text:
Alpine Charms
Argentiere, Chamonix Valley, Mont Blanc, France
Luxury Apartments with Prestige service, built in traditional style, with large indoor swimming pool
Cristal Apartments, Argentiere ****
sleeping up to 10 with swimming pool 10m x 7m
These **** star apartments are situated in the centre of Argentiere, in this lovely traditional village at the head of the Chamonix valley and face the Mont Blanc range. The apartments are only 300 metres from the Telecabine des Grands Montets. These apartments are a good choice for mixed parties with keen skiers, non skiers and children. Its just 200m to the ESF ski school and the ski nursery and just 50 metres from the train station and the regular ski buses for Chamonix centre and Chamonix ski lifts. The centre of Chamonix has much to offer non skiers during the day as well as lively night life.
Good intermediate skiers may wish to join a guided trip down the Vallee Blanche, whilst heliskiing is available for the intrepid in Italy and Courmayeur - easily reached via the Mont Blanc tunnel!
There are 65 top quality apartments, spread over four six storey buildings, with lift. The apartments are built in the grand turn of the century style, for which Chamonix is famous.
Facilites are superb: with free use of the indoor heated swimming pool with stunning views of Mont Blanc through the glass roof.and a large stylish public lounge with log fire, traditional and comfortable seating and billiards.
ervices available free of charge
- Indoor heated pool (approx 10m x 7).
- Cot & high chair loan (subject to availability, state at time of booking).
- Communal lounge with fireplace.
- Left luggage facility.
- Bakery Service.
- Laundry room.
Bed linen + towels provided
- Satellite TV free of charge.
Payable services
Two hotel service options are available :
Option A:
Beds made on arrival,
Option B
: Beds made on arrival & final cleaning.
(State and pay at time of booking - see columns A and B in the price table)
Change of towels - pay locally 7 euro/set
- Selected apartments have a sauna - 8 euro/session
(subject to availability, state at time of booking if desired & pay locally).
- Parking space rental, approx 29euro/week (state & pay at time of booking).
- Pets, 44 euro/pet/week (max. 2 / apt, to pay locally)
Accommodation - sleeping 2 to 10
All apartments include:
kitchenette with ceramic hob, oven and dishwasher, telephone,
balcony.(South or east facing apartments)
Studio - Sleeps 3
(ref S3K) -
Living area with single sofa bed
Cabine with bunks sleeps 2 (may be closed with door or curtain )
1 bedroom apartment - sleeps 3
(ref 23) -
Living area sleeps 1
Bedroom with double bed
1 bedroom + cabine apartment - sleeps 5
(ref 25K
) 35m
Living area sleeps 1
Bedroom with double bed
Cabine with bunks sleeps 2 (may be closed with door or curtain )
Bath room or shower room
2 bedrooms sleeps 5
(ref 35)
Living area sleeps 1
Bedroom with double bed
Small bedroom sleeps 2 most likley bunk beds
Bath room or shower room
2 bedrooms + cabine or mezzanine, sleeps 7
(ref 37K/Z)
Living area sleeps 1
2 bedrooms each sleeping 2
Cabine bunks sleeps 2 or may have mezzanine floor with 2 single beds
Bath room or shower room
2 bedroom + mezzanine or
3 bedrooms
sleeps 7/8
(ref 3Z/478)
Living area sleeps 1 or 2
3 bedrooms each sleeping 2
2 bedrooms each sleeping 2 plus mezzanine with 2 single beds
Bath room or shower room
(type of apartment allocated according to occupancy)
3 bedrooms + mezzanine sleeps 8
(ref 48Z)
Lounge area
2 double bedrooms one with ensuite bathroom with jaccuzzi bath
1 bedroom with 2 single beds
Mezzanine with 2 single beds
2nd bath room or shower room
2 Toilets
3 bedrooms
+ mezzanine
, sleeps 10
Lounge area sleeps 1
2 double bedrroms one with ensuite bathroom
1 bedroom with 2 double beds
Mezzanine with 1 single bed
2 toilets
sauna in some apartments -
please check on booking -
8 euro/session pay locally
Other Ski Resorts
To Book
Ski Extras - including 20% off Ski Hire
Contact Us
About Us
Click for Map of Chamonix Valley showing Argentiere
Mont Blanc-
Oisans -
Les Deux alpes
Alpe d'Huez
3 valley resorts:
La Tania
Les Menuires
Espace Killy:
Val d'Isere
Portes du Soleil -
Les Gets
ski chalets
Les Gets apartments
Grand Massif:
Paradaski -
La Plagne Villages
Plagne Centre
Plagne Soleil
Champagny en Vanoise
For More information, Please
Contact Us
Alpine Charms Home
PRICES DO NOT INCLUDE: Security deposit €300, local tax approx. €1.50pp/day. Cleaning charges if accommodation is not left in perfect order: €45 to €105 ( unless end of let cleaning is booked)


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subset: commoncrawl


text: Christian Beaudoin joined the Urban Gateways Board of Directors in 2015 and serves on the Resource Development Committee. Christian is Managing Director, Research & Advisory for Jones Lang LaSalle. He drives industry-leading research and analysis on economics, real estate development, and market conditions. Christian advises many of the world's largest public and private organizations on real estate strategy and operations. Christian is a volunteer Build Leader and local board member with Habitat for Humanity, and holds a BS and MS in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois, and an MBA from the University of Chicago. He is a licensed Professional Engineer and licensed Structural Engineer.


text:
Dita Von Teese: Let Me Upgrade U
A solo Dita Von Teese makes a trip to the AT&T store on Tuesday afternoon (June 23) in Los Angeles.
The 36-year-old burlesque stripping queen already owns a Blackberry but she was upgrading!
Dita tweeted, "Why does my new blackberry come with five John Mayer ringtones, and not one of them tells me that my body is a wonderland?"
She continued, "I'm working on my new show, which I am sure someone will say sucks and might call me a talentless slut but I won't punch anyone for it! Criticism is part of the biz and it hurts."
WILL YOU WATCH Dita's new show about burlesque?
10 + pics inside of Dita Von Teese getting an upgrade…


text:
If you are like me then you always look for ways to Improve your mixes & learn new techniques to take your EDM mixes to the professional level.
it doesn't matter if you produce house, trance, dubstep or any other sub genre of the EDM. there is always something to learn so you can improve your workflow and produce better music.
About the course:
Mixing EDM! course is a complete walk through of an EDM song the author mixed for a client. Not only will you get step by step videos showing you exactly how he mixed this song,
but by enrolling in this course you'll also get the raw audio files that were used in the mix so you can practice along while he is teaching, which is an excellent way to expand your creativity and workflowwith EDM.
In this course you'll learn how to:
- Setup a session for a great EDM workflow.
- Tame and sculpt the low end of this song to keep the bass pumping and moving because as we all know in dance music the kick and the bass are just as important as the melody.
- Use distortion and pitch shift effects to make your synths sound huge and powerful.
- Use EQ and compression to give instruments and vocals their own sonic space in the mix. Use popular effects and their settings to get the right style of sound for this music, which is really really important.
On top of that all the author will be available to answer any questions you have about mixing electronic dance music.
With a community of over 1000 students and a ton of great reviews across all of their courses they promise a great learning experience.
On a final note if the class wasn't a good fit, no worries, they have a 30 day hassle free money back guarantee!
So what are the requirements?
- Basic understanding of Computer Recording
- Basic understanding of Audio Signal Flow
- Basic understanding of Equalization, Compression, Delay, and Reverb
What are you going to get from this course?
Over 25 years of experience and expertise from a professional recording studio that has serviced bands such as Akon, Ma$e, T-Pain, D12, Nico and Vinz, U2, Blink 182 and many many more.
who is the target audience?
Intermediate to advanced audio engineers and enthusiasts who want to learn industry standard mixing techniques and mixing secrets used by professional engineers on today's hit records.
click Here to get that 30% OFF special deal at udemy
About the author:
Over the last 10 years He had the opportunity to record and mix some of the best bands and artists in the business, including The Neighbourhood feat. Danny Brown, T-Pain, +44, Fallout Boy and Frankie J just to name a few. With the recent launch his website iSound Audio Engineering he is busier than ever but still enjoy helping new engineers and musicians learn the craft of recording and mixing.
Now for a limited time, the author gives a 30% off the entire course!!!!
click Here to get that 30% OFF special deal at udemy
User Reviews:
"I really enjoyed the workflow for this class. Its great to have the raw audio files and I learned some awesome techniques from Ian. You can tell this guy is a pro by the way he sets up and organizes the mix, not to mention that the end sound is awesome. Excited to finish up and take it again. I already feel like I'm much better! woo!"Jeff Lukas
"I'm just about finished and had to mention that Ian and Signature Sound have done an excellent job. So many techniques that I'm excited to use in my own mixes. Make sure you practice along and send your mix in, I did that for their other classes and got great feedback." Simon McDermot
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text:
ROME (Reuters) - A boat packed with migrants from Africa overturned in the Mediterranean Sea on Wednesday, pitching passengers into the water, the Italian coastguard said.
About 700 people had been aboard the boat, SkyNews24 TV channel said. Italian and Irish naval vessels were trying to rescue survivors.
A coastguard spokesman confirmed that an overcrowded boat overturned off the Libyan coast just as ships came to its rescue but he could not say how people were aboard or how many had been saved because the operation was still going on.
The Mediterranean Sea is the world's most deadly border area for immigrants.
More than 2,000 migrants and refugees have died so far this year in attempts to reach Europe by boat, compared with 3,279 deaths during the whole of last year, the International Organization for Migration said on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Steve Scherer; Editing by Angus MacSwan)


text:
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A-0011-50 (50 assays) - $40.94 Order
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- Protease Inhibitor Cocktail for General Use(I-PIC.1)
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- Protease Inhibitor Cocktail EDTA Free(I-PIC.4)
- Proteomics Grade Tube for Plasma (PGPT)
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text:
The skin is a can't-do-without burgoo ingredient, and Ashby
is adamant about including it. "It really emulsifies down in the
stew. We'll pull the meat and skin and shred it back into the stew,
so the skin is broken down by hand."
Creamy tomato is the signature soup at Tupelo Honey Cafe,
Asheville, N.C., where Brian Sonoskus is executive chef. "We
never sell less than 24 gallons every day, even in the heat of
summer," he says. "It's simple and delicious and all about the
flavor of the tomatoes." To maintain consistency year-round, he
uses a canned California vine-ripened tomato, to which he adds
tomato paste, sugar, bay leaves, sea salt, fresh back pepper, water
and heavy cream.
One of the keys to cooking a perfect batch is temperature,
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We heighten the acidity, shut off the heat, then add the cream. This
way, the cream blends in better, so there's no chance of breaking
or becoming overly thick or sweet. If high fat content is a concern,
you can lighten up the soup with milk, then adjust the thickness
with cornstarch.
"We usually serve our Creamy Tomato Soup, garnished with a
bit of parsley, paired with a cheesy grilled sandwich. I like to dip my
sandwich in the soup like my Pennsylvania Dutch relatives do."
left: at Tupelo honey Cafe, the signature creamy tomato
soup is paired with a cheesy grilled sandwich.
NE W yOrk-BASED AWArD-WINNING JOUrNALIS T k ArEN WEISBErG HAS COvErED THE
ISSUES AND LUMINArIES OF THE FOOD-AND-BEvErAGE WOrLD—BOTH COMMErCIAL
AND NONCOMMErCIAL—FOr MOrE THAN 25 yEArS.
At One PNC Plaza, Pittsburgh, a soup-by-design action
station rotates into the cafeteria once a month and
typically runs for a week. "It's more springy than heavier
soups, since there's no cream base," says Dave DeCollo,
general manager for Parkhurst Dining Services. "We do
all our own stocks from scratch, and have beef, chicken
and vegetable all at a full rolling boil."
A selection of precut proteins—including top round beef,
chicken breast/thighs and extra-firm tofu—and vegetables
with an emphasis on fresh local produce are set out for
customers to make their own soups. There are also starch
options, such as long-grain rice, noodles or dumplings,
and barley.
"What impresses customers most is the freshness of
the stock and other ingredients," says DeCollo, who
developed the soup-by-design program a couple of years
ago. "There's such a fresh aroma when the boiling stock
is poured into the customer's bowl of ingredients."
The biggest challenge was getting the vegetables hot
enough, but DeCollo solved the problem by dicing them
slightly larger than brunoise and parcooking the mirepoix
in vegetable stock.
Click to subscribe to this magazine


text:
Modern Railways 2017
Date: to
Location: Shanghai, China
Venue: Shanghai Exhibition Center, Eastern Hall No.1, Booth E1102
MODERN RAILWAYS, as the only large international railway exhibition approved and fully supported by former Ministry of Railways, P. R. China, has been staged successfully for 12 times since 1992. Serving as an ideal platform for international technology exchanges and cooperation, MODERN RAILWAYS has become a well-established international trade show of the Chinese railway industry.
Artesyn will be showcasing the ControlSafe Platform and the ControlSafe Expansion Box Platform, SIL4 Certified Fail-Safe and Fault-Tolerant COTS platforms for train signalling and railway control. Visit our booth to get in touch with our experts.


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COVER STORY: COMMONWEALTH-STATE RELATIONS: Will Howard override WA on natural gas?
EDITORIAL: Bushfires: an ounce of prevention
CANBERRA OBSERVED: Behind the move to lift cloning ban
INTERNATIONAL TRADE: Farmers protests over free trade in Cairns
TRADE POLICY: Why WTO trade talks failed
STRAWS IN THE WIND: The decline of Labor, the fate of Smith Street, Blair's departure and the Regensburg Address
NATIONAL AFFAIRS: T3 sell-off will not end Telstra's woes
HOUSING: Urban planning is destroying the great Australian dream
FOREIGN AFFAIRS: North Korea's nuclear ambitions: is China really powerless?
ANTI-LIFE CAMPAIGN: The selective indignation of Senator Stott Despoja
OPINION: The case for optional preferential voting
BIOTECHNOLOGY: The ascent of Mount Improbable
The debt trap (letter)
The Pope and Islam (letter)
The Ice epidemic (letter)
BOOKS: LONDONISTAN: How Britain is Creating a Terror State Within, by Melanie Phillips
BOOKS: SCOURGE AND FIRE: Savonarola and Renaissance Italy, by Lauro Martines
Join e-newsletter list
COVER STORY Doctor-patient privilege dies with My Health Record
OPINION The Victorian ALP observed from up close
COVER STORY Caution with gender transitioning: children's futures at risk
CANBERRA OBSERVED Coal-Hand ScoMo pulls off an accidental coup
COVER STORY Current policies leave farmers high and dry in drought
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS No question about it: the Don is in charge
EDITORIAL Power companies in clover after closures


text:
Jason Segel Brings Girlfriend Alexis Mixter to Spirit Awards 2016
Jason Segel and Alexis Mixter arrive at the 2016 Film Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday afternoon (February 27) in Santa Monica, Calif.
The 36-year-old actor and his girlfriend were joined at the event by Best Supporting Actress nominees Cynthia Nixon, who appeared in James White, and Marin Ireland, who appeared in Glass Chin.
Jason is nominated for Best Male Lead at the event for his role in The End of the Tour.
FYI: Cynthia is wearing Sarah Flint heels. Marin is wearing Randall Scott jewels.
20+ pictures inside of Jason Segel and Alexis Mixter arriving at the 2016 Film Independent Spirit Awards…


text: On 20010124T104040-0500, Marlene Mallicoat wrote: > 1. When using gzz 0.5.0, step two of the process (gzz -oldformat -new OLD) > hangs; the last two lines of messages say: EXCEPTION WHILE TRIGGERING! > and Main exiting - on to the events Fixed in 0.5.1 > 4. I see now exactly what causes the little dimension map in the upper > left corner to disappear -- changing to Row or Column view! This is true > both on 0.4.0 and 0.5.0. Since those are the two views we mainly use, we > really need to have the map stay on the screen. Fixed in 0.5.1 -- %%% Antti-Juhani Kaijanaho % gaia@xxxxxx % http://www.iki.fi/gaia/ %%% Keep the Deja Archive Alive! http://www2.PetitionOnline.com/dejanews/petition.html


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text:
Suzie Quint has always been fascinated with the human psyche, so she can imagine no better way to explore the human condition than through the characters she writes. Finding the happy ending for the people who inhabit her worlds is the best job anyone could have. Getting to share them with others… It doesn't get any better than that.
If you would like to review one of the books listed below, please contact the her at suequint (at) gmail.com to obtain a free review copy.
Snow White & the Eighth Dwarf
All's Fair
A Dark & Stormy Knight
Review by:
on Sep. 30, 2012 :
I get her worries but life is too short to live in fear. I hope they get back together.
(review of free book)
Review by:
Ashley Lynn Willis
on Oct. 30, 2011 :
All's Fair is a fun Novella about a divorced couple (Sol and Georgia) who, despite their fighting, still harbor a spark for one another. Thank god for that because it leads to a very steamy love scene. If you like hot cowboys, especially adrenaline seeking bull riders, you'll love Sol. He's a bit of an alpha, but his love for his ex-wife makes him an endearing alpha. Without giving away any spoilers, the way Sol goes about bedding Georgia is hysterical. I'd recommend this book for a quick evening read that will leave you smiling. You might even need a cigarette when you're through.
(review of free book)
Review by:
Doris Holmes
on Oct. 22, 2011 :
sad story, but somewhat believable.
(review of free book)


text:
Rock Scissors Blog
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Whither the PDA D&D?
[This post was originally made on August 23rd, 2002 on the "Writing On Your Palm" blog. WoYP has since been repurposed as Jeff Kirvin's own personal blog, and the archives have vanished—however, I was able to retrieve this from the blogger.com composer. In some ways, it's still as true today for the iPhone as it was back then for the PDA.]
Amid the explosion of fiction, nonfiction, reference, religious, and textbook e-books that have been appearing on palmtops over the last few years, one category of books seems to be conspicuously absent: the roleplaying game. I don't mean the computer roleplaying games like Neverwinter Nights or Diablo, but the books that preceded them: games of social interaction that are played with pencil and paper and dice and, most importantly, imagination.
Although some companies have been releasing electronic versions of their roleplaying game books, none of these have been what I think of as "e-books" in the fullest sense of the word. Either they are desktop applications with the text of a book inside (as with the recent Vampire: Revised CD-ROM), or else they are Adobe Acrobat (PDF) files—suitable for printing but not really for reading on-screen—or for putting on a PDA.
At first look, roleplaying games might not even seem ideally suited to palmtop use. Number-intensive games such as Dungeons & Dragons often contain wide or tall charts, which could not be displayed on most PDAs' screens without scrolling or panning. Moreover, gamemasters often flip back and forth through their paper books faster than they could jump to sections on even the handiest PDA.
However, a roleplaying game e-book would not have to replace its paper version to be useful. Gamers are accustomed to using roleplaying aids, such as quick reference cards or screens, in addition to their physical books. An e-book, with its search feature, could serve as a sort of "ultimate reference card". For instance, if a gamer needs to know how many hit points a Gelatinous Cube has, entering "gelat" in a search box will probably find the information at least as quickly as thumbing through the Monster Manual to the "G" section—especially when it turns out that Gelatinous Cubes are actually filed under "O" for "Ooze".
Players who game at someone else's house might find an e-book a useful pocket reference, trading less convenience in flipping pages for more convenience in not having to carry full-sized books around. Likewise, people who play in LARP (Live Action Roleplaying) games usually have to do without any reference books at all—just imagine trying to run around in the character of a vampire or werewolf while carrying several pounds of paper! But an e-book takes up very little extra weight or space, especially if one is already carrying a PDA for use in task resolution.
And, of course, a poor substitute for a paper book still is a substitute, and better than no book at all. With game books and a die-rolling program on his PDA, a few pieces of paper, and willing players, a talented gamemaster could run a game literally anywhere, at any time.
A roleplaying game PDA e-book would share with the Acrobat e-book the lower fixed costs of production—no setting up and running printing presses necessary, but just creating a formatted electronic file and setting it up for download. The price could be set a few bucks lower than the physical book, to reflect that cost decrease and lure more people into buying it.
So why hasn't anybody tried a more portable roleplaying e-book yet?
The reasons are a little complicated.
To begin with, roleplaying is no longer the fad market it was in the early to mid 1980s. There are still a few publishers (such as Wizards of the Coast, Palladium, and White Wolf) who can move vast quantities, but for most presses, a book is considered quite successful if it sells even 1,000-2,000 copies.
Due to economies of scale, books produced at this lower volume cost more to print, and have to be more expensive to buy, than equivalent-sized mass-market books. These books often have a very thin margin of profit, shaved as close as the publisher can make it and still hope to stay in business. (This is also why some RPG books are published only as PDFs—they cost much less and are less risky to publish than a paper book that might not even sell out its first print run. It is largely assumed that the buyer will be printing it out and binding it himself; thus a PDF is not so much an e-book as it is the "ghost" of a printed book that the purchaser will then provide with a body.)
However, among some gamers there is a perception that these high prices are gouging on the part of greedy publishers. Some of these even proclaim loudly via newsgroups and bulletin boards that if games are going to cost so much, they'd rather download them from KaZaa or get copies from their friends than pay for them.
In a market as small as roleplaying games', losing even a handful of sales to unauthorized copying can make the difference between black or red ink, and there is a fear that some of the complainers will be hostile enough to start passing around copies simply for the heck of it. The game publishers with whom I have spoken recognize that printed pages can be illicitly scanned whether the book is also published electronically or not, but at the same time do not want to make it any easier for malfeasants by publishing in HTML or some other unencrypted form. With the market for full-fledged gaming e-books as yet untested, it seems like too much of a risk to release them without adequate protection.
An outside observer might look at the success Baen has had boosting print sales with its unencrypted Free Library and Webscriptions e-books, and prognosticate that gaming companies could do the same thing and reap the same benefits. Yet, the RPG publishing industry is very different from the mass-market publishing industry.
As mentioned before, individual sales are very important in keeping RPG publishers afloat, and they cannot risk anything that might jeopardize even a few. In contrast, the much-larger fiction publishing companies can afford to chance losing some here and there. Heck, most large publishing companies can actually afford to recall and destroy copies of their books that did not sell! You'd never see a gaming publisher do that.
Furthermore, novelists—and especially the kind of science-fiction/fantasy novelists who write for Baen—have many enthusiastic fans, most of whom would never dream of doing anything to hurt the objects of their affection. (Quite a few Baen fans will conscientiously buy print copies of anything they get free, and some will even buy extra e-copies when the free e-books are sold for money elsewhere, such as through Fictionwise!) But gaming companies enjoy a strange kind of love-hate relationship with their customers, some of whom will openly declare their love for the game yet turn right around and Gnutella it because they think the price is too high.
One gaming company actually did try an open-format release. The now-defunct FASA bundled its first-edition Earthdawn game onto an HTML CD-ROM, and gave it away free in collectible-card-game magazines. (And, thanks to iSilo, I have it on my Cli—'s memory card even now.) It was hoped that this release would spark more interest in Earthdawn, which was not selling as well as FASA's other lines. Although Earthdawn did experience a spike in sales, the effect was only temporary. FASA later sold the line to another company.
Is it likely we will ever see roleplaying game e-books on our Palms or PocketPCs? Perhaps. As more and more people in the main gaming demographic (college students and older) acquire PDAs and start using them for other things related to roleplaying, perhaps the demand will make itself known. There is a way that publishers could provide PDA-compatible e-books and not risk their content falling into the wrong hands: by using a secured PDA format, with Digital Rights Management (DRM) built in.
There are several secure PDA e-book formats, but I feel the best is Palm Digital Media (formerly Peanut Press)'s Palm Reader. PDM's markup language provides emphasis (such as italics or bold), formatting, odd ASCII characters, tables of contents, and limited image display—and also includes unobtrusive yet effective DRM. Each Palm book is locked to its purchaser's credit card number—a key he will probably not want to give out to other people.
Palm Reader has versions for PalmOS and Windows CE PDAs, as well as Windows and Macintosh desktops. There is no limit on the number of copies a user can have active; the e-book could serve as his desktop reference at home, and be used remotely on his PDA or tablet PC.
It seems possible that a PDA roleplaying game e-book might lead to more sales of both the e-book and the "tree-book": people who already have the paper book might want a convenient reference version for the Palm, and people who try a less expensive e-copy on the Palm might decide they like it enough to buy the paper version, too. It might also bring in e-book site customers who have never been exposed to roleplaying games before.
Of course, it is also possible I might have my head in the clouds and there would be almost no demand at all. I don't think so, but it is possible. But even so, it does not seem like much of a risk to try—it would still be more economical to format an e-book that doesn't sell than to print a book that doesn't sell.
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
Street Performers, Bowls, Plants...and the Gaming Industry?
Nobody seems to say anything on this blog anymore; I gather that they've all given it up and moved on to another one. Anyway, this blog seemed lonely...and I've written a very long chunk of prose with an interesting idea about things gaming writers might consider doing. And there do still seem to be people reading this, at least via LJ's RSS feed. So what the heck, I'm crossposting this from my essay journal to see if any gaming folks left reading find it interesting.
Today, someone on the Ebook Community mailing list was asking about publishing ebooks in serial format, with a possible view toward subscription down the road. It's an interesting idea, and it could work—in theory. Certainly there have been plenty of serial writing projects on the Internet; I've belonged to some of them myself.
Probably the most successful was the Superguy listserv, a humorous superhero fiction mailing list which at its height had hundreds of subscribers and dozens of episodic posts every month. The complete archives are still available to be searched and read via links on that site, by the way, and it's well worth the time. There's a lot of drek in there, but there's certainly enough good stuff to throw Sturgeon's Law off a bit. It's mostly dead now, alas; I wish I knew what could be done to make it live again. I've halfway considered plugging it in Google AdWords just to see if it picks up any interest.
There were other such groups, too—most notably alt.pub.dragons-inn, alt.pub.havens-rest, alt.comics.lnh, etc.—but if I dwell on past glories, I'll never get to the point I want to make here, and I've got a ways to go yet. The point is the feasibility of serial publishing for money, not just for love, and I have a couple of examples to cover.
Almost exactly four years ago, back in late 2000, I happened to be hanging around SF writer Elizabeth Moon's SFFnet newsgroup at the point she and a few other SFF regulars got all-over excited about the Street Performer Protocol. The Street Performer Protocol, which I shall henceforth call SPP to save on some typing, was proposed in a white paper by John Kelsey and Bruce Schneier as an alternative means of content financing in the Internet age—sort of a modern-day version of the old Renaissance system of patronage.
The theory went that since, thanks to computers and the Internet, a completed work can be passed around ad infinitum without the author ever being compensated for his work, the author should endeavor to set a goal for how much money he wants to make out of the work—and then make that amount of money out of it before it is made available in its entirety. Anything he happened to make out of it after that would be a pleasant bonus.
The idea was that an author would create a complete work—be it a novel, a record album, a TV series, whatever. He would put the work in escrow with some reliable agency, or at least have such an agency certify that it was complete (so he wouldn't be selling a work that might never be delivered). Then he would chop that work into X+1 pieces, post the first piece to the Internet (or make it available by whatever means; the Internet is simply the most convenient), and set out a "hat" with the proviso, "Pay me whatever you want; when I get (1/X * my goal) amount of money, I'll post the next piece." Some people would chip in, others would not; either way, each piece that's released has been paid for, so it's free for anyone. And then the next bit would be paid for and released, and the next, and so on, until the last piece is published. Then, once it's all published, anyone can do whatever they want with it, because the author has already made the money he set out to make. (The white paper suggests putting the work in the public domain; a Creative Commons license would probably be more realistic today.) It gets a little more complicated than that, but follow the above link to find out more.
Getting back to Elizabeth Moon, she and others were quite enthusiastic about the idea of serial tip-jar publishing; Moon had some story notes that she'd never gotten around to publishing, nor did she think they were publishable by normal methods. So they set up the Storyteller's Bowl based on SPP principles. It was a very nice-looking website, with clean, professional design, a little illustration of a Middle-Eastern storyteller with carpet and bowl, a FAQ, and a set of writer's guidelines. "Only professional writers with a track record are eligible at this time," they said. One imagines Mrs. Moon delivering this line in stern tones, perhaps peering over the rim of half-moon spectacles as she speaks. (I have no idea if she actually owns half-moon spectacles, but she probably should.)
However, was is the operative word. As you can see by looking at the archive.org listing, it was only ever updated once—and if you go to storytellersbowl.com now, you'll just find a placeholder. After gamely hanging around unwanted for several years, its registration has finally expired. The storytellers' enthusiasm didn't last long enough to put out the bowl.
Why? I asked that question back in 2001, on the Storyteller's Bowl SFF newsgroup. There were several obvious reasons, of course: people got too busy, nobody wanted to be the first to bell the cat...but probably the biggest one was, as author Lawrence Watt-Evans put it,
Stephen King's The Plant sort of undercut the idea — it got all this hype, and then he DIDN'T FINISH IT, which has not been good for the consumer confidence factor.Ah, yes, The Plant—Stephen King's brainstorm after his short story "Riding the Bullet" did so well as an ebook. The fly in the ointment was that King was too used to thinking in terms of paper books and just couldn't seem to get his head around the differences. This led to problems.
Back in December of 2002, I wrote an email message to the Ebook Community neatly summarizing those problems in response to someone else's inquiry. It went like this:
Oh, god. The Plant. Don't get me started.And so King shelved the book, and it cast a pall over the entire ebook industry. If such a famous author couldn't "successfully" sell a serial ebook, then the market must just not be "ready" yet. ($463,832 profit. I wish I could "fail" like that!) It was not the only reason the Storyteller's Bowl remained empty, but it was probably the biggest one.
Now it's four years later, and ironicly, it's turning out that flat-out giving one's works away for free on the Internet is usually a sure-fire way to sell more of them in print. You don't have to look far for examples: Baen, Cory Doctorow, Lawrence Lessig, and countless others are slinging ebooks every which way and selling print versions hand over fist. Forget selling on the installment plan, give it away and you'll sell even more.
This points out the fact that the SPP plan still has a few problems, even putting aside the shameful example of The Plant. Here are the ones that I see.
Writers (and other artists) don't want to limit their profit. Now, granted, most books these days sell fairly poorly; it's the rare writer indeed who can make his living entirely from the pen. But still, writers and artists don't want to think, "I can get this much...and that's it." They want to think about multiple printings, reprint rights down the road, and so on and so forth. (Heck, that's why our copyright is now umpteen zillion years long—all the big corporations saying, "Oh, please, won't someone think of the artists?") Creative types want to earn as much as they can, and continue earning it for as long as they can. (And really, don't we all?) And this leads into...
Free works better. Much as we e-nthusiasts would like to think otherwise, most people just don't want ebooks yet—or at least, they don't want to pay money for them. Certainly they don't want to pay hardcover prices for them. And yet, they'll certainly take them when they come free—and if they like them enough, they'll buy them in print, and more by the same author. As mentioned above, this has been shown multiple times; some Baen authors like Mercedes Lackey have even seen a notable increase in their non-Baen sales after giving away books free. Why, then, would we want to sell something they don't want, and sell it in pieces to boot? And this, in turn, leads to the realization that...
Consumers want convenience and conformity. Getting people to try something new and different is hard. Getting people to try something new and different and hard to understand is even harder than that. Can you imagine the puzzled looks on peoples' faces? "You want me to pay for something that isn't even available yet. And you don't even have a set price? My ever getting to see it at all depends on other schmucks chipping in? Are you crazy or something?" Also, the people who read Baen snippets (preview fragments of the first 25% of a novel that the authors throw out before Webscriptions is ready) and Webscriptions (which publishes new books divided into three monthly chunks) notwithstanding, I think most people would prefer to be able to read the whole work at once and not have to wait on an update schedule—especially if the update schedule is irregular and may not even happen at all if not enough people chip in.
That being said, I actually do think there is a place for the SPP in modern-day publishing—just not in fiction publishing. The SPP has to be applied to a medium where authors are more realistic (or pessimistic), there's a reason to buy e- instead of tree-books, and consumers are accustomed to buying piecemeal.
As you may already have guessed, I'm talking about the modern roleplaying game market. Let me hit those problems again and show why I think that in the RPG market they might be opportunities.
Gaming writers are used to limited earnings. It's sad to say, but it's true; in the game industry, five cents per word is considered to be good money if you can get it. Multiple printings? Reprints? In today's RPG hobby, depleted as it has been by loss of interest, game consoles, collectible card games, massively multiplayer games, any or all of the above (take your pick), a title that sells even one or two thousand copies is considered to be a smash hit. I suspect that the SPP could offer at least some gaming writers a chance to earn more than they would ordinarily make, not less. Especially considering that...
Many RPG sourcebooks are now published as PDF-only. In an industry where a "best-seller" only sells a couple of thousand copies, sales of the "mid-list" will barely cover the costs of even a tiny print run—and increasingly, they may not even cover that. If the theoretical ideal of print-on-demand were available, it would be the best way to market these low-volume books—but it isn't, so PDF is the next best thing. A PDF displaces the printing costs onto the buyer, so the seller has to sell fewer e-copies to break even on publishing costs. In some cases, renowned gaming writers may even sell PDFs directly to the gaming public without ever seeing a publisher at all (other than the website that sells the PDFs). Needless to say, these aren't typically given away free, since if they were then there wouldn't be anything left to sell. And gamers are used to buying stuff published in PDF form, since they're just going to print it out anyway. And they're also used to the way that...
RPGs are published piecemeal anyway. How many books make up D&D 3(.5th)rd Edition's core rules? Three—player's handbook, DM's guide, monster manual. You don't need all of them to play the game (especially if someone else is game-mastering), but they each provide content that expands upon and works with the ones that came before. And they were originally published a month or so apart, so for the first couple months, anyone who actually wanted to play would be making do with only part of it. And how many books were in the old White Wolf World of Darkness line? How many GURPS books were there? And right when gamers finally have all of them, out pops a new edition and they have to buy even more! While there have been games that were complete in and of themselves (White Wolf's Adventure! comes to mind), they're much more the exception than the rule. And even games that have been beautifully complete (Champions 4th ed. and Nobilis 2nd ed. for example) have had supplements published. Gamers are used to buying things in pieces.
It would be interesting if some gaming writer were to try this, as an experiment. Write a game, or a sourcebook, or what-have-you. Put a Creative Commons and/or OGL license on it, but keep it as close to public domain as you're comfortable with. (Perhaps one of the licenses that allows unlimited noncommercial use, since that would allow eventual complete publication elsewhere on the rare off-chance that someone might be interested.)
Break it into a few chunks, post the first chunk, then put out a tip jar (the new DropCash fundraising system from PayPal seems like it would be ideal, as it gives would-be donors graphic representation of how close they are to goal) and declare you'll post the next when you hit a certain goal. (Be sure and set a realistic goal—but then, gaming writers tend to be well aware of how many copies and how much they make per book, so should be able to come up with a good estimate.) It would probably be best to make sure that each segment is at least useful on its own, so people don't feel gypped at having to wait for something else to come out to make it useful. A good possibility would be a sourcebook for a pre-existing system such as D20 or World of Darkness; each chunk could cover a different region of a particular world, city, what-have-you.
And then...wait and see how quickly it earns its way to the goal. When it does reach the goal, leave everything available and the tip jar out; the work has earned out and now it's free. Anything that folks want to kick in afterward (and they will kick in, as more of them find and make use of the content) is gravy.
Will it work? I don't know, but I'd like to think so. It seems likely to me that it would, as long as the goals were realistic and the writing good. Granted, I've never written any gaming material myself, just hung out with folks who have, so I'm not exactly an expert in the field. Still, I'm positive it would have a better chance than Stephen King's bass-ackward The Plant plan—and just look how successful that was.
Monday, April 12, 2004
Shortcomings of D20 as a CRPG
Found via a writeup on Slashdot, here is a fellow on Kuro5hin writing a fairly in-depth analysis of the problems inherent in converting the pencil-and-paper D20 RPG to a computer RPG, Temple of Elemental Evil. The fellow has a few interesting and possibly controversial opinions on what RPGs, both traditional and computer, should be, but it's still an interesting comparison of how the differences in paradigm affect the translation of one to the other.
Monday, January 12, 2004
Attracting Women Gamers
Here's an interesting article on female computer gamers and what attracts them, which could just as easily apply to RPG design:
Don Hopkins' RadiOMatic BlogUTron: From Barbie to Mortal Combat
I think the point about the gender balance at the development stage is an interesting one.
Tuesday, November 25, 2003
Where Do Gamers Come From?
And why aren't there more of them? And how can we change that? I consider the angles at 20' by 20' Room.
Thursday, November 06, 2003
Polytropos reacts to the Kim essay and provides a handy reference to RPG theory essays by Ed Heil. The best way to read the Heil pieces is in order using the links in the Polytropos item.
Tuesday, November 04, 2003
Weekly Reader
RPG theory luminary John H. Kim has a new essay, "Story and Narrative Paradigms in Role-Playing Games." I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but given that Kim was a major contributor to the original r.g.f.a "threefold" game theory, I'm confident in bringing it to people's attention.


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Bethlen, Gabriel
Bethlen, Gabriel bĕth´lən [key], 1580–1629, prince of Transylvania (1613–29). He was chief adviser of Stephen Bocskay and was elected prince after the assassination of Gabriel Báthory . A Protestant, though tolerant toward all religions, he allied himself (1619) with the Protestant Frederick the Winter King and overran Hungary, of which he was elected king (1620). After Frederick's defeat at the White Mt. (1620), Bethlen signed with Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II the Treaty of Nikolsburg (1621), by which he renounced the royal title but retained control of seven Hungarian counties and received the rank of prince of the empire. He continued his relations with the Protestant powers opposing the emperor in the Thirty Years War and married the sister of the elector of Brandenburg however, he kept the interests of Transylvania paramount. He was a wise administrator and encouraged the development of law and learning.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
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Dental Implants Versus Dentures in Ossining
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Welcome to the Feast of St. Thomas, Patron Saint of Archdiocese of Madras- Mylapore. Please go through the schedule of events from flag hoisting on 24/6/17 to conclusion ceremony on 03/07/17. We have taken all efforts to make every event joyful and m
Lenten Programme 2017: The following is the schedule of events commencing from Ash Wednesday until Easter. We invite all parish members to actively participate and receive blessings Day Time Mass Celebrant 01.03.17 Ash Wednesday 06.00 am Mass in Engl


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Intercross the Podcast: Episode #9 Influencing Behavior in War with Andrew Bell/
In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, researcher Andrew Bell speaks about The Roots of Restraint, an upcoming ICRC report on the influencing behaviors of war. The report is a two-year research initiative intended to advance the ICRC's understanding of how norms of restraint develop and spread through State armed forces and non-State armed groups. Nine academics, including Bell, investigated sources of influence on the behavior of combatants in eight armed groups, and explored cases of community self-protection. In the podcast, Bell discusses his role in the study and how his background, an interesting intersection of theology, law, political science, security and conflict, brought a unique view to the study. Hosted by Niki Clark and Tracey Begley.
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off to the Dr after my ultrasound and mammogram last week. I am having a biopsy done this morning and I am getting super nervous. Wish me luck and say a little prayer!Tot trade over.....made 350.00 Yes!!!!See ya soon … [Read more...]
Archives for August 12, 2008
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Giordano is one of Asia's most successful retailers with operations in East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. The success of Giordano was attributed to factors such as providing excellent customer service, understanding consumer's needs and wants, stringent selection and training of staff, short design to production cycles, and extremely good inventory control and turnover. With a strong emphasis on customer service and value for money Giordano was able to differentiate itself from competitors. The question is how, can Giordano maintain its competitive advantage in the future? Amidst increasingly stronger competitors and changing industry conditions, Giordano had to critically evaluate its sources of competitive advantage and key success factors, and perhaps to consider repositioning itself in current and new markets Furthermore, Giordano needed to examine which key success factors would likely to be eroded over the coming years. Furthermore, Giordano had to consider whether and if yes, how its key success factors could be transferred to other country markets that it planned to enter.
View Point
Mr Jimmy Lai - CEO
Statement of the problem
Increasing Giordano's sales turnover, aligned with a substantial gain in market share. STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES
Short-term Objective
* To reposition itself against its competitors in its existing and new markets. Long-term Objective
* To be the world's leading fashion and clothing line companies in terms of profit and sales volume.
Areas of Consideration
Tax structure
Pollution regulation
Asian Currency Crisis
Currency fluctuations
Rising cost of raw materials
Labor Cost
Taste and Preference
- Technological
IT Systems
Alternative Courses of Action
ACA 1 Giordano should implement a more sober approach to maintain consumer loyalty with their local brands. ACA2 Giordano should change their branding and positioning strategies ACA3 Giordano needs to find out possibility of outsourcing to maintain low cost
Analysis (SWOT)
SWOT Analysis
Products are various and categorized like ladies, kids, etc so it reaches all ages and unisex Providing a professional service so customers feel comfortable and concentration on quality at the service core Many people have known Giordano as quality brand
Giordano was able to consistently sell value-for-money merchandise through careful selection of suppliers, strict cost control, and resisting the temptation to increase retail prices unnecessarily A dedicated workforce in all outlets that provides quality service: In order to maintain this Giordano follows stringent selection procedures to ensure only desired employees are chosen, conduct workshops on "attitude training", follows rotational on the job training method and performance related pay systems on the basis of periodic performance evaluations Quality staff recruitment for a high quality and loyal staff in Giordano from a careful staff selection A well chosen supplier to get the finest supplier and keep innovating to create creative products and high quality materials Prices are reasonable and keeping it normal, not to raise it up Giordano stores are located in dense population and high traffic areas Move fast on a market change
Smart in sales opportunity and minimizing store size for the efficiencies Using high technology for fast distributions. Every sales and the barcode information will be identified and transmitted directly to the company main computer and sales distribution department Giordano always makes sure that the stocks are always available in the store Fast moving items to avoid old items piled at the warehouse or best seller items unavailable Information's are fast spread to the productions so if there's any slow moving item, Giordano will try to sell it as fast as possible and...
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Web ID: YPRE945
Why build? Brand new property - Never been lived in.
All the hard work has been done. 2015 system built 3 bedroom (main with bay window/WIR and access to main bathroom) home. Huge open plan kitchen with gas hot plates and d/w/dine with sliding door/living with bay window and split system r/c a/c. Main bathroom with toilet/vanity/shower/bath. 2nd separate toilet and laundry with linen. Double carport and 6m x 7m shed with concrete and power (15amp) - lots of room for a boat, caravan or trailer. Low maintenance landscaped garden and rainwater tank. Situated in the town square close to all town facilities. Be quick this won't be on the market long!
0448 532 322
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Full details of all BMCC time trial events for 2017 have now been published.
Time trialling is a (relatively) cheap and straightforward way to really find out how strong a rider you are – and you don't need to complete any sort of skills training to take part.
Courses range from flat 10-milers to double hill climbs on Mill Hill and Steyning Bostal. If you haven't done a time trial before, why not make 2017 the year when you give it a go?


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Dan Siegel – Indigo (2014)
FLAC (tracks+.cue) | Tracks: 10 | Playtime: 00:47:31 | Size: 315.3 MB
Genre: Smooth Jazz | Label: Pony Canyon | Cat#: MYCJ-30644
A highly respected pianist plus musician, Dan Siegel has 20 individual books, moreover hundreds of else producing, arranging, composing plus performing honors in hellos major recording job. Innate in Seattle, Washington, furthermore lifted in Eugene, Oregon, Dan started piano readings at time eight, also started performing professionally as manage soprano also guitarist in a rock troop at the eternity of 12. He grasps a BS in Music Essay furthermore a MM in Jive Studies, plus studied piano in Boston along the famous Madam Chaloff.
01. To Be Continued (5:12)
02. By Chance (5:30)
03. Indigo (4:16)
04. Beyond (3:52)
05. Far And Away (4:44)
06. If Ever (5:00)
07. Spur Of The Moment (4:31)
08. First Light (4:33)
09. Consider This (4:48)
10. Endless (5:04)
Lossless music Dan Siegel – Indigo (2014) FLAC (tracks+.cue) download flac
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Everyone at St Mary's Middle School in Puddletown will be having a dress down day to raise money for Louis' wheelchair. Thanks to all of you! We hope you have a great day when it comes :-)
« The Burg family are getting on their bike for Louis! | Main | Well done Bernie!!!! »
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Equities End Trading Mixed
SEOUL, South Korea -- Most stocks closed lower on Friday, though the market's benchmark index edged higher as foreign buying picked up shares of certain blue chips and brokerage houses.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 3.13 to 725.14, but declining issues beat advancers, 606 to 223, while 42 ended unchanged. Trading volume totaled 385.4 million shares valued at 4.79 trillion won.


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About Tuition Assurance
Tuition assurance offers protection support to students in the event of an ACPET member being unable to offer the student's course, in particular where the organisation ceases to trade, prior to delivering the tuition the student has paid for in advance.
Options for students under ASTAS:
- Other ACPET members offering a comparable course will take on displaced students. Only future fees are paid by the student to the new provider, or
- the student may obtain a re-credit from ACPET for the prepaid but unutilised part of their fees.
By law, all Registered Training Organisations (RTO) who ask their students to pay fees in advance are required to assure that those fees are protected from the possibility that the course cannot continue and that the RTO cannot re-credit the prepaid fees.
To support training providers, the Federal Government has endorsed two "Tuition Assurance" schemes – one by TAFE DIRECTORS AUSTRALIA and the other by the AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL FOR PRIVATE EDUCATION AND TRAINING (ACPET). These obligations arise under the
- HESA Act and its associated VET Guidelines for FEE-HELP and VET FEE-HELP students
- Standards for Registered Training Organisations for non-FEE-HELP students.
ACPET offers its members tuition assurance products called ASTAS for domestic students. The type of assurance that training providers under this scheme need depends on whether the students for which assurance is being sought are using Fee Help or VET FEE-HELP or neither.
A training provider's fee to the ASTAS protection scheme is based on
- The providers annual gross income (for courses covered under the ASTAS scheme), and
- The risk level of the RTO's.
ACPET's scheme assess RTO's risk level via a comprehensive process based on information provided to us. This includes
- Your membership and ownership,
- Audit history and requirements,
- Courses offered,
- Student achievement and growth,
- Financial performance, and
- Agent's fees.
Your fees are used by ACPET to insure itself against the ultimate risk of having to provide refunds to students.
Options for providers
A VET provider with tuition assurance obligations can use one or more of these options:
- Membership of a VET tuition assurance scheme which ACPET is an approved operator, or
- A legally binding agreement with one or more second providers, or
- A legally binding agreement provided by a legal entity.
Options for Students
If a provider ceases to provide a course of study, a student may chose
For FEE HELP or VET FEE HELP students:
- To take a place in a similar VET course of study without the need to pay the second provider for any replacement units, or
- A refund of the up-front tuition fees or a re-crediting of any FEE HELP balance.
Other students must take a place in a similar VET course of study (without the need to pay the second provider for any replacement units), or if that is not possible, are given a re-credit of the up-front tuition fees by the tuition assurance provider.
Students enrolled with a college that has closed, please contact ACPET on:
Phone: 1800 875 474
Email: email@example.com


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Hairdressers can gain an entry into this trade via apprenticeships and through gaining qualifications at colleges or training and further education institutes. Hairdressers must have excellent communication and customer service skills as they will be meeting and establishing working relationships with a diverse range of clients throughout their day.
While most Hairdressers work in a salon environment, there are opportunities to work freelance for fashion and beauty magazines, styling editorial photo shoots; backstage at fashion and beauty shows; visiting clients at their homes, in hospitals or nursing homes; or creating and styling wigs and hairpieces.
Hairdressers will learn to use a variety of tools, including hairdressing scissors, chemicals for dyeing, perming and straightening, curling tongs, different hairbrushes and beard and moustache trimmers.
ISMYCV can help you create an outstanding Hairdresser cover letter and resume.


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THE CLARITY AND FORCE of Southern California's ambient light--as well as our Mediterranean climate and gorgeous natural landscape--lured artists here in droves at the turn of the century. Often compared to French painters of the time, these California Impressionists hailed from the eastern United States and Europe; 75 of their soft and silken plein-air paintings, by nine artists, compose "California Light, 1900-1930," on display Oct. 12 through Jan. 6 at the Laguna Art Museum. The works pay tribute to the beauty and brilliance that was Southern California during an earlier, more tranquil time.
Laguna Art Museum, 307 Cliff Drive, Laguna Beach; (714) 494-6531.


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Lifecycle Nutrition and Fitness Presentation due Friday May 3rd, 2013
In 250 words answer What are some current nutritional issues, such as obesity or malnutrition, which might affecting infants?
List major points in the slides. Include detailed explanations in the speaker notes section that correlate to each point.
Include videos, audio, photos, diagrams, or graphs as appropriate.
Include at least one peer-reviewed journal article for each team member and information from two credible websites. Be sure and identify the peer-reviewed journal article from the library in your reference list.
Format consistent with APA guidelines
Resource: WileyPlus


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Al and Martha Driver – the Community Service Award honorees – have spent years applying their education, expertise, and intellect to diverse organizations and causes. Martha, a former investment officer at Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association and owner of an investment banking firm, and Al, a general counsel at J. C. Penney Co., retired from their day jobs in the 1980s and spent the next 22 years working side by side. In 1992, they founded The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, a monthly newspaper distributed nationally to 25,000 corporate counsel. With Martha as publisher and Al as editor, the public service project provided in-house lawyers with information from law firms and legal reform organizations to assist in their legal practices.
Martha has served on the boards of Overlook Medical Center and the Overlook Foundation, as well as her alma mater, Randolph-Macon Woman's College, and the Memorial Endowment Trust of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Westfield. Al has shared his legal expertise with members of the nationally prestigious Business Roundtable and is actively involved in community discussion groups on issues of local, state, and national importance.
Dr. Walter Groff – the Medical Service Award honoree – rotated through Overlook during his surgical residency and returned there to stay in 1984. During the ensuing years, he helped Overlook develop a reputation as a leader in conquering colorectal diseases through minimally invasive surgery, advanced treatment protocols, and a multidisciplinary approach to patient care.
Dr. Groff also was instrumental in financing and creating Overlook's GI motility lab, which helped diagnose and treat problems of the gastrointestinal tract. Collaborating with his peers in oncology, he helped introduce preoperative radiation and chemotherapy prior to rectal cancer surgery, which has dramatically reduced local recurrence.
In 2009, a shared love for Overlook and the future of health care inspired Dr. Groff and his wife of 37 years, Patricia, who is a former nurse, to create the Dorothy and Edward Brill & Muriel and Donald Groff, M.D. Scholarship Fund, named in memory of their parents. The fund provides financial assistance to Overlook employees who want to pursue a degree in nursing.
Linda Smith and Diane Swett – the Volunteer Service Award honorees – are both longtime Summit residents and longtime volunteers. When they met at a Junior League meeting, they were young stay-at-home mothers trying to make a difference in their communities. Now, decades later, they continue to make a difference at Overlook as patient relations volunteers.
Since her first volunteer assignment in the hospital coffee shop, Linda has joined Summit Twig 30 and performed a variety of duties, including bringing the gift cart to patients' rooms, transporting patients to tests, and serving as a messenger. She was one of the first to sign up as a patient relations volunteer when the program began in the 1980s.
Also beginning her volunteer service in patient relations some 30 years ago, Diane is active in Short Hills Twig 27 and, as a co-president of the Auxiliary, serves on both the hospital and foundation boards of trustees.
The Glasser Foundation – the Foundation Service Award recipient – was created by Gerald J. Glasser, Ph.D., a philanthropic leader, valued trustee, and former chairman of the Overlook Foundation board. Just days later, when his son, Thomas, tragically perished in the September 11 attacks, Gerry named the foundation in his memory. Since then, the foundation has provided financial support to numerous health care, social service, educational, cultural, youth, and faith-based organizations throughout New Jersey and beyond.
At Overlook, Gerry developed and endowed the Thomas Glasser Lecture series which, since 2005, has featured presentations by renowned speakers on topics concerning health and the public interest. He also served as a leader in the development and funding of the Thomas Glasser Caregivers Center, the only hospital-based center of its kind in the state dedicated to helping caregivers effectively manage the stress of caring for critically, chronically, or terminally ill loved ones.
In Gerry's hometown of Westfield, the foundation provided start-up capital and annual support for Imagine, a center offering grief education and training, as well as an endowment for Contact We Care volunteers, who staff this statewide suicide prevention organization and crisis hotline. Since Gerry's passing in 2013, his family has carried on his legacy of caring through the renamed Glasser Foundation.


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The January Read to Win Contest winners are:
Shelley Brown
Jillian Crider
Josie Saxton
Congratulations! If your name appears above, you have been drawn from our e-newsletter subscriber list. Contact EasyCare within 48 hours to claim your free pair of any EasyCare hoof boots. Be sure to read the EasyCare e-newsletter for your chance to win next month. Sign up at http://www.easycareinc.com/newsletter_subscribe.aspx.


text: The tipping point for men 3 unconnected events highlight issues of sexual harassment, domestic violence, sexual assault Nov 4, 2014 By Todd HumberIt's not easy being a woman.I have zero experience at it but in reading the stories about Jian Ghomeshi and former NFL running back Ray Rice, and watching video footage of a woman's experience walking the streets of New York City, I can't help but feel more than a bit of shame for how they are treated by men.Comedian Louis C.K. summed it up this way: "How do women still go out with guys, when you consider the fact that there is no greater threat to women than men? We're the number one threat to women. Globally and historically, we're the number one cause of injury and mayhem to women. We're the worst thing that ever happens to them. That's true. You know what our number one threat is? Heart disease."It was funny when he said it but the message behind his act is no joke. The upside to these stories is we're talking about the issues. Sunlight is the best disinfectant, as the saying goes, and Ghomeshi's story is getting a case of media sunburn. At this point, there's just a swirl of allegations but, at press time, the Toronto police have become involved and are talking to the women who came forward.We examined some of the legal HR angles around the former CBC host's case on page 1 of the upcoming Nov. 17 issue (see "Ghomeshi's legal HR quagmire") and employment lawyer and Canadian HR Reporter columnist Stuart Rudner weighs in on the union angle in a column in that issue as well. But it's a fast-moving story, so keep your eyes tuned to www.hrreporter.com for regular updates.The catcall videoIf you haven't seen the video of the woman walking the streets of New York City, you should watch it — especially if you're a man. (See video below.)The video, which had at least 31-million views on YouTube at press time, shows what it's like to be a woman walking the streets, just minding her own business.Over 10 hours, actress Shoshana Roberts is subjected to 100 catcalls. Filmmaker Rob Bliss shot the footage from a hidden GoPro camera. His intent was to offer an "unbiased" look at what many women experience on a daily basis, according to the Huffington Post. "No messaging. No judgment. Let people view it as it is and talk," he said.Recent Columns by Todd Humber ▶The four-day work week is comingNBA owners want access to mental health records – I call a foul on thatThe quantity of the comments aimed at Roberts is stunning. And the behaviour of some of the men is just creepy. We've all heard the odd comment directed towards a passing woman but to see it from her perspective, over and over again, is brutal.Some men followed her, walking beside her. Others chastised her for not responding to their advances. It is fascinating, and uncomfortable, to watch. The most disappointing thing in all of this is it's not uncommon — many women are subjected to the same barrage on a daily basis while just going about their lives. Ray RiceRice's saga is well-documented — we featured his story on the cover of the Oct. 6 issue. A running back for the NFL's Baltimore Ravens, Rice knocked his then-fiancé out cold in an elevator. The NFL originally gave Rice a two-game suspension for the incident. But with public outrage and the video showing him delivering the punch — and dragging her out of the elevator — the NFL stepped back and suspended him indefinitely. The public outrage was refreshing to see, as was the NFL's ultimate response — though it's unfortunate it took so much public pressure to get the appropriate reaction.What we have are three unconnected stories on three separate topics — allegations of violence and sexual assault against Ghomeshi; indisputable video evidence of domestic abuse on Rice; and 10 hours of video showing a glimpse of what it's like to walk down the street as a woman.The tipping point on this should have come a long time ago.10 hours of walking in NYC as a woman © Copyright Canadian HR Reporter, Thomson Reuters Canada Limited. All rights reserved. Todd HumberTodd Humber is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Canadian HR Reporter, the national journal of human resource management. Follow him on Twitter @ToddHumber


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Three-way battle for SA news audiencesSubmitted by tyson on Tue, 08/27/2013 - 00:00.
The recent launch of Infinity Media's ANN7 has marked a significant shift in South Africa's 24 hour news channel sector. And I'm not saying that purely in light of their highly-publicised shaky start and cringe-worthy on-air moments.
I say this because just a month ago SA only had one player in the form of eNews Channel Africa. Today there are three.
Telecoms: a slice of digital migration pieSubmitted by tyson on Mon, 08/19/2013 - 23:37.
There are very interesting developments as South Africa waits for the roll-out of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT). You might want to read a previous blog for background on the whole process.
A recent report by ITWeb indicated MTN's intent to gain access to a fraction of radio frequency for the purposes of broadband service provision.
'Please call me' when the war is overSubmitted by tyson on Tue, 08/13/2013 - 07:26.
Please call me when the war is over. For now, it's all unfolding with gathering pace and though we're not quite caught in the crossfire, it's a battle to keep an eye on.
It began with the introduction of a service which would enjoy a meteoric rise in popularity. But its origins are now disputed. It is, of course, the "Please Call Me" message service.
Telkom out of the loop again?Submitted by tyson on Tue, 08/06/2013 - 07:11.
It's a sector that's increasingly defined by delays more than anything.
The latest setback for South African communications is Local Loop Unbundling (LLU), according to a report by TechCentral.
The LLU process is one where multiple telecoms operators are granted access to the telephone exchange in order to access end users.
Before we rave about new SABC channelSubmitted by tyson on Mon, 07/29/2013 - 20:59.
So the SABC is set to launch its first ever 24-hour news channel by 1 August. Great stuff. A small step for news coverage and a giant leap for the public broadcaster. But before we get carried away, let's not forget one thing. Or two. In fact there's quite a lengthy to-do list.


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EMSI, Inc partners with Aqua-Tronics to supply our customers with solutions to buried utilities problems. Founded in 1967, Aqua-Tronic's sole purpose is to design and manufacture locating equipment that is field rugged and field useful.
Aqua-Tronics' products do everything from identify where cables are in the ground to detecting if current is running through a particular cable. Some of their lines can even tell one underground cable apart from another, letting you know how many different cables you are dealing with. Such products are essential for any construction team, as digging without knowing what's underneath the earth can be a dangerous and costly endeavor if something goes wrong and an unseen cable is pierced or broken.
For more information on Aqua-Tronics or to get a glimpse of their latest products, please Contact EMSI today.


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Product Specification
These metal garden stakes from Fountasia will bring fun and colour to your garden. This ornament features a bee holding a watering can. Would make a wonderful gift as a garden ornament.
- Overall height approx. 84cm
- Approx.10 x 10cm(WxD)
- 1 per pack
Manufacturers Code: 93963
- Low prices
- Free UK delivery
- Trusted service
- No hassle returns
- Trusted dealers


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November's meeting was hosted by Mike & Alison, and explains the wines on our stand at the Letchworth festival wine tasting. The wines were: ...
PAINTED WOLF ROSALIND PINOTAGE ROSE, PAARL 2013 (Wine Society)
Grape: Pinotage
Origin: The grapes for this wine were sourced from a single block of Pinotage in the Paarl region, picked especially for making rosé. A fine, fruity wine with bright cherry and strawberry aromas, and a fresh lingering finish.
Enjoy: Great with fish and salads
Price: £7.25
BOSCHENDAL SAUVIGNON BLANC 2013, COASTAL REGION (Majestic Wines)
Grape: Sauvignon Blanc
Origin: Boschendal vineyard is on the slopes of the Groot Drakenstein Mountains.
Enjoy: Superb as an aperitif or with seafood
Price: £8.99
ROBERTSON WINERY CHENIN BLANC 2013, WESTERN CAPE (Majestic Wines)
Grape: Chenin Blanc
Origin: Warm and dry Robertson Valley is further inland than most SA vineyards but the Breede River provides a cooling influence giving a Chenin Blanc of excellent character.
Enjoy: Seafood, salmon, roast chicken or pork
Price: £4.99
PARCEL SERIES SHIRAZ 2012, WESTERN CAPE (Majestic Wines)
Grape: Shiraz
Origin: Exclusive to Majestic Wines from one of SA's most well-established producers. Hand harvested from vineyards in Paarl Darling and Stellenbosch, the grapes are cool fermented before maturing in second fill oak barrels.
Enjoy: Great with BBQ
Price: £8.99
PARCEL SERIES CABERNET MERLOT RESERVE 2012, WESTERN CAPE (Majestic Wines)
Grape: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot
Origin: Exclusive to Majestic Wines this wine is hand harvested and fermented in traditional open tanks. Matured for 18 months in oak barrels.
Enjoy: Great with slow-cooked beef or lamb
Price: £9.99
Paul Cluver Riesling Noble Late Harvest, 2012 (Paul Cluver)
Grape: Riesling
Origin: The vines were planted in 1987, making them 25 years old for this vintage. Fermented and matured for eight months prior to blending, stabilizing and bottling.
Enjoy: The perfect way to end a meal, or enjoy with flavoursome cheeses.
Price: £13.49


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I've always enjoyed working with other writers, and this month, I was given the opportunity to work with young writers (teens and young adults) and help them understand the process of writing keepsake stories. Remember the premise of my book—everyone has a keepsake, and every keepsake has a story to tell. Yes, teenagers have keepsakes. Whether the keepsake is a trophy from playing on a soccer team or a ring a grandmother gave her granddaughter or a dried corsage from last year's prom or a stuffed animal that's been loved for years, teens and young adults have mementoes to write about.
On Monday, April 14, I conducted a teen writing workshop at the Calhoun library for five young women. I shared many of my writing secrets with them—how to brainstorm effectively, how to organize thoughts, how to free write to get a first draft on paper, and how to revise a story. One of the girls, April, was bubbly and sweet and brought her keepsake to the workshop.
"I call him Uni," she said balancing a unicorn stuffed with dried beans on her head. And then she told me that Uni was lost for a very long time, but she eventually found him in a bush outside of her house when some men came to do lawn work for her family.
Midway through the workshop, I explained "the hook."
"That first paragraph has got to grab the reader's attention," I said. "I want you guys to think how you will hold the reader's attention."
"I know how I will hold their attention," April announced. "I'm going to let Uni tell my story. It will use Uni's voice, not mine."
"Very clever," I replied, impressed with her creativity and her fearlessness.
I guess that's the common thread among young writers—some write so boldly that reading their writing makes me ooze with joy. Others are too concerned about what others might think of their words and experiences. Getting them over the obstacle of caring what others think is harder than teaching them about the writing process. Some young writers are fearless, yet others are paralyzed by fear. I guess, in that respect, they're no different than adult writers.
On Thursday, April 17, I gave another writing workshop for young writers in Dalton, Georgia at the public library to commemorate National Library Week. Twenty-four young writers attended, many from Amanda Triplett's class at Dalton High School.
At the beginning of the workshop, I witnessed a few teen volunteers show their keepsakes to the other attendees—a ball cap and keys that belonged to a young man's grandfather, a stuffed animal that traveled all the way from Mexico to Northwest Georgia, a necklace, a backpack hook, etc.
I explained how to use a bubble diagram to map out a story, and then I said, "Okay, everyone take out a clean sheet of paper and make a bubble diagram of your story."
I walked around the room and simply couldn't believe what I saw—two dozen big, sprawling bubble diagrams with words and words and words connected with circles and lines and more words. This group of teenagers knew what they were doing. They were masters. Again, the word "fearless" popped into to my mind.
My mind drifted back to high school, and I found myself a little sad that back then, I didn't have access to a creative writing class. My high school's English department focused on reading and appreciating literature with a quick side of three-point essay writing. I contemplated it, and then wondered if taking a formal writing class in my teens would have changed my career trajectory (college to engineer to late-blooming writer). I still wonder.
Later when we started writing first drafts, I roamed the room again and peeked at a few stories.
"I could be witnessing the rise of the next Harper Lee or Stephen King," I thought to myself. Yes, they were that good. I rewarded the teens who shared their work with a handful of jelly beans. One young man accidentally ate a foul tasting buttered-popcorn-flavored jellybean and promptly spit out the chewed mass onto the table for all of us to see.
And then today, at the request of young CC Burgess, I attended Dalton Middle School and worked with young writers in Ms. Swiney's class. Toward the end, I explained how to infuse a story with dialogue to make it more interesting. I broke the class into six small groups and gave each team a sentence and said, "Now, write some dialogue—a conversation between two people."
On one team's sheet, I wrote, "Bob tells Jose how he got a black eye." I gave this sentence to a group of four boys. They wrote something like this:
"Hey, what happened to you?" Jose asked. "How did you get that black eye?"
"It's not really a black eye," Bob replied. "It's makeup. I'm in a play."
"Oh! Wow, it really looks real," Jose said.
I certainly wasn't expecting that conversation from the boys. I thought that they would take the easy path and write a conversation revolving around a fight, but no—they surprised me with their creativity.
I gave a group of four girls the following statement: John tells Sarah about seeing a shooting star the night before. Again, I asked that they create dialogue between John and Sarah. They wrote something like this:
"You'll never guess what I saw last night," John said.
"What?" Sarah asked.
"I was in the field and I saw a shooting star go by in the black sky," John said. "It was beautiful."
"No you didn't," Sarah said. "You were with me last night in the basement doing something illegal."
Whoa! Creative? Yes, but now I am concerned about what these young girls are being exposed to in their homes.
To summarize, I love working with writers of all ages and skill levels, but working with young writers is a treat. They exude energy and spirit. Their creative juices churn, ferment, and burst out of their bodies in surprising ways, but they need our help. I challenge all of my writer friends to spend more time with young writers and encourage them, nurture them, help them, welcome them into our writing community, and perhaps most of all, let them know that good writing skills will serve them well in life.


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This EGStoltzfus home is situated in the Winding Hills community, a development that has stood out as the premier residential community in Upper Allen Township. This community contains 120 acres of forested common areas, biking/walking trails, a heated salt water system pool and a gym that all residents can access. This home offers 2,546 sq. ft. of unique and stylish living area with 4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths. The home contains many excellent features including 9' 1st floor ceilings, butler's pantry, hardwood flooring, granite kitchen countertops, stainless steel appliances and a fireplace with granite surround just to name a few.
Rte. 15 South to Cumberland Pkwy. Exit towards Winding Hills Rd. Left on Gettysburg Pike. Left on Mt. Allen. Right on Orchard Blvd. into community. Right on McIntosh Dr. Left on Northern Spy Dr. Home is on the left.
About the Builder:
For more than 45 years, EGStoltzfus has been constructing top-quality homes and building a reputation based on the vision of our founder, Elam G. Stoltzfus, Jr., who stressed the importance of integrity, honesty and quality from start to finish. Today, we are in the home building, land development and commercial construction business to meet the needs of our customers. We focus on a customer centric approach achieved by fostering long-term and mutually beneficial partnerships with our customers, employees, trades people, suppliers and associates.