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The Foreigner Pierce Brosnan, Jackie Chan, Michael McElhatton. Directed by Martin Campbell. Rated R. Opens Friday citywide.
Though fans of Jackie Chan's massive body of work know that he's a star of great effervescence, quite a few viewers know him only for the Rush Hour films—perhaps his most successful and least interesting work—in which he is frequently upstaged by the yappy Chris Tucker. The filmmakers behind The Foreigner seem to be in the latter camp. They allow Chan—in an otherwise refreshingly serious role—to be upstaged by a much talkier Pierce Brosnan.
Chan's character, a grieving father whose daughter is killed by a suspected IRA bomb in London, could have been one of the great "man they did not expect" roles, like Bruce Willis in Die Hard, Steven Seagal in Under Siege and Harrison Ford in The Fugitive. Chan's Quan starts trying to find the bombers by himself to exact his revenge, and he's terrific; even his fight scenes are bracingly edgy. But the movie keeps leaving him behind. In one sequence, he's staked out in the woods outside a farm and the movie simply forgets about him, among the dead leaves and dirty ground, for a long chunk of time.
Brosnan plays a deputy cabinet minister with former ties to the IRA, and he has plenty to do. He has a mistress and a badass nephew, a few twists and turns and lots of dialogue. Not to disparage Brosnan, who is fine, but his part of the movie is stuck in rooms, where characters explain the plot to each other rather than actually talking.
Directed by Martin Campbell (most recently of the tepid Green Lantern), The Foreigner is based on a 1992 novel called The Chinaman, by Stephen Leather. Given that title, Chan's character presumably could or should have been an actively dynamic center to the story, but instead he's treated like an unwanted extension to a lackluster movie already in progress.


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Bearthoven is proud to be back at the Bang on a Can Summer Music Institute playing a 4:30 recital in the galleries of beautiful Mass MoCA. Music by Brooks Frederickson, Brian Petuch, Fjola Evans, Ken Thomson and Nik Bartsch. Free with museum admittance.
Back to All Events
Earlier Event: May 15Scholes Street Studio
Later Event: September 27Shapeshifter Lab

subset: commoncrawl


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My Transformation when I joined Surbiton Escorts
I never used to have a very good body image, and when I looked in the mirror, I never used to like what I saw. My hips were too skinny, my bum stuck out about, and my boobs were huge on a skinny waste. To be honest, I did not like my body very much and I was not sure if I would ever be comfortable about it. This was just a few months before I joined Surbiton escorts in https://charlotteaction.org/surbiton-escorts, and it was finally there I became totally confident about my body.
At the time I was working in this cafe in Surbiton and not earning a fortune. I wanted to move on in my life and had for a very long time dreamed of becoming a model. Of course with a body of mine, I realised I did not have very much of a chance. I genuinely believed I was totally out of proportion and not the kind of body gents liked. Little did I know the gents at Surbiton escorts would come to adore me, and many men were already giving me a double take behind my back.
I was clearing a table at the cafe I worked in when the gent who had eaten lunch there, winked at me. He said that he thought I was a really gorgeous girl, and wanted to take me out to dinner. I was not used to being asked by gents in the cafe, but I said yes, and a couple of days later, he picked me up for our first date. He kept smiling at me, and told me that I reminded him of a girl he used to date at Surbiton escorts. That made me feel a bit weird, but as it was probably never going a serious relationship, I decided to stay chilled about it.
We had a great date, and as I walked out of the restaurant with him, I caught a quick glimpse of myself in the mirror. All of a sudden it was like a bombed had dropped, and I realised I as rather good looking. How could I make the most out of my looks, and at the same time, get out of the rather horrible flat I shared with a, couple of other girls. Maybe I should look into joining Subiton escorts, and find out what it was all about.
It took me a little while to pluck up the courage to check out the Surbiton escorts website. I had never done anything like that before, and I was still not sure that it was the right thing to do. At the time, I was still seeing the guy, and he had told me a little bit about dating escorts. It sounded okay, and at the same time, it was not what I had expected at all. I took some photos of me with my phone, and sent them off to the escort agency in Surbiton. To my surprise, I was asked to come in, and here I am today, escorting in Surbiton and proud of it.…


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185 days of travelling in 2016 took me to various places and brought learnings that were well embraced. People, places, journeys, destinations, and conversations alike, all had an underlying message waiting to be conceived. At times they are to be found, but mostly they just effortlessly crawl in to your mind and sit in your marrow as a discipline forever. Excerpts of some of the long-lasting learnings are here, only for others to learn from
Irony Of Our Identity
We are born, and then we die, and whatever we make of ourselves between these two points is what our identity should ideally be. Minus our deeds, other identity we have is our name, rather it's the bigger one between the two. Simply put, not everyone would know of our deeds but would definitely know our name to create a recall. And isn't it how we introduce ourselves to someone? It's such an important entity.


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For All Points-Of-The-View.
To improve community-police relations, police should get out of the regulation business, be given greater training in identifying and dealing with those with autism and other cognitive disabilities, build stronger bonds with the communities they serve by offering gun safety training and be given greater recognition for the good deeds they do. These innovative policy proposals and more are being offered by the Project 21 black leadership network as part of its "Blueprint for a Better Deal for Black America."
Tens of thousands of police officers from across the nation are gathering in Washington, D.C. to commemorate Peace Officers Memorial Day on May 15 and to celebrate National Police Week. Project 21, which is unveiling its Blueprint in its entirety over the next several weeks, views this week's events as a perfect time to address and discuss means for promoting stronger bonds between law enforcement and the black communities it serves.
Black confidence in policing has decreased due to a series of high-profile black fatalities involving officers in recent years. Some of these fatalities occurred while police were enforcing relatively minor infractions. Project 21 contends that involving police in the enforcement of regulations or minor infractions with little relevance to improving public safety needlessly increases the risk mistakes will be made. Its Blueprint suggests defunding federal police powers at regulatory agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and Internal Revenue Service. Those dollars can instead help citizens learn more about gun use and safety from local police and fund training about dealing with people with cognitive disabilities. Project 21 also asks for increased community engagement, such as religious institutions highlighting first responders at special services and a new community-recommended presidential award for exemplary police service.
"Proposals offered in Project 21's Blueprint can substantially mend the rift between black Americans and law enforcement," said Project 21 Co-Chairman Council Nedd II, a Pennsylvania state constable and Anglican archbishop. "Politicians and bureaucrats have inflicted mission creep on officers that hurts their standing in the black community. Project 21 suggests reining in that overreach, working with communities to highlight the value of good policing and keeping situations from unnecessarily escalating."
Nedd – "America's Constable" – authored a commentary, to be posted today by the Daily Caller, in which he describes law enforcement careers and the dangerous uncertainties faced regularly by police.
Last month, Nedd and other Project 21 leaders began briefing key staff at the White House and with congressional leadership about the 57 policy ideas – spread out over 10 subject areas and covering education, criminal justice, economics and more – that are available in its "Blueprint for a Better Deal for Black America."
There are eight specific proposals to offer a "better deal" in public safety and community-police relations:
"Most agree our justice system desperately needs repair. Too many families are torn apart because minor infractions have escalated into major crises," said Project 21 member Derrick Hollie, the president of Reaching America. "More training, more compassion and better understanding and respect between police officers and the communities they serve will help reduce arrests and incarceration for many low-income and minority individuals. The respect, however, must be reciprocal."
"I'm excited about the forward-thinking nature of the proposals set forth in the Blueprint. Project 21 hits the mark in addressing important issues to improve police-community relations," said Project 21 member Richard Holt, a political consultant. "By making sure officers are doing the most important work, things are kept in perspective as communities are protected. This means not stopping somebody for just a broken tail light, or going a few miles over the speed limit."
Each Monday between now and July 7, Project 21 will release reform recommendations from its "Blueprint for a Better Deal for Black America" covering a specific subject area. The tentative release schedule is as follows:
Project 21, a leading voice of black conservatives for over 25 years, is sponsored by the National Center for Public Policy Research. Its members have been quoted, interviewed or published over 40,000 times since the program was created in 1992. Contributions to the National Center are tax-deductible and greatly appreciated, and may be earmarked exclusively for the use of Project 21.
Founded in 1982, the National Center for Public Policy Research is a non-partisan, free-market, independent conservative think-tank. Ninety-four percent of its support comes from some 60,000 individuals, less than four percent from foundations and less than two percent from corporations. Sign up for email updates here.
Follow Project 21 on Twitter at @Project21News or general announcements. To be alerted to upcoming media appearances by Project 21 members, follow our media appearances Twitter account at @NCPPRMedia.
The National Center for Public Policy Research
E-Mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
Web: www.nationalcenter.org
Views: 60
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- carlygoldAsked on February 09, 2017 at 08:52 PM
Google shares their BAA- I believe it is part of their terms of service. I'm sending a link to their language to the support address you list.
The JotForm customer has the responsibility to use the service in a compliant manner utilizing encrypted forms etc.
Your market would expand immensely if you added a BAA!!
- JotForm SupportjonathanAnswered on February 09, 2017 at 08:57 PM
Update (April 19, 2018) HIPAA is available for our Gold & Silver plans. https://www.jotform.com/hipaa/
I have forwarded your concern about BAA (Business Associate Agreement) to the higher team support. We will notify you here once for any response.
Thank you.
- JotForm DeveloperRoseAnswered on April 12, 2018 at 08:15 AM
Great news! JotForm now offers HIPAA compliance. This means users in the healthcare industry can use JotForm to collect sensitive patient information through consent and onboarding forms, medical history updates, online bill payments, and prescription refill requests.
HIPAA-compliant forms require a Gold pricing plan, which is only $99 a month or a Silver pricing plan, which is $39 a month. A business associate agreement (BAA) is also available upon request.
For more information about our HIPAA-compliant forms, visit www.jotform.com/hipaa.
- JotForm DevelopergizemAnswered on April 19, 2018 at 06:32 AM
Update: HIPAA is available for the Silver plan as well.


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What was good about it
* The TARDIS being depicted in the stained glass window. LOVED IT.
* BERNARD CRIBBINS. I think everyone can agree that Wilf was a fantastic companion, and the right sort of companion for Ten's final story. Kind of liked that even though Donna was off-limits to the Doctor, at least her grandfather could fill the role just as well.
* John Simm, menacing and manic as ever, though still achieving some sympathy. I hope this is the last we'll be seeing of him as the Master though.
* All the Doctor/Master Ho!Yay, even more Ho!Yay than there was in the series three finale!
* The Master race. I mean, it made me LOL quite a bit, partly because I thought it would make the best premise for a sitcom and was deliberately written that way- Simm!Master is that sort of character, really. Also, it seems almost fitting for RTD to finish his run on the show by creating a meme which involves Simm!Master and 'MY HED IS PASTEDE ON YEY!'
* The fact that the Time Lords have their own Sybil. Also, Time Lords in general with their silly robes and the Council, which now looks suspisciously like the senate in the Galactic Republic in Star Wars.
* The fact that Doctor/Master is known to the Time Lords as the most epic
* The four knocks that ended Ten's life. Best moment in the two-parter, hands down.
* Ten's conversation with Rose at the end. Feel quite relieved that Rusty decided to write Ten meeting a pre-Nine Rose, as opposed to the usual crappy emo. Made me miss Nine/Rose, which I believe in more as a ship than I do Ten/Rose.
* Ten acting as wingman to Jack in the Mos Eisley Cantina. Jack/Alonso is a ship I can get behind (*rimshot*), partly because Alonso would be the perfect post-Ianto boyfriend and I wouldn't be disappointed if he turned up in Torchwood. Russell Tovey is a cute actor, what can I say? Was a little disappointed that no mention was made of what happened after Children of Earth though. I was hoping Ten would knock some sense into Jack about not abandoning Earth.
* O HAI ELEVEN! Way too early to make a proper impression (and I remember the last time this happened, fans were wanking left, right and center about David Tennant's first two minutes as Ten), but between those final minutes and the season five trailer, I'm quite optimistic.
What made me facepalm
* I was honestly expecting it to be much darker than it turned out to be, particularly after The Waters of Mars. A bit disappointed in that respect, particularly as it ended up being RTD's usual zany rollicking adventure-style finale.
* Found the whole Master's resurrection scene to be unbearably campy, and was frankly disappointed there was nothing significant about 'the hand of the Rani'. Alexandra Moen very good as a changed Lucy Saxon, but again underused. :/ Thought 'the books of Saxon' sounded kind of lame and cliche.
* The Time Lords are supposed to be the Big Bad of part two, and they're given hardly anything to do once they get out of the time lock. I mean, Timothy Dalton used to play JAMES BOND, I was really thinking there'd be more action and less standing around looking imperious!
* The incredibly long goodbye (I don't mind the 'Where are they now?' bits of New Who, but this went for freaking ever). Think Ten's regeneration should've just happened in the chamber- he was all curled up in a ball with his face hidden, and I think it would've been cool if we'd seen Eleven's face emerge after that with Wilf reacting.
* Rusty randomly pairing off Martha and Mickey, ARGH. I liked Tom! And Martha obviously liked Tom enough to get engaged to him. I really think this was throwing two characters together just for the hell of it, and just....*grumble* Though Martha becoming a mercenary fighter is very kickass, and Freema looked pretty fierce in the black combat gear with her hair in braids.
* 'I don't want to go.' Oh, FFS! Really hate Rusty for making these Ten's final words. It's just so unlike the Doctor to be a woobie about regenerating.
What I'm undecided on/Miscellaneous observations
* The Woman in White, aka the Doctor's Mother. IDK. Part of me thought it was very well-played and subtle and liked that his mother was also a renegade, the other part.....well, it removes some of the Doctor's mystery, I guess? Same deal with the Master talking about his childhood.
* If Timothy Dalton's character is now the Lord President of Gallifrey, then what happened to Romana? This stuff is important!
* And no, I'm sure Dalton!Time Lord's name is just Rassilon, he's not THE Rassilon. At least I hope he isn't. I still think of Rassilon as being Don Warrington. <3
* I'm sure everybody's said this by now, but that glove that President Rassilon wore was obviously the cousin of the resurrection gauntlet, except it was being used to kill rather than revive. Really wouldn't be surprised if the Risen Mitten was misappropriated Time Lord technology that went astray during the Time War.
* Donna. Did this really end with her still not remembering anything about her travels with Ten? I expected better from Rusty, but at the same time he probably would've butchered the scenario so maybe it was really for the best?
* Oddly enough, the regeneration, for all the glorious choral music and Ten's anguish and the explosions, didn't move me much. Nine's regeneration into Ten upset me more, if only because I loved and hated Christopher
So overall, lots of stuff to love, and the usual amount of fail from Rusty which inevitably drags down the whole finale. Don't know if I'd re-watch the whole thing, I'd probably just watch the Ten/Master scenes because of the Ho!Yay.
So, Ten's era overall...
...was like the other Doctors- that is, there were good episodes and bad episodes. I think David Tennant generally did a very good job with the part. Even if what he had to work with could be really crap at times, nearly every episode I found something to enjoy about his performance. Ten is not my favourite Doctor (my top three favourite incarnations are One, Four and Nine), but he's not the worst by far. If Tennant had chosen to stay on and depending on what direction Moffat might have taken the character, I think I'd probably enjoy him a bit more.
I don't know about the companions- I liked all of them in one way or another, and loved Martha, Donna and Adelaide. RTD handled Mickey's character arc very well, even with the random hookup with Martha at the end- Mickey went from being a stupid third wheel to being quite an interesting and arse-kicking character in his own right. I'm delighted that he gave Sarah Jane her own spinoff and insight into her life outside of travelling with the Doctor. Conversely, he turned Rose into a blindly devoted fangirl in series two and then ended her story by giving her what amounted to a blow-up doll version of the Doctor. And Jack's gone through some character assasination too. So yeah, IDK. I'll be interested to see what Amy Pond will be like, being the first companion entirely created and written by the Moff.
And what about RTD's tenure as showrunner?
Er, enormously split on this. Grateful because he resurrected Doctor Who, and cast two very talented actors to play the part. Brought back the best of Old School Who (Sarah Jane, the Daleks, the Sontarans, the Master). Produced two quite decent spinoffs and introduced some memorable characters. But then he wrote episodes full of self-indulgent crap (especially where romance is concerned) and tried to shove anvil-sized pop culture references in. When Rusty is good, he's very good, and when he's bad....well, we get Love and Monsters and Doomsday. And I think he's a bit of a IRL troll too, really. Especially when it comes to his attitude towards fandom. So yeah.
I for one welcome our new Scottish overlord, aka The Grand Moff. I don't doubt that he will be disappointing at times, but I'm hoping that even at his very worst, he'll still trump RTD.
And now for the long wait for season five, which probably won't screen here until July at the earliest. *sigh*
Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: Sarah Blasko- All I Want


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Pricing / Investment
How We Charge
We are more than happy to sit down with you to discuss your project(s) in detail. Once we know what all is needed and how involved the project will be we can give a more accurate quote and/or submit a formal proposal. Please feel free to get in touch with us if you have any questions or to discuss a specific project.
- 7 Business Day Turn-Around
- 50% Payment due upfront. Balance due upon delivery
- ALL Deliverables via DropBox
- ALL Pricing includes required post processing
- Additional Video Editing such as motion tracking, animated graphics etc… billed $100 per each half-hour
- Utilizing HD Video cameras, sliders, professional lighting, POV cameras
- Up to 15-30 Edited Images
- Includes minor staging/styling
- 3 Business Day Turn-Around
- FULL Payment due the day of the shoot
- ALL Deliverables via DropBox
- ALL Pricing includes required post processing
- ALL Custom Editing such as fires in fireplace, cloning objects, etc… billed $50 per each half-hour
- Capturing the best shots available utilizing a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle)
- Flight times vary depending on project
- 7 Business Day Turn-Around
- Typically purchased along with Video Production
- Footage can be used in the video production or alone
- Flights are limited to days with minimal / no wind. We do not commission flights within 5 miles of airports.
The Day of the Photoshoot
The owner/manager or agent should be present at the shoot to give access to the property and to discuss the shoot. While you are welcome to stay for the photoshoot, and watch the process, we do advise stepping out of the house or at least to the other side of the house for the time of the shoot. This is to allow the shoot to go as smoothly as possible as well as save time and money.
- Travel Fee: Properties outside Santa Fe City limits are charged $100/hr in 15 minute increments.
- Payment is due in FULL the day of the scheduled shoot – NO EXCEPTIONS
- Any shoot cancelled 48 hours prior to the date scheduled is subject to a $100 Cancellation Fee
- Gross Receipts Taxes are added to the total amount due.
- All work provided via Dropbox.
- All work is completed and delivered to client within 3 business days.
- Property is required to be SHOW READY. Photographer reserves the right to reschedule shoot if the property is not ready to photograph. A $100 rescheduling fee will be charged if the property is not ready to be photographed.
- Licensing Fees – clients are allowed to use marketing content for the lifetime of the listing only. Upon sale of, loss of, transfer of, etc… the usage rights are terminated. Any further usage would need to be negotiated with T3Media.
- Any photoshoots that require rush processing or need to be scheduled on weekends, sunrise/sunset or holidays will incur an additional $100 per hour fee.
License Agreement Details
The license agreement for real estate photography is individual, non-transferable and non-exclusive. It gives you limited use of the images for print, internet and marketing for the following:
FOR REAL ESTATE AGENTS – All photos are licensed to the agent for all marketing associated with the current sale of the property for its duration in accordance with the MLS rules. The images are for the use of real estate purposes only; and are ONLY allowed usage for the life of the original listing. The images are for use by the above named client only and must not be reproduced, resold or redistributed for commercial purposes, personal use or for marketing (web site banners, print material background images, etc…), use with another selling agent, marketing company, rental business or accommodation advertising. Please note that the photos will remain under copyright of Jonathan Tercero – T3MEDIA and usage license is granted only to the business and NOT to any third party. All services rendered are NOT for resale nor are they transferrable. Images MUST be credited whenever used as follows:
photo by: Jonathan Tercero – www.t3media.co
FOR ALL CLIENTS – Before any other use of the photographs is permitted, it is mandatory to contact Jonathan Tercero to receive written permission for the additional usage rights. Additional fees apply.
All rights to the photographs are owned by Jonathan Tercero – T3MEDIA; and are entitled to all the commercial rights to the photographs (apart from the rights to protected buildings, works of art, objects or registered trademarks appearing on the photographs).
The granting of this license does not imply a transfer of ownership. USA copyright laws protect the photographs. Therefore, you are under the obligation to use the photographs like any other protected material. Any representation or reproduction other than the marketing of the property photographed, complete or partially carried out without the consent of Jonathan Tercero – T3MEDIA WILL be a violation of the U.S. Copyright Act (Title 17, United States Code).


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Barchick SaysDate Updated: 29/08/2014
If like BarChick you love a boy in a 90's backward cap, an old pair of Vans, a Nirvana T-shirt, arriving on a skate board… or similarly girls in cut off denim hot pants, ripped tights and a leather biker jacket – then Alibi is the place for you. This gaff is the breeding ground for hot kids of the East End variety. Look hot and drink cheap – it's survival of the fittest as packs of leopard print clad party people squeeze themselves into this wild underground bar.
Music is the drug but this changes daily – so expect anything from 90's grunge, to dubstep or The Spice Girls. Thursdays are HUGE, as are Friday and Saturday nights.
This place kicks off, so be prepared to queue, although it's the perfect time to sober up and suss out the opposition but beware of the lesbian bouncer. It's open late and the atmosphere is great. Not suitable for those suffering from claustrophobia!


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Summer's here! A lot of us will be making shorter trips while watching dollars. The National Park Service offers a great value for US citizens over 62: America the Beautiful – The National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Senior Pass. We'll just call it the Senior Pass.
For a onetime fee of $10, you get a lifetime pass good for entrance into any participating Federal recreation site in the country. It admits the bearer and 3 other adults in the same car (children under 16 are free) to sites where admittance is by car with per person charges. At walk-in sites, it admits only the bearer. It also provides discounts on some amenities, like camp sites.
While it may be a long way to the Grand Canyon, there are plenty of places to visit within a day's drive.
Vermont has only one location, the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Park in Woodstock. Formerly a Rockefeller summer residence, it has an incredible art collection, fabulous grounds and, of course, the mansion.
Next door, in New Hampshire, is the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site (on Route 12, just a few miles south of the box stores in West Lebanon). Saint-Gaudens was one of the country's most famous sculptors in the post civil war area. Around the grounds are copies of his favorite works: Standing Lincoln, Admiral Farragut, Shaw's Memorial, Sherman's Victory, to name a few. The house is lovely and the grounds are remarkable. They also host various concerts and art events all through the summer (as do many of the other sites).
Over in New York, from the Saratoga National Historic Park down through the Hudson River Valley to Hyde Park and the homes of Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt, there are half a dozen forts and other historic sites. Along the way are beautiful parks, lovely state-owned mansions, and the views that inspired the Hudson River School.
Way over on the coast of Maine, there's Arcadia National Park, a cultural center in St. John Valley, and St. Croix Island International Historic Site. The Roosevelt summer home at Campobello International Park can make the longer drive worthwhile.
If that doesn't fill up your summer enough, check out all the golf courses, hiking trails, and scenic stops along the way. It is all close by and offers interest and adventures for a carload of all ages.
The Senior Pass can be purchased at any Federal recreation site. You can go online to www.nps.gov for information about the National Park Service. From there you can go to individual states and individual sites.
For more information about the Senior Pass, google "America the Beautiful National Park Pass". It is the best $10 value out there.
Plan a nice summer, enjoy the area. Aging in Place, it doesn't happen by accident.
Update — A kind reader has alerted us to a change in the National Parks Service pass program. The free senior pass described above is no longer available. The "America the Beautiful" lifetime Senior Pass is available for $10 to citizens 62 and older, but must be purchased in person. ("America the Beautiful" Annual Pass for the general public is $80 and can be purchased at the parks, by phone or online.) For more info, go to www.nps.gov/fees_passes.htm or call 1-888-ASK-USGS, Ext. 1.


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Are There Any Free Online Training Programs that Are Really Free?
Many Internet sites hosted by organizations, universities, private companies and government agencies offer free online training. Some of the sites require registration. Continue reading to find out about free online training programs.
Free Online Training Programs
Most free online training programs don't offer college credit upon completion, although some may issue certificates or Continuing Education Units (CEUs). Following are a few of the many free online training programs and courses available on the Internet.
Important Facts About Free Online Training Programs
|Levels of Study
|Beginner, intermediate, advanced
|Online Availability
|Fully online
|Varies; examples include: series of self-paced classes, video lectures, downloadable course materials
|Key Skills for Success
|Basic computer literacy, independent initiative, interest in subject matter
MIT Open Courseware
The OpenCourseWare project at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) offers free courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, in subjects ranging from engineering to global studies to literature. Available course titles include:
- Single Variable Calculus
- Law and Society in U.S. History
- Writing and Reading Short Stories
- Economic Applications of Game Theory
- Software Engineering Concepts
- Islam, the Middle East, and the West
U.S. Small Business Administration
The U.S. Small Business Administration, a federal agency, offers several dozen free online tutorials in five categories: financing, government contracting, managing, marketing, and starting a business. Here are some courses that interested individuals can take:
- Taking Your High-Tech Product to Market
- Buying a Business
- Understanding Your Customer
- Cybersecurity for Small Businesses
- Finding and Attracting Investors
- Contracting Opportunities for Veteran Entrepreneurs
University of Minnesota-School of Public Health
The University of Minnesota-School of Public Health's Centers for Public Health and Outreach offers a range of public health-related courses that confer continuing education credits. Registration is required, but there are no fees. Following are several of the available subjects:
- Introduction to Epidemiology
- Introduction to Biostatistics
- Introduction to Management in Public Health
- Health Promotion and Adult Education
- Theory and Practice of Occupational Health and Safety
- Control Strategies for Chemical or Biological Hazards
National Institute of Justice
The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) offers online training in subjects related to criminal justice, law enforcement, corrections, and forensics. Many are free for public officials, and some are also free to the general public. Course formats include recorded webinars and self-paced web training modules.
- Controlled Substances
- Digital Multimedia Evidence
- Advanced and Emerging DNA Techniques and Technologies
- Firearms
- Collecting Footwear and Tire Impressions in Snow
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) National Network
The ADA National Network offers online courses to help people understand the provisions of the ADA and its applications in various contexts. These are some of the course titles:
- ADA Basic Building Blocks
- Overview of Disability Rights
- Architectural Accessibility Laws
- Federal Court Concepts Training Module
- Welcoming Customers with Disabilities
To continue researching, browse degree options below for course curriculum, prerequisites and financial aid information. Or, learn more about the subject by reading the related articles below:


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San Diego Beer Week is here! This week we recorded LIVE from the San Diego Brewers Guild – Guild Fest. Official kick off to Beer Week! Tune in as we sit down with special guests – Joey Gelsomino from Iron Fist, Anthony Beach of Latchkey Brewing, Local journalist and great beer mind Beth Demmon and Matthew Zirpolo of Burgeon Beer and Vice President of the Guild. Dont miss out!
Its San Diego Beer Week and we are so excited to be coming to you this week with a live show recording at the kick off to beer week – San Diego Brewers Guild Fest! We recorded live at the event and sat down with some very special guests. Tune in as we are joined by Joey Gelsomino of Iron Fist Brewing, Anthony Beach – Head Brewer of Latchkey Brewing, Beth Demmon – Inspirational beer journalist for many publications and Matthew Zirpolo – Co-Owner of Burgeon Beer Co and Vice President of the Brewers Guild. Tune in as we speak to each of these folks about the greatness of Beer Week, what is new with each of them, what we can look forward to in coming months from each of them as well as more Beer Week plans. Plus, tons more deep conversation all about San Diego beer. Of course, this episode was recorded LIVE from Guild Fest, so be prepared for some back ground noise. But don't stress. We still deliver the same quality content and sound you've come to expect. Tune in, folks! And Happy San Diego Beer Week!
Now available on iTunes!!!! Click here to subscribe, download or stream! (PLEASE RATE US!).
Visit our brand new Web Store!
Below you have the ability to stream the podcast directly on our site from Podomatic, or click "Download" on the Pod Player to download the file for your mobile device. You can also download the podcast directly by clicking here.


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Kaspersky Mail Security
Kaspersky Mail Security solutions offer a cost-effective way to put Kaspersky technologies precisely where you need them — as standalone solutions or to extend your Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business or Kaspersky Total Security for Business solution.
To place an order, contact your Account Manager directly or call Zones at 800.408.9663
Kaspersky Security for Mail Server
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Totem poles are an important part of the cultural heritage of the Native people of the Pacific Northwest. They are more than just beautiful art, they represent characters or stories or symbols about a village's cultural beliefs. A totem pole may have an animal that embodies the ethos of that community – an eagle, a salmon, or a bear, for example.
Elders in the village would communicate the values to the younger generation using the totem pole. "We must be wise as an owl, cunning as a fox, strong as a bear, and as resourceful as a badger," they would say.
As new people would come in to their community, the elders would tell them the story of the totem pole -- "The salmon on the pole – he doesn't give up; he swims upstream even though it is difficult, until he reaches his goal. That is who we are: people who persevere and grow stronger through our struggle."
The totem pole is an outward expression of what is "under the hood" – what drives a community.
We are in a conversation about what drives us. Last Sunday we talked about how love is the foundation of everything we do. This Sunday we are going to look at valuing simplicity. It turns out, it is simple to make things complex, but a complex task to make things simple. Keeping things simple is an important way of understanding our faith, of how we do life together, and even how we make financial decisions.


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Event: Required Weekly Test
Sender Name: MN McLeod County Sheriff's Office,Glencoe,MN
Issued: 2017-01-31T09:06:40-06:00
Expires: 2017-01-31T09:21:40-06:00
WEA Text:
Description: This is a test of the McLeod County IPAWS Required Weekly Test. This is only a test and no action is required.
Urgency: Unknown
Severity: Unknown
Certainty: Unknown
Categories: Other,
Resource links:
EAS Broadcast Content
Type: audio/x-ipaws-audio-mp3
Area Description: MN McLeod County Sheriff's Office
Message Identifier: b6f0f919-5aa0-4636-b6a0-7898927fc6e0
CAP MessageType: Alert


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Friday, March 20, 2009
What You See in Sunset Park: Little Pink House and Garden
What could possibly make this three story, silver-lined, pink-bricked home more sweet? (It's sandwiched between two large apartment buildings.)
A mini-forest garden! Only some of the plants are real. I'm so desperate for garden space that I have envy towards these folks.
Posted by BestViewInBrooklyn at 2:36 AM
Labels: 11220, 11232, Sunset Park
1 comment:
Damn, but that is grim.
- March 20, 2009 at 12:30 PM
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The Gaucho Sports Network is on the air, bringing you live streaming action from Saddleback College on a pay-per-view basis. Don't miss out on all the action as Saddleback takes on some of the top competition in the nation.
Network Schedule
Wednesday, October 24, 6:00 PM
Women's Volleyball
Saddleback vs. Orange Coast
Match starting at 6:00 PM
Cost: $4.95


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"Deliver us from the presumption of coming to this Table for solace only, and not for strength; for pardon only, and not for renewal."
The question remains after 60 years: who made the better peanut butter and marshmallow fluff sandwiches? I say it was Mrs Farrington, who was very generous with the marshmallow and let us enjoy that airy nothingness called Wonder Bread. On the other hand, Mrs Jordan was sparing of the fluff, heavy on the protein-laden peanut butter, and always spread the filling on the health food of 1958, Roman Meal whole-wheat bread. The sandwiches were served in abundance at all Sunday School functions of the Cape Elizabeth United Methodist Church. I have in mind today particular memories of this richness when we kids sat outside in the Sukkot Booth; ate too many sandwiches; swilled far too much Orange Crush soda; and listened to the Rev'd Mr. Staples tell us about our Jewish heritage. Yes, I speak of the Jewish heritage that we little Methodists shared with the Lord Jesus. Jesus was our friend and companion, and he wanted us not just to love his people but to tell their great stories.
No Christmas passed without our hearing of Hanukkah; for Easter we marched through the Red Sea waters with our hero Moses. And no hint of autumn blessed the Maine summer air, nor did golden leaves fall among the slate-marked graves of mouldering Yankees outside the white clapboard church, none of this lightly touched the summer-tired senses of Sunday School ladies and their charges without our happy pilgrim adventure, the Feast of Tabernacles.
That feast, commonly known as "Sukkot", or "Tents", is one of the three primordial and primary events of Jewish life, along with Passover and Pentecost. The authority for the Feast is found in Exodus and in Leviticus. The former: "…[t]hou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the first-fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end." The latter more spiritual: "Ye shall dwell in booths seven days…that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt…"
So the Farrington, Jordan, and Olson men built a frame against the church while the rest of us waited with boughs of scent-rich white pine to adorn the finest booth in all of New England--well, if not the finest, perhaps the only one at a Methodist Church.
We loved the great Jewish stories our fathers told and our mothers sang. We cherished the human and humane Methodism taught by Mr. Staples that was set to universal harmony by "This is my Father's World", and the first lessons in Judaism which left us singing early praises to the Lord, the kindly Lover of Israel. I grew from those days of late childhood and early adolescence to be a Methodist and a Jew--as I must tell you, I still am.
It is a pretty picture. Yet now how easy to be tired and worn out and fed up. When illness or accident strikes what was a secure and comfortable home, when BBC America reports horrors in the next street and throughout the globe, it is little wonder that we feel God has thrown our booth of pine into the dustbin. Our Father's world is replete, even more than with natural disasters, with man-made tragedies. Faith, hope, charity dissolve into a mire of doubt, fear, and resentment. The journey often seems too hard to bear.
But just then we are obliged by our Christian commitment to say we need help. To ask for solace and strength. For just a moment of simple comfort. For one of Mrs Farrington's gooey sandwiches. There's no fault in ducking under the pine boughs for quiet time in the booth.
Yet we sit in the booth next to the Lord Jesus, who lived through such as we live through now; died to it; and rose above it. Hearing such solace, we want to build him an even greater booth, which will be a mansion right here where we can stay with Him forever. He tells us, however, to grasp an urgent truth: His coming then and still today has as its purpose to endow us with the strength to leave the booth and be about our business. The sweet-scented tabernacle must be torn down.
Yes, we need and must have refreshment, solace, rest. We may relax in the booths of the Hebrew fathers and mothers and the rabbi Jesus. But refreshed for the journey, and confident that the Table is ready for us, we must leave and serve the world in Jesus' name.


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Amazon has launched Amazon Echo in India.
All you wanted to know about Amazon Echo
- Amazon Echo is a hands-free smart speaker that you control using your voice. It connects to Alexa – a cloud based voice service to play music, make calls, check weather and news, set alarms, control smart home devices, and much more.
- Echo has powerful speakers that fill the room with immersive 360° omnidirectional audio, and deliver crisp vocals and dynamic bass response.
- Just ask for a song, artist, or genre from your favourite music services like Amazon Prime Music, Saavn, and TuneIn. Using multi-room music, you can even play music across multiple Echo devices at the same time.
- With seven microphones, beam-forming technology, and noise cancellation, Echo hears you from any direction-even in noisy environments or while playing music.
- Call or message anyone hands-free who also has an Echo device or the Alexa App. Simply ask "Alexa, how do I set up calling?" to get started.
- Controls lights, plugs, and more with compatible connected devices from Philips, Syska, TP-Link and Oakter.
Amazon Echo is available at Rs. 9,999 in 3 different colour Black, Grey and White.


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Welcome to Beijing Zhongke Vitiligo Hospital for Treatments Vitiligo
Vitiligo Treatment 2019 Vitiligo Symptoms How To Cure Vitiligo Naturally
Home > Vitiligo > Vitiligo Symptoms >
The onset of vitiligo will cause some bad influences to human eyesight, but the influence is not very serious. Vitiligo patients' retina will have abnormal phenomenon. There will be slight or circumscribed retina lesions form most parts of vitiligo patients. And vitiligo can also make retina atrophy. Some vitiligo patients will get nyctalopia and even get retinitis.
Vitiligo belongs to a kind of malignant dermatosis. Because of the deficiency of melanophore function, human skin will directly appear some white spots. Once get vitiligo, it will also arouse homologous lesions. For example, the distribution of melanophore in human eyes will be damaged by retina and sclera.
Vitiligo patients' retina will become abnormal, and their focal pigment will increase. This phenomenon will also happen to normal person occasionally. If chromatophore and capillary suffer from serious damage and lesions, it will cause choroid and directly make spongiocyte get reactive hyperplasia. Vitiligo patients will have abnormal pigment in their eyes.
Besides, minority vitiligo patients will have the symptom of retina epithelium amotio. Part of vitiligo patients will get slight and circumscribed lesion characteristics, and part of patients will get generalized, fan-shaped atrophy symptom.
In a word, vitiligo will not cause too serious damage to human eyes, and it will not affect people's normal eyesight. But it will cause certain damage to people's eyes. Some phototherapy will have some radiation. Therefore, vitiligo patients should go to normal vitiligo hospital to get professional treatment.
If you want a further knowledge about vitiligo causes, you can send your own problem to firstname.lastname@example.com and we will give you a professional solution. After all, the symptoms are similar, but the real conditions are different.To cure this illness,we need to find the authentic pathogenesis according to different conditions of different patients.
Question ?
WhatsApp: +8618519101895


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31% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Syrah, 37% Pinotage and 4% Merlot
Ripe plum and bramberry aromas fuse with a touch of pencil shavings to compliment the full bodied smooth tannins. This "Cape blend" brings the best of Pinotage to the classic French varieties.
Wine Spectator - 91 points Robert Parker
5.3 g/l
2.5 g/l
Each component of this Cape blend offers it's own qualities. This vintage shows an explosion of fruit on the nose which is largely attributable to the Cabernet sauvignon and Pinotage components. The Syrah is soft and sweet. The Cabernet Sauvignon is the backbone of the blend. Spicy stewed fruit and spicy ripe tannins with an innate softness and long lingering aftertaste. This blend brings the best of Pinotage to the classic French varieties and will age well for the next 15 years.
Name - Nic van Aarde
Warwick Estate is a family-owned and run winery. From 1771 til 1902, Warwick Wine Farm was known as the farm 'De Goede Sukses'. After the Anglo Boer war in 1902, Colonel William Alexander Gordon, Commanding Officer of the Warwickshire regiment decided against returning to England and bought the farm. He renamed it 'Warwick' as a tribute to his regiment and the rest, as they say, is history. Warwick was purchased on April 1st 1964 by Stan Ratcliffe after an extensive search for the best 'terroir' in the Cape. It was in 1986 that the first Warwick Trilogy was released - a Bordeaux style blend which has since become one of the flagships of the South African Wine Industry. Warwick has won many accolades over the years and was featured for a second time in Wine spectators' wines of the year.
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We are a specialty wine importer. We work hard to bring boutique wines to the U.S. Not everything is available at all times.(As few as 5 cases may be imported.) Things you should know.
To preserve your allocation of wines, your credit card is charged at the time you place your order. The Transfer of Title on all orders is in California once processing has been completed. (The order is paid for & in the box.)
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Cafe A La Fikr Comedy Night
December 6, 2013 | Events, Headline | No Comments|
Unwind tonight with funny, thought-provoking world views from comedian Ashar Usman at the Little Theater of the Charleston Civic Center.
Touted as "America's funniest Muslim," Ashar Usman brings to the stage the stories and observations he garnered from his travels through 20 countries in five continents. His latest show, Citizens of the World, shares his thoughts on The Four Great Existential Questions, Hubble Ultra Deep Field, Identity Politics, Spiritual Truths and Self-Knowledge, Theism and Atheism, The Pros and Cons of "Organized Religion," and Why He Doesn't Really Believe in Mechanical, Quantitative, Linear Clock Time.
Tickets are available at the door for $36.50. Doors open at 7:30 pm.


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We're trialling the WPTap News Press plugin for WordPress for CEviews.org. Tell us what you think after checking this site from any of the following platforms:
This is how it looks on my iPhone 3 GS:
So far, so good. I wish I could customise the colours, as the month on the date icon is hard to read. Here is an article screenshot:
The gravatar (my face) obscures the title of the article, so this is something the authors need to fix. Nonetheless, it is a free plugin and worth trying out. (WPTap also makes some cool-looking paid plugins but I haven't tried them.) Please share below how it performs on your platform.


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Not a Writer. Just an Artist.
I've avoided these blogs because I'm afraid to write. For fear I will use bad grammar, incorrectly spell something, and just simply sound foolish. Well, I probably will do all the above, but I've gotten over my fear. Mainly because I plan to post more images of art and less words. I am going to be disciplined (something new I'm trying on for size) and post something once a week. Hopefully this new found discipline will keep me motivated to get out of my "artist block" and create new works in an attempt to set myself apart from the other starving artists. So here we go...
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When you are writing fiction, you have to make the setting believable. Especially, if you are writing fantasy, or even horror. If you can make the setting believable, then no matter how strange your story gets, the reader will have something they can relate to.
How do you make a believable world?
World building can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. You don't need to make a world, to understand how to build one. You don't have to come up with everything all at once either. I think it's better if you do not, so you can fill the items in as you write and edit.
For simplicity, I will show you how to make a city. You can take some of these same principles and expand on them, if you are making a whole world..
For my series The Coiree Guardians, I decided to make up the city that most of the action takes place in. Where to place it was simple, in a sense. It was on Earth, in the United States, somewhere in the Midwest/rust belt area. Because I had a general idea where it was, the weather patterns, the type of people, buildings, and basic layout were already there. For example, palm trees would not be in the city.
Deerbow City became a mis-mash of cities I had lived in, places I had visited, and other places I had never set foot in, but knew about. Yet, that was just a general idea. What do you need to fill it out, to make it seem real? The same things that you would find in a city; streets, neighborhoods, landmarks, parks, and businesses.
I made a map. As of right now, the map is not fully filled in, and might never be. I started by drawing out the river that bordered one side of the city and it's namesake. Because of some of the things I had written, I knew there were three areas that had to be placed into the city. I didn't draw anything, but I wrote notes about where the places could be on the map.
At the same time, I came up with sketches of some of the important neighborhoods. Like a character sketch, I came up with the history of the neighborhood. I did not have to write an entire history, just a brief overview.
Konakove: First settled by Eastern Europe immigrants Most of the people that lived there worked in the lumber mills along the river. Over the years groups of new immigrants will come to Konakove and first settle in the neighborhood. It's a blue collar
As I wrote the story, I would name streets and places. When I came up with one, I would add it to the map. Not precisely where I thought the places would go, but a general area.
Other main areas had to be thumb nailed, as I went along. Cemeteries, forests, nightclubs, etc. I treated each one the same way.
What if you wanted to make a new world?
First question to ask is; What type of world? Earth-like, Mars-like, artificial, goes through space on the back of a turtle, the possibilities are endless. In the case of the world, you would have to come up with the weather and topography as well.
After you have the general idea of what type of world you are making, zoom in and start small.
Most stories will not encompass a whole world, most will deal with a small portion of it. Start by writing down some ideas.
Perhaps your story starts in a seafaring town.
What size is the town? How busy is the port? Do they offer safe harbor to pirates? Are there pirates? What are the natural dangers, monsters, animals, sea?
If that doesn't spark your imagination. Take your main character on a walk through the town.
Write down what they see and do on a normal day. This will give you a good starting place that you can build upon.
Luckily on the internet, there are sites that can help you design a town, city, country, or even a world. Most of the places cater to role players, but the ideas you can get, should help you if you ever are stuck for a small town in the middle of nowhere.
http://www.seventhsanctum.com/ if you need names, concepts, or any other random help.
http://nine.frenchboys.net/housing.php if you need a name for a town.
http://donjon.bin.sh/world/ for a map of your world, to fill in. And other generators.
Of course http://en.wikipedia.org/ if you need to find out anything, like how oxygen works in the ocean.
It could take years to develop a fiction world to the completeness that some fans of the genre like to see. Yet, you do not have to have every little detail worked out to make the world believable. In your stories you are only showing a small part of it. Work on that section, fill it out, and have fun.


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- This event has passed.
Mind, Brain, and Resilience
May 19, 2018 @ 11:30 am - 2:30 pm
Mind, Brain, and Resilience
Are you curious about how mindset can help with healing? Do you understand how your environment can affect you? Interested in how trauma changes your brain physically, and what can assist you with healing? How does your food affect brain health?
Join us for an event like no other!
Lisa Murphy-Taylor is a holistic nurse whose functional medicine practice gets to the root of why dis-ease occurs. The center of our human universe, the brain, directs us as it simultaneously endures our life's path. Lisa utilizes neurofeedback to return the brain to its optimal functioning. As the brain establishes balance, complaints melt away and better life decisions are made. Lisa also assists clients with small changes in lifestyle and nutrition, when needed. Balancing the brain and body together creates a resilience that opens doors to optimal health. Find out more about Lisa and her company, Health in Your Hands LLC.
Cyd Alper-Sedgwick is the leading Feng Shui Master in Cincinnati. She heals buildings, then heals the people in them. Cyd's forte is changing lives by creating spaces that clear the blockages that hold people back from a life of Harmonic Prosperity. Find out more about Cyd and her company, Full Circle Feng Shui and Life Design.
We are very excited to have both of these phenomenal women on the HIME Wellness Board of Directors. They are a wealth of knowledge, and eager to share with you.
This event is FREE, but DONATIONS will be collected to support Connie's Crusaders, Inc. Connie's Crusaders is a charity that supports those affected by pancreatic cancer, with a mission to increase the survival rate of this devastating disease.


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Pacsun has released the lookbook of the 10-piece capsule collection of Kanye West's Yeezus tour merchandise, shoring up the last piece of Internet domination for Kanye this month. The pieces include T-shirts, a 'dorito' sleeveless sweatshirt and a bomber jacket. The collection goes on sale at Pacsun at 8 P.M. Thanksgiving Day. (There's a countdown clock on the site so you won't miss it.)
(all images via Hypebeast)


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Bits of London: 24 Unconventional Hours
January 1, 1970
by Alice
Who wouldn't visit London once in a time?
London is one of the most popular European capitals and if you aren't lucky enough to have more than a handful of days, I am sure that the place you'll pick will be quite predictable: Buckingham Palace, the Parliament and the Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and St. Paul Cathedral, the British Museum and the National Gallery, the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge…. and I can keep going!
London offers such a wide choice of beautiful places that is unavoidable leave somewhere behind.
For our third trip to London me and my husband ale opted for an unconventional itinerary, with the help of our limited time: only 24 hours!!
We landed at 8 in the morning of a sunny Saturday, and left at 8 in the morning of a rainy Sunday (lucky us!)
To move from the airport to the closest Tube station we chose the bus, booked on-line a month before to get a fair price.
In one hour and a half we arrived at Waterloo Station, ready to start our new adventure in London.
We had with us our Oyster Cards (bought during a previous trip), so we only needed to charge some money on them, tap-in and leave the station for our first stop of the day.
Holland Park
You can find Holland Park in the west side of London, beyond the more famous Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens.
The park is surrounded by a lot of cozy bistros and nice cafes where to enjoy a cup of coffee with a pastry or a more filling Full English (we did both!).
Holland Park is a genuine spot in London: on Saturday morning you could see a lot of Londoners that, dropped out their job suits, run, do yoga, teach their sons how to ride a bike, read or just relax under the mild sunlight of the end of September.
We wandered around without a destination, discovering the park step by step.
Entering from the south entrance you first meet the wide sports area (with an enormous green field, tennis courts, cricket nets and so on) and the children playground, but it's heading north that you'll find yourselves in the very heart of the Park.
Fountains, ponds, squirrels and peacocks, a giant chessboard, a rose garden, a portico with painted walls and a multitude of benches, some isolated under centenary trees and others disseminated near various charming spots, but what you couldn't really miss is the Kyoto Garden, a Japanese garden and an oasis of peace within the Park.
We stopped in the Kyoto Garden for a while, admiring the lovely pond with Koi carps and a waterfall, and observing squirrels, peacocks, ducks and herons live undisturbed in this enchanted place.
Feeling a bit more Zen than before, we left Holland Park for our second stop.
Portobello Market
We chose something opposite to the calm and quiet we experienced before!
To reach Portobello Marked we went through two elegant and exclusive neighborhood, the Boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea and Notting Hill, with beautiful shining white houses and colourful blooming streets.
Portobello Road was jammed with stands and people, a lot of tourists but also many locals searching between vintage furnishings, coins, clothing, posters and antiquities.
The stands prevent the view on the famous multicolored houses that many of us have seen throughout Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant love story (to fully admire them, visit the neighborhood during week days), but wandering around, at some point, you could bump into some imitations of the "Travel Book Co." where William Thacker and Anna Scott first met (don't waste your time trying to locate the original book shop, unfortunately it was closed some years ago).
We strolled around nearly an hour, but after that we started to need some fresh air away from the crowd, so we left Portobello Road and throughout some less packed but still full of colored houses and typical shops, we got back to the Tube to begin our journey to our last but most important stop of the day.
Warner Bros Studios – The Making of Harry Potter
I need to come clean: we took a plane, a bus, the Tube, a train and a bus again (and vice-versa!) in 24 hours only to visit "The Making of Harry Potter" tour at Warner Bros Studios in Watford.
We are huge fans of the Harry Potter world, we loved the books and the films, and to describe the tour I have only two words: completely awesome!
You will find everything, I mean, EVERYTHING!!
Photos, videos, sketches, scale models, posters, books and of course wands, broomsticks, magical objects, costumes and the amazing original sets.
there's a lot more, but those are the "only" things I want to share with you, because what I loved the most was the astonishment discovering every room and every object.
Reality took over imagination.
We jumped on the Hogwarts Express, walked in Diagon Alley, entered the Great hall, tried the Butterbeer (soooo sweet!) and bought some souvenirs (how could we not to??).
We spent 3 hours and a half at the Studios, but you don't have a limited time (exception: the closing time!).
With hindsight I would have booked an earlier entrance to stay at the Studios for at least 4-4,5 hours, but if you are not a photo-addicted who always wants the perfect picture (like me) or a 32 y.o. child who gets stuck mesmerised in front of everything (like my husband), I think that 3 hours is enough to fully enjoy the Tour.
There is only one other thing you need to know before visit the Studios: the tickets must be purchased in advance, since there is no direct ticket sale at the entrance.
Outside the Studios our tiredness became unbearable (we were awake from 3 in the morning and it was 8 in the evening), so we made our journey back to London.
Only the time for a quick meal in a pub near Baker Street, and we were already on the bus to the airport / to the hotel (for a short stay like ours, prefer an accommodation near the airport, you will earn time the next morning!), and after five hours of sleep we were again on a plane, leaving the United Kingdom heading to Milan.
At 12 we finally got home, exhausted but fully satisfied of our 24 unconventional hours in London.
By Alice
Hello everybody! I'm Alice, a 32 y.o. Vet from the North of Italy. Happily married with Ale, proud owner of three obviously perfect cats. I love read, cook, photograph but most of all I love to travel: any time I can, I (we) leave. It could be a day out to a near Italian lake or a 10 days road trip to somewhere in Europe, a visit to an European capital or an escape in the countryside, a walk in the woods or a beaches tour, no matter what, at the end of one journey, I am ready to start a new adventure and take you all with me.Read more at alicethewanderingmind.com
Top 12 Destinations for Backpackers
Looking for adventure in far away places? Get more bang for your buck with these backpacker favourite destinations you may not have thought of!


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French toast:
On one hand, my wife took a half day off today to be here for the delivery of our dishwasher. Yes, we finally are getting a dishwasher. When we first got the house we wanted to get one, then other things came up and we found that doing the dishes by hand wasn't so bad. Since then I have had my share of surgeries and no longer stoop over the sink so Kate has been doing them all herself now for quite some time.
On the other hand, the plumber called this morning and said the carpenter can't make it here in the morning to remove the cabinet due to a health problem with his wife. I had taken tomorrow off to be here for them and now have to decide if I will still take it off or if I will go in to work in the morning. But there's a lot more to that...
Bonding experience:
Beyond the book – Reading as a bonding experience.
Reading with children is so much more than just saying the words on the page. Asking questions about what the child sees and pointing out details on the page help a simple story to become a real bonding experience.
St Clare College will be opening its doors for both boys and girls for a co-education experience. The need to prepare Year 6 students for this venture was felt and so the Principal, Ms Maria Ciappara together with a hard working team of people came together to develop a programme of eight days of activities.
It all commenced when Miss Ciappara, the Principal of Saint Clare College, had the splendid idea of bringing together all St Clare College Year 6 students who will be in Form 1 Pembroke Secondary next September 2013, so when we start school we won't be like: "Who is he? How am I going to make friends here?" Miss Ciappara made sure we never live this unpleasant experience by planning loads of bonding activities......and hey, it really worked, we all made new friends!
My Unforgettable Bonding Experience
Working at Texas Children's Hospital, I've heard a lot about family-centered maternity care, which promotes mom and family bonding with a new baby from the earliest moments of life. I know how important it is, but I learned firsthand how truly powerful it could be during the birth of my second child. My first child's birth was still a good experience, but looking back, I realize what it was lacking. Both my boys were delivered via C-Section. At my first son's delivery, I could hear him in the room with me, but I couldn't see what was happening with him. I couldn't hold him or comfort his cries. And when my husband finally brought him to me swaddled up like a pink and blue striped burrito, it wasn't until we were ready to go back to the recovery room. I imagined this was how my next child's C-section would go.http://www.texaschildrensblog.org/2013/05/my-unforgettable-bonding-experience/
Fear is an emotional response to a perceived threat, usually due to the anticipation of danger. Some emotional states related to fear include alarmed, jittery, anxious (mild fear) and terrified, horrified, and dread (extreme fear).
The paralysing dread one feels before an injection or tooth extraction fires up some of the same brain regions involved in feeling pain itself, say researchers who subjected plucky volunteers to electric shocks. Their discovery supports the idea that distraction could ease a nasty wait.
Are you feeling anxious about your upcoming wedding? Sick to your stomach? Having bad dreams? Does the sight of the dress fill you with dread? Feeling like you may have made a mistake saying "yes" or proposing?
If you answered yes, you are experiencing pre-wedding jitters. This is your subconscious telling you that something is not right and you need to listen to it. It may be that you are nervous about your own ability to be a husband or wife, anxious that your fiancé can't be the spouse you need or both.
I have a useful and interesting word for you today; it's the verb "dread".
The meaning is the opposite of "look forward to". So when we say we are looking forward to something, it means that we are excited and interested about something we are going to do in the future. Therefore, when we say we are dreading something, it means that the activity is one which we have to do but really don't want to do. For example:
I have a dental appointment tomorrow, and I'm really dreading it! I hate going to the dentist!
My mother-in-law is coming for a visit during the holiday. I always dread her visits because she doesn't like me.
My annual work performance evaluation is next week. I'm really dreading it because my boss always gives me extra work to do afterwards.http://englishhelponline.me/2010/12/28/grammatical-word-dread/
Stand out in my mind:
When I look back over the past 31 years of my life, the moments that stand out most sharply in my mind all tend to have one thing in common-they all have that rare ability to make my stomach tumble and steal my very breath.
One story really stands out in my mind from my week in Rangoon, and I think it highlights the sincerity and warmth of the people: the story of the train. There was a small group of us, the self-proclaimed "Burmese Bicycle Gang" (from Serbia, France, and Canada), and one day we decided to take the loop train which rode around the city. Taking approximately three hours, we planned to do nothing but relax on the train, chat with whomever happened to sit beside us, and stare out the window at the passing scenery.
Bruno Mars along with the Red Hot Chili Peppers put on a Superbowl halftime performance that will stand out in my mind as one of the best in a long time.
Pay attention:
Power steering fluid:
Power Steering Fluid Maintenance
Considering what it does, and how much a motorist depends on it, we're talking about the lifeblood of your steering system. Yet keeping it clean and doing its job doesn't require all that much effort.
The function of this fluid is basic: transmitting hydraulic pressure to make steering easy.
Sure enough:
We got about an hour into our shoot and it started to lightly drizzle but we knew the rain was coming! We hurried up our single shots and sure enough it started to down poor and the photographer caught my favorite phot of the day.
Retain / retention:
Using Print To Retain Customers
According to Pareto's principle, 20 percent of customers provide 80 percent of business. Therefore, businesses should focus on retaining every customer they have. A study by Harvard Business School revealed that not only does it cost less to service loyal customers, the purchase volumes of these consumers also increase. Entrepreneurs should use inexpensive commercial printing to generate impressive profits.
If a company wants to increase their sales in the long run, it must work towards attracting customers and retaining them. A successful and profitable company is one that knows how to set its priorities right. Customer satisfaction should always be the first priority and retention of customers should be the ultimate goal in order for sales to be increased.
The first stage is Exposure. Here you expose suspects to your products and services and turn them into a prospect. Next is the Adoption stage. Getting your prospect through the sales process and consuming your product or service is the goal. The last stage is Retention.
Bain and Company research established that it is 10x more costly to acquire a new customer than retain an existing one. So naturally, you wish to retain customers and turn them into advocates.
Advocates will pay more, buy more, provide useful input on products and services, and insulate you from the effectiveness of competitor's price promotions. Properly enabled, advocates also influence like minded individuals and expose them to your brand. Because of this, it is important to continue to build the relationship.
Tweak family recipes to retain weight
Family matriarchs often covet secret family recipes that have been handed down from generation to generation. "My grandmother had some of the best recipes," said Vivienne Halpern, MD, a member of the Society for Vascular Surgery. "Yet, I know if she were with us today, she would adjust those recipes to provide her family with healthier meals."
Big Brother to retain eye icon
'Big Brother' will keep its famous eye icon when it switches to Channel 5.
The broadcaster and Endemol UK have decided the iconic motif - which has been used since the reality TV show was launched in 2000 - will be kept in place, with designer Daniel Eatock set to create a new twist on the standard eye when the series hits screens later in the year.
Ani Yurukova
February 2017


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Once you have selected your vehicle, you have to register yourself at the website and produce an auction bid. Otherwise, now's a great time to be mindful of if you wish to buy cars that are cheap and fantastic. An individual should always buy used Lamborghini cars if it's offered in the auction.
From car make, kind and price, you can pick any car that you want through convenient and fast means. Check if the amount of the vehicle is engraved on any portion of the vehicle, if it's, that automatically devalues the car even if it's in only one place. You might also feel that only older cars can be found in Japanese car auctions, but you can locate a large choice of new releases also. There's nothing to be worried about in the event you aren't able to discover your favourite JDM car in the auction list.
If you're thinking of purchasing a car but have a limited budget, you might want to obtain a used vehicle. Cars bought through auctions generally includes a transparent high quality assurance. Japanese cars appear to have far more value and are less difficult to sell than every other automobile brand. Buying Japanese used cars exports usually involves a good deal of research as to where to find the greatest Japanese cars at reasonable prices.
The 30-Second Trick for Used Cars Exports
Cars are growing in number even though there are indications that may be slowing somewhat. A vehicle is no longer considered a luxury but a necessity. They might be useful, but that is not necessarily the case in regards to used dealerships. Purchasing a Nigerian used car is even a lot more tedious. It implies you are taking on risk of some sort.
If you've requested a specific kind of car the exporter will browse the website till they find something nearly matching and find a concept of the purchase price. Whether you plan to register the vehicle in your name, you would need to renew all the documents up to now in the name of the prior owner at first before you are able to use the vehicle. Electric cars need a ton less post-sales maintenance. Electric cars and other vehicles continue to get momentum, in the same way autonomous features have become mainstream.
Finding the Best Used Cars Exports
In the best-case scenario, there'll be very little incentive for folks to have a vehicle, as vehicle ownership is going to take a back seat to Mobility for a Service (MaaS). As a result, if you're looking to purchase a vehicle and you decide to work with Integrity Exports, you will have a broad number of options to select from. Expanding the profit which you are earning through the business you've chosen which is into exporting and importing you will have the ability to have the very best outcome of offering your clients selling or buying cars which are always available in your company.
Introducing Used Cars Exports
You could possibly be considering buying a car through a Japanese automobile auction, but you don't need a Japanese vehicle. Without a doubt, cars are the very best friend of a guy. Purchasing a vehicle is an essential decision in the current world and that's why customers would want to receive the best prices for purchasing their vehicles be it a vehicle, bike or a truck. If you've been thinking to receive a new car for yourself, why don't you get a Japanese used auto, instead of spending a lot of money purchasing a brand new one. Japanese used cars can be found in all price ranges and you'll be able to get still find the best cars in your affordable prices.


text: Explainable Artificial Intelligence: How Does it Work? Artificial Intelligence It has been said that questions of "why" are best left to philosophy, while science is the best realm to tackle questions of "how." The field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is often where these worlds intersect and at times, where they collide. "I don't know why it works, but it works" doesn't actually work when


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Looking Forward to Face ID
Looking Forward to Face ID
November 6, 2017
The Times of Israel — Passwords may be going the way of the floppy disk, and our faces may be the next key to our data security, according to a recent survey conducted by Secret Double Octopus (SDO), a cyber security startup that was founded on BGU research.
Focusing on the future of phone and device security, the survey shows a wide degree of optimism for face-recognition technology. Face ID, as it is called, is a major new feature of the set-to-launch iPhone X, and is being primed to replace fingerprint and password access technology in the near future.
The online survey asked 522 employees, ages 25 to 64, working at businesses with at least 1,000 employees in the U.S. to tell them what they really thought about the various authentication methods available.
Some 81 percent of respondents said Face ID was "trustworthy" — with 70 percent going as far as to say it was "extremely or very trustworthy" — and 91 percent "think it will be easy to use."
More than 70 percent said they would choose Face ID over passwords if they had a choice, with 70 percent categorizing Face ID as "extremely or very trustworthy" — even if they had never used this technology or tried it out.
Founded in 2015 and based in Beer-Sheva, Secret Double Octopus developed the world's only password-free, keyless authentication technology "to protect identity and data across cloud, mobile and IoT (internet of things) environments."
The startup deploys the same kind of authentication methods used to guarantee the safety of nuclear launch codes. With nuclear weapons, typically, different people have just a piece of the full launch codes, and before a launch all of these pieces must fit correctly together. SDO's technology essentially reproduces the same authentication mechanism.
Prof. Shlomi Dolev, the Rita Altura Trust Chair in Computer Sciences at BGU, is SDO's co-founder and chief scientific officer, and Dr. Shimrit Tzur-David, SDO's chief technology officer, worked with Prof. Dolev as a postdoctoral researcher when the company was founded.
Secret Double Octopus published the survey as part of a broader report on data security and authentication methods called Facing a Future Without Passwords.
"We initiated this survey because we wanted to look past the hype to really understand what people think about the authentication methods they are required to navigate daily — anything from passwords, tokens and SMS to touch ID," says Raz Rafaeli, SDO's co-founder and chief executive officer.
"We also wanted to know what people are expecting from new authentication alternatives, specifically Face ID," Rafaeli adds.


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Pest Control Dubai : Gardening Pest Control in Dubai UAE. Although it seems rather easy to set up gardening and pest control, there are many things that you must consider first. In fact, many of the things that you'll read about here are not discussed often. Before you start your garden pest control, consider these tips: Gardening and pest control is at least as old as agriculture. It's an industry that's growing rapidly. The pest control business has grown more than 50 percent in the last 5 years or so, and nationwide it has become a $7 billion industry. With more homes being built in rural areas the problem of pest control has become more urgent. What is Gardening and …Read More »
Pest Control Dubai : Biological Pest Control in Dubai
Pest Control Dubai : Biological Pest Control in Dubai UAE. Before we can get into trying to understand whether biological pest control is the answer to the pest-control related environmental concerns, it would be proper to give ourselves a little background information on this whole pest control business; for the benefit of those who may be encountering it for the very first time. Now, pests are organisms (typically insects) that are injurious to the interests of the people who refer to them as such. Thus to farmers, the insects that invade and eat up their crops (whether in the fields or during storage), would be termed as pests. On the other hand, the 'domestic insects' that tend to mess up …Read More »
Pest Control Dubai : Green Pest Control in Dubai
Pest Control Dubai : Green Pest Control in Dubai UAE. Integrated Pest Management. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a large component of any green pest control program. However, it is important to note that this type of management is not inherently green on its own; it can also be used as part of a traditional pest control service. Green pest control does not mean ineffective pest control; rather, it is all about integrated pest management, or IPM. A pest control company that embraces IPM believes prevention, client awareness and education, and building inspections are all as important as controlling pests. Integrated pest management begins with learning how and why a pest entered a home or building. Professionals in this field …Read More »


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Behold the ascension of Stephen Bannon from a "blue-collar, Irish Catholic, pro-Kennedy, pro-union family of Democrats," as he told Bloomberg, to the role of top advisor to Republican Donald Trump's presidential campaign.
It's a common enough story for a Reagan Democrat, but Bannon is uncommonly wealthy, earning his riches from Seinfeld rerun rights, the Globe and Mail reports. But now the conservative website he heads, Breitbart News, is the target of accusations of being an Alt-Right haven for anti-semitism and white nationalism, peddling paranoia about political correctness on behalf of its leader's new boss, Trump.
Bannon replaces Paul Manafort as campaign adviser. Manafort was an old hand at turning murderous dictators into freedom fighters in the eyes of Washington policy makers. That being said, Pamela Geller, a noted Islamophobe and Birther and president of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, praised Bannon's entrance into the campaign in heroic terms.
"I know Steve Bannon. It's an inspired choice. Andrew Breitbart is cheering from heaven. Brilliant. Steve Bannon is a warrior. He has long understood that this is a war in the information battle-space (something the right has failed to grasp, despite the left's smear machine against those with whom they disagree). The media is out to destroy Donald Trump. Trump needs a champion, a 'Patton,' a Bannon. This is fantastic news. Heads are exploding on the left," Geller wrote in reaction to the news.
Bannon describes his own site as a "platform for the Alt-Right," Mother Jones reports, and it now forms the third arm in an axis including Trump and his Alt-Right fans online. Mondoweiss spoke to the Alt Right in Cleveland, where they came to celebrate Trump's nomination and the humiliation of his detractors in the Republican party, turned off by his appeals to white nationalism.
Many of those cheering Trump are unapologetic white nationalists and "racial realists," born and raised online, for whom Manafort was never able to bring Bannon's brand of digital juice, and appeared to be trying to force Trump into a mold friendly to the Federal Communications Commission. But Trump is a product of the Internet, where FCC niceties don't apply.
What this revamped campaign means for Trump's take on the middle east remains to be seen; Bannon has only held Manafort's old position for less than a week, and in the middle of slow-news doldrums of August. But looking at Breitbart's Israel vertical, Breitbart Jerusalem, it's possible to get an idea of where Bannon might take Trump over the next few months. The section on the sprawling conservative site demands allegiance to Islamophobic vision of the world, a uniting theme in Trump's campaign for months now. Geller's enthusiastic endorsement comes as no surprise. Trump has already said that opposition to Radical Islamism would be the main criterion for whether the US considered another country an ally. In serving the election-year interests of the Trump campaign, the site has begun trying to paint Clinton as an enemy of Israel.
"If you love Israel, Trump is the only possible choice," reads the headline for a story published Sunday by Joel Pollak. Pollak explains his reasoning.
"Trump is the first American presidential nominee to tell the Israelis that they should keep building settlements in the West Bank as long as the Palestinians refuse to abandon terror and refuse to negotiate a peace agreement. While the left reacted in horror, the proposal is the first that would restore Israel's negotiating leverage," Pollak writes.
"Until now, the message has been that there is no amount of murder or incitement that would cause the American patrons of the Palestinian cause to cut off the cash flow. The Donald's proposal is a total reset, a new opening offer that will, ironically, lead to more fruitful peace negotiations in the end."
To find out how that's going, one could turn to Breitbart Jerusalem, which has reporters on the ground covering daily news events. They have their own original article about a shootout between Palestinian Security forces and armed fighters in Nablus, even citing a Palestinian civil servant about the mayhem. And there's a piece about a Palestinian song extolling Palestinian resistance as a "thorn in the throat of Zionism," citing Palestinian Media Watch.
"The singer films Arabs from the Israeli cities of Jaffa, Haifa, Lod, Ramle, Acre, Nazareth, Galilee, Beersheva, Tiberias, Safed, Beit Shean, and Jerusalem but does not distinguish between those filmed in Palestinian cities such as Jenin," the article states, published under the byline "Breitbart Jerusalem."
While plucky, there are some signs that Breitbart Jerusalem is missing a few details. On the main photo for this article, however, Breitbart Jerusalem shows a woman holding a sign in Farsi reading "Death for Israel" (Marj bar Israel) Protip: Not many Palestinians speak Farsi. So there's a learning curve, clearly.
There are also other articles that highlight spiraling chaos and inhumane acts across the middle east, even if they don't have any relevance to politics, but appear to feed an audience craving more news linking Arabs to violence. Compare the headlines: "Cairo Man Accused Of Pushing Wife Off Building For Failing To Do Laundry" and "Seinfeld Star Touches Down in Israel." That star is Wayne Knight. Newman.
"The Holy Land seems to be loved by all the stars of Seinfeld, which broadcast 9 series and came to an end in 1998," Breitbart Jerusalem, the author, adds.
Newman . . .
What does the Alt-Right itself make of all this? Richard Spencer, head of Alt-Right think tank National Policy Institute, founded in Montana but now based in Northern Virginia, also sees Clinton as being an ally to Zionists. There's a catch, however.
Spencer told Mondoweiss in an email that he believes that Trump, for his part, will likely maintain the "status quo" in Israel. Indeed, Spencer himself advocates for something akin to the Democratic party's platform on Israel/Palestine, where a two state solution, retro as it sounds amid walls and drone surveillance and expanding settlements, makes the most sense. Carving out new nation states, exclusively for one identity or another, presumably in the name of peace among worlds, syncs up well with the "separate but equal" philosophy behind the Two State Solution. In Spencer's opinion, a "line in the sand" is the only way for Israel to guarantee its security. The Two State solution was an Alt-Right idea, relying on nationalism as a solution to inter-ethnic clashes, long before there was a #AltRight.
"Trump has the personality of a realist. He recognizes the power that Israel and the organized Jewish community possess worldwide; I doubt he would challenge that in a serious way," he said. "If I were an Israeli, I would advocate drawing a line in the sand and reaching a peaceful separation, which would probably involve two separate sovereign states. Jews and Palestinians are not better together; they are better apart. Together, they live in a situation of domination and subjection; apart, they could live peacefully."
Democrats, and Republicans, with their fixation on the Two State Solution, have already set the stage for what Bannon and his cadre are selling. Spencer called Breitbart "Alt-Right Lite," since many of its writers come from the conservative movement itself. But instead of a dilution, he sees it as a union of his movement's ideas with the realities of now mainstream populist politics in 2016.
"I would make a distinction between the Alt Right (the movement with which I'm associated, and which is connected to nationalism, identitarianism, race-realism, etc.) and what could be called "Alt-Right Lite" (Breitbreit etc.). Alt Right Lite is not really a watering down of the Alt-Right so much as it represents a convergence. Bannon and Breitbart.com are not coming from the same place that I am; they've probably never heard of the term 'identitarian' nor read a word of the French New Right nor thought about the reality of race or critiques of Zionism too seriously.
"Their background in conservatism leads them to have some conventional Republican opinions on the Israel question. Their populist streak leads them to converge with the Alt-Right on issues like immigration and even race. The anti-White animus in political institutions, media, academia, and culture is so obvious that a populist could not help but notice it–and fight against it," he added.
And what does this melding of Bannon's site and Trump mean for the future?
"So Breitbart and the Alt-Right are coming together. A very interesting development. I expect in the near future, Alt-Right intellectuals will begin directly influencing populists on foreign-policy and other crucial questions.


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The tower crane installation for the Pediatric Tower E vertical expansion project is still scheduled for this Saturday, December 12. From 7 p.m. Friday, December 11, to 7 p.m. Sunday, December 13, northbound lanes of Main Street will be closed from Holcombe Boulevard to Southgate Boulevard to install the tower crane.
Signage will be posted to detour northbound traffic to Fannin Street then westbound on Dryden Road, or westbound on Holcombe Boulevard to northbound on Greenbriar. Southbound lanes of Main Street will remain open and the intersection at Main Street and Southgate Boulevard will remain open for access to the Pavilion for Women.
Police officers will assist with pedestrian and vehicular traffic per the approved City of Houston traffic control plans. To ensure everyone's safety, anyone who is not required to be in the area during this activity is encouraged to stay away. Communications with immediate neighbors have been provided.
Ongoing construction activities
Truck traffic will continue along Main Street, with intermittent lane closures for trucks entering and exiting the construction area. Flag men will be in place to direct traffic safely. Employees should be aware of and plan for potential traffic delays.
- Work within the Food and Nutrition and Pediatric Radiology spaces on levels 3 and 5 respectively will continue to prepare for the material hoist installation along the northwest side of the building in December. Specific operational coordination with these departments is occurring.
- Toward the beginning of January 2016, overhead sidewalk barricades will be installed over portions of the sidewalk along the west side of Fannin Street adjacent to Building E once the tower crane is completely installed and functional.
Pedestrian safety reminder
The sidewalk on the east side of Main Street will remain closed from Holcombe to Southgate Boulevard. Employees and guests are encouraged to use the north pedestrian crosswalk at the Main Street and Southgate Boulevard intersection to safely cross Main Street. Facilities Planning & Development appreciates everyone's compliance with this detour.


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Category Archives: Programming
Jellies Swarm Dome Video Server :: Monterey Bay Aquarium
With a half sphere dome spanning 8 feet in diameter, the total surface area when corrected for curvature is the equivalent to a 170 inch display. And with the quality standards the designers at the Aquarium have always prided themselves on, with a display of that size, a more realistic experience that comes from pixel density was absolutely important. They selected a projector with a native resolution that exceeded 2K standards of 2560×1600, and it was up to me to find a flawless playback solution that not only could handle they data rate of an uncompressed video at that resolution, but also could sync to a secondary video stream with bi-lingual captions of the narrated 3D animation.
I looked into how to best push that much video data and settled on a utilizing a custom presenter provided by Window's Enhanced Video Renderer, and built the computer with a second video card to handle the status reporting. The final result is flawless playback that is without stuttering or image tearing.
Press Kit & Media Management System :: Dolby Labs
Password protected dashboard
At its core, Dolby Laboratories is an intellectual property and licensing company. And in the rapidly changing marketplace of media technology, it's important to be able to quickly and efficiently publish their market place victories to media outlets. With that need in mind, we created a custom media manage system that not only stores and encodes their media assets, but provides them an easy method to create, publish and maintain digital press kits that can be used by the media to help them spread Dolby news.
In addition to creating this system, we remain on to not only maintain it, but to provide round the clock support for Dolby and their partners to not only make sure the technology works, but to insure that the underlining vision of the system is successful.
While I handled the MySQL, AS3, dashboard design, some of the PHP and all of the project management, the graphic design of the front page and the development of the front page was done by vendors of mine.
Tyson CDI Tool :: Joe Khirallah
With modern day computing power, for many, data is king. But organizing massive amounts of data to efficiently learn from it is a modern day challenge. For Tyson, the shear amount of data they collect quarterly is massively daunting, and being a skilled analyst doesn't automatically make you gifted with database management. This is where I came in.
I created a custom front end interface to a complex MySQL database that allows a team at Tyson to easily not only track existing trends but to discover new ones. By listening to our client, we were able to rapidly build a tool that Tyson relies on for reporting, sales and making strategic decisions. In addition I built in many fail safes to quickly address any data integrity issues that could arise while inputting new quarterly data.
Purdue Benefits Video :: Purdue University
This is another project made from my XML driven synchronized content engine that I call Hybrid Video. Making videos that have a large amount of repetitive graphic elements like bullet boxes can be produced much faster using this engine and by keeping the video layered like this allows for a lot of slick dynamic content that can be added. Plus the "look" of the graphics comes from a separate file much like CSS, so the video can be completely re-skinned quickly.
And if you'd like to learn more about our Hybrid Video technology, click here.
UnPeg® DDR
UnPeg® DDR is an off shoot of the original player software, but with a different UI geared for providing video playback for live TV environments. When used with a supported Black Magic Decklink card, the software can also play out a key signal, allowing for live real time graphic playout as well.
MBARI: Mission to the Deep :: Monterey Bay Aquarium
The sister organization to the Monterey Bay Aquarium is the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, or MBARI. And when that connection was to be showcased in the Monterey Bay Aquarium, we stepped up to help in numerous ways. From programming the 3 video games visitors play that demonstrate various research MBARI projects to providing our own uncompressed HD video player software (UnPeg) and hardware for a 3 channel video wall and tied all of it together so the whole system together so it all was synchronized with the Aquarium's show controller. The permanent exhibit has been open since 2007 and has only required one service visit from us (which had a response time of under 12 hours).
Zero Gravity Photo Stage :: Chabot Space and Science Center
For an exhibit on the International Space Station, Chabot had a bold challenge to solve; providing a way for visitors to take a photo of themselves in zero gravity. With a budget that excluded commissioning a NASA level contraption to accomplish this goal, Chabot decided to simplify the challenge to taking a photo of someone at the height of a jump into the air. From there, we set off to solve how best to do it. Our solution was to utilize a commercial grade floor mat, like the ones used for automatic doors at grocery stores. With that, our solution recorded all the frames between the time someone leaves to mat to when they land back on it. From there the three images that are at their highest point (when they are neutral to the pull of gravity) are presented for them to select and email to themselves and friends. And for Chabot, they get monthly update for their mailing list of visitors that opted into receiving their newsletter.
images of people jumping.
The final piece was hugely successful and is still one of the most popular installations at Chabot with an average of 60,000 photos taken annually.
UnPeg® Custom Interactive Video Player
UnPeg® is a Windows based DirectShow player I made for providing videos for interactive exhibits. It's supports either fullscreen playback or output via HDSDI. In addition, it provides 3 different methods to trigger videos playback (keyboard, MIDI and serial). It also supports syncing with other devices and other UnPegs® regardless of frame rate. It also provides seemless looping.
It's been installed in many exhibits for as long as 5 years and has been maintenance free and easy to startup.
Telescope Search :: Chabot Space and Science Center
This installation presented the visitor with 5 objects to search in the sky using spinner controls.