text:
Sergeant Washburn and Lieutenant Moore
by Richard Dieterle
I first met Sgt. Michael Washburn in late May, 1967, when I was new to the company. Almost every new man when he first shows up in the field is a bit bewildered. The mission is both mentally and physically demanding. I was carrying machine gun ammunition even though I wasn't really in good physical condition, since I had let myself go during my 30 days leave just before heading out for Vietnam. This was not helped by the inability to get a full night's sleep, loss of sleep being the collateral damage of pulling guard duty. What was most taxing to the mind, though, was the prospect of a gory and painful death. I was about to crawl out of our small poncho tent in the morning, when Washburn dropped down into the foxhole to speak to me. He told me that he understood how the new guys felt, but not to worry. He pointed out that we had major contact only on average every three months, and "most guys make it through and so will you." Although I didn't consider my survival guaranteed, nevertheless, I really appreciated the pep talk, and felt much better about my chances as well as my ability to adjust and adapt.
LATE DECEMBER, 1967 - JANUARY, 1968 — Sgt. Washburn, like almost everyone of his rank, had started out as a Private and had worked his way up to Buck Sergeant. For most of us, this ascent from Dwarf to Titan was the product of skill, luck, and sheer attrition. In the case of Michael Washburn, it was clearly skill. He was highly respected by the CO, as well as by the men. A new idea had been promulgated from the higher levels of command, and had worked its way down to our company in particular. One day Washburn was summoned to the CP, where he held a mysterious meeting with not only the Brass from Battalion, but perhaps also with those from Brigade. Their new idea involved a daring experiment. They asked Washburn if he might volunteer to go out alone into the nearby An Lão Mountains, and be a one man ambush. It was known that the NVA were traveling in small groups to avoid detection, and they were also confining their movement primarily to the hours of darkness. Intelligence, through interviews with prisoners, had learned that individuals were descending down the draws that extended from the mountains into the Bồng Sơn Plain. By making this maneuver of dispersal-reconcentration a very risky business for the enemy, it was anticipated that they might then have to move not as individuals, but in more sizable units simply in order to protect themselves. These larger units were easier to detect, and when firepower was concentrated on them, their casualty rates would skyrocket. So one day Washburn headed out, traveling light with a map, his M-16, a radio, and enough ammunition to get the job done. He was gone for a little less than a week. While he was out there, in broad daylight, he encountered an enemy soldier coming down the draw. He walked right near Washburn and paid the price. Washburn collected the dead man's AK-47, and headed back. Battalion, and presumably Brigade as well, were extremely pleased. As far as the Brass were concerned, Washburn had become a Titan among NCOs. Not too long afterwards, when the Cav uprooted and headed to I Corps, small teams called "Hunter-Killer Squads," were revived with much the same mission so ably done by Washburn. Their mission was to go out as a small sized ambush of about five guys and see what they could intercept. Only the best soldiers of the company were considered for this mission. The guy from Venezuela was one, and Gunsaulas from our platoon was another. These little Hunter-Killer teams were sent out by many units, and were often times successful. After a time, however, the success-to-danger ratio seemed to make them a less desirable instrument of strategy, and they were discontinued; nor was there ever again a one man scouting-ambush. This left Sgt. Washburn's feat a singular achievement, elevating him to the status of a minor celebrity.
The other half of our story involves Lt. Wesley Rice Moore, jr. Sometime after the firefight of Dec. 7-9, 1967 at Đại Đồng, Lt. Jerome Church completed his tour in the field, and was reassigned to duties at Battalion. His replacement was First Lieutenant Moore. Lt. Moore was easy to get along with, rather like Lt. Church in that respect. You could talk to him without having the feeling that he expected unusual deference. He also seemed to pay no attention to pot smoking, which we liked to do as an evening's entertainment. Lt. Moore had a civilian background that would seem to make him well suited to be a leader in an infantry unit. He had been a police officer, and therefore was not new to danger and potential gun violence. Nevertheless, police procedures and infantry procedures are sometimes a world apart. Police don't usually come up against a group of individuals armed with rifles, grenades, and rockets. This is a fact of which Washburn was keenly aware. This seemed to be the focal point of their personal differences. The two didn't get along well at all. Washburn once complained to me that Moore was not a good officer, and that his ways of doing things might put the men in jeopardy. I personally didn't think that Moore was any worse than any other lieutenant, and that in combat, most of the time we would end up following the lead of our Sergeants anyway.
Westenberger, Washburn, and Wilcox | A Hedge Row Similar to that Mentioned in the Text | |
Photo: Wayne Westenberger | Tim Vo, Patterns of Nature (by Permission) |
JANUARY 3, 1967 — We did have an incident that illustrated this very point of contention. From our position not too far from the coast on the Bồng Sơn Plain, about 3 klicks northeast of Tam Quan, we were airlifted on a long 20 minute flight to a remote locale about a klick northeast of LZ Willie. From there we moved northwest gently ascending to a flat area in the foothills of the An Lão Mountains. There were a number of dry rice paddies there that serviced the village of Phước Binh (3) a little over a klick away on the An Lão River. One of the hedge rows in this area contained a concealed bunker. The Fourth Platoon chanced to encounter some VC around this bunker. A skirmish resulted, and five of the VC made a dash to escape, covering their flight with a grenade. Four of them were gunned down, but according to the official records, one made good his escape, although it may be that he was actually captured. Three more VC had remained behind in the bunker.1 A stalemate ensued, so some ARVNs, some of whom I recognized from my time at Language School, were flown in to see if they could not persuade the holdouts to give up. They had with them a single individual dressed in what we called "black pajamas," the typical attire of the Vietnamese in the countryside. The VC in the bunker were wearing clothes that were slightly bluish white. He appeared to know them and made every attempt to persuade them to surrender. The ARVNs also joined in trying to persuade the other three to Chiêu Hồi. In so many words, they answered back with "Go to Hell!" They had taken up the standard of the suicide squad, and no pleas by anyone could sway them. I learned of this standoff over the radio. I was some ways off, and had to walk around to a good position. I had developed what is a very sensible technique for dispatching bunkers. The typical bunker resembles an American Indian oval lodge, except that it is lined in its interior with cut logs of palm, whose fibrous structure makes them rather like steel. The outside was packed in wet mud, which when dried, forms a hard earthen shell. These were proof against almost anything except a .50 caliber round. It was also obvious that they were not immune to the anti-tank rocket, the LAW. One shot from a LAW would cut through all these hardened layers and blow up with immense force inside, not only killing its occupants, but turning them into mincemeat. Since the enemy did not have tanks in Bồng Sơn, the reasonable thing to do with LAWs was to use them to dispatch enemy troops holed up in bunkers. This is why I always carried a LAW despite the inconvenience of having to hump it everywhere for use only on rare occasions. This, however, was such an occasion. So I took a long circuitous route so that I was on the opposite side of a large dry rice paddy, 50 yards from the target. The rocket could travel for about 100 yards before gravity began to overcome its aerodynamic lift. However, I never got the shot. Instead, Lt. Moore and one of our guys, had approached the bunker somewhat obliquely. It should be noted here that this was not the ordinary, oval bunkers previously described. This was dug into a hedge row made primarily of bamboo, very similar to the thick clump of bamboo seen in the photo. It was as much designed to be a hiding place as a fortified fighting position. The opening was well concealed behind thick stalks of bamboo, and Lt. Moore approached this like a police officer would approach a building in which a man with a gun was holed up. His intention was to throw in a grenade, but as he approached, one of the enemy soldiers inside threw a grenade out. Since Moore and his man were standing in an open and flat dry rice paddy, when the grenade landed it could have been expected to kill both of them. However, as luck would have it, the bamboo stalks were so thick that the grenade bounced off one of them, and popped right back into the bunker. As a result, this suicide squad accidentally committed suicide. Except for this stroke of good luck, it would have been Moore who had committed suicide while taking one of his own men down with him. After this rebounded grenade exploded, Moore threw in another one for good measure. I walked across the field to see the result. There were now a number of us there, and the ARVNs had also come up. They brought the man in black pjs and ordered him to pull out the bodies of his comrades. He pulled the first one out by his arm. I say "arm" because he had only one. His right arm and left leg were missing. His head had been blown off except for a long strand of scalp which extended like a hirsute ribbon from the stump of his neck. Then the survivor dragged the next one out. He was missing an arm and his head had been completely blown off with no remainder, rather like the victim in Goya's famous painting of Saturn. The third person was in so many pieces that there was no point in dragging any part of him out of this belly of earth. It was as if Saturn, the god of time who devours his own flesh and blood, had condemned them as untimely self immolations. The Americans chuckled, as though it was all a good joke. It was something of a joke that the grenade turned out to be a pinball, but what made it delightful was the fact that it had happened to them and not to us. The ARVNs all had the most grave expressions. After all, they had been talking to these men in their own language at some length, so it was hard to see them as so many "gooks." Had I used the LAW, there would have been nothing left to retrieve, as what remained of the bunker would have been lined with roasted human meat. This game of Russian Roulette with grenades had ended in our favor only by chance. This did nothing to refute Washburn's opinion of Lt. Moore.
JANUARY 22, 1967 — The whole Air Cav picked up and moved to I Corps in order to relieve the besieged Marine stronghold of Khê Sanh. The process of picking up and moving en masse was so routine that I actually have no memory of this momentous event. We were for a time at Camp Evans, a very large LZ used as the First Cav Headquarters, and later at LZ Sharon.
Lt. Wesley Moore | The Titan Saturn Devouring One of His Own Children |
Photo: Lt. Patrick Skinner | A War Allegory by Francisco Goya, 1823 |
FEBRUARY 1, 1968 — After a working tour on LZ Anne, we were again back out in the field of Quảng Trị Provence. The day was overcast, but expected to clear.2 At 0907 hrs., First Platoon left LZ Anne by itself for a patrol. Charlie Company's First Platoon also went out with us nearby but returned to the LZ at 1352 hrs.3 We had scout choppers from 1/9 sweeping the area ahead of us. At 1130 hrs., they ran across a new trail with human footprints accompanied by those of elephants.4 We were traversing flat lands, dry rice paddies, and an occasional hamlet. We were happy to find no opposition, as we expected that being so close to North Vietnam, I Corps would be heavily populated with regular NVA units. So far, so good. Then we called in a flight of Hueys to take us from our present location (297406), to a place a quick 5 minutes away. We were joined by our other platoons by 1540 hrs.5 We then split up, Second and Third Platoons heading north, while we set up at a nice unpopulated place where it wasn't too hard to dig in.6 It did require a bit of clearing at places so that we could have a proper field of fire in front of our foxholes. Having done this without too much trouble, the sun began to set on us, and it started to look just a little dusky. Our CO, Capt. Thomas McAndrews, and our Platoon Leader, Lt. Moore, decided to step out and check the field of fire that had just been chopped out of the grass and brush. While they were out meandering around, I was putting the finishing touches on our foxhole. Suddenly shots rang out. This didn't alarm me at that stage of my evolution, since I heard no telltale hiss that would suggest that I was the target. However, when I looked in the direction of the noise, there I saw lying on the ground about 15 meters distant what appeared to be Capt. McAndrews. Whoever he was, he was doubtless in considerable pain, yet not a murmur came from him. Lying nearby was another indistinct form. It soon came down by word of mouth that it was indeed the CO who had been hit, and that Lt. Moore had been shot dead.7 It had not been enemy fire. This was amazing. In fact it was a case of what is awkwardly termed "friendly fire." Not long afterwards, someone who had seen it all unfold came down to talk to me. At 1946 hrs.,8 the CO and Lt. Moore had walked out of the perimeter without any kind of announcement. The usual way of indicating this intention was to say in a loud voice, "Going out front!" If it is dark, this information is passed down the line. Since a field of fire had just been cut, and it was not strictly dark, this was a twilight zone both literally and metaphorically. They no doubt thought that because they could be seen, no one would fire at them. I was informed that it was Sgt. Washburn who opened up on the two officers as they strolled out in front of his position unannounced. My interlocutor then declared, "If you ask me, he killed the wrong guy!" Some of the people that I talked to expressed the cynical opinion that it was no accident. It is the universal opinion of those still alive today who knew Sgt. Wallace that he would never "frag" anyone, and the suggestion to the contrary expressed by disaffected people at the time, and by me in an earlier version of this essay, is a scurrilous imputation upon his character. I am now inclined to the view of my critics who were much nearer to the principals of this unfortunate affair than was I.9
1 The details above for this date come from 3690201003, 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Division Association Collection, Daily Staff Journals, 1965-1969; Virtual Vietnam Archives, Texas Tech University, Collection 369, Daily Staff Journals 1965-1969, for 3 Jan.1968, items 9-11, 30. This last item is an entry for 1500 hrs., which states, "A 46 [Fourth Platoon under Lt. Skinner] vic 782980 obs 8 VC in bunker — 5 VC tried to evade — 1 escaped. A VC gren was thrown w/neg casualties. The 46 ele returned fire resulting in 4 VC KIA outside bunker — other three refused to come out — grenades were thrown resulting in 3 more VC KIA dressed in grey uniforms and blk pj's. Also fd US gren in bunker." For further context from the DSJs, see "The Odyssey of A Co., Chronology," for 3 January 1968.
2 369EM0221, Daily Staff Journals, for 1 Feb 1968, item 8, where it is mentioned that an activity will not be conducted until "the weather clears."
3 Daily Staff Journals, 1 Feb 1968, items 9 and 13.
4 Daily Staff Journals, 1 Feb 1968, item 11. The trail was at PZ 292405.
5 Daily Staff Journals, 1 Feb 1968, items 18-23.
6 Daily Staff Journals, 1 Feb 1968, items 27-30. Two of our platoons headed north to to 279469. Our position was at 289460.
7 Daily Staff Journals, 1 Feb 1968, item 31, "A Co vic[inity of] 289460 request medevac for A Co 16 [Lt. Moore] wounded by friendly fire while checking perimeter. Also A Co CO - Cpt McAndrews, slightly wounded in leg. Medevac not required. A Co medevac cancelled - Lt Moore died fm chest wound." Capt. McAndrews tried to tough it out, but better judgment prevailed at 2115 hrs. (item 36) when medevac was requested and carried out 15 minutes later (item 37).
8 Daily Staff Journals, 1 Feb 1968, item 30 shows that Battalion was informed that we had set up at 1945 hrs., and item 31 shows that at 1950 hrs. the incident was reported.
I have, in my work here and elsewhere, tried to pursue the truth wherever it led and let the chips fall where they may. In this instance, however, I undoubtably made a moral error in convicting someone on the say so of the more cynically inclined hearsay at the time. Only an anti-scientific fool is inclined to dismiss coincidence, and this coincidence is too slender a thread upon which to convict anyone in the notoriously errant court of public opinion. Jerry Prater made a relevant point on this matter in a recent communication:
You referred to [an individual] being upset with you regarding your [version of] the Washburn-Moore incident. To be totally honest with you, everybody I've corresponded who has read the article is upset with it. I'm not pleased with it either because, even though I was not with the unit at the time, I knew Washburn well enough to know that he would not intentionally kill someone in the platoon. I was almost killed by friendly fire several times, not counting the time I went out one morning to retrieve the grenade and trip flare I had set out the previous night. Before I went to get them, I told the guys who had set up on both sides of me that I was going forward to get them. I yelled it to them a couple of time, and they acknowledged me. But, when I was getting the trip flare, the handle broke and set off the flare. I immediately yelled several times that it was me and for them not to shoot, but they kept yelling "gook, gook" and almost fired at me. The sun was shining brightly, so they had no trouble seeing me, but I still was about one second from getting killed by the guys in my own squad. From my own experience, I know how easily someone could be killed by friendly fire, and it did happen in our company at least twice during the 12 months we were in Vietnam.
I should, and do, apologize for this injurious act. The rest of what is said here is probably worth preserving, although given the mist cast up by the passage of time, very little can be asserted with total certainty.
An Lão Mountains — the An Lão Mountains are shown on the following maps: Bồng Sơn, the An Lão Valley, and Tam Quan; LZ Sandra, LZ Mustang, and the An Lão Valley; LZ Mustang and the An Lão Valley.
JANUARY 3, 1967 — a map in the "Odyssey" series shows where the events of this day took place: The Odyssey of A Co., January 1-5, 1968.
Camp Evans — for a map showing Camp Evans, see: Camp Evans and LZ Sharon.
LZ Sharon — see these maps: Camp Evans and LZ Sharon; Thôn Xuân Dương and Quảng Trị.
FEBRUARY 1, 1968 — a map in the "Odyssey" series shows where the events of this day took place: The Odyssey of A Co., February 1, 1968.
LZ Anne — situated atop Động Ông Do, this LZ was originally a Marine call station. It was converted into an LZ by the Cav in Jan., 1968. It is shown on the map, Camp Evans and LZ Sharon.


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GC RW I-Tem Simply Mauvelous of Emau
"M".... What a treasure, what a gift.... This lovely silver girl so filled with love and grace came from the arms of Tom and Ila Migut and her presence was like a breath of fresh air. Long and elegant with the calm open demeanor more often associated with our loving boys she brought a calming influence to our home of primadonnas. M knew that she was wonderful and expected the world to love her and it did - second highest scoring Egyptian Mau kitten in CFA for the 2002/2003 season, she earned a coveted RW title as a baby and then went on to become a "baby grand" in two quick shows... We are forever grateful for the trust placed in us to take care of the lovely Miss M....
GC RW ITEM Simply Mauvelous Of Emau
GC Bacamamdit Spotacular Of Item X GC Bacamamdit Maudonna Of Item
They're here!... "M" and Gambit babies
Oh boy - did they grow up nice!!!
M is the perfect mother to all Six!!!
n the beginning....
Getting bigger!!
M and Tease - two gigantic bouncing baby Boys...One sweet smoke and a contrasty silver...
Back to Kitten Page....
Emau cattery
Current Show Season
Retired cats
Co-owned cats
Show history
Grand Gallery 2017-2021
Grand Gallery 2011-2016
Grand Gallery 2006-2011
Grand Gallery 2001-2005
Grand Gallery 1995-2001
Contact Emau

subset: commoncrawl


text: Services and Facilities The Hotel Maga Circe in San Felice Circeo puts at its guests' disposal a small private beach, suitable for children: the crystal clear water of the Tyrrhenian Sea is waiting for you for a refreshing bath; furthermore, the sandy seabed slopes gently, and therefore is the ideal place to let children play in complete safety. Among the other facilities provided by Hotel Maga Circe, one of the best beach hotels in Italy, there are two private accesses to the sea, a large seawater pool (650 cubic meter, generally in use May 15th – September 15th) and solarium – exclusively for our guests. Let the facilities of one of the most luxury beach hotels in Italy pamper you: you will spend a beautiful and memorable beach holiday in Italy, thanks to our professional service and to the politeness of all the staff, combined with a comfortable accommodation and delicious dishes. Access for the disabled Our restaurant and swimming pool are both accessible with elevator. The doors are 62 cm wide Late Check Out Late check out subject to availability. Free parking Free unattended outdoor parking, with approximately 40 parking spaces inside our property and plenty of space in surrounding public roads. Safety deposit box Available at the concierge and in selected rooms. Wi-Fi internet connection Free WiFi throughout the hotel, not only in the common areas. Banqueting and conference room Three connected halls accommodating up to 280 guests, and 2 more smaller halls for intimate reception up to 30 guests. Pool Panoramic swimming pool with sea water. Sea Private access to the sandy beaches. Beach towels A soft beach towel is available every day for the swimming pool. Luggage service The option to leave your luggage in the reception hall on the day of departure and to take a hot shower in the changing rooms adjacent to the swimming pool. Shuttle Service Public shuttle services are available 50 m walk form our property entrance.


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Key Information to Know When Selecting a Motorola Android Smartphone
Android smartphones are customizable devices with generous storage capacities and large screen resolutions. Motorola offers Android devices with many hardware options and features, so consider the following before making your selection.
What Motorola Android smartphones are available?There are several options available across several networks, models, colors, features, and storage capacity. You can also choose an unlocked phone for pre-paid service. Choose from Motorola models like the Moto, G, E, Turbo 2, Moto Z, Moto Z Play, Nexus 6, Moto G4, and Droid Turbo. There are several colors for your device including black, blue, gold, gray, red, rose gold, silver, and white. There are devices that are 3G data capable, 4G data capable, and Bluetooth-enabled with features such as GPS, music players, speakerphones, touchscreens, and Wi-Fi connectivity. Motorola phones also come with a range of storage capacity options like 256GB, 128GB, 64GB, 32GB, 16GB, and 8GB.
What are the features of an Android phone from Motorola?- Customizable: These devices are highly customizable, so you're able to set up the phone in the manner that works best for you.
- 3.5mm headphone jacks: 3.5mm audio jacks allow you to listen to audio using a pair of standard headphones.
- Wide range of hardware: Android is open source, meaning there is a community of developers creating hardware and software for it and several companies building these devices. As a result, there is a vast array of hardware options available, such as LCD displays, cameras, and processors.
- Fast charging: New models of these devices use a USB Type-C port for quick battery charging, which means they are compatible with a wide selection of chargers and docking stations.
- Rugged phones: Many of these devices are made to be durable, with screens and handsets resistant to shock from being dropped from up to four feet.
- Multiwindow support: Multitasking is possible on a device that uses either the Nougat or Oreo operating system. These offer built-in multiwindow mode, so you can reply to a coworker's email while combing a website for the answer you're trying to provide him or her.
- Back button: These devices have a back button that gives you a convenient way to navigate across apps and browsers.
- Know your budget: Remember you have two costs to consider: the phone itself and the service or plan to go with it. Knowing your budget before you shop will simplify the selection process.
- Uses: Consider what you'll use the device for. Do you take a lot of photos? Watch a lot of videos? Do you use a lot of apps? Knowing in advance what you'll primarily use the device for will help you make choices on storage, operating system, camera, peripherals, and more.


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Salesforce Lightning For Better User Experience — AppShark
Any time we visit a website, use an application, electronic device, or any interactive interface what lasts behind as a positive impression is its ease of usability. Today user experience or UX has emerged to be a key differentiator in a seller-dominated market space. At its core, UX is about considering the needs of the people who will be using the product designed with an average user's intuitions at the center of the design.
What can be a better example than Google- which has been prioritizing fast-loading across devices and efficiency. Google knows if you are a new or returning user even if you aren't logged in, and hence does not bother asking if you are new/returning or if you want to register/continue as a guest. The entire process is easy and yet tactfully secure. In user experience-centric design, the user is a core focus of the project to create a product that is purposeful and, ultimately, wowing users with great experiences that keep them coming back.
After all -"Good customer experience depends on a clear and engaging user experience. Good UX also boosts employee productivity, empowering them to more efficiently meet organizational goals". — Forrester
Also Read: What does Salesforce Lightning low coding feature mean for your business?
Salesforce and User Experience Design
Salesforce is now one of the largest CRM platforms available which is very flexible, customizable, and combined with a pretty good out-of-the-box design system and components. The Salesforce ecosystem is so rich that the complete business can run on it — whether it is a Fortune 500 company and or a small business. Salesforce interface offers the chance for the user to understand the value of the system and how it can positively impact their day-to-day tasks. A poorly built user interface can easily increase rates of abandonment and brings down the Salesforce user adoption within the business.
This said an interface designed with users in mind makes them feel like the technology is working for them rather than the other way around. A well thought UX design empowers users with all the information they need in the right place and at the right time.
Salesforce is completely extensible and constantly evolving and provides the scope to innovate for its users. This has given way to Enterprise UX becoming a phenomenon with Salesforce at the center. The "CRM" ( ) part of Salesforce was solely introduced to serve and enhance agility and intuitive features offered by the platform. Emotions can be impactful and a thoughtful UX design can tap into that power. Ultimately, a positive and effective Salesforce user experience can:
- Increase Salesforce user adoption rates
- Transform business operations
- Maximize Salesforce return on investment (ROI)
- Lead to better outcomes for business-operations.
Salesforce Lightning — Redefining User experiences (UX)
Salesforce created an intuitive and smart-thinking platform that accelerated the efficiency of sales teams with ease thus helping them close more deals. The updated look and feel of Salesforce Lightning packs in UI features such as easier-to-read text, icons, and graphics that provide a better and clearer overall business snapshot. The application also provides updated dashboards gives improved visibility into the metrics that matter most to specific business teams while being able to grasp the big picture for all teams and customers. Note the following developments-
Salesforce transitioned to the Lightning platform over 5 years ago with companies slowly migrating from Classic to Lightning Experience (LEX)
- According to Salesforce, LEX is specially designed for a superior, mobile, laptop, and desktop experience.
- It is a completely new CRM experience with a growing adoption rate and value-add for every end-user.
- The initial focus in designing LEX was to improve the core sales features salespeople used every day.
- Lightning was built as an application that enhanced the regular core sales features drives new levels of efficiency, versus just a database for tracking contact information.
On the Lightning Platform, the UX is greatly improved by drag-and-drop functionality, and the ability to make Salesforce implementations more secure with increased security settings. Lightning is an AI tool, meaning it intelligently learns habits and patterns in the existing Org and makes smart recommendations for the business as the tool gets used. It facilitates faster access for sales-users to Contacts, Quotes, and Proposals and reduces clicks and out-of-system work, making sales-users more efficient. Field workers obtain a lot more detailed insight into new or improved features such as knowledge articles, intuitive dashboards, case histories, and custom profiles.
The Salesforce Lightning platform Experience for the end-user includes-
- A completely redefined home page experience
- A Kanban view for opportunity or a visual summary of all the opportunities for a particular sales path.
- Enhanced workspaces, new dashboards, improved search, and dynamic tab navigation.
- It looks and feels better than Classic with the ability to personalize the Salesforce environment to even accommodate the brand logo and colors.
- Customized pages allow the user to drag and drop different components onto the page allowing every page to look different based upon the record type or app one can find most relevant to the business.
- Everything on the Lightning platform from creating records to editing records is faster. For instance, when you are on a record for a lead and you want to call the prospect, Lightning allows you to call directly from the lead page with just a click of a button. If the phone goes unanswered, a pre-recorded voice mails or a message can be triggered, and the agent can move on.
- Further a new feature, Salesforce's Quick Actions, allow users to update records faster with the ability to log a call, send an email, or create a task from any page within Lightning.
With the Lightening framework (a structure for building re-usable components and custom apps)-
- The user has the flexibility to support out-of-the-box Lightning features. Lightning components and required libraries help build custom components.
- It also executes all the instructions a component exerts within an app acting as a bridge between client-side code and server-side codes
- It stands at the core of the Lightning platform and translates every user interaction on the screen into action.
- Component developers can explore its properties to allow the same component to be configured differently in different locations of the app, further enhancing component reusability.
With "mobile-first" becoming a driving philosophy behind deployments, there is a growing demand for responsive user experiences and single-page applications. The tools and technologies provided by Lightning offer a new and modern user experience for both desktop and mobile applications.
Customers today demand more a convenient process throughout the entire engagement lifecycle with a given business. With exponential growth and competition across industries, it is but inevitable for organizations to live up to such expectations and offer customers the ultimate experience. An organization's customer relationship management (CRM) software needs to necessarily provide a richer, faster, and more efficient user experience, and help bring new, innovative applications to the market for a greater competitive advantage.
Why Appshark?
With over 500 projects completed and a 97% client satisfaction rate, our team of Salesforce certified professionals focuses on business deadlines, budget, and the long-term goals of the business. With a global team of professionals available across time-zones access to top talent at reasonable prices is effortless. We are both a Gold Consulting Partner and a Product Development Partner- a powerful combination that defines our expertise and experience with Salesforce.
Reach out to us at firstname.lastname@example.com or fill in your details and we would get in touch with you soon.
Originally published at https://www.appshark.com on March 4, 2021.


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Drug Violence Rattles Mexico
By MARC LACEYTIJUANA, Mexico — With a bingo hall, a dog track and a vast room of slot machines, Casino Caliente has a fair share of shrieks and groans any night of the year. But when a team of heavily armed men dressed in black barged in and ordered everyone to the floor on a Friday night this month, the outbursts rose to an entirely different level.
"Everybody down!" the masked men shouted, adding expletives to make their point and urgently directing their automatic weapons this way and that. Panic filled the bingo hall, for no one knew what was to come next.
Gone are the days when Mexico's drug war was an abstraction for most people, something they lamented over the morning papers as if it were unfolding far away. Reminders are everywhere, like the radios blasting drug ballads that romanticize the criminals and the giant banners that drug cartels hang from overpasses to recruit killers and threaten rivals.
The Mexico-based traffickers that ship narcotics from South America to the United States are in a pitched battle with President Felipe Calderón's government, which has sent the army to trouble spots around the country to shut them down. Police agencies, infiltrated by the drug traffickers and lacking training, have not shown themselves to be up to the job. The results have been mixed: there have been huge drug seizures and arrests of some kingpins, but also violent retaliation by the heavily armed traffickers, who have been killing law enforcement officers and many noncombatants as well.
Life in Mexico is changing in subtle ways as the possibility of that violence lurks at every intersection, dance floor and town square. With increasing frequency, child-size chalk outlines are drawn on the asphalt at the latest homicide scene. Raids are carried out at baptism parties, at fancy restaurants, at bingo halls like the Caliente, where, it turned out, no shots were fired that night. The armed men proved to be federal police officers, and they quickly left with two men suspected of being traffickers in tow.
"Those who don't see the drug war going on around them have their heads stuck in the sand," said Jeannette Anaya, a Tijuana actress who is trying to mobilize the city's artistic community to rally for peace.
Two women and two girls were among the victims in an attack in Guerrero in recent days. This month, 13 people were killed at a family gathering in the mountains of Chihuahua, including several teenagers, a 4-year-old and a 16-month-old. In all, 2,682 people have been killed in the drug war this year, including elderly bystanders, schoolchildren and pregnant women, according to a tally by a newspaper, El Universal.
"The violent mass killings of people not connected to criminal organized violence, their cowardly executions, is intolerable for Mexico," said José Reyes Baeza, Chihuahua's governor, who has criticized the federal government's approach to the violence. "The trend is unacceptable and must be contained."
The wealthy bulletproof their vehicles, wear protective clothing and move around flanked by burly men with earpieces. But others with fewer resources resort to their own makeshift measures to stay alive.
Manuel, a businessman in his early 40s who lives in Tijuana, avoids restaurants in the city, particularly those that serve food from Sinaloa, which has produced more top cartel leaders than any other state. His father is from Sinaloa and he loves the shrimp tamales and other offerings from the region, but he fears that there is a bigger chance that he might encounter thugs at restaurants that feature that food.
"Seafood is what they serve and it's the best," he said, refusing to provide his last name because of the fear that his words might come back to haunt him. "But I'd rather eat at home. How can I take my wife and my children to a restaurant when I don't know who the people are around? What happens if something goes wrong?"
He has reason to be rattled. His brother was grabbed from his Tijuana home nearly a year ago by masked men and has not been heard from since, one of numerous people who have disappeared in late-night raids linked to the drug cartels.
"We all live in fear now," he said. "Any of us could be taken or killed. I try to wear nothing and do nothing that attracts attention. I wear T-shirts and a hat. I have no jewelry. I don't want to stand out."
In modern Mexico, a new way of cautious thinking is setting in. A Hummer pulls beside one's vehicle at an intersection? Better keep looking straight ahead. Or better yet, many recommend, do not stop at red lights at all.
A big debate circulates over police checkpoints. Should one stop and risk that the people dressed as police officers really are on the side of the law?
Women should be careful how they shun a man's unwelcome attention. Who knows what offense he might take and what weapons he might be packing. Men should be careful that the woman they are eyeing is not the girlfriend, wife or sister of someone who kills for a living.
"You have to be more careful with everything these days," said José Carlos Vizcarra, who heads an advisory group on crime in the border town of Mexicali. "If you go into a bar and there's a beautiful girl standing alone, you have to think twice about going up to her. Who knows if she's a drug dealer's girlfriend? If he walks in when you're buying her a beer that could be the end of you."
And women are not just companions of narco-traffickers, said Howard Campbell, an anthropologist at the University of Texas at El Paso who has studied trafficking in Mexico. Some women are smugglers in their own right, rising up in the male-dominated narco-trafficking world and unleashing violence of their own.
Women are also deeply involved in the laundering of drug money, Mr. Campbell wrote in a recent article in Anthropological Quarterly, running businesses like day care centers, jewelry stores and clothing boutiques that help keep drug gangs functioning. That necklace? That dress? That nanny? All of them, in modern Mexico, might be financing the drug trade.
"It's impossible to know exactly who is who these days," Mr. Campbell said. "That can be dangerous."
Anything, in fact, can be dangerous. The father of another kidnapping victim said courting had substantially changed these days. One of the man's two sons had broken up with his girlfriend. Another boy, with ties to traffickers, started dating her. One day last year, men dressed in black arrived at the man's house and took one of his sons away, grabbing the wrong son by mistake. He has not been heard from ever since.
All this is not to say that Mexicans are paralyzed with fear. Thousands were scheduled to march through the streets of Mexico City and numerous other cities on Saturday night to light candles and reclaim the streets.
Still, many have become inured to things that once would have alarmed them. They are doing things, like having chips inserted in their forearms so they can be tracked if they are kidnapped, that they never could have imagined during more sedate times.
The police have complained of onlookers gathering at crime scenes with cameras to snap photos of the corpses. "The worst thing that can happen is for us to become accustomed to the dramatic daily count of deaths and kidnappings caused by narcotics assassins," El Universal said in a recent editorial.
At the Tijuana bingo hall, once the federal officers escorted the two men suspected of being traffickers out just after midnight that Friday, some rattled gamblers rose from the ground, abandoned their bingo cards and made a beeline for the exit. For them, the evening had brought far more excitement than they had bargained for.
But others, as if nothing much had happened, got up from the floor, readjusted their cards and continued trying their luck.
see also
Cocaine Galore!
Mexican cocaine
Colombian cocaine
Venezuelan cocaine
Benjamin Arellano Felix
Future Opioids
BLTC Research
Wirehead Hedonism
Utopian Pharmacology
The Hedonistic Imperative
When Is It Best To Take Crack Cocaine?The Responsible Parent's Guide To
Healthy Mood Boosters For All The Family


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provided by John E. Phillips
What if you could catch crappie that weighed 1-1/2 pounds or better most every time you went fishing? What if you didn't have to spider rig with four poles per person and only used one pole to catch the biggest crappie in a lake? What if you could use your depth finder to pinpoint the biggest crappie, follow it until the fish stopped and then put your bait right on the crappie's nose? What if you could tell the difference between a crappie's head and tail before you ever released your bait? This new technology is some of what has been introduced to the crappie-fishing world recently. Two anglers are forging a new path that other crappie fishermen surely will follow.
Ryan and Darin Young recently won the American Crappie Trail Championship. Ryan explains how the weather impacted their tournament:
On the first day of practice, a storm arrived with 15-20 mph winds and rain on and off all day long. The crappie were holding very close to the trees that day, and on the second day, when another storm moved in, we almost decided to quit scouting. However, soon after that, we began catching fish, and by noon, we had seven pretty good ones.
I told my brother Darin, "Let's go look for a big one in a place where we haven't fished already." Once we made it to another spot, I turned on my trolling motor, and big crappie were everywhere. We didn't get the chance to catch a kicker fish (a really big crappie), but we were happy to find that spot and decided to fish there on the last day.
Regardless of whether you're playing football or crappie fishing, you have to have at least a little bit of luck to have a successful day. On the morning of the last day, we had three different camera boats following us. I put my trolling motor on 60 percent, and when I saw a big fish on my Garmin Panoptix LiveScope, I started chasing it until it stopped and gave me the opportunity to put my jig right in front of its face. Sometimes, I even chased fish for a quarter mile, before they stopped.
At one point, we were following a big crappie that weighed 1.96 pounds. When my brother dropped a minnow in front of the crappie, the fish stole the minnow and swam under the boat. Since I could see the fish with my LiveScope, I turned my trolling motor on, so that the transducer was also under the boat. Quickly, I backed up. Then I could see the crappie in front of the boat. I dropped a hair jig right in front of it and caught it. After we caught that one, I spotted another crappie on my LiveScope about 20-feet out in front of us and told Darin, who had an 18' 'B'n'M pole, to wait until I got the crappie 16 feet in front of us before he dropped his bait right in front of the crappie's nose. But before I knew it, Darin got too excited and mistakenly dropped the bait behind the crappie, spooking the fish. I couldn't chase it since there were four stumps right in front of me. Throughout the tournament, there were a few times that we missed big crappie by failing to place the baits right where the crappie could eat them.
One of the problems that some people have with a LiveScope is that they can't tell the difference between sand bass, catfish and crappie. But in practice, we learned how to distinguish between the fish by the way they swam. For example, we noticed that crappie sometimes would sit in one place and hover but eventually would flick their tails and glide. Sand bass swam all the time, and catfish wagged their tails while holding in one place, unless they were flathead catfish. Yet we did get fooled sometimes. Very few times did we mistake catfish for a big crappie - but it happened.
If you'd like to learn more about the LiveScope or fish with Ryan Young or see the size of fish he's catching, you can go to his Facebook page at Eufaula Boy's Crappie Guide Service, or email him.


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The Easter Beagle just hopped through our house and he's coming to visit one of our readers as well! Easter is the first big celebration of Spring and we love the excitement for warmer weather and that it can get us back outside again. This year, we're partnering with Peanuts to give one reader a fun Easter prize package that even includes the Easter Beagle!
This Easter Beagle Prize Package includes great gifts for everyone in your family, and we absolutely love the Charlie Brown Pop Vinyl and the coloring set. You'll find us outside coloring away soon in the sunshine and blowing bubbles into the breeze (can you tell we're sick of cold weather?). Easter is so much fun, but it is a lot more fun with the this special delivery from the Easter Beagle!
Want to win an Easter Beagle Prize package? One reader will win a prize package filled with:
- Easter Beagle Porch Greeter: Guaranteed to give a warm welcome to any visitor.
- Motivational Peanuts Tin Sign: Springtime brings on feelings of hope, joy, and love; so, what better way to be reminded of that when passing by this special Peanuts tin sign!
- It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown Coloring Kit: A fun spring break activity that every kid can enjoy.
- Charlie Brown or Lucy FunkoPop!: An adorable, collectible vinyl figure that is the perfect addition to any Easter basket!
How Can You Win?
Enter to win with the form below. The mandatory entry is leaving a comment on this blog post telling me: What is your favorite Easter tradition? or what is your favorite Snoopy alter ego? If you do not do this entry – you will not win! So make sure you leave a comment and then enter using the form below!


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A 17-year-old Kisii School student on Tuesday denied attempting to kill two teachers at the institution.
The student denied the charges before Senior Resident Magistrate Onchoro when he was charged at the Kisii Law Courts.
SRM Onchoro released him on bond of Sh100, 000 or a cash bail of Sh50, 000 with surety of similar amount or be remanded at Manga Children's Remand Home in Nyamira County as he was a student.
The student who was represented by advocate Ben Gichana was charged with attempting to kill Edward Mokaya and Elvis Maoto at the school's staff room by stabbing them using a kitchen knife.
The prosecution led by Hillary Kaino did not oppose the release of the student.
"There is no compelling reason for us to oppose his release on bail," Kaino told the court.
The student was dressed in his full school uniform – a green sweater, white shirt and grey trousers and looked calm throughout the brief court appearance.
It is alleged he attacked Mokaya for punishing him for arriving to class late and Maoto for attempting to rescue his colleague who was under attack.
Mokaya who sustained four deep cuts on the head is admitted at Ram Hospital in Kisii while Maoto was treated and discharged.
The case will be mentioned on January 27 for a pre-trial.


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Get to know a Chef: Leah Marshall Hannon, Midfield Wine Bar
Leah Marshall Hannon is part of a new guard of Toronto chefs who draws her cuisine from across the globe. It's difficult to categorize precisely the style of food she offers at Midfield because her various influences are as diverse as the wine list her dishes serve to complement.
Or maybe it's the other way around. When Midfield started as Toronto's first true wine bar, it was all meat and cheese if you wanted to eat. That was okay, but now the place is as full with people eager to try deep-fried cauliflower as it is with wine-lovers interested in a sip of something you'll never find at the LCBO.
Get to know how Leah Marshall Hannon runs her kitchen.
Did you always want to be a chef?
No. I wanted to be a hockey player. But that wasn't realistic, so I followed my other passion. Cooking. I was always very interested in food and cooking. This came from my mother who was working in kitchens as a cook herself. My siblings and I were always exposed to new exciting flavours and ingredients and my mom being a great cook made it easy to love all the food she made.
My family really congregated in the kitchen. And I started cooking for myself and my family at a young age. My mom never shooed us out of the kitchen and was always very encouraging.
When did you decide to embrace the profession?
When I was 20. I started serving at a few restaurants such as The Epicure on Queen West and another one in Parry Sound called Drew's. Serving didn't interest me whatsoever, and I soon became very curious about how the food and menu's were created and executed.
At Drew's I would always ask to make my own staff meal because I just wanted to be in the kitchen, in front of the mise en place and on the stove cooking. I felt so comfortable and empowered and knew it was what I was passionate about.
How would you describe your style of cooking?
Elegant Bistro. Haha! I don't want to intimidate people. I love creating a casual and fun dining experience. try to keep it simple and delicious with a focus on great products.
What's the biggest lesson you learned from your early kitchen experiences?
My first Chef at Fire on the East Side, who became a dear friend and mentor, taught me the saying "waste not, want not." She probably dropped that line at least half a dozen times in a shift. You'd think it would have gotten old fast but it really stuck with me over the years.
My interpretation of that saying is using every product and ingredient to its full value and true potential. Using all vegetable scraps for stocks, all bones after butchering for stocks, all stems for marinades or sauces, using whey from dairy as a dressing or to break down enzymes in meats. The list goes on, but you get the picture.
What brought you to Midfield?
Creative freedom. The owners really trust me and allow me to play around with the menu. They're very supportive and open-minded.
What cuisine excites you the most?
Spanish cuisine. It has so many different flavours, influences and techniques depending on the region and history. It's so fresh and bold and exciting. It has this great range of light and acidic to hearty and savoury.
Where do you like to source your ingredients?
Kensington Market. It really has everything. I love the variety. I have a routine when I go. Sanagan's, Hooked, House of Spices, Parola's, Cheese Magic, Blackbird, Caribbean Corner, Essence of Life, etc.
What's your favourite thing to cook on the menu and the most tedious thing?
My favourite thing to cook is the Crispy Rabbit 3 ways. The Rabbit legs are brined then confit then deep fried. Then the loin and liver and kidneys are battered and fried to order. I use the carcass for rillette and its served with a Red Pepper Rouille. And garnished with crispy garlic and honey. This dish I love because it uses every part of the animal and its such a nice bright warming dish. Great for the cold!
The most tedious is the deep fried olives. Pitting olives to order when you have to is such a pain in the ass. Then deep frying one by one... Ugh. Tasty though.
What chefs do you take inspiration from in Toronto?
Anthony Rose. He's built an empire of amazing restaurants and did every single one so well. He inspires me to do the same one day.
Jamie Kennedy. He's so talented and knowledgable and continues to make incredible, consistent food.
And lastly Michael Staatlander. I know he's not in Toronto, but I've always been in awe of this man. His care and appreciation for the food and where it comes from should be so important to every chef and every person for that matter.
Where are a few places you went out to eat in 2014 that impressed you?
Bar Isabel, Takht-e Tavoos, Chantecler always impresses, Actinolite, Agave y Aguacate, and People's Eatery.
What's one thing every person should know how to make?
Homemade bread.
What do you like to do for fun when you're not in the kitchen?
I like to hang out with friends. Cook with my partner. Walk my poochie. And when I can, take off to Parry Sound, where my family is from. It's beautiful up there.
Most underrated ingredient? Good salt
Best culinary tool? My kitchen Aid mixer. So versatile. And a work horse.
A (non-Toronto) chef that inspires you? April Bloomfield
Favourite Toronto restaurant? Foxley. Tom Thai is the hardest working chef.
What's one dish you can't live without? Breakfast. I love eggs.
What would people be surprised to find in your fridge? Lots of organic nuts, beans and grains.
What's one food trend that needs to end? For the love of God -- tacos. I love them. But it's a bit much.
Join the conversation Load comments


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Saturday's regular-season finale carried extra emotional weight before the opening tip was even tossed in the air. Seven Florida seniors were honored during a pre-game Senior Day ceremony.
Among them, Keyontae Johnson.
The senior hadn't appeared in a game since Dec. 12, 2020, but started Saturday.
Castleton controlled the tip back to Johnson, as the crowd erupted. Head coach Mike White called everyone to rise to their feet and celebrate the career of the Gators' heart.
"This program basically saved my life," Johnson said.
As Duruji checked into the game, Johnson kissed the midcourt logo before returning to the bench, once again becoming "Coach Key."
Florida (19-12, 9-9) ended the regular season on a sour note, falling to No. 7 Kentucky (25-6, 14-4) 71-63 Saturday. Castleton's ninth double-double of the season (23 points and 11 rebounds) wasn't enough to overcome the juggernaut Wildcats.
"I thought we were too emotional," White said. "I thought we got pouty at times after giving up baskets."
All the storylines favored the Gators, but Kentucky wasn't going to let that stagger its game. The Wildcats roared out to a 7-0 lead in the opening 1:11.
Florida scrapped back into the contest, drawing as close as 11-8. That would end up being UF's smallest deficit the remainder of the game. The Wildcats exploded on a 19-8 run over the next seven minutes, turning Gator makes into fastbreak opportunities.
Kentucky's speed and aggression gassed the Florida defense.
In the halfcourt, UK forward Oscar Thsiebwe, the nation's leading rebounder, was giving the Gators flashbacks to their matchup in Rupp Arena Feb. 12, when he pummeled UF with 27 points and 19 rebounds.
With a dunk at the 2:22 mark, Thsiebwe became the first player for either squad to enter double-figure scoring, claiming his 25th double-double of the season in the process. The accomplishment cenents the junior in the record books; no SEC player has recorded 25 double-doubles in a single season over the last 25 years.
"A couple of our guys going with one hand," White said. "Oscar is going up there with two."
The Gators went on a three-minute 10-0 run to dwindle Kentucky's lead to single-digits, 32-26. Retaliation from the Wildcats quickly followed. Florida went without a field goal over the final two minutes of the half and retreated to its locker room trailing 38-26. The frontcourt duo of Castleton and Duruji combined for all but eight of UF's first-half points.
Much to the white-out O'Dome crowd's liking, the Gators came out of the half revitalized.
Castleton wasted no time getting the energy up with a dunk on Florida's first possession. Five quick points forced Kentucky head coach John Calipari to burn a timeout.
Thsiebwe took his play to another level out of the stoppage.
The 6-foot-9-inch forward scored all 11 of Kentucky's points to open the second half. He was single handedly bringing down a UK onslaught. The first Wildcat other than No. 34 to score a basket in the second half was guard Davion Mintz at the 13:42 mark.
As the Gators threw everything they had at Thsiebwe, other Kentucky players began to step up. UK guard Shavir Wheeler broke into double-figure scoring with six points on three-consecutive possessions.
White's frustration continued to build throughout the second half, a presumably missed travel call on the Wildcats got the coach off the bench. He seemed bound to explode when the referees cut off a Florida fastbreak to signal a UK shot-clock violation.
With under a minute to play, Florida needed a miracle.
Appleby sprinted down the lane to cut Kentucky's lead to six. On the ensuing inbound UK turned the ball over. Suddenly, the Gators were alive.
White drew up a play that resulted in an open look for Fleming beyond the arc. The shot bricked off the front rim and fell into the hands of Kentucky guard Tyty Washington Jr.
Florida played the foul game while the clock neared all zeros as chants of "go big blue' crescendoed from visiting fans who made the trip to Gainesville.
"I'll remember the 'L'" White said. "I'll also remember the opportunity to celebrate these guys."
The loss puts added pressure on next week's SEC Tournament in Tampa, Florida. Action from Amalie Arena begins Wednesday, and the Gators will hope to string together some wins to get on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble.
Contact Joseph Henry at email@example.com. Follow him on Twitter @Josephhenry2424.
Joseph Henry is a fourth-year sports journalism major and is the Alligator's sports editor. He previously worked as senior news director, assistant sports editor, men's basketball beat reporter, volleyball beat reporter and golf beat reporter. He enjoys sitting down to watch a movie as often as possible, collecting vinyl and drinking Dr. Pepper.


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PHOENIX, AZ — A lot of third-party websites offer car registration renewal services, but most charge extra fees the state doesn't require.
Just because a website looks official, doesn't mean it is.
In Arizona the only official way to register cars, renew driver's licenses, and complete other vehicle related tasks is through the Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division also called the MVD.
The agency website is Servicearizona.com. Be wary of trusting any other website with your vehicle or credit card information.


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My photos are of the actual item you are getting. See our store for other interesting bakelite items. Book packages less than 5oz will be sent First Class. Items must be sent back within 5 days after return request. You may qualify for a cheaper rate.
The item "Butterscotch Bakelite Butterfly Clip Dress Fur Pin Vintage 2 1/2 Mid Century" is in sale since Monday, October 4, 2021. This item is in the category "Collectibles\Vintage, Retro, Mid-Century\Bakelite". The seller is "bitt4u" and is located in Anna, Illinois. This item can be shipped worldwide.


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From celebrating Chinese week to attending a jazz festival to laughing it up at a comedy show, there's plenty to do around town this weekend.
Here are our picks:
Chinese festival
As part of Qatar's Year of Culture partnership with China, the country is hosting a Chinese Festival that kicks off tonight.
The event runs through Saturday, Nov. 5 and takes place at the MIA Park.
It will feature the Zhejiang province's top musicians, cultural performances, a Chinese market and some authentic food. There will also be kite making workshops, tea ceremonies, Chinese language classes and other offerings, according to the schedule.
The event is a collaborative effort between Qatar Museums, the Ministry of Culture of China and the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture.
Today's event will begin at 5pm and end at 10pm. On Thursday and Friday, the festival will run from 2pm to 10pm. On Saturday, it goes from 10am to 10pm.
Meanwhile, family activities will also be held at the MIA Park under the event's umbrella. They include storytelling and a dragon art activity open to both children and their parents. These will take place on Friday and Saturday from 4pm to 6pm.
Notably, parking at MIA will not be available from today to Saturday. Instead, visitors are asked to use the underground car park near Souq Waqif.
There is also a Free Park & Ride Service going from Old Doha Airport Parking to the MIA Park. More information can be found here.
Chinese film week
Keeping the Chinese theme going, the Doha Film Institute (DFI) will showcase a series of renowned and innovative films that emerged from China and Hong Kong starting this Thursday, Nov. 3 until Monday Nov. 7 at the Museum of Islamic Art.
The series features major box-office stars like Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee alongside the work of several acclaimed filmmakers, including Chen Kaige, John Woo, Xiaogang Feng and Jia Zhang-ke.
Timings for screenings vary; on Nov. 3, 6 and 7, screenings begin at 7:30pm, while on Nov. 4 and 5, they begin at 4:30pm. Screenings will take place at MIA's Auditorium.
Those interested can pay QR100 for a ticket package that allows one ticket per screening, or pay QR35/movie. Children under eight years old will not be allowed.
Parking at MIA will not be available during. Instead, visitors can use the underground car park near Souq Waqif. For more information, visit DFI's website.
European Jazz Festival
Katara's third annual European Jazz Festival will open tonight at 7pm and run until Monday, Nov. 7.
Performers include international bands such as Atom String Quartet and Three Fall and The Golden Circle Quartet.
Musicians will be perform from 7pm to 9:30pm at Katara Building 5.
Entry is free and open to all. More information can be found on Katara's website.
Stand-up comedy show
Renowned French comedian, actor, director, writer and singer Élie Semoun will perform in Doha for the first time tonight at the Intercontinental Doha – the City.
The comedy show will take place at the hotel's Al Jawhara Ballroom starting at 9pm. Doors open at 7pm.
French snacks, including cheese and wine, will be available before and after the show. DJ Steve Paris will also be performing after the show.
Ticket cost QR200 for regular seats, QR250 for premium and QR300 for gold. All can be purchased at FNAC in Lagoona Mall and at the hotel's reception. More information can be found here.
Kayaking trip
Discover Arabia – Entalak is holding a mangrove exploration tour on Friday, Nov. 4 in Al Thakira.
The 90-minute tour is being held at 9am and 2pm. It will include glimpses of Qatar's flamingos, and a chance to take an African drumming course for those who sign up for the afternoon session.
Tickets cost QR200/person. A barbecue in a majlis style setting at the beach is available for QR50 more. More information can be found here.
Longines Global Champions Tour
Head over to Al Shaqab this weekend to watch some of the world's top riders and horses in action.
The Longines Global Champions Tour will feature the top 30 show jumpers worldwide, all which will be competing for prize money.
The event will take place on Thursday, Nov. 3 and Saturday, Nov. 5. Thursday's show will begin at 3:30pm, and Saturday's will begin at 5:15pm.
Tickets cost QR35 for adults and QR15 for children. You can book them here.
Football matches
Qatar Stars League (QSL) games will be running all weekend in several venues, including Al Khor, Al Arabi and Al Wakrah, Al Rayyan, Al Shahaniya, Al Sailiya and Al Kharaitiyat stadiums.
Clubs playing this weekend include El Jaish, Al Sadd, Umm Salal, Al Ahli, Al Gharafa and Lekhwiya, among others.
Matches will run between 5:20pm and 7:30pm. More information can be found on QSL's website.
- Karting and mini moto: Losail Circuit Sports Club is offering 15-minute karting sessions every weekend from 5 to 10pm. Tickets cost QR100 per karting session and are available at the venue. An additional non-refundable QR15 is required to purchase a helmet mask. Participants interested in mini moto (which also runs on a separate track from 5pm to 10pm) should bring their own bikes and safety equipment.
- 'Cultural Reformation' exhibition at Katara: A new art exhibition called 'Cultural Reformation' opened in Katara last night and features the works of four artists, all hailing from different backgrounds but raised in Qatar. Their work demonstrates how each of the artists sees Qatar's culture from their perspective. Among the works are paintings, sculptures and digital installations. The exhibition will run until Nov. 24 and is showcased at the Katara Art Center everyday from 10am to 9pm.
What are your plans for the weekend? Thoughts?


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Welcome to the second of our two-part series where our Client Success Manager, Leor, shares insights to help you and your team be successful. Part One of this series is agent-focused. If you have not read it, you can find it right here.
There are many things that account administrators can do to see positive results from their teams and chat as a whole. Here are a few items to keep in mind:
1. Set your chat agents and site visitors up for success.
Define what "success" looks like for your team. Goal-setting is a great place to start. Once you know what you want to accomplish, you can begin laying the foundation for a successful chat launch.
An easy place to start is the chat agent settings. Your chat team is made up of mostly humans; showcase your amazing team and add a personal touch by adding their names and photos. You can also add their phone number to allow site visitors and clients to call the chat agent they are chatting with and create a seamless interaction from chat to call. Get to know the pain points of the team answering incoming chats. Gather frequently asked questions and create quick answers using "Shortcuts" (aka canned messages).
This will take some of the stress out of the conversations and keep communication uniform across all chat conversations (regardless of which agent is chatting) to support cohesive branding standards.
Another tip: Set a standard for chat response time, and have a backup plan if agents do not see a chat or can't respond in a timely manner. If your organization has not yet set internal standards for this, a good rule of thumb is to coach chat agents to respond to incoming chats within 15 seconds or less. Set your teams apart from the pack by setting a precedence in response time. Allowing for chats to be reassigned to a different agent or allowing site visitors to leave a message if they are in a rush will decrease missed chats while increasing client satisfaction.
2. Categorize and organize chats quickly and easily
Chat conversations often need follow-up and/or must be kept to maintain accurate and up-to-date client and prospect records. Don't miss out on client information gathered from chats – quality chat conversations produce a wealth of helpful information at all stages of the customer journey. Avoid the disconnect in client information by setting up an integration with your current CRM, help desk, or even send chats to an email address.
Remember that you have options and full control over your operations. You get to decide what data you want to be sent to your CRM or help desk directly within SnapEngage. Now you can not only see chat transcripts, but your team is empowered to provide personalized follow up.
Don't see your CRM? Chat with us about your custom CRM and share your use case with us.
3. Create a fully-branded user experience.
Maintaining consistent branding across all channels increases revenue by 23% (Forbes). With no coding whatsoever, you can match the theme of your website within SnapEngage. This includes color schemes, font, chat button location, and more. Do you have information you'd like to gather before the chat starts (i.e. email address, favorite color)? A simple pre-chat form can do just that, passing the information you gather to the chat agent to close the loop.
4. Optimize customer engagement and create tailored customer experiences.
SnapEngage is very robust with many tools built in that are at your disposal. For example, file exchange allows agents and site visitors to easily send and receive files. Another Option is the Agent Survey. Enable the survey to fire when a chat is complete to see how your agent performed, if an issue was resolved, and see comments from site visitors and clients.
The SnapEngage free trial offers a fast and easy way to get to know all the tools in the SnapEngage toolbox.
5. Just in time engagement at the right time and location.
Proactive chat is a great way to interact with more site visitors and clients and spur lead generation. But you don't want to reach out to every site visitor without clear intentions. Customize your proactive chat offerings to reach out to site visitors based on their unique actions to facilitate a highly personalized outreach, rather than sending a poorly timed generic chat.
Consider a telecom company with multiple branches in many different locations. One of these locations is having a sale. The administrator can create proactive chat greetings which display only to site visitors in the same geolocation as that exact branch. Site visitors outside this geolocation will not receive irrelevant chats, while visitors within the set geolocation will be readily made aware of deals in their area. This tailored outreach approach is much more likely to generate interest in your offerings and ultimately improve conversion rates.
Keep in mind that the goal of chat should be more than simply adding a chat feature to your website. A well-implemented chat solution is an integral part of any organization's overarching customer engagement strategy. Setting measurable KPIs for live chat allows you to track specific chat goals and better understand how chat performance affects your business's larger customer engagement goals and strategies.


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Create a Website Account - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more.
HEMPSTEAD, New York – In the midst of Russian aggression against the independent country of Ukraine, Hempstead Town Supervisor Don Clavin and the Town Board have raised the Ukrainian Flag in a show of solidarity for the country that is currently under siege. Joining the officials raising the Ukrainian colors were representatives from the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, who are collecting supplies and donations for the people of Ukraine.
"This naked aggression by the Russian Federation in their invasion of Ukraine is reprehensible, and we condemn the Russian attack in the strongest possible terms," said Clavin. "It is the duty of the free world to stand up and denounce this senseless violence, and do everything in our power to support the Ukrainian struggle for freedom."
The most recent invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation began on February 24, 2022 – an escalation of a conflict that began in 2014 with Russia's annexation of Crimea and alleged support of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. This expanded war has largely been waged on heavily populated cities, with Ukraine reporting extensive civilian casualties at the hands of Russian forces. The brutality being inflicted on the Ukrainian people has drawn condemnation from peoples across the world, including the members of the Hempstead Town Board.
As Ukraine remains engulfed by violence, the gathering of Hempstead Town officials and Ukrainian-Americans urged members of the public to aid in humanitarian efforts by donating much needed goods to civilians impacted by the conflict. Items currently in short supply include clothing, toiletries, medical supplies and other miscellaneous goods such as flashlights, hand warmers, etc. For more information on the collection drive being organized by the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, please visit: https://uali.info/calendar/supply-drive-for-the-people-of-ukraine-6/
"The invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation is an attack on the entire free world," said Senior Councilwoman Dorothy Goosby. "We cannot, and we will not, stand for such senseless violence. I am proud to stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine."
"The people of Ukraine deserve to live in peace and dignity, free from the aggressive tendencies of their bully neighbor, Russia," said Councilman Anthony D'Esposito. "This flag raising symbolizes the solidarity our community and nation has with our friends in Ukraine, and we wish them well during this hour of great trial."
"The Ukrainian people have exhibited such incredible bravery throughout the course of their struggle for freedom from tyranny, and I am proud to stand with them today," said Councilman Dennis Dunne, Sr. "Let's show the world that America's largest township will not be silent in the face of evil. Let us all support the Ukrainian people."
"This is a time of great trial for Ukraine and for the entire free world," said Councilman Thomas Muscarella. "The invasion of a free and sovereign nation is cause for extreme alarm, but the Ukrainian people are admirably defending their homeland, and I am proud to stand with them in solidarity today."
"Ukraine is showing to the entire world the lengths that a free people will go to defend their democracy and their homeland," said Councilman Christopher Carini. "I am proud to live in a community with hardworking Ukrainian neighbors, and I will always stand with our brothers and sisters in Ukraine as they struggle against evil."
"This war is truly a tragedy on so many levels, and I am proud to join with my colleagues and members of the Ukrainian-American community to express my support for the people of Ukraine and for the need to end this senseless conflict," said Councilwoman Missy Miller. "We will do everything we can here in Hempstead Town to ease the suffering of the Ukrainian people, and I urge my neighbors to support humanitarian efforts on their behalf."
"It is important to stand up and speak out when a wrong is being committed on the international stage such as this flagrant violation of international law being committed by the Russian Federation," said Clavin. "We have the power to support good versus evil in this case, and we can all do so by donating goods that will ease the suffering of the Ukrainian people while also letting our leaders in Washington know that Ukraine needs our support."


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Most people spend New Year's day sleeping in and recovering from the previous night's festivities. Here at The Rise, we spent New Year's day a little differently. We kicked off 2015 with a workout by the Flatiron building, followed by another workout on the boardwalk of Coney Island, and then topped it all off with our 2nd annual polar bear plunge.
Starting at our usual time (6:30 AM), we gathered for a classic desk of cards followed by dealer's choice:
Then, we hopped on the Q train and headed down to Coney Island for our second workout, which followed the Brooklyn Badass format:
Finally, we ended the day with a dip in the ocean:
Start 2015 off right, and join us on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday AND Friday!


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• FOLD and roll the towels neatly before placing them on the edge of the spa or on the take at the back of the spa!
• PLACE the cushions onto the lounge neatly to complete a tidy look!
• SIT the massage stones back into place on the side of the spa ready to use!
• STRAIGHTEN the picture frames and clock on the walls to bring a professional look to your spa!
• PLACE all the bottles and tubes of massage oils back onto the cart and on the plates sitting on the spa!
• CLEAN up any messes by sponging the area with your giant sponge!
• SWEEP up all the flower petals on the floor until the area is clean!
• VACUUM the spa bath to remove all the excess flowers floating on the water!
• ENJOY challenging yourself and race the time to finish your spa clean up session!
Cleaning up isn't much fun although it doesn't have to be this way. With the Clean Up Spa Salon game you can easily create some challenging fun while cleaning up your very own spa room! Here you can race against the time and see just how clever you are in placing everything back into its rightful order! This clean up game allows you to have fun while stacking and folding the towels, rearranging the lounge cushions, piling the massage stones, straightening the wall hangings, and re-ordering the massage tubes and bottles back in their rightful place before sweeping the floor, cleaning any messes, and vacuuming the spa. With so much fun to be had with this cleaning game for girls, why not get your friends together and see who can clean up their spa salon the fastest!
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Federal Reserve Interest Rate Hike Decision Today: The US stocks on Tuesday extended losses from the previous session in which the S&P 500 confirmed entering the bear market territory as investors fear an aggressive rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
While Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 151.91 points or 0.50% lower at 30,364.83, the S&P 500 settled 0.38% southward a day after sinking 3.9% to enter the bear market territory. However, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index gained 19.12 points to close at 10,828.35.
Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting started on Tuesday amid a blistering inflation surge in the United States. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell will announce the decision on Wednesday at 1800 GMT (11:30 PM in India) with experts predicting an aggressive hike in the benchmark borrowing rate.
The Fed had raised interest rates by 25 basis points in March and 50 basis points in May to bolster the fight against inflation. But the last week's inflation data triggered talks of the Fed turning hawkish. Inflation in the US has hit a fresh 40-year high in May, according to the data released last week.
According to reports, the central bank is likely to go for a 75-basis-point rate hike on Wednesday. Just ahead of the Fed's meeting, Powell had signalled that a big hike in the interest rate is on the cards.


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We are pleased to announce that Clare Henry, former art critic for the Herald, has donated her archive to the Glasgow School of Art.
The Glasgow Herald's art critic for 20 years is now based in New York where she writes for the FT and a range of US and UK magazines. Clare Henry has been a key voice in visual art criticism for more than 35 years and her archive consists of over 10,000 pieces of critical writing, annotated catalogues and exhibition publicity material.
"We are delighted to have been given this rich collection," says Susannah Waters, GSA's Archivist. "Clare Henry's time with The Glasgow Herald coincided with a growing recognition of the role of visual arts in the city during the 1980s and 1990s. We already have a wide range of Glasgow School of Art documents relating to this period. Clare's writings provide a complementary perspective, a critical appreciation of work being created and shown. It will be an excellent resource for researchers looking at the visual arts in Glasgow and beyond in the latter part of the 20th and early part of the 21st century."
"Although other places and institutions in the UK & the USA were interested, (today the internet makes distance no object), Glasgow seemed fitting," says Clare Henry. "Although much of my writing was and is international my mother, my son and I are all art school trained and I felt that GSA would be a very good place for my archive. I hope my gift, will be helpful to both to GSA Archives and to Glasgow."
" Since Glasgow City of Culture 1990, the arts have put Glasgow on the international map," adds Henry. "I hope The Clare Henry Archive will help it stay there."
GSA's Archives and Collections staff are currently cataloguing and repacking the documents and a catalogue for the collection will be available online from the summer of 2014. A range of the documents from the Clare Henry Archive will also be digitised and accessible online.
The Herald today has an article about Clare Henry's archive. Clare also has a very interesting blog.


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Appearance in full on any site other then Fox Hollow Cottage is theft!
a bright spot
Appearance in full on any site other then Fox Hollow Cottage is theft!
Fox Hollow Cottage | Inspired Ideas for Home and Living
by Shannon Fox
Shannon, You have such a gorgeous blog! Enjoyed looking over your past projects. Can't wait to see what you do next! Hope your Mother's Day was wonderful. 🙂 Have a great week!
Jann Olson says
Sunshine yellow always helsps to make any day brighter! Thanks for sharing your bright spot!
I'm taking your bright spot. My kids don't like Mother's Day since they don't get presents! Next year- I'm buying them something from the dollar store and re-branding the day as "Happy Family Day". I bet that will fix them:)
reFresh reStyle says
Happy Mother's Day! You always brighten my day, thanks for sharing your bright spot 🙂
Happy Mothers day shannon!
The Bold Abode says
Sweet Bees…those are gorgeous!
Good Time Charlie says
Shannon, just you being you are such a bright spot. Every time I see your name on a comment, or on my FB page, I feel a little piece of sunshine. This is too cute, thanks for sharing. -K
DIY Show Off says
Enjoy the weekend, sunshine! 🙂
Alright, this post WINS today! Simple …with a Smile. Thank you Shannon. I loved this! Have a wonderful Mother's Day weekend!
NanaDiana says
That IS a bright spot. MY bright spot today involved a 5 year old that loves me so much it hurts! xo Diana
Jessica Kielman says
So beautimous! Are you finally getting some sunshine? Happy Mother's Day weekend!
At The Picket Fence says
The sun shining in the sky is my bright spot today Shannon! Yipee! I hope you are finally getting some too and that you have a great weekend!:-)
Inspire Me Heather says
Your blooms are beautiful! Are they from your garden? I love the colour of those flowers, they look so happy! Our lilacs are finally out and I have just cut some for a big jug to place on the table. I just love the smell… have yourself a lovely weekend!
Susie says
Happy Mother's day and thank you for sharing your flowers with all of us. Smiles, Susie
Debbiedoo's says
🙂 Pretty pretty my friend. I will share with your brightness! Happy Mothers day weekend to you.


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© St Ninians Episcopal Church, Glasgow which is a charity registered under no.SC010966
Renfrew Aranthrue Theatre Society (R.A.T.S.) was set up in 1992 in Renfrew as the name
suggests. However due to lack of rehearsal space we moved to St Ninian's Church Pollokshields
in 1999 (Approx 50% of the members are also members of St Ninian's Church). We generally
perform 2 shows per year, a pantomime in December and a play, which we stage in the Tramway,
late spring early summer. We are basically an adult club co-opting children for the pantomime.
The pantomimes are lively and funny and are always child friendly. The plays we perform range
from farce to drama but whatever the genre the quality of performance is always of a very high
standard and it is our aim to provide our audience with an enjoyable experience.
Find us
Who's who
What we do
Book Club
Craft & Chat Club
RATS Drama Group
Nurturing faith
Stained Glass Windows
Benedicite Murals


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From the press release:
The exhibition, curated by Jonas Storsve, is organised around three cycles - Nine Discourse on Commodus (1963), Fifty Days at Iliam (1978) and Coronation of Sesostris (2000). Some of Twombly's iconic paintings and drawings are shown alongside his sculptures and photographs, many for the first time in France.
A fully illustrated catalogue has been published to accompany this unique exhibition. Cy Twombly, edited by Jonas Storsve.
Centre Pompidou, Paris
November 30th, 2016 - April 24, 2017
For more information, please visit: Centre Pompidou - Cy Twombly


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This limited edition Giclée Art Print, designed by Peter Squire, comes with a numbered and signed certificate of authenticity. Printed on 100% cotton, acid-free, heavyweight paper using HDR UltraChrome Archival Ink, this artwork reflects our commitment to the highest color, paper, and printing standards.
This limited edition Fine Art Block designed by Peter Squire is numbered, signed and comes with a certificate of authenticity. Artwork is printed on fine art paper using archival inks and mounted to a 2" deep hand stained dark brown frame. Comes ready to hang.
"The Black Forest" is an ongoing effort on my part to make the viewer of my work be helpless but to feel wrapped in a warm hug by shadows and of course, trees. I hope I've achieved this through this piece....
Ashford Kent, United Kingdom


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It's Elemental
The Element Antimony
Atomic Number: 51
Atomic Weight: 121.760
Melting Point: 903.78 K (630.63°C or 1167.13°F)
Boiling Point: 1860 K (1587°C or 2889°F)
Density: 6.685 grams per cubic centimeter
Phase at Room Temperature: Solid
Element Classification: Semi-metal
Period Number: 5
Group Number: 15
Group Name: Pnictogen
What's in a name? From the Greek words anti and monos, which together mean "not alone." Antimony's chemical symbol comes from its historic name, Stibium.
Say what? Antimony is pronounced as AN-the-MOH-nee.
History and Uses:
Antimony has been known since ancient times. It is sometimes found free in nature, but is usually obtained from the ores stibnite (Sb2S3) and valentinite (Sb2O3). Nicolas Lémery, a French chemist, was the first person to scientifically study antimony and its compounds. He published his findings in 1707. Antimony makes up about 0.00002% of the earth's crust.
Antimony is a brittle metal and is a poor conductor of heat and electricity. Very pure antimony is used to make certain types of semiconductor devices, such as diodes and infrared detectors. Antimony is alloyed with lead to increase lead's durability. Antimony alloys are also used in batteries, low friction metals, type metal and cable sheathing, among other products. Antimony compounds are used to make flame-proofing materials, paints, ceramic enamels, glass and pottery. The ancient Egyptians used antimony, in the form of stibnite, for black eye make-up.
Estimated Crustal Abundance: 2×10-1 milligrams per kilogram
Estimated Oceanic Abundance: 2.4×10-4 milligrams per liter
Number of Stable Isotopes: 2 (View all isotope data)
Ionization Energy: 8.64 eV
Oxidation States: +5, +3, -3
1s2 | |
2s2 2p6 | |
3s2 3p6 3d10 | |
4s2 4p6 4d10 | |
5s2 5p3 |
Citation and linking information
For questions about this page, please contact Steve Gagnon.


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Table of Contents
There are approximately 2 Billion digital buyers across the globe to date. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the customers spent around $601.75 billion on online commerce in 2019. Every year, eCommerce whittles down a huge part of traditional commerce, therefore, it is expected that 95% of all purchases will be conducted through eCommerce by 2040.
E-Commerce is rapidly growing, and the stats say quite a lot about it. Considering its popularity and productivity the merchants, regardless of the type of business- B2B or B2C that they are in, are opting for eCommerce to conduct their business. Ecommerce works great for both B2B and B2C and incurs incredible profits.
However, if you are a company that carries both the business process i.e. B2B and B2C, and want to level up by taking it online, then it might be a costly process for you. Running two different types of business online, in which one(B2C) is emotionally driven and the other(B2B) is logically driven, is a real challenge requiring you to maintain a separate platform for each. And therefore, you need to invest double the effort and time to run your business smoothly. Numerous platforms in the market facilitate hybrid eCommerce, allowing you to conduct and manage both B2B and B2C businesses in parallel. Before we dig deeper, let us first introduce you to what hybrid eCommerce is all about.
What is a Hybrid eCommerce Solution?
A hybrid eCommerce solution is an approach that empowers you to manage your B2B and B2C businesses from a single place instead of doing it separately on two different platforms. The hybrid E-Commerce platform possesses the features that allow you to create and manage your account for both B2B and B2C businesses in parallel, creating a unique experience for both types of customers. It enables you to scale your business to a greater dimension without much hassle.
Why choose a Hybrid eCommerce Platform?
Multi-user interface
As both B2B and B2C vary in factors like price, and purchase volume, a single UI does not work, which is the major reason behind people conducting it separately. The hybrid eCommerce platform solves this problem, providing a multi-user interface for each of the types individually. The multi-user interface allows you to present the same product on two different business customizations, making the process smooth and error-free.
Inventory management from Single Datastore
In the traditional setup, you have to maintain two different accounts on different platforms, requiring you to manage your inventory for both the platforms individually. The hybrid E-Commerce platform proves to be extremely handy in this aspect allowing you to maintain a single inventory database and operate it on both the business dimensions simultaneously. So, no more managing and making entries in the database twice, the hybrid platform will do this for you.
Multi-channel Capabilities
A hybrid e-commerce platform not only allows you to manage your business accounts over an online platform but also allows you to connect your digital and physical stores and also the retail partners. This helps you to know your customer well by analyzing their behavior over various channels, both physical and digital stores. Knowing your customers' shopping behavior as well as interest allows you to serve them with more personalized and relevant products as well as content, hence leading to long-lasting customer retention.
More Economical
One of the biggest motivations to opt for a hybrid eCommerce solution or platform is its time effectiveness. By liberating you from investing the same effort and time to perform the same task on two different platforms, the hybrid eCommerce platform saves a lot of your time which you can utilize in some other productive work, thereby saving cost of the man power.
With the hybrid approach, you need not maintain two separate databases, create separate catalogs, personalize the content twice based on the business process, rather you can do all these things from a single place and at once
Bulk Ordering
You are taking your B2B business online but if your customer still has to make orders or confirm product units over calls, emails, or messages then there is no point in making it online. Unlike B2C, B2B customers order the products in greater quantity and the hybrid eCommerce platform helps you with the same, allowing both the B2B and B2C customer to place their order at utter ease, regardless of the product units.
Scalability and Performance Trackability
Hybrid eCommerce platforms, required to handle B2B and B2C processes together, offer higher scalability. It is capable of handling varying customer demands based on seasons and locations. Not only this, but it also allows you to track your performance through the in-built analytics feature, based on which you can design your future business strategies.
How to Find the Right eCommerce Platform for your Business?
Once you have decided the type of business you want to take forward- B2B, B2C, or the hybrid, you need to decide the best platform to take your business online. There are different variables to consider while choosing the most appropriate platform for e-commerce, especially for the Hybrid one.
Handling both B2B and B2C in unison requires the hybrid eCommerce platform to fulfill the criteria of both business types. As both B2B and B2C have a distinct set of requirements, which have to be dealt with simultaneously, you should consider the following factors or for that matter the B2B challenges while picking your hybrid platform.
- B2B sales cycles are generally longer than B2C cycles, involving more number of people.
- B2B requires bulk ordering, customized price quotation, and shipping requirements.
- B2B requires more detailed documentation and invoices.
- B2B and B2C require distinct product catalogs, pricing, and tax rates.
- Running both B2B and B2C simultaneously requires higher scalability and efficiency to handle larger traffic and transactions.
Make sure the platform you choose can handle all these B2B requirements along with the B2C ones. There are various platforms that facilitate hybrid commerce- such as Shopify Plus, Big Commerce, WooCommerce, and Magento, allowing you to start your hybrid journey at immense ease.
Are You Ready to Start Your Hybrid eCommerce Journey?
If yes, the foremost as well as one of the most important steps that decides the success of your ecommerce store is the eCommerce platform you choose. Though, various platforms facilitate you to conduct hybrid commerce, choosing the best that fits your requirement aptly is a tedious task.
Our experts, having a tremendous business and technical aptitude as well as being updated with the latest market trends, can help you choose the most appropriate platforms for your business based on your business requirements. So, wait no more, Reach out to us to start your hybrid eCommerce journey. Or if you are new to digital commerce and want to create an outstanding eCommerce store for your business, Hire our web developer, and create a noteworthy online presence for your brand.