text:
To the Knacker's Yard
It is about power, and its paradoxes. It is about change, its dangers and results. It is about a past too strong to be ignored, and which fights for its right to exist; imagine a wounded soldier returning to a battlefield on which his enemy has built a large and prosperous town. There is a weak king and a strong queen; while illusions and cynical self-interest are much in evidence. The opening is majestic. A vast panorama of green hills, speckled with decorative humans; who traverse this valley with lordly insouciance; having transformed a wild territory into a country estate and royal hunting ground. And yet… against these large hills these great men look tiny. This country they have conquered has turned them into dwarves.
The film ends in a devastated landscape, where a leaderless army marches into exile. There is a barren plain; a ruined castle soaked in the red of a setting sun; and a blind man staring out onto the wreckage. The army leaves, and this man stands alone, a vestige from a more refined and peaceful age. Nothing is left. Not even faith: the image of the Buddha slips from Tsurumaru's fingers, and falls down the cliff face, where lost and unseen it shines into a darkening sky. Everything is destroyed. A civilisation has died.
This film is a buried treasure of metaphor.
Let's dig one up…
…and after rubbing off the dried ink from Sight & Sound we pick up a magnifying glass to look closely at the wild boar lying dead in the grass.
Having killed it the hunting party discovers that the boar is too tough, because too old, to be eaten. It is a prophecy of what will happen when Lord Hidetora gives up power to his oldest son, but continues to live with him in the largest of his three castles. His presence too loud and too coarse – his samurai drink and tell lewd stories long into the night – for the refined sensibilities of a son who lacks his father's authority; Taro unable to digest Hidetora and his entourage, which makes him peevish. And there is no cure, for Taro is too feeble and stupid to impose himself on his father whom he now (formally) governs. This weakness is the Ichimonjis' tragedy. Unable to exert his legitimate authority Taro depends on his wife to make him rule; Lady Kaede the most ruthless and cleverest character in the film. She argues that as long as Hidetora stays in the castle it is he who will be king. He is a tough old boar who cannot be eaten; and so must be discarded. Having told Taro this truth she acts upon it.
But like all good metaphors it has more than one meaning. The hunt could represent Lord Hidetora's long fight to consolidate his rule; the boar the valley he now owns. Having established peace through conquest he finds that he cannot enjoy its luxuries; because he is too much the warrior to rule a country where violence has become extinct. A peaceful kingdom is too hard for him to swallow.
A third meaning can be found in the realm itself. Built out of war it depends upon it; its civilised arteries clogged up with an authoritarianism that cannot be removed by a dynasty suffused with the customs of a warrior caste. This is a kingdom too tough for the younger Ichimonjis to eat.
A fourth lies in Lady Kaede. The Ichimonji clan have not been able to digest her; its biggest and most powerful enemy.
The wild boar is a symbol of change. It represents that moment when one type of society is being replaced by another; their qualitative differences for a time overlapping to become mixed up and confused; although the ruling class continue to act as if nothing has changed – they still use the old moral codes, ignorant of their increasing obsolescence. Lady Kaede belongs to the new society, and is very aware of these differences, and the ambiguities they generate; using them to destroy the dynasty. She has the sharpest eyes in this family. She knows that the kill is distinct from the hunt; a dead beast is not the same as food; an intention is different from its outcome; and that fine words do not translate into good actions. In short: she knows that an act carried out with the old moral beliefs is nullified when performed under the new moral code.
It is with these complexities (which arise naturally out of a changing society) that the paradoxes begin. Saburo, the youngest son, tells Hidetora that a family grown up in war cannot live in peace; and yet it is he, the best warrior amongst his brothers, who contradicts his own words, which nonetheless express a profound truth – Taro and Jiro will both betray their father. Times of change are always paradoxical, because the former rules no longer apply; although nearly everyone assumes that they do. What seems reasonable – such as following the old tactics - may actually be irrational in the new circumstances; so that truth may be turned into lies, weakness become strength, while the most blunt and headstrong son is found to be the most respectful of them all. A man's actions depend on the context, which changes the meaning of everything he does. The Ichimonjis do not understand this. It is their fatal mistake.
A time of peace is different from a time of war. It is a place where the old warrior values have no validity. This is not all. It is not so easy to translate war into peace; for there is a transition period that is full of lethal content; a time when all values and all meanings are topsy-turvy, and where only a genius can grasp them. But Lord Hidetora is the only great man in this family, and he is old and worn out, unable to re-enact the exploits of his youth and maturity. Indeed, it is because he is old that he makes the mistake that ruins his realm; believing that he is strong enough to manage the transition himself. It is beyond him. Ignorant of the essential differences between the two kinds of society – between the one he created out of war and the one he now rules in peace – he is not subtle enough navigate this way through them; and so is outplayed by a master of the game: Lady Kaede brought up to rule a settled kingdom.
Her husband is not a warrior. He is a courtier, whose main weapons are words - diplomacy is more important than violence in an established civilisation. When Hidetora abdicates Taro makes a fine speech about filial piety and the glory of the Ichimonji clan, which has incorporated (eaten up) the local dynasties; Taro himself married to the daughter of the previous valley king whom Hidetora defeated and killed, and whose aristocratic lineage he has grafted onto his own; the very first of his mistakes; for Lady Kaede is too powerful for her weak husband, whom she uses to destroy his family. Tellingly, she is the only character who achieves all her ambitions, although she has to pay the ultimate sacrifice, which she willingly accepts; her one aim to destroy everything that Hidetora has created. Thus in a climatic confrontation with the samurai Kurogane she denies that all the destruction - the madness of Hidetora, the death of his three sons, the ruin of the castle - is due to her vanity. It is revenge, she replies. How they have misread her! Lady Kaede is far too subtle (and too powerful) for these soldiers; amateurs in such language games.
Hidetora is getting old. After fifty years of continuous fighting he has subdued a valley previously ridden with civil war, and has turned it into a peaceful and prosperous kingdom. He wants to retire, in a world where there are no pensions and no National Health Service. His reason for retiring is not clear, although he gives a superficial explanation for his decision – the prophetic scenes of a ruined civilisation he has seen in a nightmare. The only way to prevent such destruction, he argues, is to hand over power while he still lives; remaining in the background to ensure that his sons consolidate his patrimony. His abdication is a sort of insurance policy.
Hidetora doesn't realise what it means to give up power, even though this brutally explained to him by his youngest son, who says that he cannot expect people who have been educated in war to behave otherwise than cruelly and selfishly. He then exposes his father's illusions, which Hidetora had sought to prove by a simple symbol: the breaking of a single arrow. After this display he gives his three sons a bundle of three arrows that neither Taro nor Jiro can snap; thus showing that united the Ichimonji family will survive. Saburo, to show his disagreement, uses his knee to break this bundle; a powerful symbolic act that reveals that a simple parable can be falsified by guile (that is, by breaking the rules of the game).
The old ways, which embody the old truths, no longer apply when the situation is revolutionised; although the old psychologies remain; thus Hidetora expects his sons to honour and obey him even after he has surrendered all his power. This is his madness. For he has confused the old warrior community, where the kingship was his coterminous with his character, with the new society of diplomats and officials, where power has devolved into impersonal rules and institutional practices. The foundations on which authority is built have changed, but Hidetora does not recognise this until forced to submit to the effete Taro, who guided by his wife simply applies the rules of this civilised state, which immediately destroys the old warrior's values. And they are right, on their own terms. For it is true that Hidetora's samurai, by being loud and coarse, unsettle the atmosphere of the fort, undermining the authority of Taro, and therefore undercutting the legitimacy of the kingship; which although it floats a little free of individual personalities is still tied to a king's character. By creating a confrontation Lady Kaede cuts this tie, for relying on Hidetora to adhere to the old warrior customs of respect and honour she knows that he will not remain in the castle after he has been insulted. The rope cut his boat will drift off down the river; or more prosaically: authority will now be solely invested in the institution of the king and not in any individual person, thus when Taro dies Jiro is automatically recognised as his legitimate successor.
Hidetora is trapped by the old warrior codes that enabled him to first conquer the kingdom. Knowing this Lady Kaede uses the new rules of the new culture, rules that do not recognise the old customs as either legitimate or binding, to defeat him. Taro asks his father to sign a pledge, which according to his legal counsel is merely confirming on paper what has been previously agreed. Nothing has changed, he says. But of course everyone knows that everything has changed; Taro is forcing his father to sign a formal document relinquishing his authority, whereas before he merely accepted the kingdom as a gift; which in principle (though not in practice) is revocable at any time. A warrior's word of honour has been replaced by a written contract, which neutralises it – in effect Taro is saying that he doesn't trust his father, and that only a signed statement can guarantee his promise; authority now invested in the abstract rules of the kingdom, to which they both must adhere. The magic of authority is drained out of the individual and is inscribed into parchment (which represents the institution of kingship). The sword has given away to the quill; the idiosyncratic personality to the impersonal crown. It is words that now dominate actions, and power lies in the manipulation of symbols, of which Lady Kaede is a virtuoso. Thus it is only when he signs his name that Hidetora gives up all this authority; it is the moment he accepts the legitimacy of the new order, and is lost.
This is a clash between two cultures; Lady Kaede representing an established aristocracy, Lord Hidetora the upstart warrior clan. They are two extremes. In the middle are the three sons; a varied mixture of both – born into war they have been educated out of it -, who lack the talent to manage the transition between them. It is not so easy to settle a kingdom after conquering it, and to then hand it down the hereditary line. Different rules apply; while the situation is in constant flux, values and tactics rapidly change, making the old ideas quickly obsolete. Thus the flattery of Taro, a court sophisticate, clashes with the blunt manners of Saburo, whose behaviour seems out of date - civilised aristocrats do not talk like this in a sophisticated court.
These changes have affected their father: Hidetora is old, and preferring peace to war succumbs to the power of fine words. In a great court truth is dangerous, because if serious it demands action that could undermine the existence of the realm, especially as Hidetora is no longer personally strong enough to defend it with force; his power existing in the organised structure of his kingdom; his authority exercised not through violence but through his reputation and the customs his long rule has created. Truth may actually destroy such a society, because they force a secure but fragile institution to act (with unpredictable consequences). Intelligence and guile are prerequisites for this kind of government, as Hidetora realises when faced with a dilemma he cannot resolve: which king's daughter shall he take for his sole remaining son. The old ways are no longer available – he has no more sons after Saburo – and he can't think up any new ones; until, that is, he falls asleep, and has a nightmare.
The nightmare seems genuine. Hidetora's interpretation, though, is far too convenient, and allows him to sidestep his dilemma by arguing that only abdication can he prevent the destruction he has dreamt. Confronted with a crisis Hidetora avoids it, and submits himself to dreams; real and make-believe (his fantasies for a safe future). It is a sign that the great king is weak and out of his depth.
He wants to retire. But he does not want to give up the lifestyle of a great king; expecting to be treated with the same esteem, Hidetora assumes he will exercise the freedoms of old, partying with his samurai late into the night. But he can only enjoy these privileges if he has the power to enforce them. Superficially this is still the case. His personality is much stronger than Taro's; and he retains his own warriors, while the castle guards still defer to him when there is any conflict. He has not relinquished his authority, which remains invested in his person. It thus appears that only the formalities have changed; the charismatic content, Hidetora's personality, remaining as powerful as ever.
Lady Kaede knows differently. The invisible rules of conduct, together with the atmosphere of authority, that govern established institutions have in fact shifted power to her husband if he is prepared to use it. She makes him. In a great court it is images and words that rule; appearance is everything. Understanding the value of symbols Lady Kaede plays them perfectly; insisting that Hidetora's harem step aside to allow her retinue to enter the castle (from above, from where Hidetora sees them, they look like two competing armies lined up along the narrow corridors between the castle's walls). She is forcing Hidetora to pay respect to his son, enacting those hidden sinews of power that will ensure Taro rules over his father; her strategy culminating in the humiliation of the pledge, which propels the old king to leave his home.
The first fall has been prolonged, devious and complex. The second is quick and simple, and very obvious; and is a direct consequence of Hidetora's loss of power: Jiro effectively bans him from his castle, by refusing entry to his samurai.
The transition from a warrior clan to a settled aristocracy is proving difficult. There are so many unforeseen obstacles! So many actors from a past Hidetora had thought he had vanquished; the dead and the defeated rising up to revenge his triumphs; such as the young prince he once blinded resurrected from oblivion to reveal his cruelty and injustice. Hidetora cannot escape the fate he has himself crafted. To have retired in safety he had first to wipe out that past; the only way to protect himself against it; so terrible have been his deeds. An impossibility, of course, although his refusal to rescind his abdication shows that this is exactly what he is trying to do. Thus he acts as if the past does not exist. He is mad, obviously. Taken up with his own vanity he thinks he can make history vanish. It is to disabuse him. The past is too strong and too stubborn to submit to a mere mortal. It will rise up and rebel. It will have its vengeance!
He has a dream, and he (knowingly?) misreads its portents. It is a sign that Hidetora no longer understands the kingdom he has created; a truth he cannot recognise until it is too late; until after his two eldest sons try to kill him, and he loses all honour because he cannot commit seppuku (his broken sword a lovely metaphor for the impotence of weapons in what is essentially a political struggle). Now he has lost everything. His world collapses. And he falls into madness and vagabondage. The entire family are soon to follow him, because of the machinations of Lady Kaede, who controls this chaos. Power has shifted to a new kind of ruler.
Could he have acted differently? It is like asking a gravedigger to do open heart surgery – both he and Lord Hidetora are trapped by their past work. He does try to escape its influence, thus his abdication. It refuses to let him go, and invades and eventually destroys his mind. A man who has created his own kingdom is too powerful to listen to reason; if he had he would never have been king – all the facts would have argued against him. He needed a strong will and belief in himself to be the conqueror of this valley. Such characters always teeter on the edge of insanity; only their ability to relentlessly shape the world to their own designs keeps them sane. Lose this ability and they may lose their minds, as they continue trying to mould world that now resists them, until eventually only the fantasy is left. Kurosawa captures this in a brilliant image. His honour gone Hidetora walks out of his ruined castle between the long lines of his sons' armies. His once powerful mind and his tough charismatic personality have been consumed in the flames. He has nothing. He is an empty shell. A body without a brain. He is a ghost. Left to wander the wilderness with his fool; his few moments of sanity are entirely dependent upon the people he meets: the blind Tsurumaru, the honest samurai, and the tenderness of Saburo, who restores him temporarily to mental clarity and happiness. What a transformation! After his fall Lord Hidetora is completely at the mercy of events. Now it is they that control him.
The joyous reunion with Saburo reveals that his experiences have not fundamentally changed Hidetora. Reconciled to his youngest son, who now seems destined to secure the kingdom, all his guilt and doubts vanish, like steam out of an open window. Previously Hidetora couldn't face Saburo because he was ashamed at his own failure, his inability to listen to the truth. Confronted with his injustice and his own weakness he found a refuge in lunacy. But now Saburo has shown the magnanimity of a true warrior Hidetora's sanity returns and he reverts to his old habits of thought. Ran is no morality tale. It knows that life is too subtle for simple moral precepts. One mistake can lead to ruin, and nothing, once the act has been committed, can be done to rectify it. Worse: even a mistake might look like, might even be, the right decision at the time it was made; only hindsight can decide, and it is powerless.
Maybe there was nothing Hidetora could have done. Whatever decision he made about Saburo's bride would have upset at least one king, who may have used it as an excuse for war. The most obvious explanation for his madness is that Hidetora is not aware of this truth and so torments himself with his mistakes, until he loses his mind in a dense thicket of wrong turnings and imaginary exits. A subtler explanation is to argue that he is driven insane precisely because he realises the impossibility of ever having made the right decision; Hidetora forced to confront his own impotency: he was a king who'd lost control of his kingdom long before his fall.
Lady Kaede is at home in this realm. She understands its workings intimately. She knows that power no longer resides in the actions of one big man, but is dispersed within a labyrinth of signs and symbols that can be rearranged into patterns of which only she can comprehend and control. Working behind the scenes she imposes her will first on Taro and later on Jiro, the middle brother. She has authority, intelligence and sexual charisma, and she uses them to dominate these men who lack Hidetora's ruthlessness and will. Such is her power she actually scares them. She is the warrior! She kills with words. In a magnificent scene she rapidly changes from submissive widow to crazy assassin to cocotte so as to trap Jiro into a marriage that she will dominate. Although tougher than his elder brother Jiro is also lost inside a world he doesn't understand, the sexual politics of Lady Kaede too subtle and too compelling for him to unravel, or to overcome. His henchman, a warrior of the old school, warns him of the danger. He tells a fairy tale about the fox-devil who takes on female form, and destroys the men she meets. It has no effect. The blunt truth cannot compete with the stealthy caress, the lingering kiss, the sex filled promises, or with the lethal threats dressed up in the finest courtly language. Lady Kaede governs now. It is one of the many paradoxes that it is she, a woman born into a highly civilised court which represents the cultural summit of a peaceful existence, who is the cause of all the film's violence. By the time she dies she has released a total war. This was her vision: the complete destruction of the Ichimonji family. She is the greatest warrior of the hour, even though she kills no one; a paradox and a literal truth; for in times of peace power doesn't stand on the parade ground but sits in the state offices and relaxes in the palace bedrooms.
Hidetora wanted peace. But now he must make a choice that will almost certainly lead to war. As he contemplates his decision Saburo makes a crude remark that could be deemed offensive. The brothers argue, and their father falls asleep. Is he pretending, ashamed of Saburo's behaviour, as the brother's think, or is he really sleeping, worn out by old age? We are unsure.
Later he storms out of his enclosure in a confused state, and then immediately announces his abdication in favour of Taro. There is surprise and consternation…
It looks genuine, but… is he play-acting?
There is a third explanation that works as a lovely metaphor for the whole film: he begins by pretending, but then actually falls asleep, later experiencing a real nightmare, to which he gives a dodgy meaning. The sequence is symbolically perfect: control (the pretence), a period of semi or automatic management (sleeping), and finally the complete loss of authority (the nightmare) when he misreads Lady Kaede's strategy.
The nightmare can be interpreted in many different ways, and the decisions based on those interpretations will also wildly vary. This dream, therefore, is not a good enough reason for an abdication. Is he taking the easy way out? Faced with an impossible decision, whatever he does will offend at least one king, is Hidetora abdicating his responsibility, passing it onto his sons who are not strong enough to take it? If so, it is a sign that he is indeed getting old, and no longer has the strength (or the appetite) to maintain his realm by leading the family into yet another war, which may be the only way to save it.
But what if he is play-acting (although this seems unlikely)? Then his abdication can be seen as a wily move to get out of a difficult diplomatic situation; a tactic destined to fail because he doesn't understand the changed nature of his kingdom - Lady Kaede has the power to prevent him ruling from behind the scenes.
Either he is too weak to keep the peace, or he misplays his hand. In either case Hidetora is no longer capable of ruling this realm. Lady Kaede had won even before the film had begun.
The great Lord Hidetora started life as a parvenu warrior ruling the smallest castle in the valley. In fifty years of continuous fighting he captured or destroyed all the other castles, and went on to occupy the largest fort, which became his headquarters. During this time he broke all the rules, and created new ones of his own. Now, when he hands over his crown, he follows tradition and gives the kingship to his oldest son Taro; the younger two to remain in feudal bond to their brother. It is a terrible mistake. Saburo is a natural king. It is he who should have been given the succession. To save his realm the great warrior had do something far greater than conquering a valley - he had overturn tradition, perhaps even destroy it. Hidetora was not great enough for that. Tamely he follows custom and gives Taro his crown, although it is Lady Kaede who will wear it; the past to consume this valley like flood waters from a ruptured dam. To tear down castle walls is easy. To smash up a culture is a very hard thing to do indeed. Too hard for the great Lord Hidetora Ichimonji.
(Review of Ran)


text:
Linking Missouri's Businesses to the Right Resource at the Right Time
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Lebanon, satellite image
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Acquiring Property Is More Than Just Viewing MLS Listings
We partner with many different types of property owners and have asked for some feedback on
what has worked for them. Much of this might be considered common sense, but here are the TOP
TEN resources our landlords have used to acquire properties:
1. Open Your Mouth. Talk to friends and family, neighbors and church connections. You never
know whom people know and you could be one discussion away from that great property.
2. Use The Internet. Search engines have become much more intuitive. Plugging in details about
what you're looking for will yield great results. Don't forget about using social media because
friends and followers can be your best advocates.
3. Get In the Car and Drive. There are plenty of potential 'For Sale By Owner' opportunities out
there that are not advertised anywhere.
4. Scour the Area For Abandoned Houses: Crabgrass and dirty windows is a sure sign that the
property is a non-preforming asset. Most owners will be willing to make a deal to be rid of it.
5. Check Out Expired For Rent Ads. Landlords that can't fill the units are more likely to be open to
an offer.
6 Connect with Bankers and Attorneys. Many of them will know about the properties that the
bank is holding that they want to get rid of-before the general public even knows about it.
7. Finders Fees. There are plenty of well-connected people in the community that always seem to
be in the know. Pay them a small fee when they bring opportunities to your attention.
8. Eviction Listings. Legal notices are usually published by local papers and online. A landlord that
spent time getting rid of tenants may be a prime candidate for selling the property.
9. Dead For Sale By Owner Ads. Many owners abandon the effort when there has been no
movement, but the desire is still there to sell.
10. Advertise. "Looking for investment properties to buy," could be just enough to peak someone's
- Renttropolis Team
- 10/25/2017


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As we all know, the major stock indexes have been in correction mode since the beginning of May 2011. Most leading sectors are trading lower and continue to remain weak at this time. Despite the current market weakness, there are a few stocks trading really well and remain in a strong uptrend. This week, we shall look at three stock different stocks that are trading above their daily chart 50, and 200 moving averages.
The first stock that we shall examine this week is ONEOK Inc. (NYSE:OKE). ONEOK is a diversified energy company that primarily operates as a natural gas distributor. OKE stock has been in a solid uptrend since September 2010 when the stock was trading around $45.00 a share. On Friday June 24, 2011 the stock closed at $73.27 a share, this is a new 52 week closing high. OKE stock traded higher on an increase in volume this past week, this will usually indicate a little more strength in the stock before needing a pullback. Traders should watch for near term resistance around the $75.00, and $78.00 levels. The near term support for OKE stock should it pullback will be around the $67.75 level.
Hansen Natural Corp. (NASDAQ:HANS) is a leading producer and distributor of natural sodas, fruit juices, and energy drinks. The stock has been in a steady uptrend since July 2010 when the stock was trading around $40.00 a share. The stock closed at a new 52 week high on June 24, 2011 at $78.05 a share. Traders and investors must watch for daily chart resistance around the $80.00, $82.50, and $85.25 levels. Should HANS stock pullback traders can watch for near term support around the $70.00, and $67.50 levels.
Fortinet Inc.(NASDAQ:FTNT) is a leading provider of network security appliances to enterprises, service providers, and government entities worldwide. This stock just broke out of a loose two month basing pattern. On June 24, 2011 the stock closed at $25.85 a share which is a new 52 week high. Traders and investors should now watch the $27.50, and $30.00 levels for near term resistance. Should the stock pullback, FTNT stock will have daily chart support around the $22.00, and $20.00 levels.
Nicholas Santiago


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This interview was conducted with a lifelong iOS User who wanted to experience Android because iOS was getting a bit dull, so I loaned him my now 1 year old Nexus 4 and he gave it a try for about 30 days. +Micah Komp is one of my best friends and this interview was conducted at my home. I in no way influenced or assisted Mr. Komp during this experiment though I would check-in with him every other day to see how he was doing. Objectively, I can attest to the fact that he really had a tough time deciding if he should switch or not which was quite surprising to me given the stereotypes of some iOS users. The purpose of this interview is to attempt to bridge the gap and articulate what goes through the mind of a consumer before switching from one OS to the other. I hope this interview helps those who are on the fence make a choice and enlighten the blindly hardcore that things are not as far apart as they seem.
The Interview:
So before we begin this interview I just wanted to lay some things out for our readers and get through some of my newly acquired legal knowledge based off certain events that have taken place over the past couple weeks. This will prevent us here at The Droid Effect and you from being sued, or at least I hope so.
Micah: …
After doing some research and using very credible sources like Reddit, Wikipedia and various blogs; I thought I would open with you raising your right hand and me swearing you in. So repeat after me. I Micah Komp.
Micah: I Micah Komp
Do solemnly swear.
Micah: Do solemnly, really?
To not say a word that describes a sugar coated treat that all children love and rhymes with the name "Andy" but begins with the letter "C".
Micah: *laughs* Kay
I will also, not mention the name of a certain company that may sue us whose name refers to the leader of a monarchy, or rhymes with "Ping" but begins with the letter "K".
Micah: Kay
Responding with "Kay" might be a little close to saying that the name. Let's just try to avoid that letter all together. Ok, according to my research we are all covered. Lets start the interview.
1. Tell me a bit about your history with iOS. What was your first iOS phone? What turned you on to iOS instead of Android all those years ago?
Micah: First phone was the iPhone 4s, primary reason for going with the 4s was that I had an iPad prior to owning a 4s. The iPad was my first Apple product since the Apple 2E I used in elementary school so that kind of shows how tech savvy I am. I used my iPad for my commute because there was really nothing else on the market at the time and it got me through my day. So when I went to buy a phone I already had an experience with iOS and it was good. So I just decided to get an iPhone. I really didn't think about it. I thought, "Hey, the iPhone works the same as the iPad ok I'll pick that up". Plus I had already purchased apps through the App Store so it was an "on a whim" type decision.
2. Would you classify yourself as an "iOS Enthusiast" or "The Average Joe" type of user?
Micah: Somewhere in the middle. I'm like a football fan that never goes to any games. I find technology fascinating because it's the thing of our time. My extent of following Apple usually revolves around their conferences when they are going to release something but that's about it.
3. What do you see as the positives of being an iOS user?
Micah: The biggest positive that I like about iOS is that I'm comfortable with it. It's the first and only smartphone I've ever had; I've grown up using it. I have learned how it links to my computer, which is an iMac and how that links to my Apple TV. I've also learned little things about my iMac along the way. Like how to digitize my movie library and use iTunes via Air Play or Air Video from my iPad or iPhone to send media to my Apple TV. So now my entire home is based on Apple and I live in that ecosystem. I no longer use DVD's or CD's because all of my media is on iTunes.
So it's the integration?
Micah: Well, what I said was just an example but yes. When they pushed out Mavericks or Lion they really pushed out further integration between their computers and their mobile devices. So now when I check my email or calendar everything syncs up via the cloud. So it goes back to how much you have invested in that ecosystem. I consider myself fairly committed, so that may play into my difficulty switching. I would have to figure out all this stuff again if I went to Android.
4. What do you see as the negatives of being and iOS user?
Micah: I think the biggest thing is that I'm just getting bored with it. When iOS7 came out, I thought it would have some big changes and features and it just didn't deliver. That's not to say iOS7 it's bad, it's ok. But it's not great. When I look at what my previous iPhones compared to my 5S all I can physically see different is that my screen is 5cm's larger, I got a fingerprint scanner and another row of apps for $800. I mean sure it got faster, but in my daily experience I just don't see the advertised difference. It operates the same on all my devices so what's the difference? I understand they upgraded things, but the daily experience from the 4s to the 5s just wasn't worth the money in my opinion. I just was not impressed with the experience for the cost.
5. Is there an iOS feature that you can't live without? Which One?
Micah: The Phone. *laughs* If there is one feature I couldn't live without it's making phone calls. But aside from that, if there is one thing about iOS. When comparing it to Android, it's the integration. Apple has the iMac and Apple TV. Those things have become part of my lifestyle, and since Android doesn't integrate with these things I find myself enjoying iOS more because of this. But other than that its nothing, if my fingerprint scanner stopped working I wouldn't be like "Oh my god, my life is over". But if the integration wasn't there with devices I already own, it would be easier for me to switch.
6. If you could improve one thing about iOS overall what would it be?
Micah: So after playing around with Android and its widgets, the one-dimensional nature of iOS began to really show. Call it the "Customization" of Android or whatever but I enjoyed it. But that customization has a dark side as well, things are layered deeply and are not as easy to find as they are in iOS but I digress. I would say Apple really needs to take the homescreen area and allow the user to add a couple of things, similar to Android with Widgets I think that would be a big plus.
7. When you are shopping for your next smartphone. What characteristics are you looking for in that device? Which of those characteristics are more important to you?
Micah: What I'm looking for is going be significant improvements to what I already have. I feel a little bamboozled by my jump from the 4s to the 5s. I feel like the market has peaked so I'm content because there is nothing out there that has impressed me. Nothing that has "Wowed me". I think they did a great job marketing the 5s cause I bought one, but once I got over the new phone feel I realized it was basically the same.
8. I was at this point in the interview that took it upon myself to show him some of the features of the Moto X, Touchless Controls and others. He had already seen my Nexus 5 so he was familiar with that device as well.
Micah: So my response to that is. How does that improve my life? It just means I don't have to touch my phone, but it's the same capability and it's slightly creepy cause my phone "Google" is always listening to me. I think that's a novelty thing, but it's not a game changer. It's cool, but not game changing. I could put my Bluetooth on, hit a button and activate Siri through my speaker. I'm not sure what the game-changing thing is, but I think I will know it when I see it. I would equate it to the self-driving car that will completely change how we interact with our vehicles. The iPhone did that for cell phones and I am waiting for something that will do that again.
9. Do you have one feature about a smartphone that you will not compromise on, regardless of how great the smartphone is overall? If so which? And why?
Micah: I would say up until I used android it would have to be that it had to be an Apple product. But now that I've played around with Android it's opened my eyes more and I no longer hold that opinion. I think after using Android the one thing I wouldn't compromise on is battery life. A phone has to have great battery life. My 5s doesn't have great battery life and this is something that I think a phone absolutely needs. This is a such a hard question because all the phones today are similar. If I pick a Nexus or the Moto I'm not compromising anything to an iPhone, it's all very similar. But if it's a Blackberry like the one we use for work then we have all types of compromises.
That is intended to be a factual statement!
10. Ok, so now lets do some rapid-fire response. Ready?
a. Form (Looks) or Function? Form
b. Aluminum or Plastic? Aluminum
c. Android or iOS? iOS
d. 4 inch screen or larger? It's not the size that counts it's how you use it.
e. IPS or AMOLED? WTF?
f. Pure or Skinned? Sure?
g. Rooted/Jailbroken or Stock? Stock, cause I know what that means
h. Siri or Google Now? Siri, because I just haven't learned Google Now. But I'm very interested. Plus Siri is a bitch and she has been frustrating me lately.
i. White or Wheat? Like Steven Colbert I don't see color.
That question is about bread.
Micah: Oh, umm…
11. Ok, enough with the softballs. At what point did you decide to become a traitor to your kind and pick up that damn Nexus?
Micah: $800 dollars later, Unimpressed. I think the other big part of it is that iOS is just feeling stale. I'm just searching for something new. In years past Apple spoon-fed interesting functions to you with each update. Now there is just nothing there. Now that I feel like I've had my one-night stand with Android, I'll be going back to my tried and true and apologizing.
12. First thought as soon as you took the Nexus 4 out of the box and handled it?
Micah: First thought was, "It's plastic" sigh not really liking the plastic. It made it feel cheap. Before I turned it on, I just felt like it wasn't a quality product. I also thought it was slightly bulky. But I will say that these thoughts passed quickly and I found the more I used the device, the more that didn't matter.
13. Now that you have been using the device for a month. Have you found any apps that the "App Store" has that the "Play Store" doesn't?
Micah: Nothing that I couldn't live without. As far as the App world went, it was an irrelevant factor. All the major apps were there. The only app app I really missed and it's kind of goofy was "Photos". I have a shared family photos stream with my wife and I didn't have that on my Android phone so I missed having that functionality. I didn't notice a difference in quality, I will say that the widget factor was big and that was a wow-factor for me on Android. How each app had a widget that I could put on the homescreen and my BBC app had a widget so did my e-mail. So I could just put the app in the app drawer and use the widget to monitor my feeds was really convenient.
14. What are some of your favorites things about Android?
Micah: I think my favorite thing is that you can make the homescreen your own. The fact that you can place widgets and get rid of things you don't want to see. The cool thing was I keep my apps in the drawer and then design the homescreen around my daily use stuff. You really have a phone that's built around YOU and what YOU want to do.
15. What would you say you disliked about Android, or needs to be improved upon?
Micah: I think I would say it's because Android is not iOS. It's because I had to adjust to another environment. It's relearning another OS, but I never once had the reaction that I hated something about Android itself. I did have the reaction of "This is very annoying to try to figure out how that particular function works". The learning curve was the biggest thing I didn't like. That has nothing to do with Android that has more to do with my comfort with iOS and my lack of time to try to figure out something new.
16. What's your impression of the Android/Nexus experience overall? (Battery life, size, durability, operating system integration).
Micah: I feel like I was using an iOS knock-off. There was nothing so cool about it that I couldn't live without. I felt like it was simply a different version of iOS. There was no single feature or thing that Android gave me that I couldn't get from iOS; it just gave it to me in another way. I think if I started with Android, I would have felt the same way about iOS had I used it. I think that they are both great products but I also feel like they have both plateaued. Again, it's the same stuff given to you in a different format.
Maybe you're not in tune with "The Force" but I am, and I sense a disturbance in the force right now. The armies of Android and iOS are collectively baffled at this point? There must be a supreme OS.
Micah: This is just how I feel about it.
17. So would you say that Android and iOS are closer together than further apart?
Micah: Yes in that they both use apps. They use the same structure for accessing your apps. They have the same apps. The apps are practically the same. The only big difference I found was the presentation. But neither product had something that was unique to that product. I like the presentation of certain things better on Android and some better on iOS. I like the widgets and the homescreen better on Android. It makes iOS look like it was written in crayon. But I would also say that the settings menu and the control that I have in iOS are much better than Android. Android was cluttered and felt disjointed and confusing. Just not as clean as iOS.
18. So now for the big question. Will you switch? (Feel free to elaborate on why or why not; or if you will live in both worlds)
Micah: No. I will not be switching. But I feel like if I started with Android I would be the same way about iOS. It's not that I love iOS, it's that iOS is what I'm used to. I have a lot invested in Apple and iOS my Home and infrastructure is Apple. There is nothing that is so cool or unique about Android that would cause me to have to redo all of that. Android is a nice product but not enough for me to have to redo all of that. Wow, now that I'm saying this, it makes me feel like I've been trapped and cornered by Apple. I feel like they got me, like unless there is something miraculous that comes along, I won't switch and can't afford to switch. I don't know how much my iTunes account is worth and it scares me to think about that.
19. Final Thoughts?
Micah: It was a fun experience, but slightly disappointing. Cause I was really hoping that Android was really going to knock my socks off; I was looking for that. Again there was just no "Wow Factor" ok "Widgets a little" but that would not be enough to push me out of my current ecosystem.
I tried this experiment with a phone, but was wondering if I would have felt different if I was using a tablet. I will not switch my phone as it is such a central part of my daily life and I do not want any disruptions, but I am seriously considering adding an android tablet to my collection just so I can learn more about it without the interference in my daily life.
If you haven't already, feel free to reach out or follow +Micah Komp if you have some questions on you're mind that maybe I missed. If you guys liked this article maybe we will do some more in the future. Maybe, we will reach out to you for an interview. Remember we at thedroideffect.com do what we do for you. If there is something we have not covered or you're interested in; feel free to follow us or reach out to us on various social media outlets or here on our site.


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Watch: Rob Kearney – "This Is An Awesome Day For The Irish"
Ireland have done it!
The wait is over after over a century, Ireland have beaten the mighty All Blacks by a staggering 40 points to 29 in one of the greatest test matches we have ever seen in rugby.
5 amazing tries and what can only be described as a monumental effort by every single player on the pitch. The streak has been defeated, the wait is over, Ireland have secured their first win over the All Blacks after 111 years of trying.
Fullback Rob Kearney spoke after the game and declared today an 'awesome day for the Irish.'
"It's an awesome day for this team and the 28 teams that have gone before us."@IrishRugby's @KearneyRob #IREvNZL https://t.co/pNT4IXDaBF
— BT Sport Rugby (@btsportrugby) November 5, 2016


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Today, I miss the most the fact that there is nobody to share my breakfast with. There is nobody to ask where my keys to the front door are. It is not as if I am terribly sleepy and you are tickling me and asking me to wake up because you have something to tell me. It is just not the same! Because you are far…
There is no other person on the earth who recognises my voice from kilometres in the street among so many other people. Nobody else recognises the different types of silence when speaking to me on the phone – because I am sleeping, because I am ill or because I don't feel like talking to anyone. To this very day, I don't know how you do this – how you know where to stand on the platform of the station so that you could be exactly in front of the door which I am going to get off through. Nobody waits for me so silently and nobody sees me off so confidently, saying, "I know that you will make it!" And there is nobody that I want to come back to as much as I want to come back to you. Because nobody else is able to hold my hand the way you do!
Nobody is as far as you are when somebody hates me and abuses me. And nobody is able to be so close when I walk on all possible edges of all possible precipices. There is no other person who recognises the notes of anxiety in my voice when I am actually laughing. Nobody else knows the signs of tiredness in my eyes when I wake up.
Nobody else is happier than you are when I say, "I'm great!" Nobody celebrates my victories the way you do when I shout, "I won!" Nobody understands me so clearly and nobody argues with me so audaciously!
And wherever I am today, wherever I am headed tomorrow, you are this inseparable part of me, without which my blood wouldn't be the same – my brother. You remain half of my heart. When I walk on a rope and I step ahead, you look me in the eyes and you walk on the same rope, but backwards. You make a step, I make a step. And I say, "If you fall, we fall together…" You say, "If you fall, I will catch you!"
There is no philosophy in these relationships. Between brothers and sisters there is no logic or history, nobody leaves first. Nobody stops loving, nobody abandons the other. There is no adultery and nobody loves more than the other. A particular type of love – one and the same, constant in its faithfulness. Sound in its integrity. Whole.
And every time we think of them – our brothers or sisters, we have nothing left to do apart from thinking, "I'm not alone in this world!", and smiling silently.
Text: Eva Koleva
Photo: BGNES


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I can't believe it is almost Saturday!
I am bursting at the seams with excitement.
While we have been preparing for you to join us for the day, we have been praying that the Lord prepares your heart too.
Get ready to see with new eyes, meet new friends and rest in the fellowship of His grace-filled love!
We can't wait to meet you!
~Heather and The made. Creative Team


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Chocolate Chip Cookies
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Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chef's Note
"If you want to have ready-to-bake cookies, you can drop teaspoonfuls of cookie dough onto a baking sheet covered with wax paper or parchment paper and place in the freezer until the dough is firm. Then, place frozen cookie dough in a plastic bag and keep frozen until ready to bake. Drop oven temperature to 350 degrees when baking, and expect the cookies to take a little longer to bake than normal."
READY IN:35mins
YIELD:72 cookies (Varies depending on the size of cookie)
Ingredients Nutrition
- 3⁄4 cup margarine, softened
- 3⁄4 cup butter flavor shortening
- 1 1⁄2 cups brown sugar, lightly packed
- 3⁄4 cup sugar
- 3 eggs
- 3 tablespoons light corn syrup
- 3 tablespoons water
- 3 teaspoons vanilla
- 3 3⁄4 cups flour, unsifted
- 1 1⁄2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3⁄4 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups chocolate chips, semi-sweet
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and place baking rack in middle of oven.
- In a large bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
- In a seperate bowl cream the margarine and butter flavored shortening.
- Add the sugars and beat until creamy.
- Add the eggs to incorporate.
- Add the corn syrup, water and vanilla extract, mix well.
- Gradually blend in the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and mix well.
- Stir in the chocolate chips; make sure they are evenly distributed.
- Drop by teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet, about 1 inch apart and bake until the cookies are slightly underdone, between 10-12 minutes (maybe longer, depending on your oven's calibration).
- The centers should be just set and a light golden brown. They will continue to cook, from the heat in the cookie sheet, after they are removed from the oven.
- Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet.
- Allow to cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute before removing to cooling racks until they are completely cooled. Enjoy!
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Living with no regrets.
Life is about lessons so we can move forward.
Moving forward in life.
There are lessons in life we each experience and they are all different.
I do not regret anything that has happened in my life because I think if things were any different in my decision making and choices I made my life would not be the same today.
I go through struggles like everyone else but working through things is what matters.
I would never go back and change anything in my past, not even for a million dollars.
Actually my present which does really co-exist with my future is really bright.
When I decided on one dream a long time ago, it just evolved into this other dream.
I am happy with the decision that I decided to stick with it because it is turning into a career that I am enjoying.
I realize in life you have to have some stability to live to pay rent and such.
But if you have a dream job where you get paid, then as they say you never work a day in your life.
Well, you do but you do not dread going to your work and enjoy it even more so everyday.
What also is true, wisdom you do gain with age.
As I am getting older, even though it may take me a little while to get things, when I get things I am thinking so this is how it goes? Well I get it.
Sometimes we have to go with the flow and I think that sometimes there might be a few things that are not in our hands but what we do to get around the things that we sometimes do not have control over.
We make choices and sometimes they may not be the best choices and then after that we just move on.
Sometimes we just have to learn and people say we make mistakes.
I think they are just learning experiences in life that push us forward to be the person we are of today.
Nothing in the past can be changed and once again I know I am repeating myself, but I do not want to change anything because if I did I know I would not have the present time line as I do right now.
I do not want to change my time line, I like how it is.
I will not always know the choices I will make in life, whether they are good or whatever they maybe but I do know that everything that I have chosen, my choices have ended up making my life much better.
If we trip up a long the way, when we fall, we just need to get back up.
Sometimes it is so hard to get back up when we land flat on our face.
I think when we go through in life, at the time when there are hard times we may not think there is anyway to get back up.
Usually what I do, when I become "overwhelmed" I just need to "decompress" or in other words "chill out". Thus I do watch some films and enjoy watching many different types, even the cheesy films or cartoons I can decompress with.
Of course there has been many days, where it was not just one day that was a struggle that I had to go through, sometimes it seemed like months that never seemed to end.
Yet I did get through them.
All any of us can do is to go forward and move on the best we can.
Sometimes it takes me a little while to figure out how to move on in the first place.
Once again, I think we just have to "regroup" ourselves and start thinking of ways to overcome anything that we must overcome.
I know in life, I so wanted to kick myself in my own behind because of things I thought was good at the time and realized looking back, it really was not but glad that was in the past and not what is happening right now.
I basically do have a good life because the choices that I decide to keep making that is ensuring a better life because I learn to make better decisions for myself because of past crazy decisions that I made in the past.
Of course i say "what was I thinking" but it is better to keep moving forward and laugh at myself because my past is in the past and think I really need to focus on the present more so.
Of course with society I think we are just so programmed to be a certain way instead of being more of a "free" thinker and we are not suppose to stand out from the crowd and just blend in.
But blending in and be a society zombie drone is consuming energy that is really suppose to be geared to what we really should be doing in our lives.
It is instilled in our birth that we are suppose to be told what to do and do it because that is what most of society does.
Well, if you have a dream job, like for myself I am looking forward to launching a radio show in which it will be part of a bigger network where I will get paid for doing it.
Of course this is not a "conventional" job and I think people in my past would say that it is not a job that I should do and I should do a job that makes me miserable because it pays the bills.
So I learned also that I need to not be around people who are programmed to believe that you have to do a job that makes you miserable to pay the bills just because they do a job that makes them miserable to pay the bills.
Sorry I can not be around miserable people just because they are stuck and programmed with society's way of thinking.
So I just believe those were mistakes and lessons learned from my past because I am happy at doing my radio show and look forward to getting paid for what I love doing.
Even in learning that we make mistakes by choosing even being around people who are not supportive of a way of life that makes us happy because people are indeed programmed that it is better to have stability in a job we hate to pay bills instead of having a job we love that pays bills, so that is something I learned from a long time ago.
Indeed learning from the past ensures a future that is happy by making sure we are happy with our present decisions because of the past learning experiences that we hard to go through that was so horrid and knowing our present is so much better now.
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The Coaches Association of Ontario is partnering with Provincial Sport Organizations and Tourism Sault Ste. Marie to produce this three-day coach development weekend.
|Friday – Starting @ 6pm
|Saturday – Starting @ 8:30 am
|Sunday – Starting @ 8:30 am
|Make Ethical Decisions
|Coaching and Leading Effectively – Sold Out
|Volleyball – Development Coach
|Managing Conflict
|Ultimate Community Initiation
|Basketball Learn to Train
|Gymnastics Foundations – Sold Out
|Volleyball – Development Coach
|Gymnastics Foundations – Sold Out
|Basketball Learn to Train
|Soccer Learn to Train
|Gymnastics Foundations – Sold Out
|Soccer for Life
|Soccer Learn to Train
|Fundamental Movement Skills/High Five Sport
|Soccer for Life
|Psychology of Performance
Travel expense credit of up to $150 is also available! (Subsidy to be released post clinic)
Are a unique one-of-a-kind event where you can receive training in the National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) in a number of different sports. The Super Clinic affords coaches—from high performance to grassroots—with a unique opportunity to gain sport-specific technical abilities, plus leadership and decision-making skills, opening doors to new opportunities in both coaching and life.
NCCP Sport-Specific Training – only $60
Volleyball Development Coach – This course has been designed to introduce the game of volleyball and basic coaching concepts to novice coaches. Coaches will be expected to participate in a series of learning experiences designed to assist them in improving their volleyball coaching abilities and to have those coaching abilities assessed throughout the course. These activities represent the minimum standard for the training and certification of Development Coaches within the NCCP.
Learn To Train – Learn to plan and teach fundamental skills and concepts appropriate for athletes in the Learn to Train stage (ages 8-11 females/9-12 males) of athlete development in this in-class and in the gym, workshop.
Learn To Train (U9-U12) – The emphasis of this course is on technical and tactical development within a small sided game environment (6v6, 7v7, 8v8). You will learn how to teach basic principles of play, how to establish training ethics and discipline in a fun and challenging environment, and how to communicate to this specific age group. You will spend time both in the classroom and on the field practicing drills.
Soccer For Life (U13+) – The emphasis of this course is on technical and tactical development within the 11-a-side game environment. You will learn how to plan and deliver effective, enjoyable, age-appropriate practices and how to provide feedback to your players, how to be able to better understand the role of the coach, and the developmental stage of the players you are coaching, and how to provide a safe practice/game environment for your players. You will spend time both in the classroom and on the field practicing drills.
Get all 3 Foundation Courses in one weekend! Foundation Introduction – Foundation Theory – Foundation Artistic – Coaches must be at least 15 years of age to register.
Ultimate Community Initiation Coach – Designed for coaches 16+ years of age who work with new/entry level players, this workshop will focus on how to instruct the basic throws and rules of Ultimate. The role of the coach, planning practices, ethical issues around coaching and the needs of the athletes, will also be covered in this 1-day workshop that takes place both in the classroom and on the field or gym.
NCCP Multi-Sport Training – Only $25
Make Ethical Decisions – By successfully completing the Make Ethical Decisions workshop you will be fully equipped to handle virtually any ethical situation with confidence and surety. MED is one of the NCCP's cornerstone workshops, and leaves coaches with no doubt as to what to do when the going gets tough.
Coaching and Leading Effectively – After taking this module you will be able to: Promote a positive image of sport, and model it to athletes and those supporting their performance Deliver clear messages and explanations when communicating with athletes and their supporters; Identify opportunities to interact with all athletes and use feedback to improve and correct performance and behaviour.
Managing Conflict – The Managing Conflict module will allow you to: Identify common sources of conflict in sport; Determine which individuals or groups are most likely to find themselves in situations involving conflict; Learn important skills that will help you prevent and solve conflict resulting from misinformation, miscommunication or misunderstanding; Develop skills that will empower you to listen and speak effectively in conflict situations while maintaining positive relationships with athletes, parents, officials and other coaches.
Fundamental Movement Skills – The Fundamental Movement Skills of throwing, catching, jumping, striking, running, kicking, agility, and balance and coordination, form the basis for future sport skill development and for the life-long enjoyment of physical activity. Learn how to OBSERVE and IMPROVE the fundamental movement skills.
High Five Sport – This 5-hour training is designed for the competitive coach in a club/organization. Aligned with the Fundamentals and Learn to Train stages of Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD), HIGH FIVE Sport focuses on the social, emotional, and cognitive development and wellbeing of athletes. The training is based in research and has been designed to help coaches with top coaching dilemmas such as dealing with parents, keeping the child's interest, ensuring fair play and an emotionally safe environment.Participants who are NCCP certified may earn 3 Professional Development (PD) points towards maintenance of the NCCP certification status*.
Core Evaluator – A Coach Evaluator's role is to contribute to the development of coaches after they have acquired their NCCP training. This includes assessment, evaluation, debriefing, and follow-up with coaches trying to achieve Certified status. The workshop focuses on the evaluation principles and processes that Coach Evaluators need to follow when evaluating coaches.
Do have any questions? Contact us at email@example.com or call 416-426-7086


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Corner Oaks Farms will host its second annual "A Taste on the Corner" from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 27, at the Washington County Agricultural Education Center located at 7313 Sharpsburg Pike, south of Hagerstown.
The farms will feature bite size samples of two varieties of roasted turkey including the broad breasted white and broadbreasted bonze. Also new this year, Corner Oaks Farms pork and lamb will be available for tasting and ordering.
RSVPs are requested to attend this event. Contact Mike Drake at 240-675-5826 or 301-432-6976 or email Mike at email@example.com.


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Apparently stung by the outraged reaction to the Palm Beach County Commission`s appointments to the powerful new Countywide Planning Council, Commissioner Ken Adams used the ``commissioners` comments`` portion of the last meeting to defend the appointees as ``truly high-caliber people.``
Not that anybody said these appointees weren`t high caliber in the first place, of course. As white males with political connections, everybody agrees they are very high caliber indeed. And as land barons, three of the four might well be among the highest caliber in the county.
What everybody said was that these appointees aren`t minorities, females, environmentalists, and/or representative taxpayers of modest means.
But that just goes to show how wrong everybody can be, because according to Adams, A.W. ``Bink`` Glisson is the County Commission`s environmentalist appointee to the panel.
So far, said Adams, ``Bink`s labels in the editorials have been as my campaign manager (and as) a large landowner.``
And that`s quite true. Glisson certainly is better known as a former Adams campaign manager who owns county property appraised at $1.4 million and who has worked for major landholders since the 1950s as executive director of the Acme Improvement District, a public agency that owns almost $10 million in land, than he is known as an environmentalist.
You`ve got to admit it`s a background that goes a long way toward explaining Glisson`s description in the editorials.
But, said Adams, who was the driving force behind creation of a council to arbitrate land-use disputes between county government and the 37 municipal governments in Palm Beach County, criticism of the commission appointments as lacking environmentalist representation has been off the mark.
``I`m not sure what an environmentalist is,`` Adams said. ``I get the impression (some people think) they`re someone who makes headlines such as, `an Everglades kite may have visited this site, and so maybe we shouldn`t use it.```


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I know that this review took like a week to come but, to be honest my job got in the way and then this past week's tragic events internationally brought my spirits right down. I'm really looking forward to letting loose this Crop Over feeling some joy. It's part of the reason I love this time of year so much. There's an opportunity for everyone in the country to come together, feel good and temporarily find a reprieve from all the ills of the world.
That being said…I bring you this review in the name of Kadooment Jesus.
Praise Her.
I've been hearing about Awaken constantly from last year. Normally, I don't do breakfast fetes because I'm a massive grump in the morning and I don't relish the thought of an angry mob of party patrons demanding the promoters kick me out of the party. However, I took the advice of one of my personal training clients and purchased a ticket.
I woke up around 4:30 to pouring rain and literally cursed the fact that I don't drive a truck or SUV. There's nothing more annoying that trying to get a small car out of a muddy area. I briefly reconsidered going back to bed and not going at all but I'd made plans with a friend to carpool. The parking didn't turn out to be bad at all and patrons didn't double park.
Kendal Sporting.
I've always found Kendal to be beautiful as a location and it didn't disappoint. It's very green and the clubhouse is lovely. You'd be hard pressed to make a mess of this venue. The entire layout of the fete was great and the raised dance floor in front of the stage encouraged patrons to do dixie.
No gin! Again.
I'm really starting to think that wunna don't want me at wunna fetes but I gine do like my Auntie Ena says and not take things personally. Therefore, as a founding member and leader of Team Bad Decisions, I chose to drink champagne, which was fantastic. According to my other friends who were there the cocktails and other spirits were good as well. For the most part, the bartenders were friendly and attentive except this bartender chick at the champagne bar, who tried to school me on how to pronounce Moet et Chandon and then ignored my group every time we went to the bar.
Here you go boo.
I like my belly. A lot. If I attend an all-inclusive like Awaken I expect the food quality to be superb. I was not disappointed at all! Bar Cutters and Caribbean Villa Chefs by Dane Saddler provided a wide array of traditional Bajan and continental breakfast foods that had patrons waiting patiently in long lines, especially at the roasted breadfruit station, which was done by Strong Foods.
I love when parties showcase local talents and fare. I'm so tired of attending parties where doubles, corn soup and bake and shark are offered exclusively.
From my previous posts,you can tell I have nothing but the utmost respect for Grynner. He is legendary. However, the legend seems tired and his performance was lackluster. Lots of people stood around, talked and drank during his performance.
Don Trent. Meh. The boy can sing but he didn't bring much hype to the fete at all.
DJ Puffy came on and sent the crowd wild by playing the first bashment soca I heard since I arrived around 5:30 at the party.
The party got even more hype when the newly crowned Bashment Soca King Stiffy came on and sang almost all of his discography.Despite the fact that the police threatened to shut down the fete an hour prior to the scheduled finish they didn't and patrons carried on partying in the blazing hot sun.
On leaving the venue, the door staff gifted patrons with branded souvenir bottles of rum punch. I thought that was a nice touch.
Well done to the guys at Brewster's Road Crew. The party was great. I'll definitely be attending next year.
*Due to some stuff I've been hearing and direct questions I'd just like to say I am affiliated with no band or business for Crop Over. I'm just a complete Crop Over lover who runs Juck Down: The Crop Over Bootcamp, which helps people to improve their fitness to do dixie on the road during the season (and yes that is a complete and shameless plug)*


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A secure connection cannot be established
That's the pop-up warning I have just started getting repeatedly -- but so far only on this site. What might be going on?
i have an inkling, but not a clue.
Not that it's any of my business, but Inklings rarely associate with humans. If you're keeping him or her against his will you really should let him go, before strange things start to happen.
stranger still, i have a clue, but there's n0ne there.
A truly secure connection would be one that doesn't allow poirot to log in at all. So maybe it's working!
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Other than that, I was really happy with my outfit today. I just think it looks really cute if you wear tight tank tops with a warm cardigan and skinny jeans.
četrtek, 30. januar 2014
Winter fairytale
2 komentarja:
Loveeee the cardigan :)OdgovoriIzbriši
I love your blog!!!!Izbriši
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Model Maggie Rizer Gives Birth to Baby Boy
She and husband Alex Mehran welcomed Alexander Rafahi Mehran III on Tuesday.
Model Maggie Rizer had a lot to celebrate on Thanksgiving.
The 33-year-old model and her husband Alex Mehran welcomed a baby boy, Alexander Rafahi Mehran III, at 5:30 p.m. near San Francisco on Tuesday, Rizer revealed on her blog. Mehran III, the first child for both, weighed 7 lbs., 13 oz. and measuring 20 1/2 inches long.
"He has 10 fingers, 10 toes, sandy hair, deep blue eyes and is practically perfect, in every possible way!," she wrote.
"Alex and I are very proud parents and incredibly excited to get to know our new little lad," Rizer wrote. "We feel tremendously blessed this Thanksgiving!"
Rizer has been featured in campaigns for Gap, Clinique, Tommy Hilfiger, Louis Vuitton and Versace. At one point, she made $7 million in the course of a few years, but lost it all when her stepfather John Breen gambled away all her money.


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She knew it's soothing creak by heart and as she sat gazing out the window, dozing by the fire. The memories of the years gone by flooded upon her. Back and forth it swayed, just as it had through all her hopes, dreams and heartaches.
She was still young enough to run barefoot and carefree through the tall grass, sprinkled with flowers, as she danced blissfully in her dreams. She thought of the rocking chair by the hearth and longed for the day she would have of her own just as her mother's. It was the dream of a young girl, with her life ahead of her and dreams singing in her heart, ready to burst forth. She remembered the nights her mother had sat up soothing her to sleep when she was sick, as they went back and forth in the rocking chair until the restless girl fell asleep in the magical embrace of her mother's arms.
As her grandchildren climbed up into the chair's lap and she heard their gay laughter floating up to the rafters while they galloped on their beautiful stallion across foreign lands, not to the sound of clippity clop but rather to the faithful creak of the rocking chair that once filled the dreams of the young girl, now grown old.
As she lay in bed thinking of the young man, her thoughts wandered to a little house with yellow curtains, the sound of the ax splitting wood to keep the three warm in the winter and a blissful young mother stroking the peachlike fuzz of the first small head to rest in the crook of her arm, swaying gently back and forth in the rocking chair.
As her weary limbs rested for the first time since rising that morning, the kind rocking chair offered them repose. Her children gathered round; coming together after each having gone his or her way with the passing of the day. The mother sat and looked into the faces and hearts of her children as they all drank in the life giving water the mother offered to her children while she read to them from the Book that tells of the Shepherd and His sheep.
She was a bride in all her bliss, as her man, the young man of her dreams, made her cover her eyes with her hands. He knew she would try and peek and gleefully caught her doing just that, in time to keep her from seeing his surprise too soon. Her joyful giggles floated around the two and she waited in anticipation to see what it could be. With the birds singing in the trees outside, he smiled to see the joy in the face of his bride when she took her hands from her face and saw the rocking chair he had labored to make for her.
She sat in the chair as her daughter's head rested on her lap, tears streaming down, as life's first heartbreak tugged on her daughter's heart despite the mother's efforts to keep it from ever touching the daughter, not yet a women. She stroked the head gently and offered the wisdom only a mother can give, wondering where the years had gone. Her babies had now begun dreaming of their own rocking chairs.
It was the frazzled mother with small ones, little ones and in-between ones underfoot all day. With soup boiling over, her children squabbling over the last cookie and the laundry pile seeming to double by the hour, she sat in the rocking chair for a moment to pray for the help to carry on and to continue to have a kind word for each of the little lives that rested in her care.
She looked on as her family gathered from near and far and surrounded the mother they all loved with the sound of families of their very own. Her gentle guiding and patient kindness had brought forth children who were now wisely guiding children of their own, who on visits to the mother, now grandmother, heard stories as she rocked them in the chair that had rocked their mothers and fathers so many years ago, just yesterday.
Back and forth with the gentle creak keeping time, she looked out the window and dozed by the fire. The faithful chair supporting the head now crowned with grey that belonged to a grandmother, a hopeful mother and a dreaming young girl, as she looked back over the weeks and years that seemed would never come, yet passed so quickly. Happily, she gazed at the snow drifting down like her memories and remembered fondly the girl dancing in her dreams and the rocking chair that had seen her through them all.
I hope you enjoyed my story, whether reading it as the barefoot young girl, the bride in all her bliss, the frazzled mother with small ones, little ones and in-between ones under foot all day or the head crowned with grey that belongs to a grandmother. A couple of weeks ago, when the underlying concept of this story started to play across my mind, I had no idea were it was going to take me.
It first started when I was observing my mom and her friends at the tea party. It struck me that the bunch of women gathered together looked an awful lot like us teen girls as they chatted, laughed, giggled and talked all at once.
Then a couple of days later, I got to go to lunch with my grandma and her friends after attending a quilt guild meeting with them. Again it struck me that their chatter was very familiar as they chit chatted about which clothing stores were best, who had just had a baby and who was getting married.
And then there were my friends and I sitting around talking about our dreams for our futures and the families we dream of having some day. In each group of women, all were talking about their families and children some dreaming about them in the future, others about their families decidedly under tow now and then there were those talking of their now grown children and grandchildren.
Their was a theme, but what kind of journey would the words inspired by this theme take me? A couple of weeks later as I lay in bed (one of the best places for inspiration), I got to thinking about rocking chairs. Doesn't the thought of a rocking chair fill you with hopes, dreams or memories? Hopes, dreams and memories that lay deep within a women's very being?
As I pictured a rocking chair, I thought of how my mom had held her rocking chair in such esteem when she had my first brother and how I remembered it ten years later all of the sudden. I remarked upon the fact to my sister that the kind of "rocking chair" I was thinking about was something only a women would probably understand.
Thus, at 12:00am after a long day, the story that had been waiting to come into being began to become a reality. An hour later at 1:00am, the first draft of "The Rocking Chair" was composed. Strange how unconventional the timing had to be? Yet I knew I had to strike while the iron was hot or the words might just flee in my sleep.
As I wrote, I couldn't help but think of the women in my life that I hold dear. So I dedicate this story to the women who help shape my life every day. My mother, Kerry, who I pictured in each scene as I wrote this story. My grandmothers who are really just a bunch of young girls, except that their dreams have become real and are held in the palms of their now wise hands. My sister, Katie, and two friends who are like sisters, Cassie and Grace; as amongst us, many dreams are being kept. And all those women who daily set an example to me, as they walk this road called life, as women and mothers in Christ.
Keep Dreaming, Living in Your Dreams and Enjoying the Gift of the Years Spent Creating Your Dreams.


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If this is your first time on BYC, we suggest you start with one of these three options:
Not a member yet? join BYC here & then introduce yourself in our community forum here.
Uh, Rob ?
Discussion in 'Announcements, Feedback, Issues, & Guides' started by BeckyLa, Feb 5, 2007.


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In 2009, I went to the Public Policy Advisory Council for International Economic Development Council, of which I currently serve as chair. We have three responsibilities. First, we craft the organization's federal agenda, which outlines issues that impact economic development organizations across the country.
Very early in my career, I learned a valuable lesson: Focusing on existing businesses is critical to a healthy economy.


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University of Michigan Biological Station (UMBS)
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Be a Victor
We strive to support our students and faculty on the frontlines of learning and research; to steward our planet, our community, our campus. To do this, UMBS needs you—because the world needs Victors.
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Our 2018 Spring Recital is going to be held at the Raymond E. Hartfield Performing Arts Center located adjacent to McNeil High School.
Recital Fee
Single Student: $75
Family: $85
Due Date: on or before March 15th, 2018
Each student participating in the spring recital will be assessed a $75 single student or $85 family (more than one student participating) recital fee to be paid on March 15th, 2018. Fees not paid by the due date will incur a $15 late fee. More detailed information is posted at the studio and on the website as the time approaches. The spring performance is optional.
Dress Rehearsals
Regular classes are not held during dress rehearsal week. Dress rehearsals are held during your dancers regularly scheduled class time the week of May 14th – 18th. Dress Rehearsals require full hair and make-up, costumes, tights (if required) and accessories.