or restrictions will hold up in court.
If your policy says you're not covered for drivers under the age of 21, car-sharing, business use or excluded drivers, then you're not covered for those situations. If you let your 16-year-old child drive the car, you both will be held personally liable for any damages he caused, and any damage to your own car isn't covered, even if you have collision and comprehensive coverage.
Car insurance policies can have a multitude of exclusions and restrictions, many that you may not pay attention to because they don't presently concern you.
For instance, your policy likely excludes coverage if you use your car for business purposes. It may not affect you now, but if your teenager got a job delivering pizzas it could void your policy since the car would be used for the delivery of goods. (See "Why the pizza guy doesn't have car insurance") Or perhaps your spouse is without a license, so you signed a named driver exclusion form that specifically excludes him from being covered by your car insurance policy. If he resolves his licensing issues and get a valid license, you need to inform the insurance company and drop the exclusion or else when he drives he will be doing so without coverage.
Not following the terms of your auto policy puts you in a precarious place.
If you drive, or allow others to drive, against the restrictions and they are in an accident, then you can be held personally responsible for the damages caused to others if your state-mandated liability coverages don't extend to the situation. Medical expenses from bodily injuries caused in an auto accident can easily reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. A multiple-vehicle accident or an accident with just one very expensive car that ends up not being covered by your policy could easily wipe out your savings.
If your current car insurance policy doesn't cover your needs, then don't try to bend the rules. Instead, shop around for a policy that will cover your child, your delivery job, or whatever your situation is. Insuring a teenager is expensive, but not as expensive as paying out of pocket to cover an uninsured accident. Make sure you shop around. rates for your young driver can vary by hundreds of dollars, even thousands, from company to company. (See "A parent's guide to insuring a teen driver")
The original article can be found at CarInsurance.com:There are no car-insurance loopholes or do-overs


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Newly redesigned CAA Guelph Store opens its doors for business
01 Mar, 2016, 09:00 ET
Customers enjoy new retail experience
GUELPH, ON, March 1, 2016 /CNW/ - From the moment customers and members walk through the new doors of the recently redesigned CAA Guelph Store, they feel right at home. Friendly greeters are on hand to welcome and direct guests through the home-inspired store layout.
After a two-month massive makeover, CAA South Central Ontario (CAA SCO) is now celebrating the grand opening of its new store in Guelph.
"We are proud to unveil a unique retail experience for our members and customers. The new, modern look and feel is the result of dedication, hard work and countless hours of planning, designing and constructing our new store," said Kathy Kelly, Director Sales & Distribution, CAA SCO.
The improvements to the 3,618 square foot store are a combination of technology and convenience which features a video wall, three digital displays and plenty of comfortable seating for customers.
"Whether you are booking your next family vacation, updating your passport photos, purchasing movie tickets or reviewing your insurance needs, we welcome you to the new CAA Guelph Store – your home away from home," added Kelly.
The major facelift comes complete with a living room where customers can sit back and take in the "view" or browse a tablet while they wait to speak to one of our knowledgeable and experienced employees.
Meanwhile, a warm fireplace creates an inviting ambience for home and auto insurance customers in the den-like section of the store.
The CAA Guelph Store, located at 1005 Paisley Road, is one of 34 retail locations in the South Central Ontario region.
For over a hundred years, CAA has been helping Canadians stay mobile, safe and protected. CAA South Central Ontario is one of nine auto clubs across Canada providing roadside assistance, travel, insurance services and member savings for our 2 million members.
SOURCE CAA South Central Ontario
For further information: Silvana Aceto, Media and PR Consultant, CAA SCO, [email protected], Office: (905) 771-3194, Cell: (416) 209-4930 or Jeff LeMoine, Communications Consultant, CAA SCO, [email protected], Office: (905) 771-4709, Cell: (416) 254-0641


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MIAMI — Andrew Gillum, the Democrat who lost the 2018 Florida governor's race to Ron DeSantis, surrendered to federal authorities in Tallahassee on Wednesday after he and a close associate were charged with conspiracy and 19 counts of fraud over how they raised and used funds when he was mayor of Tallahassee and a candidate for governor.
Mr. Gillum, 42, was also charged with making false statements to the F.B.I. He is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday afternoon.
The arrest is the latest detour from Mr. Gillum's once-ascendant career. He came within 32,000 votes of the governorship — which would have made him Florida's first Black governor and a future White House hopeful — only to lose his political direction and face personal struggles. In 2020, the police found him in a Miami Beach hotel room where another man was suffering from a possible drug overdose.
The charges stem from a federal investigation into Tallahassee City Hall that began in 2015 and involved undercover F.B.I. agents posing as developers. Revelations from the investigation, including that Mr. Gillum had socialized with the undercover agents in New York, where they took a boat ride to the Statue of Liberty and saw the hit Broadway musical "Hamilton," were an issue in the 2018 campaign. Mr. DeSantis, a Republican, said at the time that Mr. Gillum could not be trusted to run the state.
The 21-count indictment against Mr. Gillum shows that a grand jury filed the charges against him on June 7. Also charged was Sharon Lettman-Hicks, 53, a confidante of Mr. Gillum's since he was in college.
In a statement, Mr. Gillum said he had run all of his political campaigns "with integrity."
"Make no mistake that this case is not legal, it is political," he said. "There's been a target on my back ever since I was the mayor of Tallahassee. They found nothing then, and I have full confidence that my legal team will prove my innocence now."
The indictment covers events involving Mr. Gillum and Ms. Lettman-Hicks from 2016 to 2019. The false statements charge against Mr. Gillum is related to his interactions with the undercover agents.
According to the indictment, beginning in 2016, Mr. Gillum and two unnamed associates solicited campaign contributions from the undercover agents for Mr. Gillum's newly formed Forward Florida Political Action Committee. To keep the agents' names private, the associates promised to funnel the contributions in other ways, including through Ms. Lettman-Hicks's company, P&P Communications. In exchange, they were promised "unencumbered government contracts," according to one of the unnamed associates.
Mr. Gillum told one of the undercover agents that he "should separate in his mind the campaign contributions and the Tallahassee projects," the indictment says, adding that Mr. Gillum also "indicated he looked favorably on" the undercover agent's proposed development projects.
The indictment says that when Mr. Gillum voluntarily spoke to F.B.I. agents in 2017, he "falsely represented" that the undercover agents posing as developers never offered him anything and that he had stopped communicating with them after they tried to link their contributions to support for potential Tallahassee projects.
The fraud and conspiracy charges are related to Mr. Gillum's dealings with Ms. Lettman-Hicks with regards to P&P Communications and Mr. Gillum's campaign.
In 2017, when he became a candidate for governor, Mr. Gillum resigned from his position with People for the American Way, a liberal advocacy group whose Tallahassee office was leased from Ms. Lettman-Hicks. Mr. Gillum lost his annual $122,500 salary, and Ms. Lettman-Hicks lost $3,000 in monthly rent. Mr. Gillum was also paid about $70,500 a year as mayor, a position he held from 2014 to 2018.
Mr. Gillum then became an employee of P&P Communications, where he was given a monthly salary of $10,000. According to the indictment, hiring Mr. Gillum was "only a cover used to provide him funds that he lost" after his resignation from People for the American Way.
When Mr. Gillum and Ms. Lettman-Hicks solicited $50,000 in grant-funding from two unnamed organizations, the money was intended to be used for the Campaign to Defend Local Solutions, an effort by Mr. Gillum to fight state efforts to pre-empt local governments' power. Instead, according to the indictment, that money ultimately went to P&P Communications to pay Mr. Gillum.
In 2018, the indictment says, Mr. Gillum and Ms. Lettman-Hicks defrauded an unnamed campaign donor who had given $250,000 intended for Mr. Gillum's campaign. Instead, $150,000 of that was diverted to Mr. Gillum's political action committee and to P&P Communications.
According to the indictment, in November 2018, $130,000 from the campaign was supposed to go to "get out the vote" efforts. Instead, $60,000 went to P&P Communications that was used in part to pay Mr. Gillum $20,000 in bonuses from Nov. 20-29, 2018.
Eventually, it was listed falsely in Mr. Gillum's campaign finance report as a reimbursement for "Get Out The Vote Canvassing."


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Monday, May 15, 2017
8 comments:
I stopped once to take pictures of some goats who came right up to the fence. When I began to aim my camera they went clear to the other side of the enclosure. How's that for gratitude?ReplyDelete
I have a fondness for goats - and rarely see them. Thank you.ReplyDelete
For one moment I thought you were toying with the idea of getting a goat on your farm to mow the lawn. They serve two purpose, they mow and fertilize in one sweep.ReplyDelete
Have a great day.
Hugs, Julia
Nice you have some many great things near by to get pictures of. Most days it seems very much the same around here.ReplyDelete
You never know what a goat is thinking, you are right though I bet it had something to do with food.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous2:56 PM
I saw a goatReplyDelete
in a moat
but he couldn't float
so I brought him a boat...
Never mind!!
Have to love the goats unless they butt you, which happened to me, or they start eating your sweater....which happened to me:)ReplyDelete


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Uniform is optional for children, though we know many parents like to put their child in a uniform as part of the routine for getting ready for school.
Kingswood offer a green sweatshirt and white or green polo shirts. These can be ordered online through Gooddies.
School book bags can be purchased from the office at a cost of £5 each.


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I dream about my children falling into alligator infested canals and other such tragedies every week.
I take forever to finish everything- books, series, knits, jewelry, scrapbooks, etc.
I often run to 80's and 90's "I-take-myself- too-seriously-techno pop."
I had "It Had to Be You" sung at my wedding, having not heard beyond the first verse. Though that is all that was sung, and no one knows the rest anyway, I was mortified to read it later. (This is the one that is really embarrassing- but I was, like, twenty.)
I cried during Toy Story 3. Even my son remained dry eyed, though his friend rubbed his eyes and said some of his sour straws got in them 🙂
I like Raising Arizona better than Schindler's List.
Aaah, that's better.
These were inspired by this very cool photo.


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Vogue interview
We are very happy to share here the interview we have been published in Vogue. With the title Le Voilà: the sevillian accessories and headdresses firm that you must have under your radar, and signed by Mayte Salido, in it we review the origin of our store in Seville, the process of inspiration and creation, the relationship with the materials of our accessories and headdresses, the creation for brides and much more. Thank you so much for the interview. To read it complete click here.


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Farashuddin wants further probe
The government should carry out further investigation to find out whether the suspected Bangladesh Bank officials were really involved in the $101 million cyber heist, says Mohammed Farashuddin, head of the three-member body that probed the theft.
Some central bank officials were either involved in the heist intentionally or just got caught up in it, according to him.
"A few of them got into it largely due to their carelessness and idleness. But they should still be held accountable."
"There are some others who appeared to have done so intentionally. But we don't have 100 percent evidence against them and further investigation is required," he told The Daily Star in an interview yesterday.
In its final report submitted to the finance minister on May 30, the probe body mentioned the names of the government agencies that should carry out further investigation into the matter.
Farashuddin, however, didn't say the number or positions of the suspected BB officials whose names were mentioned in the report.
He maintained his stance that both SWIFT and the New York Fed were responsible for the theft.
"In the final report, we have been able to establish that SWIFT is mainly responsible for the theft. At the same time, the New York Fed is no less responsible. We have evidence."
Following the theft, the Belgium-based SWIFT and the New York Fed came under huge pressure. The two, however, refuted the claims that their systems were breached during the heist that took place on February 4.
Farashuddin blamed five SWIFT officials who established the link between the SWIFT platform at the BB and the real time gross settlement (RTGS).
"This is not a secret. The main problem lay with the linking of the RTGS and the SWIFT platform. It was completely a foolish step. There was no point in doing that."
The RTGS deals with local transactions whereas the SWIFT platform has been used for Bangladesh's international transactions since 1995, he said.
"Why should we link the two?"
By linking the two, they had created a local area network of more than 5,000 computers and the defence was gone, he said.
"It was done at the instructions of the SWIFT people. They even had not explained to the BB officials how the system works."
Farashuddin said SWIFT couldn't provide any document for the transactions carried out through the BB's SWIFT platform from February 5 and March 16. "They don't have any record of the transactions."
Bangladesh has to recover the stolen money by working together with the New York Fed and SWIFT, instead of suing them, he added.
According to the probe report, at least $54 million of the $81 million that ended up in the Philippines could be recovered.
Filipino remittance company Philrem is now holding $17 million and casino junket operator Kim Wong around $37 million.
"We have to move more vigorously to recover the money," Farashuddin said, adding that both the prime minister and the finance minister were serious about the issue.
Officials said Finance Minister AMA Muhith would give a statement in parliament on the matter in the middle of the month.
Farashuddin said the cyber theft caused a lot of damage to the BB but it also acted as a warning to the country.
According to the report, in order to ensure the country's cyber security, regulations surveillance should be put in place before launching an IT system.
Farashuddin noted that if the probe body's recommendations for the banking sector are implemented, a strong IT system would be established in the sector.
The probe team suggested that the BB governor would hold office for only one term of six years, and his tenure would not be extended.
The probe body also proposed raising the status of the governor to that of the state minister just like the chief of the Anti-Corruption Commission or the Election Commission under the warrant of precedence.
It recommended that the BB be strengthened, and the central bank, not the Banking Division, would supervise all state banks. The Division would oversee only the insurance companies and other financial institutions.
"There is no point in keeping the state banks under the Division," said Farashuddin.
The report recommended privatisation of all state banks, except for Sonali Bank.


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Musical U for Bass Players
As a bass player you are the backbone of the band. You need to be rock-solid and reliable – while also being flexible and creative.
Whether you play an upright double bass or electric, when you put your fingers on the fretboard you need to know they'll play exactly the right notes at precisely the right time.
One way to do that is by rigidly sticking to riffs, licks and basslines you've practiced a thousand times.
The other (much more enjoyable and natural) way is to develop your musical ear and rhythmic instinct so that the notes flow easily, fluidly, and perfectly in time, from your mind out into the world through your bass.
At Musical U we can help you become the kind of bassist who's in high demand for their rock-solid sense of the beat, compelling grooves that get the listener tapping their toe, confidence and ease in learning new material, and creative flair when it comes time to play a solo.
What Bass Players Can Learn in Musical U
There are three main areas where Musical U helps bassists:
- Playing Basslines By Ear
- Improvising Solos
- Rhythmic Mastery
Musical U is a fully flexible training system, meaning there are no fixed courses you have to follow.
Instead we support and guide each member to construct their own perfect personalised training plan, using the dozens of training modules provided inside. So whether you want to focus on one of the three areas above, some combination of the three, or something else entirely, Musical U can support you in reaching your bass potential.
Let's look at how Musical U can help with each of these three main areas.
Play Basslines By Ear
When you first start learning bass, each new bassline is a completely new line to learn. You have to painstakingly memorise each note's pitch and duration and gradually practice reproducing them on your bass. Even then you're often dependent on tab or sheet music to remember your lines.
Over time you get quicker at this but for most bassists the dream is to have a natural ability to simply play what they hear (or imagine) by ear on the bass.
The good news is that playing basslines by ear is a learnable skill.
At Musical U we provide a full suite of training modules for learning to recognise the notes of a chord progression by ear, including the bassline. We use a particular approach which lets you rapidly learn to play a large number of songs by ear, by focusing on the most common chord progressions and their corresponding basslines.
You can follow our "Chords By Ear" Roadmap which features a module specifically about playing the basslines which match the chords you hear.
→ Learn more by previewing our Roadmap for playing chords by ear
Improvise Solos
Playing solos is a particular focus for jazz bassists who need to swing and groove over standards when (eventually) the band gives them their moment to shine. Improvising funky and compelling basslines is a great skill for any bass player to learn though, because it frees up your fingers and gives you confidence in your connection to the instrument.
At Musical U we take the mindset that improvising is best thought of as "playing by ear what you hear in your head". So we teach our members the ear skills they need to imagine new music vividly in their mind and then bring it out on their instrument.
We have some advanced improvisation modules currently in development, but for now we recommend our "Melodies By Ear" Roadmap to help with bass improvising:
→ Learn more by previewing our Roadmap for playing melodies by ear
Rhythm Mastery
Many bass players feel slightly guilty when it comes to rhythm. You know you're part of the "rhythm section" and the band is relying on you and the drummer for that steady pulse – but if you don't already have a perfect sense of rhythm naturally, you can end up feeling a bit embarrassed and unsure how to improve it. Most players end up focusing on the intricacies of technique and hoping that by practicing fingerwork they'll automatically get tighter rhythm.
In fact the rhythm skills are mostly in your head, not your fingers. Rhythmic mastery involves a number of factors, including:
- Understanding the beat and tempo
- Having rhythmic precision in your mind and with your fingers
- Being able to read or write rhythm notation
- Creativity in using and adapting rhythm to play in different styles
- Knowing instinctively how to play with rhythms to create a great groove
We have training modules inside Musical U which help with all of these aspects of getting great rhythm, and they're encapsulated by our "Get Rhythm" Roadmap:
Something else?
Is there a different aspect of bass playing you want to improve on?
The beauty of our flexible training system is that you don't need to neatly fit one of the categories above to benefit from Musical U. We can help guide and support you whatever your particular bass mission might be.
Please note that we don't teach the specifics of instrument technique inside Musical U – we recommend a site like JamPlay or NoTreble for that.
But if what you're looking for is the "inner skills" of music – to free you up on the fretboard and help you feel like you have an easy, natural, reliable instinct for playing bass – then the chances are we've got what you need and we would love to have you join us at Musical U.
Join Musical U
As a member of Musical U you get immediate access to all Roadmaps and Training Modules, along with a friendly supportive community and expert help whenever you need it.
Join today!
Member Story: Bassist Jeff
Jeff had been playing bass for years and loves its low-end sound and the role it plays in the rhythm section. But he was getting tired of having to always fish around to find the right notes and overthink it when he played. He decided to join Musical U and see if training his ears might be the key to making playing effortless.
He'd tried a few ear training solutions before but found his progress quickly stalled. Since joining Musical U Jeff has been working on recognising intervals to help him play basslines by ear.
He has now completed our core Interval Recognition modules and recently posted that "I feel my sense of interval recognition has definitely strengthened".
Jeff says that having a training system which tracks his achievements, along with keeping a Progress Journal, have helped him to stay focused and keep on progressing towards his goal of understanding the key and its notes whenever he plays.
Bass Instrument Pack
The bass Instrument Pack provides video tutorials and practice MP3s to add instrument-specific guidance to the core musicality training provided at Musical U.
Join Now!
Want to develop your own musicality as a bassist?


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CMFF – Capital Markets Finance Factory
Capital Markets Finance Factory is an interactive auction platform which lists single credit assets available for potential investors and helps real estate owners to obtain loan funds to finance or refinance their properties. CMFF acts for both parties as arranger and fronting bank and places the underlying credit risk. The price for the credit risk will be determined by supply and demand only.
The transaction costs are lower and the returns will be higher than those of comparable credit products and the parties will have full insight in all accounting information through the virtual data room.
For further information click www.cmff.eu


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My apologies!
For those of you following the blog for lent, let me offer my sincere apologies for the disruption in posts the last week or so. Jeff and I were traveling out of the country, and although we had been assured that it would be no problem hooking up and posting and connecting to wifi.... well, things don't always go according to plan.
Although that's not me in the picture above, it is an accurate representation of me the first few days. After that, I just had to let it go and remind myself that God is still in control and the fate of the free world does not rest on the postings of my blog. What a relief!
Several lessons learned from this trip, not the least of which is to have everything done ahead of time and scheduled for automatic posting. Life is so much easier when you're ahead of the game!
Anyway, I do apologize, and will be back on track tomorrow with devotions for lent. Hope to see you there and hear what God is doing in your life.
I hope all is well with you and so appreciate your visits here. I pray that God uses them to bless you right where you need it the most!


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Introduction: Kusudama Flower
Hello Everyone!
This instructable will provide the needed steps to make your very own Kusudama flower. These paper flowers are very easy to make and can be easily personalized! You can add your own flare by choosing patterns and colors that speak to you! Kusudama flowers make great gifts and decorations! These flowers are a fun activity for all ages!
Step 1: Required Supplies
All you will need to construct this Kusudama flower is five pieces of square paper. You can use regular or origami paper, but origami paper will be easier to use. Also, you will need some type of adhesive; super glue would be preferred.
Step 2: First Fold
Take the square piece of paper and fold it in half along the diagonal axis. Push down firmly on the fold, to create a crease.
Step 3: Reforming a Square
Fold both the right and left corners of the triangle up to the top, forming a square.
Step 4: Making the Flaps
Fold the left and right corners of the triangle so that the edges meet the diagonal creases you made in Step 3.
Step 5: Flattening the Flaps
Unfold each edge and place a finger into the pocket of the flap. Once the flap is opened flatten it down. Refer to figure for clarification.
Step 6: Fold the Top Portions
Fold the top portions of each flap down. Refer to figure.
Step 7: Folding the Flaps
Take each flattened side and fold it in half
Step 8: Forming the Petal
Take each side and bring them together. Do this carefully to make sure the paper is not creased or damaged. Once the sides are positioned correctly glue the sides together. This will create one petal.
Step 9: Make the Other Petals
Repeat steps 2-8 to make a total of 5 petals.
Step 10: Forming the Flower
Join one unit to another by gluing them in the areas as shown. Repeat this step until all 5 units are glued together.
Step 11: Admire Your Work
Congratulations, you have now completed your flower! Admire your work and show your friends!


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It probably wasn't much of a happy holiday for Bruce Springsteen.
Just weeks before the launch of his 18th album, "High Hopes," online retailer Amazon dropped the ball and accidentally made it available for a few hours, causing the album to leak.
But it's probably the best Christmas present that impatient E Street Band fans could have hoped for. And that includes us. Here's our track-by-track rundown.
"High Hopes" ★★
Bruce comes out of the blocks with a brassy, boisterous take on a song originally recorded by folk-blues outfit The Havalinas. A solid if unremarkable start.
"Harry's Place" ★★★½
The streetwise feel of Springsteen's early albums is resurrected for this creeping masterpiece. "Harry's Place" is clearly a seedy, dangerous den of criminal activity, but The Boss' seductive description makes you want to be there all the same.
"American Skin (41 Shots)" ★★★
Following the shooting of African immigrant Amadou Diallo in 1999 by four New York police offers, Springsteen began performing this powerful take on the incident. He revived it during gigs in the wake of the death of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin in 2012, and at long last, it gets a full and affecting studio version.
"Just Like Fire Would" ★★
A spirited chronicle of life on the road that stays faithful to the original by Australian punks The Saints. The E Street Band do it justice, but even so, it feels like filler.
"Down in the Hole" ★★½
Written during the sessions for Bruce's post-9/11 opus "The Rising," the ghosts of New York City's past are audible in this mournful account of a narrator literally digging for a lost loved one amid the ruins of a city.
"Heaven's Wall" ★★
Bruce goes gospel in this spiritually themed rocker, but for all the exuberance, it doesn't quite satisfy, either lyrically or musically.
"Frankie Fell in Love" ★★½
A rowdy rocker that encapsulates love and life in Anytown, USA. It's an obvious throwback to the E Street Band's glory days, and could have fit in perfectly on "The River" or "Born in the U.S.A."
"This Is Your Sword" ★½
The E Street Band are in full bluster while puffed-up declarations of solidarity rise proudly through the lyrics, but "This Is Your Sword" is still the kind of song Bruce and the boys could knock out in their sleep.
"Hunter of Invisible Game" ★★★
The string-heavy arrangement might not grab you on first listen, but it's the wonderfully ambiguous lyrical themes of delusion and salvation that will keep you coming back. Bruce's skill as a wordsmith obviously hasn't deserted him.
"The Ghost of Tom Joad" ★
This bro-rock travesty tramples on the quiet poignancy of the 1995 original, thanks to completely unnecessary guitar solos from Rage Against The Machine's Tom Morello. It's a live favorite, but jars badly on record.
"The Wall" ★★½
Bruce's stately and moving tribute to an old Jersey Shore musician named Walter Cichon, who was dispatched to serve in Vietnam but never returned. "You and your rock 'n' roll band were the best thing this s - - t town ever had," he remembers. But within this personal tribute lies an acknowledgment of the unfulfilled potential of all who died in the war.
"Dream Baby Dream" ★★★
For years, Springsteen has been known to perform his hymnal version of "Dream Baby Dream" — a signature song for the cult New York electro-punk group Suicide. Here, it serves as a bright and beautiful end to "High Hopes."
"High Hopes" is released officially on Jan. 14. Pre-order now on iTunes.


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Friday, February 10, 2012
Valentines and Roses
34 comments:
Your frozen gifts of love are so pretty. I can almost smell them, they look so fresh.ReplyDelete
I have dried many flowers. As long as they are dried hanging upside down, they retain their loveliness longer. They hang everywhere in my home.
BlessYourHeart and Happy Valentines Day~~~soon
Wow! Those frozen roses held up well! Nice!ReplyDelete
Wow! Those frozen roses held up well. They are lovely!ReplyDelete
didn't know you can do this. i'm learning a lot from you, rose. first the porkies, now freezing roses. lol. linked this up already, dear. thanks again for joining! :)ReplyDelete
Nice tips! When I was in elementary, we always have this project of drying flowers by keeping it flat inside a big book. Tapos after many days ang cute kasi ifframe namin at ieexhibit. Happiness!ReplyDelete
Come see my happiness too!
HPS! I never heard of this either!! Cool concept.. Hope you enjoy your weekend!Delete
WOW, these are frozen?!!!! They look so fresh. Beautiful for Valentines Day.ReplyDelete
Lovely roses! Freezing them is no doubt a great way to preserve them. Thank you for sharing and a Happy Pink Saturday weekend and Happy Valentines day to you.ReplyDelete
How beautiful. Happy Valentine's Day and Pink Saturday.ReplyDelete
Pretty,pretty! I add all the preservative that comes with the roses, to the vase and make sure there is NOT the amount of water the manufacturer suggests. I use a much smaller amount and I have learned that by doing this and just letting the roses rest, undisturbed, they will dry in an upright position. I have several bouquets I have done this way and then lightly sprayed with matte acrylic sealer and voila, beautiful roses to add to wreaths, etc.ReplyDelete
♥ Jil
Happy Pink Saturday Sweetie...ReplyDelete
What a gorgeous share. I bet those roses smelled heavenly frozen, would make the freezer smell wonderful.
I love drying flowers though and they do last forever. Yours are so romantic. Thank you for sharing with me this evening.
Have a beautiful weekend. Many hugs and much love, Sherry
Beautiful! I never even thought about freezing roses!ReplyDelete
Happy Pink Saturday,
Awww! Ganda nong mga flowers! <3ReplyDelete
Ngayong ko lang po narining ang na freeze yung mga flowers para manatiling fresh! Nice!
Here for my happiness is... visit! ♥
Such a gorgeous bouquet, fortunately roses can last forever when we dry them.ReplyDelete
Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Pink Saturday,
Happy Pink Saturday and Happy Valentine's Day! The roses look beautiful. Joyous Wishes, LindaReplyDelete
Your roses are gorgeous! Happy Pink Saturday! ~Diane (I am #16)ReplyDelete
Flowers are one of the most beautiful creations ever. That is a good way to preserve them. Sorry you had to throw them away.ReplyDelete
The Flowers are gorgeous!!ReplyDelete
Thank you for sharing!!
Suzann ~xoxo~
Very beautiful indeed. I have several roses that I have dried over the years and I keep them in a special box. I had never heard of freezing though. The definitely keep their lovely color frozen. Happy Pink Saturday.ReplyDelete
Hugs, LisaKay
Belles Roses Romantiques
I have plenty dry roses, if you spray them (after they dry)with hair spray they will look great for even longerReplyDelete
- AnonymousFebruary 11, 2012 at 5:05 PM
Great collection of photos!ReplyDelete
I love that last bouquet Rose!ReplyDelete
Did you get a lot of snow up your way. We got about three inches down here. Brrr...
Carletta@Carletta's Captures
Beautiful Roses!!! Can you tell I love pink roses??ReplyDelete
i have never seen frozen flowers before. how long did you freeze this bouquet?ReplyDeleteReplies
I froze them for a year and a half and it stayed that way the whole time. It was actually painful for me to throw it away lol.Delete
Beautiful roses. Why don't you link your post to Seasonal Sundays?ReplyDelete
- The Tablescaper
I also dry flowers for scrapbooks...hehheeReplyDelete
Here for Happiness Is, Ms. Rose...
Lovely roses - absolutely my favourite colour. Thank you so much for visiting me, and sorry for the late reply (I was teaching yesterday and just too tired to do any blog hopping once I got back). Happy Pink Saturday!ReplyDelete
roses are so pretty in so many colors and varieties.ReplyDelete
awww, that is so nice that you freeze them the flowers sis. they are very preserved. :)ReplyDelete
beautiful flowers Sis, loved it :-) Visiting fromReplyDelete
Happiness is...hope that you can return the visit too.
Flowers and Valentines Day are synonymous to each other. And so are chocolates. Thanks for the post. God bless you all always.ReplyDelete
super ganda naman ng flowers, visiting late for happiness is, mine is up atReplyDelete
see you around!!!
Sugarcreek Roadtrips
It's been a while since we last visited Sugarcreek. We used to go there almost every weekend just so we can drive around and see other ...


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Doctor Tells Mom To Cry After Revealing Daughter Is Autistic. Mom's Reaction Teaches Her A Lesson
A doctor tells this mom to cry when she delivers some bad news about her daughter. However, this mother's reaction really surprised me, you'll see what I mean.
"I didn't cry when I learned that our two-year-old Kristi had, as we suspected, autism. 'Go ahead and cry,' the doctor advised kindly. 'It helps prevent serious emotional difficulties.' But I couldn't cry then nor during the months that followed.
"When Kristi was seven, we enrolled her in our neighborhood kindergarten. It would have been comforting to cry that day, as I left her in that room full of self-assured, eager, alert five-year-olds. Kristi had spent hours upon hours playing by herself, but this moment, when she was the one difficult child among twenty, was probably the loneliest she had ever known.
However, positive things began to happen to Kristi in her school, and to her schoolmates too. When boasting of their own accomplishments, Kristi's classmates always took pains to praise her as well. 'Kristi got all her spelling words right today.' No one bothered to add that her spelling list was much easier than anyone else's.
Then, during her second year in school, she faced a very traumatic experience. The big public event of the term was a competition based on a culmination of the year's music and physical education activities. Kristi was way behind in both music and motor coordination. My husband and I dreaded the day as it came. On the day of the program, Kristi pretended to be sick. Desperately, I wanted to keep her home. Why let Kristi fail in a gym filled with parents, students and teachers?
What a simple solution it would have been just to let my child stay home. But I forced my daughter to go to school and forced myself to go to the program. When it finally was time for Kristi's group to perform, her class was divided into relay teams. With her limp and slow, clumsy reactions, she would surely hold up her team.
The performance went surprisingly well, though, until it was time for the gunnysack race. Now each child had to climb into the sack from a standing position, hop to a goal line, return and climb out of the sack. I watched Kristi standing near the end of her line of players, looking frantic.
But when Kristi's turn came, the tallest boy in the line stepped behind Kristi and placed his hands on her waist. Two other boys stood a little ahead of her. And the minute the player in front of Kristi stepped from the sack, these two boys grabbed the sack, held it open while the tall boy lifted Kristi and dropped her neatly into it. A girl in front of Kristi took her hand and briefly supported her until she gained her balance, and then she hopped off, smiling and proud.
Amid the cheers of teachers, schoolmates and parents, I thanked God for the warm, understanding people in life who made it possible for my daughter to be like her fellow human beings that day.
Then I finally cried."
This mom never gave up on her precious daughter and supported her all the way. What a touching moment for all the young kids to rally around Kristi and help her feel part of the group. It goes to show every good deed makes an impact, no matter how big or small it is.
Share this with your friends and family today.


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OAME Golden Section Spring Conference
The OAME Golden Section Spring Conference takes place in Welch Hall at Brock University on Wednesday, April 17. The conference is presented by the Golden Section of OAME, Brock University Faculty of Mathematics and Science, Brock University Department of Mathematics and Brock University Faculty of Education.
This year, the conference features a keynote by the inspiring Bill Ralph.
Registration Information
Conference Fee
- $30.00 for OAME member
- $35.00 for non-member
- $10 for Faculty of Education Students
- Dinner: additional $25.00
All registration will be done electronically at www.oame.on.ca/mcis starting on Tuesday, March 26th. Click on Conferences Open For Registration, then click on Online Registration for Golden MiniConference 2019. If you have questions regarding registration, please e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com.
Other questions can be directed to: firstname.lastname@example.com or firstname.lastname@example.com.
Driving Directions to Brock University can be found here: brocku.ca/directions. Parking is available in Lot D. When arriving, tell the parking attendant you are attending the OAME conference to be admitted into the lot. To locate Welch Hall, please view the map of the Brock Campus available at brocku.ca/maps.
Schedule of Events
3:45 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. – Registration Welch Hall, Brock University
4:00 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. – Session A: Keynote – Dr. Bill Ralph
5:15 p.m. to p.m. 5:30 – Break
5:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. – Session B: Workshops
7:00 p.m. – Dinner in Pond Inlet, Brock University (dinner will be a buffet selection including salads, pasta, an entre with side dishes and desserts)
Session A: Keynote
After professing his love for mathematics for more than 30 years in the Faculty of Mathematics at Brock University, Bill Ralph is retiring! Over those 30 years, Bill has been a consistent and enthusiastic supporter of Golden Section – he has opened his classroom to our students, given talks at our spring conference, provoked our thinking about the role of technology at our inaugural fall social, welcomed students at our Math Olympics and given a keynote address when the Provincial OAME conference was hosted by Golden. But more importantly, Bill has been, and continues to be, an inspiration to many mathematics teachers in the Niagara Region and beyond.
We are thrilled that Bill will enlighten, entertain and inspire us once again at our mini-conference. Bill will be sharing highlights of his many interests, with a focus on:
BOOM OR DOOM –The Mathematical Ups And Downs Of The Stock Market
If your house is built on quicksand, in an earthquake zone, and on a flood plain, then buying stocks will be as easy for you as falling off a cliff. If you're very risk averse like me, you might want to bring a little mathematics into your investing to help you sleep at night. We'll look at what mathematics tells us about predicting risk and return and see if it can explain why the teachers' pension fund does so well. Bring some coins to toss for some hands-on experiments that could introduce your students (elementary or secondary!) to stock market mathematics. You might want to have a look at my financial website www.portfoliomath.com or my art website www.billralph.com.
Session B: Workshops
B1: Engaging Students in Mathematics Learning Through Games and Puzzles
- Presenters: Mary Vetere & Melissa Wigglesworth, NCDSB
- Audience: Grades K – 3
- Are you looking for ideas to engage students in math learning? This session will explore a range of tasks that can be used immediately to get K-3 students excited about mathematics.
B2: Engaging Students in Mathematics Learning Through Games and Puzzles
- Presenters: Susan Ume & Jaime Rootes, NCDSB
- Audience: Grades 4 – 8
- Are you looking for ideas to engage students in math learning? This session will explore a range of tasks that can be used immediately to get 4-8 students excited about mathematics.
B3: Inquiry Based-Learning in Mathematics in Junior/Intermediate Classrooms
- Presenter: Gillian Berard, NCDSB
- Audience: Grades 5 – 8
- "How can I create a business?" Learn how to implement, assess and document student driven inquiries in the junior/intermediate classrooms in mathematics. Engage in activities that show how to create a class of deep learning, wonder, to spiral your program and to integrate multiple strands during an inquiry. Learn how to use questions and curiosities to engage students in your mathematics classroom with examples of financial literacy, woodworking, coding, building, cooking and much more …
B5: Building a Thinking Classroom
- Presenter: Braden Coles, DSBN
- Audience: 9 – 12
- Have you ever wondered who does the thinking in your classroom? Is it your students or you? During this session we will explore elements of Peter Liljedahl's Thinking Classroom such as vertical non-permanent surfaces, visible random groupings and flow. In this session participants will learn about these elements and how they benefit student learning. Participants will explore problem solving in a vertical classroom, putting themselves in the position of the student and witness firsthand the benefits to student learning. [Note: This session will be different from the DSBN PD Day session.]
B6: Let Me Tell You My Problems
- Presenter: Angelo Lillo, DSBN
- Audience: Grades 9 – 12
- Problem based instruction is a great way to engage students in Mathematics. I try to use problems to begin my classes as often as possible, but it is sometimes difficult to find good ones that fit the curriculum. I have scoured the internet and other sources for problems that will challenge your students and help them to become creative thinkers and risk-takers. Join me for a hour where you will have a chance to work on some interesting problems that fit different parts of the secondary Mathematics curriculum. . [Note: This session will be different from the DSBN PD Day session.]
B7: Can You Escape Math Class?
- Presenter: Melissa Suita, DSBN
- Audience: Grades 9 – 12
- Escape Rooms are all the rage right now and students are just as hooked as adults. Why not take something as fascinating as an Escape Room experience and adapt it for the classroom environment! With just a few basic supplies, and a bit of creativity, you can create a similar experience for your math students.


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Welcome to the Florida State University Schools
Digital Information & Technology Class
Throuout the year we will be exploring the everyday facets of Technology in the School and Business environment. This class is a hands on, interactive experience. Students will talke part in everything from building a basic personal computer to installing software and obtaining industry level certifications*. We look forward to a great year of exploration and discovery.


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Nickelodeon wants more Kuu Kuu Harajuku. This week, the network announced they've ordered a second season of the Gwen Stefani series.
Co-created and executive produced by Stefani, the animated show follows a band of girls who live in Harajuku, a district in Tokyo, Japan. The voice cast includes Maggie Chretien, Daisy Masterman, Emma Taylor-Isherwood, and Sally Taylor-Isherwood.
Nickelodeon has ordered 26 episodes for season two of Kuu Kuu Harajuku, which will "continue to follow the kuu kuu adventures of the band HJ5–Love, Angel, Music, Baby and G–through their super-cute world of music, fashion and style."
What do you think? Have you seen Kuu Kuu Harajuku? Are you glad it's been renewed?


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News Story
Senate GOP all back arresting Maricopa County supervisors for contempt
All 16 Republicans in the Arizona Senate co-sponsored a resolution calling for the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to be held in contempt and arrested for refusing to comply with wide-ranging subpoenas for election equipment and materials.
Senate Resolution 1005 directs Senate President Karen Fann to "take all legal action pursuant to section 41-1153" of state law, which says that any "witness neglecting or refusing to attend in obedience to a subpoena may be arrested by the sergeant-at-arms and brought before the senate or house."
Senate rules, which can only be waived with a two-thirds vote of the chamber, require a resolution to be read three times on separate days before a final vote. The chamber is adjourned on Friday, meaning the earliest a vote could take place would be Monday. Given the likelihood that all 14 Senate Democrats will vote against it, the resolution would require the unanimous vote of the Republican caucus to pass.
The supervisors have challenged the subpoenas in court, arguing that the Senate lacks the legal authority to seek some of the requested materials. But though a judge has not yet ruled on whether the Senate can legally demand the materials, Fann moved forward with a contempt resolution after the supervisors on Tuesday refused a request to set a date for when the county will comply with the subpoenas.
The subpoenas issued by Fann and Sen. Warren Petersen, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, demand that Maricopa County turn over ballot tabulation machines, 2.1 million ballots and other materials and data from the 2020 general election. Despite a lack of any evidence that the outcome of any races were affected by fraud or misconduct, they want to conduct a forensic audit of those materials.
Maricopa County has expressed concerns about who would be examining its voting machines if it complied with the subpoena, and it appears those concerns aren't without foundation. An email obtained by the Arizona Mirror shows that the Senate wants Allied Security Operations Group, a firm allied with former President Donald Trump's campaign that has repeatedly spread misinformation and false election fraud claims, to count hundreds of thousands of ballots and examine tabulation machines.
The Senate announced on Friday that it has selected and hired a firm to conduct the audit. Fann later told the Arizona Mirror that nothing is final and that other firms are under consideration as well.
Maricopa County has provided the Senate with tens of thousands of pages of publicly available voter registration information, logs showing which election workers accessed equipment and detailed election results. But the county argues that state law prohibits it from turning over actual ballots. And the county said state law and its contract with vendor Dominion Voting Systems may prohibit it from turning over tabulation machines.
Supervisor Jack Sellers, the chairman of the Board of Supervisors, said it was "frustrating that the Senate would even consider" finding the board in contempt. He said state law bars the release of the ballots, and if the Senate wants them, it should convince a judge to allow access.
"If they truly believe in the legality of their position, they will join us in seeking a solution through the courts," Sellers, a Republican, said in a press statement on Tuesday, after Petersen raised the possibility of finding the supervisors in contempt, including arresting them and charging them with misdemeanor offenses.
Supervisor Steve Gallardo, the board's lone Democrat, said it was shameful that the Senate issued its subpoenas in response to "unfounded conspiracies," and said it's worse that it is now "doubling down in pursuit of these falsehoods by considering contempt charges."
"Some consider our decision to stand firm 'contempt' of the Senate. The only contempt I see is what state senators have shown to Maricopa County voters since early November. Contempt for their privacy. Contempt for the way the majority voted. Contempt for the democratic process," Gallardo said in a press statement on Wednesday.
Republicans hold a 4-1 majority on the Board of Supervisors. All five members have repeatedly defended the integrity of the general election from the false and baseless fraud allegations that have proliferated since the election.
The county began its own audit of its tabulation machines on Tuesday, and expects to finish on Thursday or Friday. A second audit will be conducted next week.
Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics.


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This unmistakeable, unique, long-legged, mostly ground-dwelling raptor with possibly the coolest scientific name (Sagittarius serpentarius, meaning "of snakes) was announced recently as Birdlife South Africa's Bird of the Year for 2019.
Appearing as if it is the offspring of an eagle and a crane, its English name is thought to be derived from the Arabic saqr-et-tair, which means "hunter bird". Although they can fly, the prefer to stay on the ground, sometimes walking up to 30 kilometres (18 miles) a day!
It is quite a special sight to see one of these uncommon birds purposefully striding in the open grassland savannas of Africa, overpowering and eating anything from insects, lizards, small mammals, birds and of course snakes. Interestingly, despite its fearsome snake-killing reputation, snakes actually don't make up a large proportion of the Secretarybird's diet.
Secretarybirds build large flat nests in the tops of thorn trees or dense bushes and breed year-round. The female does most of the incubation and is fed by the male during this time. A clutch usually contains one to three eggs. Siblings do not show any aggression to each other and if conditions are good it is likely that all of the chicks will fledge successfully. Both adults feed the chicks by regurgitating prey stored in their crops while hunting.
Endemic to Africa, these amazing birds are most easily seen in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in South Africa, the Serengeti in Tanzania, Awash in Ethiopia and the Masai Mara in Kenya.
Secretarybirds are indeed special, and with populations rapidly declining and their habitat severely threatened, it is imperative that we try our best to save these charismatic birds.
Join us on a Nature Travel Birding trip in Africa to see these fascinating "snake-killers" in action!
Enquire by sending us an e-mail at firstname.lastname@example.com or visit www.naturetravelbirding.com for more information.