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In the autumn of 1835, HMS Beagle reached the Galápagos archipelago, with a certain scientist on board. While it would be decades before Charles Darwin articulated the theory of evolution by natural selection, it was there, over two months in the Galápagos, that many of his scientific insights took root in his mind.
On this immersive and action-packed five-day adventure on these storied and breathtaking islands, you'll see, as Darwin once did, that each island has its own unique community of wildlife. Get a once-in-a-lifetime glimpse into Darwin's world by exploring three of the most impressive islands in the group: Santa Cruz, Plaza Sur, and Floreana. But this isn't your typical Galápagos tour. With the help of local guides and expert wildlife biologists, you'll enjoy a tropical island experience beyond compare. You'll get up close with the islands' marine critters by snorkel and kayak, have a chance to observe some of the world's rarest species as you hike the islands' volcanic crags, and get a living lesson on ecology and conservation in one of the planet's most historically important habitats.INTRODUCING OUR PARTNER: CHASE SAPPHIRE
We're working with Chase Sapphire® to curate incredible travel experiences near, far and to the places-in-between, like this one to the Galápagos. All cardmembers who book their travel from 10/1-11/01/2018, receive a custom welcome package inspired by your destination!
Today, fly into Quito through the Andes Mountains. Make sure to look out the window as you approach to get a glimpse of the dramatic peaks! At around 10,000 feet above sea level, Quito is the highest capital city on earth, and the closest to the equator—as well as home to the "Middle of the World." In the evening, we'll gather for a brief welcome and our first dinner together. Then, it's time for a full night's rest in anticipation of tomorrow morning's domestic flight.
Quito Hotel
Welcome Dinner
After a light breakfast, we'll transfer to the airport for our flight to Baltra Island (2.5 hours), with a brief layover in Guayaquil. Upon arrival in the islands, we'll jump right into action! Beginning with kayaking in the Itabaca Channel, between Baltra Island and Santa Cruz Island, we'll get our first glimpses of local wildlife. Keep your eyes open for blacktip reef sharks and lava herons! Afterward, we'll head into the highlands of Santa Cruz for lunch and a giant tortoise viewing expedition on a private wildlife reserve. The only places in the world you can find giant tortoises today are in the Galápagos and on the Aldabra Atoll in the Indian Ocean. In fact, these reptiles are the namesake of the islands themselves. Early explorers referred to the creatures by the old Spanish word galapago, meaning "saddle," due to the shape of their shells. (We'll learn much more about these fascinating animals during our visit.) Next, we'll head to Galapagos Magic, our highlands eco-lodge. This is the only place on the island where you can sleep in the wilderness, with clear views of the Milky Way, while tortoises silently graze outside your room. Some of us will even get to stay in their treehouse abodes. After settling in, we'll relax from the busy day before enjoying a delicious, three-course dinner. Following dinner, we'll take a short walk to a natural lava tube for a night cap. Phil will brief us on the incredible biodiversity we'll be witnessing over the next few days and his life as a tropical biologist as we watch the stars begin to light up the sky.
Galapagos Magic Lodge
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
This morning after breakfast, we'll head to the town of Puerto Ayora, where we'll board a motorized yacht for a day trip around the archipelago. Our destination for the morning is Isla Plaza Sur (South Plaza Island)—though it's hardly an island at all. Plaza Sur is a tiny speck of land, barely 25 acres, with its highest point rising just 75 feet above sea level. It also happens to be home to one of the world's rarest of animals—a hybrid land-marine iguana—and the only place in the Galápagos where you'll find them. We'll see lots of marine and land iguanas, and if we are very, very lucky, we might see one of the handful of black-and-yellow hybrids that live on this island. The island is also a great place for blue-footed and Nazca boobies, and Galápagos sea lions (including, potentially, some pups!). In the afternoon, we'll continue along the coast of Santa Cruz and have the chance to snorkel among hundreds of colorful tropical fish, as well as possible rays, sharks, and green sea turtles. After our full day outside surrounded by island wildlife, we'll return to Santa Cruz and spend some time in town—now's your only chance for souvenir and gift shopping—before returning to our lodge for dinner. If he's around, lodge owner Polo will swing by to regale us with stories about his life as a Galapagueño and the changes he's seen since tourism took off in the 1990s.
Galapagos Magic Lodge
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
After breakfast, we'll head to El Trapiche, where we will have a chance to see how local sustainable farming works on the Galapagos. (El Trapiche is Spanish for "sugar mill.") We'll watch as the rustic, mule-driven sugar cane press operates, learn about how cane is distilled into alcohol, and observe (and sample) some traditional coffee roasting procedures. Following our farm tour, we'll visit the Charles Darwin Research Station. There we'll learn about the incredible research still being conducted in the archipelago, and may even have a chance look in on the captive-bred iguanas and tortoises that are central to the station's conservation efforts. After lunch, we'll transfer to Floreana Island, a two-hour journey by speedboat. Of the four islands with permanent human populations, Floreana has the smallest, with just 150 residents, making it the most natural and least developed of the inhabited islands. Upon arrival, we'll take a quick open-air bus ride to Floreana Lava Lodge, just steps from one of the most secluded bays in the Galápagos. After settling in, we'll walk, kayak, or stand-up paddle across the bay to explore "La Loberia," a sea lion breeding ground, where we'll have the opportunity for more wildlife observation, swimming, and snorkeling. Come evening, we'll enjoy another tropical sunset and head to the village for dinner. Tonight, Jason will lead participants in a discussion on the conservation challenges facing the Galápagos, and the ethical tightrope we walk when we encourage tourism in a place as delicate as this.
Floreana Lava Lodge
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
After breakfast, we'll explore the Floreana highlands by open-air bus. Along the way, our local guides will tell us about the island's sordid history—mysterious tales that include pirates and unsolved murders. While we listen, we'll be sure to keep our eyes peeled for more iconic giant tortoises. The destination of our morning drive is a place called Asilo de La Paz, where we'll begin our hike. We'll visit the freshwater spring that supplies water to the entire island and explore the caves used by pirates of yore while keeping our eyes open for those famous finches. As we continue through a rural area where island residents grow their own produce, our guides will explain how they balance agriculture with conservation, and work to preserve their community's unique forms of cultivation. After a barbecue lunch back at the lodge, the afternoon is yours to rest, swim, snorkel, kayak, or wander around in search of wildlife. If you're lucky, you might even spot a flamingo flying across the bay! (The island's main dock is a great place to photograph marine iguanas.) Tonight, we'll gather back together to share one final dinner in one of the most beautiful places on Earth.
Floreana Lava Lodge
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
After breakfast, we'll take the speedboat back to Santa Cruz, and then transfer to Baltra Island. There, we'll board our group flight back to Quito, where you can catch your return flight home or, perhaps, stay and explore on your own for a few extra days. Until the next adventure!
We recommend you have a medium fitness level to fully participate in this trip. You should be comfortable participating in the itinerary's various water activities, which include swimming, snorkeling, and kayaking, as these are a highlight of the trip and some of the best ways to observe the local wildlife. Please contact us directly if you have further questions about health and fitness level for this trip.
While we can offer a single accommodation supplement for the hotel night in Quito, travelers should be prepared to share a room. Accommodations in the Magic Galapagos Lodge are all double occupancy, and include luxury safari-style tents with en-suite bathrooms (think: glamping) as well as four elevated tree houses which share a bathroom building. Showers have hot water, and there is (limited) wi-fi in the main lodge area. Accommodations at Floreana Lava Lodge are all double or triple occupancy, and each room includes en-suite bathrooms and hot water. The lodge is operated by Claudio Cruz, a descendant of one of the island's very first inhabitants. Keep in mind that there is very, very limited wi-fi.
Space at these remote lodges is limited, which means you will be sharing a room with one or two fellow travelers. For this trip, we cannot offer a single accommodation option aside from your night at the hotel in Quito.
The International Ecotourism Society has formally defined ecotourism as "responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment, sustains the well-being of the local people, and involves interpretation and education." In other words, it is an effort to combine sustainable travel with ecosystem-level conservation and the explicit recognition of and respect for the rights of indigenous people. That's why ecotourism is more than just "nature tourism"; it has the explicit goal of benefiting local communities both environmentally and economically. By providing financial incentives through tourism, these communities can become empowered to fight against poverty, and in achieving a more sustainable sort of economic development, can better resist other more exploitative industries like mining, agriculture, ranching, or logging. Ecotourism has also motivated the traditional tourism industry in general to move towards more "green" or sustainable practices.
All you need to enter and depart Ecuador is a valid passport with evidence of return or onward travel. With a U.S. passport, you will automatically receive a free 90-day tourist visa. For more information, see the State Department's Ecuador travel page.
The cost for this trip includes ground and water transportation, domestic air travel to and from Baltra Island in the Galapagos, food, lodging, park entrance fees, local guides, and all activities for a tight-knit group of 12 explorers. We chose the accommodations based upon several factors including sustainability; sustainable and fair ecotourism providers can cost a bit more. By traveling with us, you will also get the rare chance to learn from and nerd out with Phil Torres and Jason G. Goldman, both of whom are wildlife biologists, skilled photographers, and seasoned science journalists who have traveled the globe in search of gripping stories about the natural world.


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Your Supernatural Aide has Arrived
Your Hero's Journey: Supernatural Aide
"When you keep asking the Universe for what you want, and it keeps giving you chance after chance to take it, but you keep refusing… in some way you are telling the Universe to f*ck off."
I was at the edge of my seat at a personal growth seminar. The lead trainer had me captivated. He was talking about creating what we really want in life, about seeing the signs. This was the last of three progressively pointed statements saying just that: When we ask for help/guidance/a desire to be fulfilled… and we continuously deny the gift when it comes to us, we are disregarding the assistance of the Universe.
Now I believe in a benevolent Universe. I believe there is something bigger out there that loves us unconditionally, no matter how much we bumble down the path.
This is more for our own realization – that if we keep shutting the Universe out, it cannot help us.
So at the next break, I practically LEPT out of my chair. I was not thinking whatsoever. All I know is I had a fire under my ass.
I walked up to the trainer, and hastedly blurted out, "I don't really know what I'm doing but that really spoke to me. And I would love to work with you someday."
Three days later, I had a job with the company.
In this case, my supernatural aide came in the form of a teacher, a person. For many though, supernatural aide can come in many forms. One colleague of mine found hers in a horse. Another on the television telling her to move to North Carolina. One client of mine even found supernatural aide on a road sign.
They say that when the student is ready, the teacher appears.
This couldn't be more true.
In the Hero's Journey, once the hero has committed to her quest, whether it be consciously or unconsciously, her guide or magical helper appears.
Think Yoda in Star Wars. Or Haggrid in Harry Potter.
Now think back on your life… where has mystical aide stepped in for you? How did you know this was your guide?
Here are my tips for knowing your guide when you meet them:
1. You feel completely understood.
Being the presence of this guide helps you feel seen and heard. Not only do you feel understood by this other being or entity, you also feel like you understand yourself more too.
2. You see qualities in them that you would like to embody in yourself.
There is something in this other entity that reminds you of who you want to be. The reason this is so is because they are merely reflecting back to you who you already are. They are there to help you move into the person you are called to be.
3. There is a deep feeling of trust.
You feel that you could trust this person with your life. You may not have any logical reason for it, but you sense this person has high integrity, is honest, and will hold your trust in confidence.
4. The person is clear and open.
The mystical helper is one who is clear and open. They are direct and up front, while also listening to your needs. You know where you stand with this person. What you see is what you get.
5. What the guide says and lives resonated with you.
You feel and witness how this teacher walks the talk. You find yourself captivated by their message and the way they deliver it.
Supernatural aide comes in many ways. We all needs different support throughout our lives. To say that each person's guide looks the same is foolish.
Ultimately, this helper is one who simply remind us of who the real teacher really is.
Love Always,

subset: commoncrawl


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On site Trainings
From a one or two person New Employee Orientation to a 100+ staff training, we can accommodate it all. We will come to your facility to save you time and money, no need to send your employees anywhere.
Here is a list of some of the training's we offer. If you don't see the one your looking for please contact us.
- First Aid / CPR / AED
- Blood-borne Pathogens
- Confined Space
- Emergency Action (Evacuation)
- Fire Prevention/Fire Extinguisher Safety
- Forklift Safety and Certification
- Global Harmonization System (GHS)
- Hand and Portable Power Tools
- Hazard Communication
- MN Employee Right-to-Know
- Heat Stress/Cold Stress
- Laser Safety
- Lockout/Tagout
- Machine Guarding
- Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
- Respiratory/Respirator Use
- Welding Safety
- And many more - please contact us for our full menu of employee trainings!
Live Webinar Trainings
Most of the trainings we conduct onsite can also be conducted via a live webinar. This is useful if you have multiple locations throughout the country.
NFPA 70e
Hazardous waste
We can also conduct the more in depth trainings like 8, 24 and 40 hour HAZWOPER, DOT, NFPA 70E and Hazardous Waste Management.


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Carboxy Therapy in Dubai Marina Walk
Listed in Anti Aging Treatments, Cellulite Treatments, Dermatology in Dubai, Facial Skin Care in Dubai, Skin Rejuvenation, Skincare Treatments in Dubai
04 360 9977
P.O.Box 53382, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Description: Carboxy Therapy in Dubai Marina Walk CARBOXYTHERAPY FOR STRETCH MARKS Stretch marks or striae distensae, as they are known technically, are a form of scarring caused by tearing of the dermis. Stretch marks are caused by rapid growth or rapid weight changes, typically associated with pregnancy. They will diminish over time but they do not disappear completely. Stretch makrs can also be caused by hormonal changes again with pregnancy but also in puberty, pregnancy, bodybuilding, hormone replacement therapy. Although are a number of treatments for stretch marks including topical treatments and IPL and Laser, Carboxytherpay is the only treatment that acts on the root cause of the problem. By actually repairing the and rebuilding the collagen matrix carboxytherapy is not… Read more...


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In the spirit of our once per meeting get together, I've made tentative
arrangements for Monday night (instead of Tuesday).
Whale Watch, Sunset Cuise
Monday, early evening (time TBD)
Take a cruise on a charted 36' catamaran.
Soft drinks, beer, wine, mia-ties (SP?), and PUPU (appetizers) included!!
The whales are jumping out there and they tell me that this is the best
time of year for it.
The cost will be about $49.00 per adult, something less for kids.
Bring the spouse, friend and kids.
Please RSVP to me ASAP with the following:
# Adults
# Kids
We are limited to 49 people.
Larry A. Stein Phone: (619)292-2742
Warp Nine Engineering Fax: (619)292-8020
Web: http://www.fapo.com


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If this car were a person, it would be a heavyweight politician with his shirt off and boxing gloves on. It would be Vladimir Putin.
Jaguar's range-topping XJ was designed to be a refined, classy, wafting limo but the 'R' model has got its hands on the nuclear codes. A V8 developing just shy of 550 horsepower ensures that it overtakes its staid stable-mates sideways with a jet-stream of tyre smoke.
My mother likes to tell the story of the time she was wheeling me along in my pushchair – I guess I was about two – down a suburban street and a white Jaguar purred past. "What car is that?' I asked. A Jaguar, came the reply. I said I wanted one. "No you don't, Jaguars are for wide boys,' she warned: a colloquial expression for someone a bit too flash and brash. "Mummy," I said, "when I grow up I want to be a wide boy."
The XJR has to be the 'widest' Jag of them all. Small changes to its elegant looks give it a much tougher aesthetic, like the chrome-tipped supercharger vents in the bonnet, a little spoiler on the back, surround skirts, a mesh grille and, on my silver-coloured ride, big chunky black alloys and a two-tone black and white leather interior.
The XJ was already a very handsome car, one that looks a zillion times better in the metal than it does in pictures. Jaguars had been conservative for far too long, with all the sex appeal of a catheter. This is a triumph of modernism. A piece of mobile sculpture.
I'm driving the long-wheelbase version of the XJR, which the hyphenated 'L' on its rump denotes. While most 'R' owners will want to do the driving themselves, having an extra 125mm of rear legroom means that if you prefer to take a backseat you'll be doing so in presidential comfort. The extra length doesn't hamper the car's stylish lines, if anything it enhances its presence.
Inside, there's more room than a convention centre, and swathes of leather, carbon fibre and chrome. The vibrant craftsmanship is meticulous, the overall look a successful meeting of sportive and serene, traditional and 2014. There's a generous menu of gadgets to play with, but it's not quite on par with the four-wheeled Radio Shack that is the Mercedes-Benz S Class. The svelte roofline compromises rear headroom, so you might need to ditch the Philip Treacy millinery. Road and wind noise is near-nonexistent, and the engine quiet at cruise.
The real difference with the R over the standard XJ is what happens when you nail the throttle. First of all, the sound that seeps through the double-glazing is this low, deep rasp a bit like the Johnny Cash performing in a Super-Max penitentiary. The acceleration is thundersome. Zero to 100km/h in 4.4 seconds, and it feels faster. It's so improbable for a car that stretches 5.1 metres. What's even more impressive, and useful, is its sprint from 80 to 120. Under 2.5 seconds. That's what 502 lb/ft of torque will do. I suspect it can race to its electronically-limited 280km/h redline with its passengers pinned to the headrests all the way.
Its fully aluminium body keeps it under two tonnes, which is light for this class of car. Lighter, in fact, than the smaller XFR that sits below it in Jaguar's line up.
With the road ahead clear I press a button with a chequered flag on it, engaging Dynamic mode. The digital dashboard goes from white to red, like its blood has started flowing after a chill. Clicking the gearbox selection wheel (which rises electronically from the transmission tunnel like the periscope on a submarine) to 'S', I now have quicker shifts, harder suspension and more responsive steering and throttle. Despite its girth, the XJR feels utterly composed round long, fast turns. It was developed on the world's most notorious racetrack, the Nordschleife.
The springs are 30 percent stiffer and the tyres ultra low-profile, so while the ride is smooth by most standards it lacks a little bit of the magic carpet feel of other big Jags. When faced with a corner, though, the dramatic reduction in roll will help keep your power lunch down. Its active damping adjusts 100 times a second to keep vertical movement in check. It's as composed as Magnus Carlsen on a chessboard takedown.
'R' is Jaguar's performance sub-brand, like BMW's 'M' department, and Mercedes' AMG. There's sadly no M7 (although there is the unofficial Alpina B7), but Merc's much more expensive S63 AMG and Audi's slightly more discreet S8 are the XJR's closest rivals. The Germans excel in the details – an almost irritating degree of perfection. There's nothing prissy about the Englishman, however. The Jag has the most emotional appeal. It has swagger. If you met a bunch of super-saloons at a party, you'd want to hang out with the XJR and the Maserati Quattroporte.
In the 1960s and 70s, in Britain, if you robbed a bank the chances are you got away in a Jag. The underworld bought them because there was plenty of room for the loot and they could outrun the Old Bill's Rovers. This Bethnal Green heritage – the promise of shooters in the boot and Cutler & Gross specs in the sun-visor case – lends the XJR an earthy, thuggish appeal: Gangster-chic. At night, the car's sinister and flashy side comes to the fore, the beautifully crafted interior lit by blue LEDs and the awesome Meridian surround sound system giving you a full cinematic experience, perfect for cueing up the Get Carter soundtrack. Like the Speakeasy-style bars that are popping up in the world's coolest cities, with their unmarked doorways, passwords and Hemingway-inspired cocktails, the XJR is a classic that has been remixed for modern times.
The XJR sounds incongruous; a huge luxury barge with the soul of a Fast & Furious street fighter. It sounds like a recipe for disaster, but the result is a super sports saloon with a petrol-pumping heart, a car it's impossible not to warm to; a no nonsense bruiser that can stay out all night head-banging and still look respectable at the G8 Summit the following morning.


text: #DidYouKnow… you can register for the vegetarian meal online with your airline. It's almost always an Indian dish with rice and 99% of the time they will bring it to you before serving anyone else. Not only are you being animal-friendly, but you get a better tasting meal than whatever Chef Boyardee pasta and meatball plate everyone else is eating. Most veg people already know this, but for anyone else looking for another option… now you have it.


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Sophia, the most advanced robot to date, will join Reflect Festival as a speaker.
Reflect Festival is the largest future casting festival between Southern Europe and the Middle East, that will take place on the 9th and 10th of May 2019, in Limassol.
"Sophia is Hanson Robotics' latest and most advanced robot to date and a cultural icon. She has quickly become a media darling, appearing on major media outlets around the world, igniting the interest of people regardless of age, gender, and culture, even gracing the cover of one of the top fashion magazines. Sophia is an evolving genius machine. Her incredible human likeness, expressiveness, and remarkable story as an awakening robot over time makes her a fascinating front-page technology story. She has participated in many high-profile interviews and has recently became the first robot to receive citizenship of any country."
Learn more about Sophia from Hanson Robotics or meet her in person at the Reflect Festival.
If you enjoy tech news, follow Polarity Technologies Ltd on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.


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Inspired by the simple things (freshly picked fruit from her community garden, for example) illustrator Talya Baldwin took the tools of her trade (colored pencils and watercolors) and got to work. The result? These beautifully crafted still life illustrations with some fascinating stories. When asked about the lettering surrounding these life-like edibles Talya painted another picture for us, of the community gardens she supports:
"I picked these fruit from Redacre Growing Project, which is a community garden in West Yorkshire. Our town is right in the middle of the countryside but, oddly, it has a very industrial heritage - during the 19th century literally everyone here would have worked in woollen mills; the houses are still black with soot and many don't have gardens, because people spent pretty much every waking moment manning the mill machinery. These days Hebden has a reputation for being quite alternative - lots of people grow their own food and so community projects are springing up everywhere to make up for the lack of garden space."
"The Phytology Garden is a project I worked on when I lived in east London. The garden is on a council estate, on the site of a church that was bombed in WW2, and most of the plants are common weeds that are usually overlooked but have proven medical properties. There are gardeners and herbalists on site, so you can come and ask for ways to treat insomnia or eczema or whatever is bothering you, and they'll help you find the right plants and show you how to use them."
View more of what inspires illustrator Talya Baldwin. Represented by i2i Art Inc.


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This is who I am.
Everyone's brain is wired in a unique way. It's what makes you YOU. And your mind is our favorite part of you. It's what makes you our smart masses. So here at ThinkGeek World Domination HQ, we're all about embracing the differences in neurological configurations. Whether you have been diagnosed with autism or are a "neurotypical," you have ADHD, are bipolar, whoever you are, whatever unique configuration of neurons makes you you, we think you're pretty awesome, just the way you are.
This year's Neurodiversity shirt features a brain that looks like a paint palette with little splotches across the spectrum of brain-shaped paint above the word "neurodiversity" on a black 100% cotton kids' shirt. Machine wash cold. Tumble dry low or lay flat to dry. Imported.


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Google is entering into Fiber, to improve internet speed
Google has acquired an ISP(Internet Service Provider) that is "WebPass"
We have exciting news to share: Google Fiber has entered into an agreement to acquire Webpass.
Charles Barr ,President of Webpass has realeased an official announcement on this:
"Google Fiber and Webpass share a commitment to creating fast, abundant Internet connectivity in the U.S. By joining forces, we can accelerate the deployment of superfast Internet connections for customers across the U.S. Webpass will remain focused on rapid deployment of high speed Internet connections for residential and commercial buildings, primarily using point to point wireless. The transaction is expected to close this summer, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.
Today, Webpass has tens of thousands of customers across 5 major markets in the U.S., and we hope to reach many more in our next chapter with Google Fiber. Webpass will continue to grow its service in current operational cities of San Francisco, Oakland, Emeryville, Berkeley, San Diego, Miami, Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Chicago, and Boston, adding to Google Fiber's growing list of operational cities.
On a personal note, I started this company 13 years ago to deliver a simple, high quality Internet connection to as many people as possible. Joining Google Fiber will be a great development for our users because the companies share the same vision of the future and commitment to the customer. Google Fiber's resources will enable Webpass to grow faster and reach many more customers than we could as a standalone company. I'm very much looking forward to this next chapter for Webpass, and let me take this opportunity to once again say thank you to all of our loyal customers. We are thrilled to be on this journey together."
We may expect a super fast internet in upcoming days.
Please subscribe and share.


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Defending Force-Placed Insurance – Collateral Risk
Thanks for taking time to look at the brand new Miniter Blog. I'm Jim Gilpin, one of the principals here at Miniter Group. I have held almost every job here at Miniter as we grew our company from the 6 New England States to insuring lenders in 42 states. Currently, I head up Business Development.
Our business is helping our lender clients transfer their collateral risk. So if we are going to talk intelligently about force-placed insurance, and not get all caught up in the hype, we have to understand collateral risk. So let's jump in….
No bank is going to lend me $50,000 on my signature alone. They need collateral to secure that loan. My collateral might be a car, a home, commercial building, construction equipment or some toy like a boat or an RV.
When a bank approves my $50,000 loan, it takes two types of risk. The first risk is whether I will pay them back as agreed…simple…that's credit risk. The second risk is that the value of my collateral doesn't decrease significantly….If it does, then I'm probably not going to pay the loan back…that's not so simple….that's called collateral risk.
Here's an example….I like to fish for Bluefin tuna. Here in Massachusetts, Bluefin feed offshore about 18 miles on a place called Stellwagon Bank. If I want to fish, I need a boat….so it's boat loan time. When I go to the bank, they have me put down some money and give me the loan. I had to bring my insurance policy to the bank showing that I had damage insurance on the boat. The bank is listed as lienholder so they will get notices from my insurance company to monitor the insurance on my boat.
Next spring, I forget to renew my boat policy and the insurance cancels. I would never use my boat without insurance, but Ididn't know that the boat was uninsured, soI went fishing in early June. On that trip, a Humpback whale breeches out of the water and lands on my boat….the boat splits in two and sinks….fortunately, I'm not hurt and get rescued by another fisherman.
When I get to shore and dry off, I go looking for my insurance policy…guess what! ….no where to be found…but you know what I did find….the loan payment coupon for my boat loan, due next week.
I call my insurance company and they tell me my insurance was cancelled last month…..No policy, No coverage……..
Now….the $50,000 question……Am I going to make that payment on my boat loan next week???
This is collateral risk….pure and simple…..
So I'm going to spend the next few weeks describing for bankers, insurance folks, regulators, lawyers, the media and my fellow bloggers the details of how force-placed insurance really works. This explanation will give you plenty of insight into why the industry that I love, and have spent a good portion of my life, is now in a 50 state witch hunt.
Just to give you some background on me so you can see why I consider myself qualified for the discussion:
- Our only business is to supply collateral risk transfer solutions to lenders. One of those solutions is force-placed insurance. That's what I've done full time (and then some) since 1997.
- In 2001, I was taught actuarial analysis by one of the best risk managers in our industry. (Notice I didn't say the biggest!). I have an engineering degree, so the math wasn't that difficult. All of our carriers accept my analysis of our portfolios on a regular basis.
- I graduated from the Consumer Bankers Association's Graduate School of Retail Bank Management in 2006. I believe I am still the only insurance person to ever graduate from that school. I figured if I'm going to work to protect banks and bankers, I better understand the theories of banking.
- I took that knowledge from what I called "Bank Camp" and was appointed to the board of a bank here in Massachusetts. The FDIC had a letter of understanding with the bank when I got there. If you're not in banking, a letter of understanding is not a good thing….. The regulator equivalent to one foot in the grave. That was 2006. Lots of hard work by the new management team, and the implementation of much of my graduate school thesis led to our bank becoming the best performing cooperative bank amongst our peers in the state of Massachusetts.
- Starting in 2005, my team developed an entirely new way todeliver forced placed insurance. We named it "Borrower -Centric Insurance Tracking" You think we might have been ahead of our time???? We wrote our system from scratch….every line of code, every workflow. We developed the software to bring the borrower to the center of our insurance tracking system. We started marketing our system in 2007. We service small to mid-sized banks….the right way, which is to put the borrower first….
Enough already about me…..The next part, will review the history of force-placed insurance. This "ain't the first time" our industry's been to the legal rodeo!!!…. Does history repeat itself? It certainly did with force-placed insurance….different cause, different time, same result….See you next week…..
Jim Gilpin is a COO of Miniter Group, who is a provider of collateral risk management solutions to the lending industry. In 2007, Miniter introduced borrower-centric approach insurance tracking for forced placed insurance.
To learn more about Borrower-Centric Insurance Tracking, visit Miniter's informative website at miniter.com. Follow Jim on Twitter at @JimGilpin.


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All your news and information. All the time.
So, before you get to use our widget, you'll have to install it. Well, luckily we made the installation process a snap.
But, if you still need help, don't worry, that's what we're here for.To install version 1.0First, head on over to our download page.
Next, click on the link that says "Amusement Park Madness Widget (550Kb)"
If you are using Safari, you will see the downloads box appear. If you are using another web browser, you will notice
that the file will be downloading. It shouldn't take long; only a few seconds on a moderate connection.
After the file is done downloading, you should see a window that looks like this:
Click "Install". Head on over to your Dashboard, and the Amusement Park Madness Widget will be there!
Just click "Keep", then drag it where ever you want! You're set to go!
System RequirementsA Mac computerMac OS X 10.4.3 (Tiger) or higherAn internet connectionDashboard
(Included with Mac OS X 10.4 and higher)
Copyright 2009 Amusement Park Madness


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New Season, New You
30 August 2017
by Isabelle Ohnemus
Photo: Sculptor / sculptorpage.com
If there's one thing you can look forward to as the temperature dips and you have to pack your bikinis away for another year, it's a brand new 'back to the office' wardrobe. Read on for top trends, key patterns and colours and some office essentials to get your hands on before everyone else does.
New season denim
Photo: Alice + Olivia/ Pre-Fall 2017/ New York
For AW18/19, denim takes a more decorative approach courtesy of embellishment and trims aplenty. There's the disco tassel, which clings onto summertime (think multicoloured pony hair-like strips and over-dyed threads) and high-impact metal hardware details, such as contoured studs or visible zippers. Don't miss sheer layers; tulle and organza panels join the trend for sheer elements, offering a delicate touch on tougher denim staples.
Shop On EyeFitU: Back to School in New York: Levi's
Key colours
Photo: Hobbs /Autumn/Winter 2017 / hobbs.com
Keen to know what colour to return to school or the office in? Try pink! Both warm pink and fuchsia are making waves. The latter is in line with 1980s looks as well as the rise of Minimal Maximalism. Bright magenta and fuchsia gains traction across dresses, knitwear and accessories and, more daringly, on outerwear. Choose as an accent for a more accessible look, lifting classic colours. Alternatively, warm, baked hues of pink lend a softer appeal, flattering on most skin tones. Try lustrous silk or plush velvet and consider contrast combinations or tonal styling.
Shop On EyeFitU: Back To School in London: Kenzo Adidas Originals
Never far from our core colour palette, concrete grey continues to provide sophistication. Acting as a safe volume option, it also looks premium used across luxe lounge looks or minimalist tailoring. Do it head-to-toe for the most fashion points. This season, velvet suits in cool grey add newness and it continues as the go-to for outerwear too.
Photo: John Lewis/ Autumn/Winter 2017
Other colours we're loving – since AW16 in fact – are eye-catching acid shades. Experiment with chartreuse, bubblegum pink, bright baby blue and punchy lilac. Keep it new by combining them in a fashion-led aesthetic. Artificial tones are most modern, as the colour trend strays away from the retro-tinted and sugar-coated shades of previous seasons.
Photo: Bimba Y Lola/ Autumn/Winter 2017/ bimbaylola.com
Key patterns
Photo: Teeth / teethmag.net
If block colour isn't calling your name, you'll be happy to welcome original artwork patterns into your upcoming autumn outfits. Plaids mix a 1990s feel with sartorial references (wear as a classic shirt or tied around the waist). Choose grungier prints as an unexpected finish on feminine silhouettes such as blouses and dresses. For a youthful touch, chequerboard prints are overhauled in pinks with girly heart motifs. Lastly, in graphics, typography turns to gothic or sci-fi references.
Office essentials
Photo: Khaite/ Pre-Summer 2018/ New York
Next season, you need a trouser suit and a wrap dress. Fact. Wrap dresses are forever ladylike and define the female form with renewed emphasis on the waist. Elegant trouser suits come with floor-sweeping slim trousers and now add a side slit to detract from the masculine undertone.
Shop On EyeFitU: Back To Office in London: IRO
New season Accessories
Photo: Dixie/ Autumn/Winter 2017/ dixie.it
Channel the studious nature of The Thinker trend in a beret. Preppy and formal, we confirm it as a transseasonal must-have. Leather emerges as an edgier update, hailing from Berlin, whilst classic felts drive the hat trend. Black and grey are safer choices but you can also branch out into bold colour pops.
Photo: Mulberry/ Autumn/Winter 2017/ London
If you're looking for a new handbag, the oversized top-handle bag has been highlighted as the one to watch. Carry your work essentials as the bag takes on larger proportions. Semi-matte, minimalist leathers on clean silhouettes work alongside styles that feature hardware.
Shop On EyeFitU: Back To School in Berlin: Boohoo


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TWO Classes Fall 2019
Both classes 6:30 - 8:30 pm
Once weekly, Wednesdays,
September 4th - November 20th
Twice-weekly, Tuesdays & Thursdays,
October 1st - November 12th
Sign up below to be contacted when enrollment begins
The NAMI Family-to-Family Education Program is a free 12-week course for family members of individuals with severe mental illnesses that discusses the clinical treatment of these illnesses and teaches the knowledge and skills that family members need to cope more effectively. The course is taught by trained family members of those living with mental health challenges.
This class is open to family members, friends, and caregivers of an individual living with a mental illness. There is an enrollment limit of 20 due to classroom size.
What You'll Gain
"Family members who take the NAMI Family-to-Family course are better equipped to work with mental health clinicians in a collaborative manner. My bottom-line recommendation? Take this course. It will help you learn to cope successfully with a major challenge in your life, and that, in turn, will help your loved one as he or she works toward recovery."


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Why CSDC.
Leverage over 25 years of domain expertise, insights and experience poured into our enterprise platform for smarter government.
Over 25 years of experience & insights with innovative Government Agencies
Domain expertise of our certified partners and the entire CSDC Team
Amanda, a complete and comprehensive automation platform
Become part of a community of loyal customers with successful implementations
Years of Trust earned from governments and regulatory institutions, all over the world.
Agencies where stakeholders are delighted with the benefits of the AMANDA platform.
Business apps developed by customers to boost productivity using AMANDA.
Leverage a complete automation platform – Amanda.
Streamline your processes with off-the-shelf, automation solutions that can be both extended and configured by you and your team.
Typically, our solutions will meet over 90% of your required functionality by simply configuring it.
The result is that you enjoy the flexibility of a custom solution, slash your deployment time, and reduce your total cost.
Enterprise Platform for Smarter Government
We help governments manage all types of compliances: Permitting, Licensing, Code Compliance, Public Safety, Public Health, Environment Safety, Vehicle Safety, Tax Compliance, Freedom of Information Compliance, Legal Compliance and Courts Automation.
All of our industry solutions flow from Amanda, the most empowering Case Management & Process Automation Platform in the world.
All of our industry solutions are backed by an experienced and responsive customer service and customer success team that supports your organization and your team.
Learn more about Amanda.
"We started looking for a Building Permit system, but when we saw Amanda we realized that we could take it a lot further than just within the Building Department."
Cathy Marion | Information Technology Services, City of Burlington
"During the recent huge hailstorm, using Amanda and the Mobile App saved us a lot of time and created a lot of efficiency. We were able to handle the additional inspections and permits without hiring temporary employees."
Ed Peck | Project Manager, Jefferson County Building Safety Division
"We have benefited greatly by re-engineering our business activities using Information Technology as a driver - Amanda has been a big part of this."
Karen Wingate | Assistant City Treasurer, City of Burlington
"Amanda has significantly increased our efficiency and productivity. Since all the information is shared and up to date, we no longer have to transfer calls to different departments to check the status of applications."
Bruce Payne | Assistant Director, Arlington, TX
"Amanda enables Brantford to be efficient, save time, and streamline the licensing process."
Julia Jacobson | Manager of Licensing & Administrative Services, City of Brantford


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IRAs and Charitable Donations
Written by Bogutz and Gordon
Posted on Jul 03, 2018 | Share this post:
As you may know, you must start taking distributions from a traditional IRA at age 70 1/2. Lots of people are finding that they don't particularly need to do that, and they don't want the extra income (more tax!). Here's how to use your distribution for good — and your own tax benefit.


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Privacy Policy
World First and Bank of Ireland are committed to ensuring and protecting your privacy and any personal information will be processed fairly and in accordance with all applicable laws. Before you register with us you should read this Privacy Policy because when you register with us or ask us to provide you with any of our products or services, you agree that we may handle your information, including but not limited to your name, address, contact details, payment / beneficiary information, social security number (if collected), passport information, in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
Updates to our Privacy Policy happen periodically by posting the latest version here.
Our Privacy Policy covers how we use and store your personal information.
We use your information for the following purposes:
- any partners who have introduced you to us or who you have given us permission to share your information with;
- any person acting on your behalf;
In some instances your information may be transferred outside the European Union Area (EEA) or outside the United States of America.
We may need to use your information, in an anonymous format, to assist in servicing and maintaining our client data base. We may need to undertake tests using client data to ensure that our systems are able to cope with large amounts of data. Test systems are isolated from external networks to ensure that live systems are not compromised. In addition, to ensure data is not compromised, we carry out various risk assessments, and have implemented safeguards to ensure data security.
Why? Financial companies choose how they share your personal information. Federal law gives consumers the right to limit some but not all sharing. Federal law also requires us to tell you how we collect, share, and protect your personal information. Please read this notice carefully to understand what we do.
What? The types of personal information we collect and share depend on the product or service you have with us. This information can include: Passport number, Social Security number, account activity, and personal information like your address, phone number.
How? All financial companies need to share customers' personal information to run their everyday business. In the section below, we list the reasons financial companies can share their customers' personal information; the reasons World First USA chooses to share; and whether you can limit this sharing.
Reasons we can share your personal information:
|Does WorldFirst USA share?
|Can you limit this sharing?
|For our everyday business purposes
- such as to process your transactions, maintain your account(s), respond to court orders and legal investigations
|For our marketing purposes
- to offer our products and services to you
|For joint marketing and other financial companies
|For our affiliates' everyday business purposes
- information about your transactions and experiences
|For our affiliates' everyday business purposes
- information about your creditworthiness
|For our affiliates to market to you
|For nonaffiliates to market to you
For California Residents
We will not share information we collect about you with companies outside of our corporate family, except as permitted by law, including, for example, with your consent or to service your account. We will limit sharing among our companies to the extent required by California law.
For Vermont residents
We will not share information we collect about you with companies outside of our corporate family, except as permitted by law, including, for example with your consent or to service your account. We will not share information about your creditworthiness within our corporate family except with your authorization or consent, but we may share information about our transactions or experiences with you within our corporate family without your consent.
For Nevada residents
We may contact our existing customers by telephone to offer additional financial products that we believe may be of interest to you. You have the right to opt out of these calls. To opt out of these calls, or for more information about your opt out rights, please contact our customer service department. You are being provided this notice under Nevada state law. Nevada residents can contact the Nevada Attorney General for more information about your opt out rights by calling 702-486-3132, emailing [email protected], or by writing to: Office of the Attorney General, Nevada Department of Justice, Bureau of Consumer Protection 100 North Carson Street, Carson City, NV 89701-4717.
To limit our sharing
Call 877.866.8656 and speak with us directly.
Send us an email to [email protected]
We collect your personal information, for example, when you open an account, conduct a transaction, or contact us regarding your account. We may also collect your personal information from others such as credit bureaus, public records, or other companies.
Why can't I limit all sharing?
Federal law gives you the right to limit only
- sharing for affiliates' everyday busines purposes - information about your creditworthiness
- affiliates from using your information to market to you
- sharing for nonaffiliates to market to you
State laws and individual companies may give you additional rights to limit sharing
What happens when I limit sharing for an account I hold jointly?
Your choices will apply to everyone on your account - unless you tell us otherwise.
Affiliates Companies related by common ownership or control. They can be financial and nonfinancial companies.
Nonaffiliates Companies not related by common ownership or control. They can be financial and nonfinancial companies.
The address we can be contacted at is:
World First USA Inc
211 E. 7th Street
Suite 700
Telephone: 877.866.8656
Email: [email protected]


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Last year, a strange self-driving car was released onto the quiet roads of Monmouth County, New Jersey. The experimental vehicle, developed by researchers at the chip maker Nvidia, didn't look different from other autonomous cars, but it was unlike anything demonstrated by Google, Tesla, or General Motors, and it showed the rising power of artificial intelligence. The car didn't follow a single instruction provided by an engineer or programmer. Instead, it relied entirely on an algorithm that had taught itself to drive by watching a human do it.
Getting a car to drive this way was an impressive feat. But it's also a bit unsettling, since it isn't completely clear how the car makes its decisions. Information from the vehicle's sensors goes straight into a huge network of artificial neurons that process the data and then deliver the commands required to operate the steering wheel, the brakes, and other systems. The result seems to match the responses you'd expect from a human driver. But what if one day it did something unexpected—crashed into a tree, or sat at a green light? As things stand now, it might be difficult to find out why. The system is so complicated that even the engineers who designed it may struggle to isolate the reason for any single action. And you can't ask it: there is no obvious way to design such a system so that it could always explain why it did what it did.
The mysterious mind of this vehicle points to a looming issue with artificial intelligence. The car's underlying AI technology, known as deep learning, has proved very powerful at solving problems in recent years, and it has been widely deployed for tasks like image captioning, voice recognition, and language translation. There is now hope that the same techniques will be able to diagnose deadly diseases, make million-dollar trading decisions, and do countless other things to transform whole industries.
But this won't happen—or shouldn't happen—unless we find ways of making techniques like deep learning more understandable to their creators and accountable to their users. Otherwise it will be hard to predict when failures might occur—and it's inevitable they will. That's one reason Nvidia's car is still experimental.
Thought provoking (and remarkably similar in spirit to our article, "Self-Driving Cars - Second Level Changes") article from Ben Evans of Andreessen Horowitz.
Cars and second order consequences - Benedict Evans
There are two foundational technology changes rolling through the car industry at the moment; electric and autonomy. Electric is happening right now, largely as a consequence of falling battery prices, while autonomy, or at least full autonomy, is a bit further off - perhaps 5-10 years, depending on how fast some pretty hard computer science problems get solved. Both of these will cycle into essentially the entire global stock of (today) around 1.1bn cars over a period of decades, subject to all sorts of variables, and both of them completely remake the car industry and its suppliers, as well as parts of the tech industry.
Both electric and autonomy have profound consequences beyond the car industry itself. Half of global oil production today goes to gasoline, and removing that demand will have geopolitical as well as industrial consequences. Over a million people are killed in car accidents every year around the world, mostly due to human error, and in a fully autonomous world all of those (and many more injuries) will also go away.
However, it's also useful, and perhaps more challenging, to think about second and third order consequences. Moving to electric means much more than replacing the gas tank with a battery, and moving to autonomy means much more than ending accidents. Quite what those consequences would be is much harder to predict: as the saying goes, it was easy to predict mass car ownership but hard to predict Wal-mart, and the broader consequences of the move to electric and autonomy will come in some very widely-spread industries, in complex interlocked ways. Still, we can at least point to where some of the changes might come. I can't tell you what will happen to car repairs, commercial real-estate or buses - I'm not an expert on any of those, and neither can anyone who is - but I can suggest that something will happen, and probably something big. Hence, this post is not a description of what will happen, but of where it might, and why, with some links to further reading.
On a velvety March evening in Mandeville Canyon, high above the rest of Los Angeles, Norman Lear's living room was jammed with powerful people eager to learn the secrets of longevity. When the symposium's first speaker asked how many people there wanted to live to two hundred, if they could remain healthy, almost every hand went up. Understandably, then, the Moroccan phyllo chicken puffs weren't going fast. The venture capitalists were keeping slim to maintain their imposing vitality, the scientists were keeping slim because they'd read—and in some cases done—the research on caloric restriction, and the Hollywood stars were keeping slim because of course.
When Liz Blackburn, who won a Nobel Prize for her work in genetics, took questions, Goldie Hawn, regal on a comfy sofa, purred, "I have a question about the mitochondria. I've been told about a molecule called glutathione that helps the health of the cell?" Glutathione is a powerful antioxidant that protects cells and their mitochondria, which provide energy; some in Hollywood call it "the God molecule." But taken in excess it can muffle a number of bodily repair mechanisms, leading to liver and kidney problems or even the rapid and potentially fatal sloughing of your skin. Blackburn gently suggested that a varied, healthy diet was best, and that no single molecule was the answer to the puzzle of aging.
Yet the premise of the evening was that answers, and maybe even an encompassing solution, were just around the corner. The party was the kickoff event for the National Academy of Medicine's Grand Challenge in Healthy Longevity, which will award at least twenty-five million dollars for breakthroughs in the field. Victor Dzau, the academy's president, stood to acknowledge several of the scientists in the room. He praised their work with enzymes that help regulate aging; with teasing out genes that control life span in various dog breeds; and with a technique by which an old mouse is surgically connected to a young mouse, shares its blood, and within weeks becomes younger.
A ground-breaking study released in the journal Physical Review Letters (arXiv.org version) offers what its authors call 'the first observational evidence that the Universe could be a complex hologram.' The study, led by University of Waterloo Professor Niayesh Afshordi, may lead to new beliefs on the Big Bang theory and quantum gravity.
Prof. Afshordi and his colleagues from UK, Canada and Italy, investigating irregularities in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), the 'afterglow' of the Big Bang, have found there is substantial evidence supporting a holographic explanation of the Universe.
"We are proposing using this holographic Universe, which is a very different model of the Big Bang than the popularly accepted one that relies on gravity and inflation," Prof. Afshordi said.
"Each of these models makes distinct predictions that we can test as we refine our data and improve our theoretical understanding — all within the next five years."
A holographic Universe, an idea first suggested in the 1990s, is one where all the information, which makes up our 3D 'reality' (plus time) is contained in a 2D surface on its boundaries.
"Imagine that everything you see, feel and hear in three dimensions — and your perception of time — in fact emanates from a flat two-dimensional field," explained co-author Prof. Kostas Skenderis, from the University of Southampton, UK.
Human Enhancement - The Scientific and Ethical Dimensions of Striving for Perfection
Human enhancement is at least as old as human civilization. People have been trying to enhance their physical and mental capabilities for thousands of years, sometimes successfully – and sometimes with inconclusive, comic and even tragic results.
Up to this point in history, however, most biomedical interventions, whether successful or not, have attempted to restore something perceived to be deficient, such as vision, hearing or mobility. Even when these interventions have tried to improve on nature – say with anabolic steroids to stimulate muscle growth or drugs such as Ritalin to sharpen focus – the results have tended to be relatively modest and incremental.
But thanks to recent scientific developments in areas such as biotechnology, information technology and nanotechnology, humanity may be on the cusp of an enhancement revolution. In the next two or three decades, people may have the option to change themselves and their children in ways that, up to now, have existed largely in the minds of science fiction writers and creators of comic book superheroes.
Both advocates for and opponents of human enhancement spin a number of possible scenarios. Some talk about what might be called "humanity plus" – people who are still recognizably human, but much smarter, stronger and healthier. Others speak of "post-humanity," and predict that dramatic advances in genetic engineering and machine technology may ultimately allow people to become conscious machines – not recognizably human, at least on the outside.
This enhancement revolution, if and when it comes, may well be prompted by ongoing efforts to aid people with disabilities and heal the sick. Indeed, science is already making rapid progress in new restorative and therapeutic technologies that could, in theory, have implications for human enhancement.
In her 30-year battle with breast cancer, Carmen Teixidor thought she had experienced every treatment doctors could hurl at the disease. She had endured multiple bouts of radiation and multiple courses of hormone therapy. She tried chemotherapy once, about 25 years ago, but it diminished the quality of her life so much that she's tried to avoid it ever since. She had multiple surgeries, too, and she developed a dread of the moment when she came out of anesthesia and into consciousness, almost inevitably to hear bad news. That is how she first learned, in the summer of 1985, that after doctors had found a large tumor in her left breast they had felt compelled to perform a mastectomy.
"Absolute terror," she recalls, staring down at the floor of her New York apartment. There's never a good time for a cancer diagnosis, but for Teixidor, it came just as her career as an artist had begun to take off—two of her life-size sculptures had been acquired for the grounds of Rockefeller University, and she had recently completed a mural at Harlem Hospital. A slender woman now in her 70s, graying hair gathered in a youthful ponytail, she has dealt with one recurrence after another, submitting to medical tools from the scalpel to, most recently and perhaps most improbably, the molecule.
Teixidor barely noticed when, in the fall of 2013, her doctors at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York analyzed a small snippet of her tumor and sequenced the DNA in her cancer cells. They did this, as an increasing number of academic cancer centers are doing, to look for telltale mutations that might drive malignant growth. Certain of these mutations are the targets of a new generation of specially designed drugs.
To Scale: The Solar System
The Fermi Paradox Isn't a Paradox
I acknowledge the Fermi Paradox has been discussed ad nauseam, which means to the point that continued discussion of a topic makes people want to vomit.
Knowing this, I naturally decided it would be a great idea to write about it.
As with most articles on OTA, there should be rolling disclaimer: I'm not an astrophysicist or particularly qualified to write on this subject. But this is the internet. A place where the unqualified are the world's foremost authorities on the most complicated matters imaginable.
So trust me, I'm an expert.
In case you haven't heard of the Fermi Paradox, let me briefly bring you up to speed.
The guy that came up with the Fermi Paradox was Enrico Fermi. And let me tell you something, Enrico Fermi was basically a genius. Ok, I'll just say it.
He was a genius.
Born in Rome, Italy in 1901, Fermi was one of the world's most prolific physicists. He created the world's first nuclear reactor, won the 1938 Nobel Prize in physics, worked on the Manhattan Project, had the synthetic element "fermium" named after him, and was one of the few physicists in history that excelled in both theoretical and experimental physics. Fermi died in Chicago, Illinois, in 1954.
It only makes sense then that Fermi coined the Fermi Paradox, a topic that has been studied and discussed countless times over the years, over lunch in 1950. It was at this lunch when Fermi asked several colleagues, "Where is everybody?" referring to intelligent extraterrestrial life.
Read more...


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Motorcycle Crashes are very common among new riders and even the most experienced riders. Some crashes can be small and others fatal but no matter the outcome most of them could have been avoided one way or another. Those who ride hard go down hard and those who don't are still targets for an upcoming crash in the future. Safety is our biggest concern at The Reinecke Law Firm. Below is compilation of motorcycle accidents that could have been avoided.
Main highways are not meant to be a racing speedway and a lot of people end up losing their bikes and more to these dangerous rides. It is important to obey the speed limits and watch out for people trying to pass. If you want to do hot-dogging tricks and race around tight corners, head out to the race track where you don't have to worry about bad pavement, other vehicles, and disobeying road laws. The benefits of riding on the track are no speed limits, no gravel or debris in the road, no tickets, no drivers on their phones, and it is the best place to learn better technique.
Some Southern California Motorcycle Tracks are:
Buttonwillow Raceway – Buttonwillow, CA
Chuckwalla Valley Raceway – Desert Center, CA
Adams Motorsports Park – Riverside, CA
Mazda's Laguna Seca Speedway – Monterey, CA
Although not all of these allow open track days there are still programs and classes that you can attend or join that will have opportunities to ride these tracks. These tracks and courses are great for beginners to even the professionals. They help you become a better and faster rider. You'll experience many things that you probably never would try on the road.
If you do not ever plan to attend a raceway to get better practice my next suggestion would be to find a large private parking lot and practice skills riding and racing around cones.
But if you stick with the streets and are involved in a motorcycle crash or accident call The Reinecke Law Firm now at (800)275-8326 for a free case evaluation. Remember to ride safely and enjoy being on two wheels.


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Kater Gordon claims that Weiner told her she "owed it to him to let him see me naked"
Former Mad Men writer Kater Gordon has accused the show's creator Matthew Weiner of making a sexually inappropriate remark towards her while she worked on the series. In response, a representative for Weiner has said that he "does not remember saying" the comment.
Gordon joined the show as a writing assistant from its second season in 2008, later becoming a staff writer. She won an Emmy in 2009 for her writing work on the show, but was let go at the end of season three. She had previously worked as a personal assistant to Weiner and hasn't worked in television since leaving Mad Men.
Speaking to The Information, Gordon claims that Weiner made a suggestive comment towards her one night as they worked late on the season two finale, 'Meditations in an Emergency', the episode they later won the Emmy for.Gordon alleges that he "told me that I owed it to him to let him see me naked", a comment that she brushed off at the time.
"It felt like a lose-lose situation," Gordon says of her decision to not confront Weiner, adding that she felt "threatened and devalued" by the comment. She continues: "I did my best to play along but couldn't divorce him from the comment, and I lost respect. I couldn't in good conscious support him the way I did the previous year."
Gordon was eventually let go a few weeks after winning the 2009 Emmy, with the writer claiming that Weiner broke the news to her by telling her how she had "fallen short" and "was terrible at everything".
"I had the Emmy, but instead of being able to use that as a launch pad for the rest of my career, it became an anchor because I felt I had to answer to speculative stories in the press," Gordon says. "I eventually walked away instead of fighting back."
A press representative for Weiner has responded to the claims in a statement, which reads: "Mr. Weiner spent eight to ten hours a day writing dialogue aloud with Miss Gordon, who started on Mad Men as his writers assistant. He does not remember saying this comment nor does it reflect a comment he would say to any colleague. During the nine years he was showrunner on Mad Men, Mr. Weiner had a predominantly female driven writers room. He has long believed in and implemented an egalitarian working environment including the highest levels of production and writing based on mutual respect for all."
- For help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.


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Questions or comments? I'd love to hear from you! Before you get in touch, here's some info that may help:
Q: How can I book you for postnatal support?
A: The best way to find out if we're a good fit is to come along to a workshop. We can meet, and you will get a sense for my philosophy and approach. At the end of the workshop, you will have a chance to book a free consultation with me so we can get to know each other better and discuss support packages.
Q: Can I book a consultation without coming to a workshop first?
A: The consultation builds on the material introduced at the workshop, which makes it easier to get really specific about your goals and vision for the postnatal time. If you really can't make it to a workshop you may book a consultation for a flat fee of $150 (which will be credited towards your support package if you book one). Note that the consultation fee is waived for workshop attendees.


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type is a web site whose primary service is in a completely different field than online dating. This legal loophole excludes many large web sites from complying with these laws and opens the door for scammers to join their sites and seek out American men to financially take advantage of. laws concerning online dating with foreign women since the majority of their business does not come from the online dating industry.
Writing to foreign women on these online dating sites is risky as well. Many scammers will not attempt to join a site like ours. Letter writing is a great start, but for a permanent relationship you will have to travel to the foreign lady's home country to meet her.
Foreign men could anonymously join in the scam operation and impersonate ladies in hopes of extracting money from their unsuspecting male suitors. Not only would you have to contend with scammers on these sites, but also with the real possibility of your credit card information being stolen. In their opinion, why should they bother with our online dating service when there is so much more opportunity for scamming men elsewhere? Since you do not really know a person until you meet her, it is always risky to travel to another country to meet only one foreign lady.
type of online dating web site is foreign based and not bound by U. Also, there would be no legal recourse against the individuals who did this since they are not U. In addition, there is another advantage to using the foreign ladies online dating service. With this in mind, scheduling your meeting with the lady you are writing to coincide with one of our tours is the best option for you.
Foreign is fully compliant with the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act. If things do not work out with the lady you were writing to, you will then have the opportunity to meet hundreds of other foreign ladies while you are there.
Chinese ladies in this city are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the men attending this tour. The Ukrainian tours are land only tours which includes three socials along with many other services during your stay. Any of our Latin women tour destinations will fit the ticket. While Costa Rica, Cartagena, and Barranquilla have been popular destinations for years, our newest Colombian tour city is Medellin which is filled with some of the most beautiful Latin women anywhere.
The first tour to a new city is always special so don't miss out. Colombia, Peru, and Costa Rica are just hours from the U. Our tour to Lima Peru offers the opportunity to visit the incredible Machu Picchu and along with meeting some of the most lovely and sincere women in Latin America. Partners in life and business, Jim Burba and Bob Hayes dealt with homophobia as openly gay cofounders of a hotel company.Welcome to the largest and fastest growing online community for single Christians.Using a similar online dating service that does not comply with this regulation can cause complications in the future. With a Ukraine, Latin, or Asian tour departing practically every week, there is always a great opportunity to meet lovely sincere foreign ladies with your schedule in mind. With half the world's population and millions of beautiful single women, you would think there would be a great opportunity for a Western man to find a loving devoted wife, right?Foreign is a full service online dating site committed to helping you establish a serious relationship with either a Russian/Ukrainian lady, a Latin American lady, or a Asian lady. - What makes us stand out among other dating sites. Well we think so too and are now hosting socials in China and the Philippines.We provide essential foreign dating services to assist you in every step of your relationship. Wish her a happy birthday - Great selection of flowers, candy and specialty items she is sure to love. The Philippines offer two great cities to meet beautiful and lively Asian women.


text: Today I've been thinking about love. "Okay Kira....you just got married...that's expected." Well yes, but it's been especially on my mind as I look through photos from the wedding I shot on Saturday. Love can be so many different things..but the bonds that are formed in a family is unlike anything you could gain from anywhere else! Take a look at these sweet photos of mother/son, father/daughter, newly weds, and my personal favorite: the steadfast and tenacious. How special are these?!?


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The significance of health and wellness is significant in everyday life. Public health has been described as "the science and art of stopping disease, prolonging life and selling health by way of the organized efforts and informed selections of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals." forty six It's concerned with threats to the general health of a neighborhood based on population health evaluation.
Invoice Cassidy (R-La.) formally misplaced his bid to cross an Obamacare overhaul late Monday as a third Republican senator introduced her defection from his invoice and brought the Senate's determined, eleventh hour effort to repeal the Reasonably priced Care Act to a grinding halt – once more.
The U.S. Senate can not get the textual content of a invoice on a Sunday night time, then proceed to a vote just days later, with only one hearing — and especially not on an issue that's intensely private to all of us," Ms. Murkowski said, without saying which method she would have voted.
Consumption of Western-type weight-reduction plan containing 75 grams of walnuts every day has been studied to help erectile dysfunction in men. Having intercourse open air within the winter is just not usually at the high of everybody's checklist (unless they stay in a tropical paradise, in fact) – so make the most of summer time weather to get frisky exterior.
Cassidy used the phrase to clarify his health reform goals in an look on Kimmel's show, shortly after the host had announced that his toddler son had been identified with a coronary heart ailment that required surgery. Senator John Thune of South Dakota, a member of the Senate Republican management, said the idea behind the Graham-Cassidy invoice would help Republicans outline their variations with Democrats within the marketing campaign season.


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By Carmen Saffioti
Published: April 25th, 2018
When the #TimesUp movement gained momentum, it was a somber yet inspiring time. Women and men were coming forward with stories of rape and assault, naming their perpetrators. While it was a moment of sadness, the bravery and power of the victims stepping into public view let other perpetrators know that their time was up. A testament to the power of this movement appeared when celebrities such as Harvey Weinstein, Louis CK, and Kevin Spacey effectively lost their careers. Author J.K. Stein knows the trauma victims feel all too well, as she was a victim too.
She puts her experience into words in her memoir: The Director. This book is a chilling portrait of a psychopath and his manipulative ways to gaslight and abuse his victims. Stein never names her assailant; she only uses the title "The Director." Stein recounts her experience living in New York as an aspiring actress and the subsequent events upon her first interaction with "The Director." Beyond its dark parts, this memoir is about healing. Stein's eating disorder and body image is mangled due to her traumatic experience. She finds her voice and empowerment in order to come to terms with what has happened to her.
Stein's accounts are so real that they may read as quite grotesque for some readers. In one of her accounts, she describes how "The Director" had pressured her participate in sexual fantasies. Although these parts were emotionally difficult to read, I was stunned by Stein's openness to her readers. The raw quality of the writing really comes through in the journal entries, which Stein wrote during her experiences.
"I'm a little scared. I really don't know who I am anymore. I can't eat anything and if I do, it comes right back up. I know this isn't good, but I don't know what to do." Stein's complete honesty is refreshing. It allows readers to put themselves in her shoes, and perhaps realize instances of abuse in their own life.
One of the main topics within the memoir was consent. Although Stein often gave into her abuser, it does not mean she gave him consent. "The Director" held prestige and power over Stein; this relationship dynamic does not allow for consent. Stein's perpetrator constantly flaunts his control over her, and the actions that she takes to appease him does not reflect her willing consent. This is important to make clear considering changing attitudes towards rape and sexual assault.
In an example of the ambiguous nature of consent, Stein writes that she "sold her body," not for sex, but for "promises of money." His power over her as a director influenced her decisions heavily, and ultimately left her broken after five years of this relationship. There has been criticism of this wider, more complicated view of consent, that if it is accurate then almost every woman has experienced sexual assault. But I, and many others, would argue that that is exactly the point. Stein's memoir is important because it describes a case of abuse that may not normally fit into the stereotypical idea of abuse.
J.K. Stein's The Director: A Memoir is certainly worth the read for anyone curious about rape culture in modern America and the complicated nature of consent. The emotions that riddled every page kept me occupied with this book, even though some of its content was disturbing. Its realness will allow readers to experience this trauma and subsequent healing with Stein.


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Winter wedding?! In November? Yes!
Friday November the 11th to be exact... It's fair to say weather wise I've been pretty lucky compared to the "summer" months. This wedding is full of lots of LOVE, laughter and even a few tears. All teamed together with some creative fun we made this>>>
Venue: Ingleside House
Makeup: Natalie Ricciard


text: When it opened its doors in 1955, the Grande Hotel in Beira, colonial Mozambique was touted as the largest and most luxurious hotel in Africa. The art deco style palace with uninterrupted views of the Indian Ocean boasted 116 rooms and an Olympic sized swimming pool for its VIP guests. But by the 1970s, having spent less than a decade in service and many more in limbo, the Grande Hotel was serving as a military base in a city ravaged by civil war. The basement was converted into a prison. Today 2,500 squatters call the Grande Hotel their home.


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A review of 15 studies links the consumption of processed meat to breast cancer
A review of 15 studies involving more than 1.2 million individuals found those who regularly eat processed meat are at risk of developing breast cancer. The review published in the International Journal of Cancer found that processed meat consumption increased the risk of breast cancer by 9%.
NOTE: A study of 260,000 post menopausal women found that individuals consuming more than 9g of processed meat per day are 20% more likely to develop breast cancer than those who abstain.


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Yoga and Materialism: The Perfect, The Good, and The Spiritual
Submitted by Ethan Nichtern on Wed, 8/4/2010, 11:27am
The New York Times Magazine recently did a major profile on Anusara yoga founder John Friend. They say all press is good press. I hope that's true and my guess is it will be. Beyond Anusara, which receives at least some positive coverage in the article, the implicit framing of the piece amounts to a hit-job on market-based spiritual enterprises in America in general. It highlights, above all else, the deep and subtle culture of hypocrisy that wellness teachers -- yoga, Buddhist and otherwise -- encounter when bringing a service deemed as "spiritual" into a capitalist economy.
Among the strange assertions in the article are implications that John Friend runs a cult, and is a greedy mogul who has turned yoga into a business. The backup for these assertions? Well, his students love him and he pays himself a salary of slightly less than $100,000 per year.
So let's get this straight: one of the most popular yoga teachers in the world, who has helped bring greater health and well-being to thousands of people, earns a salary that is a fraction of what a secretary makes at Goldman Sachs, and that might be a bad thing? Well yes, actually, it is. He should be paid more. So should all teachers who have dedicated their life to helping others along a path, even if they have some personal issues. I have no idea if John Friend has personal issues, but my guess is that he is, in fact, human.
Is Mr. Friend's community a little bit cultish? I really don't know. Many of my friends love Anusara. A few have gotten a weird vibe from the community. So what? That's par for the course, and could be said for any genuine community of mind/body well-being, certainly my own Shambhala meditation community. But let's pretend the worst is true (it's not); let's pretend John Friend shepherds a bunch of mindless followers to the asana slaughter. Is this cult, in scope or intensity, anything close to the cult of personality which we call American celebrity culture? Why do we hold some good but flawed entities up to impossible ethical standards, and hold other profit-driven entities up to no standards at all? Hypocrisy much?
Imagine, for just a moment, if rapper Jay-Z had to face the same level of ethical scrutiny in his latest Times review for his lyrics ("I'm not a businessman/ I'm a business, man!/ Let me handle my business, damn!") that Mr. Friend had to face from the Times reporter who covered him. If so, the Times piece on the self proclaimed J-Hova would've been far less rosie and worshipful. Of course, because yoga is framed as "spiritual," and because Jay-Z is a "business, man," we keep on dancing to the beat, while we hold "spiritual" teachers and gurus to a level of perfection which no mortal could ever attain. The Times and our whole culture seem to buy into this false dichotomy hook, line and sinker.
Yes, there have been some instances of corruption in the Western manifestations of "spiritual" traditions, and the vague rumors of foul play have been enough to turn countless students off to the wealth that these traditions offer. John Friend makes this point and other great points in his rebuttal to the Times piece over at Elephant Journal. But these instances are rare. More often than not, if you take up a practice in any of these mind/body traditions and pursue it genuinely, you will find something incredibly rare in our culture: fairly selfless teachers who are really there to help and serve with useful practices and life tools, and communities of like-minded people doing their best to bring more peace and health to themselves and others. Unfortunately, we are just addicted to the bad news, aren't we?
Maybe those of us who are interested in promoting mind/body wellness and who teach in the fields of yoga, meditation, Buddhism, or any form of holistic wellness should stop using the word "spiritual" altogether. There is no way to bring a "spiritual" service into a market economy -- the only avenue to reach a wide audience in the age of multinational capitalism -- without it facing an insane level of unfair scrutiny. Simply put, in today's day and age, spirituality is bad branding.
The root of this hypocrisy is something which the founder of the Shambhala tradition, Chogyam Trungpa (an amazing teacher not without imperfection) was quite savvy about. It has to do with our psychological tendency in contemporary culture (not just the West) to create a false dichotomy between our spiritual and secular selves, as well as different expectations for these parts of our life. Note that this has nothing to do with freedom of religion or separation of church and state. It has to do with our tendency to compartmentalize our life and our work into areas where the appearance of ethical behavior is expected (the spiritual), and those in which unethical, mindless, selfish behavior are allowed and even cherished (the secular, business or entertainment). Fundamentally, this creates a whole society of human beings with split-personality disorder, a nation of people pointing critical fingers in all the wrong places, while worshiping the false prophets of materialism.
In such a world, the perfect is the enemy of the good, and the "spiritual," unwittingly, becomes the enemy of enacting compassion in the real world. Meanwhile, someone who proudly stands for absolutely nothing is coronated as king. After all, it's a business, man.
(photo of John Friend via prana.com)
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I have just been diagnosed with a moderately differentiated T2a prostate cancer. My urologist says that I can safely put off definitive treatment (surgery – not gonna do it; or radiation) for 6 months. That gives me some time to explore alternative treatments.
The absence of human trials notwithstanding, the anecdotal accounts are encouraging enough (especially when compared to the scary, quality-of-life, side-effects) that I am not going to try radiation until I have given medical cannabis a full trial. Thank god I live in Colorado, right! I am going in to meet with the Cannabis M.D., to get my medical cannabis card, today.
Thank you, all, in advance, for sending your thoughts, prayers, and good intentions my way.


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Cenovus buying most of ConocoPhillips's Canadian assets
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Cenovus Energy announced Wednesday it will pay $17.7 billion Canadian (US$ 13.2 billion) for most of ConocoPhillips' Canadian assets.
Houston-based ConocoPhillips is the latest company to reduce exposure to Canada's oil sands — the world's third-largest oil reserves.
Cenovus CEO Brian Ferguson called it a "transformational acquisition" for the Calgary-based company.
The deal includes ConocoPhillips's 50 percent interest in FCCL Partnership, an oil sands venture between the two companies in northern Alberta, as well as the majority of ConocoPhillips's Deep Basin conventional assets in Alberta and British Columbia. The combined assets have forecast 2017 production of approximately 298,000 barrels of oil equivalent daily.
Royal Dutch Shell earlier this month sold most of its oil sands holdings to Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. Shell CEO Ben van Beurden said then the deal would allow the company to focus on assets such as deep water oil and gas that offer higher returns on capital. Oil sands are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit.
Ryan Lance, ConocoPhillips' chairman and CEO, called his company's deal with Cenovus a "win-win" and said it would allow ConocoPhillips to reduce its debt.
"ConocoPhillips Canada will now focus exclusively on our Surmont oil sands and the liquids-rich Blueberry-Montney unconventional asset," Lance said in a statement.


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SOUTHOLD, N.Y. – Sea Tow Services International – started in 1983 by Captain Joe Frohnhoefer in response to the U.S. Coast Guard's decision to cease servicing boaters in non-emergency situations – is celebrating 35 years in business on September 3. A pioneer of the marine assistance industry, the Long Island-based company has since grown to more than 100 locations serving thousands of communities across the United States, Canada, Europe and the Caribbean.
Frohnhoefer's son and daughter, Joseph Frohnhoefer III and Kristen Frohnhoefer, now follow in their father's footsteps as they lead Sea Tow into its 35th year providing services – from tows and fuel deliveries to salvage and recovery, environmental clean-up and more – to Sea Tow members and boaters all over the world.
"Our father left some big shoes to fill, but Kristen and I couldn't be more honored to continue the family tradition of helping boaters in need," said Joseph, the company's CEO. "My father always said, 'A bad day out on the water is a thousand times better than a good day at a work, especially when you are a Sea Tow member,' and I couldn't agree more. It's been such a pleasure being able to work with the amazing network of captains and other crew that are part of Sea Tow and spending each and every day doing what I love."
Sea Tow captains – in their distinctive yellow boats – have earned the reputation as "everyday heroes" in boating communities both big and small. Over the past 35 years, they have been there to lend a hand, saving countless lives and helping both members and nonmembers get the assistance they need, 24/7, 365.
Captain John McLaughlin – owner of franchises in Atlantic City, New Jersey and Marco Island, Florida – has been a part of Sea Tow since the 1990s and has seen this effect firsthand.
"I've been with Sea Tow for more than 23 years now," McLaughlin said. "I've been a part of its incredible growth from a licensing company to its current franchise model. The way Sea Tow is run with honesty and integrity and the high expectations that Captain Joe – and now Joseph and Kristen – have keep you prepared for when disaster strikes.
"Just getting through hurricanes and other disasters, I can't say enough how many wonderful comments I received from insurance companies and other responders about the level of professionalism they experience when they deal with Sea Tow," he added. "I never thought I'd be this proud to wear that yellow shirt."
In addition to its membership program and the typical services Sea Tow provides, its nonprofit – the Sea Tow Foundation – helps spread awareness and education of safe boating practices to boaters of all ages. From its seminal Life Jacket Loaner Program – which celebrates its 10th year in 2018 – to its Designated Sober Skipper Program focusing the merits of sober boating, the Sea Tow Foundation has become a champion for safe boating nationwide.
"The Foundation is a key part of our overall mindset here at Sea Tow," said Kristen Frohnhoefer, both the company's and Foundation's president. "Our Foundation team and volunteers do an incredible job of teaching boaters about the importance of always keeping safety at the forefront. Our captains are always there to help boaters when things go wrong, but ultimately we want boaters to have a fun and safe day of boating."
In addition to the Life Jacket Loaner and Designated Sober Skipper Programs, the Foundation also hosts its Beacon Rental Program where boaters can rent emergency beacons and even a new social media campaign it calls "My Vest Friends." Sea Tow's nationwide Automated Radio Check program is also geared toward improving safety on the water.
In the end, for the Frohnhoefers and Sea Tow, it's all about helping boaters in any way they can.
"At the end of the day, we pride ourselves on being good stewards out on the water, whether that's through our typical Sea Tow service calls, our work with the Foundation or just getting out there and volunteering within the thousands of communities we serve," Kristen Frohnhoefer said. "We couldn't be prouder of the network of service-minded men and women who have helped build Sea Tow into the industry leader it is today and we're looking forward to continuing along that path for the next 35 years and beyond."


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www.permies.com Comfrey may be the most talked about permaculture plant. It is commonly planted under fruit trees because it does not compete with tree roots, but it does compete with plants that do compete with tree roots. Alexia Allen of Hawthorn Farm tell us how she like using it as a poultice. We get to see bees and ants racing for the nectar of the comfrey blossoms. She also feeds it to her animals. Toby Hemenway is the author of "Gaia's Garden A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture." He calls comfrey "the queen of the multi function plants." He talks a little about how easily it can spread when you don't want it. And then he talks about how he is able to get rid of it through mulching – but why would you not want it? It's a beneficial insect attractor; it is able to heal wounds; a dynamic nutrient accumulator; good for under fruit trees; good for a comfrey tree for soils; a huge biomass accumulator. Tulsey Latoski of Portland, Oregon tells us about how comfrey makes a great green manure and living mulch. Mostly due to the tap roots that will pull nutrients up from down deep. She also shows us two different types of comfrey. Norris Thomlinson of Portland, Oregon shares some observations about how comfrey fares as chicken feed; edible plant for humans; medicinal plant for humans; Michael Pilarski is a famous wildcrafter and permaculture consultant. www.friendsofthetrees.net He tells us about how comfrey sluff material off into the soil to make for a richer soil <b>…</b>
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|"Masanz, James J." <Masanz.Ja...@mayo.edu>
|RE: cTAKES Groovy...
|Fri, 06 Dec 2013 17:37:27 GMT
Sounds good to me. Thanks! -----Original Message----- From: email@example.com [mailto:firstname.lastname@example.com] On Behalf Of Tim Miller Sent: Friday, December 06, 2013 11:36 AM To: firstname.lastname@example.com Subject: Re: cTAKES Groovy... Sure, I checked it in under ctakes-constituency-parser/scripts/groovy/parser.groovy per my understanding of the thread from a few days go about where to put these things. Tim On 12/06/2013 12:03 PM, Masanz, James J. wrote: > Tim, could you check that change in you made to not download the big resources, or post it somewhere temporarily. > > I'm having this issue when trying to run the groovy script (I'm on Windows 7, if that makes a difference) and having it faster might help debug. > > C:\using-groovy> groovy parser.groovy test-data-for-groovy > Reading from directory: test-data-for-groovy > Downloading: http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/ctakes/trunk/ctakes-core-res/src/main/resources/org/apache/ctakes/core/sentdetect/sd-med-model.zip > Caught: groovy.lang.MissingMethodException: No signature of method: java.io.BufferedOutputStream.rightShift() is applicable for argument types: (sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection$HttpInputStream) values: [sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection$HttpInputStream@74be95bf] > Possible solutions: leftShift(java.lang.Object), leftShift(java.io.InputStream), leftShift([B) > groovy.lang.MissingMethodException: No signature of method: java.io.BufferedOutputStream.rightShift() is applicable for argument types: (sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection$HttpInputStream) values: [sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection$HttpInputStream@74be95bf] > Possible solutions: leftShift(java.lang.Object), leftShift(java.io.InputStream), leftShift([B) > at parser.downloadFile(parser.groovy:99) > at parser.run(parser.groovy:64) > > Anyone run into such an error from groovy? Anyone else running groovy on Win7? > > -- James > > > -----Original Message----- > From: email@example.com [mailto:firstname.lastname@example.com] On Behalf Of Tim Miller > Sent: Wednesday, December 04, 2013 9:09 AM > To: email@example.com > Subject: Re: cTAKES Groovy... > > Very cool. I was noticing that it was downloading the umls resources which the parser itself doesn't need -- so I made a change to not grab clinical-pipeline and grab directly the things it was getting through that reference and now it runs even faster with only a 35M initial download. > > I'd like to check in my change -- should we keep working out of sandbox or can we maybe put groovy scripts somewhere alongside the projects they belong to? Maybe in the scripts/ directory or scripts/groovy, scripts/perl, etc.? Any opinions on this? > > Tim > > > On 11/27/2013 12:19 PM, Chen, Pei wrote: >> The sample constituency parser printer should be working now... >> Just copy and paste the text to parser.groovy and make it executable. >> All you should need is groovy installed on your machine. >> http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/ctakes/sandbox/groovy/parser.groovy >> $ parser.groovy input >> Reading from directory: input >> (TOP (S (NP-SBJ (NN patient)) (VP (VBD took) (NP (NP (NNS 50mg)) (PP >> (IN of) (NP (NP (NN aspirin)) (PP (IN for) (NP (NP (NN pain)) (PP-LOC >> (IN in) (NP (NN knee)))))))))(. .))) >> >> Maybe we could create one that will output UMLS CUI/Codes... and then others could easily modify to their needs. >> >> --Pei >>> -----Original Message----- >>> From: William Karl Thompson [mailto:firstname.lastname@example.com] >>> Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 10:46 PM >>> To: firstname.lastname@example.com >>> Subject: RE: cTAKES Groovy... >>> >>> That is very cool! >>> >>> Since we're talking Groovy, I'd just like make a plug for Gradle, a >>> fantastic build/deployment/dependency management tool that is in many >>> ways much nicer to work with than Maven, though it plays nicely with >>> Maven (for example, it can use Maven repositories). Gradle is also proven technology: >>> it's the build tool for the Android operating system. >>> ________________________________________ >>> From: Chen, Pei [firstname.lastname@example.com] >>> Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 4:13 PM >>> To: firstname.lastname@example.com >>> Subject: cTAKES Groovy... >>> >>> Tim had a good end user use case: >>> I just want to use the ctakes constituency parser and output the tree >>> text to console. >>> So I was inspired by Richard example of groovy... >>> Check out: >>> http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/ctakes/sandbox/groovy/parser.groovy >>> >>> The groovy script will "Automagically" download the required >>> classes,jars,resources and automatically runs. >>> No longer requires the user to have any knowledge of UIMA, cTAKES, etc. >>> Sample: >>> $ parser.groovy input >>> Reading from directory: input >>> patient took 50mg of aspirin for pain in knee. >>> begin:0 end:48 >>> >>> Pretty cool, 'eh... >>> --Pei
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The Fashion Society Fashion Show
Thu, 21 Apr 16, 21:00 - Fri, 22 Apr 16, 01:00
Coco Tang, 45 Bridlesmith Gate, Nottingham, NG1 2GN
Last entry: 20:3018+
The Fashion Society Fashion Show
Her Campus and CoppaFeel! present the annual UoN Fashion Society fashion show.
Tickets: Online £5
On the night there will be:
- The Fashion Show
- Performances
- Discounted Coco Tang cocktails
- Prize draw including tickets, vouchers and much more!
All proceeds from the event go to Coppafeel, the breast cancer awareness charity.
Facebook Event:
Her Campus