text:
The 2012 Olympics may seem like a long way off, but preparations are well under way in London. In the first of an occasional series, E&T looks at how work is progressing, and what engineering challenges are being overcome.
On 6 July 2005, the day when London discovered that it had won the race to host the 2012 Olympic Games, the proposed Olympic Park was a brownfield, urban landscape in the Lea Valley. It comprised 321 hectares of light industry, disused workshops, some houses and allotments, partitioned by canals, roads, railway tracks with 52 pylons carrying power lines across the site.
But it was not always like this. East London's Iron Age population would have lived in a valley of lakes and rivers and fished in today's River Lea. Archaeologists from the Museum of London have found that the Olympic Park bordered Neolithic and Bronze Age wetlands. In their evaluation trenches they found Mesolithic flints and Bronze Age crannogs, dwellings on piles driven into the wetlands. On the Aquatic Centre site, four prehistoric skeletons, one thought to be 3,000 years old, were discovered in separate graves in an area of an Iron Age settlement.
In the 3rd century AD, when the Olympic Games were being held in Ancient Greece, Romans or Romano British lived on the site, which is shown by a coin with the Emperor Constantine II (337-340AD) on one side and Caesar on the reverse.
There was textile printing there in the 17th century, and later petrol factories, and bone, varnish, soap and tallow works, as well as distilleries, engineering and chemical plants. From the end of the 19th century, the site was used for landfill. It has strong electronic associations too - in 1904, Professor Ambrose Fleming developed the first diode valve; Britain's first radio valve factory was established there in 1916, and the first television tube factory in 1936.
Choice of the Olympics site
It is easy to see why the site was chosen. It had to be in London; it is closer to central London than Earls Court and larger than Hyde Park. The Eurostar rail station is at Stratford, and other rail and underground stations are close by; it was not an extensively built-up area and few people lived there. For the planners, it was a site of great potential for social and economic redevelopment.
The London Development Agency (LDA) was the body chosen to oversee the first stage of the grand project, and it seized the opportunity with zeal. It had to acquire the land, rehouse people who would be displaced and relocate businesses. It had to remove pylons and clear the site before handing over to the Olympic Development Authority (ODA), which would then run the operation until the conclusion of the Games.
Although most of the land was acquired through private negotiations, the LDA had to apply for two large and complex compulsory purchase orders to secure the whole site. This provided an inevitable downside to the general euphoria: a number of unfortunate people lost their homes and businesses.
Some 450 residents were displaced and relocated in neighbouring boroughs, but several were unhappy that their community was dispersed; 35 traveller families had to be resettled elsewhere; businesses were relocated; most moved, but some owners chose early retirement. Allotment holders on a 100-year-old site were offered alternative plots and the opportunity to return after the Games have closed. All were given compensation for the upheaval.
Power cable tunnel
It might have been a daunting site, with buildings that had to be knocked down, pylons to remove, rubble and landfill from centuries to be crushed, treated and carted away. But they had a plan of course.
Before the pylons could be taken down, power cables had to be rerouted through tunnels under the site. Two tunnels, 6km long and up to 4.5m in diameter, were driven between Hackney and West Ham at a depth of up to 30m below surface level. These ran beneath Hackney Marshes from substations in Bidder Street, West Ham, to near Millfields Road in Hackney.
Four Lovat Earth Pressure Balance tunnel boring machines (TBMs) from Canada and one Iseki slurry machine from Japan drilled through layers of mainly Lambeth Group clay and Thanet sands; soil that had lain undisturbed for 50 million years was tunnelled through at a rate of up to 32m in 12 hours.
All the tunnelling was done in the water-bearing level. The TBMs were sealed behind the cutter head at the front by a water-tight steel bulkhead. The lining was sealed on to the back of the TBM by rows of dense steel wire brushes, injected with thick grease to prevent water getting in. As the drilling progressed, the tunnel was continuously lined with pre- cast concrete segments that had to be formed into circles. All the joints between segments had to have gaskets incorporated into them for water tightness.
And then 9,000 brackets were installed to carry the 200km of cables, monitoring and ventilation equipment. The whole operation took 424 days, and about 250,000t of soil were removed and used for banking on the site. Then the 52 pylons, with their 130km cables, were cut down and their 1,300t of steel recycled.
When the pylons had been removed, work to clear the site began in earnest.
Some 192 buildings had to be demolished and more than one million cubic metres of soil excavated. But the soil was not just dumped or carried away. It was taken to the soil laboratory for testing. Sixty scientists, technicians and other specialist staff worked in a laboratory on site to work out the best form of treatment. Five soil-washing machines then cleaned and shook the soil. Contaminates were removed from coarser particles of sand and gravel and mixed with the finer silts and clay; large lumps of metal were also extracted by magnets from the contaminated soil. The coarse gravels were separated at this stage and cleaned sand was filtered out for reuse. The remaining mixture was pumped through sieves, mixing blades and water sprays. Chemicals were sometimes added to remove contaminated material. The water was then treated and used again.
If soil was found to contain only petrol-related substances, it was usually treated by remediation. This process was to store the substances in concrete tanks and to add oxygen to break down the contamination, rather like composting. Other contaminants were left where they were after being stabilised chemically to stop them leaking into the ground water system.
The scientists also monitored ground and surface water and air across the site to check for contamination.
Over 800,000m3 of soil, contaminated with substances such as oil, petrol, tar, arsenic and lead, were cleaned and then reused to raise some areas of the Olympic Park by 5m.
A feature of the Olympic Park is its waterways. It is divided and partitioned by about 8km of canals and rivers. Some have to be dredged, some cleaned and some walls have to be repaired. Seven permanent bridges are planned to span the River Lea; the first, in the north of the park, is now in place.
Prescott Lock
Previously, the waterways were tidal, which meant water levels rose and fell by several metres according to the state of the tide. Tide tables had to be used to calculate when and where a barge could be moored. So the Olympic Delivery Authority, working with British Waterways, developed a new lock and water control system at Prescott Channel, just to the south of the Park. The project, costing £20m, will have twin water control gates, a 62×8m tidal lock and footbridge, a lock control building, and a fish pass and weir gates. This will stabilise the river level at just over 2m deep and allow 350t barges to transport materials to and from the construction site. It is expected to replace hundreds of lorry journeys a week from local roads and save thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide as well as linking the Olympic Park into the Thames Gateway. The lock will open up the rivers in the area for transporting materials by water. In the long term, it will provide access for barges carrying construction traffic and recyclables between Stratford and the Thames. It will also create new opportunities for leisure boats, water taxis, tour boats and floating restaurants.
Construction has not always been uneventful. In June 2008, workers dredging for the lock struck an unexploded bomb. It was a German Hermann type 2,200lb bomb, dropped during an air raid in 1941. It took bomb disposal units four days to make it safe before detonating it in a controlled explosion.
Now that the Olympic Park site has been fully cleared, the construction of the Athletics Stadium, the Aquatic Centre and Velodrome, buildings for Handball, and other events and the Athletes' Village can go ahead at full speed.


text:
Mr. Mercier obtained his Bachelor's degree in engineering from the Université de Sherbrooke in the Province of Québec. He is a member in good standing of the Ordre des Ingénieurs du Québec (OIQ) and a member of the Project Management Institute. Alain Mercier has 25 years of experience in the industrial and manufacturing environment. He possesses an extensive knowledge of capital project management. During his career, he assumed responsibilities and a leadership role at all project stages including; prefeasibility, feasibility and execution. Mr. Mercier has experience in engineering, procurement, construction management, commissioning and operational readiness.
Mr. Mercier started his career as project manager with Noranda, where he was involved in the implementation of new technologies and the commissioning of process systems. He also worked in production, maintenance and product development roles for Fraser Papers. He then became director of production, and later, vice-president of operations for Concert Airlaid Ltd., before starting his own consulting company named: Gestion de Projets Mercier Inc. Alain has since been involved in the development phase and execution phase of numerous mining and metallurgical capital projects for companies such as Glencore, Sheritt International and Stornoway Diamonds. One of his recent mandates was to lead a project team and deliver a feasibility study on the modernization of a metallurgical plant involving Chinese and Canadian engineering collaboration.
Mr. Mercier's initial mandate for Nouveau Monde is to advise and work with the company's management regarding all engineering-related work necessary for the construction of a graphite spheronization operation in Saint-Michel-des-Saints. His task will thus involve the supervision of a handful of world-leading engineers which are based in Asia, Europe and North America (which remain unnamed for competitive reasons), specializing in the production of spherical graphite and anode material. These engineers are currently collaborating with Nouveau Monde.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
I just read this:
Adrenal fatigue refers to a collection of symptoms that result when the adrenal glands function below the necessary level. The adrenal glands are located just above the kidneys and are primarily responsible for governing the body's response to stress. As its name implies, the main symptom of adrenal fatigue is persistent fatigue that is not relieved by sleep.
Other common symptoms of low adrenal function include:
Difficulty getting up in the morning
Cravings for salty or sweet snacks
Struggling to keep up with life's daily demands
Difficulty bouncing back from illness or stress
Decreased memory
Difficulty focusing
Moodiness/decreased tolerance for others
Decreased sex drive
Well this is exactly how I feel, however I thought that Hypotyroidism would produce those symptoms.
So is this a case of the proverbial "chicken or the egg" scenario?
Elaine x


text:
Thursday, September 8
New Blood & Blades ReviewMarx Pyle just reviewed Blood and Blades: The Profiler's Guide to Slashers at SciFi411.com:
There are some really great new rule additions. The book includes one of the best horror check rules that I've seen in d20. It appears to be a blend of OGL Horror and the Sanity Rules in Unearthed Arcana that were adapted from Call of Cthulu d20. The book also includes new Flaws that add a little depth to your characters personality (Cowardly, Cruel, Envious, Greedy, Hot-Headed, etc). There are also Diplomacy skill rules on how to 'tempt' someone of the opposite sex and detailed rules on profiling. [MORE]
Labels: author news
posted by Michael Tresca at 7:12 PM
Want more? Please consider contributing to my Patreon; Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and the web; buy my books: The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games, The Well of Stars, and Awfully Familiar.


text:
To most industry watchers in the area, this little blurb on SMIT's takeover of Prince Rupert based Minette Bay Ship Docking probably comes as no surprise. Rotterdam based tug and salvage giant SMIT, gained a foothold in Canada when it acquired the assets of Rivtow, back at the turn of the millennium. Fledgling at the time, Rivtow was a shadow of its former self, but remained an icon of the west coast tug industry.
It appeared that SMIT took more of a "hands off" approach to the BC operations, for several years. To many, the take over seemed to be more about having a base of operations on the western north American coast, in anticipation of oil and gas activities in the area. But with this acquisition, it would appear that Smit is very serious about its Canadian port operations and willing to invest it the region.
A couple of years ago, changes began to occur at the Vancouver office. SMIT imported the Smit Clyde from Rotterdam, and put her to work at the new container port in the northern BC city of Prince Rupert, where Smit already had several smaller tugs based there, and in Kitimat – mostly serving the forest industry. Several months later, Damen Shipyard built sister ship, Smit Mississippi, was repositioned from Panama to Vancouver. Both vessels are considerably newer than most tugs on the coast, featuring large horsepower ratings and versatile z drives.
Meanwhile, Minette Bay of Prince Rupert, had long operated two distinctive harbour tugs, TP1 and TP2 (3560bhp – 1xMLW-ALCO 251f-16 1100rpm driving two Niigata Z drives mounted in
line, fore and aft), in the port, performing ship berthing for the coal, grain and forestry products being shipped from the city.
In 2008 a new tug was delivered to the company from Washington State's Nichol Brothers Boatbuilders at an estimated cost of $10 million USD. Pictured, top and bottom of this post. Sporting 4,476kW of power inside its 85 foot long hull, Minette Bay's TP3, I'm sure, was an irritant to Smit diversification plans, from forestry based activities at its Canadian operations (its primary source of income, economic crisis notwithstanding), to a more traditional SMIT enterprise, ship docking.
Although this acquisition is subject to regulatory approval, I think it represents a significant boost to SMIT Canada's operation, and will become a major part of its portfolio in the region. Prince Rupert, in the last couple of years as seen dramatic upward swing in its port activity, pushed along by buoyant trade in boxes and raw material in the last few years. Of course these are currently under pressure from the worldwide economic downturn, but operations are well established in the port now, and down turns are not new to the area.
Probably the big story from this, is the near by port of Kitimat and its considerable expansion plan focused on energy import and export and how that affects the dynamic of the two principal tug operators on the coast. If the deal for Minette Bay goes through, SMIT is well positioned in the northern ports of BC, with lots of horsepower, local knowledge and international reputation.
This will of course put a fair bit of cold water on Vancouver based Seaspan International's expansion plans for the region, floating for several years now. I suspect Seaspan is suffering numerous issues with cash flow and its ability to fund vessel revitalization plans, which I think must be getting to be a serious concern for the aging Seaspan fleet. Meteoric rise of Seaspan in the container ship business, and that sector's current woes, is undoubtedly putting financial strain on the parent company, the Washington Marine Group, so I suspect the "little coastal fleet" is at the end of that table.
Below is the press release from Smit…
SMIT acquires Minette Bay Ship Docking Ltd in Canada
Rotterdam, 19 March 2009
On Wednesday 18 March 2009, SMIT entered into an agreement to acquire all shares of Minette Bay Ship Docking Ltd in Prince Rupert, Canada. Minette Bay is active in the port of Prince Rupert with three ASD tugs. Minette Bay honorably performed the shipdocking services for Ridley Island Coal Terminal for 25 years. This acquisition enhances SMIT Marine Canada's current harbour towage operations on the West Coast of Canada. The acquisition is still subject to approval of authorities under the Investment Canada Act.


text:
There are three types of IV chelation therapies.
For arterial plaque which often has the underlying cause of inflammation and infection, the Disodium form of EDTA is used.
Part of the plaque is also a composite of minerals and heavy metals which DS-EDTA addresses.
Then there's the Calcium EDTA which is similar to the DS form but chelates or removes heavy metals in general and is a much more rapid administration.
DMPS chelation has a strong affinity for mercury and can be combined yet delivered separately with the two other EDTAs.
Numerous research articles and clinical testimonies from doctors attest to the many benefits of chelation including improved circulation, stamina, brain function and energy to name a few.
These chelation IVs can also be combined with ozone with the blood ozone treatment being first followed by either of the EDTA chelators.
This combination has been termed by Frank Shallenberger as Chezone.
Chelation Materials Used
All material are sterile and single-use only.
All IV solutions are either from a compounding or a more traditional pharmacy.
We use both EDTA and DMPS in our IV chelation therapy protocol.
Chelation Session
The amount of chelation solution depends upon each individual's age, weight and kidney health so before any session of chelation is scheduled we must request blood labs to check kidney function.
The approximate charge for this panel is $40.
You will likely be asked to take a kidney drainage formula, an enzyme (Nattokinase) and minerals.
The DiSodium EDTA session lasts approximately 3 hours.
The Calcium EDTA session is approximately 1 hour.
The DMPS chelation is about 30-45 minutes.
Please call our clinic for pricing.
Call Us Today To Schedule or If You Have Questions
We Believe in Empowering Our Clients Through Education & By Providing Therapies Which Assist Their Own Innate Capacity To Heal
Contact Information
Clear Health Centers
3350 Highland Drive SLC, Utah 84106
866.293.1975 (fax)
Hours of Operation
M, W & F: 9am to 1pm
Tue & Thur: 9am to 5pm
Closed Weekends and Holidays


text:
Colour camera for Palms to ship
Colour camera for Palms to ship Kodak has announced its PalmPix digital camera. PalmPix is an accessory for Palm m100s, it lets the m100 take colour digital-pictures – it also enables images to be transferred via infra red to other m100 users. The device costs £68 and is both Mac and PC compatible. It captures full resolution VGA pictures, which can be viewed in greyscale on the Palm's screen. Once images are downloaded to the Mac they can be accessed as either JPEG or PICT files. The product ships with image editing software. PalmPix has a 2x digital zoom,...Read More


text:
Like Us on Facebook.
Do you have a small business story or family recipe to share?
We have a new facebook page – please click through here and visit us, show your love and connect!
Indulge your love of food: support farm families, chefs, local recipes, innovators, creativity & community
August 5, 2013 by admin…Leave a Comment
Copyright 2013 the love of food ·Magazine Theme · Genesis Framework by StudioPress · WordPress · Log in


text:
Bonnie Garcia | SD 28
Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia has over a decade of public service experience, working at local and state levels. She was elected to the Assembly in 2002 and built an enduring reputation as someone who can transcend party lines to get things done.
She has a track record of working together with businesses, labor groups and others to find common ground and put forward bi-partisan legislation that advances the livelihood of all Californians.
From issues like public safety to job growth, Bonnie's pragmatic approach has put voters above partisan politics. As the 28th District's next State Senator, she will be a strong proponent for all voters, irrespective of party preference.
She has proven her dedication to protecting every voter's right to participate in our democracy. With her tenure on the Assembly she's consistently put forward independent-minded policies which speak to the needs of people, not parties.
A broad coalition of local leaders and stakeholders are supporting Bonnie Garcia for State Senate District 28, and so is the Independent Voter PAC.


text:
Innovative Ways to Deal with California's Drought
Fiddling While California Burns
The first thing that comes to mind is that California needs to stop wasting $64 billion on a really, really fast train. The entire state is circling the bowl for the last time, almost every business and individual has been hit, and the powers that be are trying grease palms or deliver political paybacks via high speed rails. Given the propensity of the state to go up in smoke when the vegetation gets dry it is almost literally fiddling while that state burns. They are earnestly rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Saltwater pipeline
If you must waste $64 billion why not do it in a way that provides much needed water? How about a salt water pipeline that brings ocean water to Death Valley for instance. There is an idea called the "saltwater greenhouse" wherein sea water is sent to the desert and its evaporation is used to create fresh water.
Another name for this process is "seawater green house". There is even a company that goes by that name that offers seawater and sunlight solutions to energy, water and food problems.
Make the desert green and all your problems are solved.
If the pumps for the water use solar energy then the project could be energy neutral. There are various technologies that can be used the help the saltwater pumps along such as thermosiphoning, which is a way of using heat and convection to move water. Also, if the location that the water is going to is below sea level then this will help because the water will be moving downhill. Given that we can always use more jobs it surely wouldn't hurt to make the project labor intensive. Salt loving crops could also be grown under these conditions. It is time to take advantage of the fact that much of California is essentially desert.
If nothing else rich Californians need to get busy impressing us all with their wealth. They need to prove that they are so rich they don't need to drink fresh water. They and their estates can subsist entirely off of saltwater. Think of it as a giant demonstration project. Either truck in or pipe in saltwater from the ocean and desalinate it on the spot. Then use the purified water for drinking and also water your acres of grass. This will show solidarity with the working classes as you ease their water burdens and anything you can do to demonstrate proof of principles in water purification, desalination and how to get rid of all that darn salt, would be a boon to everyone. Think of it as "giving back". By the way, this means you Al Gore so pay attention to this "inconvenient truth".
Training the rain
I have argued elsewhere that California needs more water much more than it needs a $64 billion boondoggle called high speed rail. But what if I am wrong? Not about the idiocy of high speed trains during the drought of the millennium. But rather, what if rail was the answer? Some have suggested that water be shipped by rail from places in the east that have plenty of water to California. After all oil and chlorine can be shipped by rail so we know that under certain circumstances it can be cost effective to send liquids by train.
I have seen one estimate that for as little as $40 million some of California's smaller communities could get help with their water supply. This help would come by rail. The forty million dollars would be used to make improvements to the railroad system and the cost to the water consumers would be pennies per gallon. Compare that to the $64 billion boondoggle to move foreign criminals (illegal aliens and undocumented democrats) from one end of the state to other.
Digging a well in the sky
One rather interesting way of getting fresh water is sometimes called an air well. The idea is to use the atmosphere as you would a ground water well. Wring fresh water from the skies! Once people got the idea there were a lot of creative names. Dew ponds and fog fences to name a few.
There are several ways to encourage water vapor to condense in useful quantities. The shapes of buildings and the materials they are made of can help. Where shade and sun are allowed on a property can help. Caves and caverns can be useful. Even polluted and salty water can help since they can increase the amount of water vapor available for condensation. Naturally any refrigeration or air conditioning that is used can help condense the water out of the air as well.
For a natural air well the point is to make it "rain" where you want it to. That is to say to make the local dew point, the point at which the air becomes so saturated with water that it cannot hold more, appear on some useful surface. One way to do this is to create a massive structure with lots of surface area. But the problem with massive structures is that they take a long time to cool and you need that cooling to get to the dew point. Less massive structures can cool by radiating heat. If you add things like shading and proper airflow you can get a lot of natural water from the air.
Given the amount of water needed to satisfy human needs, often electricity is used to help matters along. Solar energy is a good way to make the process more carbon neutral.
There are any number of ways to use water vapor for human needs. There are even dew or air drop irrigation systems that can be used to water crops.
There are devices called atmospheric water generators or atmosphere water collectors that can be used to generate potable water in harsh climates. Some of these devices are powered by solar energy.
Some areas of the earth, often those near the sea, are infamous for fog. There is a technology variously called cloud stripping or fog harvesting. Basically you put up a fog fence and promote water droplets and you catch the drops, run them through pipes and store the water.
It does not appear that drawing water from the air can be used for large scale projects. At least I could not find any literature that said for instance that some country was tossing out its current water system and putting in air wells. It is not hard to find countries, corporations and companies that are going hard at desalination, purification and filtration.
Air Drip Irrigation
Solar Distillation
Seawater Greenhouse
Harvesting Fresh Water from Fog
Very important and informative hub!
The dangers of drought can be seen in many parts of the World. These are some very useful ways to deal with drought.
I have heard about the situation in California through my relatives staying over there.
Thanks for sharing these helpful and innovative ways to deal with drought. Voted up and shared!
Sounds like some of these may be a way to help with water issues that exist not just in CA.
Interesting and informative.
Angels are on the way to you this afternoon. ps
Poetryman, that is good news. I agree with you. I hope recycling gray water works to help with the drought. You're such a good environmentalist, my friend.
Great ideas on how to solve the drought problem in California, if only the local politicians would take care of that issue at heart. It's up to the residents to deal with it, when the local politicians don't bother. Voted up for interesting!
I live in California and the drought situation is grave. We can't water the plants but 2 days a week and of late, we're told we've to let our lawn go as well. You've offered many innovative ways to solve the problem. Thanks for sharing.
Interesting ideas. Regarding sending water from the east to the west, there would be quite a fight by the Great Lakes States on this point. In fact this has already been proposed and defeated. I think desalination has got to be perfected eventually. Great information in this hub. Thanks.
These sound like interesting ways for California to deal with the drought. It's hard to imagine having to limit water. We get so much rain here...I wish I could send them some!
Water certainly is a problem for California and will continue to become even more so in the future. I agree that finding solutions to the water shortage should be the focus. Thumbs up.
When will governments wake up and smell the coffee in regards to all the things they don't "get"? Great solutions here and it seems like every policy is aimed at "rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic", you really should get voted in yourself! Meritocracy is the way to go forward for this planet, voted useful ;)
Great resources selected for research.
I wish we could send California some of the rain we've been getting here in southern USA. It has rained and rained and rained for months it seems. Finally, the sun is shining and everything is so lush and green.
The US Navy has used desalination of sea water on submarines and such for years so that they can drink the water. I don't see why they can't do the same but on a larger scale in California.
Interesting hub
Very informative and interesting hub. I have not experienced drought here in Germany. Germans have their own modern innovative way of dealing with water scarcity. Voted up! Thanks for sharing this hub.
You have some very interesting information here. The water situation in California will be like almost everything else. No one is going to make a huge profit from it, so it will wait until there is a real crisis before anything is done about it.
What an informative hub! Between what you wrote and watching the videos you included, it would seem that there are certainly viable answers to the drought dilemma. It was reported on our news that certain areas in California are asking residents to let their lawns die. They also suspect that the fires this year will be horrendous. Time, effort and money must be invested in solving the problem of not having enough fresh water for people, animals and crops. Up votes and definitely sharing, tweeting and pinning.
Hi, I have been watching TV concerning California and the drought, and you have some great ideas, we never have this problem over here in England, mind you most people believe England has a lot of rain, which isn't true, where I live down South we only have around 600 mls a year! so we could very well have a drought!
Very useful hub. We have no problem with water in Ireland, and here it is wasted because it is too much, but in my native country Bulgaria there are great problems with drought. I think my compatriots should really read this hub and take everything into consideration :)
So much water is being used for irrigation, not just in California but elsewhere around the world. Opportunities exist for recycling urban wastewater (as nasty as that sounds) and in stabilizing the population so as to decrease demand.
Very informative post.


text:
Nora's Cuisine Las Vegas Mixologist Cameron Bogue's inspiration for this mocktail came from a salad of green papaya, melon and Thai basil he ate during a trip to southern Thailand. More Nonalcoholic Drinks
How to Make It
In a pint glass, muddle the basil leaves and demerara sugar with the honeydew juice. Strain into a collins glass and add ice and the cantaloupe balls. Stir in the club soda; garnish with the basil sprig.
You May Like
Aggregate Rating value: 0
Review Count: 0
Worst Rating: 0
Best Rating: 5


text:
Our heartbeat at Kamp during the school year is to encourage kids in the walk with Christ. We have developed year round Bible studies as part of our strategy. For just the cost of the books, Kampers ages 7-12 have a unique opportunity to get into the Bible daily through Champion's Walk. Kampers ages 13-18 dig deeper into the Bible and what it says about their daily issues through the Victor's Crown. In both these 44 week programs Kampers read and do the lesson then report back to their Kamp Director at the end of each month. Kamp staff cheers your child on throughout the year in fun and creative ways. A special award time at Kamp the following summer puts a "BIG" bow on what God has already accomplished in their life through his Word!
Recently Andy Dolliver facebooked me on his experience. Here is what he had to say:
"Victors Crown has been a great experience because every morning it gets me started. It has not been easy. Many times I would much rather snooze for another 10 min. However, it is not that hard: all you do is read a bible verse, then read the study, and answer a few life applications. It's a lot like a Kanakuk bible study. It has also helped the relationship between my dad and I because we have done it together. He has encouraged me and taught me, and I have done the same for him. The hardest part for me were the first few months, but after that it has been something that has become a norm during breakfast."
I agree with Andy, making time for God isn't always the easy thing to do. As Christians we are called to seek God and obey His commandments regardless of how we feel. Andy, I am proud of you for being faithful to God's Word. Thanks for your example!!


text:
Nominate a local legend for the 2018 Australia Day Awards
Nominations are now open for the 2018 Australia Day Awards and Cessnock City Council is calling on the community to nominate locals who deserve to be recognised.
There are a number of award categories to choose from including Citizen of the Year, Senior Citizen of the Year, Young Citizen of the Year, Community Event, Sports, Environment, Heritage, along with Achievement and Appreciation Awards.
Cessnock City Mayor, Councillor Bob Pynsent looks forward to the Australia Day Awards every year as they are a chance to recognise those who are dedicated to our community.
"We are lucky to have so many people in our community who are willing to give up their time to make our city a better place and these awards are a great opportunity to celebrate their achievements."
"If you know someone who has made an outstanding contribution in one of the categories, make sure you get your nomination in before they close on Monday 11 December 2017," added Cr Pynsent.
Official nomination forms and selection criteria can be found on Cessnock City Council's website at www.cessnock.nsw.gov.au/community/events-ceremonies/australiaday.
The winners will be announced at a Civic Reception held on Australia Day. More details about the event will be released closer to the date. For more information, visit www.cessnock.nsw.gov.au/community/events-ceremonies/australiaday.
Site Links
- Application Tracker
- News
- Cessnock Commercial Precinct Project
- Dollar for Dollar Grants
- Branxton Subregional Land Use Strategy
- Planned Works - Coming to a Street Near You
- Councillor Di Fitzgibbon
- Building, Development and Certification
- Building and Development Forms
- Privacy Statement
- Minor works or maintenance to a Heritage Item
- Legislation, Guidelines and Codes of Practice
- Explore more - Habitat Stepping Stones
- City of Cessnock Hall of Fame
- Council Meetings
- Online Certificates
- Councillors
- Waste and Recycling Services
- Libraries
- Exhibitions
- Rates and Finance
- Recreation and Community Facilities
- What's On in Cessnock LGA


text:
Sign in to retrieve a saved callback list.
Scores based on 37 reviews
Invoice history based on 32 reviews.
My name is Kevin and I started this company 14 years ago, but I myself started my apprenticeship in Sept 1979 so I have vast knowledge and experience of this business.
Although based in Dagenham we are happy and willing to travel to Brentwood, Ilford, Romford and Southend-on-sea.
We offer a completely tailored service to our clients, from design right through to installation. We also offer an installation only service if you already have the required items.
Our portfolio includes complete home refurbishment, kitchens and bathrooms.
We have also done work in other countries for ex-pat clients including Switzerland, Greece and Ireland.
All CM, IG, RM and SS postcode area's.


text:
Coffeeneuring Ride 6: November 13, 2016
Destination: Lawrence Village Park, Lawrence, MI
Drink: Magnum Coffee Rainforest Blend
Distance: 15 miles
Bikes: Surly Long Haul Truckers
Our sixth Coffeeneuring ride brought us a bit further south to Lawrence, MI. After closing up the family cottage for the season, we brewed up some Rainforest Blend and loaded up the mugs for a ride.
The first part of the ride took us around some local lakes. We took the gravel roads to the lake public access areas to see Lake Cora and Reynolds Lake up close. It looks like we missed the best fall colors by about a week.
We continued on to our coffee without walls stop in downtown Lawrence. As we rode the the quiet farm roads, we still couldn't believe we had weather like this in mid-November.
We soon arrived at the Village Park in Lawrence and saw we weren't the only one enjoying the sun. The park has a great wooden playground area and an impressive red house just across the street. We grabbed a quiet picnic bench to park the bikes and pour the coffee.
Here's our first attempt at a Coffeeneuring video:
This fall, we discovered Steenstra's Almond Windmill Cookies at a local store. They go really well with coffee. So well in fact, that I already took a bite out of one before I remembered to snap a picture.
With the sun falling and the temperature dropping, we headed out. Another great fall ride!


text:
Holy Love Messages – 1 Thessalonians 5:20 Do Not Despise Prophecies… Holy Love is the two great Commandments of Love – to love God above all else and to love neighbor as self.
Blessed Mother says: "Praise be to Jesus."
"My Immaculate Heart is the Hospice of the Remnant Faithful. But let Me describe to you who the Remnant Faithful are. These are the ones steadfast in the Tradition of Faith. They will not be swayed from these Truths despite popular opinion."
"These days, many call themselves 'faithful' but are so greatly compromised through the use of birth control, participation in abortion and condoning same sex marriage. Do not be fooled by reason of the great numbers who follow this path. Remember, many are called but few are chosen."
"Dear children, if you remain close to Me through the Holy Rosary, I will lead you in the Truth. The enemy finds it difficult to deceive those who pray the rosary daily. I am forming the Remnant out of the ones who pray the rosary – not just recite it. Make it known."
"I am your Jesus, born Incarnate."
"To all leaders – secular and religious – I say, if you are not leading your followers in the Truth, you are leading them in untruth. It is impossible to support both. Do not paint as gray that which is black and white. Do not label as discernment that which is a self-vested opinion."
"If you oppose prayer anywhere, you oppose Me. If you oppose life in the womb or support birth control and abortion, you are Satan's instrument. Do not pander to or accommodate those who live sinful lives. Rather, stand up for right and oppose wrong."
"The world thirsts for strong and righteous leadership. The world hungers for the Truth of the difference between good and evil. If you are a leader, your responsibility is grave before Me and during these times. Set an example of Truth; then you will have the only support of any account – My Support."
Read: 1 Tim 2:1-7
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life godly and respectful in every way. This is good and it is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony to which was borne at the proper time. For this I was appointed a preacher and apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
"I am your Jesus, born Incarnate."
"I have come and do come to you to help you to adhere to the Truth. The world does not recognize the Truth and, therefore, does not recognize good as opposed to evil. This downward spiral of morals began with birth control and continues with the destruction of human dignity in abortion, terrorism and the general disregard for human rights."
"My brothers and sisters, if you do not defend your human rights, they will be taken away. Violence has become a religion. Begin defending the Truth by defending life in the womb. Once again I tell you, an end to legalized abortion is the key to a more secure future."
"There are those who hold in their hearts the desire that these Messages stop, as they shed the light of Truth on covert darkness. I must continue to try to overpower evil and bring good to the forefront, for these are perilous times. Do not deny the power of Heaven or of the Holy Spirit. Cooperate with Me."
Read 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22
Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good: abstain from every form of evil.
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Blessed Mother says: "Praise be to Jesus."
"Today, as we celebrate God's profound favor upon this humble Handmaid, once again, I point to the conception in the womb as God-given life. No human law can change this. To destroy life in the womb is a sin and a breach in union with God's Will. You cannot in one moment take a life, and in the next, proclaim righteousness under the guise of freedom."
"Abortion has claimed more lives than any war. Abortion has fractured mankind's relationship with his Creator. To ascribe abortion to social justice is a paradox, for where is the justice for the new life?"
"Mankind has placed his own self-centeredness in the forefront and has lost sight of the reality of Truth. Yet, when I come to earth to proclaim the Truth, My words are disregarded."
"So long as you have abortion, you will have wars, disease and natural disasters, for God's Hand of favor does not rest upon you."
"Dear children, if you cannot understand that abortion and birth control are the taking of human life, then you cannot understand the difference between good and evil. This is fundamental to your salvation."
"Take My words today seriously and make them known."
Read Romans 1:18,24-25 *
Synopsis: The wrath of God revealed against the perverse spirit of men (the heart of the world) who hinder the Truth. God's judgment delivered upon men engaged in lusts and mutual degradation of their bodies – men who exchanged Truth for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the Truth. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the Truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
* -Scripture verses asked to be read by Blessed Mother.
-Scripture taken from the Ignatius Bible.
-Synopsis of Scripture provided by spiritual advisor.
Our Lady comes as Mary, Refuge of Holy Love. She says: "Praise be to Jesus."
"The future of your country, indeed the future of the world, depends upon each one's ability to discern good from evil. When people accept the compromise of Truth as Truth, the wrong people are elected to office. Unjust laws are passed and authority is summarily abused. This sets the stage for a pharisaical spirit to take over."
"This is why devotion to the Mournful Heart of My Son is timely and considerate of these times. Corrupt leadership corrupts the nation. There is no gray area between good and evil. Governments which endorse sin such as abortion, sodomy or even birth control, pull the nation apart – good versus evil. Opinions, policies and law must be based upon the Truth of God's Commandments. These same Commandments are the embrace of Holy Love."
"You must take seriously My Call to live in the Truth of Holy Love which clearly defines good from evil. It is your future security."
Read 1 Timothy 2:1-4 *
Synopsis: Prayers, petitions and intercessions should be offered for all men, but especially secular and religious leaders in authority.
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, Who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth.
* -Scripture verses asked to be read by Mary, Refuge of Holy Love.
-Scripture taken from the Ignatius Bible.
-Synopsis of Scripture provided by spiritual advisor.
Our Lady comes as Mary, Refuge of Holy Love. She says: "Praise be to Jesus."
"To help you understand just how insidious the compromise of Truth and the abuse of authority has been, look back in time for a moment. Fifty or sixty years ago, this country was innocent and never would have considered killing its young in the womb or legalizing sodomy or challenging the institution of marriage between a man and a woman. But, here we are in this present age. All of this immorality has become political, acceptable and common place."
"This all began with the acceptance of birth control; and from there, mankind disregarded God's Will in favor of his own pleasure. Morals must change for the world to change. Otherwise, humanity will continue along its path of self-destruction."
"Those who are in a position to lead spiritually have the grave responsibility before God to correct this moral degeneration and pull their followers back onto the path of Truth. Silence on these matters is nothing more than a peace pact with Satan. When you go before My Son in judgment, it is very often what you did not do which condemns you. If God places you in a position to lead others spiritually, it is God you will answer to. He is not impressed by title, authority or important esteem. It is your job as a spiritual leader to oppose popular opinions which lead to perdition or else to answer for your silence."
"It is a grave mistake for anyone to discount My Message to you today."
Read Romans 16:17-18+
Synopsis: Watch those leaders who cause division and scandals contrary to doctrine received and avoid them, for they do not serve Christ but their own agendas.
I appeal to you, brethren, to take note of those who create dissensions and difficulties, in opposition to the doctrine which you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by fair and flattering words they deceive the hearts of the simple-minded.
Read Wisdom 6:1-11+
Synopsis: Reminder of God to leaders of the world that their authority is granted by God and so their judgments and decisions regarding those they lead are scrutinized according to God's Commandments and if they are in union with God's Will. Because the Lord shows no partiality nor fears greatness, a rigorous scrutiny applies to those leaders who abuse their authority. Therefore, prayer should be addressed to leaders that they learn God's Wisdom.
Listen therefore, O kings, and understand; learn, O judges of the ends of the earth. Give ear, you that rule over multitudes, and boast of many nations. For your dominion was given you from the Lord, and your sovereignty from the Most High, who will search out your works and inquire into your plans. Because as servants of His Kingdom you did not rule rightly, nor keep the Law, nor walk according to the purpose of God, He will come upon you terribly and swiftly, because severe judgment falls on those in high places. For the lowliest man may be pardoned in mercy, but mighty men will be mightily tested. For the Lord of all will not stand in awe of any one, nor show deference to greatness; because He Himself made both small and great, and He takes thought for all alike. But a strict inquiry is in store for the mighty. To you then, O monarchs, my words are directed, that you may learn wisdom and not transgress. For they will be made holy who observe holy things in holiness, and those who have been taught them will find a defense. Therefore set your desire on my words; long for them, and you will be instructed.
+-Scripture verses asked to be read by Mary, Refuge of Holy Love.
-Scripture taken from the Ignatius Bible.
-Synopsis of Scripture provided by spiritual advisor.
Holy Love Messages – 1 Thessalonians 5:20 Do Not Despise Prophecies… Holy Love is the two great Commandments of Love – to love God above all else and to love neighbor as self.
Please select a year from the list:
|2015 2014 2013 2012
2011 2010 2009 2008
2007 2006 2005 2004
2003 2002 2001 2000
1999 1998 1997 1996
1995 1994 1993


text:
Practice CS Accounting Staff Management
Manage Staff Benefits, Targets and Schedules from One Location with Practice Management Software for Accountants
Manage and track accounting staff benefits and comp time, staff budgeting and targets, staff scheduling and much more with the award-winning Staff Management module in Practice CS, our practice management software for accountants.
Track staff benefits, billable hours and projects
You can track staff benefits; track and compare target billable hours to actual hours worked; schedule projects, tasks and other important accounting staff management details.
View and manage staff schedules
You can monitor individual workload and view and compare calendars for multiple staff simultaneously, including data from both Practice CS and Microsoft Outlook.
Assign work to staff
Assign schedule items to work queues based on your staff's qualifications and rank items in order of importance using drag and drop.
Fact Sheet: Practice CS Staff Management
Manage Your Firm
Our award-winning Staff Management Module can help. Find out how.
Next Steps


text:
Acumium, an internet-focused firm who helps businesses grow online by providing strategic website consulting, online marketing and full-service website design and development using their content management and eCommerce platforms, leads DineWise LLC in the redesign of their three websites on the AcumiumMarket™ eCommerce platform.
DineWise.com is a prepared meal delivery website. Their team of culinary chefs creates ready-made meal options tailored to specific dietary needs, including weight loss, low sodium, diabetes, low carb, senior citizens and good overall health. DineWise LLC owns two other meal delivery brands, Colorado Prime Steaks.com and Home Bistro.com. Colorado Prime Steaks leads the market in delivering steakhouse style prepared foods and top USDA Choice cuts of beef as well as poultry, seafood and pork. Home Bistro offers an indulgent menu of gourmet meals ranging from soups and appetizers to complete meals.
See the Dinewise Before and After The Redesign:
DineWise and Acumium have worked together since 2008. As part of the redesign, DineWise also utilized Acumium's internet marketing services for strategic consulting around keyword research, search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) search engine advertising.
"Early on in the planning process, we realized that we needed a partner to help us engage our audience and communicate our unique product offering as well as develop the websites to transact the business," says Marcelo Vazquez, Director of Marketing and E-Commerce for DineWise LLC. "Acumium has been just that, a partner, which is helping us across content creation, social media, SEO and PPC. Our loyal customers can still find what they are looking for while we use our new SEO-friendly site to connect with new customers."
See the Colorado Prime Steaks Before and After The Redesign:
The new DineWise, Colorado Prime Steaks and Home Bistro sites feature one backend to manage three front-end websites (two sub-stores), enhanced search functionality, delivery date selection during checkout, account login with easy reorder options and robust filtering that allows customers to shop by meal type, ingredient and price.
"Moving to our newer AcumiumMarket™ platform and investing in online marketing allow a great opportunity for DineWise to be found by a larger audience, provide a better shopping experience, and ultimately, earn more online sales," says Jody Hartwig, Senior eCommerce Account Executive at Acumium. "We look forward to DineWise's future participation in our SaaS program, which includes grid-based responsive design for tablet and mobile optimization."
See the Home Bistro Before and After The Redesign:


text:
Press & Media
Over the years VIP Bachelorette, and it's parent company VIP Chicago Parties, have been featured numerous times in the media. Chicago bachelorette parties make headlines when planned through VIP Bachelorette. Ranging from leading dailies such as the Chicago Sun Times, to smaller independent organizations; all have thrown their spotlights on VIP Bachelorette for its exceptional service, and wallet friendly budget party packages. Below is some of the press coverage we have gotten over the years.
Print Media
Online Media


text:
Shop Leather
Shop Baer's Best
Shop New Arrivals
Entertain Guests In Style
Beach House Furniture
Pan Asian Furniture
Take our BedMatch quiz to find the support that's right for you
Sleep health and habits
Adjustable base buying guide
Mattress size guide
Shop Tommy Bahama
Insider Tips For Outdoor Living
Outdoor Chaise Lounges
Contact your local store for price and lead time on this item.
Not your average double pedestal desk, this counter height utility desk is packed with storage area and offers dual access with two drop-front keyboard drawers. The desk consists of three parts: a utility top and twin bookcase pedestals. Each bookcase pedestal features six side-facing storage compartments with four removable vertical partitions, plus two large utility drawers. The utility desk top provides a work space large enough for two (measuring 62 x 36 inches) and features two drop-front keyboard drawers. Perfect for collaborative projects between partners, parent and child or siblings, this desk makes doing work a lot more fun.Component Dimensions:Utility Desk Top: 62" W x 36" D x 7 1/4" HUtility Bookcase Pedestal: 34" W x 17" D x 36 1/4" HAdditional Information:Keyboard Drawer Space: 22 5/8" W x 15" D x 3 3/8" HKnee Space: 26 3/16" W x 29 3/4" H
The Wendover Utility Desk with 2 Bookcase Pedestals and Partner's Desk Capability by Hooker Furniture at Baer's Furniture in the Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Myers, Orlando, Naples, Miami, Florida area. Product availability may vary. Contact us for the most current availability on this product.
The primary aim of the Wendover collection by Hooker Furniture is to provide homeowners with a selection of quality crafted, flexibly configurable and practically outfitted storage solutions for the office, living room and entertainment areas, plus complementary occasional tables. With no two homes alike, it is important that your furnishings satisfy the contours of each room and that each piece delivers maximum usability. Comprised of a variety of coordinating storage pedestals, display hutches, desks and entertainment consoles, Wendover makes tailoring a wall unit to fit the specifications of your interior a simple, fun and rewarding project. Poplar and hardwood solid case construction provides structure and stability, while cherry veneers with a medium tone, physically distressed multistep finish and industrial look handlebar hardware leave a bold impression on the viewer. Desks are available in varied heights; some feature partner's desk capabilities and all include endless storage features and technology-friendly designs to accommodate modern lifestyles. Choose from entertainment consoles in multiple sizes, some designed for use in a custom wall unit and others designed to stand alone. Don't settle for a home office or entertainment unit that is anything less than perfect - feature the Wendover collection in your home for an intelligent design that reads "you" through and through.
The Wendover collection is a great option if you are looking for Casual furniture in the Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Myers, Orlando, Naples, Miami, Florida area.
These images are representative of this group as a whole and may differ from this item.
Browse other items in the Wendover collection from Baer's Furniture in the Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Myers, Orlando, Naples, Miami, Florida area.
This item has been tagged as: Desk, Computer Desk, Office Desk, Home Office Desk, Home Office Furniture, Corner Desk, Writing Desk, Desk with Hutch, Desk with Storage, Desk with Shelving, Student Desk, Secretary Desk, Office Furniture, Office Organizer, Executive Desk, Table Desks, Roll Top, Double Pedestal, Shell, L - Shape, Desk with Return, Desk with Filing Cabinet, Workstation, Modular Desk, Student Desk, L - Shape Workstation, Wedge Desk, Cabinet Desk, Computer Station, Credenza, U - Shape Desks
Nothing on this page may be copied or reproduced without explicit permission.


text:
{Holly & Will married 26th November 2016} Holly is wearing one of our gorgeous Peter Trends dresses custom changed by the beautiful Mary. Her maids are wearing Wendy Ann. Credit: www.amysteedphotography
Communion Veil
Dreamtime Veils. Available in any colour! Available with or without embroidery cross. Also available in ribbon edge


text:
Company Profile
Yeni Elektrik CCGT
Boyabat HEPP
Bağıştaş HEPP
Prolez Wind Farm
Univeridas Biomass Power Plant
Uni - Mar CCGT
Operation andMaintenance
Boğaz Elektrik
Power Generationin Iran
Chairman's Foreword
Sahand Bonab CCGT
Zahedan CCGT
Saveh CCGT
Ahwaz CCGT
Mehran CCGT
Qasr-ı Şirin CCGT
Sufiyan CCGT
EPC Business
Montazer Ghaem
Shahid Rajaie
Contact Information
Contact Form
The construction of 513 MW hydroelectric power plant (located in Sinop Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey) was completed on scheduled target in 2012 and became fully operational in December 2012. Boayabt is the largest hydroelectric power plant owned by private sector. The plant has an annual power generation capacity of around 1,350 GWh. With its massive dam storage and high installed capacity, the plant is recognized as one of the few real peak hour power plants in the Turkish electricity system with no royalty payable to General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works for water usage rights.
UNIT is partner with equal shares with Doğuş and Doğan Groups in the special purpose company Boyabat Elektrik Üretim ve Ticaret A.Ş.
The total project costs are about 1.2 billion USD. The 750 million USD of total project finance was awarded the European Hydro Power Deal of the Year 2010 award by Euromoney/Project Finance Magazine (later refinanced with 540 mln USD and 360 mln USD equivalent EUR loan tranches) with better terms and conditions).
©Copyright 2016 | Unit.com.tr


text:
In Proceedings of the International Workshop on Multimedia Information Systems (MIS 2002)
The START Multimedia Information System: Current Technology and Future Directions
Boris Katz Jimmy J. Lin Sue Felshin
MIT Arti?cial Intelligence Laboratory Cambridge, MA 02139 {boris,jimmylin,email@example.com
To address the problem of information overload in today's world, we have developed Start, a natural language question answering system that provides users with high-precision multimedia information access through the use of natural language annotations. To address the di?culty of accessing large amounts of heterogeneous data, we have developed Omnibase, which assists Start by integrating structured and semistructured Web databases into a single, uniformly structured "virtual database." Our ultimate goal is to develop a computer system that acts like a "smart reference librarian," and we believe we have laid a ?rm foundation for achieving our goal. This paper describes our current implemented system and discusses future research directions.
The explosive growth of information available electronically in the form of text, images, and multimedia has given people potential access to more information than they have ever had before. However, much of this potential remains unrealized due to the lack of e?ective information access methods to help people separate useful knowledge from useless data. We believe that natural language is the best information access mechanism for humans. It is intuitive, easy to use, rapidly deployable, and requires no specialized training. A step in that direction is question answering (QA), where a computer responds directly to natural language questions posed by the user. When asked "What country in Africa has the largest population," a computer should be able to respond with something like "Nigeria, with a population of 126 million, is the most populous African nation." Similarly, the computer should return digital images of Monet's water lilies in response to "Show me some famous paintings by Monet." How can we build systems that provide natural language information access? The intuitive approach would be to take all available information, e.g., all the material in the Library of Congress, the entire World Wide Web, etc., analyze its content, and create a database containing representational
structures that capture the "meaning" of the indexed material. A user question would be translated into a "semantic request," and matched against the contents of this database. Regrettably, unrestricted full-text understanding is beyond the state of the art in natural language processing, and furthermore, not all information is text; sounds, images, video, and other multimedia can all be valuable sources of knowledge. "Understanding" all these various media would require spectacular breakthroughs in other areas of arti?cial intelligence, such as object recognition, scene analysis, speech transcription, etc. In short, we are still years away from machines capable of distilling "meaning" from various types of multimedia documents. Faced with the limitations of current technology and the insatiable thirst of users for more knowledge, what can we do? Rather than waiting for systems to be developed that can "understand" all available knowledge in various formats, we could instead teach the computer where and how to ?nd the right pieces of knowledge. Such a system would act much like a librarian in the reference section of a library; although she might not be able to answer a question directly, the librarian would nevertheless be helpful because she knows where to ?nd the relevant knowledge. In a sense, we need to give our systems knowledge about the knowledge.
Natural Language Annotations
How can we create a computer system that acts like a smart reference librarian? Our solution is natural language annotations (Katz, 1997), which are machine-parseable sentences and phrases that describe the content of various information segments. They serve as metadata describing the types of questions that a particular piece of knowledge is capable of answering. We have implemented this technology in Start1 (Katz, 1988; Katz, 1997), the ?rst natural language question answering system available on the World Wide Web. To illustrate how our system works, consider the HTML fragment about Olympus Mons presented in
1 http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/infolab
Figure 2: A response including an image.
Figure 3: A response requiring calculation. Figure 1: Start responding to a question with an information segment containing both text and images. Figure 1. It may be annotated with the following English sentences and phrases:
Mars' highest point Largest volcano in the solar system Olympus Mons is very tall.
Since it came on-line in December, 1993, Start has engaged in exchanges with hundreds of thousands of users all over the world, supplying them with useful knowledge.
Structured Knowledge
Start parses these annotations and stores the parsed structures (embedded ternary expressions (Katz, 1988)) with pointers back to the original information segment. To answer a question, the user query is compared against the annotations stored in the knowledge base. Because this match occurs at the level of syntactic structures, linguistically sophisticated machinery such as synonymy/hyponymy, ontologies, and structural transformation rules are all brought to bear on the matching process. Linguistic techniques allow the system to achieve capabilities beyond simple keyword matching, for example, handling complex syntactic alternations involving verb arguments. If a match is found between ternary expressions derived from annotations and those derived from the query, the segment corresponding to the annotations is returned to the user as the answer. For example, the annotations above allow Start to answer the following questions (see Figure 1):
What is the highest point on Mars? Do you know anything about Olympus Mons? How tall is Olympus Mons? Tell me how big Olympus Mons is.
An important feature of the annotation concept is that any information segment can be annotated: not only text, but also images, multimedia, and even procedures! For example, pictures of famous people or ?ags of countries in the world could be annotated with appropriate phrases and retrieved in response to user queries (Figure 2). One can also annotate a procedure for calculating distances between two locations or a procedure for calculating the current time in any world city (Figure 3).
The ability to respond to natural language questions with textual and multimedia content crucially depends on natural language annotations. The knowledge coverage of the Start system is thus dependent on the amount of annotated material. To increase the e?ectiveness of our technology, we have adapted natural language annotations to work with structured and semistructured data. If someone is asked a question like "When did Rutherford Hayes become president of the U.S.?", he or she might locate a resource with the answer— say, a book on famous people, or a Web site about presidents—?nd the section for Rutherford B. Hayes, and look up the date of his inauguration. Millions of questions can be answered by following this same recipe: extract an object (Rutherford Hayes) and a property (presidential term) from the question, ?nd a data source (e.g., the Potus Web site) for that type of object, look up the object's Web page, and extract the value for the answer (see Figure 4). By generalizing such plans and integrating them into a question answering system, we can achieve information access with broad coverage. The three main di?culties in getting a computer to answer such questions are understanding the question, identifying where to ?nd the information, and fetching the information itself. Start's parser is responsible for understanding user questions and translating them into structured queries. To help Start address the other issues, we have developed a system called Omnibase (Katz et al., 2002), a "virtual" database that provides a uniform abstraction layer over multiple Web knowledge sources. Omnibase is capable of executing the structured queries
Figure 4: Start answering a question with data from Omnibase, presented within a generated sentence. generated by Start. The following two sections will describe Omnibase in more detail.
The Web as a Database
Although the Web is predominantly comprised of unstructured static documents, pockets of structured knowledge exist, capable of providing answers to a large number of questions. For example, the CIA World Factbook provides political, geographic, and economic information about every country in the world; Biography.com contains pro?les for thousands of famous (and not-so-famous) people; the Internet Movie Database contains entries for hundreds of thousands of movies, including information about their cast, production sta?, etc. Omnibase serves as a structured query interface to heterogeneous data on the World Wide Web. It is of course impossible to impose any uniform schema on the entire Web. Instead, Omnibase adopts a stylized relational model which we call the "object– property–value" (OPV) data model. Under this framework, data sources contain objects which have properties, and questions are translated into requests for the value of these properties. Natural language commonly employs an 'of' relation or a possessive to express the relationship between an object and its property, e.g., "the director of La Strada" or "La Strada's director". Table 1 shows, however, that there are many alternative ways to ask for the value of an object's property. Clearly, many other possible types of queries do not fall into the OPV model, such as questions about the relation between two objects (e.g., "How can I get from Boston to New York?").2 However, our experiments reveal that in practice questions of the OPV type occur quite frequently. For example, just ten Web sources fashioned in the OPV manner turned out to be su?cient for handling 47% of TREC-2001 QA Track questions.
Suppose the user asks "Who directed gone with the wind?" A natural language system cannot analyze this question without ?rst knowing that "Gone with the Wind" can be treated as a single lexical item—otherwise, the question would make no more sense than, say, "Who hopped ?own down the street?" Omnibase identi?es the names of objects and the data sources they are associated with; for example, "Good Will Hunting" comes from a movie data source, "United States" comes from a country data source, etc. Not only does this help Start understand the user question (which can now be read as "who directed X"), but it also lets Start know what data source contains the required information. Since annotations can describe arbitrary fragments of knowledge, there is no reason why they can't be employed to describe Omnibase queries. In fact, annotations can be parameterized, i.e., they can contain symbols representative of an entire class of objects. For example, the annotation "a person wrote the screenplay for imdb-movie" can be attached to an Omnibase query that retrieves the writers for various movies from the Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Note that because Omnibase has knowledge of movies, it can tell Start which lexical items are actually movies. The symbol imdb-movie serves as a placeholder for any one of the hundreds of thousands of movies that IMDb contains information about; when the annotation matches the user question, the actual movie name is instantiated and passed along in the Omnibase query. Thus, with help from Omnibase, Start translates user queries into a structured request (in the object– property–value model):
(get "imdb-movie" "Gone with the Wind (1939)" "DIRECTOR")
From Language to Knowledge
To actually answer user questions, the gap between natural language questions and structured Omnibase queries must be bridged. Natural language annotations serve as the enabling technology that allows the integration of Start and Omnibase.
however, is capable of handling such questions in a more ad-hoc fashion.
2 Start,
In this case, our natural language system needed to ?gure out that the user is asking about the director property of the object "Gone with the Wind (1939)", and that this information can be found in the data source imdb-movie. Omnibase looks up the data source and property to ?nd an associated script and applies the script in order to retrieve the property value for the object. The execution of the imdb-movie director script involves looking up a unique identi?er for the movie (stored locally), fetching the correct page from the IMDb Web site (via a CGI interface), and matching a textual landmark on the page (literal text and HTML tags) to ?nd the director of the movie. As a result, the list of movie directors is returned. Start then assembles the answer and presents it to the user either as a fragment of HTML or couched in natural language (Figure 5). Currently, our system answers millions of natural language questions about places (e.g., cities, countries, lakes, coordinates, weather, maps, demograph-
Question Who wrote the music for Star Wars? Who invented dynamite? How big is Costa Rica? How many people live in Kiribati? What languages are spoken in Guernsey? Show me paintings by Monet.
Object Star Wars dynamite Costa Rica Kiribati Guernsey Monet
Property composer inventor area population languages works
Value John Williams Alfred Nobel 51,100 sq. km. 94,149 English, French [images]
Table 1: Some sample questions that can be handled by an object–property–value model of Web data. ics, political and economic systems), movies (e.g., titles, actors, directors), people (e.g., birth dates, biographies), dictionary de?nitions, and much, much more. Because Start performs sophisticated syntactic and semantic processing of questions to pinpoint the exact information need of a user, questions can be answered with remarkable precision. In the period from January, 2001 to March, 2002, Start and Omnibase replied to over 326 thousand queries from users all over the world. Of those, 67% were answered successfully by our system (59% of the questions answered were handled by Omnibase). 2. Distributed annotations. By providing a collaborative framework in which ordinary users can annotate data, we hope to distribute and parallelize the annotations process. 3. Leveraging Semantic Web technology. Semantic Web research provides many possible solutions to the data integration problem. 4. Self-repairing scripts. We are experimenting with self-aware and self-repairing wrapper scripts that can recognize their own failures and automatically take corrective measures. 5. Conceptual segmentation of Web pages. Would it be possible for computers the recognize the layout of a Web page, much in the same manner as a human? 6.1 Large-scale Syntactic Indexing Although full syntactic and semantic analysis of open-domain natural language text is beyond current technology, we believe that it is possible to augment Start's manual-annotation-based approach with automatically built annotations by extracting a limited subset of relations from unstructured text; in short, information retrieval on the level of relations. This approach is promising because it attempts to address the well-known shortcomings of standard "bag-of-words" information retrieval techniques without requiring manual intervention. To this end, we have developed Sapere, a prototype question answering system based on matching syntactic relations derived from the question with those derived from the corpus (Lin, 2001). These relations are simpli?ed versions of Start's ternary expressions (Katz, 1997), but can be generated automatically and indexed on a large scale. We have evaluated Sapere against existing IRbased question answering systems using a restricted query set on World Book Encyclopedia. Initial results point to a dramatic improvement in precision. As an example, consider a sample output from a standard IR-based system:
(Q1) What do frogs eat? (R1) Some bats catch ?sh with their claws, and a few species eat lizards, rodents, birds, and frogs. (R2) Bow?ns eat mainly other ?sh, frogs, and cray?sh. (R3) Adult frogs eat mainly insects and other small animals, including earthworms, minnows, and spiders.
Beyond START and Omnibase
Despite the e?ectiveness of Start and Omnibase in solving user information needs, there are still three major unsolved challenges: ? The Scaling Problem. The sheer amount of information available in the world today places a practical limit on the amount of knowledge that can be incorporated into a system by a single research group. Although natural language annotations are easy and intuitive, there is simply too much content. ? The Knowledge Engineering Bottleneck. Manual knowledge engineering is required to expand our system's knowledge coverage; integrating Web sources under Omnibase requires site-speci?c wrapper scripts. Consequently, only trained individuals can add knowledge to Start and Omnibase. ? The Fickle Web Problem. An undesirable side-e?ect of the Web's dynamic nature is instability of site layout and page content. This poses a serious problem to wrapper scripts custom-tailored to speci?c formats. Often, dramatic changes to a page's content or layout structure will require signi?cant modi?cation of associated scripts. To address these challenges, we are currently pursuing ?ve potential solutions: 1. Large-scale indexing via partial parsing. Although open-domain full-text understanding is still beyond present state-of-the-art, we hope to utilize more robust shallow processing techniques to reap some of the bene?ts of linguistic analysis at a much larger scale.
Figure 5: Start's response to "Who directed Gone with the Wind" and the original Web page from which Omnibase
extracts the answer. ... (R32) Kookaburras eat caterpillars, ?sh, frogs, insects, small mammals, snakes, worms, and even small birds.
e.g., by providing an "Annotate This!" button on their browser, with which they could describe interesting information segments they encounter. 6.3 The Semantic Web
Of the 32 sentences returned, only (R3) correctly answers the user query; the other results answer a di?erent question—"What eats frogs?" A bag-ofwords approach cannot di?erentiate between a query in which the frog is in the subject position and a query in which the frog is in the object position. Compare this to the results produced by Sapere:
(Q1) What do frogs eat? (R3) Adult frogs eat mainly insects and other small animals, including earthworms, minnows, and spiders.
By examining subject-verb-object relations, Sapere can ?lter out irrelevant results and return only the correct responses. 6.2 Distributed Annotations A salient feature of annotation technology is its simplicity. Because information segments can be described in everyday English, ordinary users with no technical skills qualify as annotators. As a result, the knowledge engineering bottleneck could be overcome by employing a large number of annotators working in parallel. We believe that the Web provides a lowcost mechanism for accomplishing this: by o?ering a collaborative framework in which users could annotate knowledge, we can distribute the knowledge engineering task across millions of people all over the world. We proposed this mechanism for gathering annotations from the Web in 1997 (Katz, 1997), and recently we have begun to implement the idea (Katz et al., 2001; Katz and Lin, 2002a). There are two ways of setting up this collaborative framework. We could create a centralized site that people speci?cally visit to teach our system new nuggets of knowledge, in the spirit of Open Source projects like Dmoz, the Open Directory Project. As an alternative, the annotation process could be integrated into the normal browsing behavior of users,
The vision of the Semantic Web (Berners-Lee et al., 2001) is to imbue Web documents with machineunderstandable metadata so that software agents could more e?ectively utilize content. Since Semantic Web research is fundamentally attempting to address the problem of information access, we believe that many synergistic opportunities exist in the integration of our natural language technology with the Semantic Web. Question answering technology can supply an intuitive access mechanism for accessing multimedia content, and Semantic Web research has yielded many potential solutions for managing heterogeneous content. Our proposal centers around integrating natural language annotations technology with the Resource Description Framework (RDF), the foundation of the Semantic Web. By integrating formal ontologies with natural language, we can achieve both human accessibility and computer readability. We have concretely described three separate mechanisms for marrying natural language annotations and RDF, and have built a prototype Semantic Web question answering system (Katz and Lin, 2002b). 6.4 Self-repairing Scripts
The execution of an Omnibase query involves the application of site-speci?c scripts that fetch the relevant Web page for an object and extract the value for a particular property. Although most of these scripts are relatively simple (e.g., simple regular expression matches), the proliferation of scripts presents a complex maintenance challenge. This problem is exacerbated by occasional changes in the layout and content of Web sources, which if too radical can necessitate the rewriting of relevant scripts. We believe that application of machine learning
techniques can address the fragility problem associated with wrapper scripts. There have been some initial attempts to automate the wrapper generation process using machine learning, e.g., (Kushmerick et al., 1997; Muslea et al., 1999). By providing the system with known examples of properties and values, scripts can be induced automatically. However, we wish to go beyond automatic script induction and develop ways of creating self-aware and self-repairing wrappers scripts. A correctly operating script could begin to accumulate sample queries and responses, to serve as a knowledge base to recognize script failures. If the output of a script were to deviate signi?cantly from expected output, the system would trigger a repair attempt. Because the system already has a large memory of the expected answers for various questions, this accumulated knowledge could be applied to create a new script, via machine learning techniques, for example. Only if this fails would manual intervention be necessary. Although these ideas are still in the conceptual stage, we believe that they o?er a potential bu?er against dynamically changing information. 6.5 Conceptual Segmentation We are also investigating other solutions to the knowledge engineering bottleneck. An initial and obvious solution is to facilitate the data integration process through well-designed authoring tools (e.g., (Adelberg, 1998; Sahuguet and Azavant, 1999)). By automatically preprocessing Web pages to bring potentially relevant sections to the attention of the data integrator, an authoring tool could drastically simplify the knowledge engineering process. A more general-purpose solution to the data integration problem is to develop systems that are more "aware" of the content and semantics of the page. For example, the computer should contain heuristics regarding ways in which humans typically organize and display information, e.g., a bold heading and accompanying text frequently imply a coherent knowledge segment, a table is often used to organize properties and values, etc. In short, we want a system that can "conceptually segment" a Web page into coherent components automatically. Such a system (see Figure 6) would assist greatly in the data integration process, e.g., by presenting humans with better guesses about page layout in the context of an authoring tool, by simplifying the machine learning task, etc. We have already experimented with such tools; LaMeTH (Katz and others, 1999) is a system that attempts to recognize the conceptual structure of a Web page, not merely its HTML encoding. It provides a scripting interface that allows humans to describe content in terms of layout elements, e.g., paragraphs, lists, and tables, instead of HTML code. By developing "content-aware" systems, we hope to alleviate the problem of data integration.
Related Work
The use of natural language interfaces to access databases can be traced back to the sixties and seventies (Green and others, 1961; Hendrix, 1977); for a survey see (Androutsopoulos and others, 1995). Early research concentrated on adding natural language querying capabilities to existing relational databases. For the most part, the data was homogeneous and textual. The idea of applying database techniques to the Web is not new. Many existing systems, e.g., Araneus (Atzeni and others, 1997), Ariadne (Knoblock and others, 1999), Information Manifold (Kirk and others, 1995), Lore (McHugh and others, 1997), Tsimmis (Hammer and others, 1997), have attempted to unify heterogeneous Web sources under a common interface. Unfortunately, queries to such systems must be formulated in SQL, Datalog, or some similarly formal language, which render them inaccessible to the average user. Because the focus of research in semistructured data has been on issues such as the modeling of heterogeneous knowledge sources, the expressiveness of the query language, and implementation issues arising from the unreliable nature of the Web, little work has been done on natural language querying capabilities. What makes Start and Omnibase unique among these systems is natural language question answering abilities and its use of the object–property–value data model. By allowing ordinary users to ask questions in English, we provide intuitive and precise information access to a wealth of information. Furthermore, since our data model corresponds naturally to both user questions and on-line content, the data integration task becomes more intuitive.
Start and Omnibase are complementary components of a question answering system that addresses users' information access needs. Start understands natural language questions and retrieves multimedia answers via annotations. Omnibase helps Start translate natural language questions to structured queries. It serves as an abstraction layer which lets Start treat heterogeneous Web sources as a uniform "virtual database". By providing a uniform natural language interface to heterogeneous knowledge on the World Wide Web, we can supply users with "just the right information." We believe that structured access to heterogeneous on-line data sources should be a key component of any future natural language question answering system. Our systems have proven to be a success by a variety of measures. Nevertheless, many directions for future research remain unexplored, some of which we have discussed in this paper. We remain optimistic about the future prospects of natural language information access systems.
Figure 6: A system that "conceptually segments" knowledge fragments on a Web page. Here we see ?ve knowledge fragments, numbered and demarcated by boxes, which the system has detected.
This research is funded by DARPA under contract number F30602-00-1-0545 and administered by the Air Force Research Laboratory. Additional funding is provided by the Oxygen Project.
B. Adelberg. 1998. NoDoSE—a tool for semiautomatically extracting structured and semistructured data from text documents. SIGMOD Record, 27:283–294. I. Androutsopoulos et al. 1995. Natural language interfaces to databases—an introduction. Natural Language Engineering, 1(1):29–81. P. Atzeni et al. 1997. Semistructured and structured data in the Web: Going back and forth. In Workshop on Management of Semistructured Data at PODS/SIGMOD'97. T. Berners-Lee, J. Hendler, and O. Lassila. 2001. The Semantic Web. Scienti?c American, 284(5):34–43. B. Green et al. 1961. BASEBALL: An automatic question answerer. In Proceedings of the Western Joint Computer Conference. J. Hammer et al. 1997. Extracting semistructured information from the Web. In Workshop on Management of Semistructured Data at PODS/SIGMOD'97. G. Hendrix. 1977. Human engineering for applied natural language processing. Technical Note 139, SRI International. B. Katz and J. Lin. 2002a. Annotating the Semantic Web using natural language. In Proceedings of the 2nd Workshop on NLP and XML. B. Katz and J. Lin. 2002b. Natural language annotations for the Semantic Web. In Proceedings of ODBASE 2002. B. Katz et al. 1999. Integrating large lexicons and
Web resources into a natural language query systen. In Proceedings of IEEE ICMCS '99. B. Katz, J. Lin, and S. Felshin. 2001. Gathering knowledge for a question answering system from heterogeneous information sources. In Proceedings of the ACL 2000 HLT Workshop. B. Katz, S. Felshin, D. Yuret, A. Ibrahim, J. Lin, G. Marton, A.J. McFarland, and B. Temelkuran. 2002. Omnibase: Uniform access to heterogeneous data for question answering. In Proceedings of NLDB 2002. B. Katz. 1988. Using English for indexing and retrieving. In RIAO '88. B. Katz. 1997. Annotating the World Wide Web using natural language. In RIAO '97. T. Kirk et al. 1995. The Information Manifold. Technical report, AT&T Bell Laboratories. C. Knoblock et al. 1999. The Ariadne approach to Web-based information integration. International Journal on Cooperative Information Systems, 10(1/2):145–169. N. Kushmerick, D. Weld, and R. Doorenbos. 1997. Wrapper induction for information extraction. In IJCAI-97. J. Lin. 2001. Indexing and retrieving natural language using ternary expressions. Master's thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. J. McHugh et al. 1997. Lore: A database management system for semistructured data. Technical report, Stanford University Database Group. I. Muslea, S. Minton, and C. Knoblock. 1999. A hierarchical approach to wrapper induction. In 3rd International Conference on Autonomous Agents. A. Sahuguet and F. Azavant. 1999. WysiWyg Web Wrapper Factory. In Proceedings of WWW8.


text:
Fer Fer, Esade 50 years | Barcelona, Spain | ESADE, 2007
Exhibition commemorating 50 years of Esade Business School.
Fer Fer was conceived as a stroll through the evolution of management. From the current confusion of terms and concepts (as if it were a modern Tower of Babel), it travels through some of the moments that have made history (illustrated by means of an object or a tool) and finishes by giving the floor to ten important figures that have been protagonists of this development, among whom are businessmen and academics.
Curator: Javier Nieto
Graphic design: Morillas


text:
Posts filed under 'Personal (Do not read)'
Ok The Results Are Finally Out
Your Kissing Technique Is: Perfect
Your kissing technique is amazing – and you know it.
You have the confidence to make the first move.
And you always seem to know what kissing style is going to work best.
Sometimes you're passionate, sometimes you're a tease. And you're always amazing!
Arcane Muse – God
CAP – The yoga teacher is a sharp shooter and he destroys ego
MOF – That's odd. I would expect him to be otherwise. Is destroying ego a good thing after all?
CAP – Ah dude! You know how people sometimes can be a pain in the wrong place
MOF – I agree they can be that, but everyone is seeking an answer, but trying to put someone down when they ask questions seems odd. I mean they come to him seeking guidance and answers. Destroying someone's ego can be disastrous, they go the teacher for an answer, and you do not want to be spurned
CAP – I agree, but folks there attend zillion different yoga classes and try and compare philosophy and try to act smart to the point of being plain irritating!
MOF – Hmmm…
CAP – MO, why does one have to believe in God or a Supreme Spirit?
MOF – Instinct 🙂
CAP – WHAT! Instincts have to deal with the physical aspect of human nature!
MOF – Should instincts be limited to responses to sensory perception? Why do have to operate within a boundary when we want to understand/deal with the infinite? Why do we have to limit instincts only to the physical aspects of humans?
CAP – Okay, fair enough. Let us call that spiritual instinct! But substantiate it
MOF – You are hungry you eat, you are thirsty you drink; you are aroused you have sex; it all seems coded that way. When we see and experience the world and nature around us, there is an inner voice that tells us or compels us to believe in a superior entity.
CAP – Dude! Is it not the society and religion that drives us to believe in an idea like that?
MOF – I would agree, by and large yes. BUT, would the response to hunger, thirst, arousal et al be different if an individual were to be raised in a place that is devoid of religion and bereft of the social patterns that we are now aware of?
CAP – Hard one, but logically speaking, no.
MOF – So, I am compelled to believe in the idea of instinct driving us to believe in God (or a superior entity)
CAP – Kewl, I see your point. Now, why does one have to seek God, why does one crave or seek that enlightenment thingy?
MOF – Stimulus and response.
CAP – Err…what you mean
MOF – You are hungry, you eat and you are satisfied. You believe in the existence of Supreme Spirit, you want to be one with that entity, for that alone can satiate the spiritual instinct/hunger
CAP – It is often argued that fear was the reason for God to be created. For look, all religions talk about life after death. Death surely scares the living daylight out of humans. After death, everyone wants to claim heaven
MOF – Honestly, I can only speak for myself here. I love the dichotomy of heaven and hell. And I define heaven to be a state where the human spirit is in union with the Divine/Supreme Spirit and hell to be a state where the human spirit is separated or not in union with the Divine/Supreme spirit
CAP – And what bout the geography of heaven and hell, do you not believe in it? And curiously I do not see Judgment being given any cognizance
MOF – Never have experienced death to talk bout the geography of heaven and hell ;-), and that what I have seen not, I can talk not. I believe that Judgment is real and we are judged by our conscience for all that we do. Divine justice, yes I believe in it, that's the second level quality assurance ratified by that 'Higher' being.
CAP – So, what about grace?
MOF – Dude, we need to get the MPLS provisioning thingy done today OK! But I do not choose to end this abruptly. Consider the entire cosmos, in the cosmos the Milky Way is tiny little spec, the Solar System in the Milky Way is an almost a nondescript entity, in the Solar System the Earth happens to be but a nondescript spec and in this spec we humans try to understand the BIG PICTURE with our intelligence, but intelligence as a faculty can only help us go a certain distance, beyond that it has to be a spiritual exercise and experience to capture the spiritual and bring it into the realm of the intellect!
Now, to bow to the instincts of making money .Let's get the MPLS story off our plate soon!
Sleepless In The Pacific Northwest
Seattle? Nay far from it. Owe my sleeplessness to a riot. The master mind behind the riot is writing this post. The riot was a laugh riot. Dude! I am so glad you are here and I am sure we are now gonna paint the city RED!
The waitress at Dennys was amused beyond words watching us guys talking and laughing our brains out. We downed some coffee (ahem… bout 12 cups between the two of us) in a span of 1 hour (ok that's like 1 cup every 10 mins). Coming back to the amused waitress, she said "you guys take care and have fun. I ain't gonna charge you" so Awhat on earth does that have to do with this post, oh! , now I have been sleepless and the caffeinated mind to hand coordination is at its best. This will be one heck of a disconnect post (a delayed warning I know :P)
Finally KG is here and bhoy I am 'Oh so glad'. Trips to NYC and Seattle on the cards. Driving around NYC in Ford Mustang 2007 convertible (simply irresistible).
After considering the various considerations that have been considered, the consideration to consider the consideration indeed seems considerably considerable. With the consideration having been considered, I hereby consider to consider the following consideration
To walk down the aisle with Mocha Frappuccino (double blend, no whipped cream) if "it" were a "she". But good God up there, we all know is crazy so He willed it otherwise, He turned "she" into an "it". Trust me, it is ever so easy to pass the blame on to Him, He never questions (psssst….sometimes He chooses not to answer too :P)
Please don't tell me you suffered the ordeal and are actually reading past zzzzz….


text:
Know more about this business than we do? Cool! Please submit any corrections or missing details you may have.Help us make it right
Be the first lehighvalleylive.com user to add photos or videos of Platinum Pools
Platinum Pools is located in Moorestown, NJ. This business specializes in Pools, Spas, & Saunas.


text: A reader recently asked if I could help him locate direct-access notes for his portfolio, which prompted an intense search and history review. Direct notes are new-issue corporate and government-sponsored enterprise bonds sold in increments of $1,000; they were prevalent prior to the 2008 stock market crash. I first covered them more than a decade ago ("Bite-Sized Bonds," April 14, 2003). They still exist, albeit in much smaller numbers. […]. Corporate Insight's senior research associate Corey Limmer says, "A strong brokerage app can be a key differentiator for attracting and retaining clients, especially younger and tech-focused users."


text:
The pricing leaks continue as Chrysler accidentally released a new video which confirms the Jeep Renegade will be priced from $17,995 in the United States.
The pricing leaks continue as Chrysler accidentally released a new video which confirms the Jeep Renegade will be priced from $17,995 in the United States.
While the video was quickly pulled, a Jeep Renegade Forum member managed to catch the error before Chrysler fixed their mistake.
As a result, we know the entry-level Renegade Sport will be priced from $17,995. It will come equipped with power windows / locks, a tilt / telescope steering wheel and a UConnect 3.0 infotainment system. The model also has a four-speaker audio system, a split-folding rear seat and 16-inch steel wheels.
The Renegade Latitude will cost $21,295 and reward buyers with fog lights, body color door handles, privacy glass and 16-inch polished aluminum wheels. The model will also have air conditioning, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, a six-speaker audio system and a Uconnect infotainment system with a five-inch touchscreen display.
The luxury-oriented Limited will retail for $24,795 and feature chrome mirrors caps, a revised grille and 18-inch polished aluminum wheels. Other notable highlights include heated front seats, Nappa leather upholstery and a digital instrument cluster. There's also floor mats, a dual-zone automatic climate control system and an auto-dimming rearview mirror.
Last but not least, the range-topping Renegade Trailhawk will cost $25,995 and have unique bumpers, skid plates and an increased ride height. The model also features hill decent control, an Active Drive Low four-wheel drive system and exclusive 17-inch alloy wheels with "aggressive on-road and off-road tires."
Under the hood, two engines will be available. The 1.4-liter MultiAir Turbo four-cylinder produces 160 bhp (119 kW) and 184 lb-ft (250 Nm) of torque, while the 2.4-liter Tigershark four-cylinder churns out 184 bhp (137 kW) and 177 lb-ft (236 Nm) of torque. Front-wheel drive will be standard on most models but all-wheel drive will be a $2,000 option.