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Environmental Cues
Did you know that our environment is a strong influencer in why we eat the way we do?
We pick up cues from our environment that are determinants to our eating behaviours.
These environmental cues can lead to problematic eating.
There are ten common environmental influences to eating behaviours:
It is no wonder that our environment can strongly challenge adopting healthy eating habits! It is important to be aware of how we are personally influenced by our environment.
Eating Self-Awareness
What can I do?
Be conscientious of your environmental cues.
In the next week or two - pull your awareness to all of your senses and see how many of these factors you notice that influence or prompt you to eat. Write them down for your own records!
Identify the type of hunger you are experiencing.
There are three types of hunger
Stomach hunger is the physical need for food. It's been between 4-6 hours, your stomach is growling, and it is time to eat. You are eating to nourish your body.
Mouth hunger is a food craving. This is when you are looking for a food with a certain flavour or texture such as salty, crunchy chips, or creamy and sweet - and you reach for the ice cream.
Heart hunger is when you are eating because of your emotions or how you are feeling mentally. It can also refer to a learned behaviour around food or eating.
What can I do?
Take a day and ask yourself - am I experiencing stomach hunger, mouth hunger, or heart hunger?
You will be amazed at how much your self-awareness increases!
HALT - Before Eating
HALT is another way to increase self-awareness of eating triggers.
H - Hungry, Hurt, Hopeless, Hyper, Happy
A - Angry, Anxious, Apathetic
L - Lonely, Lousy, Lethargic
T - Tired, Ticked Off, Tense
Consider the Circumstances
You may notice that it is when you are with certain people, in particular situations, or when specific events occur that you are more likely to eat problematically.
Sometimes these circumstances can lead to difficult feelings such as anxiety, anger, boredom, sadness which can trigger eating.
Reflect and ask yourself - do you have trouble eating when you are:
This exercise can be particularly effective for people who find it difficult to identify their emotions.
Emotions Inventory
Ask yourself - "Am I really hungry, or do I just want to change the way that I feel?"
There are many ways to feel from abandoned to angry to defensive to moody to serene to happy to isolated, you name it!
Take some time to identify your feelings before and after an uncomfortable eating episode. Write them down or check them off of a worksheet before and then again immediately after the problematic eating took place.
This is helpful especially when eating is used to disconnect from uncomfortable feelings.
Once emotional triggers are identified such as in a journal or worksheet you can adopt strategies to change your thoughts and behaviours to help reduce the occurrence of these emotions.
You can also learn to manage these feelings without food especially with your heightened self-awareness.
Change Strategy
Ready to take positive action? Nurture yourself in ways that do not involve food. Write down ways that you like to unwind, do something pleasant for yourself, and/or ways that you nurture yourself. Cross off the items that involve food. Give yourself a non-food reward with the remaining items on the list that you created.
Remember that it takes 21 days to break a habit - steady progress toward your goal is the best approach and take good care of yourself along the way.


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Hailing from South Shields, 18-year-old Sonny has been on our radar since dropping his successful debut EP Hopeless Romance last year and today we get to premiere the live version of his new track Calm Down. His songwriting skills and effortlessly powerful vocals keep us hooked to his latest EP Northern Nights, which was released last Friday.
Sonny shows us different sides to what he can offer whether it be a bold rock/pop track like Supernova or a sincere moving track like lead single Ain't Too Proud To Beg. Either way, each song displays his ability to create soulful, relatable songs that are quintessentially modern classics.
We hope you have tissues at the ready because this one is emotional…
Sonny just announced headline shows in South Shields on the 13th September and in London at Servant Jazz Quarters on the 19th September, tickets go on sale this Friday.

subset: commoncrawl


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Get Notified When We Publish New Courses, Free Tips, Videos, and Podcasts
Taking nearly 20 years of experience and giving it to you starting in October 2018.
We are entering the teaching business by offering you, the business owner or manager, tools that will help you market your business online in the most cost-effective way possible. The Gillenwater Group, LLC doesn't force clients to adhere to long-term contracts, giving our clients financial freedom when using our services. As a result, we have been asked numerous times, "What can I do myself so I can just hire you for the things I can't do on my own?"
Online tips, tricks, and classes are our answers to this question.
In the past, we have taught clients how to manage their own content, SEO basics, and even some design elements of their websites to minimize cost as much as possible. From there, they have utilized us when they have no time to make updates (particularly when Google updates its algorithm, which we track) or when the work that needs to be done is especially complicated. In other words, we are very "On Demand" and we like it that way because we have formed long-term business relationships using this model.
You don't have to be a client of ours to opt into our classes. We will also be creating a larger social media presence where you can also learn some tips and tricks.


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GBC Gds2219 Jam Free Strip-Cut Shredder, 22 Sheet Cap
$1,594.95 $1,244.06
Free Shipping Eligible: Details
School Specialty Shipping Policy
Items Shipped Within the Contiguous 48 United States
Free Shipping Eligible
- Free shipping and handling on eligible supply orders of $49 or more. Free shipping calculation is based on the subtotals of eligible items, after any additional discounts are applied.
- For subtotals less than $49, the shipping and handling charge is $9.95.
Free Shipping Ineligible
- For parcel items, shipping and handling charges are 12% of the subtotal of the items, after any discounts are applied, with a $5 minimum charge.
- For non-parcel items, shipping and handling charges are 15% of the subtotal of the items, after any discounts are applied, with a $99 minimum charge. If the subtotal is greater than $1,000, please call 1-877-350-0645 or E-mail firstname.lastname@example.com for a freight quote.
Ships Directly from Manufacturer Typically Within 2-4 Weeks - Lead Times Vary
Customer Reviews
GBC Department Strip-Cut Shredder is perfect for moderate usage upto 5 - 10 users which shreds 22 sheets at once into a 19 gallon bin. Jam free shredder features an indicator light that illuminates red if too many sheets are inserted. Strip-cut style shred with minimum security level 2 shreds CDs, paper clips, staples and credit cards. Jam free technology makes shredding fast and easy with no mess, preventing paper jams without wasting time. Auto shut down conserves energy which adds for environmental benefits.
- Continuous run time cool downtime
Includes: Waste Bin


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MSC Advanced Cell Therapy Trials 2017
Package of MSC advanced cell therapy trials registered internationally during 2017 contains 16 parameters for 145 trials. Only trials with isolated MSC are included, from any source. This package comes with free updates if we find more trial data in this time frame. This package is an accurate list of mesenchymal cell trials regardless of whether the mesenchymal cells are considered to be stem cells, stromal cells, signaling cells, etc.
- Trial Data
- Registration Year
- Trial ID with link to trial on-line
- Country
- Phase
- Status
- Cell Data
- Cell Type
- Cell Source
- Route of Administration
- Cell Dose
- Patient Data
- Indication for use
- Autologous or Allogeneic Therapy
- Target Enrollment
- Patient Age Groups
- Sponsor Data
- Academia or Industry Funding
- Names of Sponsor/Collaborators
- Product Names if known


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Camrose AB - Saturday, Sept 29th
As the old cliché says, special teams usually dictate the outcome of a hockey game. The Canmore Eagles are certainly proving that it is true. On Friday afternoon in their 1st of two games at the annual AJHL Showcase Weekend in Camrose, the Canmore Eagles defeated the Fort McMurray Oil Barons 5-3 with three powerplay goals and a perfect penalty kill. With the win, their 3rd straight, the Eagles early season record improves to 4-1, setting them in 3rd in the AJHL South division. In terms of special teams, the Eagles are currently ranked 1st in the AJHL on the PP (36.7 %) and also 1st on the Penalty Kill (90.6%).
When asked about the team's success on special teams, Eagles Assistant Coach/Assistant General Manager Evan McFeeters responded, "The guys on the penalty kill are working hard. They're sticking to the system the coaching staff has put in place this year and a couple of guys who have really bought into the role of being lead penalty killers in the league are taking a lot of pride of doing so and the goalies have been good as well."
As for the power play, McFeeters praised the players' work ethic, because the goals scored with the man advantage are hard-working goals.
Friday's game was played in front of hundreds of NCAA scouts and NHL scouts. The game was even more motivating for two Eagles players, 19-year-old forwards Connor Lyons and Owen Reith. Lyons and Reith were both acquired from the Oil Barons in a transaction at last season's trade deadline in exchange for Eagles Captain and fan favourite Coy Prevost. Lyons and Reith were facing their former team for the 1st time since and they didn't fail to impress their former teammates. Lyons had two goals (3 & 4) and an assist, while Reith scored his 3rd of the campaign.
The other goals scorers for the Eagles were Alex Young (5) and his older brother Colton (4). Colton also had 3 assists and he now has 12 points on the season, tied for 2nd in the AJHL scoring race.
The shots on goal were 33-31 in favour of the Oil Barons. Thomas Davis got the start between the pipes and he made 30 saves. He also remains perfect on the season with a 3-0 record.
The Eagles wrap up their AJHL Showcase Weekend on Saturday as they take on the Lloydminster Bobcats (2-4) who lost their 1st of the weekend, 5-0 against the Calgary Mustangs. Puck drop is at 12:00 pm.
When asked about what to expect for Saturday's game, McFeeters said, "Lloydminster is a heavy, hard-working team and they have a bit of skill."
But when approaching every game this season, McFeeters said, "It's not about what the other team will do, but what our team can do to have success".
-With a 4-1 record, the Eagles are off to their best start since the 2012-13 season.
- It was the Eagles' first win vs the Fort McMurray Oil Barons since December 18 2015. The Eagles had dropped their previous 4 meetings vs Fort McMurray.
- After only 5 games, the Eagles have already scored 30 goals this season for an average of 6 goals a game, which the best in the AJHL.
- Connor Lyons and Owen Reith are the only Eagles players who have played with the Oil Barons before, as Defenceman Mark Drohan who is a 5-year veteran played with the Barons from 2014 to 2016. It was his first 2 seasons in the AJHL.
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"Person" and "owner" are the elements of the character that is used nowadays to write the word "home" in Japanese, but older documents write "home" using the character for a bird's nest. Naturally, parent birds build nests to raise their offspring and protect them from the elements and outside attacks.
We at Misawa Homes assume that protecting children is also the primary reason that humans build homes. Reflecting the sense of the original Japanese character for "home," we believe in building homes from the perspective of children - structures that are best for raising children to have healthy minds and bodies.
Our company name also reflects our affinity for the word "home" as a place where families come together and the sense of overall living, as opposed to "house" as a purely functional entity. Misawa Homes has upheld this philosophy since the time of its establishment.
In line with our principal themes, we will continue to create homes that serve as places to foster children's character development, create communities in which customers build assets, and protect the global environment. In these ways, we will concentrate our Groupwide energy to create value for individuals, communities and contribute to people's lifestyles.


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By Catherine Crawford and Mary Graves
A 20-mile boat ride east from the Rainy Lake Visitor Center, through "the Brule", and toward Kempton Channel brings the visitor to a small, rugged island scattered with pine trees and wildflowers where a modest cabin shelters against a massive rock formation.
The simply-constructed lake place of Japanese immigrant Jun Fujita and the memory of this slight, personable man who came to the secluded island soon after 1928 are part of the lore of Rainy Lake.
Reminiscences and snippets of conversations from long-time summer residents and early dwellers of the border lakes region created an incomplete and intriguing portrait of a multi-talented man. Jun Fujita ~ a respected photographer who produced images for the likes of Johnson Motors and the Chicago Evening Post ~ a gifted poet whose expressive works were published in the famed Poetry magazine ~ a racer of speed boats, which were quite an oddity on the waters of Rainy.
But the story of Jun Fujita remained incomplete for many years. Why did he choose this remote location for his cabin? Why didn't he return to the island after 1941, though he wouldn't sell until 1956? Was the construction of the cabin influenced by his Japanese heritage? Did he have family?
This past July, some of the pieces of the puzzle that is Fujita came together. Jun Fujita's great nephew, Graham Lee, visited the isolated island on a personal pilgrimage. Chief of Resources Mary Graves shared that special day with Graham Lee and his wife and shares the experience with us:
"Graham first contacted me in September 2012. He had seen some of the park's research materials about Fujita on a National Park Service website and wondered how he could visit the cabin. I was surprised to find out there was a family member who might be able to shed more light on the history of the Fujita property. The park began research on the property in 1989 and submitted a nomination to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996 after exhausting (we thought) all sources of information.
While we had no historic photos of the cabin and knew little about Jun beyond his professional life, we had sufficient hard details for the property to be accepted on the Register. Graham and I began to share information about Jun and talk about a trip to the island. Plans for a fall trip slipped away, spring came and went, and finally we agreed on July 12. Over 2 hours exploring the island with Graham and his wife Pam, Jun Fujita and the cabin he built on Rainy Lake, finally came alive.
Graham shared many stories about his great uncle and showed me photographs of the cabin Rediscovering Jun Fujita on Rainy Lake Mary Graves, Chief of Resources, with Graham and Pam Lee Courtesy of the Graham and Pam Lee Collection and other images taken by Jun. The photos not only provided missing details about the history of the cabin but revealed much more about Jun as a person.
Each photo revealed a personal touch—a bed and table crafted of birch logs, smoking pipes on a shelf, clothes on a hook, a box of cereal and plate of fish set out for breakfast, books sitting on a storage box. For Graham, I believe the experience was extremely personal. He expected the island to be much larger. He now understands more fully the portion of Jun's life that drew him away from his work in Chicago. During those 2 hours, the spirit of Jun Fujita became anchored to the island— especially when we discovered we had unknowingly scheduled the visit on the anniversary of Jun's death."
Questions about Jun's life on Rainy Lake still linger. One question that may forever remain unanswered is whether Fujita produced any of his poetry at the cabin on Rainy Lake. His poem, "Morning Woods," makes one believe he did. Fujita is considered the first master of turning the Japanese form of poetry called Tanka into English. The poem "Morning Woods" was published in Poetry: A Magazine of Verse 1928 under the heading, "Projections."
A static mood, in the morning woods, Wet and clear---- In a majestic pattern, leaves are spellbound By a fawn, ears perked.


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Sandite of the Week: Rhett Rutledge/
By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief
This week Sandite Pride recognizes Charles Page High School senior Rhett Rutledge as Sandite of the Week for his outstanding performance at the Bixby Tournament this past weekend.
Rutledge averaged .267 batting, .467 slugging, with a .368 OBP, and made his season pitching debut with a Championship round victory over the host team.
The Sandites (12-3) won their fifth straight in the tournament opener 8-5 against Hilldale (6-9). Rutledge landed the first hit of the game with a triple and came in on the next play with a sacrifice fly from Jake Ward for the first run. He was walked on his next plate appearance and scored once more on a Hunter Greathouse double. He reached first on an error in the bottom of the sixth and scored his third run of the game on a Greathouse single.
Their sixth straight victory was a come-from-behind extra-inning win over Union. Rutledge landed one hit in the top of the fifth and stole second on a passed ball, but was left stranded. The Sandites won that one 7-6 in eight innings.
He failed to land a hit in the next two games (a 4-1 loss to Bixby and an 8-0 run-rule shut out of Life Prep Academy), but batted .667 in the finale and won the game on the mound. He struck out one in the first and gave up an unearned double. He grounded out on a sacrifice to score Jake Terry for a 4-0 lead in the top of the second.
He scooped a grounder to put out a batter at first in the bottom of the second and struck out another for a no-hitter. He sacrificed again to score Treyce Tolbert in the top of the third, but gave up a run in the bottom of the inning.
He pitched a no-hitter in the fifth, striking out one and putting out another at first on a grounder. He hit a leadoff line drive single in the top of the sixth and was batted in by Josh Taber. By the bottom of the sixth the Spartans were pushing hard for a rally and loaded the bases. Rutledge gave up one single, two runs, one earned run, and two walks before being relieved by Brock Youngblood. The Sandites went on to win the game 10-6 for the tournament championship.


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Dress: Free People // Lipstick: Lancome "Haute Nude"
My birthday beach weekend was absolute perfection! Living in Florida it's so easy to travel to so many different beaches, but by far my favorite are the ones on the Gulf, because of seeing/watching the SUNSET! There is just something so romantic about it. When we shot these pics the beach was packed while people were setting up picnics to watch the sun go down!
This flowy dress is so comfortable, and its on SALE right now at Bloomingdales. I can never pass up a sale on Free People items. It is easily my new favorite dress at the moment. (I wore it both nights at the beach!!!) As you can see in the photos the weather was a bit windy... but I am happy because it showed how free flowing the dress really is! Also, last but not least I loved the lace turtle neck detailing, making it an easy excuse to wear my hair in a ponytail! :)
Thanks for reading! XOXO


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7 Days to Blogging with Purpose
This free e-course is designed for bloggers who desire to take their blogging to a whole new level of meaning and purpose.
Whether you want to have a more intentional blog strategy, or you're feeling stuck and uninspired that blogging has become a chore, Blogging with Purpose is exactly what you need.
Because the truth is, we all go through blogging burnout or a prolonged period of creative drought. Understandably so, since you and I know that blogging requires a lot of hard work, dedication, and consistency.
What I realised through the years is that the feeling of overwhelm is usually a result of a shift in goals or seasons in life.
It's important, therefore, to occasionally go back to the drawing board, re-assess your purpose for blogging, and restrategize. Which is what Blogging with Purpose E-course is all about.
P.S. If you're new at blogging, this e-course will get you started at the right direction.
So here's what's going to happen.
For 7-days I will send you lessons and accompanying worksheets via email and guide you to:
- Re-define or re-ignite your purpose for blogging
- Identify your blog #goals
- Carve out your unique niche
- Dig into the heart of your target readers
- Unravel your passions and strengths so you can..
- Begin creating an inspired message that attracts the right people.
PLUS some personal stories and lessons I gained from over 10 years of professional and leisure blogging.
And it's totally FREE, just in case you missed that part. 😉 Sounds good?
See what these bloggers are saying
"My blog was on sabbatical for months. The inspiration wasn't there anymore that I decided to stop writing. However, while I was having a pity party, the Lord has given me the opportunity to work as a researcher and writer. Funny how the Lord works, right? Slowly I've been getting pocket-sized inspirations to blog again. As I inch my way to the online scene, the Blogging with Purpose E-Course has been a great help in getting my groove back. I'm so eager to refocus and probably rebrand the blog soon."
"I signed up for a one-week Blogging with Purpose e-course, because my little online space stalled in the middle of nowhere for years now and just lately, the urge to share to the world has been so strong I just couldn't ignore it anymore. I feel like I have something to say and I have people in my circle to reach out to. Here's to Day 1, I'm all in! Thank you @rhizaoyos for inspiring me and for sharing this course generously."
Join now and start blogging purposefully
Ready? Sign up now for the 7 Days to Blogging with Purpose and I'll see you on the other side!


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Nurse quarters at Fairfield Hills State Hospital.
This former psychiatric hospital in Connecticut, received its first patient in 1933 from the nearby Connecticut Valley State Hospital. When the hospital opened, there were only 500 patients and 3 doctors, but by the 1960's, Fairfield was home to 4,000 patients, 20 doctors and 50 nurses, who were living in these nurses quarters. Treatments included hydrotherapy, insulin in shock therapy, patient seclusion, electric shock therapy and frontal lobotomy. A number of accounts of patient cruelty were reported while the hospital was in operation. In 1995 when the hospital closed patients were transfered back to Connecticut Valley Hospital.


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Grand China & Yangtze Cruise 2019 2020
$3,259 per person
With its imperial treasures, historical wonders, amazing landscapes and stunning modernity, China never ceases to amaze. Our signature journey showcase you the timeless treasures China has to offer with a perfect balance of popular highlights with an off-the-beaten-path expedition.
You start with Beijing's imperial wonders including the Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven and the Great Wall of China, as well as a stroll through the old maze-like Hutongs for a glimpse at how most urban Chinese families once lived. Continue to Xian, home of the impressive legion of Terra Cotta Warriors, where you visit the Wild Goose Pagoda and bicycle on the ancient City Wall.
You fly to the subtropical Guilin and spend a day sailing down the Li River, as a rich tapestry of limestone hills rise majestically out of the earth in front of you. This scenery of timeless beauty inspired Chinese poets for thousands of years. What makes this trip truly unique and exciting is an exclusive hiking tour to the hidden gem of Longsheng's Dragon Spine Terraces, inhabited by minority nationalities. This discovery is rarely available in the conventional itineraries.
Then, continue to Chengdu to visit the Giant Panda before boarding your 3-night cruise down the Yangtze. Sail through its picturesque Gorges, and tour the Three Gorges Dam site, as you understand why the Yangtze has been China's lifeline for millennia.
Your trip concludes in Shanghai, an ultra-modern city that offers a fascinating glimpse into China's future. Watch the world-famous Shanghai Acrobats perform their magnificent gymnastic feats and enjoy the view from one of the city's tallest buildings. From Shanghai, spend a day visiting the charming water towns of Suzhou and Tongli, which have delightful gardens, bridges, canals, and traditional homes.
What's Included
- Roundtrip international airfare including taxes and fuel surcharges
- 13 nights' accommodation at centrally located deluxe hotels
- 3-night downstream Yangtze Cruise aboard one of the finest Yangtze cruise ships--Victoria Jenna. Outside cabins with private balcony, picture window and private bath
- 34 included meals: 16 buffet breakfasts, 15 lunches and 3 dinners
- Flexible dining options with recommended local food/restaurant list
- All intra-China flights and ground transportation per itinerary
- Comprehensive sightseeing tours with entrance fees as specified
- Escorted tours with professional English-speaking tour manager/guides
- Baggage handling service
- Audio earphones to enhance touring experience (for group of 10 travelers or more)
- This tour offers the perfect balance between included tour features and flexibility
Why Spree?
Setting a higher standard for travel on China's Yangtze River, Victoria Cruises has enhanced its Luxury Amenities Program. The Luxury Amenities Program features a variety of services to eligible passengers, including enhanced ship placement, access to exclusive VIP areas, complimentary beverages including morning coffee and tea service, enhanced dining privileges, exclusive happy hour, and complimentary Wi-Fi Internet access in the Executive Lounge and lobby areas.
The program also includes a welcome fruit basket, complimentary diet soda and wine and beer with dinner, and nightly turn down service. Initially designed for the discerning travelers on suite accommodations, the unique Luxury Amenities Program by Victoria Cruises is now available as an included feature to eligible World Spree travelers on the Grand China & Yangtze Cruise.
Similar Trips with Amazing Value
China Tours to Beijing, Xian, Guilin, Chengdu, Yangtze Cruise, Shanghai, Suzhou, with travel extension to Hong Kong
21 Day (19N) China Panorama, from US$3999 (U.S. Departures), or C$5699 (Canada Departures)
China Trips to Beijing, Xian, Chengdu, Guilin, Shanghai, Suzhou, with extension tours to Yellow Mountain or Hong Kong
15 Day (13N) China's Best Treasures, from US$2499 (U.S. Departures), or C$3599 (Canada Departures)
18 Day (16N) Best of China & Yellow Mountain, from US$2899 (U.S. Departures), or C$4159 (Canada Departures)
18 Day (16N) Best of China & Hong Kong, from US$3399 (U.S. Departures), or C$4859 (Canada Departures)
China Vacations to Beijing, Xian, Chengdu, Tibet, Yangtze Cruise, Shanghai, Suzhou, with extension trips to Yellow Mountain or Guilin/Hong Kong
18 Day (16N) Yangtze Cruise & Tibet Odyssey, from US$3499 (U.S. Departures), or C$4999 (Canada Departures)
24 Day (22N) Imperial China, Tibet & Hong Kong, from US$4759 (U.S. Departures), or C$6699 (Canada Departures)


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A railcar is self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coach (carriage, car), with a driver's cab at one or both ends.
A very rare railcar – AR2 was built by RVR (Rīgas Vagonbūves Rūpnīca), which is one of the largest machine-building plants in Latvia. There were only two units built by RVR – AR2-01 and AR2-02. The first is operating in Latvia and AB "Lietuvos Geležinkeliai" (Lithuania railways) owns AR2-2.
Power: 310 kw;
Operational speed: 74 mph;
Weight: 50 t;
Passenger seats: 76.
Photo by:
R. Povilauskas


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SCIENCE is everywhere and scientists work for many different types of companies.
It is said that "science gives us the chance to make the world a better place".
Graduates with a science degree have a huge range of career options available to them, ranging from working in the fields of astronomy, biology, meteorology and ecology, to the more traditional careers of doctor, dentist, pharmacist, optician and a number of related careers in the medical profession, such as forensic medicine, biomedical scientist, clinical biochemist, radiologist, microbiologist and paramedic.
Some science graduates don't just work in their science discipline, but also in computer games development, music technology, forensics and astronomy, to name but a few.
Students who want to increase their earning power should opt for science degrees. A study published by the Institute of Physics has found that chemistry and physics graduates earn around £200,000 more during their working lives than those who have other degrees.
And there are 51 separate science disciplines recognised within the NHS. The Sutton Coldfield Sixth Firm Centre is proud of its past science students, with a number going on to fulfilling careers.
The college will be holding an event for careers in science next Thursday at the Josiah Mason Campus in Slade Road, Erdington, starting at 7pm.
* To reserve places telephone Lian Riley on 0121 683 0916 or e-mail email@example.com.


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This is the 51st article in the Spotlight on IT series. If you'd be interested in writing an article on the subject of backup, security, storage, virtualization, mobile computing, networking, wireless or MSPs for the series PM Eric to get started.
Oil and water, protons and electrons, cats and dogs, in-house IT and managed services providers. What do these things all have in common? As much as we have tried, we can never seem to make these things get along.
Throughout my career in IT spanning several companies and several roles, I have experienced both the good, bad and ugly of managed services providers (MSPs). I've had some pull my company out of a bad situation, I've had some that were absolutely clueless, and I've had some that were so shady that they soured my opinion of MSPs in general. Being a realist however, I've seen that there really isn't a way for Small-Medium Businesses (SMBs) to avoid using an MSP in some capacity or another.
If you're an SMB admin, you have to be an expert where necessary and a generalist where sufficient. Sometimes this requires bringing in some expertise to address IT requirements that internal IT isn't able to satisfy. I'm also a bit of a dreamer too; so I want to believe that this type of relationship can work and benefit both parties. But like any long-term relationship, both parties have a responsibility to do their part to make the relationship work.
From my perspective as internal IT, I'd like to discuss some ways that MSPs and internal IT can work in harmony to ensure that they are effectively delivering IT services and support that helps move the business forward.
Put the right ear forward
My biggest beef with the MSPs I've dealt with is a one-size-fits-all business model. It usually works like this: "You're a healthcare provider and we have experience dealing with healthcare providers so here's our healthcare provider gold package." The problem is it's not just "a healthcare provider." It's ACME Community Healthcare. It's a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) serving a mostly low-income healthcare population. Do you as a MSP know what's involved in being a FQHC? Do you know what specific challenges they face?
To build a good relationship, start things off on the right foot — or ear. Rather than coming to the first meeting with a box full of solutions that could be shoe-horn to fit any client, be willing to listen, don't be too pushy and to admit if your solution isn't the ideal fit. If it's the truth, I'd love to hear, "Well, we can't provide what you're looking for, but we can put you in contact with someone who can."
MSPs should use the initial customer meeting to listen, listen and listen some more. The services provided shouldn't enter the discussion until time has been taken to analyze the prospective client's needs. MSPs should save selling themselves for the second meeting.
Transparency and communication
Then there's internal IT and the big pink elephant that always shows up and parks itself in the corner every time internal IT and an MSP is in the same room. Everyone sees it but we'd rather talk about the coat rack that it's hiding behind.
I did research on your company before I called you. I subscribed to your CTO's monthly blog — in it he likened internal IT to a company trying to produce its own power on site and the MSP as the power utility company. He said he envisioned a future where IT is a utility and that the internal IT department is a thing of the past. What's the end game? Are we working toward the same goal or is your goal to eventually eliminate my position and make my company customer account #C3580111. That's something that should be discussed first over the phone. Obfuscation and Trojan Horse tactics aren't attractive in an MSP.
As internal IT, our first goal is to find out what a prospective partner's overall business goal is. I need to know what your underlying philosophy is. If you prefer to be the IT department for the SMB, I'd like to know up front. What's unattractive though is appearing to be one way to satiate the IT department and then going over the IT manager's head and getting cozy with the COO or CEO to influence IT decision making. There's no problem with an MSP having influence on the direction of IT, but the IT department needs to be in the discussion as well.
The IT department can make this easier by not being confrontational at the meeting table. We brought in help for a reason — these guys are the experts, not us. It's OK to voice concerns, but we don't want to get caught up in the game of trying to look like the smartest at the table. In my experience, the person who does this ends up looking the dumbest. Keep an open mind and a friendly tone.
Don't be too pushy
An MSP could immediately score points with me by not being too pushy or making unrealistic claims. If my company doesn't need the Diamond Package, I'd rather not have it crammed down my throat or be dissuaded from moving to a lower package if my needs change. Businesses shrink, grow and change. Their IT needs may change with that.
My favorite claim is, "You have a dedicated technical team assigned to your company!" Really? What does that mean? Are they dedicated employees who care about their job? Or are you saying that that technical team only deals with issues from my company? That sounds like a great deal for me, but sounds like a waste on your end. Or, are you trying to say that we have specific individuals assigned to our account? That would be a designated technical team. This sounds more realistic.
Meeting in the middle
Finally, both parties need to be flexible when it comes to responsibilities. MSPs today offer a wide variety of products and services, some of which may overlap those that internal IT currently uses. Like any relationship, there has to be some give and take.
The MSP may need to install an agent that handles security monitoring and patching, so why does internal IT need to hang on to that WSUS server? Internal IT just signed a three-year agreement with Ultra Antivirus that they got a good deal on. Why do you as an MSP have to insist that they use your product?
Internal IT and MSPs can coexist under the same roof. As with any relationship, there needs to be good communication, an understanding of the goals of both parties and flexibility. When these things exist, there won't be any suspicion as to motives. Furthermore, the relationship can be valuable to both internal IT and Managed Services Providers.
So, the only thing left to determine is what to do with the big pink elephant in the room. Being an animal lover, I won't suggest shooting it, but you can send it to a national park somewhere to roam free and far away from uncomfortable situations.
20 Replies
I'm on the other side of the table for this article - and I agree completely. I have argued for years that the contracts my company has tried to "standardize" on cause more problems than they solve, and ultimately even after a contract has been signed I have to go through revision after revision just to provide the customer what they need and want.
I would dearly love to be able to provide out the door custom managed services, and only the services the custom wants and needs without having to go through hell to set it up.
Very good article!
great article, i've worked on both ends, and both ends are better off accepting the situation and playing nice with the other kids on the playground.
My MSP is great, because they are just generally good people, we like them, they (at least pretend well well to) like us, and generally speaking they value our opinion. They work with us, not against us.
It is a balance for the MSP's just as it is for us in Internal IT. Standardizing on services and contracts saves time and money for them just as standardizing images and configurations saves time and money for us. Allowing for too much customization drives costs up, which in turn makes internal IT have to pay more for the services that we need. How many times has your management chosen an inferior solution because it was cheaper? MSP's have to bear this in mind as well. If they offer too much customization, they may price themselves right out of the competition.
That being said, I prefer the MSP's who turn their offerings into a menu of sorts. I like the ability to order "ala carte" and then gain discounts if I subscribe to a larger number of the available services.
As in anything however, the service I receive after the purchase is the ultimate measuring stick. If I get exemplary service, then I feel that the money was well spent. If I don't, well, then next go round I will be replacing you.
Like others here I've been on both sides of the fence. Wholeheartedly agree that MSP's should stop trying to just sell the one or two solutions they are happy with. The odds are things like AV, backup etc are sold more on what gives the best margin rather than what they believe is the best package.
From the in house IT point of view there are a couple of real no-no's that can kill a relationship - not listening is a biggie, and just selling the same old same old.
Some MSP's I've come across seem to look down on in house IT as they tend not to chase the cert's etc required in MSP land, this too is a big mistake, the in house bods will know their environment inside out, and should be treated as a friend, at least an equal, but also as a customer (which they are after all)
The biggest and worst sin of an MSP as far as in house IT goes though is trying to talk the management in to outsourcing the whole shooting match once they've got a foot in the door. If in-house think the MSP is weasling away trying to do them out of their job, there's not a snowballs chance the relationship will work - believe me I've been made redundant because of this I know!!
Such a great writeup!
The MSP business model tends to be to reduce support costs by standardizing configurations and products used. But what if I don't like your backup provider? Or web filtering provider? Or choice of networking provider?
Good points to bring up, depending on the level of technical skill on the client side.
Such a great writeup!
The MSP business model tends to be to reduce support costs by standardizing configurations and products used. But what if I don't like your backup provider? Or web filtering provider? Or choice of networking provider?
Some MSPs do that. We are completely custom, that is our business plan. Turns out, though, that people generally want everything in a package and hate having to make decisions on each thing because that costs more.
We deal with an MSP who was bought out recently but they left the former owner / operator in charge here. This has been (mostly) great for us we can continue the relationship we have built up with a vendor we trust. The bad part is that they came in and tried to renegotiate the contract before the old one was up and they almost lost us as a customer as a result. We're pretty good, but for some stuff you need to bring in a "ringer" who understands our wants and needs. So long as you're honest and up front about what you can and cannot do, we can probably continue working together. The bottom line is what's the best for the business. Yes, you'll get some sleazeballs who come along and promise the moon (and then fail to deliver) but my experience has been the keep your eyes open and your options open too. I'm good at some things, but maybe it's be better if I let them handle more of some of my duties while I can concentrate on another area that's more my specialty. So long as the business's needs are being covered, I'm ok with that. Nice writeup - thanks!
Such a great writeup!
The MSP business model tends to be to reduce support costs by standardizing configurations and products used. But what if I don't like your backup provider? Or web filtering provider? Or choice of networking provider?
For those issues, I discuss the situation and my concerns regarding their choices.
I've had a number of "customizations" put into place by my MSPs - where I make specific commitments on terms for the new hardware, expectations of support, including the hardware replacement expenses, my team's access/involvement in implementation (if requested), and so on.
One MSP gave me full PIX firewall and VPN "enable" passwords, given my rather complex environment. Another MSP implemented a special storage solution which was "non-standard" at the time, and became a "standard option" from the simplicity of integrating into their infrastructure. I've shipped external drives to my MSP to have them attached to servers. In almost every case, my MSPs have accommodated my requests for variances.
Some are even OK with adding the hardware of your darkest desire, as long as you pay the full ticket on materials, spares, and mfr. support, and you don't require that component to become part of SLA requirements. (Nicknamed Colo-Components.) Additionally, I'd lease that hardware from the mfr. or local VAR, and get the extra support for the MSP end, in case of quick escalation needs. Granted, this is NOT a cost savings by any stretch, but you've made your requirements as you saw fit, and they gain a (more) satisfied customer in the process.
I work with the Project Manager(s) at the MSP end, discussing my requirements, and then review their recommendations. If their solutions aren't a best fit, I make my case as to "why not" in my situation, and the solution evolves. The only personal bias I ever utilize regarding their hardware choices are ones which I have _personally_ experienced. My personal histories with bad power supplies (no, won't name the brand), and other component failures are discussed, and then mitigated by their SLA guarantees of dedicated hot spares, at contract time.
Once the PM and I come to an agreement regarding the solution, we proceed to the appropriate Sales VP, with the expectations on both sides spelled out, including costs of "customizations." The Sales VP gets a clear nod from Operations that they are willing to support the add-ons, at the levels described in the document, so no one has any surprises. Decisions on who leases the "customizations" and manages that vendor relationship are made, just to be sure on both ends. I have them "encapsulate" the lease into the final contracts, with the co-terminus agreement in place, both at the mfr./VAR level, and the MSP level.
It's extra work, but there are MSPs who are flexible.
Communication is at the core of all relationships, when communication is open and conducted in an effective manner the relationship is healthy and can be satisfying to both sides. When communication fails the relationship becomes disfunctional fast.
Great perspective on making a partnership work successfully from the beginning.
This is a really great read and you hit this dead on. Here at my job My supervisor got his job by sure luck and doesn't know a lot about IT and thinks he knows everything.The way he wants his IT to run is the first thing you do you call the vendor no matter what. anything we have a project he calls the vendor to see if they can come out and install the software for us. Then when they get here to install the Server and or software he leaves the office and doesn't come back for hours at a time while where sitting here waiting on him to give us access to another server we need or to use a login for the domain admin and then he sits there and argues with the vendor that he called in to do the work because he tells his boss that non of his team know how to do anything other than basic IT work..... with out even asking us if we know how or if we would like to give a try at all. So I relate to this and agree with what you say people need to listen and not just assume Communication is key
Brand Representative for Contronex - G Data Distributor
Good article. I think this is just going to become more and more important as people are switching to the MSP environment.
We are never pushy when we go in however I put our track record against our suggestions.
Our goal is to reduce support costs. I don't believe that customers should pay for support on new equipment so long as they follow our guidelines and processes. Have plenty of real world examples where support costs can be eliminated for the most part if things are done right.
So when we deal with a SMB who has their own internal IT person, and thats the setup I prefer, we explain our reasoning for going with Product A or Product B. That does not mean that we are stuck with them, just if you have another avenue it has to have real world value and not just because you like it.
Our choices come down to business decisions. We use Mozy Pro for our online only data backup as an example. Is it the best, is it the cheapest, etc? All I know is that it works, and it works on every single installation and I've never had a phone call about it. Are there cheaper alternatives, maybe but most customers who use that only are backing up 2-20 GB and how much time are you going to spend to try out a new produce that might save you $20 per month? We use VMProtect 7 over VEEAM. Is VEEAM a better product, I believe so, but for 1TB of online backup for $499 a year, with the option for a 24 hour Fed Ex overnight of a full metal backup it doesn't matter if VEEAM comes with a circus pony, the value add of the online backup pushes Acronis over the top.
Servers we like what we sell but if a customer wants to buy HP, Dell, IBM, or Lenovo thats fine. I think they are all on par, but if they want off brand stuff thats not us. We spec it out for them. Seen too many people get screwed by talking to the vendor directly.
Desktops...again any of the big companies except HP are fine. Laptops a bit more picky, I really prefer to stay with Lenovo although I like the new Dell XPS 13 but unless they start using more robust materials in their builds I'll stick with Thinkpads.
We focus on value. If the customer wants to do something else, show us the value statement. Thats what the CFO/COO/CEO want to see, not what you like, but what provides value.
We don't dictate though, we explain, in detail with real examples how we have reduced support costs. I've got a few Remote Desktop customers running on HP Server and thin clients who have spent ZERO support dollars in 2 years. Of course thats why we do business development with it, we'd rather have them spend money on development and business improvement than throwing it out the window on support.
It's kind of hard to argue with references that make those kind of statements as far as support costs.
Plus our goal is to educate the IT person on staff, thats part of what we offer, to bring them up a few levels.
The biggest problem is that normally the internal IT person is very defensive and not too confident in themselves but thats something else we work on.
from an in-house IT point of view, I think a lot of what you posted highlights some of the conflict points.
You keep referring to things like "if you have another avenue it has to have real world value and not just because you like it" and "If the customer wants to do something else, show us the value statement"
As an MSP you have to remember that you are providing the service to a customer - agreed if you think there is a better way of doing something then yes you absolutely should make that case, but at the end of the day as long as it's legal and suppportable then you should be doing what the customer decides. If any MSP asked me to justify my decision to them, or provide proof of value - i'd show them the door. And as an MSP I've been in that position, (having to implement a solution I think there's a better way to do, not shown the door) but as long as you know you've told them the "better" way then it's the MSP's job to do as they are asked.
Your last couple of paragraphs highlight my point about MSP's tending to look down on in-house IT as well - if you go in saying you can "bring them up a few levels" I'm not surprised they get defensive!!
I have experience working as an MSP consultant and in-house IT.
The challenge for MSPs is working with multiple accounts and 'ala carte' solutions will definitely benefit customers but will bleed MSPs in the long run, as this requires technical speciality in too many areas and will drift MSPs from it's core focus.
Managing accounts will also be a pain as engineers will end up fixing things that were not supposed to be supported in the first place, or have no clue about, ending up using 'a shot in the dark' troubleshooting techniques.
There's also another problem of an MSP sales person overselling where engineers can't deliver.
And then there's also this problem of conflict of egos, where inhouse looks down on the ability of a consultant providing the solution and vice versa.
When I worked as an in-house IT, I always put trust in my MSPs and develop a good relationship with them, and never pretending to know about technologies that I don't.
The main thing is that both parties need humility, empathy and an in-depth understanding of each other's needs. Start off on the right foot. Develop a win-win situation without bleeding both parties financially and the partnership will go a long way.


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Hello, everyone!
Well since I was asked about the process of needlefelting the cover, here goes... since I'm finished with the cover, and have since mailed it off to the new owner of the book, we will have to use the pictures in our imaginations rather than using pictures to guide through... (sorry!)
First, be sure that you have the proper needles and padding. I have heard that people break these needles frequently, but, I've yet to break one (knock on wood!) and I don't know if that's because I use the right needles and padding or if it's because of some other unknown reason (perhaps the needlefelting fairy has taken a shine to me and my tea?) but, either way, here is where I got my padding and where I got my first needles which are the ones that I still use:
They also have a small selection of wool fibers and such, but to be honest, I purchase my wool fibers elsewhere, I usually browse etsy for wool merchants, two of my good friends sell wool fibers on occasion: Gail & Crystal. If they don't happen to have any wool fibers to sell, or if I'm looking for a particular color or whatever, I'll just browse etsy and find some really remarkably beautiful colors and color blends!
OK... so, the colors I used for this particular project (see the tea bag cover in the blog entries below) are a very rich red with some yellows, and if you look very closely within the fibers, you might also see some oranges in there as well. I had found this gorgeous blend of merino wool with a variegated pattern of red/orange/yellow... I really love this blend because the hues of each color are so varied and very beautiful.
Anyways... I started out by laying out tufts of wool fibers (on my needle felting padding) going in one direction, and then after I've laid a good foundation of tufts in one direction, I start laying tufts in another direction, and I continue to "crosshatch" the fibers on top of each other until I have a stack of fibers on my padding that is about 2 or 3 inches thick. At this point, it just looks like a big pile of fluffy!
I then take my favorite felting needle (size 36 or 38 -- I can't remember now!) and I begin stabbing at the pile of fluffy randomly... the idea here is to compact the tufts of fluffy wool into a fabric, so you want to just stab and stab and stab... it does take a little while, but, I find the stabbing process to be extremely theraputic. :)
Once you begin to see a certain amount of compacting to the piece, and you can lift it off of the padding without disturbing the fibers, you should lift the piece and turn it over. It usually takes a good 10 minutes before you can get to this point. As soon as you have something that resembles something that's a bit more like fabric than the original fluffy pile, that's when you should start trying to carefully lift it up and turn it over.
Turning it over is an important part of the process as it will help keep the felting pad from becoming "part" of your fabric. (Um... care to guess how I know that?) Without going in to too much embarrassing detail, one side of my felting padding now has a large chunk that's been torn out of it.
Keep up the stabbing process, I basically stab for about 3 - 5 minutes on one side of the wool, and then lift it (carefully... carefully!) and turn it over, and stab the other side. Occasionally, I'll add additional tufts of wool randomly to places that appear to be thinner than the others, to acheive a fairly consistent and the desired thickness throughout the piece.
The more you stab at it, the more dense the fabric will become... and the less "loose" the wool fibers become. Since it's my desire to make a fabric rather than a wool fiber piece, I stab a lot to acheive this. Something that you'll notice is that your needle 'pecks' will appear throughout your piece as you continue to stab. These can easily be 'erased' by rubbing your fingertips on the surface of the wool fabric. It doesn't remove them completely, but it makes them a lot less obvious. I mean, you are needlefelting... so you aren't always going to remove the proof that it was needlefelted from the piece! When you paint, you can't always eliminate the brushstrokes, nor would you want to! It's part of what makes your piece ART!
Once I got to my desired density, I started to use the wool to add embellishment... adding wisps of yellow to make the spiral pattern. I start with a wisp, and using a finer gauge needle (40) I carefully wrap one end of the wisp loosely around the tip of the needle, just a loop or two, I don't wrap the whole wisp around the needle, just enough to get it started. Then I use the needle to "paint" the swirl onto the wool. This is a lot harder to describe the process... I just do it. LOL
Anyways... that's basically how the cover was done. Here's the picture of the cover again... in case you don't feel like scrolling down to find it:
Oh, one more thing I should add... I'm not nearly so talented as to be able to needle felt something from scratch to be an exact size, so, once you do get your fabric felted, you CAN cut it... since it's become a fabric, it can be cut just like fabric... it's still a bit more 'fluffy' than your typical fabric usually is, but, what I'm trying to say is that your fabric won't fall apart and the fibers won't start falling off if you cut it. You may want to edge your fabric somehow, as I did with this cover, using a whipstitch all the way around it. (First, I used UHU fabric glue around the edge to help prevent any bits trying to fall off, not that they would, but, I wanted to add that little extra insurance, plus the glue helped to provide a 'lip' around the fabric which was useful when I did the whipstitching) Of course, you don't have to do that, if you prefer the natural look to it.
That's it! (at least, I think so!)


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Woke up this morning with you heavy on my mind. Thinking through the circumstances and the timeline you find yourself in, my heart hurts and I've been praying for you and will continue to do so.
As I prayed over your situation I just wanted to write a letter. I thought initially I'd just send it to you in a facebook message but then it occurred to me that perhaps someone else out there might be facing similar circumstances. So, I write this morning to all who face challenges, fear and pain today.
My friend:
Be comforted during this time. Do not deny the fear and the stress and the pain. It is real. It hurts. Acceptance of reality and pain is the first step in the growing and healing process.
Be comforted at this time because of the following truths from and about your Heavenly Father.
Romans 8:28 – All things work together for good for those that love God and are called according to his purpose.
Yes, it's hard to see the good right now. As I thought about you losing your hearing, I tried to imagine what that might be like. I am deaf in one ear..so it's not too hard to imagine. I was listening to Klove and thought wow, I'd never hear another song again. Earlier this morning, I heard the birds as I let the dogs out. I'd never hear that either. I thought about Robert's voice and not hearing him say, "I love you honey." And oh, would I miss those things and no, it's not a comprehensive list..but it gave me the picture. Then, I thought, but in all that silence, in all the peace the silence would bring..how clearly would God's voice be? Surely God would speak, Surely God's voice would be as beautiful as the birds and as sweet as Robert's voice. Surely God would sing over me. So, my friend, the noise of this earth may soon fade but the sound of God's voice will remain.
I don't know or pretend to have any idea how God will turn all of this into good for you my friend, but He will. You've got His Word.
Luke 14: 26,27, 33 –
If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison….yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own.
You're probably saying, "Why this verse? Where is the comfort here?"
Jesus, wants ALL of us. I know that I've had things( and still have things b/c God is so not finished w/ me yet) in my life that have propped me up, gave me assurance that I was "ok". Jesus has taken each of those things away from me so that I am no longer dependent on temporary, fading and every changing "things" to know I am ok. This hurt badly because I had spent YEARS building those props!! So tearing them down was terribly scary and made me feel vulnerable. But in that pain and fear, He showed me that I am ok because HE loves me. I base my worth and my value completely and totally on the fact that He loved ME enough to die for me to spend eternity with me. Truth. Hard to comprehend. Many of us have heard it a 1000 times. However, we don't take it to heart, we don't take it literally!! So, whatever you feel may be taken away from you right now…Jesus is replacing it with Himself!!
Yes, Jesus is love, but He also drives a bargain of "all in or all out". This verse reminds me that He wants all of me and He wants me to love Him more than anything. And He wants you to love him more than anything too.
I Peter 1: 6-7
So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold – though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
I Peter 4: 19
…Trust your lives to the God who created you for he will never fail you.
Joshua 1:9
Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
Stay on your knees my friend. Stay close to your loving heavenly Father. In I Peter, Peter tells the people he was writing to over and over again that they are not citizens of this world, but are citizens of heaven. I hope that you will find great comfort in taking God's Word seriously when He tells us this life is short. That we are His and He has prepared a place for us. That heaven is our destiny for eternity. This my friend is the truth and our reality. Easy to grasp? No. A hard truth to hang on to? Yes. But, it is the truth.
Have you ever listened to any of the old Gospel hymns or even the songs the slaves used to sing? It's amazing how many of these songs speak about heaven, eternity and the shortness of this life. Our American culture deceives us into thinking the here and now are so important.. but alas, the here and now are temporary..oh so temporary.
Have you heard the song Blessings by Laura Story?
Here are a few excerpts from this beautiful song.
"….You love us way too much to give us lesser things. What if your blessings come through rain drops. What if you blessings come through tears..what if trials of this life are your mercies in disguise?….We doubt your goodness, we doubt your love…as if every promise from your word is not enough! All the while you hear each desperate plea….when darkness seems to win we know the pain reminds this heart that this is not our home….it's not our home…."
In closing, remember Peter walked ON the water when his eyes were on Jesus!! Keep your eyes on Jesus my friend. Keep your eyes on Jesus my friend.


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More colours than you can name, music that keeps your feet tapping and a fine selection of food stalls, vendors and awesome festive hospitality areas on more than 2km of a culmination of all the excitement that is Cape Town in one Carnival, with an epic street after party!
Every year Cape Town hosts a themed carnival from around 3 in the afternoon to late. Children are welcome to partake in the festivities in the afternoons, and usually find great enjoyment in seeing the phenomenally dressed dancers and the gigantic sculptures of multi-coloured artistic brilliance. Everyone joining the carnival is more than welcome to bring along their dancing shoes, dress up and join in the street dancing.
2016 saw #streetlife being the theme of the day and the intensely outrageous and glamorous entertainment was more than awesome. The carnival is always fully packed with 2015 seeing more than 55000 spectators, it is truly an experience never to forget. Preparation starts from when the previous carnival ends and The Cape Town Carnival 2017 is already being prepared for. Vendors, artists and sponsors are welcome to contact Cape Town Carnival at firstname.lastname@example.com / 021 406 2947. There are seats open for specialty acts, stage performers, carnival costumed groups, self costumed groups lead performers as well as a chance for what the carnival nicknames the pavement specials, these are your buskers, performers and artists who wish to participate in a less formal manner.
Sponsors for the Cape Town Carnival include Mnet, the department of Arts and Culture, DSTV, Coca-Cola as well as Media24 to name but a few. The ticket sales for 2017 open in November 2016 and seated tickets go for as little as R290, a VIP ticket which includes a raised viewing platform, private security, as well as a private DJ, finger foods with a bar of the finest selected beers and wine as well as soft drinks goes for R1300. General access into the carnival festivities is free.
There are restaurants and bars surrounding the roads that the carnival closes to hold festivities and all of them participate in the festive feelings, there is so much to see and do in one carnival that you could not possibly cover it all. There is a downloadable file on the website that allows you to create your own carnival mask, with 9 options the Cape Town Carnival urges spectators to bring along their mask and showcase their own creativity whilst coming to enjoy the carnival of awe-inspiring epic proportions.


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Jorge Lorenzo ended his four race victory drought in sensational style with a dramatic win at Silverstone, passing Marc Marquez at the very last corner of the British Grand Prix. The pair ran nose-to-tail throughout a thrilling race but that doesn't come close to telling the story of a Marquez's day which was in danger of ending early at one point.
The concerning moment for Repsol Honda came fifteen minutes into morning warm-up as Cal Crutchlow hit the floor for the third time this weekend. The home favourite was ok as he trudged away but his exit was hurried by an alert marshal who saw Marquez's out of control Honda hurtling towards them. No-one was hit by the motorcycle but Marquez had dislocated his left shoulder in the process of crashing, putting his status for the race in some doubt. However, after treatment which included his shoulder being 'popped back in', the championship leader arrived on the grid three hours later to take up his pole position.
Although Marquez, injured shoulder and all, made a reasonable start, he was powerless to prevent a hungry Lorenzo powering past into Copse and it wasn't just his Yamaha that got off to a flyer. Valentino Rossi made inroads from his sixth place start to claim third ahead of Stefan Bradl, Dani Pedrosa, Cal Crutchlow and Alvaro Bautista while Bradley Smith also gained ground, passing the Ducatis of Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden.
While the top two disappeared to have their own private battle at the front, Pedrosa was playing catch-up and he knew it. With Bradl passing Rossi for third at Stowe, the no.46 was Dani's first target and the Spaniard charged through at Copse on lap two. It took him another two laps to overhaul Bradl but once he did so, Dani was the fastest man on track and dragged himself onto the tail of his teammate by lap six.
Marquez's attention continued to be on the bike in front and after following for lap after lap, the youngster showed his first sign of impatience on lap thirteen, having a look into Stowe. That effort proved unsuccessful but a late dive into Brooklands on lap eighteen had the desired effect, switching Lorenzo into the role of chaser for the first time all afternoon.
With his grip on the world title looking more and more precarious, Jorge had to strike back and as soon as they arrived into Vale, the reigning champion dived back through into the lead. Marc wasn't giving in either, showing no signs of the fatigue one might expect given his injury, and as they hit the brakes for Brooklands two corners from home, he sent a last-ditch move up the inside of the Yamaha. It seemed to have worked but the move put him off-line for Luffield and Lorenzo capitalised, barging through the small gap that had been left and outdragging the Honda to the line, winning by 0.081s.
Pedrosa's challenge petered out in the end, leaving him third, but the fight for fourth would be alive right the way to the finish. With Stefan Bradl slipping to sixth, it was left to Alvaro Bautista to uphold Honda honours against Valentino Rossi but halfway around the final lap, the Italian snatched fourth for the third weekend running.
Bradl finished six seconds clear of a battered and bruised Cal Crutchlow in seventh while Bradley Smith was forced to give best in his battle with the factory Ducatis. A crash for Andrea Dovizioso at Farm promoted him up a place but Nicky Hayden would eventually edge him out of eighth by a tenth of a second. Smith had to make do with ninth in the end with Aleix Espargaro another man to ride through the pain barrier on his way to tenth.


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This month, we lead off with an analysis of the recent Hold Security report, which sent the media into frenzy over its claims that Russian hackers stole more than a billion usernames and passwords. We speak with several security experts who are very skeptical about the accuracy of this report. Also this month, Christopher Cheniae of U.S. Foods explains how his company implemented a mobile solution to eliminate its check-related challenges. Also, POS malware continues to wreak havoc on the retail industry, the New York Department of Financial Services receives considerable pushback over its proposed framework for regulating virtual currencies, NACHA introduces a new program to reduce online bill payment exceptions, and more.
AFP Payments is a monthly newsletter delivering best practice information, news and analysis of global payments challenges, regulations and emerging technologies. As the world migrates from paper-based to electronic payment methods, financial professionals and others need to stay atop developments ranging from new card-based payment options, to changes in banking practices, to regional payments concerns around the world.
Manage subscriptions to this and other AFP newsletters: www.afponline.org/newsletters


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Therapeutic Approach
I have worked as a therapist in a variety of settings over 35 years. I have been licensed as a psychologist over 25 years. During this time span, I have learned or have been exposed to many approaches to doing therapy. As a licensed professional, I've logged over 3000 supervised hours. I borrow heavily from all of the life experiences I have had, as well as from formal exposure to the following therapeutic orientations: humanistic-existential, cognitive-behavioral, interpersonal neurobiology, mindfulness, family systems, neuro-psychophysiological, neurolinguistic, and psychoanalytic approaches.
However, whatever frame of reference I bring "to the table", I am most interested in understanding how you view your own life. I try to respect all clients as individuals, who have had a set of unique challenges, barriers, and opportunities. Each person I see brings his or her own learning and skill set to the art of managing and maneuvering through the maze of life. All have had their personal teachers (i.e., parents, friends, religious leaders, spouses) and important influences, who have taught them the "ropes". Your experiences are valuable and are a part of your story. I respect this and try to understand these influences the best that I am able.
This interest in your personal story is especially important to my work doing both Narrative and Interpersonal Neurobiology Therapy¸ which have had a major influence upon the way I communicate and engage in therapy. If you are seeing me for therapy, you or your family member has likely become "stuck" in some pattern of thought, feeling, or behavior. Unfortunately, this problem pattern may now be internalized and seem to represent some essential "truth" about your identity, character, or nature. Often the influential others, who had "recruited" you into this way of perceiving yourself, have faded from immediate memory so you may now just think, "I am the problem".
Part of our work together will likely involve identifying the characteristics of the stuck problem pattern and learning the history of how this pattern took hold in your life. We will try to identify the historical figures and events influencing this pattern of mind. The goal will be to "deconstruct" the notion of "I am the problem" by bringing to light the external influences upon this way of thinking. The goal of this approach is not to blame others for "your problem", but to help you become unstuck.
In becoming unstuck, you will also be free to identify your intentions, aspirations, and values regarding how you would prefer to live. You may begin to remember other people throughout your life who gave support to this preferred way of living. You may begin to recall distant experiences, which represented past efforts to engage life in this preferred way, but which did not get embedded into how you thought about yourself.
Often the "problem saturated" way we perceive ourselves seems to be "hard wired", so we stop believing in ourselves and our ability to manage the course of our lives. This entrenched perception leaves out the influence of important others and events, which illuminate an alternative to the old problem story line about our identity. Our therapy goal will be to identify your preferred way of living and to illuminate and enlarge the influence of others (i.e., internalized but unrecognized "protectors") who value this preference and support your alternative story of personal resilience, capability, and value.
Finally, although this discussion of therapy suggests how problem stories of your life may become "hard wired", there are often underlying, parallel patterns of having a "stuck" nervous system. Along with narrative and interpersonal neurobiology therapy, neurofeedback training can often loosen the influence of stuck electrical patterns expressed by the Central Nervous System. By becoming free of the "constraints" of your Central Nervous System, you are often more free to choose the preferred ways of living I have described.


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This, my friend is what I'm always talking about. It is a bit sad truth but I too face it every day.FarbigeWelt wrote: ↑Wed Nov 28, 2018 10:52 amI would probably think differently if I had to use CGI as a professional but then customers would pay for what they ask, namely time, time and sometimes quality. Lot of advertisings based on CGI look average or less compared to what is possible with LuxCore. It just a personal opinion.
"Make it look good and have it done fast!" is coming from every client everywhere, and they do not care about your fancy ultimate and superior algorithms, in the end it simply has to look convincing enough for the client, for me, this means a flexible and easy to use renderer always wins the race and fair comparisons don't matter!
And now, if luxcore dev's do it out of passion and don't care what "market" wants and have their own vision it is all good. But results from "the market" will reflect that.
Here's what my simple mind thinks need to happen with luxcore before it can even properly start to compete with "popular" products (Popular: not better or worse or free or expensive, but popular choice)
1.Clean the mess up. No place for features and modes that break feature parity and only serve very few spectrum of uses.
It's a sacrifice but I do think eventually this will inevitably happen...
get rid of:
bidir - a slow "nope" on cpu which if user enables by mistake and then sees what's going on, next thing he looks for is uninstall button.(of course I'm exagerating this a bit )
metropolis - works only good on cpu and really worth it only in the very isolated cases also combined with bidir.. omg just no...
random sampler - only useful for another useless feature(bcd)
bcd - needs replacement, you're wasting your time with this (I'm gonna visit a witchdoctor and sacrifice some animals to make you drop this)
tiled - should be gone or a simple tickbox with no additional settings for cases when running out of vram(but ideally focus on other mem optimization)
light strategy - log power only and a checkbox for DLCS(which should be disabled/hidden until bugs are solved)
clamp - should affect only secondary bounces I can't imagine reason to clamp direct light(but of course this might need some testing)
..Ok so what are we left with now is pathtracing doable on cpu+gpu or either, no setup needed. New user comes hits render and watch the magic happen, professionals can get right to work
(nobody cares about fiddling with settings unless it's a simple slider or checkbox that magicaly solves your optimization problem or unless it's a per object property that allows both artistic and optimization purposes)
2. Fixing shading issues and discprepancies between cpu and gpu needs to take precedence.
One thing is having fakes and workarounds to boost performance when time is precious, but nobody wants to do workarounds cause shader parameter or a bug breaks how rendering result looks, that's a big no no.
3. By this point(after step 1 and 2 is done) luxcore is usable for many many cases even by idiots, also easy to use not prone to user error and not requiring people to do acrobatics with their scene setup.
So we can talk new features now. How?
Clear roadmap that not only shows what is planned but in what order... (I believe it helped corona a lot to have always a clear statement and list (trello - although usually very short list) for every release, because userbase always knows what is the direction and keeps coming back for daily builds)
As for money, I couldn't even navigate through how bounties work. I find it hard to believe it is an effective way of doing funding. Make it easy to fund you through your own website with a big donate button and give a result of how many ppl donated or donate per month (maybe even give an optimal monthly target you want to achieve) and drop every other option so that it is again plain and simple(unless it is actually working for you now, which I couldn't even find out because I'm too stupid)
And before you call me ungrateful and always complaining. I spent over 30min. of my valuable time writing this "list" up not cause I'm ungrateful or decided to piss someone off. But because there is a lot of good things about this project, it is handled by proffesionals, but it is not handled as a product for mass market, so it might always face the same issues over and over again (1.users that don't know how to use it, 2.users that can't rely on it, 3.users that don't find it proffesional due to inconsistencies and lack of flexibility)
Who knows, do you? I might be wrong...


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Oscars: Star who gives shortest speech gets a jet ski
- by Carmen Reese
- in Science
- — Mar 6, 2018
Del Toro has denied ever seeing or hearing about the play.
ORIGINAL SCORE- Alexandre Desplat, The Shape of Water: Desplat's take on why he always came up dry at the Oscars was because he was known for understated scores versus brassy ones. So you can imagine how annoyed I was when the other, the white one showed up.
Gary Oldman said: "I'm not going to get the ski", during his lengthy Best Actor acceptance speech.
ANIMATED SHORT FILM - Dear Basketball, Glen Keane and Kobe Bryant: Former NBA star Kobe Bryant has become an unlikely Oscar victor after Dear Basketball, which he wrote and narrated, won the Academy award for best animated short film.
Hosted for the second year in a row by ABC late-night star Jimmy Kimmel, the show ran almost four hours, testing the endurance levels of even the most-hardcore movie fans. He is literally a statue of limitations.
"Tonight we thank the moviegoing public", he said, which on this occasion, was a group of unsuspecting people "lured" into the TCL Chinese Theatre across the street from the awards ceremony, under the pretence of seeing the sci-fi movie Wrinkle In Time, starring Oprah Winfrey.
Last year's embarrassing envelope mix-up over the best picture victor was turned into a running joke, with Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway returning for a second year to announce the top prize.
Hit PLAY to hear unbelievable Oscar-winner Sam Rockwell right here.
Is it just me or was this song WAY better in the movie?
Sam Rockwell and Allison Janney took home their first Oscars for their supporting roles in "Three Billboards" and independent ice-skating movie "I, Tonya", respectively. Kumail Nanjiani is my stage name.
Extending support to the "Dreamers" in the US, Pakistan-origin comedian Kumail Nanjiani and actress Lupita Nyong'o from Kenya also took a dig at their own immigrant status.


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Last weekend we made homemade spaghetti sauce for canning and I found a fun way to combine my love for fall, acrylic paints, and wine.
While I didn't drink the wine that came out of these bottles, I am sure that would have made this craft project a little more enjoyable. Scroll to the end if you are looking for step-by-step instructions.
The first thing you will need to do is gather a bunch of glass bottles (beer, wine, IBC root beer, whatever floats your boat). Soak these bottles in a sink with hot water and a little soap. This will help soften the labels and hopefully they will peel off in one piece. Find another way to occupy your time for at least a half hour. When you return to the check on the bottles you may find that you need to spin them and let the other side soak. Every bottle is different so your wait times will vary.
Once you have peeled all of the labels off check the bottles to see if there is any residue. I used Goo Gone to remove the residue because I did not want my paint to have lumps in it.
My boyfriend suggested that I leave the residue so that my pumpkins could have warts. He always makes these kinds of suggestions when he does not want to help with my craft projects. In this case – I only asked for him to get Goo Gone from the garage…but in his defense it was midnight.
The next step is up to you. I tried a few different methods and this is what I thought of them:
- Free hand the top of the bottle bottle using acrylic paint
- Tape off the top of the bottle for a clean line — allowing the green glass to serve as the stem
- Depending on what type of lines you want and if "messy" bothers you I would totally recommend this. These lines ended up being the cleanest on my entire project. That being said, I really like things that look clean-cut and neat.
- Place tape across the "face" of the bottle. Draw a design on the tape and cut it out with an x-acto knife.
- I did not have an x-acto knife but when I tried this with a utility knife I made a big mess. I did not like my hand drawn designs and decided I was too clumsy to make this work.
- Layer tape and cut out face shapes while leaning on something – in my case cardboard
- This was a disaster. Not only was it really difficult to do but I pushed too hard and the tape ended up stuck to the cardboard when I tried to peel it up.
- Paint a layer and realize you forget to tape a face on and then try to
- This happened because I was so excited to get started. If you do this make sure that the paint underneath is all the way dry – not tacky. When it is time to remove it score around the tape edges with a utility knife. This worked okay — I did it on the clear pumpkin bottle with the painted stem.
- Paint the bottle whatever color you would like and then paint the faces on by hand
- Once you get over the fact that your lines will not be perfect…hand painting the faces was by far my favorite way to do this! I used a template of faces included below and tried to copy them.
- Empty Glass Bottles
- Goo Gone
- Painters Tape
- Utility or X-Acto Knife
- Acrylic Paint (used various cheap brands and the Martha Stewart glow-in-the-dark line)
- Soak bottles in hot water with soap. Check on them and spin them as needed to ensure that all of the edges are soaked.
- Use Goo Gone to remove any left over sticker residue.
- Decide how you will make your faces/paint your bottles based on the suggestions above.
- I used acrylic paint and waited until the paint dried completely between layers. If you use tape make sure that you score the edges before carefully peeling it from your bottle — acrylic paint will tear off in one big piece if you work too quickly.
These ones were my favorites. The directions for this are not very clear because it all depends on what you want to do with your bottles. If you have any questions about the process feel free to comment below.


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Oil & Gas Modeling course FULL
Designed for finance professionals pursuing Oil & Gas careers, this course provides an in-depth look at the industry, including O&G accounting and financial statement analysis, O&G projection drivers and Net Asset Value modeling. Please note, this course is sold as a hard-copy manual with a corresponding PDF (shown below) and no video component.
What You Will Learn
Industry Accounting & Financial Statement Analysis
Financial Statement Modeling
Net Asset Value (NAV) and DCF modeling
Accretion/dilution (M&A) modeling
Leveraged buyout (LBO) modeling
Excel mechanics and functionality for the O&G industry
Comparable company analysis
Comparable transaction analysis
Financial & valuation modeling best practices


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2011 Fall
2011 Fall Volume 7:3 Articles:
ASF Celebrates 20 Years of SAR Data
The Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF) celebrated the 20th anniversary of the first Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) downlink at the facility by hosting an Open House on 20 August 2011. The event provided tours, lectures, demonstrations, and activities for the entire community.
The Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF) has developed and deployed an Application Programming Interface (API) as an additional avenue to access the SAR Data Center's (SDC) archive. The purpose of this API is to present users a flexible Web service that facilitates the search for and visualization of ASF datapool assets, as well as delivery of relevant metadata about those assets.


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These are small cups with longer stems at the bottom for easy insertion and removal. The cups are made of soft silicon with lubrication for smooth and easy insertion. The cups get fitted inside the vagina through vaginal opening (Labia). You can stretch your legs or sit in a squat position for easy insertion. Keep the cups at 45 ͦangle for easily insertion. It may take some time for first time users. Make sure you always wash your hands before and after placing the cups. Take off the cups after every 3-4 hours during heavy flow and after 5-6 hours during lighter flow.
Step 1: Wash your hands before and after application of menstrual cup with proper soap or hand wash.
Step 2: Take a menstrual cup and open it from the wrapper. The cups are soft and made of Silicon with proper lubrication for easy insertion.
Step 3: Fold the cup properly in such a size that its insertion becomes quite easy.
Step 4: Open your legs wide either in squat position sitting on commode or you can place one leg firmly to the ground and the other one on the commode this will help to spread the vaginal opening easily.
Step 5: Place menstrual cup slowly into the vaginal opening by spreading labia. Make sure you have an idea of the right hole. There are 3 holes in all, first one is the urethral opening for pee, second is vaginal opening for period flow and the third one is anus. Our target is the middle one that is vaginal opening.
Step 6: Let the cups open inside the vagina and the flow of blood gets collected over it.