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Five refineries were put up for sale in the United States in two years – El Financiero
According to the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA), at least five refineries have sold in the United States in the past two years.
In 2019, three transactions were done; The first was in January when Trailstone LP, based in Tacoma, Washington, was sold to Par Pacific Holdings; Whereas in May of the same year, Chevron bought a refinery from Petrobras in Texas.
Later, in November 2019, Starlight Relativity Acquisition acquired Calumet Specialty Product Partners, also based in San Antonio, Texas.
This year, Shell sold two refineries to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent in a decade and zero by 2050.
It should be remembered that last week a Dutch court ordered Royal Dutch Shell to reduce the levels to 45 percent by 2030.
The fourth operation also took place last week, when Shell closed the sale of 50 percent of Deer Park Refinery's shares in Houston, Texas to Pemex. A day later, on May 26, Shell sold an Alabama refinery to Vertex Energy, a Texas-based specialty refiner of alternative raw materials and a marketer of high-purity petroleum products.
"Panorama saw more sales in 2019, impacted by the destruction of margins in the refining business in 2020, and this year particularly due to environmental policies where governments and financial institutions are pushing to punish them with high emission costs Huh. , Sales are picking up, "commented an analyst who asked not to be quoted.
"In the future we are going to look at coal plants and refineries that shut them down and convert them, because there are already economic incentives to do so and turn them into gray or green hydrogen." Over the years, we will see the United States as a world leader in terms of investment in terms of energy transition and decarbonization, "he warned.
"Wannabe troublemaker. Pop culture fanatic. Zombie nerd. Lifelong bacon advocate. Alcohol enthusiast. Tv junkie."


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The Word Made Fresh
1Here is a list of the Israelites who were family heads and served as commanders of army battalions and platoons, along with their officers who served the king in all the military matters that arose month by month; each division numbering twenty-four thousand men.
2Jashobeam son of Zabdiel led the first division of twenty-four thousand in the first month. 3He was a descendant of Perez and was in charge of all the commanders of the army for the first month.
4Dodai the Ahohite led the second division, with Mikloth as his chief officer.
5The third commander, who was in charge of the twenty-four thousand troops on duty in the third month, was Benaiah, son of the priest Jehoida. 6He was a renowned warrior who commanded the Thirty. He put his son Ammizabad in charge of his division.
7Asahel, Joab's brother, was the commander in charge of twenty-four thousand troops in the fourth month. His son Zebadiah was second in command.
8Shamruth the Izrahite was in charge of the twenty-four thousand troops who served in the fifth month.
9Ira, son of Ikkesh the Taroite, was placed in charge of the twenty-four thousand who served in the sixth month.
10Helez the Pelonite of the tribe of Ephraim was placed in charge of the troops in the seventh month.
11Sibbecai the Hushathite, of the family of the Zerahites, was in charge of the division that served in the eighth month.
12The commander of the twenty-four thousand who served in the ninth month was Abiezer of Anathoth, a Benjaminite.
13Maharai of Netophah, a Zerahite, was commander in the tenth month.
14Benaiah son of Pirathon, an Ephraimite, was commander of the twenty-four thousand who served in the eleventh month.
15The twelfth commander, in the twelfth month, was Heldai the Netophathite, from Othniel.
16Other officers were assigned to each of the tribes of Israel. Eliezer son of Zichri was over Reuben. Shephatiah son of Maacah was over Simeon. 17Hashabiah son of Kemuel was over Levi. Zadok was over the priests, the descendants of Aaron. 18David's brother Elihu was assigned to Judah. Omri son of Michael was assigned to Issachar. 19Ishmaiah son of Obadiah was over Zebulun. Jerimoth son of Azriel was assigned to Naphtali. 20The Ephraimites were led by Hoshea son of Azaziah. 21Iddo son of Zechariah was over the half-tribe of Manasseh that settled in Gilead. Benjamin's leader was Jaasiel son of Abner. 22Azarel son of Jeroham was put in charge of Dan. These were the tribal commanders.
23For military duty David did not include those under twenty years of age because the LORD had declared that Israel would become as numerous as the stars in the sky. 24Joab son of Zeruiah was charged with counting them but did not count them all. Even so, God's anger fell upon Israel because of this, and the number was never entered in the logs in the Annals of King David.
25Azmaveth son of Adiel was placed over the king's treasuries. The other treasuries around the country and in the cities and villages and towers was put under the administration of Jonathan, son of Uzziah. 26Ezri son of Chelub was put in charge of the field hands, 27and Shimei the Ramathite was over the vineyards. When the vineyards were harvested, Zabdi the Shiphmite was in charge of the wine cellars. 28Baal-hanan the Gederite was placed in charge of the olive and sycamore trees in the Shephalah. Joash was responsible for the stores of oil. 29Shitrai the Sharonite was put in charge of the herds in Sharon, and Shaphat son of Adlai was over the herds in the valleys. 30Obil the Ishmaelite was in charge of the camels. Jehdeiah the Meronothite was over the donkeys. Jaziz the Hagrite was over the flocks. 31All these were the keepers in charge of king David's assets.
32David's uncle Jonathan was a royal counselor, for he was an educated man and a scribe. Jehiel son of Hachmoni tutored the king's sons. 23Ahithophel was the king's personal counselor and Hushai the Archite was the king's friend. 34Ahithophel's assistants were Jehoiada son of Benaiah and Abiathar. Joab was the overall commander of the king's army.
1: The chronicler now turns to the organization of David's military establishment. It is noteworthy that the religious establishment is treated first, then the military, whereas in the record of David's 40 year reign the military undoubtedly came first. There are 12 divisions, each with 24,000 troops – a total of 288,000 – but this is more in the form of a militia than a standing army, for each division is to be on duty but for one month at a time.
2-15: The twelve divisions are listed, each with its commander. Benaiah and Asahel, the third and fourth respectively, are the most prominent names.
16-24: Leaders are named for 10 of the twelve tribes: Asher and Gad are not mentioned, nor is any reason given for their omission. Manasseh is divided between the ones east of the Jordan and those who are west of the Jordan. The tribe of Levi is divided between Levi and Aaron – the Aaronites are the priests, and the Levites are those who have other duties surrounding the religious establishment. Verse 23 exonerates David for his part in taking the census. Since God promised Abraham that his descendants would be innumerable, taking a census was considered a sin. David leaves those under 20 years old uncounted as an acknowledgment of this restriction. That caveat was not mentioned in Chapter 21. There, Joab refuses to count Benjamin and Levi. Here he is said to have begun to count even those under 20 when the plague began, so that number was not entered in the final count.
25-31: Other officials are named, civil officers in charge of royal properties of various kinds – fields, vineyards, wine presses, flocks and herds, treasuries, etc.
32-34: A few more officials are added – counselors, scribe, attendant, "king's friend," and Joab, commander of the standing army. Hushai, the "king's friend," had helped David thwart Absalom's attempted coup (see 2 Samuel 17). Why Hushai is not simply referred to as a counselor is a puzzle; perhaps it is because he is a foreigner.
The information in this chapter lets us know that late in his reign David had conquered the enemies of Israel, and the armed forces are now peacekeepers, made up of soldiers who serve only a month each year.
David was obviously a very gifted leader. Organization and administration were definitely his strengths. He was willing to give others various levels of authority depending on the needs of the kingdom. Every leader must assess the talents and skills of those serving under them, and once appointed the leader must attend their performance and make corrections as needed. David knew his people and their abilities. His example is a good primer for anyone in a leadership role.

subset: commoncrawl


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Discrete element simulations of simple shear flows of dense and homogeneous assemblies of uniform, spherical, soft and dry particles reveal three regimes: (i) a quasi-static regime, where the stress is independent of shear rate, (ii) an inertial regime where the stress varies quadratically with shear rate and (iii) an intermediate regime where the stress manifests power-law dependence with n 1/2. Inclusion of inter-particle cohesion due to van der Waals force has been shown to lead to bifurcation of the inertial regime into two regimes: (a) a cohesive rate-independent regime and (b) an inertial regime. In the present study, we perform analogous simulations for wet particles. We account for capillary and viscous interaction forces between particles, which result from the liquid bridges, and allow for liquid transfer between the particles and the liquid bridge. It is found that the bifurcation of the inertial regime observed with van der Waals interaction persists for capillary cohesion and that the span of the cohesive rate-independent regime increases with liquid loading in the pendular regime. A simple model for steady shear rheology is obtained by blending the results in various regimes. The presentation will also discuss the effect liquid viscosity on the flow behavior.
Original language | English |
Journal | Bulletin of the American Physical Society |
Volume | 60 |
Issue number | 1 |
Publication status | Published - 3 Mar 2015 |
Event | American Physical Society - March Meeting 2015 - San Antonio, United States Duration: 2 Jun 2015 → 6 Jun 2015 https://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/MAR15/Content/2876 |


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Halo's iconic Blood Gulch is now in Fortnite with capture the flag
And so is Master Chief himself
During last night's The Game Awards show with games announcements man Geoff Keighley, a different Geoff actually arrived to deliver one of the reveals. Geoff Ramsey, one of the voices from ye olde Halo-based Red Vs Blue web series, popped out in character as Grif of the red team to announce a new capture the flag map for Fortnite inside a very familiar canyon.
Here's the reveal for ya, featuring Red Vs Blue characters Grif and Sarge meeting up with Ninja, that Fortnite player you might be familiar with. They're all gabbing inside the Blood Gulch map from classic Halo recreated inside Fortnite. The first season of Red Vs Blue that you "probably watched about ten years ago" (help, my entire 20s just flashed before my eyes) was set inside Blood Gulch, thus the cameo, you see.
Blood Gulch, which has been recreated a handful of times throughout Halo game history under various names (another part of the gag in that announcement video up there) has been recreated once more, this time inside Fortnite by Atlas Creative.
Over in Fortnite proper, the battle royale 'em up, you can fight to last chief standing with a new Master Chief skin and some related cosmetics. Along with the classic green suit, you can find other chief accessories like a Pelican glider, a gravity hammer pickaxe, and an Elite skull back tat. You can catch more on the Master Chief skins and cosmetics in Epic's announcement.
Blood Gulch is live now, Epic say, so you can pop on in yourself to play a round of capture the flag. You'll find it under the Featured Hub in game. You can find Master Chief and his accoutrements in the Item Shop.


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Making Christ Known on Campus
When Ryan Williams graduated from high school and turned his sights toward college life at Winthrop University, he wasn't pondering spiritual things.
"I wasn't really thinking about what God could do in my life," he said, even though he was part of a church youth group where he'd been exposed to biblical teaching and had known people who "tried to pour the Word into me."
"I wasn't ready for that, I guess," said Williams.
Instead, toward the end of his senior year, he had started partying and drinking with friends, which he continued to do after enrolling in the fall at Winthrop, a school he'd chosen because he felt particularly drawn to its "small-college atmosphere."
At Winthrop, he quickly made friends and settled into a pleasant life on campus. "I was having the time of my life," he said. "I couldn't get any higher."
But then a close relationship ended badly, and he found himself questioning the direction his life had taken. It wasn't just the partying and drinking, and it wasn't just the failed relationship. Williams says his discontent was rooted in something deeper.
"I was angry at the world," he said. "I really can't say why — it was just what was in me at that point in my life."
He'd attended a few BCM (Baptist Collegiate Ministries) meetings during his freshman year — "because there was free food, you know" — and later, during his low period, some of his BCM friends encouraged him to start coming again. "They shared the Word with me," Williams said. "That was the first time someone had really laid out the gospel to me."
"Through them, God planted the seed for me to get saved," he said. Last December, sitting alone in his room one night and feeling dejected, he opened his Bible to a passage a friend had read to him a few days earlier: Lamentations 3:1-24. "That passage is about how somebody felt so beaten and broken down, but they never lost hope in the Lord," he said.
"I prayed, 'Jesus, I can't live this life the way I'm living it without you anymore. I need you.' That was just how it happened, alone in my room, at midnight. I really accepted Christ into my heart — not just saying it, but understanding it and meaning it.
"When I gave my life to Christ, it was an unexplainable thing. Things that I used to want to do became less relevant. That's not to say they went away immediately, but I thirsted more for the Word and just letting that guide my life."
Today, he says he's no longer angry at the world. "To see that anger deteriorate and go away has been a crazy thing. I have more of a peace about me, and there's a love for others that wasn't there before. It's been an all-encompassing change that's hard to explain."
Jack Blankenship, BCM minister at Winthrop, concurs: "Ryan's life was dramatically changed this year, so much that people on campus started noticing and asking why."
For Williams, the role that BCM students and staff have played in his life has been pivotal: "That pouring out of Christ's love into me is what turned me around and opened my eyes to just a different way of living."
A 'Critical' Time of Transition
Williams is one of about 250,000 students enrolled in 84 public or private universities, technical schools or other teaching or research institutions across the state, according to a 2014 statistical abstract published by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education. Most of those students are from South Carolina, but many also come from other states or countries.
At almost every one of those 84 institutions — whether they be public or private — South Carolina Baptists have a presence and influence, either through Baptist Collegiate Ministries, or through the targeted ministry efforts of churches, or through informal volunteer efforts by individuals.
And of those quarter-million college students, many are experiencing personal independence for the first time, far from the familiar base of home and church.
Some of those students "will be followers of Jesus who need to find a church and a Christian community," said Ken Owens, director of the Collegiate Ministry Group of the South Carolina Baptist Convention. "Others will be spiritually lost, disconnected from God and in need of a Savior."
Owens leads a network of 18 collegiate ministers — full-time, part-time, SCBC-employed, college-employed, volunteers — who seek to reach young adults with the gospel at a period in their lives when their worldview is being molded into permanent form.
[Related story: Collegiate minister Scott Smith: 'I really enjoy what I do']
Steve Lindenmeyer, missions and college pastor at Centerpoint Church in Charleston, where up to 70 college and medical school students worship each week, says college students "are at a critical phase of development where some of life's most important decisions are being made: What do I believe? What am I going to live for? What will I choose to do for a career?"
"When the gospel of Christ intersects with their lives during this critical time, it is transformational," he said. "The trajectory of life can literally be influenced or changed based on the decisions one makes while in college."
Jack Blankenship, collegiate minister for Rock Hill-area campuses, offers a similar assessment. "College is a pivotal time in life where thoughts, beliefs and passions are cultivated," he said. "The period of life between 18 and 25 — now called emerging adulthood — is a time when one's worldview is not only questioned, but solidified."
College is not the first time students have been presented with "ideas and lifestyles that are contrary to what the Bible teaches," Blankenship said. "The challenge is that for many of them, it is their first real opportunity for freedom, and that all starts when Mom and Dad drop them off at move-in. All choices are theirs. This freedom … gives rise to an easy opportunity to either shelve their faith — thinking they will pick it up later — or an abandonment of it entirely."
Blankenship also noted that today's college students — referred to by sociologists as "Generation Z" — now represent the largest generation of Americans, and more of them are indicating their spiritual affiliation as "none."
"Unlike millennials, who were often 'spiritual but not religious,' more and more of this generation are not even worried about being spiritual," he said. "This presents a unique challenge. Just as missionaries have to adjust their thinking and approach when they encounter a different people group, we will have to do the same in the coming years — the same gospel message, but different approaches."
Owens said many students don't wait until college to drift away from church. "More and more students have dropped out — and are not growing as disciples — by their sophomore year in high school," he said. This makes them even less likely to seek out a church or a small group of believers when they go to college, Owens said.
College Ministry: Not Just for BCM
On South Carolina's college campuses last year, nearly 19,000 students were impacted by Baptist Collegiate Ministries programs, and more than 3,500 students were "actively involved" in those same programs. Among college students, 227 conversions were reported, in addition to 422 conversions of non-college students.
Nearly 400 BCM students were on a path toward a church-related vocation, close to 1,000 were engaged in evangelism, and 169 signed up to serve in summer or semester missions work (in addition to 433 who volunteered for short-term mission trips). BCM students assisted nearly 500 churches with ministry programs and gave more than $250,000 for missions.
But as effective as BCM staffers and students are at impacting college campuses with the gospel, the direct involvement of churches is crucial to reaching a greater number of students, say leaders.
"Our ministry is not in competition with our churches," said Blankenship. "We are an extension of the local church campus, discipling students to reach students. I tell students regularly that if you have to choose between BCM and the church, the decision is already made: Choose church. Some of my best friends are local pastors in our area. We have developed great partnerships and have fought hard to keep a kingdom mindset."
Lindenmeyer, whose church serves students primarily from the College of Charleston, The Citadel and the Medical University of South Carolina (in addition to a few students from Trident Technical College and Charleston Southern University), says his desire is that students become an "integral part" of the local body of Christ where they worship and serve during their time in college, even if their "home" church is in another town.
"We believe this is the best way to fully engage with the community they are living in under the direction, leadership and ministry of the church they are serving alongside," he said.
Jeremy Chasteen is college and missions pastor at Crosspoint Church in Clemson, where 500-600 college students regularly attend when school is in session. He encourages students to join Crosspoint so that they can "serve, teach and lead during their time with us." His church offers "normal covenant membership" as well as "associate membership" for those students who have a home church and want to maintain that while away at college.
For Chasteen, Crosspoint is about more than providing a temporary church home for students. "We see this as a great opportunity to influence the next generation of missionaries, pastors and those going into the marketplace as followers of Christ," he said. "We love to partner with campus ministries, but we have embraced our role to be a local church helping lead the charge in fulfilling the Great Commission on the college campus.
"We are trusting God that we can mobilize students to be healthy church members after graduation. We also pray that many students would leverage their degrees to go to unreached cities in the U.S. and around the world to take the gospel to the nations."
Rob Nicholes, college minister at First Baptist Church of Columbia, says his church encourages students to join via "watch care," which does not change their local church membership, but "designates to the home church that they are under our care while here."
"This allows them to make a tangible decision to put down some roots in a local church," he said. His church extends some of the benefits of being a church member, including eligibility for missions funds and scholarship funds for seminary.
Getting students who have grown up in their hometown church to engage in another community can be a challenge, Nicholes said. "They are comfortable at their home church, and the college faith community where they are seeking to be a part of a 'new family' has barriers." He said the same challenge exists even for students who are staying home for college and are seeking to be a part of the college ministry at their home church.
Nevertheless, the opportunities for ministering to college students are "boundless, because they have more freedom in their schedules than any other age group," said Nicholes. "They want to make a difference, they want to learn, they want to serve, and they are very open to what God is doing and may want to do in their lives. It is a very unique time."
Life and Learning on a Baptist Campus
If BCM aims to touch lives on all of South Carolina's college campuses, students who attend one of the state's three Baptist universities — Anderson, Charleston Southern and North Greenville — are immersed in an environment where living and learning under the leadership of Christ is integral to each school's mission statement.
In addition to academic majors that offer preparation for ministry and missions, all three schools fund staff ministry positions and encourage involvement in student worship and ministry/missions organizations beyond just BCM.
At Anderson, students can also choose to participate in Women's Ministries, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Reformed University Fellowship and Campus Crusade for Christ.
At Charleston Southern, students are encouraged to "grow more in love with Jesus" through weekly discipleship (in "D-groups"), through worship (at weekly "Elevate" services and at chapel) and by missions and service involvement (through "Engage" opportunities).
At North Greenville, students can be part of weekend "Impact" ministry teams at area churches, help with the school's annual student-led renewal event, or take part in one of several annual campus conferences designed to strengthen their faith or expose them to missions opportunities.
'The Harvest is Plentiful …'
How can churches and individuals become more involved in college ministry?
"We need more people ready and willing to enter the harvest field of university campuses," said Lindenmeyer. "To engage students requires the most important of all commodities: time. It takes time to build relationships, to clearly demonstrate and declare the gospel and to counsel students in difficult circumstances. It takes time to have students in your home and around your table.
"I believe college students are less concerned about what they see in a weekly worship service and more concerned with the authenticity demonstrated and lived out the rest of the week," he added. "That requires availability and commitment."
Owens, too, said ministry with college students "demands a relational investment."
"Just putting on a good program or sponsoring a meal at the church won't create a lot of interest among students today," he said. "They want to know people from the church. Developing ways for students to relate to one another and to older mentors is critical," he said.
Owens encourages every church to explore "the need and opportunity" to make a missional connection to its local campus. "Find out if the campus has trustworthy Christian ministry organizations, like BCM," he said. "Connect with their leaders and see how you can help fill a ministry need, such as assisting with student move-in day, participating in an international student gathering, or adopting a dormitory for gospel impact."
"If the campus doesn't have an active gospel witness, examine ways your church can begin to shine the light on campus," he said. "Meet with university officials to discern needs on campus that your church may be able to meet. Or help begin a new ministry organization on the campus."
Owens advises churches not to overlook technical colleges. "They are the fastest-growing colleges in our state and the ones least served by Christian ministries," he said.
Even churches that aren't near a college campus can be involved by praying for students and BCM leaders, Owens said, and by offering financial support with Cooperative Program gifts.
Finally, churches should work hard to stay in touch with their students who have gone off to college, Owens said. He encourages church staff members and lay leaders to travel to campus to visit their students, to send them care packages and letters, and to plan activities for them when they are home on break.
He also recommends reaching out to high school seniors before they graduate by taking them to the Converge collegiate conference in February or leading them in a transitions Bible study. (To request more information about leading a transitions study, visit http://www.scbaptist.org/transitions/.)


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Delta Zeta hosts the 19th annual Run To The Chicken 5K & 3K Fun Run benefiting our local partner, Isaiah's Place, as well as our international partner Starkey Hearing Foundation. The run begins at 9:30 AM on the back porch of the Dixie Chicken on Saturday, October 10, 2015.
If you cannot attend the event all donations are accepted and appreciated!
The Winnner Winner Chicken Dinner will be held on October 8 from 5:30-8:30 at the Delta Zeta House, 1501 Olympia Way College Station, TX 77840. This is an opportunity for participants to join us for a chicken dinner and pick up your race packet! Tickets for the dinner are just $5 and includes a plate with chicken catered from Layne's, Cane's, and Chick-fil-a!
Sorry! Online registration for this event is now closed.
Please check event website for more details.Thanks!


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West Clubs Women's League
Sedgemoor Division 1
Burnham-on-Sea 2, Chard 2
BURNHAM Ladies picked their first point of the season with a superb team performance, and with a bit more luck they could have taken all three.
They were boosted by the return of two players who had been out for some time – Nicki Glanville and Ellie Bishop – who both went on to have storming games.
In driving rain the Blues started well and opened the scoring after fine passing and movement.
Sarah Johnson fired a sideline hit across the pitch from right to left, where Chelsea Fisher picked it up and sent it early down the line to Jem Johnson, who crossed perfectly for Kerry Harvey to tap in at the far post.
The impressive Bishop was finding a lot of space down the right and linking well with Harvey, while Amy Edmundson and Sarah Johnson both went close to doubling the Blues' lead, before they were hit by a sucker-punch from the visitors.
Two well-taken short corner strikes nestled right in the corners of the Burnham goal, giving keeper Glanville no chance and putting Chard ahead.
TOP PERFORMER: Ellie Bishop picked up the player of the match award. Pic: Steve Richardson
However, in her first start back after injury and in a new position, Glanville went on to have a tremendous game and saved Burnham on numerous occasions, with a diving one-handed stop with her stick being the highlight.
Despite being behind at the break, Burnham knew they had the ability to get back into the game, and so it proved as they scored early in the second period.
This time Fisher found Sarah Johnson in the middle of the pitch with a quick ball out of defence, and she in turn moved it on early to Jem Johnson.
She used her pace and skill to drive down the left before firing in a cross that Edmundson instantly controlled and smashed low into the corner of the goal for her first of the season.
Both sides had chances to win it, with Emma Ballard and Tracey Dunn having to save goalbound penalty corner strikes on their respective posts, while Caroline Hunt deserved a goal for her performance in the middle of the pitch.
In the end a draw was a fair result.
Player of the match: Ellie Bishop
Burnham are at home again this coming Saturday (10am start), with White Eagles the visitors to King Alfred Sports Centre.
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With over six years in business MPA is southeast Iowa's most respected business technology provider.
Serving 10 counties in Iowa and Missouri our mission is to make computers, servers, and all of your technology
work flawlessly so that you can do what you do best – RUN YOUR BUSINESS.
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Sondheim Center for the Performing Arts/Fairfield Arts & Convention Center


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This guide is designed to support you in thinking about how you can increase the climate and human health benefits of urban forests in your work. More specifically, it is designed to help you evaluate the potential impacts from climate change and select actions to respond to those impacts within the context of a particular project, such as the development of a community tree planting program or the restoration of a natural area or park.
Once you determine your project area or location, you will want to clearly articulate the management goals and objectives for your project.
As you set up a new project, you will want to answer two fundamental questions:
- Where is your project located? The project could include all of the street trees across a municipality or focus on one particular nature area or feature.
- What are you trying to achieve? The project should articulate clear management goals and objectives to describe the intent of the project and the desired outcomes.
Management goals describe the broad outcomes you are trying to accomplish. Goals outline the big picture and set the long-term vision for where you want to go.
Goals for an urban forestry project might include things like:
- Increase tree species diversity to reduce the risks of pests and disease
- Increase canopy cover to reduce the urban heat island effect
- Reduce invasive species cover to allow canopy trees to regenerate in natural areas
- Improve water quality and reduce stormwater runoff through green infrastructure
Management objectives are more specific actions that support the completion of a goal. Using the house analogy, your goals form the foundation that you build on, while the objectives are the walls and roof that form the shell of the house. As much as possible, objectives should be SMART:
- Specific: Be clear in describing the outcomes of the broader goals that you've identified. What will things "look like" when you have achieved your goal?
- Measurable: Include metrics that will help you determine whether you have met your goal.
- Achievable: Be realistic about what actions you can take on, breaking big actions into several smaller steps if you need to.
- Relevant: Connect objectives to one or more of your broader management goals to ensure you are heading in the right direction.
- Time-bound: Specify a date or time frame for accomplishments, which could be a deadline for accomplishing an action or something that is repeated continually throughout the life of the plan.
Management Goal | Management Objective |
Increase tree species diversity to reduce the risks of pests and disease | Have no more than 20% of a family, 10% of a genus and 5% of a species across all street trees (25 years) |
Increase canopy cover to reduce the urban heat island effect | Increase a neighborhood or city's tree equity score from 20 to 40 points (20 years) |
Reduce invasive species cover to allow canopy trees to regenerate in natural areas | Reduce area covered by invasive buckthorn from 10% to no more than 5% (10 years) |
Improve water quality and reduce stormwater runoff through green infrastructure | Stabilize 50 feet of eroding banks (5 years) |
Need more help? The Urban Forestry Toolkit provides additional resources to assist with the planning process for both small and large areas, including community assessment and goal setting.


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Are Empaths rare? You can be forgiven for thinking that they are everywhere with the number of people that are claiming to be Empaths these days.
Most of these people are mistaken, though they can be forgiven too.
Many of them are simply empathic which, while related in many ways, is not the same thing as being an Empath.
There are many similarities between these two groups of people, but that's because they aren't two separate groups.
Every Empath is empathic, but not everybody who is empathic is also an Empath.
What separates the Empath from the empathic is in the physical and metaphysical processes that accompany the emotional response.
Put in simpler terms: an empathic person can imagine vividly how they would feel in another person's shoes, whereas an Empath higherfeels it.
They do not experience their own emotions as though they were in the same situation.
They tap into the emotional energy given off by the other person and feel their it is as they are feeling them.
This difference is very subtle, but it is also incredibly powerful.
Our experience of life, from our perspective, is entirely subjective.
No matter how hard we try, the vast majority of us will only ever see through our own experience.
But for those rare few, their experience of life includes the experiences of others.
It is both a gift and a curse because when they are untrained doing it is entirely out of their control.
These things cannot be said about empathic people.
The problem with separating these two groups is that our language is limited.
How an empathic person describes their talents and how an Empath describes theirs are often very similar.
The experience is defined the same way because of the limitations of language.
An expert Empath can usually tell the real deal from an empathic person.
How Rare Are Empaths?
Empathic people make up about 15-20% of the population – around 1 in 7 people. Empaths, meanwhile, only add up to about 2% of the population – roughly 1 in 50 people.
We have to take those numbers with a pinch of salt, though.
They are rough estimates based on the experiences of experts in the field, so they are necessarily based on limited sample sizes.
This means that the number of Empaths could be much lower, though it is unlikely it would be much higher.
So are Empaths rare? Yes.
How rare are Empaths? Not vanishingly so.
In a town of 10,000 people there would 200 of them. You probably know one or two of them, at least in passing.
But if there are multiple people in your friend group claiming to be Empaths, the chances are very slim that more than one of them is right.
Not impossible, but it is highly unlikely.
That at, if you live in a large city, then you could know many of these people!
One of the benefits of living in a big city is that there are guaranteed to be like-minded people somewhere around.
There are thriving communities in many cities around the globe and it is natural that they would gravitate towards each other.
Are Male Empaths Rare?
Are male Empaths rare? Seeing as the answer to "are Empaths rare?" is yes, it seems obvious that they would be and you are right.
But exactly how rare are Empaths who are male?
Female energies are far more aligned with social thinking, emotional connection, and empathy than male energies.
While most people have a fair balance between masculine and feminine energies, women do tend to have more feminine energy, and men tend to have more masculine energy.
It's not always the case and shouldn't be taken as a rule, but when we are talking about statistics, it is essential.
So women are more likely to have a better connection with empathy and are therefore more likely to be empathic.
The more people who are empathic, the more people there are that could be Empaths.
Because there are fewer strongly empathic men, male Empaths are rare.
A greater degree of emotional receptivity is required of men before they can claim this status.
Are male Empaths rare? Yes, especially so. But they do exist!
There are also fewer empathic men.
It is a problem in the broader society.
A lack of balance between masculine and feminine energies has ingrained itself in culture, leading to numbers of men who are unable to communicate their emotions effectively.
The sad thing is that this is very fixable and it would be of great benefit to do so.
Are Empaths Rare Abilities In You?
If you are wondering if you are genuinely an Empath or just empathic, then you should take a look and see if the following signs resonate with you.
People like to unload their emotions on you.
They say they feel much better after doing it, but you feel awful afterward and need some serious recharging time.
You feel the emotions of others. It is not just you imagining how they might feel, you actually feel them.
If a room has a bad vibe, you simply cannot bear to be in it.
You often leave parties and such because of this, but its not you being antisocial it is merely your powers being overwhelmed with stimuli.
You get sudden bursts of emotion that don't make any sense.
They feel like they have originated outside of your body and belong to someone else entirely.
It happens more often in public than it does in private.
You can sense a lie every time.
Animals are as important to you as people. In fact, for you, the lines are blurred, as you can experience their emotions just as well as you can for people.
To you, there isn't much of a difference.
You never pass by a person in pain.
It's not a choice to stop and help, it's uncontrollable, and in the moment it is the most essential thing in the world.


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North Bengal ground Zero: Agony of Tea Garden Workers
That the strife of tea-garden workers—a huge number of them having been rendered jobless and quite a few already having committed suicide—in North Bengal is assuming ominous dimension can be understood from the fact that, the Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman herself landed in Siliguri and held discussions with State Government and other stake holders. But the meetings yielded little results as the Union Minister was unfortunately forced to urge the Mamata Banerjee Government—in the ultimate—to take 'prompt actions'. Nothing concrete seemed to have emerged even from the meetings even with Duncans Industries proprietor G P Goenka—who merely said the problem will be 'resolved very soon'. Duncan Industries owns as many as 16 distressed tea plantations in the region including Terai-Dooars Darjeeling Hills and North Dinajpur district.
According to Sitharaman, many workers have been rendered jobless even as "interacting with tea garden workers I (she could) realise that the workers want to work". The financial crisis haunting tea garden management has turned serious in last two months with many distressed labourers even taking extreme steps to end their lives.
An estimated 65 persons have already lost their lives due to suicide and food malnutrition.
A beleaguered CM Mamata Banerjee—more busy with politics of 2016 Assembly elections—took an indifferent stance and dismissed that all suicides in tea garden areas could not be linked to workers' per se.
Others disagree. The Darjeeling District Legal Aid Forum filed a PIL in Calcutta High Court on December 8, 2015 seeking steps to prevent the deaths of tea workers. On the other hand, the Darjeeling Terai Dooars Plantation Labour Union backed by Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha has also announced launching of agitation against management of tea gardens in College Valley and Peshok under the Alchemist group.
The small time tea garden owners and tea-growers are also pulling up their sleeves amid the crisis and trying to reorganise themselves. In some affected regions tea workers have taken preliminary steps to run 'self-governed' tea factories themselves. In Jalpaiguri district in Maynaguri area, the tea-garden workers have drawn out plans to run at least 10 small tea factories. But it's a long way to go, as the common refrain is. But according to Vijay Gopal Chakravarty, president of Jalpaiguri Smalltime Tea Workers' Association, the move to run the estates and set up these proposed factories is revolutionary as for long the frustrated workers were largely dependent on the 'mercy' of tea brokers and big companies.
"Even at times they thought of giving up tea plantation and dedicate the land to other agriculture cultivation. But now there's a change. They want to retain the inherent strength of their land that is tea cultivation. If this initiative renders expected results, will go a long way," says one local tea farmer Jeevan Pradhan.
More than one group of native tea growers are procuring land and trying to set-up their own 'owners-employees run' cooperative type tea factories. In some pockets already 400 hectares of land has been procured at a cost of Rs 25 lakh where tea growers themselves will grow tea and also run small-time factory. In Maynaguri block there are already small success stories.
"In Panbaari area, they say, one such unit was set-up in 2012 and it was incidentally first of its kind 'tea-growers run factory' in the country. The effort was successful. Then we had another factory at Brahmapur. Both are doing well," they say.
North Dinajpur Small Tea Growers Association's general secretary Debashish Pal has welcomed the move in Jalpaiguri district and says the initiative is worth emulating in other areas too.
When Politics outshines
Didi is most often used to losing her temper. So, when during her trip to Siliguri once she lost cool facing questions of suicide deaths—not many local journalists and officials were surprised. A furious Didi gave them a "virtual dressing down" and told them true picture needs to be highlighted. Then came in Didi's dose of politics and oft-repeated blame game!
She blasted the erstwhile Left regime for "not doing anything" for smalltime tea-growers and tea garden workers. "On the other hand look at us. We have cleared a programme worth Rs 100 crore for tea-garden workers," she waxed eloquently. But the truth of the matter is that even Didi's regime has not helped anything change substantially on ground zero.
For instance, ending the private lease over land Bandapani tea-estate control was passed on to the State Government in 2014; yet the tea-garden closed four years ago is still shut. Mamata's opponents—Congress, CPI(M), BJP and even GNLF and trade unions associated with these parties feel that things have worsened under Trinamool dispensation.
For instance, GNLF affiliated Himalayan Plantation Workers Union has now threatened to intensify agitation by March. They have already met Darjeeling District Magistrate (DM) Anurag Srivastava and urged him to intervene vis-à-vis closed tea estates at Panighata and Kurseong sub-divisions near Siliguri. The union has also urged the DM to take over land from the closed tea garden owners and distribute the same among workers. This has been reportedly turned down by the administration as plantation land cannot be distributed like that.
On December 31, 2015; Siliguri Mayor Asok Bhattacharya, a local popular Marxist leader, announced that 23 Left Front Councilors and one independent Councilor will help tea workers with their personal December allowance. He also took strong exception to Mamata regime's hyped expenditure of Rs 50 crore for Uttar Banga Fest under which all youth clubs in the locality were to get Rs 2 crore each. "The Chief Minister and the State Government should instead stand by the tea garden workers," he said.
But nothing seems to be working in favour of distressed tea-garden workers and smalltime tea growers. "Akaley mrityur talika bere cholechhe… (There's gradual increase in deaths of distressed people)," lamented Bimla Chhetri, one tea-worker.
Tea gardens in North Bengal, once the hub of profit making industry, are now brewing starvation & malnutrition resulting in numerous deaths of Tea garden workers.
Nirendra Dev


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Professional Room Block
Management Tool
The new Hotel Manager is a professional room block management tool with an intuitive interface, industrial strength capacity and sophisticated features. The system manages small, single property blocks or city-wide inventories, enabling the user to define an unlimited number of hotels per event and an unlimited number of room types per hotel. Each room type is defined with a separate price structure, description, and starting inventory per night of the block. As a room is sold, the nightly inventory of the room type confirmed is adjusted for the dates of the transaction. Portions of the room block may be set aside from general inventory as a sub-block under the control and guarantee of a group leader. A variety of reports, confirmations, and invoices can be generated. It is so tightly integrated with Registration Manager that the two applications link to the same name and address records, and share common accounting ledgers, reports, and work areas.
Expanded Features & Functionality
- Manages single property or city-wide inventories
- Define unlimited number of hotels per event and an unlimited number of room types per hotel
- Sub-block management with variable inventories per night within the same sub-block
- Assign background colors to room availability grid to highlight peak nights, minimum stays, or rate differences
- Tracks multiple bookings per guest
- Manages multiple events simultaneously
- Room types may have different room rates per night of the week which allows for variable room rates within the same reservation (a helpful feature for gaming and resort destinations)
- For each room type at each hotel, the system maintains a cumulative history of original inventory, adjustments, bookings and current availability
- Roommates can have arrival and departure dates that are different from the lead name's
- Fixed or variable cancellation mechanisms
- Insightful, graphical report library
- Informative confirmation statements integrate registration, hotel and accounting transactions
- Detailed price point breakdown of room rates
- Check-boxes track special requests
- Check digit testing applied to credit card's
- New Availability and Inventory Lookup grids
- Email confirmations
- Set Default Hotel, Room Type, Arrival Date and Departure Date to speed data entry
- Cross-referenced roommate reports
- Hotel specific confirmation text
- Registration & membership integration
The new Hotel Manager dominates the competition with sophisticated functionality in sub-block request, sub-block allocation and sub-block management functionality. With new enhancements of time-tested favorite features, ICM's new Hotel Manager raises the standard for housing managers.


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Guest House
From A Wiki of Ice and Fire
The Guest House is a building in Winterfell. It can host visitors to the castle.[1]
The Guest House is located by the godswood of Winterfell, with three small ponds located beneath its windows.[2] The Guest House has a morning room where breakfast can be served.[1]
Recent Events
A Game of Thrones
King Robert I Baratheon and his family stay in the Guest House during their visit to Winterfell.[1]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 9, Tyrion I.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 53, Bran VI.


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Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier of Brighton, Kt, OM (/ˈlɒrəns kɜːr ɒˈlɪvieɪ/; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, dominated the British stage of the mid-20th century. He also worked in films throughout his career, playing more than fifty cinema roles. Late in his career, he had considerable success in television roles.
His family had no theatrical connections, but Olivier's father, a clergyman, decided that his son should become an actor. After attending a drama school in London, Olivier learned his craft in a succession of acting jobs during the late 1920s. In 1930 he had his first important West End success in Noël Coward's Private Lives, and he appeared in his first film. In 1935 he played in a celebrated production of Romeo and Juliet alongside Gielgud and Peggy Ashcroft, and by the end of the decade he was an established star. In the 1940s, together with Richardson and John Burrell, Olivier was the co-director of the Old Vic, building it into a highly respected company. There his most celebrated roles included Shakespeare's Richard III and Sophocles's Oedipus. In the 1950s Olivier was an independent actor-manager, but his stage career was in the doldrums until he joined the avant garde English Stage Company in 1957 to play the title role in The Entertainer, a part he later played on film. From 1963 to 1973 he was the founding director of Britain's National Theatre, running a resident company that fostered many future stars. His own parts there included the title role in Othello (1964) and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice (1970).
Thomas Stearns Eliot OM (26 September 1888 – 4 January 1965) was a British, American-born essayist, publisher, playwright, literary and social critic, and "one of the twentieth century's major poets". He immigrated to England in 1914 at age 25, settling, working and marrying there. He was eventually naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39, renouncing his American citizenship.
Eliot attracted widespread attention for his poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1915), which is seen as a masterpiece of the Modernist movement. It was followed by some of the best-known poems in the English language, including The Waste Land (1922), The Hollow Men (1925), Ash Wednesday (1930), and Four Quartets (1945). He is also known for his seven plays, particularly Murder in the Cathedral (1935). He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948, "for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry."
The Eliots were a Boston family with roots in Old and New England. Thomas Eliot's paternal grandfather, William Greenleaf Eliot, had moved to St. Louis, Missouri to establish a Unitarian Christian church there. His father, Henry Ware Eliot (1843–1919), was a successful businessman, president and treasurer of the Hydraulic-Press Brick Company in St. Louis; his mother, Charlotte Champe Stearns (1843–1929), wrote poetry and was a social worker, a new profession in the early twentieth century. Eliot was the last of six surviving children; his parents were both 44 years old when he was born. His four sisters were between eleven and nineteen years older; his brother was eight years older. Known to family and friends as Tom, he was the namesake of his maternal grandfather, Thomas Stearns.


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Spiritual Emergency is the name given to a psychological crisis with spiritual overtones. It was coined by the psychologist Stan Grof in the 1970s.
Dr Tim Read is a leading psychiatrist and is also trained as a holotropic breathwork practitioner with Stan Grof. He was Consultant at the Royal London Hospital for over twenty years leading the Liaison Psychiatry service and the Crisis Intervention service.
In this discussion with Rebel Wisdom's David Fuller, they talk about the phenomenon of spiritual emergency and how to navigate in altered states.


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Passaredo buys Map
Now united Passaredo and Map looking at jet aircraft
Number four on the Brazilian market is taking over number five. Passaredo buys Map Linhas Aéreas. Together they want to grow their market share.
ATR von Map Linhas Aéreas: Fokus auf unterversorgte Städte.
ATR von Map Linhas Aéreas: Fokus auf unterversorgte Städte.
Gol is number one in Brazil with a market share of 37.8 percent, followed by Latam with 32.5 percent and Azul with 29.1 percent. The number four Passaredo and five Map Linhas Aéreas achieve only 0.48 and 0.19 percent respectively. But now they are getting a little stronger.
Passaredo announced last week that it was buying its competitor Map. Together, the two airlines have a market share of around 0.7 percent. Passaredo President José Luiz Felicio Filho explained the newspaper Folha de São Paulo that they share a similar philosophy. Both are flying to Brazilian cities that are still undersupplied. They also have a single fleet.
Strong position
Map Linhas Aéreas (formerly: Manaus Aerotaxi Participaçoes) was founded in 2011 and currently has a fleet of five ATR 42 and 72. Passaredo, founded in 1995, has five ATR 72. Both got lucky in the auction for the distribution of slots at São Paulo-Congonhas Airport from the bankrupt Avianca Brasil Together they now own 26 slots at the city airport of the metropolis. This is a strong starting point for growth, according to Felicio Filho.
Inspired by the merger, Passaredo's management is already looking for larger aircraft. With Airbus Boeing or Embraer jets, the capacity from São Paulo-Congonhas can be increased, as Passaredo boss Eduardo Busch told the Panrotas portal. But a decision will not be made until next year.


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There are 645,000 journeys made by bicycle in London every day according to data released by the British Cycling Federation[1] and with an average speed of 14mph compared to just 8mph in a car, it's no wonder commuters are swapping four wheels for two. Thousands more people will be encouraged to cycle and walk to work thanks to a new £64 million government investment announced by the Transport Minister Andrew Jones earlier this year, which will help make cycling in the capital easier and safer.
Located on Cycle Superhighway 3, which runs from Barking to Tower Gateway, Countryside's landmark East City Point development in Canning Town is ideal for commuters looking for a safer, faster and more direct journey into central London. From Canning Town, it takes just over 25 minutes to cycle on the Super Highway to Fenchurch Street on the edge of the City, following a pleasant route through Poplar, Limehouse and Shadwell. The development also offers secure cycling storage in order to encourage residents to adopt this greener way of living.
Amanda Nesbitt, Associate Sales and Marketing Director at Countryside Partnerships South comments: "We've witnessed a revolution in cycling over the last decade, with the creation of London's Cycle Superhighways elevating the humble bicycle into one of the fastest and most efficient ways to get to work. From East City Point it couldn't be easier to reach central London by bike, enabling residents to escape the stress and boredom of the daily commute while also boosting their health and wellbeing."
Multi award-winning East City Point is in the heart of a thriving new neighbourhood which has built on the success of London 2012 to become one of London's flagship regeneration projects. Currently available is a collection of one-bedroom apartments at Lexicon Terrace and two-bedroom apartments in the Atrium Building, which features a striking glass and steel façade, allowing light to flow through its interior. Glass walkways reach the length of the building offering panoramic views, while extensive new amenities and community facilities, including a communal winter garden and roof terraces, help encourage a strong sense of community among residents.
The apartments at East City Point have been designed to maximise natural light and space, with grand proportions and open plan layouts. Smart, contemporary kitchens are fitted with sleek, handleless cabinets with contrasting worktops, porcelain floor tiles and a full range of integrated appliances. Bathrooms feature sleek white sanitary ware with porcelain tiles and chrome accessories. Every apartment benefits from a balcony, many of which enjoy uninterrupted vistas towards Greenwich and London's skyline.
Canning Town and Custom House are part of a massive £3.7 billion regeneration scheme delivering new homes, better quality streets, open spaces and a £600 million town centre, expected to be completed in 2024. As part of the transformation, a redeveloped Rathbone Market and the new Hallsville Quarter in Canning Town will provide extensive retail and leisure facilities, alongside green open spaces.
For wet and windy days, East City Point is also extremely well connected for public transport across the capital. Canning Town on the Jubilee Line and Docklands Light Railway (DLR) is less than a mile from the development, providing direct services to Canary Wharf, central London and London City Airport. The arrival of Crossrail in December 2018 will further improve transport links across London, putting Custom House station just 14 minutes from the West End.
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Mark Sanchez turns page on infamous Butt Fumble, looks forward to Giants
Jets fans of a certain age may remember the starting quarterback for the Redskins in Sunday's game against the Giants.
Mark Sanchez, the former first-round pick of the Jets and their franchise quarterback several times removed, will make his first start for Washington a little over two weeks after first signing with the team. He's been pressed into service because of injuries to starter Alex Smith and backup Colt McCoy, both of whom suffered fractured legs in game action. McCoy's happened on Monday night and Sanchez finished the game for Washington.
Sanchez is with his fourth team since leaving the Jets, but those days in New York continue to follow him. When he spoke with Washington area reporters on Wednesday, in fact, the subject of the infamous Butt Fumble against the Patriots on Thanksgiving night in 2012 was broached.
"What are you going to do?" Sanchez said. "It was a crappy play in a game where we were getting our butts kicked . . . Listen, who cares? It's just one play and move on. I'd prefer to remember the good stuff."
Sanchez has played for all three of the Giants' NFC East rivals in his career. His last game against the Giants was in 2014 when he led the Eagles to a 34-26 victory. Pat Shurmur was the Eagles' offensive coordinator that season.
"I was with Mark Sanchez for more than a year, so he's very capable of leading a team to victory," Shurmur said. "I watched it happen."
Shurmur also figures that Washington will rely heavily on their run game, featuring Adrian Peterson, with Sanchez making his first start since 2015 and having just signed with Washington on Nov. 19.
"They're going to try to do what Mark can do best, and try to play to the strengths of their team," he said. "I know they've got a soon-to-be Hall of Fame running back, so you can just connect the dots and see what they'll probably do on offense to compensate for some of the injuries they have."
As for Sanchez, he said he's embracing the opportunity even though it comes under less-than-ideal circumstances.
"Two weeks ago it was an unfamiliar position, but really, historically, it's a familiar position," he said of being a starting quarterback. "That's what makes it fun. You work for something, you pray for something and then it finally happens. You don't care what the circumstances are, you're just happy to get a shot."
Notes & quotes: Eli Manning had the line of the day when asked about Saquon Barkley hurdling a defender in Sunday's win over the Bears. "You know, there are only a few of us who can do that," the quarterback said. "I'm just waiting for my opportunity. It hasn't arrived yet." . . . LB Lorenzo Carter (hip) and LB Tae Davis (knee) did not practice on Wednesday. TE Evan Engram (hamstring) participated in early drills and was listed as limited. So were WR Sterling Shepard (ribs) and LB B.J. Goodson (neck).


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Ghanaian dancehall star, Shatta Wale has reacted to the controversy trailing him kissing his male bodyguard on the mouth.
Shatta Wale was seen in the video thanking his security guard Shatta Kumoji.
"I love you mhen… you kept your word," Shatta Wale said as he put his neck chain around Kumoji's neck. "God is good. I received it," Kumoji responded as the diamond neck chain was placed around his neck.
Afterwards, Shatta Wale planted a kiss on Kumoji's mouth. The video has triggered divided opinions on the Ghanaian singer's sexuality.
Reacting to the controversy that trailed the viral video,
Shatta Wale tweeted;
Kissing makes my fans happy


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This year, Maharashtra budget has outlined its plan to prioritise infrastructure in a big way, indicating its intention and agenda for development. There are several significant urban projects in the city of Mumbai alone, from the metro rail to the coastal road, the Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link Project, the Virar-Alibaug multimodal corridor, and sewage treatment plants. In the state, the mega Samrudhhi Mahamarg project, a multimodal highway between Mumbai and Nagpur, has caught the fancy of many an investor. A virtual conference called "Construction World Maharashtra", to be spearheaded by Construction World on April 28, will capture these and other projects in the offing for India's richest state. Some of the biggest names from government, public and private sectors will discuss and provide insights on various aspects of this focus theme, shedding light on perspectives that include business opportunities, infrastructure finance, and project status(Click here to go to the CW Maharashtra page.)
The virtual conference "CW Maharashtra" will bring on the same platform some of the world's largest project developers, construction companies, architect firms, investment banks and private equity firms. Discussions will revolve around three themes:
-Megaproject opportunities in Maharashtra with a deep-dive into Mumbai eastern waterfront: Port redevelopment and future possibilities along the eastern waterfront.
-Secured Governance / Urban equity withdrawal project financing through asset monetisation.
- Electric vehicle charging stations to be set-up on major highways (Mumbai -Pune, Mumbai-Goa, Mumbai-Nashik).
- Allocation of Rs 8,420 crore for the urban development department.
- Allocation of Rs 2,533cr for water supply and sanitation.
- New ring road to be made in Pune
The ambitious 701 km, Rs 55,000 crore Samruddhi Mahamarg, like most other projects, has received a small timeline setback from the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the much-awaited opening of the first 520 km of the stretch will need to be pushed back from its May 1 deadline. When it opens to traffic, it will be multimodal, directly connecting 10 districts, 26 talukas and around 392 villages.
The year 2021-22 has also caught the attention of the central government on infrastructure, and Maharashtra will also launch and commission many projects in the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP). CW Maharashtra's panels are also expected to discuss the NIP and its work in the state.
Established in 1996, Construction World is India's premier and largest circulated construction business magazine, covering projects, policies and people to topical concerns, trends, technology, and products. This award-winning, flagship publication of Mumbai-headquartered ASAPP Info Global Group is circulated among architects and builders; material and equipment players, industry stakeholders, business leaders, policymakers, and change-agents. The magazine's website www.constructionworld.in has over 180,000 unique visitors and around four million hits a month.


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In last night's episode of VH1's Love & Hip Hop Atlanta, cast member Joseline dropped a bombshell on her manager Stevie J.
Joseline found out she was pregnant, and took the pregnancy test to Stevie J to tell him the news. As she cried and pondered what to do about the situation, Stevie J seemed kind of confused as to why she was bringing that information to him.
"You're supposed to handle this off rip," Stevie told Joseline before asking her who's child it was.
"I haven't f*cked nobody for the last six months but you," Joseline responds as the episode ends.
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This article examines path dependency and technological lock-in in the evolution of the Dundee jute industry, from its beginnings in the 1860s to its demise in the 1970s. The evolution of the industry is explored using the resource-based view of the firm (RBV). The results suggest that the nature and construct of jute fibre was the root cause of a lack of sustainable strategic responses in the sector. Path dependent decisions and technological lock-in meant that many firms were not able to make successful strategic switches, although the capabilities of their engineering skills allowed some firms to endure for longer. Thus, the article extends the RBV to a deeper firm capability level and complements cognate literature on the UK textile sector with a finer specification of the phases in jute's evolution.
Original language | English |
Pages (from-to) | 960-981 |
Number of pages | 22 |
Journal | Business History |
Volume | 62 |
Issue number | 6 |
Early online date | 30 Sept 2018 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 17 Aug 2020 |
- Dundee jute industry
- innovation
- lock-in
- path dependency
- resource-based view
- strategic change
- strategic response
- technological change
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Business and International Management
- Business, Management and Accounting (miscellaneous)
- History
Dive into the research topics of 'Strategic responses to low-cost competition: Technological lock-in in the Dundee jute industry'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Profiles
Swapnesh Masrani
- School of Social Sciences, Edinburgh Business School - Assistant Professor
- School of Social Sciences - Assistant Professor
Person: Academic (Research & Teaching)


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Slavery became deeply embedded in America from the very beginning and was only ended by a bloody four year Civl War. Slaves were brought to Jamestown in 1619 and by the mid 18th century there were more than one million slaves here, mostly working on indigo and tobacco plantations in the South. But as tobacco growing became more difficult, slavery began to ebb. However in 1793, Eli Whitney changed everything with his invention of the cotton gin. Cotton, which previously had not been particularly profitable because it was so labor intensive to remove the seeds, became immensely profitable, partially due to the mechanization of England's textile industry. Slavery had never been widespread in the North, and by 1804 the last northern state had banned it, although great fortunes in New England and New York had been made from the slave trade. Congress banned the importation of slaves into the United States in 1808, but the domestic slave trade continued to flourish in the South. By 1860, there were 4 million slaves in the South, half in the cotton producing areas. In other words, one out of every three persons in the South was a slave, at the same time that slavery had been banned in the North for over 50 years. Slavery was vital to the South's economy and culture, and in fact, was the single largest economic entity in the entire country. So while a Northern businessman might invest in equipment and buildings, the South invested in slaves, which doomed their economy to be almost totally dependent upon agriculture.
Stay with me, there is actually a film review here, but the issue of slavery is so central to our heritage that it deserves more than a quick paragraph. By the 1830's, abolitionist groups were forming in the North, especially in New England, although the average northerner was unconcerned with the issue because it was far away in the South. The underground railroad, helping slaves flee the South, was firmly established, and northern churches began to speak against slavery. But in the South slavery was a cultural norm, and southern churches routinely used the Bible to justify slavery. As the western territories began to be settled, slavery became a much more contested issue. The North was determined to prevent the spread of slavery to the territories and new states, while the South was equally determined to permit slavery in those territories. The country was sliding toward conflict, and southern states were talking openly of seccession if Lincoln were elected. Lincoln was elected in 1860, and the war followed, beginning with the South Carolina militia firing on Fort Sumter. Both sides were convinced the fighting would be brief, with each side believing that the other would rapidly concede. Four bloody years later at least 625,000 men from both sides had died in combat or from disease (the equivalent of 6 million dead with our present population) and at least that many more were wounded before Lee's surrender at Appomattox in 1865. The 13th Amendment (1866) abolished slavery, and the 15th Amendment (1870) gave black men (but not women) the right to vote. But after Reconstruction, a resurgent white supremacist movement in the South passed Jim Crow laws, which effectively prevented blacks from voting and cemented a dual class system with often violent intimidation (i.e. the KKK) until the Civil Rights era of the 1960's.
In the 1930's, the WPA used writers and journalists to interview 2300 former slaves, which produced a comprehensive view of slavery. But narratives written by slaves prior to the end of the Civil War are very rare because teaching a slave to read was a serious crime in many southern states. Few written narratives are known to exist, and only one by a woman. One of these accounts was written by Solomon Northup, a free black man with a family, who was kidnapped and taken to Louisiana. His account, "12 Years a Slave", published in 1853, shocked the North, angered the South, and sold 30,000 copies. After the Civil War, his book was forgotten until a historian rediscovered it in the 1960's and published an annotated version. Today, Northup's book is a key reference for the study of slavery in America.
The reality of slavery is not often appreciated today, and depictions on film have been far less cruel than the reality. Early film makers bought into the Southern myth of happy slaves, well cared for by their owners. Even later films shied away from portraying the reality, because few would want to see that reality. The fantasy films, like "Django Unchained", were worse because they trivialized slavery. So instead we have tended to internalize softer images, such as in "Gone with the Wind" , which portray mostly caring owners. But now, Steve McQueen, an accomplished black English screen writer and director known for two strong films "Hunger" (2008) and "Shame" (2011), has taken Solomon Northup's book and turned it into a powerful eloquent film that unflinchly depicts the cruelty of slavery. It is Northup's odyssey through hell.
"12 Years a Slave" opens with a group of black men lined up, being shown how to cut sugar cane. Solomon Northup is among them. They begin the grueling work of cutting cane, while one sings to provide a rhythm. They all sleep on the floor, packed together in a small shed. Then the film flashes back to Northup, a middle class black man in Saratoga, New York, in 1841. He is tucking his two children into bed, and going about his life in what seems to be a fairly integrated community. He is a carpenter and a talented fiddle player. A white friend introduces him to two other men who claim to have a traveling show, and need a fiddler for a short engagement in Washington. This sounds like a good opportunity that will only take him away for a few weeks, so he accepts. In Washington the men take him to dinner, ply him with wine and probably drugs, and he wakes up the next morning in chains in a brick basement. He is badly beaten, and the camera leaves him screaming for help out a high window. In a stunning shot, the camera is outside, moving from the window, up the outer wall, and clears the roof, with the half completed Capitol Building coming into full view.
Northup is taken south on a paddle wheeler, along with many other slaves, all chained together and packed tight in the hold. In one of many powerful scenes, the steam ship is only shown by shots through the rotating paddle wheels. A slave auctioneer buys him from the ship's captain, and he is given a name. A savvy slave tells Northup to be quiet, and never let them know you can read or write. Families are separated, and Northup is sold to a plantation owner, which begins the second phase of his captured life. He will pass through a number of owners, each with varying degrees of cruelty. McQueen has depicted slave life unflinchingly, and some of the scenes are so brutal it is difficult to watch, but none are gratuitous. Other scenes show the lack of dignity and casual cruelty, such as a large group of slaves, naked in a slave pen, trying to wash themselves. These contrast with scenes of great natural beauty, as if to show the evil in the Garden of Eden. Most shooting was done on location in Jefferson Parish in Louisiana, and the cinematographer takes great advantage of the often beautiful settings.
The acting deserves an entire paragraph. Northup is played by an English actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor; he is remarkable and sure to be nominated for an Oscar. There is so much fine acting here by fine actors. Paul Giamatti plays a banality of evil slave auctioneer; Benedict Cumberbatch a feckless plantation owner, the first of Northup's masters; Paul Dano a cruel overseer; Brad Pitt a sympathetic indentured workman; and Michael Fassbinder plays a cruel plantation owner often given to drunken rages, whose equally cruel wife loathes him. All of the characters are real, fully dimensional characters and just jump off the screen. Fassbinder, whom McQueen has starred in his past films, is incandescent here, and runs off with the film during his scenes. If I have a criticism, it is that many of the characters seem stereotypically ennobled or cruel rather than real people. Or perhaps cruelty was the norm. The dialogue is right out of the printed 19th century word, but it seems unlikely that most people would have spoken in that formal fashion. But these are quibbles about a truly great film. McQueen's pacing is fast and tense. This 2 hour 14 minute film goes by quickly, and there is a sad coda which helps place the story in history. The soundtrack is lovely, with a combination of haunting spirituals and elegiac melodies.
I loved and was very moved by "12 Years a Slave". McQueen has given us a wrenching, but very fine, powerful work that will become an important film, certainly one that no one will or should forget. What an irony that it takes an English director to show us what American filmmakers have evaded. It seems as if I always urge viewers to see films on the big screen, and certainly true here. Playing widely, including the Kabuki and the recently reopened Embarcadero.
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Custom Ticket Id's
As a Zendesk user, It would be awesome if I could have it set up where my Support account creates tickets with an ID like (Example) "IL-887348" instead of just numbers like "1029 or 102" (examples).
Is this possible?
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I think this is a MUST feature. My team and I need it to differentiate side conversation tickets assigned to different groups.
Thanks for this feedback – to answer your question Jake, this is currently not possible. Ticket numbers in Zendesk are integers only. Your best bet would be to use tagging or a custom field to differentiate ticket types.
Hi Jake Partee or Cardenas, Romulo - Either of you come with some sort of custom workaround solution?
Chris Stewart unfortunately not. It would be nice to have this feature but not a MUST.
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In honor of Geography Awareness Week, here's a neat new geography game.
It's called Where On Earth?
It's similar to a number of newer online geography games where you are given a location and then get points depending on how close you come to picking the correct location. This one, though, has a neat twist.
In "Where On Earth?" you're shown a famous building/structure and have to pick the place where it can be found.
I'll be placing it on my website's Geography page.