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Banking & Payments
Trade-finance blockchains jostle for prime time
HSBC's live transaction on "Voltron" shows trade finance is closer to blockchain deployment – but which blockchain?
Last month, HSBC announced it had issued a letter-of-credit financing over a blockchain. The deal involved supporting the shipment of soybeans between two units of Cargill, from Argentina to Malaysia, with ING serving as the seller's bank.
Unlike a traditional L.C. deal, which takes up to a month to process because of all the paperwork involved, this transaction was completed in 24 hours, because everything was handled using the Corda distributed ledger operated by R3.
It is the latest, most concrete example of how distributed-ledger technology is poised to transform the $8 trillion world of trade finance. First, though, competing platforms are going to duke it out among corporations, banks and regulators.
This is a contest for creating a utility-like structure enabling the digitization of trade finance across many players. If it ends with no clear winner and a variety of blockchain solutions that have to connect via APIs, the industry risks creating a new generation of business silos.
On the other hand, if the industry settles on a common ledger framework, it could breathe new life into the L.C. market, and give banks new ways to both cut costs and drive new revenues.
Reviving L.C.s
L.C.s make up about $1.4 trillion of the total trade-finance market in terms of annual contracts. That seems like a big number, but L.C.s have been in decline as a proportion of trade financing tools, and now account for only about 11% of transactions. L.C.s are commoditized – one contract looks mostly like another – but complicated and paper-intensive in their execution, with banks coordinating documents among freight forwarders, export credit agencies, insurers and regulators – none of which have ever agreed on a standard of automation, therefore making the whole thing slow and error-prone.
Account receivables (selling invoices to banks) and open-account financing (in which exporters ship goods before getting paid) have become preferred over L.C.s, in part reflecting the greater influence of anchor corporate buyers in the process; in trade finance, banks are just another layer of service providers.
But if the L.C. industry can be automated and sped up, like the HSBC-Cargill-ING example, then perhaps L.C.s will regain their luster, and allow banks to take a more prominent role as trusted guarantors. At the very least, it would encourage more trade, and grow the pie while reducing the headcount costs to manage all that paperwork.
"Barriers to trade aren't limited to tariffs," said Joshua Kroeker, HSBC's lead for distributed-ledger technology, based in Hong Kong. "It's companies not being able to access working capital, or unable to make sales overseas due to their lack of experience with risk-mitigation products such as L.C.s. Our incentive to do this [pilot over Corda] is to have more trade: get more customers to use L.C.s, and grow the pie."
Project Voltron
L.C.s aren't the first trade-related project to emerge from R3: that would be one called Marco Polo, driven by TradeIX, a technology company based in Singapore, which is aimed at the open-account segment.
R3 is a New York-based consortium of banks, insurers and other institutions, as well as regulators, with a mission to provide enterprise-level DLT to financial markets.
Its product, Corda, is not a classic blockchain like the one behind Bitcoin (for example), in which consensus is reached by broadcasting every transaction across the entire network; instead it operates permissioned, private environments in which "business network operators" – member banks, or their tech development partners – write the applications that run a node on top of Corda's operating system, and say who gets to see what information.
Banks are involved in multiple Corda-based projects, and from Marco Polo emerged a smaller group of 11 banks interested in what became known as "Voltron". (Blockchain engineers apparently have a thing for robot cartoons. The name is an internal moniker, not a product brand, but DigFinuses it here to differentiate it from other projects.)
Bringing in CryptoBLK
HSBC emerged to take the lead and sought developers to make Voltron happen. The finalist was selected by the bank's London-based innovation team, which gave vendors samples of code to see how developers would improve or write it.
The mandate went to CryptoBLK, a blockchain developer in Hong Kong. CryptoBLK was set up in 2017 by Duncan Wong, a cryptographer who had spearheaded the fintech initiative at ASTRI, a government-backed research body. At ASTRI, Wong had worked with banks and financial regulatory bodies on issues around cybersecurity and blockchain proofs of concept; he then set up CryptoBLK to commercialize production-ready solutions.
With the HSBC mandate in hand, Wong says it became important to ensure Voltron could keep up with the fast pace of development of Corda. (ASTRI used Ethereum's blockchain, but Wong says it Voltron required additional encryption mechanisms for security and access control.) In the end, this meant writing code from scratch.
"The lesson we learned was to ensure the future is scalable," Wong told DigFin. HSBC and the other Voltron members all expect dozens of banks to join, and each one would attract hundreds of corporate clients. "So we're designing this for hundreds of thousands of corporates and hundreds of banks," Wong said.
CryptoBLK and the banks then had to address a number of areas before the pilot run.
Tech challenges
One is access control. Unlike in Bitcoin, in which all nodes share the ledger, an enterprise DLT like Corda requires privacy, meaning an additional encryption layer to ensure only the relevant parties can see the L.C. details. That in turn requires complex management of private keys (the hashes, or lines of code, that let permissioned parties access information).
Second is managing the complexity of designing smart contracts to recreate the workflows associated with traditional L.C.s. Blockchain tech offers immutability: no one can change a record on their own, thus making audits easy. This is where the real cost-savings accrue, but using software (smart contracts) to ensure the integrity of documents requires a lot of development work.
That work has paid off: the Cargill soybean deal proves the system works in a live environment. But Voltron isn't yet ready for prime time.
It still needs to provision "high availability", meaning it can carry out transactions even when some nodes crash. The developers are also working on "multi-threading", meaning a given node can handle a virtually unlimited number of transactions, so Voltron can scale.
And then the developers need to establish disaster recovery systems, as well as design protocols for revoking or renewing private keys in the event of cyber attacks or security breaches.
CryptoBLK's Wong says the goal is to have a minimum viable product out and running 24/7 by the summer of 2019, but it may take longer before a comprehensive product is ready at scale.
Going enterprise
That's still a ways off. But the pilot presages more activity.
R3 will launch its enterprise version by the end of this month. Carl Wegner, Taipei-based managing director and head of Asia at R3, says until now Corda development has been open source, which has led to lots of shared ideas, for Voltron and for other Corda-based projects.
But open source doesn't enable commercialization, which means deployment at a sophistication that banks require. Technical issues such as high availability, scalability and backup systems require a proprietary, enterprise-driven model, which also lets R3 begin to make money from these projects.
From there, the project becomes a race to add banks to Voltron. HSBC's Kroeker emphasizes the consortium nature of the project. "This is an HSBC-owned platform," he said. "This is decentralized."
More banks will join as their big customers express more interest in blockchain. "Customers drive the world," Kroeker said. "Banks have already been getting an earful about blockchain" and he expects the pace of adoption to quicken.
Voltron is the most prominent project for automating L.C. trade finance, but it isn't the only one.
IBM's Fabric, a DLT under the aegis of Hyperledger, another open-sourced platform, is working with many banks to deploy a solution.
Other banks may have their own DLT projects: in 2016, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Wells Fargo pioneered what is probably the first blockchain-supported L.C., moving cotton from Texas to Qingdao on behalf of trading firm Brighann Cotton. (The developer of that tech, California-based Skuchain, has since pivoted from L.C.s to supply-chain invoice finance.)
In Europe, along similar lines, a consortium of banks have launched WeTrade as a DLT for trade finance.
Big corporations are driving their own solutions: Maersk, the shipping giant, has separate projects with both IBM and R3.
And governments are developing their own blockchain protocols: the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, in partnership with the Monetary Authority of Singapore, is developing the Global Trade Connectivity Network.
A HKMA spokesperson told DigFin: "When the interconnection of trade finance platforms between Hong Kong and Singapore is in place, this should…encourage other trading partners to participate."
The GTCN is being developed to accommodate other digitized standards, so it can connect with other privately led systems, the spokesperson said.
End game
But this leads to questions of just how many blockchain solutions are required for trade finance.
"If each consortium has its own solution, without an underlying platform that links them together, you end up with the same problem that you already have in banking today," R3's Wegner said. "You end up with disparate systems that have to be connected through APIs."
For now, it seems proponents of all these different distributed ledgers say they are building to scale and to speak each other's language, so they can one day connect. But this is untested.
Blockchain technology now offers the first serious opportunity to digitize trade finance. Consortiums, vendors, governments, banks and tech companies are building what they hope will become the industry standard. Some are doing this from a regional starting point, while others are trying to be global and then add on local partners.
Can all of these solutions actually rub along together indefinitely, or will there be a point at which the knives come out and one standard triumphs? These projects are not yet fully deployable, but they are being developed with one eye on this ultimate competition.


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Why Arizmendi Bakery is a Broke-Ass' Best Friend
Bread has long been a Broke-Ass's friend. Yeast, flour, a lil sugar and oil and water, and you've got a loaf to last you around seven meals, depending on your appetite, perseverance, and depth of broke-assitude. Tempting, I know.
Luckily for those of us who love a leavened loaf but don't feel particularly compelled to make our own, there are so many bread vendors around. Who knew? It's everywhere.
Especially at Arizmendi, a worker-owned bakery with six spots in the Bay Area, two in SF itself. They've got some tricked out little rolls, foccaccias, scones, muffins, and cookies in here, but strangely enough, Arizmendi's English muffins – a criminally underlooked breakfast side dish? – are the real calling card for me. Often still warm from their royal treatment in the huge oven, the slightly sour little bread disks are crunchy on the outside, dense and chewy inside. And 60 cents each. Meaning it's finally time to throw that brunch party: at three English muffins a person, everyone gets an extra mimosa or two.
1331 9th Avenue
[Inner Sunset]
1268 Valencia Street


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Learning curve
OK, so I tried to add the sitemap because it can place a site higher in searcher and spiders love them. I did all the stuff you are supposed to do. Installed it. uninstalled it. Re-installed it. then I happened to notice there is a little box that says "hidden." Could this possible be the issue? I unchecked it and voila, there was the site map! LOL! Learning new stuff is SO much fun!!


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Fifth Sunday after PentecostMark 5
And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. 25 Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. 26 She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. 27 She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 for she said, "If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well." 29 Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30 Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, "Who touched my clothes?" 31 And his disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, 'Who touched me?'" 32 He looked all around to see who had done it. 33 But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease."
Some days I can't decide if I'm Statler or Waldorf.
You know Statler and Waldorf, two old guys in the balcony, complaining about The Muppet Show? And while they may not find the show very entertaining, they have no trouble entertaining each other:
WALDORF: They aren't half bad.
STATLER: Nope, they're ALL bad!
Maybe it's a product of entering late-middle-age—complaining about what the kids are doing, saying 'back in my day' far too often, or appearing shocked and appalled when someone doesn't know about 8-track tapes or the leisure suit.
Or maybe it's just fun to complain. It would be ironic to complain that more people don't know about Eric Berne's 1964 classic "Games People Play," and my favourite game which Dr. Berne calls "Ain't it Awful." The 'game' is how people try to outdo each other with examples of what's wrong with the world without ever engaging in a meaningful conversation.
'Ain't it Awful' could be the theme of half the conversations we have in the wider-church. It's at presbytery and conference that the real Statler and Waldorfs emerge, with everyone complaining about everyone else and no one enjoying the meeting. Actually, the parallel between the wider-church and the Muppets is a good one: like Statler and Waldorf, everyone who is complaining is part of the show, making it a case of 'you're really complaining about yourself.'
Like a story within a story. The Muppet Show is a classic example of this—a story about presenting a story, with the narrative switching back and forth between the presentation of the story and the story of how the story is being presented. A bit like the Wizard of Oz, which is, in fact, and story about about a story within a story. Or for Simpsons fans, "Itchy and Scratchy" a cartoon being watched my cartoon characters.
You will not lack for things to ponder this afternoon, or perhaps you will try to forget the whole thing. Just now you heard a preacher comment on his sermon within his sermon, and this commentary, by extension, is the comment on the comment within the sermon, which is clearly going too far. And when we've gone too far, the only logical thing to do is look at the Bible.
The passage we heard from Mark 5 presents a story within a story. It's the story of the healing of Jairus' daughter interrupted by the story of Jesus healing the bleeding woman. The entire narrative begins in a boat, when landing, is met by a great crowd. A leader named Jairus falls at Jesus feet and begs that the Lord heal his daughter, now at the point of death. 'If you lay your hands on her,' he says, 'she will be made well.'
Proceeding toward Jairus' home, a woman who had suffered with a constant issue of blood—for twelve years—came up behind Jesus and touched his cloak. She had convinced herself that if she should merely touch his clothes, she would be made well. Her faith was rewarded, the bleeding stopped, and then something nearly as extraordinary happened: Jesus said, 'who touched me?'
The fools of this story in a story—the disciples—answer 'don't you see the crowd pressing in? And yet you ask who touched you?' But turning, Jesus knew. And knowing he knew, she fell before him and said 'when you touched me, your faith made you well. Go in peace.'
But the interruption is interrupted by friends of Jairus. Arriving from Jairus's house, they report the girl as died, and insist Jairus trouble the Master no more. On hearing this, Jesus speaks (yes, he interrupts the interruption to the interruption) these words: 'Do not fear, only believe.' Moving to Jairus' house, Jesus tells them to stop weeping. 'The child is not dead,' he says, 'only sleeping.'
This, of course, is met with derision. Jesus clears the house, and taking the parents of this small girl, they head inside. He took her hand and said, 'Little girl, get up!' At this, she got up, and began to walk about. He ordered them to tell no one, 'and them told them to give her something to eat.'
I think the last line is the my favourite part of the outer story: raising the dead, then reminding the utterly astonished parents that she might be hungry. The Bread of Life reminds the parents of the newly living to give the girl bread. She might even ask my favourite line from the inner story: 'who touched me,' or who took my hand and made me well?
Scholars have two names for this story within a story, one you are not expected to remember (intercalation) and one you may still be thinking about at lunch: called 'the Markan sandwich.' Yes, biblical scholars can be that fun. Throughout Mark there are examples of 'the Markan sandwich,' stories within stories, Mark interrupting himself to somehow make a point. Here at three:
We heard one three weeks ago: 1. Jesus' family are looking for him, 2. Jesus tells the leaders that a house divided cannot stand, 3. and his family are still looking for him. Or 1. Cursing the fig tree, 2. Cleansing the temple, and 3. explaining why he cursed the fig tree. And of course, 1. Jairus' daughter, 2. the woman with an issue of blood, and 3. Jairus' daughter.
Like the parables of Jesus, Mark has added these sandwiches to challenge us, to make us think, to stir things up. And we're not even sure why. The stories are powerful enough on their own, but Mark says, 'wait, there's more.' Look deeper, compare and contrast, find what's hidden in plain sight when I interrupt a healing with a healing.
Does it intensify the experience for the reader? Does the interruption explain something we might not otherwise see? Let's take that as our working theory—that Mark wants us to see something we might not otherwise see, and look again.
The theme of both stories is 'your faith has made you well.' Jesus says it to the poor woman in the centre of the story and Jairus says it to Jesus at the beginning of the passage ("Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well.") Belief in Jesus as the power of God made these people well: A girl of twelve and a woman with an illness for the same twelve years. We don't even have time to explore that one.
But now some caution. From the time of the early church we have lived with the mystery of this statement "your faith has made you well." It has been the focus of prayer in the face of illness since the time Jesus spoke these words. Now, we could say 'the healing power of God concluded with the earthly ministry of Jesus,' and further that faith and wellness are more spiritual themes rather than a potential reality. We could.
But that doesn't match the experience of countless believers. Many have prayed and some have been healed, in the great mystery of a life of faith. Now, some will say that makes God unfair—or negligent—or even non-existent, and to them we say 'let God be God.' Having faith does not offer you protection from harm nor does it guarantee that your prayers will be answered (in the affirmative).
Instead, we live within the mystery and the tension of a God we worship but cannot fully comprehend; a God we serve but cannot bribe with our service; and a God that sends what we need when we even don't know what we need at all. "Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." (Heb 11.1)
And for Jairus, his daughter, and the woman who touched Jesus, faith and hope came together in a moment of grace, a mysterious blessing that wasn't earned or coerced, but arrived with faith and a simple touch. She touched his cloak and the healing flowed from God in Jesus to this poor woman, and made her well.
In the spirit of the day I want to end my sermon with part of a sermon, one preached on Friday by the President of the United States. President Obama was preaching at the funeral of the Rev. Clem Pinkney, the victim of a terrible crime, a victim along with three colleagues and five members of his church.
His theme was grace, amazing grace, that mysterious blessing that isn't earned or coerced, but arrives in unexpected ways and in unexpected places. And so we let him speak:
As a nation, out of this terrible tragedy, God has visited grace upon us, for he has allowed us to see where we've been blind. (Applause.) He has given us the chance, where we've been lost, to find our best selves. (Applause.) We may not have earned it, this grace, with our rancor and complacency, and short-sightedness and fear of each other—but we got it all the same. He gave it to us anyway. He's once more given us grace. But it is up to us now to make the most of it, to receive it with gratitude, and to prove ourselves worthy of this gift.


text: I put the phone down to a loved one and breathe a sigh of relief. She's gorgeous and intelligent, but most importantly understanding. 'I have to be up early baby. Let me luv ya and leave ya.' Disclaimer: This is not a post on love and loneliness. She has had similar life experiences and is […]READ MORE


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ARLINGTON, TX—Compassionate Texas Rangers catcher Mike Napoli could not bring himself to throw out Rays' 37-year-old outfielder Johnny Damon as he attempted to steal second base Tuesday, allowing the two-time All Star to safely take the bag in the top of the seventh inning. "I honestly had all the time in the world to throw him out, but I didn't want to embarrass him in front of everybody," Napoli told reporters after the game, adding that it would have broken his heart to watch Damon get thrown out by such a large margin. "If he goes home tonight thinking that he ran so fast that it didn't even warrant a throw, then so be it. The guy deserves his dignity." Sources close to Napoli confirmed that Damon called Napoli the day after the game to say "Thank you."
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Study Finds LSD Highly Effective At Ruining Nephew's Baptism


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Business Governance, Audit and Assurance
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Last Updated on June 13, 2023 by The Noms
A great whiskey holiday punch for a crowd at a party during the holidays!
With the holidays quickly approaching, having a good punch recipe in hand can make your next holiday get together a big hit with your guests. Historically punches have been a center piece of a party, usually evoking images of some crazy combination of cloyingly sweet fizzy beverages and orange sherbet, but with the rise of the craft cocktails and prohibition era drinks, the classic big punch bowls are making a return as well! So this holiday punch, as well as a whiskey punch is perfect for the holidays!
Holiday Punch
Serving a elegant punch like this Holiday Honey Punch will not only impress your guests with this flavorful honey simple syrup, but it will make hosting a breeze! You can make most of this ahead of time and let your guest serve themselves, leaving you to enjoy the party!
This is as sponsored post on behalf of Whole Foods, all opinions and recipes are 100% our own. This post contains affiliate links for products that we think you as readers might find useful, and we make commission off of these! For more details about our affiliates, click our Disclosure and Contacts Page.
What Ingredients are Needed for the Holiday Honey Punch?
- Holiday Honey Punch
- Whiskey
- Blood Orange Bitters
- Honey Spice Simple Syrup
- Orange Juice
- Prosecco
- Lemon Juice
- Honey Spiced Simple Syup
- Water
- Mulling Spices
- Honey
With Whole Foods sharing a lot of our philosophies about using fresh, local ingredients as much as possible, we were excited to come up with the Holiday Honey Punch recipe that celebrates the holidays! We chose a few great local products that bring great flavors to the mix. We made this punch recipe as well as a single recipe cocktail, Rosemary's Pear, for you to enjoy!
Mulling Spices / Fine Mesh Strainer
What Flavors are in This Punch?
Combining the classic flavors of whiskey, citrus and spice, topped with a sweet Italian Prosecco to add some fizz, this punch brings back the nostalgic feeling of old fashioned holiday parties. Spicy and elegantly complex, the Holiday Honey Punch avoids being overly sweet. It uses fresh citrus to bring just the right amount of tart brightness, perfect for sipping on with savory appetizers or holiday treats alike.
Put this punch in a big punch bowl and it will be the centerpiece of your celebration!
How did We Spice Honey?
The spiced honey simple syrup is the key to this punch, as the flavors and aroma of the syrup feel incredibly warm and welcoming, like a great warm holiday hug. We started out with a wonderful wildflower honey from It's All About the Bees, a local family owned company located here in Nebraska who work with local farmers to pollinate their crops.
The honey is steeped with mulling spices from Simply Organic, imparting rich aromatic cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and allspice flavors into the sweet honey syrup. If you prefer to use make your own mulling spice as we often like to do, we have a recipe for you here.
For the whiskey, we used Brickway Brewery and Distillery's Single Malt American Whisky, the first whisky distilled in Omaha since Prohibition. Brickway's Whisky is a combination of old and new, distilled like the whiskys of Scotland, but aged like an American bourbon.
This unique process yields a whisky that is smooth and slightly sweet with rich hints of vanilla and caramel with just a hint of oak. The whisky works really well, the natural sweetness of the whisky complimenting the aromatic spices of the honey and tart brightness of the citrus.
If You Are Looking for More Champagne Cocktails, Try These!
Once everything is mixed up, we topped the punch with a sweet Italian Prosecco which adds a nice effervescent sweetness that helps unlock the aromas of the citrus and spices.
If You Are Looking for More Holiday Recipes, Try These!
- Berry Bites
- Holiday Berry Sparkler
- Caramel Green Apple Cocktail
- Salted Butterscotch Eggnog
- Cranberry Orange Shrub
- Mistletoe Martini
Also, don't forget to follow us on Instagram and tag #gastronomcocktails so we can see all the wonderful recipes YOU recreate from this site!
You can also subscribe to our newsletter so you never miss a delicious recipe again!
Like this recipe? Try these below, too!
20 Cocktails to get your Christmas Party Started
Other Holiday Whiskey Punches
- Bourbon Holiday Punch – Daily Appetite
- Sparkling Whiskey Citrus Punch – The Ranger's Daughter
- Citrus Whiskey Tea Punch – Vintage Kitty
Other Holiday Punches
- Holiday Prosecco Punch – Amber Oliver
- Peppermint Nog Punch – Swanky Recipes
- Coconut Cranberry Punch – Craft & Cocktails
- Holiday Punch – Deliciously Sprinkled
- Easy Holiday Punch – The Cookie Rookie
Holiday Honey Punch - A Whiskey Cocktail
A fantastic party cocktail for a crowd. Great holiday flavors and spices with whiskey, honey, orange and whiskey.
For the Holiday Honey Punch
- 1 bottle Single Malt Whiskey
- 1 ounce Blood Orange Bitters
- 2 cups Honey Spice Simple Syrup
- 6 ounces freshly squeezed Orange Juice
- 1 bottle Prosecco
- 17 ounces Lemon Juice or juice of 12 lemons
Honey Spice Simple Syrup
- 2 cups water
- 1/4 cup mulling spices
- 2 cups honey
For the Punch
Place the whiskey, lemon and orange juices, bitters and honey spice syrup into a punch bowl.
Stir until well mixed.
Top with the prosecco just before serving.
Add ice ring or large ice cubes. You can also float orange and lemon slices and star anise for garnish.
Serve in punch cups.
For the Honey Spice Simple Syrup
Add honey and water into a medium saucepan over medium heat.
Stir in the mulling spices and allow the mixture to come to a boil.
Once the mixture boils, remove from heat and allow to steep for 30 minutes.
Strain out the spice mixture and pour into a sealed container.
Can be stored for 1 week.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Nutrition Information:
Serving Size:1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 292Total Fat: 0.1gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 32mgCarbohydrates: 49.2gFiber: 0.3gSugar: 20.3gProtein: 0.3g
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While getting a haircut of all places, by a girl, I stumbled onto a cigar adventure
You just never know!
The other day, my glasses broke and I went to Wally World to see if I could get them fixed. After the repair, I figured that I would get a quick haircut, since Walmart usually has a place for that.
I was in the chair getting my locks clipped and just happened to ask the young lady (sorry, I didn't get her name) if there was a good cigar bar in Huntsville or Decatur, and she comes off with, "I don't know of any over there, but there is an awesome one in Florence called Truly Cigars, they feature Rocky Patel Cigars." I said "Really and how is it that you know about a cigar bar?"
She said that she didn't smoke, but that her husband did and that they went there quite often.
So off I go!
I looked at the map and found that Florence is about 40 miles away from Athens, where I am staying, so I wasn't really happy about that, but this is what I do – I search out Cigar Adventures! So, I headed for Florence, which was actually a nice ride. It's a straight shot from my motel to Florence and then one turn and about a mile up. Most of the ride is through rural country and great for two wheels.
I got up there and found the place and, lo and behold, there is a wooden Indian out front, which I collect pics of and post on my Wooden Indian page
Met the gang!
I walked in the door directly into the humidor, there are three people standing in there and all three work there. I introduced myself and told them what I was doing and received a very warm and enthusiastic greeting. There was Kurt Wilson, one of the owners, Christian ,Walker, who had been working there for over 5 years, and Kayla Tippit ,who has only been there for about a month.
I seem to have hit it off with Kurt right away, and in a very short time, it seemed like we had known each other for years. Kurt is very passionate about cigars and waxes poetic when talking about the subject, he is also extremely knowledgeable and quite fun to talk to.
He not only answered questions, but asked many himself. We probably could have talked for hours. I told him about the 50 cent tour that I received at the Tinder Box in Rapid City, S.D. and he said he had some business to attend to, but that he would be happy to give me the nickle tour. They are a Rocky Patel Cigar store
Kurt then began to show me around the humidor. He picked up what appeared to be a rectangular, ceramic Rocky Patel Cigar tray and began placing cigars that he thought I would like on it. One of the humorous things that happened was that Kurt told Kayla to watch how he did this, then Kurt and I would get into conversations and Kayla would be standing there, but would find something to do, until we got back to cigar shopping.
While I was visiting with the other three, another fellow walked in and this was Tobias Jones, the other owner of Truly Cigars.
I came to find out that these guys have been in business for ten years and have done five remodels on the place. They are squeezed in between two other stores in a strip mall and I think Tobias said they only have 1200 square feet of space, which they have made the best use of.
Kayla takes over the tour
Kurt and Tobias were to have a meeting with Christian and apologized for having to leave me in Kayla's capable hands and took their leave. We went into the lounge where I ordered a drink and Kurt came back over and gave Kayla instructions on how to prepare my cigar, which was what is called a Salomon, from ElaGio, who is a boutique manufacturer in Nicaragua. I can't tell you a lot about them, other than that they are not real well-known, but produce an excellent product. my editor tells me that they have been around for quite a while, just aren't as well known.
You can order this cigar by calling Tobias at: 256-275-3601
Kurt had Kayla use a Calibri v-cut, which happens to be what I normally use and Kurt toasted it and held the lighter while I fired it up. This was a splendid stick and probably burned for two hours. I was still smoking it when I got back to the hotel 40 miles away, on my Harley.
Kayla then resumed the tour and took me upstairs to the members lounge, where there were plush leather chairs with ottomans, lockers and a big screen TV. There is also a long work station with plugins where member can get some work done while enjoying a smoke and their favorite adult beverage.
We then headed back downstairs and toward the back where we passed a Zaxby advertisement and the hotline – a red phone that provides a direct line to Zaxby's chicken a couple of doors down that is owned by Kurt. Tobias handles the day to day operation of Truly Cigars as Kurt also owns a chain of Zaxby's restaurants.
Across from the phone is a collection of pipes of all shapes and sizes that they sell. They apparently do quite a bit of pipe business as well.
Behind the bar is a fine assortment of Scotch for the connoisseur.
At the end of the bar is a nice collection of bourbon and whiskey.
We next went out the back door where they have a large screened-in deck with tables, chairs, a bar and big-screen TV. When we stepped up on the deck (watch your step, it's just one step but can getcha) we encountered Kurt. Tobias, and Christian, and even though I interrupted their meeting, we were deep in conversation again and took a bunch of pics of the five of us. Then even though I didn't want to interrupt, we all went back to the humidor for more pics for my Pals page.
After a bit more conversation, we went back into the bar and Kurt and Christian went back out to the deck. I didn't want to interrupt their business any further and Tobias had stayed inside, possibly to answer any more questions, so I bid him farewell and took my leave promising to return.
What a great group of folks
I was very impressed with the folks at Truly Cigars and their humidor featuring Rocky Patel Cigars. From the moment I walked in the door until I left they made me feel welcome. Kurt spoke with passion of the camaraderie among cigar smokers and my visit to their shop proved, once again, that this is quite true.
I would also like to mention that they have cigar events at least once a month, and this month they are having two.
A Nat Sherman night and on the 26th they have someone coming in to hand roll cigars, which I plan to attend and will probably do a post about.
So, if you make your way to Florence, Alabama and are looking for a great place to have a cigar, I highly recommend this place.
They can be found at: Truly Cigars, 366C Cox Creek Parkway, Florence, AL, 35630
Or call: 256-275-3601 or email: email@example.com
Check out their website: http://trulycigarsalabama.com
Tell them Chuck from Cigar Pals sent you!


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Ayahuasca is the new "juice cleanse"; the drug of choice for the "age of kale"; a way to "cry, vomit, and feel amazing." An Amazonian psychoactive brew, the hallucinogen strikes just the right balance between hipster status symbol (former Fleet Foxes singer-songwriter J. Tillman found his stage name Father John Misty on such a trip) and actual spiritual catalyst (as evidenced by its 5,000 years of indigenous use) that it hits multiple subcultures in the contemporary urban landscape. It's both a vehicle of self-care for Goop-reading yogis and individuation for Joseph Campbell–loving Buddhists.
The ayahuasca boom coincides with a resurgence in hallucinogen as clinical intervention. LSD is helping cancer patients reckon with death; psilocybin is looking way more effective at helping smokers quit than the best pharmaceutical drugs. The question, then, is how does ayahuasca stack up as not just a journey into the self, but as a treatment?
Brazilian researcher Rafael Guimarães dos Santos summarized the state of the research for a recent post on The Conversation. Santos, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of São Paulo's medical school, warns that the field is young but promising.
A 2016 review of observational studies of regular users found reductions in dependence and substance use; a preliminary 2015 study for depression treatment found 82 percent reductions in depression scores; and another 2016 review found that short-term use was associated with "improved planning and inhibitory control," with potential antidepressive and anti-addiction applications. Intriguingly, a 2012 longitudinal study of long-term users found that regular use does not seem "to induce the pattern of addiction-related problems that characterize drugs of abuse."
The problem with all this research is methodological: The placebo effect is real, especially in regards to depression interventions. If people are signing up for an ayahuasca trial, after all, they're going to be biased to thinking that it's going to help them with whatever emotional challenges they're working through. That's where Santos comes in: He and his colleagues are in the middle of an 80-person study on ayahuasca as a treatment for social anxiety, he reports, with a "double-blind, placebo-controlled design," meaning that the results will be way more robust. The methodology is crucial, since less rigorous designs make it easier to do clickbaity, failing to replicate research. Ideally, one would think, the study Santos is co-authoring would have even more patients, making it even more robust.
The promise of a hallucinogenic intervention is that it's the sort of thing that can change someone's outlook on life for the better — an epiphany, a conversion, a peak experience. Matthew W. Johnson, the Johns Hopkins psychiatrist doing the smoking-cessation and psilocybin work, told Science of Us that he wasn't specifically looking for a spiritual outcome, but it's apparently what makes the difference. "Our data does indicate that stronger mystical experiences are associated with success," Johnson wrote in an email. "Such experiences tend to reframe life priorities, with pure pleasure-seeking dropping, and other aspects increasing (family, connection, higher principles)." If it works with the active ingredient in mushrooms, the reasoning would go, then it should work with ayahuasca, too.


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Hunter's View DevelopmentSan Francisco, CA.
Phase I of the revitalization of the 22-acre Hunters View site resulted in all existing buildings being demolished and replaced with new public housing and market rate for-sale units. One of the goals of the development is to incorporate green strategies and technologies to support the health of the residents and protect the environment.
Size: 276 units
Awards & Achievements:
- Targeting LEED-ND
Sustainable design features including energy efficiency, low water use, and environmentally responsible material use.


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Tomorrow I will show it's sibling - Troublant 42!
And now I curious to see what Elena has for us!!
Nail art and polish blog - freehand nail art and swatches! Neglelak blog, frihånds neglekunst og neglelak swatches!
It's not 100% my colour, but it's 'WOW'.
Kind regards,
It is just that, isn't it!Slet
I love this colour shift. Chanel did it right :DSvarSlet
They sure did - and so many years ago!Slet
It is a real winner and I do love iridescent polishes and cars :-D Although I don't own an iridescent car....yet! Maybe one day ;-) Anyway...this one looks stunning on you :-DSvarSlet
It felt quite speedy LOL - thanks a lot!Slet
Chanel retro = BIG LOVE <3 <3 <3SvarSlet
Yes - I too love it so much :)Slet
A most interesting shade hereSvarSlet
You are so right about that!!Slet
My heart stopped beating for a while...My beloved Palpitant!!! I so regret getting rid of it ç_ç just because it was gloppy (I didn't know about thinner, back in 2009).
13yrs old and beautiful like a brand new polish <3
Yes, I know that would be your reaction - I hope you re-find your live one day!!Slet
Oh wow, how beautiful! ^_^SvarSlet
It's a really pretty vintage! Funny to hear about the car guys! :-) And I thought Peridot was the first duochrome... I wish I was as interested in nail polish then as now.SvarSlet
LOL - yes they were so curious about it :)
I wish so too, what a collection i could have had....
So cute :) But I do prefer its sibling you've posted later :)SvarSlet
I think colorwise you are right - but for this is them most interesting :)Slet
Please do NOT link spam! Comments with links will very likely be removed. If you want me to look at your blog, send me an email!


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Read these 10 Hiking Boots Tips tips to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Each tip is approved by our Editors and created by expert writers so great we call them Gurus. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Hiking tips and hundreds of other topics.
Blisters are the bane of any hiker's existence. They can be avoided, however. Blisters are caused by moisture, heat, and friction against your skin. Wear boots or hiking shoes that fit properly. If you are hiking for an extended period of time, bring a change of socks. Switch pairs about halfway through your hike (or sooner, if your feet get wet during your trip). If you consciously decide to get wet during the trip -- by cooling off in a stream, for example -- be absolutely sure you thoroughly dry your feet before replacing your socks and boots.
Some suggestions for buying the right shoes to avoid blisters:
- If you find a comfortable pair of running shoes, you can wear them on your hike, providing it's a short hike on flat terrain.
- Find retail brands that make shoes and boots, like montrail hiking boots, which provide options for men and women.
Good boots are either already waterproofed, or can be waterproofed at home with special waterproofing solutions. Look for waterproof fabric boots, like Lowa hiking boots or leather boots that can be treated with Sno-seal or other more durable waterproofing solutions. Don't underestimate the importance of waterproof boots! When hiking, if your feet become wet, blisters will form. This will not only make for an uncomfortable hike, but the blisters will take time to heal, limiting your hiking experiences considerably!
Not sure if the hiking you're doing requires a boot or a shoe? Consider the length, terrain, and weight you'll be encountering on your journey. Bigger jobs require sturdier footwear. A short day hike will only require the solidity of a firm hiking shoe. Longer hikes -- and hikes over rockier and uneven terrain -- will need boots that offer more support, particularly for the ankle. Also, if you will be carrying a heavy load such as a backpack or firewood, etc., boots are probably your best bet.
Keeping your extremities warm and dry is a priority when hiking and camping. Believe it or not, one of the most essential pieces of outdoor clothing is socks! What happens if you find a great-fitting boot but it is not waterproof? Buy a pair of Gore-Tex socks to put inside the boot to keep your feet dry. Gore-Tex is a heat-retaining fabric that is used in many other clothing items as well, such as gloves, jackets, scarves, and hats.
The best way to get yourself in overall shape before a hike is to start a jogging or running program. This will prepare your legs and feet for the hike. You will also increase your stamina and breathing skills. Whenever possible, run on inclines, which will strengthen your ankles and calves. You might consider wearing your hiking or trekking bootson a couple of the fast walks to break in the boot. Whether you are running/jogging outdoors or at the gym, introduce a backpack to your workout at some point. Even if it is light, you will be preparing your body for the situations you will encounter on the trail.
Saving money is a good thing. But be careful when shopping for discount hiking boots. A great way to test the integrity of a hiking boot is to grab the top of the boot and try to bend it over side-ways. If it bends easily, it's probably not going to provide the level of protection needed on the trail. The top of the boot should be stiff to hold the ankle in place and provide it with good support.
Your hiking socks should be warm, breathable, and not too thin. When buying hiking boots or hiking shoes, it's important to wear the same socks you intend to wear on your hike. As you try on the different pairs of boots or shoes, wearing the same (or similar brand) of sock will ensure a proper fit come trail-time. New boots and shoes can cause abrasions as you break them in. Too thin a sock will not be enough protection for the skin on your feet.
A good waterproof garment is also breathable. Essentially, the theory behind making a good waterproof garment is that a water drop is larger than a molecule of water vapor. By combining waterproofness with breathability, a membrane with a pore size much smaller than a water drop but much bigger than a water vapor molecule is needed.
This is where Gore-Tex comes in! About thirty years ago, a petrochemical polymer called polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE) was developed, better-known as "Gore-Tex." Since 1976 many variations of Gore-Tex have been developed which fall under the category name of "PTFE laminates."
Many brand names use Gore-Tex these days as part of their hiking lines from Amadeus of Austria raincoats to vasque hiking boots.
It's not just women who care about a good pair of shoes. In the case of men's hiking boots, quality and durability is important. All good boots provide good protection on the sides. Hiking boot sides should be heavy with extra padding to protect your foot from stones, rocks, and branches you may step on. These could gouge into the side of the boot. Some fabric boots have protective "welts" 1/2-inch or more up from the soles to give added protection.
Finding the perfect pair of hiking boots can be a daunting task. Luckily, many retailers understand this. Retailers specializing in hiking gear often offer refunds or exchanges on boots, provided they are in relatively new condition when you return them. That is, take them home, walk around in the house and get as good a feel as you can for their fit. If you try to return boots that have been on the trail (i.e., are muddy and caked with dirt), you're less likely to find a merchant who is willing to take them back.
Be careful if you buy discounted hiking boots as they may be non-refundable.
|Guru Spotlight
|Carma Spence-Pothitt


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The landscape west of Sequim has, no doubt, always been beautiful. There's an obvious advantage to having the foothills of the Olympics on the near horizon. But add fields of lavender, and you have jaw-drop stunning.
Beauty is obviously a constant here. But where Cathy '68 and Leeon '68 Angel planted their lavender seven years ago, dairy cows once grazed. And not too long before that, you might have seen a band of Clallam people heading across the meadow toward the Dungeness River to fish. Or north toward Sequim or Dungeness bays to dig shellfish.
Lavender is a recent development around Sequim. By the 1990s, more traditional agriculture in Clallam County had slipped into a steady, sadly predictable, decline toward development. In response, a group of local citizens gathered to figure out a way to keep area farmland from sprouting too many weekend condos. Then someone thought of lavender, a Mediterranean plant ideally suited to Sequim's mild, dry climate.
When lavender started blooming around the valley, the Angels had already moved to Sequim from Issaquah and were raising llamas on another property not too far from here. When their current property came up for sale, they promised the owner they would keep the land in agriculture. And so they have, adding a strong wholesale component to the area's growing lavender-based agritourism economy.
A couple of miles away, Barbara Collier Hanna '81 runs Lost Mountain Lavender. Whereas the Angels retail their products through their shop, All Things Lavender, in Pike Place Market, and open their farm to the public for only a few days in July during the annual Lavender Festival, Hanna's farm is open much of the year. She opens her field of lavender to customers who want to pick their own and tends a small shop on the property, where she sells lavender-based products ranging from soap to honey from bees that have grazed on lavender. She makes many of the products herself, including lavender-filled pillows and sachets. Even though she does a lively business over the Internet, 80 percent of her sales take place at her farm.
If the physical move to Sequim was not far for Hanna and the Angels, the career move was dramatic. Hanna and her husband Gary—now a freelance illustrator—were very successful in the '90s Seattle software boom. But the nosedive of the industry in 2000 prompted a change in direction.
"For 25 years, I convinced myself I liked the security of working for somebody else," says Hanna. "And there's something very nice about the consistency of paychecks and having your benefits paid."
But following the demise of her company, which had only recently thrived with the rest of the industry, "I guess I came to not trust that as much anymore."
Leeon Angel had not expected to be helping his wife run such a successful agricultural business when he retired following 30 years with his accounting partnership in downtown Seattle. His retirement present to himself, an elegant French-made airplane, sits idle on a landing strip nearby for most of the farming season. His time is consumed instead by the vintage seed cleaner that he modified to clean the lavender buds not only for their crop but also that of Hanna and other growers.
Cathy Angel majored in sociology at Washington State University, then switched fields to become project manager for a commercial food-freezing equipment company.
Although the Angels had raised llamas for 16 years, they decided, when Leeon retired, that animals tied them down too much and so looked for a different form of agriculture. "We decided maybe a crop would be fun," says Cathy.
Now, as the largest wholesale producer in the valley and with 30,000 bundles of lavender drying in the barn, the irony of that move is hardly lost on them.
Sequim has come to refer to itself as the "Lavender Capital of North America." Even though the valley's production is miniscule in relation to the world market, their niche is unique. Provence, for example, from which the Sequim growers drew their inspiration, devotes most of its lavender production toward the distillation of lavender oil rather than toward value-added products and lavender-focused tourism.
Hanna's love of gardening plus an apparently equal love of variety has resulted in her three-acre farm supporting 120 different varieties of lavender, from the large, deep-blue-blossomed Grosso to Melissa, an English culinary lavender with a peppery taste. Hanna is doing more of her own propagation, as it can be hard to get some varieties through other growers.
The Angels have kept their varietal retinue to 14, with their dominant variety being Grosso, which lends itself nicely to floral arrangements as well as buds for processing into other products. They have also started growing Goldenseal, a high-value, medicinal root crop that takes years to mature. They may start harvesting next year—if they have the time.
Even though lavender's history as a medicinal, culinary, and floral plant reaches back beyond Roman times, lavender as an agricultural enterprise is new to North America. There is no ready market for bulk lavender, and so the growers of Sequim have drawn lavenderphiles to their fields, through hard work, enterprising marketing, and enhancing an already beautiful landscape.
Curtis Beus, director of Clallam County Extension, played an active role in starting the lavender industry around Sequim. He is author of the much-consulted Growing and Marketing Lavender.
On the web
Visit Barbara Collier Hanna's Lost Mountain Lavender online, and Cathy and Leeon Angel's online store, Sequim Lavender Farms.


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Do Voluntary Resignations Require Advance Notice?
When you're watching your labor costs, it is important to know how to handle an employee resignation, compensation-wise. If you require employees to provide two weeks' notice of their resignation, you may have to pay them for that full period even if you release them earlier. But, even if you only request the advance notice, it still may be better employee relations to pay for that full two-week period.
Q: Can we require employees to give two weeks' notice of their resignation? What happens if we tell an employee to leave prior to the end of the two-week notice period, are we obligated to pay the employee for the full two weeks? What if we only request the notice but do not require it?
A: If you specifically require employees to give notice, as opposed to simply requesting the notice, you may have to pay for the full two-week period even if you ask the employee to end employment before the completion of the two weeks.
Most employers request or require that employees give advance written notice of their intention to resign so that an orderly transition can be made. The amount of advance notification requested may vary depending on the nature of the position. Many employers suggest two weeks as an appropriate amount of notice for most positions, although up to four weeks may be preferable for upper management.
Whatever the length of the period, though, the way you specify how resignation notices will be handled is important. A requirement, as you are suggesting, that employees give a certain amount of notice of their resignations, in some states may create an implied contract obligating you to give an equal amount of notice before terminating an employee. So, in those states, if you require notice of a resignation and then decide to terminate the employee earlier, you may be required to pay the employee for the balance of the notice period. Further, you may even find that you are required to give a similar amount of notice to any employee that you terminate. For this reason, a policy that requests notice from resigning employees, rather than requiring the notice, may be a more prudent course to prevent potential contract claims.
However, even if you only request two weeks' resignation notice, you should be prepared to pay out for the full period if you then decide to terminate the employee early. Employers often have legitimate reasons for wanting an employee to stop working immediately, such as concerns about security or reduced employee loyalty or productivity. In these cases, many employers pay for the notice period, even if they have not created a contractual obligation that requires payment.
There are two basic reasons for voluntarily paying for the notice period. First, if you tell the employee to leave without pay after notice has been given, this action could turn a voluntary resignation into an involuntary termination and potentially make the employee eligible for state unemployment compensation for any period of interrupted employment. Second, and arguably more importantly, a termination action without pay sends a negative message to the rest of your workforce, i.e., if you give notice as requested, you may be penalized. As a result, morale will be hurt, and you likely will not receive many advance notices of future resignations.
Instead, if you compensate the employee for the notice period, your action should prevent questions about eligibility for unemployment benefits or implied contract violations and encourage other employees to give notice in the future.
Robin Thomas, J.D.
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Silversea Cruises newly renovated cruise ship Silver Whisper has paid a visit to Dubai, cruising from the city for Greece to begin a series of European cruise itineraries in April.
Silver Whisper performed a turnaround, using Dubai as an embarkation port for a 15-night cruise from the Middle East to Greece via the Suez Canal.
Silver Whisper departed Dubai April 12th after spending the night in port and arrived in Greece last Thursday.
Silver Whisper, along with her fleetmates Silver Wind and Silver Discoverer was fully renovated during late 2016 and early 2017 in a US $170-million fleet revitalisation project by Silversea.
Silver Whisper isn't Silversea's newest ship, but she is one of the line's most well-loved and as such during her refit Silversea opted to keep what worked and revamped rather than renovated her.
The cruise line has kept the warm look and feel of Silver Whisper and modified it with modest changes. With this latest "refresher" of the Silver Whisper's décor, the areas of focus have been on taking the ship's best features and accentuating them.
RELATED: Refurbished Seven Seas Mariner to be all-suite, all-balcony ship
RELATED: Silversea plans to cut South Africa-bound Silver Spirit in half for refit
Aboard the ship one of the only immediately noticeable enhancements is the removal of the synthetic green Astroturf decking, which has been replaced with new, ocean-blue decking.
New carpets have been laid in all suites and the flooring in the ship's Restaurant, La Terrazza, the Panorama Lounge, Connoisseur's Corner, and the Spa at Silversea has been replaced.
La Terrazza and The Restaurant all benefitted from newly-upholstered chairs, done in a new soft rose-coloured fabric that lightens up the room.
The only public room that has been significantly changed is the Observation Lounge, which sports new wood display cases, wall panelling, and a brand-new bar topped with classy marble.
Silver Whisper will visit the Middle East again next year, but interestingly during her 2018 re-positioning cruise from Asia to Europe, Silversea have elected to use Muscat as a turnaround port and not Dubai.
In fact, Silver Whisper wont visit Dubai at all. Her 15-night cruise from Singapore to Muscat (departing Singapore April 4th, 2018) will arrive in Muscat on April 19th and depart the same day with a new load of passengers.
Her Muscat to Greece cruise on April 19th is a 19-night voyage that includes 5-nights at sea between the port call at Salalah and Safaga in Egypt.
Silversea Cruises haven't forsaken Dubai altogether though, during the 2018 Middle East cruise season the newer and larger Silver Spirit will call in Dubai, using the port as a turnaround on her own 18-night Dubai to Rome itinerary departing February 22nd.
Categories: Middle East Cruise News


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Decision 2012 is officially made and President Barack Obama will serve four more years as our nation's leader. If you were like any of us here at Digital Trends, you were probably glued to Twitter, apps, and various news sources for the latest election updates. And like most current events as told by social media, there was a lot of information to sift through that made us laugh, cry, and even proud to be Americans — and for taking the opportunity to exercise our freedom of speech.
Fools clinging to relevance
The amount of incoherent tweets from absent-minded people could not have made our office laugh any louder. The superstar troll this season, and maybe every political season, easily goes to Donald Trump, who tweeted: "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive." Wait, is that supposed to be radical? Global warming isn't a scientific issue, and Hurricane Sandy was just a random and devastating fart from the clouds?
Then, after Barack Obama was declared re-elected, good ol' Don had the nerve to call the poll results BS and say America is not a democracy… even though the president won by a significant popular vote as well. Try harder, Mr. Trump.
Sarah Palin's hair disaster
We swear this isn't a way to be sexist because we'd absolutely point out if John McCain appeared on television with a horrible toupee, but our jaws dropped when Sarah Palin appeared on Fox News last night looking… well, different. During the 2008 campaigns, we remembered her as a relatively put-together woman with her hair neatly held back and a possible Bumpit hidden under that volumized poof. Last night, Palin proved that the recently released photo of her in big 80s hair, off-shoulder cropped top, and wedge heels while shopping at Kmart in Los Angeles isn't just a phase. She's officially lost it.
Arnold Schwarzenegger's patriotism
This was a hard call — does this gem belong under the Laugh or the Proud sections? We're pretty happy for Arnold Schwarzenegger on his road to citizenship, but we don't think we've ever seen anyone go this all out when they first received their United States passport. It's adorable, sweet, personable, but let's face it: It's also hilarious. Were you inspired to go out and vote after this photo? And for the green card holders, are you aspiring for the same kind of celebration one day? Oh, sweet, sweet Arnold.
Inventive ways to follow the election
Back in the day (and by that we mean two elections ago) people used to sit around and actually watch television to keep up with state tallies and news analytics. These days, we have apps, widgets, even an HTML5-infused comic strip to help illustrate the journey of how we got to Election Day 2012. Following the elections has never been so interactive, creative, and dare we say, fun, to keep up with … in an effortless manner, no less. We are continually stunned by how app developers, Web designers, and graphic artists manage to find ways to make all this information digestible and approachable depending on your personal interests and styles.
Obama hits Reddit one last time
In the late afternoon of Election Day 2012, the POTUS decided that since he already had an account on Reddit, he might as well put it to good use to garner some last-minute Internet followers' votes. "Think of it as upvoting," he writes in a completely relevant and connected way to target his Reddit audience. He even referenced the viral Not Bad rage face. If there's anything we learned this political season, it's that the Web should also be considered a campaign stop, and probably the most cost-efficient one as well.
Amazing political discourse on Quora
Quora is a great place to hit up when you've got questions you're dying to find a logical, reasonable answer to, and the open-minded discussions on that site made us truly proud of our fellow American Netizens. Especially when the question was as simple as "What is President Barack Obama like in person?" It's hard to envision any politician as a regular guy, but Peter Marquez, a former White House director for Space Policy (who's also a republican), managed to do it in a completely unbiased manner. The discussion adds a sense of familiarity and a new personable level that reveals a different side to the president. Whether or not this had to do with your voting decision is another story, but we're proud of the Internet nonetheless for using resources in a respectful and insightful way.
Social media trends soar
Twitter is one of the biggest go-to sources for real-time reactions to current events, from the Super Bowl to Hurricane Sandy updates. Decision 2012 was no different. Members of the social media world took to Twitter and Facebook to encourage friends to vote and make their voices heard, noting that you can't complain about losing if you don't vote. According to the latest Twitter update, about 31 million tweets were shared yesterday, hitting a peak of 327,452 Tweets per minute – right around when the president was declared re-elected.
Pepsi commercials and celebrity endorsements might be cool for most social issues, but Twitter takes the cake on spreading the word this election season (on top of the president himself on Reddit). It was also nice to see politicians offer congratulatory remarks to the president, and thanking voters for their support.
But of course, social media's power did not come without hiccups, which brings us to our next segment…
Instagramming your ballots
We get it, Instagram is everywhere. It's in your local restaurant, bus stop, park, airport, and it's an overall visual way to chronicle your life. But do explain to us what is so awesome about a piece of paper that shows you've voted? Are we going to start encouraging high school students to Instagram their SAT scores now? We know you mean well by proving your civic engagement, but we're pretty sure no one would lie about taking part in democracy at a crucial time. Consider your voice heard, and keep those ballot photos to yourself. After all, it actually is illegal to photograph your voting booth in several states.
Google searches for "Who's running for president" spike
Really, America? You waited until the last possible moment to figure out who the presidential nominees are this year or when election day is? It's one thing to be undecided till the last minute, but completely clueless is unforgivable. This misguided, uninformed, careless inactiveness is everything that's wrong with America. If you had to search on the day of the elections, we have to cry over the fact that people like you have the power to vote.
#VoteBlack and #VoteWhite hashtags remind us racism still exists
Let's just get one thing straight in America: Barack Obama is not the first African American man to ever run for president. Turning this election into a race-based decision is as good as Donald Trump's repeated taunts and challenges to bully Obama for his birth certificate and college transcript: Degrading, tasteless, and offensive. Worse, some of the offending tweets with the hashtag offered completely inappropriate remarks, showing just how vile people can be.
We had to blur out some horrible vernacular, but you can use your imagination as to what these words might have been. Thankfully, plenty of other tweets with the same hashtags shared our sense of disgust. Guess what, haters?
Technology is the clear loser in the elections
We obviously love, live, and breathe technology here at Digital Trends, but we have to admit: Real world instances of tech did not fare well during the elections whatsoever. A touchscreen voting machine in Pennsylvania seems to have spazzed out and auto-changed Obama votes to Romney. New Jersey's email voting option backfired on residents because county email inboxes couldn't handle the requests. Even if we can vote online, the opportunity opens e-voters to fraud and will make it that much harder to accurately tally the polls. Although we're in this to help society advance, it seems the ol' paper ballot is still the trustworthy method.


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Prince Fielder of the Detroit Tigers is the 2012 MLB Home Run Derby champion. In the final round on Monday night, he beat Jose Bautista 12-7 to join Ken Griffey Jr. as the only players in MLB history to win the competition more than once.
Fielder was the champ in 2009 as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers. He is the only player to win the Derby on behalf of both the American and National Leagues.
Fielder squeaked into the second round with five runs, then hit 11 in the second.
Bautista hit 11 home runs in the first round, then only managed two in Round 2. He advanced to face Fielder after beating the Los Angeles Angels' Mark Trumbo in a swing-off.
Along with Trumbo, the Cardinals' Carlos Beltran was eliminated in the second round. The Rockies' Carlos Gonzalez, the Pirates' Andrew McCutchen, the Dodgers' Matt Kemp and the Yankees' Robinson Cano didn't make it out of the first.
For more on the Cleveland Indians, check out Let's Go Tribe. For more news and analysis on the upcoming All-Star Game as well as everything going on during the break, check out Baseball Nation.


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Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn joined their work together again after the best-selling "Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide" in the new book and documentary film "A Path Appears".
The book gives an amazing narrative about how we can make things differently, while helping us to also become more responsible global citizens. The PBS documentary takes a closer look at the efforts of women in the United States and abroad, but also at the work of the inspiring individuals around them who are trying to create better solutions for them.
Page Contents
The Book
Whereas in their popular New York best seller "Half the Sky", the authors told us about the struggles of girls and women all over the world, in "A Path Appears", they take it to another level and tell us about the people who develop strategies and come up with ingenious ideas to create a prettier world.
The book has behind it lots of on-the-ground reporting and meticulous research and the authors manage to pinpoint how many of the global initiatives don't fight inequality. They also estimate various forms of help and how important, for instance, early childhood education is. The analysis is based on the impressive stories that the authors tell from the frontline of social development. We're able to see the reality that it takes the efforts of more than one to make a real difference in the world, but it all can begin from the will and power of each one of us.
One man that really made a difference is Dr. Gary Slutkin who created the 'Cure Violence' program in order to fight inner-city violence in the United States by simply promoting the principles of public health. Another great man that we find about in the book is Lester Strong who got from high-powered television anchor to running an organization that involved senior Americans that became tutors in less privileged public schools.
"A Path Appears" does highlight that it's up to the citizens to turn the world around, whereas finding efficient solution for the serious social problems.
No matter how painful and complex poverty may be, "the call to action doesn't need to be" (Bill and Melinda Gates, co-chairs of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation). This books is honest and teaches us that everyone counts and we should all "raise the game and help the poor" (Bill Hybels, founding pastor, Willow Creek Community Church).
The movie
The bold authors Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn gathered an impressive team of famous actors to give a better voice to their book, "A Path Appears". The movie features so many of our favorite actors: Eva Langoria, Malin Akerman, and Jennifer Garner, Blake Lively, Ashley Judd, Regina Hall, Ronan Farrow, Mia Farrow and Alfre Woodard, taking them all the way to Kenya, Haiti, and Columbia and within the United States. They are going to discover the most difficult forms of gender-based oppression and human rights violations, not without promoting the good solutions to combat them.
The movie is in fact a three-part series that aired on PBS and the viewers have the opportunity to take a look at the gender inequality and causes of vulnerability all over the globe and within the United Stated. The series gives a deeper perspective over these major problems, but also shows the efficient methods to make a change.
Episode one: Sex Trafficking in the USA
There are around 300,000 children at risk of being trafficked into sexual slavery in the U.S. (According to the Department of Justice) and the first episode shows us some of the survivors of sexual slavery, while highlighting the coverage of violent crime across America.
It's Ashley Judd and Nicholas Kristof that travel to Nashville where they sit and talk with Shana Goodwin, a survivor of early childhood sexual abuse (by her grandfather).
Kristof takes Blake Lively on the streets of Boston to take a look at the anti-trafficking organization My Life My Choice. The movie tells bits of the stories of Maria's daughter and Savannah that, one way or another, manages to survive the young sexual trafficking.
The episode ends with a comeback to Nashville where the Magdelene program's social business, Thistle Farms, sustains the efforts of survivors with full range of services needed for the healing.
Episode Two- Breaking the Cycle of Poverty
Jennifer Garner returns with Nicholas Kristof to her native West Virginia for paying a visit to the families included in Save the Children's Early Steps program. The program is about introducing book and early learning to children fighting with poverty, but also offering emotional and social support to the mothers.
The episode also takes us to Haiti, where Kristof, Sheryl WuDunn and Alfre Woodward meet Rea Dol, founder and leader of SOPUDEP ((Society of Providence United for the Economic Development of Pétion-Ville). The program provides education to children coming from the poorest background.
Eva Langoria joins the authors and goes to Cartagena, Columbia and meet Catalina Escobar, founder and director of the Juan Felipe Gomez Escobar Foundation ("Juanfe"). The successful businesswoman Catalina (who lost tragically her son) developed the program addressed to pregnant teens and young mothers from local districts.
Episode Three- Violence and Solutions
Nicholas Kristof and Regina Hall go to Atlanta to take a closer look at two organizations finding solutions against domestic violence. They meet Ayonna Johnson at the Women's Resource Center and we also find out about the survivors stories.
Mia Farrow and Ronan Farrow go with Kristof to Kenya and visit Shining Hope for Communities, an organization that works for change in Kibera (which is one of the worst districts in Kenya).
The conclusion
The movie shows us not only about the problems that poverty brings, but also about the efforts of organizations all over the world. The stories of the survivors do have the best voice, helping us all realize that it takes a village to raise a child and a community to make a change.


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Come, Let Us Adore Him
by Rick Shrader
Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, The bird of dawning singeth all night long; And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad; The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, So hallow'd and so gracious is the time. William Shakespeare: Hamlet
With no irreverence intended to the season of our Savior's birth, I think today Shakespeare would have had to conclude, ''so shallow'd and so avaricious is the time.'' While once again Christian eyes are turned toward the holy birth of our Lord, we will not help but spy the ever encroaching secularization of the season called Christmas. It is not always what we may consider blasphemous. At least blasphemy takes a subject seriously. The secularization of Christmas robs the Saviour's birth of its religious significance.
Gene Veith, in Postmodern Times, wrote, ''Traditional symbols, such as those of religion, are not repudiated; rather, they are trivialized. Statistics reduce beliefs to opinions and moral standards to personal preferences. Technological reproduction and ceaseless visual representation work against any concept of mystery or the sacred.'' And so the ''season'' has become a technological production of color schemes, attractive products and personal pleasures; things that, of themselves, are not harmful but as a substitute for the sacred surely become.
In his Letters to an American Lady (29 December, 1958), C.S. Lewis wrote, ''Just a hurried line . . . to tell a story which puts the contrast between our feast of the Nativity and all this ghastly ''Xmas'' racket at its lowest. My brother heard a woman on a bus say, as the bus passed a church with a Crib outside it, ''Oh Lor'! They bring religion into everything. Look–they're dragging it even into Christmas now!'' What is sad about such a comment in the 1990's is that I don't believe my neighbors and many of my acquaintances would get it! They probably would agree with the lady. After all, this is the generation that will, at Christmas, buy a music video called ''The Immaculate Collection'' by a woman who calls herself ''Madonna'' and will never make the connotation.
For a long time now we have seen the secular set side by side with the sacred. As the years went on Christmas became more secular than sacred until the sacred was found only in churches and private dwellings but certainly not in any public setting. Recently, however, the secular is using the sacred as a productive marketing tool the fruit of which is just beginning to be reaped.
This process of secularization is snowballing due to this society's lack of respect (much less reverence) for anything religious. This year in London (according to the AP) Pepsi-Cola got in trouble when their advertisers beamed its logo onto the Anglican cathedral in Liverpool as a marketing tactic. To the offended parishioners Pepsi said, ''It was never meant as any offense. It was a light-hearted stunt.'' McDonald's came under similar fire in Britain for printing a burger bag with the flag of Saudi Arabia including a passage from the Koran. Apology was made. In this country there is a commercial for Hebrew National Frankfurters which, at the end claims to surpass federal standards because (the camera shifts toward heaven) ''We have to answer to a higher Authority.'' Where once a clear distinction was maintained between the secular and the sacred, now we see a slow erosion of the border, a trivialization of the things once thought too sacred to tread upon. We shouldn't be surprised this year to see marketers turning the manger of Christ into a den of thieves.
Twentieth-century Christianity cannot dodge all the blame. We have spent a lot of time ourselves scaling the secular city (as one title puts it) in search of slogans, sounds, styles and other similitudes from a secular society. It never bothered us when we were the ones crossing the line and bringing back the secular into the sacred. It seemed to make our worship more realistic and a lot more up to date. British theologian J. S. Whale put it best when he said, ''Instead of putting off our shoes from our feet because the place we stand is holy ground, we are taking nice photographs of the burning bush from suitable angles.'' Well, that was all right for us but not for the world? Perhaps we only see the vulgar when we see it in others.
I have written these lines with a distaste for the negative, especially at Christmas. My prayer is that they may have a farthing of positive effect and that we should not be, on December 26, as Franklin Pierce Adams who once said, ''Christmas is over and business is business.'' We should rather be as Charles Dickens when he wrote, "I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys . . . And so as Tiny Tim said: 'A merry Christmas to us all, my dears, God bless us, every one.'"
Come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant;
Come ye, come ye to Bethlehem;
Come and behold Him, born the king of angels;
Come and adore Him, come and adore Him,
Come and adore the Lord. (St. Bonaventure)


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Orsha: results of initiative group registration published
Two initiative groups are registered in Orsha city district # 26: the group of UCP member, teacher Uladzimir Yurzhyts, and the group of head of Belarusian railways Uladzimir Zharel. Both groups consist of 50 people.
In Orsha Dniaprouskaya district # 27 registration certificates of initiative groups were given to BPF member Hanna Leuchankava (30 people), incumbent MP Uladzimir Adashkevich (50 people), and non-party, unemployed candidate Andrei Antashkevich (18 people).
In Sennitsa district # 30 the group of PCB member, editor of Tovarishch newspaper, Siarhei Vazniak began to collect signatures. The group consists of 71 members. Besides that, three other groups are registered in this district: the group of Alexander Kuratnik, director of private company from Kokhanava, nurse Sviatlana Chornykh, and pensioner Uladzimir Piatrouski. No groups were denied registration.
Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections


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In the past, CDs, DVDs and floppy drivers used to be the primary sources of external storage for many users – that is until the USB storage devices took over. These days, a lot of devices no longer has a built-in CD or DVD writer or reader as it contributes to the thickness of the device. On the other hand, there are still various devices that still comes with a built-in CD or DVD writer or reader. However, recently, users who still uses CD or DVD on their devices reported a problem where the CD or DVD icon is not visible in the File Explorer as well as in "This PC" or the My Computer page. The cause of this issue is still unknown at the time of writing, but there are still some potential fixes you can try to fix it. You can try to update or rollback the device drivers or apply some tweaks in the Registry Editor. For more details, refer to the given options below.
Option 1 – Try to update or rollback device drivers
The first thing you can try to fix the missing CD or DVD icon is to either update or rollback the device drivers. It is most likely that after you updated your Windows computer that your driver also needs a refresh. On the other hand, if you have just updated your device drivers then you need to rollback the drivers to their previous versions. Whichever applies to you, refer to the steps below.
- Open the Devices Manager from the Win X Menu.
- Then locate the device drivers and right click on them to open the Properties. Note that the concerned drivers will be listed under the DVD/CD-ROM drives section as well as the IDE/ATAPI Controllers section.
- From there, look for the following drivers:
- ATA Channel 0.
- ATA Channel 1.
- Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller.
- Now, right click on each one of the listed drivers and update them all. You could also try to roll them back to their previous versions.
Note: You can also directly download the relevant drivers of your computer from the manufacturers' website. So if you have an SSD, the issue might be due to an old storage driver.
Option 2 – Try to use the Registry Editor
- Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box and type "regedit" in the field and then tap Enter to open the Registry Editor.
- Next, navigate to this registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
- After that, look for the DWORD values named "UpperFilters" and "LowerFilters".
- Right click on each one of these DWORD values and select Delete.
- Now restart your computer and see if it fixes the problem.
Option 3 – Try creating a new Registry entry
There is another option you can try in the Windows Registry to fix the missing icon of the CD/DVD. You can try adding a new entry. How? Refer to these steps:
- Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box and type "regedit" in the field and hit Enter to open the Registry Editor.
- After that, navigate to this registry path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi
- From there, right click on "atapi" and select New > Key.
- After that, name it is "Controller0" and right click on the sub-key and then select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
- Now name it as "EnumDevice1" and double click on it and then set its value data to "1".
- Click OK and restart your computer to apply the changes made successfully.
Aside from the missing icon of CD/DVD in your Windows 10 computer, if you have some system-related issues that need to get fixed, there is a one-click solution known as [product-name] you could check out to resolve them. This program is a useful tool that could repair corrupted registries and optimize your PC's overall performance. Aside from that, it also cleans out your computer for any junk or corrupted files that help you eliminate any unwanted files from your system. This is basically a solution that's within your grasp with just a click. It's easy to use as it is user-friendly. For complete set of instructions in downloading and using it, refer to the steps below.
Perform a full system scan using [product-code]. To do so, follow the instructions below.
- Turn on your computer. If it's already on, you have to reboot it.
- After that, the BIOS screen will be displayed, but if Windows pops up instead, reboot your computer and try again. Once you're on the BIOS screen, repeat pressing F8, by doing so the Advanced Option shows up.
- To navigate the Advanced Option use the arrow keys and select Safe Mode with Networking then hit
- Windows will now load the Safe Mode with Networking.
- Press and hold both R key and Windows key.
- If done correctly, the Windows Run Box will show up.
- Type in the URL address, [product-url] in the Run dialog box and then tap Enter or click OK.
- After that, it will download the program. Wait for the download to finish and then open the launcher to install the program.
- Once the installation process is completed, run [product-code] to perform a full system scan.
- After the scan is completed click the "Fix, Clean & Optimize Now" button.