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Beaumont police investigate shooting on Dewberry
Beaumont police investigating a call reporting "shots fired" at a local residence discovered the scene of a shooting over the weekend, reports Beaumont Police Department (BPD) Sgt. Cody Guedry.
Guedry stated that officers responding to the call located the crime scene in the 5300 block of Dewberry at close to 11:30 p.m. Aug. 18. Both the suspected shooter and the victim had left prior to officers' arrival. Officers were notified a short time later that the victim had just arrived to St. Elizabeth hospital and was suffering from gunshot wounds to the chest area.
Through the investigation it was learned that the suspect and victim were known acquaintances and that they had a prior altercation before violence ensued. At the time of this report, the suspect remained at-large and had yet to speak with detectives.
The victim was listed in stable condition at St. Elizabeth hospital. Detectives are still interviewing witnesses, and the investigation is ongoing.


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From brilliant New Yorker cartoonist, illustrator, and children's book author James Stevenson comes this darkly hilarious reimagining of iconic animated characters - now over the hill and waiting out their golden years at a seedy retirement community in Los Angeles.
Directed by Tony nominee Dana Ivey (The Last Night of Ballyhoo), EVENING AT ANAHEIM features Richard Kind (The Producers, "Spin City"), Karen Ziemba (Tony winner for Contact), Emily Bergl ("Gilmore Girls," Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), Brandon Uranowitz (Falsettos), Carson Elrod (Peter and the Starcatcher), Peter Maloney (Requiem for a Dream), and Tom Alan Robbins (The Lion King).
EVENING AT ANAHEIM was co-presented with Playwrights Horizons and recorded live in New York City.
Download on iTunes, Podbay, Player FM, subscribe to our RSS feed, search 'Playing on Air' in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [35 Minutes 58 Seconds]

subset: commoncrawl


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Sign the McCain FEC Complaint Letter
By his own admission, John McCain is breaking the law. His latest spending report has him $4 million over the limit he imposed on himself when he accepted public financing.
We're not about to let this stand, so on Tuesday we filed an FEC complaint against the McCain campaign (check out the video of delivery to the right). Now we're set for a second larger delivery of 30,000 signatures of Americans who won't stand by while John McCain breaks the law.
Posts Tagged 'campaign finance'
McCain admittedly breaks FEC law – Sign petition and bring him down!
Posted in Election 2008, Video, tagged campaign finance, candidate, election, fec, john mccain, mccain, mccain-feingold on March 29, 2008| Leave a Comment »


text: Britt's Picks this week shows the swim line coming up. I'm liking the swim shorts but I don't think they will fit me well. Love the black/white print. And the rash guards are cute. I wonder, because this upload features the swim line if the Coastal Tanks will also be uploaded.


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|(617) 788-5006
|Direct Fax
|(617) 367-3125
Mailing AddressMorgan, Brown & Joy, LLP
200 State Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02109
Alexandra Pichette
Alex is an associate at Morgan Brown & Joy, LLP. Alex's litigation experience includes representing employers in a variety of labor and employment matters, including allegations of discrimination, retaliation, harassment, wage and hour violations, breach of contract, wrongful termination and other employment-related torts. Alex also counsels employers on a broad variety of matters, including the preparation of employee handbooks and policies, personnel decisions, and compliance with state and federal statutes.
Alex is a graduate of Tulane University where she studied English Literature. She earned her law degree from Vanderbilt University Law School in 2012. During law school, Alex interned for Justice Paul Haerle (Ret.) of the California Court of Appeal, and served on the board of the Vanderbilt Women Law Students' Association. Prior to working at Morgan, Brown & Joy, LLP, Alex worked in the legal department of a technological corporation and was an associate attorney in the San Francisco office of a mid-size, West Coast firm, where her practice focused exclusively on management-side employment litigation and counseling.
Alex is a member of the state bars of Massachusetts and California, and is admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts and the Northern, Eastern, and Central Districts of California.


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You can't go wrong with an LBD, so make our Black Studded Mesh Bodycon Dress your jaw to the floor sass weapon of the season. As seen on TOWIE babe Kate Wright on Insta, steal her style and team yours with barely there heels and a curly blow dry for a smouldering sophisti-chic look.
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Want a chic bandage dress that earns all luxe lifestyle points? Follow in the footsteps of our gal Megan McKenna in our Khaki Ribbed Midi Dress. Office chic, dinner chic, party chic we have you covered. Style yours with pointed heels and a sleek ponytail for all of the luxe life vibes.
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Which bandage dress is your fave?
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Reviews Den
Pad Man Trailer - Akshay Kumar
The Official Theatrical Trailer of Pad Man Bollywood Hindi Movie starring Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor, Radhika Apte.
Release Date: 9 February, 2018
Director: R Balki
Producer: Twinkle Khanna
Writer: R Balki
Banner/Studio: SPE Films India, KriArj Entertainment, Cape of Good Films. Hope Productions
Music Director: Amit Trivedi
Editor: Chandan Arora
Cinematographer: P C Sreeram
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A transcript is a document from the university that indicates the credits a student has earned with a college. Because ACP courses are official college classes, all ACP students will be able to receive a transcript through UMSL, which should be sent to any university the student would like to attend, so that the university has a record of the students' academic progress.
Transferring Classes
ACP credits are transferable to other colleges and universities according to their transfer policies. Not all classes transfer to every college. Students are encouraged to contact the Director of Admissions at each college or university for questions regarding acceptance and transferability of courses.
Dual Credit Transfer Database
This database is sponsored by the University of Connecticut. To navigate the database, enter your institution's name in the search field. Information about transferring concurrent enrollment credits will appear. Transfer success probability is clearly displayed by the star rating with 1 star being credit transfer is unlikely and 3 stars being credit transfer is highly likely. This database is only to be used as a guide and cannot guarantee the success of credit transfer. All information is subject to change at any time and without notice.


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Journal of Kidney Cancer and VHL 2015; 2(3): 130-133. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.15586/jkcvhl.2015.36
Case Report
Displacement of the Spleen Mimicking Renal Cell Cancer Recurrence Post-Nephrectomy: A Case Report
Carolina S. Emanuels*1, Krista D. Timmerman*2, Tabish Aijaz1, Thu-Cuc Nguyen1, Nathaniel Jest1, Walter E. Drane2, Scott M. Gilbert3, Paul L. Crispen3, Li-Ming Su3, Lori A. Deitte2, Long H. Dang1
1Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Florida Shands Cancer Center; 2Department of Radiology; 3Department of Urology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA.
Local regional recurrence of renal cell cancer post-nephrectomy most often occurs within three years after surgery. Post-nephrectomy, many processes may mimic RCC recurrence. We present the case of a 75 year-old Caucasian male patient with a mass in his renal fossa post-nephrectomy for renal cell cancer, suggesting local recurrence. Use of the technetium-99m sulfur colloid scan showed that the mass was his spleen which had been displaced into the renal fossa. With high index of suspicion, characterization of these processes as splenic in origin would prevent subjecting patients to risks of biopsy or even surgery.
Received: 27 April 2015; Accepted after revision: 14 June June 2015; Published: 20 June 2015.
Authors for correspondence: Long H. Dang MD PhD, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Florida, 1600 SW Archer Road, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA. Email: email@example.com; Lori A. Deitte MD, Department of Radiology; University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA. Email: email@example.com. *These authors contributed equally.
How to cite: Emanuels CS, Timmerman KD, Aijaz T, Nguyen T-C, Jest N, Drane WE, Gilbert SM, Crispen PL, Su L-M, Deitte LA, Dang LH. Displacement of the Spleen Mimicking Renal Cell Cancer Recurrence Post-Nephrectomy: A Case Report. Journal of Kidney Cancer and VHL 2015;2(3):130-133. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.15586/jkcvhl.2015.36
Unfortunately, about one third of patients who undergo surgical resection for localized disease have recurrence, either locally or with distant metastatic disease (1). Therefore active surveillance with regular CT scan is recommended in the first five years after resection (3). Here, we present a unique case of spleen appearing as recurrent tumor after migrating in the surgical defect created by total nephrectomy. To our knowledge, no similar case of complete displacement of spleen in the renal fossa has been reported previously.
Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this case report and accompanying images. A copy of the written consent is available for review.
We present the case of a 75 year-old Caucasian male patient who presented to our institution for evaluation of a rapidly growing left renal mass. His initial abdominal CT, performed for flank pain, showed an approximately 2 cm cortically based mass in the left kidney (Figure 1A). He presented again after 13 months, at which time he had an abdominal MRI. This again showed the left renal mass, which had grown to 4.5 cm and had an infiltrative appearance (Figure 1B). He was referred to our Urology department for further evaluation. CT urography, performed approximately 1 month after the MRI, showed further growth of the infiltrative left renal mass to 5.2 cm along with thrombus of the left renal vein (Figure 1C). The thrombus did not extend into the IVC. Extent of disease work up including chest radiograph and serum chemistry revealed no evidence of metastasis. Serum creatinine was 1.4 mg/dL with normal liver function tests and alkaline phosphatase. Comorbidities included hypertension, type 2 diabetes and hyperlipidemia. On physical examination, there was no suspicious distant lymphadenopathy.
The patient subsequently underwent left radical nephrectomy through an open subcostal incision. A limited regional para-aortic lymphadenectomy was also performed due to small palpable lymph nodes noted at the time of surgery. Pathology showed a 7.8 cm papillary type 2, grade 3 RCC with invasion into the renal vein and negative surgical margins. The adrenal gland and a left perihilar lymph node were negative for carcinoma. Pathologic stage was pT3aN0. The patient's postoperative course was unremarkable with a three day hospital stay. He was discharged in stable condition.
A review of the patient's prior imaging
and surgical history revealed the presence of a spleen on the pre-operative
imaging studies and no splenectomy at the time of left nephrectomy. This raised the possibility that the soft
tissue mass in question may represent the spleen that had fallen into the renal
fossa. As CT and MRI scans were
equivocal in this case, we decided to use radio-nucleotide imaging to further
identify the mass before proceeding with any interventional procedure. A technetium-99m sulfur colloid scan was then
performed, confirming the location of the spleen in the left renal fossa (Figure 2B).
Figure 2. A. Axial fused PET/CT image demonstrating an 8.5 x 6.5 cm soft tissue mass in the left renal fossa (red arrow) with mild FDG uptake. There is physiologic FDG uptake in the liver, bowel, and right kidney. B. Transverse Tc-99m sulfur colloid scintigram showing uptake by the liver and spleen (red arrow), with the latter located in the left renal fossa.
Local regional recurrence of RCC
post-nephrectomy most often occurs within three years after surgery. Metastatic disease to the adrenal gland,
perilymphatics and perinephric fat may be the sources of recurrence in the
renal fossa. Isolated local recurrence
following nephrectomy is uncommon, occurring in less than 2% at 5 years (4). Post-nephrectomy,
many processes mimicking RCC recurrence have been previously described in adult
patients (5-9). Page et al. reported a
case of mass detected after nephrectomy and total splenectomy, which was
removed due to suspicion of tumor (6).
It later turned out to be accessory spleen on histological
examination. Although uncommon,
post-operative changes can also look like tumor. Tolhurst et al. reported a
case of benign organizing hematoma mimicking recurrence of RCC (8). Besides these, there are few other reports of
accessory spleen mimicking a renal tumor, where CT scans used for oncologic
follow-up were unable to definitively differentiate between recurrence and
other mass-occupying processes (5-9).
Our case report is unique from
previously published literature, as displacement of the entire spleen into the
renal fossa post-nephrectomy has not been reported in adult patients. It is evident that previous surgery, atypical
location and abnormal shape make it difficult to differentiate between spleen
and tumor recurrence using CT scan or MRI.
Technetium-99m sulfur colloid scan is more sensitive in detecting
spleen, making it useful in cases where other imaging modalities show equivocal
We suggest that with a high index of
suspicion, the use of the technetium-99m sulfur colloid scan would allow the
characterization of these lesions as splenic in origin and prevent subjecting
patients to risks of biopsy or even surgery.
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no
competing interests.
Authors' contribution
LMS, LAD, and LHD contributed to the care of the patient and analyzed the
data. LAD raised the suspicion and
diagnosed the mass as the patient's spleen.
CSE, KDT, TA, and LHD drafted the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final
This work was supported by the Gatorade
Trust through funds distributed by the University of Florida, Department of
1. Siegel R, Ma J, Zou Z, Jemal A. Cancer
statistics, 2014. CA Cancer J Clin 2014;64:9-29. http://dx.doi.org/10.3322/caac.21208
2. Robbins & Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease
Text. 7th Edition.
3. Klatte T, Lam JS, Shuch B, Belldegrun A, Pantuck
AJ. Surveillance for renal cell cancer: Why and how? When and how often? Urol.
Oncol. 2008;26:550-4.
4. Itano NB, Blute ML, Spotts B, Zincke H. Outcome
of isolated renal cell carcinoma fossa recurrence after nephrectomy. J Urol.
5. Tjaden C, Werner J, Buechler MW, Hackert T.
Reactive hypertrophy of an accessory spleen mimicking tumour recurrence of
metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Asian J Surg. 2011;34(1):50-2.
6. Page JB, Lenz DL, Wong C. Right-sided intrarenal
splenosis mimicking a renal carcinoma. ScientificWorldJournal. 2006;6:2442-4.
7. Pumberger W, Wiesbauer P, Leitha T. Splenosis
mimicking tumor recurrence in renal cell carcinoma: detection on selective
spleen scintigraphy. J Pediatr Surg. 2001;36(7):1089-91.
8. Tolhurst SR, Rapp DE, Lyon MB, Orvieto MA, Sokoloff
MH, Shalhav AL. Post-operative changes mimicking the radiographic appearance of
recurrent renal cell carcinoma. Urol Int. 2006;76(4):368-70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000092066
9. Sy M, Van Gansbeke D, Simon J, Willemart S,
Braude P, Struyven J. Case report: Renal pseudotumours mimicking tumour
recurrence after partial nephrectomy. Br J Radiol. 1996;69(820):359-62. http://dx.doi.org/10.1259/0007-1285-69-820-359
Article Metrics
Copyright (c) 2015 Long H Dang
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.


text: Hey Philly, HUGE news! – Kaskade heard about Philly's dopest, newest venue THE FILLMORE and decided to take his October 23rd show there so you can all experience an amazing night of music and the new space together! All tixs honored at the door. Still need a ticket? Be there, buy tickets HERE


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Principal – Dr Wayne Bovey
- Doctor of Business Administration Degree
(University of the Sunshine Coast 2000 – Queensland's first DBA graduate)
- Master of Business Administration Degree (Advanced)
(University of Queensland 1992)
- Bachelor of Business Degree
(Central Queensland University 1986)
- Diploma of Company Director
(Australian Institute of Company Directors and University of New England 1989)
- Diploma of Corporate Coaching
(CoachInc. 2004)
Data Science and Digital Technologies
- Professional Verified Certificates Data Science for Executives Program
(Columbia University in the City of New York 2018)
- Verified Certificates in Data Science (Python programming and imported applications for data science)
(University of California, Berkeley 2018 and University of California, San Diego 2018)
- Verified Certificates in Data Science (R programming and imported applications for data science)
(Harvard University 2018)
- Professional Verified Certificates Front-End Web Developer
Web and App Development (HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript)
(World Wide Web Consortium 2017)
- Verified Certificates in Cybersecurity
Network Security, Computer Forensics, Cybersecurity Risk Management
(Rochester Institute of Technology 2017)
- Verified Certificate Blockchain for Business – Hyperledger Technologies
(The Linux Foundation 2017)
- Verified Certificate in Agile Software Development
(ETH Zürich 2016)
Professional Competency Designations
- Certified Management Consultant
(Institute of Management Consultants 1994)
- Certified Practising Marketer
(Australian Marketing Institute 1996)
- Australian Institute of Company Directors (Fellow)
- Institute of Management Consultants (Member)
- Australian Marketing Institute (Fellow)
Since 1990 Wayne has consulted to management. Wayne has built a successful track record enhancing organisational performance. He has worked with a variety of industries and organisations, in both the public and private sectors, on a diverse range of assignments.
During the 1980s Wayne held management and operational positions with major finance and merchant banking institutions where he was exposed to many industries and organisations developing management and operations experience.
Wayne was raised on a sugar cane farm in the Mackay region (North Queensland) before moving to Brisbane in the early 1980s.
Leisure Activities
- Golf, Tennis and Cycling


text:
Donald Trump: No citizenship for illegal migrants' babies
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says he wants to end the automatic right to citizenship for all US-born children of families living illegally in the United States.
All children born in the US get citizenship under the constitution.
Other measures he outlined would include raising visa fees to pay for a wall along the Mexican border.
Immigration is a central plank of Mr Trump's campaign to be the Republican contender in next year's election.
"They have to go," he told NBC.
A tough deportation policy was needed, he said, because "there's definitely evidence" of crimes linked to immigrants living in the country illegally.
Could Trump change citizenship rules?
If he became president, Mr Trump wouldn't be able to issue an executive order to change or repeal the 14th Amendment of the US constitution giving birthright US citizenship. So what would be his options?
1 - A bill would need to be passed by two-thirds of both houses of Congress
2 - Two thirds of state legislatures must call on Congress to hold a Constitutional Convention, where amendments can be proposed
In both scenarios, the amendment must be approved by three quarters of all state legislatures and given the political divide in US politics, it is unlikely to happen.
Mr Trump - a front-runner in the field of Republican candidates - said he would also deport all undocumented immigrants, and pay for a tripling of the number of immigration officers by eliminating tax credit payments to immigrant families residing illegally in the US.
He added families with US-born children could return quickly if deemed worthy by the government.
"We're going to try and bring them back rapidly, the good ones," he said, adding: "We will expedite it so people can come back in.
"The good people can come back," he said, without elaborating.
On Monday morning, Mr Trump reported for jury duty in New York, prompting a media scrum outside the courthouse in Manhattan.
2016 runners and riders
- The early Republican frontrunner is Donald Trump
- Hillary Clinton will have learnt much from her failed campaign of 2008
- Florida senator Marco Rubio lost some right-wing fans by backing a bipartisan immigration reform package
- Wisconsin governor Scott Walker appeals to both the Republican establishment and the Tea Party
- Libertarian Rand Paul has his supporters - and enemies - among Republicans
- Veteran congressman Bernie Sanders is drawing huge crowds at his rallies


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GERD Channel
Topics & Medications
Related Channels
Pediatric and Off-Label Indications for Tagamet
Related MultimediaClick on an icon to view.
Over-the-counter Tagamet HB is approved for sour stomach, acid indigestion, and heartburn in children 12 years old and older. Prescription Tagamet is not recommended for children under the age of 16. Talk to your healthcare provider about the benefits and risks of using Tagamet in children and adolescents.
On occasion, your healthcare provider may recommend Tagamet for something other than the conditions discussed above. This is called an "off-label" use. At this time, there are a few off-label Tagamet uses, such as:
- Preventing ulcers in people in an intensive care unit (ICU) of a hospital (this use is also known as "stress ulcer prophylaxis")
- Preventing acid-related pneumonia during surgeries
- Treating H. pylori infections
- Treating warts
- Treating molluscum contagiosum.
Tagamet Drug Information
Written by/reviewed by: Kristi Monson, PharmD; Arthur Schoenstadt, MD
Last reviewed by: Kristi Monson, PharmD


text: A cook/stewardess is urgently required by a 38m M/Y. The boat is currently in Palma and local candidates are preferred for interview purposes. The Owner brings his own chef, so cooking will be for the crew and assisting the chef if required. The stewardess duties will be assisting the chief stewardess with service, housekeeping and laundry. You should have good provisioning experience especially in the Balearics. Female candidates only due to cabin arrangements.


text:
Please everybody, print these pictures out, put them in your trash, remove the trash bag from the can, and bring them to the curb because thats where these trash-ass pics belong.
1. "Hun, y'know how you got a small tat on your foot? Well, I got one too!"
2. So this isn't good.
4. Two years of drug and jail statuses is too much.
5. Hawaii is overrated. Mud is where it's at.
6. This family comes first at coming in last.
7. Aand they broke up shortly after.
8. Any emoji tattoo is bad. Any face tattoo is bad. Meet the worst tattoo.
9. And the person didn't even like it, apparently.
10. Weird brag about your crack body.
11. It's...something.


text:
Mitch Pengra
Mitch Pengra was raised in Houston and has been teaching and playing piano for singers and shows for several years. Past productions include "The Great American Trailer Park Musical" and "Always, Patsy Cline," both at Stages Theatre, Houston; musical director for "A Child's Christmas in Wales," at Unity Theatre, Brenham; "Nursery School Musical," at TheaterLab, Houston; and "29 One More Time," at Houston's JCC. Mitch has been Musical Director at Wildfish Theatre since 2015. He is thrilled to be back with the best directors and most talented young actors in Houston, where high expectations and quality leadership bring out the best in every cast member.


text:
I am an avid knitter and am making hand knitted baby blankets. These have reverse stockinette hearts on a stockinette background,
surrounded by a garter stitch border. These are very beautiful and hand done. I will make these to order and you can choose
what color you want. I am asking $40 for these blankets to cover the costs for the yarn, time to make the blanket as these
are made 100% by hand, and shipping which is included. I will accept secure online payments via paypal. I will even ship internationally
with no extra costs! These blankets are very special and will keep that special little someone very warm at night or naptime.
Hand Knitted Baby Blankets
Hand made baby blanket in your choice of color. Dimensions are 30" X 40". Very nice and durable. Made with love.Price:
$40 each, includes cost for shipping
Contact Information
Click here for orders or questions:
Terms and Conditions
I accept PayPal credit card payments and will negotiate other forms of payment via e-mail.If you would like to
order one of these beautiful handmade blankets for that special little one in your life, contact me at the e-mail address
above. Thanks for your interest!
Just browsing? Get in touch anyway and let me know what you think.


text:
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text:
Sending a cheque payable to Cardiff and Vale Green Party to -
The Treasurer, Cardiff Green Party, 25 Ty Glas Avenue, Llanishen, Cardiff CF14 5DX
Making an online bank transfer to -
Cardiff & Vale Green Party
Account no. 65044632, Sort code: 08-92-99
Your Reference (surname and postcode please – max. 18 characters)
setting it up online using the details above


text:
Each fall for the last 25 years, Forms V and VI students visit six to eight campuses in order to experience and learn about different types of colleges and universities. This year our boys visited Vassar College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Boston College, Boston University, Harvard University, Tufts University, Amherst College and University of Massachusetts Amherst.
The purpose of the trip is to expose students to the breadth and variety of schools available to them and to spark discussions about what other schools they might want to investigate. On each trip, students will visit big schools and small schools, public and private, urban and rural. By the time a Form VI student applies to college, he will have visited upwards of 15 campuses, helping him form a much clearer sense of the type of environment in which he could see himself thriving.
Click here to watch a video about Browning's college guidance program, including more about our unique Form V and VI college trip.


text:
An alternative economic solution for managing residual assets.
Our in-house Delta Residual Asset Trust provides clients with an alternative and more attractive economic solution for the longer term ownership, management and ultimate distribution of residual, illiquid or contingent assets. The Trust enables clients to accelerate termination of their existing and more costly structures with each solution designed and tailored to a client's specific situational needs.


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Ex-CJI calls for strong criminal justice system
'I am fairly satisfied what I did during my tenure as Chief Justice', says outgoing Chief Justice YK Sabharwal.india Updated: Jan 13, 2007 13:59 IST
Outgoing Chief Justice YK Sabharwal on Saturday expressed concern over the delay in justice delivery system and favoured strengthening it with time bound trials, especially of cases involving the high and mighty.
In an interaction with the media on his last day in office, he dismissed a question about politicians not getting convicted in cases saying there had been such instances but added judiciary cannot convict someone who is entitled to acquittal.
"I am fairly satisfied what I did during my tenure as Chief Justice. However, more emphasis was required for criminal justice system which has to be more focused," he said.
The CJI said that his successor Justice KG Balakrishnan was conscious of the urgent need and steps would be taken with focus on criminal justice system at all levels of the court to cut short the delays.
He was particular that the cases of high and mighty be decided on fast track on a reasonable time frame.
When a reporter suggested that there had been no conviction of politicians, Sabharwal shot back saying, "How do you say this? I take strong exception to this. Convictions have been there and appeals are pending. Judiciary cannot convict whoever is entitled to acquittal."
"At every level there is delay in dispensation of justice whether it is at the magisterial level or at High Court level. Fortunately, that is not such a great problem in Supreme Court. In most of the High Court it takes five to eight years in disposal of criminal appeals. Some courts take 20 years, that is almost a life span," he said.
Further, the delay in criminal trials cause the problem of witnesses turning hostile as they are purchased, he said adding delay also creates problems for the victim, their family and also for the accused if he is innocent.
"The main emphasis is to cut short the delays," he said.
He said during his 14 months tenure as the Chief Justice, the emphasis was to maintain transparency at all levels, including the appointment of judges for the apex court.
"You must have seen the kind of transparency in the last 13-14 months," he said.
However, when asked about the impact of media in deciding the high profile criminal cases, he said, "It cannot be worse for a judge if his mind is influenced by media."
"That would be a doomsday as far as judiciary is concerned," he said.
First Published: Jan 13, 2007 13:44 IST


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The Los Angeles Times chronicles Vegas economy problems
Meanwhile, relentless price-cutting remains the watchword on the Strip. Wynn Resorts recorded revenue in Las Vegas of $291.3 million in the first quarter of this year, only a hair ahead of the $287.2 million in the same period of 2008, despite having doubled its room inventory by opening the 2,034-room Encore in December.
Wynn reported that discounts lowered its average revenue per room to $194 for the first half of this year, from $289 a year earlier -- although its aggressive promotional rates didn't help overall occupancy, which fell to 88% from 96.2%.
Some casino industry experts fear that continued heavy discounting will dim the Vegas aura for the longer term.
"You've got to drop your rates, but you don't want to create a sense that this is a discount experience or that the experience itself has been diminished," says Billy Vassiliadis, chief executive of R&R Partners, the Las Vegas public relations firm that created the renowned "What happens here, stays here" marketing campaign. "It's been a real dilemma."
Another concern is that bargain hunters lured to the Strip by cut-rate rooms may not belong to the market segment that its business model -- a symbiosis of expensive accommodations, gourmet dining and entertainment -- relies on. Rather than dining at a hotel's high-margin Wolfgang Puck restaurant, for example, they may hop across the street for a fast-food meal.
The business model was a losing proposition from day one. It was wrong for the mega casinos to shift their focus from gambling to catering to a smaller more wealthy customer base combined with business expense account convention attendees. Extremely short sighted. And frankly Harrah's has cut its maintenance budget so much that their properties are dirty and they lack the staff to adequately serve their guests causing their appeal to guests to greatly diminish. Not to mention the lack of any new slot machines on the floors. Las Vegas is not the same.
Click this link to read the entire article.


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Miranda Crabtree
Miranda Crabtree
As an offshoot of my main practice, I create drawings to be printed in Risograph. I love the variant texture produced by the ink in the printing process. The women in my printed work are melting into and entering the spiritual domain of landscape; plucking up offerings gleaned therein. A minimal roster of props signal to times of austerity, while standing as symbols of abundance. Figures roam and weave in and out of the space they inhabit, dragging remnants of a dubious past to furnish an uncertain future.
Miranda Crabtree is a painter and installation artist, based in Toronto, Canada. Crabtree received her BFA from NSCAD University in 2007. Her paper-based watercolour/gouache paintings and installations have shown at galleries in Toronto, including Gallery 1313, The Gladstone Hotel's Nuit Blanche, and Black Cat Gallery. A series of Risograph prints were produced through an Artscape Gibraltar Point Residency, leading to large-scale drawings shown at Hamilton Artist Inc. Gallery in February 2017. Most recently Crabtree has spent January 2018 at the Listastofan Artist Residency in Reykjavik, Iceland, making new work.


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This interactive workshop will enable you to experiment making creative photograms from natural materials or transfer your own designs from acetate drawings and collages. The process uses natural sunlight to expose prepared paper, fabric and water to develop the print. Please bring an apron.
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On last night's episode Issa rocked five separate hairstyles, not including the cute opening scene wearing her head scarf. The constant hair changes mirrored her jumping from guy to guy, or as Issa put it more colorfully to Molly, her "ho-tation."
In the opening scene, when Issa makes a restless late night call to neighbor Eddie, she's wearing a split halo flat-twist hairdo. The look is parted on one side and angled back like a diamond to join at the nape. In the mirror, Issa notes that her "Edges [are] right."
The next day she finds herself at the car mechanic, frustrated by the length of time and money it's going to take to repair her car. The look here is a perky puff — her wash-and-go decorated with a trendy black headband.
The next look is our favorite of the episode, and is featured in her scene with Nico. She's invited him over before their dinner date with the intent to seduce him (and skip the dinner). Her hairstyle here is a retro pompadour / pouf with flat-twists up the back — a look that at once both hyper-feminine and rebellious.
Look 4, she's back with her girls at the "Sexplosion" event. The hairstyle is a sassy mohawk. Along the sides, hair is parted in four sections and linked with twists.
The final look of the episode is another flat-twist variation for her rendezvous with Daniel. The look is flat-twists up the back, into a pineapple with cascading curls top.
What was your favorite look from last night's episode? Let us know in the comments!


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30+ Christmas gift ideas - Easy to make Holiday crafts.
I personally selected images of 30+ Christmas gift ideas from my Christmas magazines collection, that are easy to make and perfect to celebrate the most wonderful time of the year. I hope you find some inspiration here, share it with your family and friends and have a very Merry Christmas!!


text: This hazelnut-chocolate spread looks like the iconic Nutella, but it tastes more richly of hazelnuts, says Chris Kimball. Anthony Tieuli/America's Test Kitchen hide caption toggle caption Anthony Tieuli/America's Test Kitchen The Salt With Help From America's Test Kitchen, Why Buy When You Can DIY? July 24, 2014 Morning Edition host Renee Montagne talks to America's Test Kitchen's Chris Kimball about foods that are easier than you'd guess to make at home. Fresh Nutella or kale chips, anyone? With Help From America's Test Kitchen, Why Buy When You Can DIY? Listen · 7:19 7:19 Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/334424736/334851648" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript


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Dean Loc BKA King ArkLaTex is in a lane all his own, being catapulted to Global artistry elite status with 3 New Hit Singles. Videos are reportedly being completed with the debut album available everywhere for streaming or download.
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CIMFR Recruitment 2018 – 111 CSIR Vacancies for Project Assistant | Walk In Interview: Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CIMFR) has issued a recruitment notification for Project Assistant Jobs through Walk-In-Interview. Online applications are invited from the eligible candidates for appearing in the Interview on the scheduled date. The candidates will be appointed against CSIR Vacancies 2018 of Project Assistant Level- I and Project Assistant Level- II. Walk-In-Interview will be commencing from 13th February and to be continued until 20th February 2018. CIMFR Advertisement No. CIMFR/PA/SSP/7502/03-60/AKS(DC)/R&A-II. Posts Details, Eligibility Criteria, Age Limit and other related information are given below:
CIMFR Recruitment 2018 for Project Assistant Jobs
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Project Assistant (Level-II): The candidates must be a Master Degree in Geology/Applied Geology / Chemistry /Physics or the candidates should have B.Tech in Computer Science / Mechanical / Electrical Engineering.
Age Limit: Age of the Project Assistant Level-I and Project Assistant Level-II should not exceed 28 years and 30 years respectively. Upper age limit is relaxable by 5 years for Statutory and Women candidates.
Stipend: Rs.15000/- for Project Assistant Level-I and Rs.25000/- for Project Assistant Level-II.
Selection Process: Selection will be made on the basis of Walk-In-Interview.
How To Apply: Desired candidates can apply online to attend the Walk-In-Interview through www.pmeac.org. The candidates (New) have to register firstly for online application to attend the interview. The registration link is available on the above website. The candidates are advised to read the full notification before registration. For online application, the candidates should mention Advertisement No. and date, Name of the candidates, Father's name Date of Birth, Educational Qualification, Mobile Number, Email Address and print out the same application form. Now the candidates should reach on the pre-decided date (from 13.02.2018 to 20.02.2018 at 10:30 am) of Interview with all necessary documents at CIMFR Digwadih Campus, post- FRI of CISR-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research. The Walk-in-Interview will start on 13th February 2018.
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Anyone else having issues with the scripts appearing under 9.6.2 midi remote scripts but not appearing in the list under control surfaces in Ableton? I only see Livid DS1 and none of the v2 scripts.
Yup, 9.6.2 has broken something....I'm currently out in the woods but I'll have a look at it Tuesday when I get back to a real internet connection.
Same here, I tried to get the Livid_CNTRLR_v2 scripts working but no Livid scripts show up as possible control surface. I verified that they do exist in the right place on my Mac.
I am having the same problem. Has this been resolved yet and can you point me to the revised download please?
Please have a look at the top post sticky in the forum.


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In the last installment in these series of articles I mentioned some of the biggest winners in standard that may have not had time to shine before. So in this final article I'm going to talk about the new kids on the block, and the 5 of them that I believe will have the biggest impact on Magic.
This might be kind of cheating because this is a whole cycle instead of one card, but shocklands are going to really change how we currently do our manabases. We won't see it this set but when we have all 10 lands mana will be almost perfect. These 5 really help their respective colors and help you play 3 color pairs like Abzan, Sultai, Naya, Jeskai, and Grixis. When we get all 10 every 3 color pair is going to have great mana and depending on what else is printed 4-5 colors will be within reach.
- Auriela, Exemplar of Justice
Auriela is huge for Boros decks, this card is a real powerhouse and effects the board the turn she comes down. You can play her and immediately pump your 3 drop and then next turn start attacking with her and mentoring onto other creatures, this angel also pairs very well with lyra making Auriela a 5/6 vigilance, trample, flying, lifelink attacker. Not to mention that she can be found by Militia Bugler which could end up being a very important interaction in new standard.
- Venerated Loxodon
Now to talk about the elephant in the room. Venerated Loxodon is one of those cards that is secretly very good, this a 5 mana creature with convoke and in a dedicated tokens deck you could have this down on turn three with 10+ power on the board, this card is also good late too in board stalls over even on turn 4 or 5 when it could be completely free, this card is coming to a Selesnya deck near you.
- Doom Whisperer
I keep looking for the drawback on this card and it's just no there. Dr. Doom is hugely sized and has some great keywords, not to mention its ability is insane. If your opponent does not have an answer they just die to this huge flier, and if they do you may have enough life to just find another one. This card is very good and I'm going to be casting it a lot.
- Assassin's Trophy
The other cards on this list are looked at with their effect on standard, as I don't see them seeing much play outside that, but this card is a different story. Assassin's Trophy will see play in every format because of its sheer efficiency. Nothing is safe. Creatures? Dead. Enchantments? Dead. Artifacts? Dead. Planeswalkers? Dead. Lands? You guessed it. Dead. Now I don't think this card is going to take over every format but it will certainly have an impact on them all. Legacy decks will play this over some number over Abrupt Decay to kill things like JTMS. BGx Rock players are ecstatic over this card because finally Tron is dead! Okay that's probably not true, but this card really gives fair decks game against decks like Tron or any other deck with difficult permanents. In standard this is just the best removal spell, and will certainly see play in any deck that can cast it.
Well that's it for this series of articles, I hope you all enjoyed them and I hope I helped get those gears spinning for the new set, I can't wait to see what you all bring!
Micheal McClure
Latest posts by Micheal McClure (see all)
- Tips on how to Evaluate New Cards for Standard - January 12, 2019
- All Things Rotation: Part III - September 28, 2018
- All Things Rotation: Part II - September 14, 2018


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Nick Millington had simply began to really feel like a profitable software program engineer. It was early 2003, and at age 26 he already had a fruitful profession at Microsoft. He feared his one-bedroom condo in Redmond, Washington—crammed with a mishmash of bargain-bin furnishings and DIY shelving product of cinderblocks and wooden planks—wasn't consultant of his upward mobility. He wasn't a ravenous pupil anymore, he was an grownup. So Millington did what all of us do as soon as we're ready: He purchased a bigger, extra elegant condo and crammed it with brand-new stuff.- Advertisement -
"I used to be beginning to assume extra concerning the design of my dwelling," Millington says. "You know, upgrading to the fancier Ikea furnishings that appeared good."
One nagging drawback was learn how to rig up his music system. Digital music was exploding on the web, and Millington had spent many hours methodically attempting to gather each Billboard Top 40 hit from 1945 onward, amassing a variety of different, extra eclectic music information alongside the best way. But listening to his treasure trove of tunes felt like residing within the dorms once more. All of his MP3s have been saved on the boxy PC he stored in his front room. "At the time, my music setup was a Gateway 2000 tower PC after which I had a laptop computer," he says. "I'd do terminal server into the PC and play MP3 information there. That wasn't chopping it for me."
Around that very same time, a Santa Barbara, California, startup known as Sonos was hiring engineers. Sonos courted Millington with a easy pitch: It wished to make digital music gamers that will look respectable on his "fancier" Ikea cabinets, wirelessly entry his MP3s with out requiring him to the touch a PC, and play all of his music in each room of his home. Millington wished in.
Now, 15 years later, Nick Millington is the chief product officer at Sonos: the man answerable for the entire firm's audio system and software program. When I meet him at Sonos' East Coast headquarters in Boston, he is dressed like an archetypical engineer, in a plaid, short-sleeved shirt. Framing his spherical face is brown hair that is stored in verify however appears to be ready for the possibility to poof and curl. He seems to be each utterly put collectively and a touch raveled abruptly.
Millington is called as an inventor on 69 Sonos patents, with 33 others pending—a good portion of the corporate's whole portfolio, which numbers round 500 patents. He additionally developed the core networking framework that retains the playback of a number of Sonos audio system all through a house in good sync. His work was central to the corporate's early adoption of apps and its growth from amps to audio system. Yet, despite the fact that his efforts have confirmed important to the corporate's success, Millington tends to credit score others much more than himself. He appears extra involved with fixing issues than bragging about his options, which can be why he is by no means sought a better highlight or given an in-depth interview earlier than speaking to WIRED.
Since 2005, Sonos has offered 19 million audio units—every of them a illustration of the work achieved by Millington and his staff—into 7 million properties. The similar audio system nonetheless prime many best-of guides. By most measures, it is a story of success.
In the longer term, Millington hints, Sonos could create its first audio system and audio merchandise designed to go away the home.
But at the moment, Sonos is crusing rougher seas. Cofounder and CEO John MacFarlane resigned in early 2017 and was changed by COO Patrick Spence. The firm has additionally had multiple spherical of layoffs because it has handled an evolving aggressive panorama. The rise of the voice-assistant sensible speaker, specifically, took the corporate abruptly. Just this yr, shortly earlier than going public, Sonos launched a brand new soundbar that interacts with voice providers from Apple, Amazon, and shortly, Google—the identical tech giants who've charged forcefully into the multiroom wi-fi speaker market Sonos constructed.
It will likely be as much as Millington and his product staff to chart a course by the uneven, frenemy-filled waters forward. To do it, he could assist information the corporate into new locations altogether. Until now, all Sonos merchandise have been shackled to rooms inside your property. In the longer term, Millington hints, Sonos could create its first audio system and audio merchandise designed to go away the home.
Millington is used to leaving homes. As the son of a British Diplomatic Service officer, he spent his whole childhood globetrotting, nevertheless it was his time as a child in Japan within the 1980s—an period when the nation was the worldwide epicenter for digital innovation—that set him on a path towards tech.
"There was an space of Tokyo known as Akihabara, which is the place there have been all of those tech corporations and these shops the place you may go purchase infinite arrays of components, and extremely low cost floppy disks and all kinds of apparatus," Millington says. "I used to go nearly each weekend with just a few geeky buddies of mine and take a look at numerous developments and issues like that."
He realized about networking early on as effectively, subscribing to the primary dialup web service supplier in Japan, known as TWICS. He ran a Tokyo PC customers group on a bulletin board system that predated the online. Eventually, he landed at Duke University within the US after which went to Microsoft when he graduated in 1998, the place he labored on SharePoint, the software program maker's on-line collaboration platform.
When Sonos was based, in 2002, there was no streaming music. No Spotify. No Pandora. AOL dialup was the most well-liked technique to entry the web, and plenty of households did not even have Wi-Fi but. iTunes was popularizing the idea of authorized music downloads, and file-sharing providers like Kazaa have been rising in reputation because the music trade reeled within the wake of Napster.
The 4 founders of Sonos, led by MacFarlane, acknowledged that digital music would more and more change into an even bigger a part of shopper's lives. Their huge concept was an formidable plan to make it doable for anybody to arrange a multiroom dwelling speaker community for digital music. At the time, multiroom methods may very well be bought, however they have been inaccessible.
"The know-how was very cumbersome," Millington says. "It was tough to arrange. It was usually the area of high-end installers charging very excessive costs for stuff that did not all the time work terribly effectively. Sometimes you needed to really rebuild your property to place within the mandatory wiring and audio system."
Their plan was to democratize the entire stack. Instead of requiring devoted wiring or a staff {of professional} installers, Sonos would create Wi-Fi amplifiers ("ZonePlayers") that you may tether to the audio system you already owned. Set a Sonos amp in any room of your home, and digital music may very well be summoned out of your pc utilizing a devoted wi-fi distant management. You'd have the ability to transfer your speaker setup to new rooms, alter which audio system have been grouped collectively, and take the entire association with you in case you purchased a brand new dwelling.
By early 2003, the founders had employed Andy Schulert to move up product improvement. He shortly known as on Millington, an outdated Microsoft colleague, to assist resolve essentially the most daunting drawback the corporate was dealing with: learn how to develop networking tech that will flawlessly sync a number of amplifiers collectively, transport music between them, and maintain them related and up to date by the web—throughout Wi-Fi, which was far much less mature again then. Despite having no audio expertise "aside from 10 years of piano classes," Millington moved to Santa Barbara and taught himself what he wanted to learn about audio synchronization in a matter of weeks.
"We had a saying within the early days of Sonos that if there's one factor that completely has to work in model 1 of the software program it is the power to improve to model 1.1," Millington says. "But if there are two issues that must work, then the audio transport is unquestionably the core a part of it. I've all the time appreciated to gravitate towards the core drawback the place 'If we do not resolve this, we've no product' and make it possible for it is dealt with in the absolute best method."
Syncing amps (and their audio system) wasn't simple. One of the large challenges with a number of audio system is coping with the accuracy of the human ear, which might shortly detect audio that is out of sync.
"The method that you simply understand stereo [sound] is with variations in time when the sign arrives at your proper ear and your left ear," Millington explains. "If that's transferring round or it is off, it should look like the sound is coming from a special location, and it may be fairly fairly disconcerting. You have to synchronize it to lower than a millisecond of accuracy to have or not it's a extremely pleasurable expertise."
To get a number of audio system to sync that carefully, Millington developed a technique of time-stamping all of the music touring between audio system, thereby holding every speaker accountable. Timestamping made it just about unimaginable for Sonos ZonePlayers to get out of sync.
Want to offer Alexa an audio improve? Read our evaluate of the Sonos One sensible speaker.
The staff made one other necessary selection round this time. Instead of designating a everlasting grasp ZonePlayer that centrally ran the complete community, the staff created a distributed community during which each Player acted by itself and intelligently communicated with the others—no simple activity. For instance, if a person had 5 ZonePlayers attached, Millington could not let all 5 of them fetch music from the web. It would suck up an excessive amount of bandwidth and doubtlessly crush a house community. So he developed a "delegation" course of that allowed each ZonePlayer to dynamically assign duties to at least one one other. If one ZonePlayer was faraway from the community, one other one might choose up the slack and take over its duties—even fetching the music for all of the Players, if mandatory.
Unfortunately, none of this labored over Wi-Fi but. John MacFarlane was adamant that the entire system work wirelessly, so Millington turned to mesh networking. This technique affords a technique to wirelessly join units in an advert hoc trend, so that you need not depend on a central site visitors level like a router to maintain the community buzzing. Millington taught himself mesh networking in about six weeks.
By early 2004, Sonos' wi-fi mesh networking system was working. Owners would have the ability to run as much as 32 Sonos gamers of their dwelling, grouping and ungrouping them at will to bundle rooms collectively, play the identical music throughout a whole flooring of their home, or use every participant individually.
But code that works within the lab nonetheless has to cross real-world assessments. Millington and the crew started touring to properties with completely different Wi-Fi setups close to Sonos' East Coast headquarters in Boston and its West-Coast headquarters in Santa Barbara. They had to determine what microwaves and cordless telephones would possibly do to a Sonos participant underneath the identical roof. In the early days of wi-fi networking, many merchandise did not use Wi-Fi as frugally as they do at the moment, and a few have been main bandwidth hogs, inflicting numerous complications for the staff.
It was tempting to take the simple highway and blame somebody's Wi-Fi for every thing that went flawed. But for Sonos to succeed as a product, it needed to function in less-than-ideal wi-fi environments, and a number of other months of troubleshooting ensued. The intense quantity of testing the staff went by in that prelaunch part has been immortalized in code; all Sonos merchandise are filled with onboard Wi-Fi diagnostic instruments that may ship studies to customer support reps when audio system begin having issues.
Space Oddity
The first Sonos ZonePlayer (ZP100) hit retailer cabinets in early 2005 as a part of a $1,199 bundle that included two amplifiers and a bodily wi-fi distant controller.
That wi-fi controller had a display and route pad so you may play music with no PC. Some engineers affectionately referred to it as a "Russian iPod" due to its chunky, jog-wheel-bedecked design. But it was helpful, displaying album artwork and music titles on a small display, and giving customers the power to group and ungroup audio system. The firm additionally made a robust effort to simplify setup with three-step directions.
At launch, the ZP100 was a distinct segment proposition. Wireless multiroom methods have been completely new. Sonos gamers, although cheaper than a professionally put in wired system, have been nonetheless pretty costly, and the truth that they required you to buy your personal audio system was powerful to speak to a mass viewers. Hardcore audiophiles doubtless understood it, however a lot of them have been already out there for (or owned) an expert setup.
Still, for a startup like Sonos, it was a promising debut. The staff believed the product labored very well and was dependable, and preliminary gross sales have been no less than first rate. As phrase of mouth started to unfold and new ZonePlayer amps arrived, Sonos gained extra consideration.
All-In on iPhone
With the idea of networked audio confirmed and Sonos' amp enterprise up and operating, Millington was promoted to director of superior improvement and structure in 2006. In his new position, he assembled a small staff of half a dozen engineers to create daring, modern product concepts—a skunkworks staff of kinds. While the remainder of the corporate maintained and improved these wi-fi amps, he started engaged on new ideas.
One of his first initiatives turned out to be a important milestone for Sonos.
With Millington on the helm, Sonos launched its first iPhone app in late 2008—the identical yr the App Store launched. The firm debated whether or not to cost for the app (no person knew how a lot apps ought to actually value again then) however determined to make it free.
Millington credit the opposite founders, significantly MacFarlane, for the brisk adoption of iOS. MacFarlane's "a man who lives three or 4 years sooner or later, and he takes with no consideration issues that do not really exist but, is sort of how I'd describe his mindset," Millington tells me with a smile. "He actually gave us the push in that space."
The app eradicated the necessity for a bunch PC or that "Russian iPod" wi-fi controller. In the years that adopted, Millington and the staff continued to flesh out the app and started including direct entry to music streaming providers as listeners stopped hoarding MP3s on their dwelling pc and started turning to providers like Pandora, Rhapsody, and Spotify.
Sonos additionally made a important resolution round this time that continues to outline what the corporate is about: It selected to stay an open platform. The firm determined in opposition to making its personal music service and as an alternative started working to assist each audio service available on the market in a very impartial method.
"Sonos is a degree enjoying area for these providers to compete for customers' attentions and subscriptions. We've by no means taken any cash from a music service or promoted any one in every of them [over the others]," Millington says. "I feel the providers admire that."
The Sonos app finally grew to assist round 100 providers globally, greater than any comparable platform.
The First Sonos Speaker
The subsequent milestone mission for Millington's staff was a full-fledged speaker for Sonos. In early 2008, he employed an audio engineer named Chris Kallai, a self-described "audio nut" who had hung out at Harman and Velodyne.
In its early years, Sonos centered on amplifiers as an alternative of audio system as a result of it appeared too tough for an unknown model to launch a speaker as its first product. There have been numerous established corporations within the house. Executives additionally believed that customers and reviewers tended to evaluate audio system otherwise than amps. Amps are nearly all the time evaluated objectively. With audio system, nevertheless, every listener tends to favor their most well-liked sound signatures.
"There was simply numerous snake oil and folklore round which of them sound good and which of them do not, and issues like that," Millington says. "You know the good factor about an amplifier is you'll be able to measure whether or not it sounds good or not. Either it reproduces the enter or it does not, whereas with a speaker it is rather more subjective."
To resolve the issue, the corporate determined to keep away from making a "Sonos sound" of its personal. Kallai, Millington, and others determined Sonos audio system would attempt to replicate what recording engineers heard within the studio as they recorded albums. They assembled a bunch of recording artists and engineers to assist. Several notable names in music, together with Rick Rubin, joined the group. (Giles Martin, son of Beatles producer George Martin and overseer of many current Beatles remasterings, presently heads it up.)
With Kallai's assist, Sonos shipped the $399 Play:5 speaker in 2009. Millington and others described this as a turning level for the corporate due to how a lot it simplified the Sonos proposition. Combined with the brand new iPhone app, it was a speaker that labored out of the field and sounded incredible. It may very well be used alone or be networked with as many as 31 items of Sonos {hardware}—different Play:5 audio system or older ZonePlayers. It additionally acquired extra succesful over time, because of firmware updates that downloaded and put in from the app—refreshing all audio system directly.
"In some methods you'll be able to consider [the Play:5] as the primary sensible speaker within the sense that it is internet-connected, runs software program, connects to music providers, and may make music itself slightly than being hooked as much as an exterior amplifier and audio system," Millington says.
The Play:5 earned comparatively excessive marks from reviewers, who appreciated its sound and options. It helps that the Play:5 stood out amongst what appeared like a sea of dwelling audio system with iPod docks or then-subpar Bluetooth radios.
Let the Good Times Roll
The success of merchandise just like the Play:5 and iPhone app led to a promotion for Millington. He was put answerable for the complete product division at Sonos in early 2010.
Throughout the subsequent few years, increasingly more music listeners started to depend on their telephones to stream songs, and for anybody who appreciated utilizing an app, Sonos turned a lovely concept. The firm loved a wave of progress and recognition as a frontrunner in multiroom audio throughout these years, including audio system just like the petite $200 Play:1 (the top-selling Sonos speaker) and Playbar soundbar to its lineup. Eventually, Sonos got here full circle and revamped the Play:5, giving it contact controls and a contemporary exterior.
In early 2014, Sonos redesigned its smartphone app, including a common music search that allow you to hunt by all of your music providers directly. Later that yr, an replace eradicated the necessity to bodily plug one in every of your audio system/amps into your property router to create a Sonos community. All of a sudden, each Sonos participant might simply join by way of Wi-Fi, additional simplifying setup.
But on the finish of 2014, issues started to alter. Amazon launched a small voice-powered speaker known as the Echo. It did not sound excellent, and Sonos did not acknowledge it as a risk. But the Echo quietly kicked off a wholly new wave of sensible audio system powered by voice management. Just as issues have been starting to get snug, the bottom beneath Millington and his staff's ft started to shift.
After I end my multihour chat with Nick Millington within the "Fenway" assembly room at Sonos' Boston workplace, {hardware} lab supervisor Jim Weineck whisks me away to offer me a full tour of the corporate's labs, the place merchandise, new and outdated, are put by their paces. The facility is intense. Many testing chambers appear like huge financial institution vaults from the skin, and it isn't unusual to see big foam cones protruding from the partitions and ceilings.
In one chamber, audio system are stress-tested by having particular pink noise tones piped by them for a number of months at a time. Pink noise sounds rather a lot like white noise, nevertheless it accommodates frequencies which might be higher for testing audio methods. (I used to be instructed that, within the Santa Barbara places of work, Sonos had 64 Play:1 audio system enjoying audio at most quantity for 12 months straight utilizing a custom-designed tone. This tone, known as "life check noise," simulates a bunch of songs throughout all genres directly, and pumping it by the audio system for a yr can simulate 10 years of playback.)
In one other room the scale of a walk-in freezer, an enormous round array of probes research how effectively the Wi-Fi antennas in Sonos merchandise choose up and emit a sign. A monitor exhibits me a 3-D Wi-Fi cloud for the Sonos Playbase, which seems to have a troublesome time selecting up indicators straight beneath it. Other rooms check for issues just like the long-term results of maximum temperatures, static electrical energy and the way it impacts contact controls, and unintentional radiation.
On the tour, one engineer tells me Sonos audio system are filled with extra antennas and connectivity tech than they really want. The staff even tries to squeeze in options that will not be used but, understanding they may be activated sooner or later by way of a software program replace. Whenever Sonos releases new updates, it takes pains to ensure older {hardware} nonetheless works reliably. Millington and different staff say there are nonetheless ZP100s on the market, serving up music in 2018 similar to they did in 2005. Quite just a few of them, really. Sonos claims that 93 p.c of all of the gamers it has offered are nonetheless in use—a determine that stands out in a tech world the place internet-connected merchandise more and more appear to die on a whim.
Weineck leads me into Sonos' anechoic acoustic chamber, my favourite a part of the tour. It's a two-story vault with a door so heavy it must be operated electronically. Inside, the room is totally silent. The partitions and ceiling are lined with bundles of foot-long, grey, triangular prisms that take up all sound and cancel any reverberations. The flooring is a trampoline-like mesh materials topped with a steel wire grid. If you peer by the mesh, you'll be able to see that you simply're suspended about 10 ft off the grey, foamy floor. In the middle of the room is a pedestal the place a speaker sits with an arced pole of microphones in entrance of it. These mics seize and map the sound that comes out of a speaker.
Standing in a silent chamber is oddly unnerving. Weineck tells me that with the lights out, folks begin to go loopy after a couple of minutes within the vault as a result of they lose all sense of house and route. All they'll hear is their very own heartbeat. As quickly as he tells me this, I too swear I can hear my very own organs pulsating.
Other areas of the power maintain Faraday cages that block outdoors indicators to create a pure setting the place Sonos can check the Wi-Fi entry factors of its audio system (a necessity in a constructing crammed with tons of of internet-connected units). A 3-D-printing room lets designers shortly mock up new product concepts.
Weineck describes a few rooms as "teleconferencing on steroids" because of their digital whiteboards, extremely delicate directional microphones, and a surgical digital camera mounted to the ceiling. The digital camera is exact sufficient to zoom in on the threading of a screw. The Santa Barbara places of work have rooms similar to those right here in Boston, enabling worldwide nitpicking as groups on every coast work collectively to good the look or sound of a brand new speaker.
Notes of humanity peek by the sterile jungle of lab gear on concrete flooring. I discover jokes posted on the partitions and oddly positioned toys, like a shark sitting atop check gear, hinting that there's no less than a little time for play within the audio labs. In a woodworking lab, some staff pulled a prank on an engineer's tendency to meticulously label his provides by labeling completely every thing within the room when he was on trip, together with his sink and chair. They laughed, telling me it was to assist him "get again in control shortly."
There are additionally Obi-Wan Kenobi photographs saying "this isn't the room you are in search of" cheekily plastered on a number of the extra mysterious doorways within the labs throughout my go to. Like a very good stormtrooper, I transfer alongside, however I additionally surprise what the audio Jedi are as much as in these secret labs.
For an organization born by wanting forward, Sonos was late to acknowledge the significance of voice controls in audio system. Though the Amazon Echo launched method again in 2014, Sonos simply started promoting its first voice-enabled merchandise prior to now yr, with the Sonos One and the brand new Sonos Beam. The shift has compelled Millington and his product staff to rethink what a Sonos speaker ought to do yet again.
In some methods, Sonos remains to be forward. The multiroom capabilities within the Google Assistant app are already beginning to get fairly good, however Amazon's Alexa is suffering from numerous complications in terms of multiroom and third-party speaker assist. Neither Google's nor Amazon's product helps as many streaming providers as Sonos, and the one streaming service supported by Apple's Siri-enabled HomePod speaker is Apple Music.
Sonos has chosen to stay agnostic in terms of voice assistants.
"Smart audio system can do a ton of issues, [but] the killer software is music," Millington says. "I feel second solely to, you realize, 'Alexa set a timer for 30 seconds,' music is the predominant software of sensible audio system. Once you've got put a number of audio system into an setting, it's a must to cope with the multiroom points. They've gotta be synchronized, you've got acquired to have the ability to group them, and you have to do it in a method that is decentralized, that does not contain any sort of server."
Much like they did by supporting all music-streaming providers equally, Millington and his crew have chosen to stay agnostic in terms of voice assistants. While nearly each different voice-activated speaker focuses solely on supporting a single service, Sonos plans to assist the three greatest—Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant—by the top of the yr. The staff even has a reputation for the physique of content material all of us entry on voice assistants: the sonic web.
"In some ways, audio system are the browsers for that sonic web," Millington says. "They're the factor that allows you to go and hook up with all of the content material that is on the market. Now, think about a browser that might solely go to Amazon.com or might solely go to Google.com or might solely go to Apple.com. That's a slightly restricted expertise."
Supporting multiple assistant in a single speaker provides compatibility issues.
"We're working with Google Assistant alongside Alexa and no person's ever actually thought of learn how to get these issues to coexist earlier than," Millington says. "What does it even imply to ask Alexa to 'order an Uber' after which ask Google, 'When's my Uber going to be right here?' We're beginning to assume by a bunch of these varieties of points. That for me is the place the innovation typically occurs."
Walk This Way
Until now, Sonos merchandise have all the time been made to dwell in rooms of your property. The firm's mantra has lengthy been "fill each dwelling with music." But that mission could also be too limiting for Sonos at the moment, Millington says.
The subsequent step for Millington may be taking all these voice assistants on the sonic web, and the complete speaker platform Sonos has developed, outdoors the house for the primary time.
"One of the important thing transitions that we discuss is from dwelling to all over the place," Millington says, selecting his phrases rigorously. "The dwelling is not the one place the place you hearken to music. There are many locations the place you hearken to music. So I'd say, with out giving the blow-by-blow of every thing in our highway map, that is one of many key themes that we're excited about."
When I ask once more, he clarifies his phrases however will not decide to any future merchandise or whether or not they're concepts or really in improvement.
"Over time, all over the place that you simply would possibly wish to take pleasure in music—in several rooms of your home in addition to outdoors the house—we wish to have a product that serves that situation very well, and likewise any content material that is related to you," he says. "We wish to make it as simple as doable so that you can summon that up wherever you might be. All of our work goes into these areas. And once more, once I say content material it isn't simply music. It's sonic tradition umbrella on the whole: podcasts, leisure, TV soundtracks, issues like that."
Does that imply Sonos is planning to make a set of headphones sooner or later? Maybe a battery-powered transportable Sonos speaker? Something else completely? We'll have to attend and see, however excited about how Sonos would possibly work outdoors the house is thrilling.
Since there is no such thing as a dependable Wi-Fi outdoors, Sonos merchandise would wish to tether to your telephone by way of Bluetooth, or possibly they could straight hook up with LTE service—although that, admittedly, seems like an extended shot. What we all know is that these are actually all issues Sonos is pondering as effectively.
For Millington, the very best half about the way forward for Sonos is the way it will enhance each product the corporate has already shipped.
"Personally, I'm extremely pleased with the truth that you need to use the newest iPhone and our app to manage a Sonos participant that you simply purchased again in 2005, and hearken to Spotify, when none of these applied sciences even existed on the time."
Whether Millington and Sonos can preserve that mindset and maintain all of their new merchandise alive for greater than a decade—all whereas pursuing the sort of progress that is demanded of a publicly traded firm—is a query no voice assistant can reply simply but.


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By Claire Chauvel
Social Connectedness Fellow 2017
More than ever, people are on the move. Whether it be departure forced by life-threatening conditions or the growing host's nationalism encroaching on newcomer's rights or living life on the margins, the prevailing refugee and low-income migrant experience are dire. We need to look no further than alarming headlines and political rhetoric to know that change is in order. For some of us, the influx of refugees living on our streets with no recourse is a marking call to action. As the seed of all change is dialogue, an opportune starting point for change would be to reframe the pervasively negative conversations and connotations around migration. After all, it is creed that compels action. Citing a "crisis of global solidarity" and the importance of narrative, the United Nations has embarked on this mission.[1]
In conjunction with the United Nations adoption of New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon launched the TOGETHER Campaign on September 19 2016 at the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants with unanimous support from all 193 Member States. TOGETHER, or more broadly "Together Respect, Safety and Dignity for All," is a global non-discrimination and acceptance campaign designed to alter attitudes and perceptions towards migrants and refugees. Using positive storytelling, engagement, and partnership as a conduit, TOGETHER is hoping to chart a course towards inclusivity and connectedness through public opinion and policy. In short, the campaign serves as a nexus aspiring to strengthen the social bond between host countries and communities, and refugees and migrants. TOGETHER's strategy is five-fold:
- Engages and mobilizes global citizens to show support for refugees and migrants
- Speaks to communities hosting refugees and migrants as well as people concerned that refugees and migrants may bring physical and economic insecurity to their lives
- Creates a strong, persuasive narrative of solidarity toward refugees and migrants and showcases the shared benefits of migration to economics and nations, while also acknowledging legitimate concerns of host communities
- Provides a platform for stories of and by refugees and migrants and host communities that have benefitted from welcoming them
- Helps host communities and refugees and migrants to know each other better
Shortly prior to the launch of TOGETHER, award-winning Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie told participants on the UN's World Humanitarian Day, "Let us tell a different story, let us remember that we are not just bones and flesh. We are emotional beings, we all share a desire to be valued, a desire to matter."[2] Adichie highlights the respect and emotional support that migrants and refugees deserve. Societies are becoming increasingly multicultural; as such, investment in cohesion and plurality is paramount for a robust society.[3] A positive narrative translates into better actions, constructively influencing society.
Unfortunately, the converse is also true. The "othering" of migrants sparks turmoil and destruction. This in turn prompts a vicious cycle whereby migrants who have faced backlash do the same to the next wave of migrants.[4] Admittedly, migration is a highly politically and ethically charged topic. Newly appointed UN Secretary-General António Guterres aptly noted in January 2017, "In times of insecurity communities that look different become convenient scapegoats." [5] Yet it is important to note that many migrants and refugees do not choose their status, they have/had no choice except to move. Considering this, Secretary General Guterres emphasized in his speech,
"Discrimination diminishes us all; it prevents people and societies from achieving their full potential. Let us draw strands from the values of inclusion, tolerance and mutual understanding that are at heart of all nation stations and the UN Charter… people everywhere need to feel that their cultural identities are valued and at the same time have a strong sense of belonging to the community as a whole." [6]
Migration is here to stay, why is the tendency to work against it? Lest we forget, the story of migration is an ancient one. Human history is one of change and exchange, of mingling and moving. Had it not been for the Silk Road and migration, the West might not have come to know papermaking, printing, gunpowder and the compass – all necessary ingredients of modernization.[7] Albert Einstein, Maryam Monsef, Steve Jobs, Hakeem Olajuwon, Marie Curie, Marc Chagall, Gao Xingjian, Michael Marks, Madeline Albright… are themselves or children of migrants. If you dig a little, chances are you count migrants among your ancestors. In all likelihood, your ancestors, as most migrants do, faced innumerable hardships that impeded them from achieving their potential. Imagine the possibilities if we removed the barrier of exclusion and embraced migrants, if the norm was to empathize and include, instead of to "other". Almost all the greatest innovations, inventions, and interactions were born of engaging with and respecting the foreign, the other, the unknown. Relegating migrants to society's fray is inhibiting growth, happiness, discovery, and cohesion.
With the current socio-political climate of xenophobia in many regions, namely Europe, the United States, South Africa, and Myanmar, rhetoric is as important as ever. In turn, so too is TOGETHER's campaign. We operate in societies that profess respect for and adherence to human rights and dignity. It is in all our best interests that we participate in and support the TOGETHER campaign.
To participate and join the conversation you can do the following: share your stories on social media using the hashtag #JoinTogether, attend or create your own TOGETHER event, support TOGETHER's partner campaigns, and/or subscribe to their newsletter. For more information please visit their website.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5x4XFMNBmk
[2] https://qz.com/766267/nobody-is-ever-just-a-refugee-chimamanda-ngozi-adichies-powerful-speech-on-the-global-migrant-crisis/
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQCNQeh3zZo
[4] http://www.npr.org/2016/10/18/498358771/study-immigrants-face-backlash-but-do-the-same-to-the-next-group
[5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQCNQeh3zZo
[6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQCNQeh3zZo
[7] http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/song/readings/inventions_gifts.htm


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CCF Matches Donations to Cystic Fibrosis New York Walk
The Great Strides Walk in Tarrytown, New York brought Carrington Associates together in the mission to raise funds and awareness for Cystic Fibrosis this May. Led by Carrington Associate Andrew Taffet in support of his brother and others who face Cystic Fibrosis, the walk helped bring the world closer to a cure and fund research and support programs for those touched by the disease.
To support our Associates' efforts, Carrington Charitable Foundation's Board of Directors not only matched the donations raised by the team through their online CCF fundraising page, but also increased the pledge and donated $5,000 to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation!
An estimated 30,000 children and adults in the United States have Cystic Fibrosis (CF), a life-threatening genetic disease that primarily affects the lungs and digestive system. The mission of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is to cure Cystic Fibrosis and provide all people with the disease the opportunity to lead full, productive lives by funding research and drug development, promoting individualized treatment, and ensuring access to high-quality, specialized care.
According to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, in people with CF, a defective gene and its protein product cause the body to produce unusually thick, sticky mucus that clogs the lungs and leads to life-threatening lung infections. The condition also obstructs the pancreas to stop natural enzymes from helping the body break down food and absorb vital nutrients. About 1,000 new cases are diagnosed each year and more than 75% of those with CF are diagnosed by age 2. Thank you to everyone who donated or participated at the event to help find a cure for CF!


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Niki was involved with the "In Good Company" clinic held at The Object Gallery in Sydney, Australia. It was run to promote and foster young talent in Urban Design.Read More
Creative, street-savvy designers have the opportunity to elevate the humble bike rack into a glorious work of urban art.Read More
After two highly successful years, Niki is proud to present her third signature Niki Gudex line with Castelli.Read More
Niki has again added a personal touch to her latest bikes, designing the spectacular looking graphics.Read More
After a highly successful first year, Niki is proud to announce the second year of her signature Niki Gudex line with CastelliRead More
Niki designed some playful graphics for her bikes. "I wanted to look at my bike and feel excited to go ride it, even in the pouring rain! So the colours are bright and fun."Read More
Niki is proud to announce the launch of her signature line with Castelli. "It is very exciting to work with such an innovative company."Read More
"Her sporting prowess, striking looks, vision, professionalism and worldwide popularity make her the ideal representative for Castelli."Read More
The Hatched National Graduate Show is a curated showcase of new art from Australia's top graduates.Read More
Niki recently graduated with Distinction from her Bachelor of Creative Arts degree, majoring in Graphic Design and New Media.Read More
Niki has some of her graphic design work published in the latest issue of Neomu, following on from the previous issue which featured some of Niki's photographic work.Read More


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Virgin Active London Triathlon – Final race of the Super Series, big disappointment, after emerging from the swim in 21st place, I missed the lead bike group by 7 seconds! I worked harder than ever on the bike, but the leaders stayed-away and increased their advantage.
I increased my speed on every lap of the 4-lap run course, recording the fastest time on the final lap, with the 4th fastest run overall to finish in 11th place. Ritchie Nicholls who finished 4 places behind me in Geneva had a super race and won the event.
I finished 7th overall in the Super series after completing all five races and disappointed not to make the top three after a 5th place in Blenheim and 4th at Windsor – penalties at Strathclyde and Canary Wharf let me down, but I have learnt a lot in my first season!


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Oral probiotics may have positive effect on bad breath
Posted: January 19, 2011
bad breath rarely seems to go away completely. Whether it originates in the mouth, nose or gut, oral odor is often caused by undesirable and even unhealthy bacteria. An increasing number of healthcare professionals are beginning to recommend oral probiotic supplements as a way to rid the body of the microorganisms that cause halitosis.
Essentially, oral probiotics are "good" bacteria that have the ability to replace "bad" bacteria in the body. The word "oral" simply refers to the fact that these bacteria may be ingested orally, where they immediately go to work, multiplying and edging out other strains that have negative health effects.
Ukrainian scientist and Nobelist Elie Metchnikoff discovered probiotics in 1907, according to the journal Communicating Current Research and Educational Topics and Trends in Applied Microbiology. In that year, the researcher suggested that the flora growing in the intestines and stomach might be modified by introducing new bacteria to take their place.
Metchnikoff also theorized that gut bacteria caused aging, leading him to coin the word "gerontology" to signify the study of longevity. While this idea has since been disproven, he had another that caught on - the notion that ingesting yogurt or milk might change the bacterial content of the gastrointestinal tract.
Today, medical investigators are looking into what else probiotics can do. On the cutting edge of this research is the idea that probiotics can improve bad breath. Multiple studies have indicated that oral health may be improved through the use of probiotics.
A 2001 study published in the European Journal of Pediatrics found that the application of a harmless strain of Escherichia coli - also known as E. coli - drastically improved the halitosis that came from gastric gases.
A more recent study in the journal Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology, Oral Radiology and Endodontology determined that Lactobacillus salivarius may address bad breath originating in the mouth. Japanese researchers gave participants with bad breath low doses of L. salivarus, and after a month their oral levels of volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) had dropped significantly.
VSCs are largely responsible for the foul smell of halitosis.
Similar research published in the Journal of Applied Microbiology found that a week-long course of L. salivarus substantially reduced the measured amounts of VSCs in the mouth.
To fight bad breath caused by oral microorganisms, it may be practical to brush twice daily, rinse with a specialty breath freshener and take a probiotic supplement. A regimen like this may improve the make-up of your oral bacteria and reduce halitosis.


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In a small apartment, deliberate decorating is a vital joy.
The chart reader from Portsmouth, a bigger-than-life chunk of my childhood book adventures and even more magical as a living, breathing town. The pin commemorating that time the car broke down in the middle of New York CIty after a two day drive from Georgia.
The mug that brought months of solace in a terrible job. The mug that a dear college roommate created with her own hands. A card collection filled with color stories from our travels.
The drum from Uzbekistan, brought back in a suitcase, intact and fascinating. The concrete pot I carried twelve blocks from the little shop two neighborhoods over.
Decorating with what I already have has always been my favorite. Why fill this intimate space with items that don't call to me? That will be forgotten tomorrow? That don't have a story to tell?