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Students on the Kenai Peninsula are riding in style thanks to new Apple Bus Company buses delivered via Alaska Marine Lines. "We moved 88 buses from Seattle last Spring," explains Matt Jolly, Alaska Marine Lines Central Account Manager.
Apple Bus Company is a pupil transportation provider based in Missouri. Apple's 10-year contract with the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District is expected to save the school district around $1 million over the next decade compared to the previous contract with another vendor. The buses also feature improved heaters and safety signage.
The first batch of 10 buses were driven to Seattle and loaded at the Alaska Marine Lines Seattle terminal for the voyage to Whittier. School district drivers picked them up from there and drove to the bus barn in Soldotna. "We secured the buses on flats and put them up in the racks on the railbarge or loaded directly in the key if space was available," Matt explains.
Alaska Marine Lines also moved over 180 school buses the previous year for the Anchorage School District. "We are happy to support Alaska schools and students by moving the buses where they need to go," Matt says. "Wanema Arndt of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District even went to Whittier and watched our crew work one of the inbound barges."
Matt commended the operations crews in Seattle and Whittier for making exceptions for the bus deliveries. "Customers don't typically pick up freight in Whittier," he says. "We're not set up with customer service people there. It's a handful of operators and a mechanic essentially. It took a concerted effort to communicate between the Seattle terminal and Whittier pro numbers for each voyage so appropriate paperwork was on hand to properly deliver the buses. A big shout out to all of the operations people who made this happen."
Welcome to Lynden News!
Students on the Kenai Peninsula are riding in style thanks to new Apple Bus Company buses delivered via Alaska Marine Lines. "We moved 88 buses from Seattle last Spring," explains Matt Jolly, Alaska Marine Lines Central Account Manager.
Tags: Barge, Oversize shipping, Alaska Marine Lines, Shipping to Alaska
Something old and something new is an apt description for this newly constructed parlor car perched atop Alaska Marine Lines' containers in the Seattle yard. The cars are new but built to look like the vintage 1890s rolling stock original to the railroad when it began carrying miners from Skagway to the Klondike gold fields. It is one of three that Alaska Marine Lines barged from the Seattle dock to Skagway this spring to be used on the historic White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad. According to Susan Ashton, Alaska Marine Lines Account Manager in Juneau, the cars routinely make an appearance on Alaska Marine Lines barges. "These were newly built at Hamilton Manufacturing in Sedro Woolley, WA for the railroad. The White Pass Railroad also sends the older parlor cars to Hamilton for refurbishing. We have been handling the careful transport of the cars from Alaska to Washington and back for many years now."
Tags: Alaska Marine Lines, Unique freight, Shipping to Alaska
Petroleum Newspapers of Alaska, based in Anchorage, Alaska, recently released "Exploring the Alaska-Washington Connection 2011", the most recent edition of their annual publication.
As a multi-modal transportation company pioneering the way between Washington and Alaska for over 50 years, Lynden's name shows up throughout the magazine. We are proud to serve our customers and communities in Alaska, Washington, and throughout the world.
You can read more about Lynden's activities on the following pages of the magazine:
Page 6: Mining activity is also an important lifeline for numerous Alaska and Washington transportation companies, like Lynden Inc.
Page 18: Lynden, for example, provides trucking services for Capstone Mining Corp.'s Minto Mine in west-central Yukon Territory.
Page 28: The U.S. Department of Energy is introducing wind energy to the nation's small communities...an effort that Lynden is supporting with an offer to transport wind turbines and towers to 14 communities in Alaska.
Page 36: Alaska Airlines, Lynden Inc. and other businesses have taken numerous steps in recent years to reduce their environmental footprints.
Tags: Lynden, Alaska shipping, Alcan Highway, Lynden History, Alaska, Shipping to Alaska
Tags: Trucking, Oil Industry, Lynden Transport, Shipping to Alaska
When a Wal-Mart customer in Kenai places a carton of milk in their shopping cart, that milk made its way to Alaska via Lynden Transport – at least since September of this year. Thanks to innovations in equipment, customer service and value, Darigold chose Lynden Transport to move its milk and dairy products supplied to Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Kenai.
The product originates from the Darigold plant in Seattle, which is the same facility Milky Way delivers raw product to from dairy farms in Eastern Washington and other locations.
"We knew from our relationship with LTI, Inc. on milk hauling that this new project would be handled with the same professionalism," says Wayne Cottrell, Darigold Senior Manager Supply Chain-Logistics. "Lynden has shipped over 100 trailers to date without issue. They understand the local dynamics unique to Alaska."
According to Lynden Transport Northwest Regional Sales Manager Russ Walker, many Lynden employees were involved in securing the business, including Lee Peterson, Charlie Mottern, Jerry Wendorf, Paul Grimaldi, Mike Oliver, Alex McKallor and Jim Beck.
The project required plenty of meetings and planning ahead of time. Russ went to Alaska in September with Darigold representatives to meet the Anchorage operations team of Blaine Ghan, Jered Post and Andy Collins. "The folks at Darigold were very impressed with the enthusiasm and willingness to get the job done right by the Anchorage operations staff," he says.
To move the dairy products efficiently, Lynden designed a three-axle 28-foot refrigerated trailer with the K-beam system to allow double stacking of packages. The new reefers will be capable of handling 45,000 pounds of net payload. Lynden trucks the Darigold packages to the dock in Tacoma where they are loaded onto steamship for delivery in Alaska. Lynden then completes truck delivery of the products to Sam's Club and Wal-Mart stores.
In August the first test shipment to Fairbanks went off without a hitch, but the day of the actual changeover was not so smooth.
Darigold experienced an unusual mechanical problem, and product that was supposed to be ready at 10 a.m. on the day of the sailing was not ready until around 10 p.m. "We had five loads to pick up in Seattle and needed to have through the gate at the steamship lines in Tacoma by 11 p.m." Russ explains. "Kreig DeYoung was working operations that night and somehow got it done. I didn't ask how, but it was Lynden 'can do' spirit at its best."
Lynden Transport will carry Darigold products to Alaska for the next five years, per the new agreement. Darigold products also move via Alaska Marine Lines barges into Juneau and Ketchikan from Seattle, and Brown Line hauls Darigold products to Costco stores in Washington and Idaho.
Tags: Lynden, Alaska Marine Lines, Refrigerated Trucks, Milky Way, Lynden Transport, Alaska, Shipping to Alaska
You can imagine the planning and preparation it took to move this 12-foot wide, 11-foot tall bucket from the Lynden Transport yard in Fife to a gold mine in Fairbanks.
(From left: Lynden Transport employees John Thuney, Jered Nelson, Butch Brocato, Steve Flores and Doug McBride)
The 70,000-pound load required two AH52 heavy duty forklifts for the pick and placement on a trailer and a 4-axle tractor to pull it to TOTE in Tacoma for shipping to Alaska. Driver Tim Logsdon was escorted by a pilot car for the trip to the dock. In Anchorage, pilot cars and oversized permits were again needed along with an Alaska West Express 48-foot, 3-axle steel step deck trailer rated for 40-plus tons. "It took a real team effort to make this happen," says Dane Anderson, Operations Manager in Fife.
Tags: Alaska West Express, Oversize shipping, Lynden Transport, Alaska, Shipping to Alaska, Oversize freight
Lynden Transport was selected as an Inbound Logistics Top 100 Motor Freight Carrier for 2010. This year was particularly challenging for the editorial staff as they had to select 100 trucking leaders from more than 250 companies that submitted their credentials. The Top 100 list appeared in the September issue of Inbound Logistics.
"The Top 100 Motor Carriers list is a good place for transportation buyers to shift gears, slow down, and take a look at a group of truckers that are paving the road for innovation," explains Inbound Logistics magazine Editor Felecia Stratton. "We pared this year's roster from a huge pool of companies, evaluating surveys, conducting online research, and talking with truckers and shippers. Readers use this directory to find carrier partners that will put their company in the driver's seat."
Related Awards:
Lynden Transport was also recently voted the Top LTL Carrier for the Western Region by Logistics Management magazine. Lynden Transport is an industry leader in trucking to Alaska, from Alaska and within Alaska, as well as the Lower 48.
Lynden has been named the 7th top business in Alaska by Alaska Business Monthly.
Tags: Top 100 Motor Freight Carrier, Trucking, Inbound Logistics, Lynden Transport, Shipping to Alaska
Lynden Transport trucks have been rolling in and out of a construction site this summer hauling panels, joists and steel for a new fish hatchery near Anchorage. The $96 million Jack Hernandez Sport Fish Hatchery will open in June 2011 on the north bank of Ship Creek and will rear rainbow trout, Chinook and Coho salmon, Arctic Char and Arctic Grayling for the state's anglers.
Lynden has been transporting construction materials for contractor Kiewit Building Group to build a 141,511-square-foot building that will house 105 circular fish tanks. Lynden drivers have transported steel and aquaculture tanks and equipment from British Columbia, deck and joist from Washington and insulated panels from California.
"We started the job in the summer of 2009 by hauling 20 truckloads of steel sheet piles to stabilize the area for building," says Paul Friese, Alaska Sales Manager for Lynden Transport. "I have managed many projects for Kiewit over my 20 years, and each job is unique. On this one, we have been able to assist Kiewit with managing the site's limited storage capacity."
According to Kiewit General Superintendent W. Scott Davis, Lynden has always been professional and reliable. "When moving and tracking freight, especially materials critical to the project's schedule, it's nice to be able to trust that deliveries will be made as scheduled," he says.
It's estimated that nearly three of four rainbows pulled from Alaska streams and lakes grew up in one of Alaska's fish hatcheries. Hatcheries are responsible for 70 percent of the rainbows and 20 percent of the king salmon caught in the state.
Fourteen employees staffing the facility will incubate and rear the fish in tanks ranging from 2 feet to up to 26 feet in diameter. According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the first fish developed at the new hatchery will be grayling and rainbow trout fingerling next summer, with the first rainbow trout hitting local lakes in the spring of 2012.
The new hatchery will serve the state's need for 30 to 50 years. Instead of transferring fish from the old facility to the new one, biologists will begin with eggs at the William Jack Hernandez Hatchery to minimize the risk of disease. "Many Lynden employees love to fish Alaska's waters, so this project was a great fit for us," Paul says.
Tags: Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Shipping and project logistics, Alaska Fish Hatchery, Lynden Transport, Shipping to Alaska
Lynden drivers ruled the road at the May 21 Alaska Truck Driving Championships in Anchorage. Competitors were required to complete a written exam, a pre-trip inspection and an obstacle course. Tom Martin of Lynden Transport took first place in the Day Cab division and placed third overall, and Brian Ambrose of Alaska West Express took first in the Sleeper Berth category and finished second overall. Other top drivers were Lynden Transport's Don Harrison who placed third in the Day Cab division and Jered Post, taking third in the 3-axle category.
Brian and Tom are now preparing to compete in the National Truck Driving Championships August 3-7 in Columbus, OH. Brian has driven for both Lynden Transport and Alaska West Express over the years, and he says he's always been conscientious behind the wheel. "You have to be on your game every day. You can't afford to have a bad day," he explains. "I take pride in doing a good job, and although the competition will be tough in Ohio, I think I can handle it," he predicts.
Tom is a 16-year Lynden Transport veteran. "I've always been competitive, and I enjoy testing my skills," he says. This was his third year participating in Anchorage, and he said he's excited about competing on a national level.
We will keep fans of the Lynden Facebook page updated with the results of the competition. Good luck, Brian and Tom!
Tags: Lynden, Awards, Alaska West Express, Alaska Truck Driving Championships, Lynden employees, Lynden Transport, Alaska, Shipping to Alaska, Drivers, National Truck Driving Championships
Enhanced EZ Tracing and redesigned website puts customer in the driver's seat
ANCHORAGE – Lynden Transport's industry leading EZ Tracing system just got better with the addition of GPS mapping of shipment locations while in route over the highway. By clicking on a link on the Lynden Transport website, customers can monitor their shipments on a digital map that shows the truck as it moves from origin to destination. Lynden Transport is the only Alaska trucking company to offer this live tracking service to its customers. The company also launched a brand new website, www.lynden.com/ltia, redesigned based on customer feedback for easier navigation.
"We are very interested in customers' ideas to improve service and value," says Jim Beck, Lynden Transport President. "Lynden Transport has some long highway routes such as from Texas to Alaska and our customers requested that we provide more than depart and arrive status. With the new GPS live tracking maps we can provide multiple location updates per day.
"GPS mapping adds a dimension of transparency that puts the customer in control and assures them that their shipment will arrive on time," Beck added. "We plan to expand our network to include freight moving on marine vessels so our customers can see the same visibility on the water as we now offer on land."
GPS mapping example (click to view larger):
GPS mapping is the latest addition to Lynden Transport's other recent service improvement, Predictive Delivery, which provides customers up-to-date delivery times for their shipments in major services centers in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Kenai, Juneau and Ketchikan.
The EZ Tracing GPS mapping feature is automatically engaged each time a shipment is viewed through the EZ Commerce system. If you would like to sign up for Lynden's free EZ Commerce program, go to www.lynden.com/ltia and click on the "sign up now" link, or call your local Lynden representative.
Lynden Transport is the trusted leader for trucking to Alaska. Its network of service centers is the largest in Alaska and provides extensive coverage with integrated truck, marine and air services. The Lynden family of companies combined capabilities include: truckload and less-than-truckload transportation, scheduled and charter barges, rail barges, intermodal bulk chemical hauls, scheduled and chartered air freighters, domestic and international air forwarding, international ocean forwarding, customs brokerage, trade show shipping, remote site construction, sanitary bulk commodities hauling, and multi-modal logistics. Lynden companies are repeat winners in the annual Quest for Quality customer service awards presented by Logistics Management magazine.
Related Blog Post:
Have you seen the new Lynden Transport website?
Tags: EZ Commerce, Website, Alaska shipping, Lynden Transport, Shipping to Alaska, Wildlife


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The Mystery of the Crown of Thorns
by A Passionist Father
Preserving Christian Publications, Inc.
Albany, NY
"I saw, and beheld a white horse and He that sat on it had a bow, and a crown was given to Him; and He went forth conquering that He might conquer." [Apoc. 6: 2]
This mysterious vision was seen by St. John in the island of Patmos.
white horse signifies the innocent and holy human body assumed by the
Son of God at His Incarnation. The bow with which He fights is that of
truth. He goes forth fighting with humility and patience that He may
the pride and sensuality of the world. We have seen above that
to St. Bernard, four crowns were given to our blessed Lord. We are now
considering the triumph achieved by Him through His Crown of Thorns.
Our Lord having by His enemies been accused to the Roman Governor of making Himself a king, Pilate asked Him whether He was the King of the Jews. Jesus answered: My kingdom is not of this world. My kingdom were of this world, my servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now My kingdom is not from hence. Pilate from these words of our Lord logically concluded that He was a king; therefore he replied: Art Thou a king then? Jesus answered: thou sayest that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, that I should give testimony to the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth My voice. [Jn. 18: 36] We Christians professing to be of the truth, should therefore listen to the voice of our Divine Master and study the lessons which He imparts to us.
1. The first truth our Lord teaches on this solemn occasion is that He is a King. We learn this fact from His words to Pilate: "thou sayest that I am a king" which is equivalent to saying: I am a king as thou sayest. This is an Hebraism, or a mode of affirming commonly used by the Jews, as Pilate well knows. We must observe here that in His answer to the Roman Governor our Lord claims a higher dignity and a more extensive power and dominion than that ever possessed by any Jewish king. He is interrogated by Pilate, whether He be the king of the Jews . . . He answers that He is a king implying that He is a greater monarch than a mere Jewish king could be. Jesus in fact is the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords. [Apoc. 19: 16] He is a great King over all the earth . . . He shall reign over the nations. [Ps. 46] Jesus will most certainly reign over the nations of the earth. But what are the laws by which He proposes to govern this vast empire? What promises does He make to men to draw them to His standard? What reward will He give to His faithful followers? His laws, His promises, His rewards are of an opposite nature to those of earthly monarchs. Human laws are in modern times chiefly directed to the promotion of material progress. Modern civil legislation seems so intent to advance the accumulation of material wealth as if this were the main end of human society. But the laws of Jesus, promulgated in the Gospel condemn riches as most dangerous to the eternal salvation of man and bless voluntary poverty, as the surest guarantee for obtaining the kingdom of Heaven. We are warned against the allurements of earthly prosperity, and strongly exhorted to make friends of the mammon of iniquity by large alms to the poor that they may receive us in the eternal tabernacles which are their legitimate inheritance; because the kingdom of Heaven is awarded to the poor in spirit. Glory is promised to the humble, power to the meek and eternal bliss to the virtuous sufferer. The promises of Jesus are principally confined to the next life. In this present life He promises to His followers the privations of poverty, the contempt of the world, the calumnies of malice the persecutions of tyranny. He invites His disciples to follow Him in the constant practice of self-denial, willingly carrying their cross to Mount Calvary, to be crucified in His company, to suffer and to die in contempt for His sake.Our Divine Master and model gives in His Person a specimen of these humiliations and sufferings. At His installment in the hall of Pilate, His throne is a cold and hard stone, His diadem is a crown of sharp thorns. But this throne and this crown, which are the most convincing proofs of His enemies' cruelty and hardness of heart, are at the same time the fittest insignia of His dignity and power. What more solid throne than a stone can be found for the Monarch of the Universe? What better diadem than a Crown of Thorns for the King of Sorrows? By sitting upon a stone He takes actual possession of the whole earth. Being now installed, a crown is due to Him as a king. But a crown of gold would make Jesus of Nazareth appear a mortal king with a limited kingdom like other earthly monarchs whose principal strength consists in the power of their perishable riches to support their tottering dignity. A crown of flowers would designate Him as a voluptuous and self- indulgent man, the king of an effeminate race of subjects. A laurel crown would suit a victorious conqueror of nations whose sword is crimsoned with the blood of innumerable victims of His ambition. Any of these crowns would no doubt appear more honorable in the eyes of carnal men, but in reality it would be a sign of weakness, and a badge of infamy for our Divine Lord, because it would make Him appear a mere man elevated to an earthly kingdom like other monarchs of this world by material instruments and human means. A Crown of Thorns then is the most honorable for Jesus Christ. It makes Him indeed the King of Sorrows. It makes Him an object of derision and contempt for the impious, for the wicked, and the proud.
But in spite of them Jesus draws more numerous, more sincere and nobler courtiers round this cold stone, crimsoned with His Blood than the monarchs of the earth can ever hope to see near their thrones of gold enameled with precious stones. Jesus crowned with thorns beholds daily scores of millions of earnest worshipers who adore Him in spirit and in truth, who love and serve Him with devoted hearts. While the monarchs of the earth must have recourse to forced conscription to enroll soldiers for the defense of their drooping standards, three hundred millions of true believers are ready to shed their blood at the foot of the Cross in defense of their Faith and of the laws of Jesus Christ, their thorn-crowned King. But His glory and power is more fully manifested in Heaven, where countless millions of Angels and Saints serve, praise, love and worship Him as their Lord and God. This Crown of Thorns then, which has been pressed upon His sacred Head to afflict, humble and degrade Him, has been changed into a crown of gold, wherein holiness is engraved, a badge of honor, a work of power, delightful to the eyes of Faith for its beauty. [Eccli. 45: 13] Such are the triumphs of the Crown of Thorns. Jesus crowned with thorns is become the King of Kings and the Master of Heaven and earth.
With these sentiments of Faith in his Christian heart the truly noble Godfrey de Bouillon, having through his bravery and military skill contributed much to the recovery of Jerusalem, was declared king of the reconquered holy city and territory. But in his humility he would never consent to wear a crown of gold, because as he said, "Jesus our Lord had worn in Jerusalem a Crown of Thorns."
2. In the second place Our Lord said to Pilate: My kingdom is not of this world. These words should not be distorted in favor of the modern sacrilegious robberies of the States and other property of the Church in many parts of the world. Jesus did not say that His kingdom was not upon earth. Because as we have seen, He is the King of Kings, and surely this means that He is the sovereign Lord, and King of all earthly monarchs. He is the great King over all the Earth. He became man to save and govern all men. He makes us pray daily that His kingdom may be established upon the whole earth, and that He may reign over all nations. "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven." When our Lord said to Pilate: My kingdom is not of this world, He intended to teach men that the origin of His supreme power and dignity is not from the earth but from Heaven, not from men, but immediately from God. He wished us to understand that the means and instruments which He uses for the establishment, extension and perpetuation of His kingdom, are not material and human, like those of earthly potentates, but of a very different nature. He has omnipotence as an essential attribute of His Divinity. Hence He has no need of powerful armies with numerous squadrons of trained cavalry, supported by large parks of modem artillery. He builds no navy because He has no need of it. The Bark of Peter is sufficient for Him. All these engines of war serve only to demonstrate the utter weakness of earthly governments that are obliged to use them to keep their discontented subjects in forced obedience to their laws, and to repel the invasions of external foes. Jesus is the God of truth and recruits His subjects through the maxims of the Gospel. He is the Prince of Peace, and draws His followers through the charms of Christian charity. No man is forced into His service against His will. In the kingdom of Christ every person is free. In His army all are volunteers without pay, and without any other promise of bounty, except an eternal reward, if they remain faithful to Him until death, Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee the crown of life. [Apoc. 2: 10] In the school of Jesus the wise according to the flesh are taught to become fools for His sake, and to subject the boasted light of their reason to the authority of Faith. In the company of Jesus, the ambitious and proud in high honors and dignities are humbled; and the low and humble in spirit are raised above them. The rich are taught lessons of poverty, the vigor of youth and the strength of manhood are weakened by labor and voluntary penance. All the wealth, power and success of His followers are confined to humble, fervent prayer. These are the means, and the instruments which our Lord Jesus Christ employs for the establishment, extension and perpetuation of His kingdom upon earth.
Now, what scepter could have better and more strikingly expressed the apparent weakness of these instruments, than the hollow, light and frail reed which was placed in the right hand of our Savior crowned with thorns? Yet, it is with this empty reed that He has established the great kingdom of His Church upon earth. How empty and poor, ignorant, weak and frail were the Apostles, the first instruments our Lord selected for the preaching of His Gospel! St. Paul says: See your vocation, brethren, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble. But the foolish things of the world hath God chosen, that He may confound the wise, and the weak things of the world hath God chosen that He may confound the strong. And the mean things of the world, and the things that are not, that He might destroy the things that are. [1 Cor. 1: 26] Before St. Paul wrote these Divine truths, they had been forcibly expressed by our Redeemer and Master, through a reed in His hand in Pilate's hall. It is with instruments as frail and hollow as a reed that He has succeeded in a short period of time in establishing His kingdom in all the principal nations of the world. Wise philosophers, like Dionysius the areopagite and St. Justin, eloquent orators like Cyprian and Augustine were captivated by the folly of the Cross. The high and the noble of the earth came down from their lofty dignities and honors to the lowliness and obscurity of the Catacombs, and the wealthy embraced the poverty of the Gospel. Kings, like Clovis, and emperors like Constantine bowed their heads under the yoke of Christ, and raised His Cross over their standards and upon their imperial diadems. So long as they held their scepters of power in the name of Jesus, and wielded them for the promotion of His holy kingdom, they were always victorious, respected, and prosperous. But when the potentates of the earth abused their material power to oppress His Church, to persecute His followers, and to harass His Vicar in Rome, their scepters of gold were changed into hollow and frail reeds, which in their insane and impotent efforts broke and wounded their hands, while their thrones were shivered to pieces, and scattered as rubbish over the face of the earth. So foretold the best of prophet kings: "Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron, and shalt break them in pieces like a Potter's vessel. And now, ye kings understand, and receive instruction you that judge the earth. Serve the Lord with fear . . . embrace discipline, lest at any time the Lord be angry, and you perish . . . when His wrath shall be kindled in a short time, blessed are all they that trust in Him." [Ps. 2: 9]When His wrath shall be kindled in a short time. The materials for a general conflagration are ready in the universal discontent of mankind, against modern rulers and governments. These have impiously abdicated the Christian character of their mission, and direct all the energies of their waning power to Paganize their subjects. They wield their scepters with a heavy hand upon the people, overwhelming them with an unbearable burden of taxes, oppressing their bodies with military conscription, perverting their minds with the impious doctrines of godless schools, and tyrannizing; over their consciences with unjust and anti-Christian laws. They persecute the ministers of religion, interfere with the freedom of Divine worship, rob them of their churches, imprison, or exile Catholic priests and bishops, suppress religious houses and confiscate their legitimate property. An impious conspiracy has been forced "among the kings of the earth, and the princes have met together against the Lord, and against His Christ, the venerable pontiff of Rome ..." What wonder if according to the warning of the royal Prophet, these discontented subjects say: "Let us break their bonds asunder, and let us cast away their yoke from us. He that dwelleth in Heaven will laugh at our tyrants, and the Lord shall deride them. Then He will speak to them in His anger, and trouble them in His rage." [Ps. 2] Through His Vicar, the infallible Pope, Jesus has already spoken and His syllabus has troubled the mighty kings of the earth. Their scepters of gold, through the anger of God, have been changed in their hands of flesh into frail and hollow reeds, without any power for good. Having rejected God's sanction, their authority has lost the respect of their subjects. Deprived through their anti-Christian policy of the respect and love of mankind, they are obliged to surround their tottering thrones with millions of guns and bayonets, which, before the end of this century, by one of God's greatest prodigies, when His wrath shall be kindled in a short time, will be turned into weapons for their utter destruction, together with that of their impious counselors and abettors, the sworn enemies and malicious persecutors of God's holy Church. "The Lord said to my Lord: Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thy enemies thy footstool. The Lord will send forth the scepter of thy power out of Sion. Rule thou in the midst of thy enemies ... The Lord at thy right hand hath broken kings in the day of His wrath. He shall judge among nations: He shall fill ruins: He shall crush the heads in the land of many." [Ps. 109] Mankind will be surprised at the triumphs of Jesus crowned with thorns, when with His reed, a scepter of derision, He will, as with an iron rod, break as a potter's vessel, the power of all the tyrants of the earth. Men of all nations will then bend their knees before the throne of His majesty and glory, and worship Him in spirit and in truth saying: To the king of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. [Tim. 1: 17] Hence, that reed, which was an instrument of derision at the end of His mortal life, will become the scepter of His greatest triumph and glory towards the end of time, which is fast approaching, in spite of the incredulity of men, and in just punishment of this incredulity ...
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
have constructed a state-of-the-art infrastructure, which is well
facilitated with modern machines and world class amenities. We have
divided our unit into multiple divisions, ensuring maximum possible
operational efficiency. All divisions of the unit such as quality
control, production, packaging, logistics, etc., is managed by our
experienced team of dexterous professionals, who are motivated to
achieve the organizational objectives within the set period of time. The
personnel are carefully analyzed on their knowledge, expertise,
qualification and attitude. Apart, we encourage our team by various
perks, commissions, bonus and incentive schemes.
Our Guarantee
Primary Competitive Advantages


text:
Hours of Operation
Monday-Friday 8:30am - 6:00pm
Saturday 9:00am - 12:00pm
At our Dragontek Automotive, we are more than happy to give an online quote.
Please fill out and submit the form below to describe your project or specific needs. You will receive a confirmation after submitting the form. Once we receive your form we will contact you to discuss your needs.
Alternatively you can send images to us at firstname.lastname@example.com,
This will help us see what damage your vehicle has sustained and will help us endevour to give a more accurate quote.
Contact Dragontek Automotive Ltd for an online quote.


text:
Creating global order
Too many multinational companies have created a haphazard network of plants, according to new research, but putting the pieces in the right places can reap huge benefits.
The location and organisation of a company's factories will usually be the result of inheritance rather than design. This means that many leading firms have manufacturing structures that have evolved incrementally over time, through organic growth and merger-and-acquisition activity.
The resultant legacy is a collection of plants that typically lacks global coherence and is geared more to serving yesterday's customers than tomorrow's. Moving from this legacy is slow and hazardous. The transfer of assets and knowledge is difficult, transition costs are high, and supporting supply chains and infrastructure systems are gradually becoming established.
However, as globalisation accelerates, the huge benefits to be gained from reconfiguring manufacturing are becoming increasingly accessible.
Here we describe a structured approach to understanding and exploiting a company's international 'manufacturing footprint' - the location of its plants around the globe, what their roles should be and how they interact with each other.
We have captured the experience of more than 15 years' worth of research into international manufacturing, together with four years' close engagement with major multinational corporations. The research foundations that underpin this work with our industrial partners have supported the development of robust new approaches to the review and restructuring of their manufacturing operations.
This is at a time when understanding the rationale behind a particular configuration is becoming increasingly complex. The worldwide industrial picture is constantly changing, with emerging economies offering new capabilities as well as access to fresh markets, and many industries are undergoing significant consolidation and restructuring.
Make or buy
Developing approaches that ensure the right decisions are made in this evolving context is challenging - but offers huge potential rewards. For many companies, getting it right can represent the difference between success and failure.
Deciding which things to make in-house and which to outsource should clearly precede any reconfiguration of the manufacturing network. Tempting as it is to think about outsourcing and offshoring at the same time, this is essentially about finding the right degree of vertical integration regardless of where the production facilities are or will be located.
Determining the make-or-buy strategy provides an important foundation for footprint strategy as this confirms the components and process platforms that need to be included in manufacturing plants. When the strategic direction is defined and the risks understood, it is still necessary to do the detailed due diligence against individual opportunities. What this then provides is a set of corporate guidelines that can be used to justify all capital expenditure in production assets, asking whether it reflects the strategic make-or-buy direction as well as making financial sense. It also provides guidance to the procurement team on the outsourcing priorities, including the sensitive areas where special relationships are required.
This also steers the technology function in developing new process technologies, which underwrite the differentiated capabilities that manufacturing can provide and competitors find difficult to copy. Few companies have been able to put into words their overall make-or-buy strategy yet the words are not that difficult.
Balancing act
Having tackled the make-or-buy issue the next step is to decide where to locate plants and to plan the means for realising this vision. Finding a robust but practical solution to plant location is a balancing act. If we rely on the latest computer optimisation techniques, we may drown in data and might lose sight of the underlying strategic principles. Conversely, by considering options at too high a level, we may converge on over-simplified and generalised guidelines which can appear meaningless.
The suggested approach is illustrated on page 67. The first step is to understand the framework for analysis, and to tailor it to the needs of the particular organisation. This involves laying out the master process itself, creating basic definitions and defining simplifying assumptions.
One important element of the approach in large organisations is to split the problem into manageable pieces, and this normally involves separate analysis by a global product group. This works because families of products tend to have similar production characteristics and market requirements. The global product manager then becomes the natural 'internal customer' for the process.
When the approach is clear, the basic structure of the network needs to be defined in terms of plant roles and the principles for coordinating them. Once this is established the actual location of plants can be considered. The resulting footprint options are then assessed using a balanced set of strategic performance criteria.
The process of optimising across product groups, here termed 'aggregation', is a crucial step because significant synergies can be generated through shared assets and overheads.
The enterprise solution is then tested against different views of the future and key risks. The overall process is essentially iterative, with two key feedback loops. The first involves the refinement of product group footprints based on assessed performance. The second involves the refinement of enterprise solutions to make them more robust to possible risks and changes in world conditions.
The approach is suitable for repeated application on a regular basis, either as part of the normal annual business planning cycle, or as triggered by major changes such as acquisitions, market expansion or macro-economic swings.
Footprint strategy also requires the involvement of a broad range of senior managers across the enterprise. Representatives from operations, marketing, technology and finance, covering all product groups and regions, need to be involved in forming and finalising the vision. Implementation leaders need to be involved early to ensure feasibility and ownership. Clear communications with senior stakeholders should be established at the outset to ensure effective steering at board level.
Building blocks
Plants are the fundamental building blocks of the global manufacturing network, but they each cannot excel at everything. There are clear benefits in defining what a plant is expected to do and how it will be measured. A network of differentiated plants can supply the global market more effectively than a collection of identical plants. It is critical to define the roles of individual plants more precisely if the network is to be effective. It is useful to think of four aspects of a plant's role. Firstly, its position in the process stage or supply chain: some plants may produce finished products, others produce the feed-stock for these finishing plants and yet others may carry out the complete conversion process.
Secondly, the logic behind the plant's configuration or layout: for any type of operation there is a limited range of configuration choice within which flexibility may be emphasised at the expense of production cost or vice versa.
Thirdly, the rationale for particular locational benefits, or geographic purpose: plants may be sited to take advantage of low-cost inputs, to secure scarce resources such as materials or skills, or to facilitate market penetration. This rationale should not be neglected when constructing alternative network options.
Finally, the activities carried out at the plant: these may range from basic production and maintenance with no local scheduling, to capacity scheduling, process improvement and even product innovation. Each incremental activity adds complexity, but offers potential compensating benefits in local flexibility, provided this fits within the coordination principles established for the network. Each of these aspects must support the fundamental mission of the plant. Not all of them will be relevant in every case, but formal consideration will prevent issues being overlooked.
Not all of the potential plant roles will be used in every scenario generated. However, by specifying plant roles before discussing where the plants should be situated, the company develops a 'language' which makes it easier to describe the network and how plants contribute to its objectives.
Location, location
Determining the desired location of plants is the next stage in specifying a global manufacturing footprint. This involves scenario development and detailed analysis but there are rules of thumb that can help in simplifying the challenge.
Many companies feel their manufacturing network does not give them sufficient economies of scale and that one with fewer plants would rectify this. However, there are limits to this approach.
Firstly, some technologies benefit more from scale than others. A plant that is characterised by largely manual operations has less potential for economies of scale than one that is highly automated. Secondly, as the number of plants is reduced, the average shipping distance between the various plants and customers typically increases. This results in higher logistics and inventory costs, which offset the reductions in ex-works cost. It also leads to slower response times, which can adversely impact customer service.
The existence of import tariffs complicates the analysis, but once again tends to limit the extent of plant consolidation. Increasing plant size can also result in operational complexities, which cause scale diseconomies. The complexity can be the result of the increased variety of products being produced or simply the number of people being managed on one site. The size at which these diseconomies bite varies between industries, technologies and even corporate and national cultures. In practice, many companies adopt a rule of thumb regarding maximum plant size.
Another cause for concern for many companies is the high wage structure in many of their plants. This may suggest relocating production to lower-wage economies but, once again, the degree to which this is possible will be limited by a number of factors.
The first thing to consider is the proportion of the ex-works cost that is represented by labour. A manufacturer with a highly manual process will benefit much more from relocation than one with a highly automated process. There are other reasons why moving manufacturing operations to low-cost economies may be inadvisable. These often involve cases where it is important to keep manufacturing close to customers to maintain high levels of service, or close to the new product development function to enhance innovation. Other factors which limit relocation may include exposure to intellectual property abuse and the lack of suitable skills for critical operations.
Cost factors
Moving offshore may also offer opportunities to make significant raw material savings, whether through cheap local prices or increased negotiating power resulting from higher local consumption by larger plants. However, it may be possible to achieve comparable, or greater, savings by more effective global purchasing and sometimes the apparently cheaper local materials may not be available in an equivalent specification. Nevertheless, it does appear that manufacturing presence in low-cost economies can result in significant materials cost reduction.
Eventually, any major footprint changes will need detailed invest--ment evaluation comparing landed-cost savings with the required transition costs. Such evaluations may prove too cumbersome for the rapid screening implicit in this process, so a simple means to handle transition costs must be found.
There are two approaches that are typically used. Companies simply seeking to establish a long-term direction might choose to ignore transition costs, arguing that, over the long term, normal replenishment capital will fund the establishment of new facilities. Alternatively, approximations of transition costs can be factored in. The latter approach is usually preferable as, in practice, high transition costs may limit the possibilities, so consideration is required to help compare footprint options and to create a shortlist of the most attractive feasible solutions.
The following costs will need to be assessed: moving production equipment between plants; investing in new equipment; starting up and closing plants, including severance; capturing and transferring knowledge; and ramping up production.
Many companies have older plants which feature prominently in their history. Finding potential solutions for these emotionally and politically important sites may be a critical part of the process. Often such sites embody a great deal of tacit knowledge that provides unrecognised support for other operations. If such a site must be closed or downsized, it is vital to retain this knowledge within the network. While it is important to challenge any claims that sites must be left alone, it is also important to recognise when such issues exist and to avoid devising scenarios which cannot be implemented.
Outsourcing and offshoring
Many recent restructuring projects have involved outsourcing and offshoring, driven by a cost-reduction logic. This is no surprise when the labour cost differentials between regions are so high, transport costs are at record lows, and trade barriers are disappearing.
However, cost reduction is only part of a richer seam of strategic possibility. The key question companies should be asking is what they are expecting their global manufacturing network to deliver. Lowest cost is one outcome. Other factors include the ability to serve customers rapidly with high-quality products and services.
For example, companies may wish to offer customised products on a make-to-order basis. They almost certainly want to leverage global scale in developing new production processes and products that can be deployed around the planet, so they are constantly one step ahead. And, with environmental issues demanding ever-increasing attention, they need to make sure we are meeting sustainability objectives.
High stakes
There are clear benefits to footprint optimisation. Managing the network as a whole rather than as a collection of independent plants also brings additional advantages such as access to the best resources and suppliers. It also brings the ability to shift production in response to unplanned market or macroeconomic changes. And it provides hedging against business risks such as currency shifts and taxation.
So why have so few of today's leaders managed to develop a truly optimised global footprint? Reasons for slow progress have included production transfer complexity, supply base immaturity, management skill shortages, poor infrastructure and unstable politics.
The organisational structure of large companies is an additional factor that hinders rather than helps. In today's decentralised organisation, there is no strong hand to guide a coordinated, visionary and sustained effort across the enterprise. For many companies the result is ad hoc offshoring/outsourcing coupled with incremental investment that tends to preserve the status quo.
However, it is also clear that the stakes associated with footprint strategy are very high. The benefits are potentially huge but execution is difficult, hazardous and requires long-term, determined effort.


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This resource contains a collection of Ruby best practices and Ruby tips provided by our Toptal network members. As such, this page will be updated on a regular basis to include additional information and cover emerging Ruby techniques. This is a community driven project, so you are encouraged to contribute as well, and we are counting on your feedback.
Ruby is a unique language, full of quirky syntax and semantics that can sometimes seem a bit magical. While Ruby is often overshadowed by a certain web-development framework built on top of it, the language itself is versatile and well-suited to a wide variety of applications. Great Ruby developers can use Ruby to build anything from the back-side of a web application to command line utilities on your computer. The language is dynamic, reflective, and object oriented, but still requires experience for a developer to be able to harness their true power. Our best tips and practices are trying to fill the gap.
Check out the Toptal resource pages for additional information on Ruby. There is a Ruby hiring guide, Ruby job description, and Ruby interview questions.
Use the
!! (Double-bang) Operator for Boolean Values
def revealed?
In most programming languages, including Ruby,
! will return the opposite of the boolean value of the operand. So when you chain two exclamation marks together, it converts the value to a boolean.
def revealed?
Avoid Using the
Array.new Constructor with a Custom Default Value
@masked_word = Array.new(word.size, '_').join
@masked_word = "_" * word.size
Using the
Array.new constructor with a custom default value is risky, because the array gets filled with the same instance. Here is a quick example to illustrate the risk:
arr = Array.new(3, "foo")
#=> ["foo", "foo", "foo"]
#=> "bar"
#=> ["bar", "bar", "bar"]
Avoid Using
while !(not)
def play
while !exceeded_max_guesses?
Instead of a
while not, we can simply use
until exceeded_max_guesses?
Or even better with using a positive case:
while has_remaining_guesses?
loop do Instead of
def play
while true
def play
loop do
Why? The
loop do construct offers a cleaner syntax when working with external iterators, e.g:
# No loop do
my_iterator = (1..9).each
puts my_iterator.next
rescue StopIteration => e
puts e
And now with
loop do this would become:
my_iterator = (1..9).each
loop do
puts my_iterator.next
And the exception is handled for you. Not convinced yet? Another reason to use
loop do is that it also allows you to loop through two collections at the same time. As soon as one of them runs out of elements, the loop exits gracefully:
iterator = (1..9).each
iterator_two = (1..5).each
loop do
puts iterator.next
puts iterator_two.next
#=> 1,1,2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5,6.
Avoid Using
before_action to Set Variables: Use a Memoized Finder Instead
before_action filters have been used to make the controller DRY. Clarity has been sacrificed for the sake of DRY-ness. Don't get me wrong, DRY is a great concept, but not when it turns your Rails controller into a complicated puzzle!
Note: This is a good tip, even if it conflicts with Rails' default controller conventions.
A simple solution is to use a memoized finder (
before_action :set_contest
def index
@entries = @contest.entries
def set_contest
@contest = Contest.find(params[:contest_id])
def index
@entries = contest.entries
def contest
@_contest ||= Contest.find(params[:contest_id])
- Russell Colin AllenGoleta, CA, United StatesView Russell
How to Quickly Color Terminal Print Outputs?
Ruby has some great gems for coloring output prints to terminal, but sometimes you just need to print a couple of times and don't want to add another gem just for that.
For example, instead of:
puts "\e[31mThis is red!\e[0m"
puts "\e[32mThis is green!\e[0m"
you could just create the format separated on variables, using
%s placeholder (
printf format):
red = "\e[31m%s\e[0m"
green = "\e[32m%s\e[0m"
Then use the
% operator for readable formatting:
puts red % 'Red Again!'
puts green % 'Green Again!'
puts 'Mixed %s with %s!' % [red % 'red', green % 'green']
Let's take a look at another example:
a = 2
b = 3
sum = a + b
format = '%s + %s = %s'
puts format % [red % a, red % b, green % sum]
This example is much more readable then the following code:
puts "\e[31m#{a}\e[0m + \e[31m#{b}\e[0m = \e[32m#{sum}\e[0m"
This can be used in a simple and unobtrusive way, and in a single place, like a log method:
class MyClass
def log(message, level)
red = "\e[31m%s\e[0m"
green = "\e[32m%s\e[0m"
puts "%s: %s" % [red % level, green % message]
If you want to use this method globally, you can monkey patch String class:
class String
def red
def green
and then use them anywhere in the code:
puts "Red again!".red
puts "Green again!".green
puts "Mixed %s with %s!" % ["red".red, "green".green]
Let's reuse the same example we used before, but now with the new syntax:
a = 2
b = 3
format = "%s + %s = %s"
puts format % [a.to_s.red, b.to_s.red, (a + b).to_s.green]
A more polite variation of monkey patching would be by using a module:
module ConsoleColors
def red
def green
String.include ConsoleColors
If you still want to use it globally but don't want to monkey patch String, you can use the following code variation:
class Color
# constants
RED = "\e[31m%s\e[0m"
GREEN = "\e[32m%s\e[0m"
# or methods
def self.red(s)
def self.green(s)
puts Color::RED % 'reddish'
puts Color::GREEN % 'greenish'
puts Color.red 'reddish method'
puts Color.green 'greenish method'
In the end, you could use Ruby 2.0 refinements to limit the scope of the change:
module ConsoleColorsStringRefinement
refine String do
def red
def green
class MyLogClass
using ConsoleColorsStringRefinement
def log(message, level)
puts "%s: %s" % [level.to_s.red, message.to_s.green]
MyLogClass.new.log('My Message', 'DEBUG') # DEBUG: My Message
- Dennis KrupenikKharkiv, Kharkiv Oblast, UkraineView Dennis
- Boško IvaniševićNovi Sad, Vojvodina, SerbiaView Boško
- Marcos NevesFull stack web developer @ Freelancer
What is a Symbol Garbage Collector?
Ruby 2.2. introduced a big new feature, Symbol garbage collector (GC). Why is this big? Before this feature, in older Ruby versions prior to Ruby 2.2, symbols would live forever.
Let's see what it means with the following example:
# Ruby 2.1
before = Symbol.all_symbols.size
100_000.times do |i|
after = Symbol.all_symbols.size
puts after - before
# => 100001
# Ruby 2.2
before = Symbol.all_symbols.size
100_000.times do |i|
after = Symbol.all_symbols.size
puts after - before
# => 1
Just make sure to use any Ruby implementation > 2.2.0 to get this lovely new feature.
How to Use Boolean Operators on Non Boolean Values?
As you might know, using
||= will update the variable with the value returned expression on the right side if the variable is undefined. Most of us know that already, but what you might not know about is the
To explain how it works, let's take a look at the following simple code snippet:
str &&= str + "Talent" #=> nil
str = "Top"
str &&= str + "Talent" #=> "TopTalent"
As you can see from the example above,
str &&= str + "Talent" is the equivalent of
(str = str + "Talent") if str.
Practice and Join The Ruby Community.
Toptal engineers are expected to continually improve their skills. Possible ways for keeping your Ruby skills sharp are:
- Read books. One of my favorite books is Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. In the book the author talks about 10,000 hours rule.
- Keep writing code and practicing. You can check out the source code of your favorite libraries and try to pair with as many good developers as possible.
- Join one of your local Ruby groups. The Ruby community is extremely helpful and accommodating towards newbies.
- Don't be shy to use Ruby's IRC channel #ruby-lang.
- Last, but not least, try to enjoy your work.
Keep Your Constants in One Place.
Data that does not change during the application execution are called constants. These include the name of the application, administrator email, and the tagline. Ruby best practice is to keep all constants in one file. By using this convention, all developers on a project know exactly where to look for the constants and can quickly make changes. An example file would look like this:
# File config/settings.rb
ADMIN_EMAIL = 'eqbal@toptalcom'
ADMIN_PASS = 'my_awesome@pass'
How to Access Data After the 'END' Block?
In Ruby, the
__END__ keyword is used to tell the parser to stop executing the source file. It is often used to store code snippets and notes about the script that weren't really needed inline, and for appending documentation such as a license file to the end of a source code file.
Content of the file following the
__END__ keyword is available via the global IO object named
DATA. It contains all the content after
__END__ in that Ruby script file.
How can this be useful? Let's try it out. In the example below I'll use it for quick scripts where I need to process text data, rather than piping to
DATA.each_line.map(&:chomp).each do |url|
`open "#{url}"`
Not that useful? Ok, let's say you have a bunch of CSV data where you want only one column from, and you want to use that CSV data and
DATA to pull out the field you want:
require "csv"
CSV.parse(DATA, headers: true).each do |row|
puts "#{row['Name']} => #{row['URL']}"
This is pretty cool. Still don't believe me? Consider the last example. Let's say you just want to use DATA to contain ERB templates:
require 'erb'
number = rand(100)
erb = ERB.new(DATA.read)
puts erb.result()
Here is a randon number: <%= number %>.
Avoid Using Evil 'rescue Exception => e'
Let's say you want to capture exception details, like in the following example:
def do_something!
# ... do something ...
rescue Exception => e
failed e
This is a terrible idea. Why?
Exception is the root of the exception class hierarchy in Ruby. Everything from signal handling to memory errors will raise a subclass of
Exception. You can check list of exceptions from ruby-core that we'll rescue when rescuing Exception.
Do you want to rescue
Exception in general like
NoMemoryError? Let's say this is a mailer script, do we need to email the user when the job fails?
What to do instead? Start using
rescue => e as it's the same for
rescue StandardError => e and is almost certainly the broadest type of Exception that we want to rescue.
def do_something!
# ... do something ...
rescue => e
failed e
Use Splat Expander on Objects Other than Arrays.
Splat operator,
*, in Ruby is used to simplify the code. For example, to coerce values into arrays and assign them to variables in a simple way, we can put star (splat operator) before the values, like in the following code snippet:
t,o,p,t,a,l = *(1..6) #=> [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
puts p #=> 3
The trick here is that we can also use splat expander on objects other than arrays:
Toptaller = Struct.new(:name, :tech)
toptaller = Toptaller.new("Eqbal", "Ruby")
name, tech = *toptaller
puts tech #=> Ruby
How to Convert Any Base Number in Ruby?
Need to convert numbers from decimal to hexadecimal or binary? Good news. You can convert to any base from 2 to 36 in just one line in Ruby.
Using the
Fixnum#to_s method, you can quickly convert any Fixnum object to the textual format of another base:
5.to_s(2) #=> "101"
5.to_s(3) #=> "12"
5.to_s(8) #=> "5"
# To convert back
"12".to_i(3) #=> 5
Why Should You Avoid Using 'nil'?
What is
nil? It is an instance of
NilClass and a specialized kind of Ruby
singleton. So
NilClass is a class and
nil is the one and only instance of that class.
>> nil.class
=> NilClass
>> nil.singleton_class
=> NilClass
The problem is that when we use
nil more and more it'll be easy to treat
nil as something other than a straightforward object. For example, it's common to use
nil to mean absence of a result to the senders of messages. Consider the following example:
class Toptaller
attr_reader :name
def self.find(id)
return nil if id == ''
def initialize(name)
@name = name
Toptaller.find('Eqbal') #=> #<Toptaller:0x007fb6b3635f58 @name="Eqbal">
Toptaller.find('') #=> nil
Toptaller.find normally returns an instance of
Toptaller, but when it receives an empty string for
id it returns
Let's say we want to lookup
Toptallers with
ids = ['eqbal', '', 'diego']:
toptallers = ids.map {|id| Toptaller.find(id)}
toptallers.each {|top| puts top.name}
=> eqbal
=> NoMethodError: undefined method `name' for nil:NilClass
What to do now? Good idea is to use Null Object Pattern instead.
class Toptaller
attr_reader :name
def self.find(id)
return nil if id == ''
def initialize(name)
@name = name
def self.get_toptaller(name)
case name
when nil
names = ["Eqbal", nil, "Diego"]
class NilToptaller
def name
"No name."
toptallers = names.map {|n| Toptaller.get_toptaller(n).name}
["Eqbal", "No name.", "Diego"]
Write Readable Code.
If we consider code readability, code maintainability and code efficiency, in Ruby code readability is the most important.
If you have a choice in writing your code between clever, short, and maybe faster code versus longer but readable code, go for readability. Ruby makes it easy to write really bad code that people would fear to touch with a long pole. At the same time, Ruby also lets you write beautiful and concise code.
This can be confusing once you start working with Ruby. But when you spend more time reading different Ruby libraries and other developers' code you will start seeing some patterns among Ruby experts' code. Learn from the best and start writing better and more readable code.
How to Track Running Process?
Let's say you want to track your running processes by using using
ps command. Wouldn't it be great if you could name your process so you can easily track it? The good news is that you can. The trick is to assign a string to the global variable
echo '$PROGRAM_NAME = "Toptal"; sleep 5' >> my_processs.rb
ruby my_processs.rb
ps -A | grep Toptal
This trick can be also helpful if you want to share the status of your process rather than logging the information.
Using Ruby Interactive to Optimize Your Ruby Documentation
Ruby Interactive, or
ri for short, is a tool to navigate documentation and display information about Ruby classes, all from the console like a Ninja. It is a companion to RDoc, a documentation system.
If you put comments in your program files in the prescribed RDoc format, RDoc will scan your files, extract those comments, organize them intelligently, and in the end will create nicely formatted documentation based on them.
So why to bother using it? For one, it's already installed with Ruby. With Ruby Interactive you can access all your documentation and Ruby information offline, and in a faster and better way than searching for documentation through Google. Most of all, it looks more in the Ruby way.
Let's see how this works on a few examples:
ri Array::wrap # class method lookup
ri Array#max # instance method lookup
$ ri Enumerable.each
Enumerable.each not found, maybe you meant:
Why Should You Gemify Your Shared Libraries?
As you work with Ruby a lot and develop applications, you will start using more and more components, like fast RESTful APIs or any other frameworks. In that situation you need to think about separating responsibilities and business logic. For example, if you are using Ruby on Rails, you should start using ActiveRecord and keep all rake tasks outside the Rails.
Let's now imagine you want to create a new restful API using Grape, but you don't want to end up replicating models. What can you do?
One way to do this is to move your models and core tasks to a Gem so it can be decoupled and used anywhere. Another way is to use Git Submodules. Since encapsulating some common code into a Gems is considered good practice nowadays, we'll stick with using Gems in this article.
You can use Bundler to initiate a new Gem with the command:
bundle gem core. Bundler will generate basic file structure that looks like this:
├── Gemfile
├── LICENSE.txt
├── README.md
├── Rakefile
├── core.gemspec
└── lib
├── core
│ └── version.rb
└── core.rb
These files contain most of the business logic, and we need to move them to a separate Gem so they can be used outside Rails applications:
- Move your
dbfolder to the gem:
mv /path_to_rails/db /path_to_gem
- Move your
testsfolder to the gem:
mv /path_to_rails/spec /path_to_gem
- Move your
lib/tasksto the root path of the gem:
mv /path_to_rails/lib/tasks /path_to_gem
- Move your models to
libfolder in the gem
mv /path_to_rails/app/models /path_to_gem/lib/gem_name/
- Move
mv /path_to_rails/config /path_to_gem/
- Update your
- Modify the
Rakefileto use ActiveRecord Rake tasks, something like:
require 'rake'
require 'active_record'
include ActiveRecord::Tasks
DatabaseTasks.database_configuration = YAML::load(File.open('./config/database.yml'))
DatabaseTasks.db_dir = 'db'
That's it. Now in your Grape API project you can just include the Gem in Gemfile something like
gem 'core', git: '/path/to/my/gem', and you are all done.
Please note that we used Ruby on Rails in this example, but the logic and files structure can be applied to any Ruby framework.
Recommended Ruby IDEs and Editors
Some developers like to use IDEs for automatic code generation, autocomplete, navigating, integrated debugging, and more. There is no official IDE for Ruby but RubyMine could be the closest to that since it's widely supported and used. Nevertheless, most of the Ruby developers are using editors, because of the simplicity and speed that they offer.
Here is quick review of editors that can be used with Ruby:
- RubyMine: As mentioned, this is an IDE rather than an editor. Although Ruby does not need IDE for building applications in the way Java or C++ do. Why? First, Ruby is an interpreted language and its code is not required to be compiled. Second, because of Ruby's nature and Ruby on Rails by extension, in general it tries to be very simple and natural to write. As for an example, config files in Ruby on Rails are just Ruby files. There is no new syntax to learn, and you can use almost any construct available in the language without wasting much time learning the IDE.
- Sublime Text: This is my favorite editor. It has a smooth UI and a huge community, and has better performance than most of the other editors. Just don't forget to install and use its corresponding Ruby package.
- Textmate: Very popular with Mac users. DHH, the creator of Rails framework, and Ryan Bates, the producer of RailsCasts among many others prefer this editor.
- Vim: It is a must-know editor, or at least you need to know the basics if you will ever need to edit your files remotely. Most probably at one time in your Ruby developer career you will need SSH to your server and you'll need to edit some files. It could be extremely fast and productive if you are willing to spend some time to learn the shortcuts. Just don't forget to use the right set of plugins to be productive. There is the popular Janus: Vim Distribution and Srushti's Vim setup.
- Emacs: A popular Vim alternative. You want to customize it and make it Rails friendly? Don't forget to check Emacs Wiki. Need another reason to use it? Matz is using it.
How to Test a Set of Very Large Numbers
Let's say you need to test a set of very large numbers, even infinity, in Ruby. What would be the best way to do that? You can use
Range object as an infinite lazy list.
You just need to be careful when using methods like
#select, because you might end up with an infinite loop while
#select keeps checking every number because it never reaches Infinity.
In such cases, you can use the
Enumerable#lazy method to create a lazy enumerator and then use the
#first method to take a certain number of items from that list.
The following examples show how can this be achieved:
infinity = 1.0 / 0
(1..infinity).include?(100_000_000) #=> true
(1..infinity).include?(-100_000_000) #=> false
(100_000_000..infinity).step(100_000_000).take(2) #=> [100000000.0, 200000000.0]
Use Formatting Interpolation Technique to Format Decimals And Modify Strings Easily
To ease creation of the formatted string data, Ruby uses the string format syntax, or the
% operator. This operator enables us to replace certain parts of our strings at runtime with the actual value. After the
% operator, we specify arguments.
% takes either a single element or an array of elements as its sole argument.
Here are few examples to show the
% operator in action:
>> gpa = 3.8
=> 3.8
>> "%.2f" % gpa
=> "3.80"
>> '%d - %d' % [50, 50]
=> '50 - 50'
>> "%.5f" % gpa
=> "3.80000"
>> "**%s**" % "Toptal"
=> "**Toptal**"
How to Create a Hash from a List of Values
In Ruby, there is a simple way of creating a hash from a list:
a = %w{ T O P T A L }
Hash[*a] #=> {"T"=>"O", "P"=>"T", "A"=>"L"}
Hash[ [["dev","eqbal"], ["skil","ruby"] ]] #=> {"dev"=>"eqbal", "skil"=>"ruby"}
Let's consider more real life examples and let's imagine the following scenario where you've just collected some data. Collected data is in tabular format and organized so one array represents column headers, and the other array of arrays represents the rows values.
columns = [ "Name", "technology", "availability"]
rows = [
[ "Eki", "ruby", true ],
[ "Dave", "angular", false],
[ "Aamir", "cpp", false ]
The columns array holds the column names. These will be the keys for the final hashes. The rows array is an array of arrays, holding the actual tabular data. The objective, once again, is to end up with an array of hashes where each hash's keys will be the column names, and value as row.
# The hard way
results = []
for i in (0...rows.length)
h = {}
for j in (0...columns.length)
h[columns[j]] = rows[i][j]
results << h
results # => [{"Name"=>"Eki", "technology"=>"ruby", "availability"=>true}, {"Name"=>"Dave", "technology"=>"angular", "availability"=>false}, {"Name"=>"Aamir", "technology"=>"cpp", "availability"=>false}]
# Easier way
correlated = rows.map{|r| Hash[ columns.zip(r) ] }
Array#zip method will 'zip' two arrays together, making an array of arrays, where each array is holding the elements of the two component arrays at the same index.
Why Is 'Enumerable' Method Better than 'For' and 'While' Loops?
Many Ruby developers use
For and
While loops. It is a better practice to use enumerable methods, like:
#reject and
#detect instead to iterate through an array or objects. Not to mention that using
#each is considered a more idiomatic use of Ruby.
Let's show this with an example:
loop1 = []
loop2 = []
arr = ["top", "tal", "ent"]
for c in arr
loop2 << c
# This is more idiomatic ruby code
arr.each do |c|
loop1 << c
In the end this approach makes the code more readable, and more in a Ruby way.


text:
Add to Cart Add to Lightbox
- Filename
- 'Forbidden by Law, on the way to Half Moon Bay, 2016, photography by Catherine Herrera, Flor de Miel Fotos, Contact for License..tiff
- Copyright
- Contact for License and Permissions, Intl. and U.S. Copyright Reserved. 1980-2016.
- Image Size
- 3872x2592 / 28.7MB
- Contained in galleries
- 2016 Catherine Herrera Photography


text:
Learning English is important, but how to learn English well? Many students moan, "Learning English is hard," or "I have memorized many words, but I don't understand what those movies about," or "My English score is good in school, but I can't speak English with friends." Those are a lot of problems in learning English. Certain skills seem to be so easy to certain learners. Maybe speaking can be learned easily, but not reading skill; or reading seems to be so easy, but listening skill is not.
Many teachers in school teach their students English Grammar. They ask students to memorize the Grammar rules. Some private teachers said, "No need to learn English Grammar." They think learning English Grammar is not important. It makes some English learners get confused, "Which one is right?"
For beginner English Learners, I have some advice how to learn English well from the beginning. When you start learning another languages, no words in your mind, you know nothing about English. No words you recognize. You don't know what English people say, and you can't say anything with English. You don't know at all. Do you remember when you are a baby? You can't discuss about politic in that age, right? Now, you are like that baby.
The first time you learn language was with your Mom or Dad. They taught you how to say "Mom" or "Dad". You listened to them then try to speak such words. Day by day you heard many words from them and neighborhood, and you tried to speak like what they said. Bellow some tips how to learn English well.
1) Listening Skill
Everybody starts learning language through listening. They listen to people then try. In certain schools teachers only teach reading, because the teachers cannot speak English or in the curriculum is only reading skill to be taught. You listened to people then you try to speak like them. You did it many times. So now you can speak fluently. And now, you start learning English. Why don't you do the same as what have you did learning your own language?
However, to learn English well, you should arrange some listening activities. Moreover, for you who live in a country where English speakers are so rare. In my country Indonesia, there are about 726 languages. In my hometown there are two languages: Jawa and Madura. My family speak Madura, but in social we meet a lot of people speak Jawa. So I could easily learn Jawa. No need to join any Jawa classes. If you are surrounded by people who speak English, you can do the same.
For you who don't live with English speaker, I suggest you thematic approach for all skills. To be able to listen to what English speakers said, you need to familiarize your ears with the English sound and English structure. Every language has different sound and structure. For it, you need audio or video of English such as English movie, English news, English dialogue.
The more practices you do, the more familiar you are and the faster you master English listening skill. You can practice by listening to audio with picture or text (subtitle), or watching video on YouTube, or watching movie. Slow motion video is recommended for beginners. Find some videos or audios with the same topics, change with another topics every day or every weeks, etc.
To make you familiar to English sound and structure, do listening exercise every day as long as you can. You don't need to pay attention on the sound. You can let your tape recorder runs, or your TV on, and you do another stuff. It's just to make you familiar with English. Unconsciously you will get used to it.
Bellow is a great YouTube channel to learn English, to increase your vocabulary and improve your listening skill.
2) Practice English Speaking
Practice listening is usually alongside with English speaking practice. Many people understand what English people talking about, but they can't say anything with English. The reason is because they never try to speak English. Spoken English need practice. Thus, spoken English is considered as active skill. Talk about many topics. The more topics you are talking about, your vocabulary will increases and your tongue will be more fluent.
Certain topics could be difficult to talk about, but it doesn't mean you can speak English. You may have a lot of conversation with friends about general topic or daily activity, but can't discuss about certain topics such as politic, science, philosophy, etc. No need to have a feeling that you English level is too low. You just need to familiarize with the topics and increase vocabulary of the topics.
If you have no friends to practice with, it is easy to practice English speaking. You can get friends who also learn English online. There are a lot of people with the same problem. They need partner to practice spoken English. You can find them on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, or other social media. You can make video call with them to practice your English.
3) Practice English Reading
Some of my students and friends told me, "I got a headache after reading one paragraph of English text. I don't understand what the text about. I know the meaning of each word." Got a headache…!! Why does it happen on them? "I have mastered English grammar, but..., I have memorized a lot of words, but...?"
I got the same problem for the first time, but I found good strategy to solve it. There are some processes on reading activity: familiarization or recognizing words and structure, comprehending the meaning of entire text, etc. I started with familiarization. It is just to make my eyes familiar with the English text. I just read and bring English book every where, I also post some English text on the wall of my room, etc. No need to thing about the meaning. I focused on familiarization.
To understand what the text about, I read the text with the translation. I bought and rent books in two languages: a book written in my own language and written in English. If you are to lazy to read, you can make fun activity with reading, such as reading song lyric while listening to the song, reading poems, short story, novel, etc.
4) Practice English Writing
Writing is usually the last skill foreign language learners learn. Many people can speak other language, but just few of them who can read and write. I can speak four languages, but I can only read and write well two of them. In this case, writing is not only arranging the words, sentences, and paragraph, but it is about how to make the readers understand what you wrote.
Listening can improve your speaking skill, so does reading activity can also improve your writing skill. You can start with very simple sentence which is only consists of subject and predicate. The writing activities you can do are: rewrite some texts, paraphrasing, dictation, resume, or chatting with foreign friends.
Some English teachers said that by mastering English grammar you can write English well. Based on my experience, it is not true. By mastering English grammar you can only arrange sentences, not presenting your idea in written form. You need to be a greedy readers, then try to write. Make more practices to hone your writing skills. The more you read, the better your writing skill.
Join some English writers community online. There are a lot of website to hone your writing skill such as Bubblews.com, Hubpages.com, etc. You can also practice on Question and Answer website such as Yahoo Answer, Quora, etc. You can get great experience practicing on such websites.
Those are some advice for you who learn English. It is also work for other languages you learn. Try to keep in touch with English. At least you have one activity you do only with English. I read English news and watching English news videos on YouTube.
After all, if you learn English to fulfill any requirements to continue study or to apply jobs, I suggest you to take professional English Classes. Take regular classes in your country. It is different from the English learners who learn English just to be able to use it in social. To continue your study or to work in certain company, there are some requirements you need to master. You need to reach certain level of English.
_____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________


text:
Georgetown, TX 78626
FINALLY... Custom lots on the East side of Georgetown!Good soil for planting and growing.4 board corral perimeter fencing with established coastal grass on entire tract.Hurry to get your pick - 4 lots left ranging from 11.2 to 12.2 acres.This tract is behind the gated section on River Valley Dr.Owner Carry with 20% DP.
Steve Bamsch with Keller Williams Realty-GT
2018 Curve Realty. All rights reserved. © Collaborative Home Search by RealSavvy
Based on information from the Austin Board of REALTORS® for the period through [see date below]. All listing information is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and should be independently verified. The Austin Board of REALTORS®, ACTRIS and their affiliates provide the MLS and all content therein "AS IS" and without any warranty, express or implied. Listing information is provided exclusively for consumers' personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties consumers may be interested in purchasing


text:
In this series of episodes from The Ruff Ruffman Show, Ruff must use the power of force and motion to rescue his plushie and deliver it to his grandmother for her birthday. Throughout his adventure, Ruff learns a lot about physics and how it is essential in getting his plushie back.
These videos have been captioned in both English and Spanish. This resource is part of the RTL 2015-2020 Initiative collection.
Visit PBS KIDS for more from The Ruff Ruffman Show.
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text:
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(512) 789-6213
Does Cold Water Get You Hot Under the Collar?
Make sure your water runs warm in Spicewood & Austin, TX
4 signs you should repair or replace your water heater
It may be difficult to know when you need service for your water heater. Here are a few red flags:
Rusty water appears when you turn on the hot tap
Your water heater is making strange noises
It takes longer than usual to get hot water
The quantity of hot water you get is less than you need
Pennington's Plumbing LLC
today to keep hot water running through your Spicewood & Austin, TX home.
Is your water ice cold when you wash your face in the morning? Have you been spending longer than usual waiting for the water in the shower to reach the proper temperature? You may need to have your water heater replaced or repaired.
Pennington's Plumbing LLC offers installation and repair services to bring hot water back to your Spicewood or Austin, TX home. We can install traditional or tankless water heaters and make repairs to get your water heater working the way it should.
Call 512-789-6213 now to schedule a service appointment for your water heater.
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text:
Lebkuchen is a traditional German Christmas cookie, I believe the translation is "Love Cake". It is said that they were originally invented by monks, some even thought that these cookies were magical, and often worn as good luck charms to ward off evil spirits. Traditional Christmas Cookies that are sold in the open air Christmas markets in Germany are more what I'd consider Gingerbread, rich with a good deal spices and molasses, and cut into shapes. Sounds like a familiar Christmas cookie we all know and love well right? (Pfefferkuchen which translates as pepper cake.) Just as often as I see gingerbread referenced for the term "lebkuchen" I've seen a lot of recipes for honey bars or honey cakes. (cookies) This variety of recipes is a dough that doesn't have quite as much spice, it uses honey and they are typically a softer cookie. Who knows what the real explanation is, I figure Lebkuchen is just a round up expression that denotes quite simply Christmas cookies. If you've followed my mead posts you'll know that honey often does refer to love and romance. (honeymoon, honey lips etc.) For many years honey was considered a gift from the gods, and it was the only sweetener available for some time so it was used pretty much exclusively used in medieval baking. It seems pretty ideal for me to assume the "love cookie" is a honey variety of the holiday biscuit. Regardless, I think its safe to assume that honey cookies or cakes and gingerbread are quite possibly Germany's official Christmas cookies.
This is my recipe variation of Lebkuchen. In my house gingerbread is gingerbread, and I've usually got a wide spread of molasses rich cookies because I LOVE spicy molasses cookies. For my version or Lebkuchen I wanted something distinctly different from my usual molasses cookies. I've made a few variations of this recipe over the years and it has needed a bit of tweaking, but this is the best variation yet. Traditional Lebkuchen, stollen and gingerbrad recipes uusually involve nuclear colored candied fruit product or candied citrus peel…if you can't tell I hate that stuff. I dry my Lebkuchen out so that they're a bit harder, you don't have to do this but it is nice if you are keeping them on the counter in a jar or shipping them to loved ones. If you want them soft and chewy, simply skip the drying process. I really never grow tired of dipping Christmas cookies in gluwein, eggnog, milk or even coffee.
My recipe is for an almond and honey cookie with fruit jam to help flavor it. You can substitute orange marmalade for a more traditional orange flavor that is usually found in fruit cakes and fruity cookies. You can also use molasses as well as honey, one or the other if you'd like. You can vary the spices to your own tastes, I prefer cardamom, clove, cinnamon and ginger. Play with it and make your own traditions, create your own memories.
- 2/3 cup honey
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons butter (melted)
- 2 eggs
- 3 tablespoons marmalade
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups all purpose unbleached flour (Substitute some Sprouted or Oat Flour if you like)
- 1/2 cup ground almonds (coarse ground)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon cardamom
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
- In a large bowl combine the wet ingredients. I usually melt the butter in a bowl and then put the honey in. Since my home is fairly cold if necessary I gently warm the honey in a pan of simmering water or in the microwave. The warm butter helps smooth out the honey. As long as your mixture is still lukewarm you can combine the remaining wet ingredients and stir to combine. Combine dry ingredients, not including 1 cup of the flour. (You will mix this in last) Stir everything together until smooth in consistency. Once your mixture is smooth stir in the remaining one cup of flour. It will be somewhat stiff., stiffer if you did not use preserves.
- Using a cookie dough disher scoop even mounds of cookie dough onto a lined baking sheet, about an inch or so apart. They do not really spread that much. Bake 8-10 minutes and remove from the oven. Do this with all of the cookies until no dough remains. Allow them to cool slightly before transferring to a cooling rack. You can ice them once they are fully cooled or you can dry them out.
- To glaze them I simply mixed up the glaze and dipped the rounded side of each cookie into the glaze. Swirl it slightly to let excess glaze drip off and flip right side up onto the drying rack. Allow to dry fully before packaging.


text:
NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC)
NHS continuing healthcare also known as NHS continuing care or "fully funded NHS care", is care for adults outside of hospital that is arranged and funded by the NHS. Norfolk Continuing Care Partnership is a new organisation set up to manage continuing care services on behalf of the NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups for Norwich, North Norfolk, South Norfolk and West Norfolk (from November 1, 2017) more information can be read in this PDF.
NHS continuing healthcare can be provided in a variety of settings outside hospital, such as at home or in a registered care home. NHS continuing healthcare is for adults. Children and young people may receive a 'continuing care package' if they have needs arising from disability, accident or illness that can't be met by existing universal or specialist services alone.
To be eligible for NHS continuing healthcare, you must be assessed by a team of healthcare professionals as having a "primary health need". Whether or not someone has a primary health need is assessed by looking at all their care needs and relating them to:
- what help is needed
- how complex these needs are
- how intense or severe these needs can be
- how unpredictable they are, including any risks to the person's health if the right care isn't provided at the right time
Your eligibility for NHS continuing healthcare depends on your assessed needs, and not on any particular diagnosis or condition. If your needs change then your eligibility for NHS continuing healthcare may change. Some people who are eligible for continuing healthcare choose to have a personal health budget so they can organise and manage their care themselves.
More information about the process in central and West Norfolk for agreeing CHC, for what CHC funding covers and how eligibility for CHC is assessed can be found in the following documents:
Read more about continuing healthcare on the national NHS website.


text:
Break the news about the upcoming move as soon as possible. Once it's official, just talk to your kids honestly. Be prepared to answer many questions about the move and the new place and to face some negativity from your children. Moving can be difficult on you, but it can be even more harsh experience for your kids.
You can find some interesting information about the new city, show some photos of places that might be of interest to your precious little ones. Most of all, you should encourage your children and tell them that you will support them each step of the way. Look for schools together and search for opportunities other than classes.


text:
31st May 2017
Reserve Plot 1 – The Hanbury at Harcourt Gardens in June to receive up to £20,000 of incentives by way of Stamp Duty and Flooring towards your new home.
The delightfully designed Hanbury provides spacious and elegant four bedroom living with a host of premium and high specification benefits. Boasting a kitchen/dining area leading to the impressive sun-lounge and with double doors opening to the large garden this unique home provides a wonderful social space to enjoy. Whilst upstairs the layout sees four large bedrooms, two benefitting from en-suites and family bathroom.
With both Nottingham and Derby both easily commutable from the development, at Harcourt Gardens you will be spoilt for choice when it comes to shops, restaurants, and leisure facilities.
Discover the Hanbury today and book your viewing by calling 01543 412288 or pop by our sales centre open Saturday & Sunday 11am-3pm.


text:
About ISO Certificate
International Organization for Standardization (CYBER EXPO)
"After going through audit conducted by recently at our end on 2014, we are successfully maintaining the QMS system and continually Improve by updating records at all levels. "
About ISO 9001 (QMS)
Know More About ISO on Wikipedia | Click Here
Benefits of ISO 9001 Certification:
Full Customer Satisfaction by the Organization like phone support , chat support , email support , e ticket opening and instant reposed from customer end.
Better documentation of processes with 100% legit Govt. Paper and document submission like Professional tax audit and regularity maintenance.
National & International Recognition by ISO Standard, Now Everyone know the value and usefulness of CYBER EXPO in Online life, Anyone can build an online careers by the help of CYBER EXPO.
Promotion & Greater Marketing Appeal for Business associate of CYBER EXPO all over the India and International Member Also.
Improves Business Performance & Profit too is a symbol of ISO Certificate. Any company who is well reputed with Quality and Customer satisfaction is the Profiteer and will be the top of the industry , CYBER EXPO is one the Company believe in Customer satisfaction – An award winner company well known for customer satisfaction 🙂
And Also this the key point of and ISO Certified Company 🙂
- Reduce Rejections and Increases productivity.
- Better Process Control & flow by Defined System.
- Cost savings.
- Enhanced customer satisfaction.
- Access to new markets.
- Increased market share.
- Environmental benefits.
- For government Expert opinion and Opening up world trade.
Want to Ask about ISO Standards of CYBER EXPO ?? Why Not !" style="bubbles" box_color="#10abe1″][ninja_forms_display_form id=6]


text:
public void TurnAway(Vector2 target, float turnSpeed)
Vector2 difference = target - position;
float objectRotation = (float)Math.Atan2(difference.Y, difference.X)
+ (float)Math.PI ;
float deltaRotation = MathHelper.WrapAngle(objectRotation - rotation);
rotation += MathHelper.Clamp(deltaRotation, -turnSpeed, turnSpeed);
and then we move forward. Since we are doing this as modular as possible, we can reuse the previous Move method.
So our Flee method is simply
public void Flee(Vector2 target, float speed, float turnSpeed)
TurnAway(target, turnSpeed);
We also want to implement an "Arrival" behavior. Now so far TurnTowards and TurnAway have effected rotation and Move has effected position. Arrival will effect speed. We will pass Arrival a speed and it will be scaled based on position.
Now target is your target position, speed is your top speed, minDistance is the closest you want to get and maxDistance is the distance where you start slowing down.
public float Arrival(Vector2 target, float speed, float minDist, float maxDist)
float dist = Vector2.Distance(position, target);
if (dist > maxDist)
return speed;
float percent = (dist - minDist) / (maxDist - minDist);
return MathHelper.SmoothStep(0,speed, percent);
so we check our distance from the target and if we are outside of slowing range, we just move on ahead otherwise we check what percentage of the slowing range we are then apply smoothstep between our desired speed and 0 using the percent to pick our new speed. Now of course if you have an object with variable speed, you will need to tweak how you use this, but this is bare bones, what can I say. To use this method, I can do this to combine it with Seek
Seek(target, Arrival(target,speed,17,80), turnSpeed);
In the example code, you will see that I injected it into FollowPath to make the tank slow down at each stopping point.
Here are the project files


text:
I'm a librarian who loves anime, manga, and reading a wide variety of genres.
I hate this book. Andrew Harris, the guy Cora dislikes because he was essentially hired to replace her as Lord White's lab assistant, just convinced Cora to be less prickly towards him...and now they're making out. It started with Andrew kissing her out of the blue, apologizing, and then kissing her again out of the blue. They have literally no reason to be doing this other than they're both reasonably attractive and happen to be alone in a room together.
Also: Is it really fair to call Michiko "silent and mysterious" when her language limitations mean she can't really participate in the conversations around her? And also: Dr. Mantis has barely even done anything and he's already clearly the villain. I mean, come on, Dr. Mantis.
On the plus side, this is going to be an easy book to review, and it'll earn me $5.00 in Booklikesopoly once I manage to finish it.


text: I added this to my queue immediately after watching Xavier Dolan's Mommy (2014), which also stars Suzanne Clément, and like Mommy, she just about steals Lawrence Anyways also. You seat yourself and strap in, and at the end of the ride, you try to reflect on what you've just seen. It was hours after I watched it yesterday afternoon that I reflected on the opening scene. Faces. Expressions. People looking. People looking with that look. Like there's a hand growing out of your forehead. Then she walks into the mist and the film starts.