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Safety Tips to Stay Prepared
National Safety Month, which begins June 1, serves as an annual reminder to be mindful of opportunities to prevent unnecessary injuries. While safety should always be a number one priority in our day-to-day lives, having the month of June dedicated to safety imakes this the ideal time to prepare.
Emergency Preparedness
Regardless of where you live, we can all experience weather-related emergencies. Whether your home is in a region that experiences snow, ice, rainstorms, flooding, or other types of natural disasters, it's always important to be prepared. While weather patterns allow us to track big storms, the severity and direction of weather events like hurricanes can change at any given time. These helpful tips can help your family be prepared before any emergency by:
- Making a plan
- Choosing a route or know evacuation routes
- Keeping essentials safe
- Considering all pets and people
- Dividing and conquering tasks to prepare your home
- Staying connected to weather-related activities
Having a plan in place is just the first step in emergency preparedness. To ensure your family can appropriately execute your plan in times of need, practice it regularly and discuss the various responsibilities for each person living in your home.
Emergency Kits
When an emergency strikes, the last thing you want to be concerned with is all of the things you'll need to pack. Rather than waiting for that time, we recommend having an emergency kit readily available to take with you. Follow these tips for stocking a home emergency kit:
- Packing essentials like nonperishable food, water, flashlights, medicine, first-aid kit, etc.
- Sealing everything in a waterproof casing
- Keeping important papers with you, including your homeowner's insurance policy
An emergency kit is an integral element of your emergency plan. Over time, products in your kit may become damaged or expired. Since it is always important to practice emergency readiness, make it a point to regularly sort through your emergency kit and replace any older items.
Don't Forget Pets
Our furry friends are part of the family, too, which means it is our responsibility to ensure their safety in times of emergency. When stocking your emergency kits and creating your emergency plans, always keep your pets in mind. Make sure to have a leash, bed, food, water and other emergency supplies packed for them.
During National Safety Month, allot some time to have an up-to-date emergency plan in place and check all of your emergency kits. That way, your family will be well equipped if it is ever needed.
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The Big Ten isn't the only conference with a fancy new championship game. The Pac-12 is hosting their first title game this weekend as well. Oregon is looking to become the Pac-12 champ for the third year in a row, while UCLA is just hoping not to get blown off the field for the second week in a row. Pac-12 rules dictates that the team with the better conference record hosts the title game, so this year the Ducks will host the game in Eugene, Oregon.
Who's Playing?
UCLA Bruins 6-6 (5-4) @ #9 Oregon Ducks 10-2 (8-1)
What's at Stake?
The title of first Pac-12 Champion and a trip to the Rose Bowl.
Where is it?
Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon
When is it?
Friday, December 2 at 8 PM on FOX
How they Got Here:
Sept. 3rd - L @ Houston 38-34
Sept. 10th - W vs. San Jose State 27-17
Sept. 17th - L vs. Texas 49-20
Sept. 24th - W @ Oregon State 27-19
Oct. 1st - L @ Stanford 45-19
Oct. 8th - W vs. Washington State 28-25
Oct. 20th - L @ Arizona 48-12
Oct. 29th - W vs. Cal 31-14
Nov. 5th - W vs. Arizona State 29-28
Nov. 12th - L @ Utah 31-6
Nov. 19th - W vs. Colorado 45-6
Nov. 26th - L @ USC 50-0
UCLA has had an up and down season. They were pretty close to not being bowl eligible at all. They have a good rushing game with RB Johnathan Franklin rushing for 912 yards and 5 TDs, RB Derrick Coleman rushing for 643 yards and 11 TDs. QB Kevin Price added 424 rushing yards of his own, yet only 1463 passing yards and 8 TDs to 7 INTs (see? There are worse QBs than Matt McGloin out there). WR Nelson Rosario broke 1000 yards receiving and finished the year with 1008 yards and 2 TDs. The Bruins scoring offense and defense ranked 88th and 87th respectively.
Sept. 3rd - L vs. LSU 40-27
Sept. 10th - W vs. Nevada 59-20
Sept. 17th - W vs. Missouri State 56-7
Sept. 24th - W @ Arizona 56-31
Oct. 6th - W vs. Cal 43-15
Oct. 15th - W vs. Arizona State 41-27
Oct. 22nd - W @ Colorado 45-2
Oct. 29th - W vs. Washington State 43-28
Nov. 5th - W @ Washington 34-17
Nov. 12th - W @ Stanford 53-30
Nov. 19th - L vs. USC 38-35
Nov. 26th - W vs. Oregon State 49-21
Oregon had one of the most prolific offenses in the nation this year, finishing 3rd in scoring offense and 6th in total offense. The offense is driven by Oregon's zone-read system. LaMichael James and Kenjon Barner combined for 2257 yards rushing and 25 TDs. They led the Ducks to 291 yards on the ground per game. If defenses didn't have enough to worry about with the Ducks' running game, QB Darron Thomas threw for 2274 yards and 27 TDs to only 5 INTs. Thomas spread the ball around pretty evenly and 4 Oregon WRs registered over 300 yards receiving, and 9 different players caught a TD.
So Who's Going to Win?
UCLA is lucky to be playing in this game. If UCLA keeps it close for a quarter, it'll be a success for them. UCLA's defense isn't good enough to slow down the Blur Offense, and their offense is too anemic to keep up. If Oregon loses this game, it'll easily be the upset of the year.
Prediction: Oregon - 59 UCLA - 20
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subset: commoncrawl


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As expected, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell upheld Patriots quarterback Tom Brady's four-game Deflategate suspension. What is notable however is one fact released by the NFL. Brady allegedly met with NFL investigators, including Ted Wells, and then (after being informed of the need to examine his cellphone) ordered minions to destroy his phone. In a criminal case, such an action could be viewed as obstruction — a separate chargeable offense.
Here is the NFL's release:
"On or shortly before March 6, the day that Tom Brady met with independent investigator Ted Wells and his colleagues, Brady directed that the cellphone he had used for the prior four months be destroyed. He did so even though he was aware that the investigators had requested access to text messages and other electronic information that had been stored on that phone.
"During the four months that the cellphone was in use, Brady had exchanged nearly 10,000 text messages, none of which can now be retrieved from that device. The destruction of the cellphone was not disclosed until June 18, almost four months after the investigators had first sought electronic information from Brady.
I share the NFL's view that the destruction of the phone is highly suspicious conduct. We have previously discussed the scandal.
View Story
Brady had cellphone destroyed, 10,000 texts with it
The Patriots quarterback said it's his standard practice to destroy his old phones when he gets a new one.
Tom Brady's agent calls appeals process 'a sham'
Timeline of events in Deflategate
Poll: Does NFL ruling change your mind on Brady?
Document: NFL denies Tom Brady's appeal on Deflategate
Social media reacts to Tom Brady's suspension
"Based on the Wells Report and the evidence presented at the hearing, Commissioner Goodell concluded in his decision that Brady was aware of, and took steps to support, the actions of other team employees to deflate game footballs below the levels called for by the NFL's Official Playing Rules. The commissioner found that Brady's deliberate destruction of potentially relevant evidence went beyond a mere failure to cooperate in the investigation and supported a finding that he had sought to hide evidence of his own participation in the underlying scheme to alter the footballs."
According to reports, Brady authorized the NFL Players Association to escalate the matter to the legal system, and the NFL has also asked a New York court to confirm its decision.
The NFLPA called the commissioner's decision "outrageous," and issued its own statement.
"The Commissioner's ruling today did nothing to address the legal deficiencies of due process. The NFL remains stuck with the following facts:
■ The NFL had no policy that applied to players;
■ The NFL provided no notice of any such policy or potential discipline to players;
■ The NFL resorted to a nebulous standard of "general awareness" to predicate a legally unjustified punishment;
■ The NFL had no procedures in place until two days ago to test air pressure in footballs; and
■ The NFL violated the plain meaning of the collective bargaining agreement.
The fact that the NFL would resort to basing a suspension on a smoke screen of irrelevant text messages instead of admitting that they have all of the phone records they asked for is a new low, even for them, but it does nothing to correct their errors.
The NFLPA will appeal this outrageous decision on behalf of Tom Brady."
The NFL explained its decision in a 20-page report that accompanied its announcement. According to the report, Brady testified at his suspension appeal hearing on June 23 that it is standard practice for him, or his assistant, to destroy his old cellphones and SIM cards upon acquiring a new one.
He began using a new phone "on or about March 6," which is also the day he met with Ted Wells and investigators to be interviewed about Deflategate.
Goodell served as the arbitrator for the appeal hearing, which was held at NFL headquarters in New York on June 23. The closed-door hearing lasted 11 hours, and ESPN reported that nearly 40 people were in the room.
Among the witnesses was Wells, who led the Deflategate investigation that resulted in Brady's four-game suspension. Wells confirmed he testified but didn't offer any details.
Though Patriots owner Robert Kraft was not at the hearing, he wrote a letter on Brady's behalf.
Brady's legal team argued that not only did Wells find no definitive proof of a scheme to deflate game balls in the AFC Championship game against the Colts or of Brady having any knowledge of such a plan, it also claimed Brady's punishment was far too harsh based on precedent — a four-game suspension would cost Brady $1.88 million.
Brady was initially notified of his suspension by NFL vice president of football operations Troy Vincent on May 11. The Patriots were also penalized, losing a first-round draft pick in 2016, a fourth-round pick in 2017, and fined a league-record $1 million.
On May 14, the NFL Players Association filed an appeal on Brady's behalf.
In its letter to Vincent, which was signed by NFLPA general counsel Tom DePaso, the union outlined three major points as to why Brady's punishment should be vacated or reduced.
The first: Under the collective bargaining agreement, Vincent does not have the authority to determine and mete out discipline, only Goodell does.
"As both Mr. Brady's discipline letter and the NFL's public statements make clear, you were tasked by Commissioner Goodell to determine whether Mr. Brady should be subject to discipline for conduct detrimental in connection with the events described in the Wells Report, and if so, to decide and impose the discipline," the letter said. "And you have, in fact, imposed Mr. Brady's discipline pursuant to the Commissioner's purported delegation of his authority.
"Any such delegation is a plain violation of the CBA. The CBA grants the Commissioner — and only the Commissioner — the authority to impose conduct detrimental discipline on players."
Another of the union's points of contention was that Brady's four-game suspension was far too harsh given precedent and punishment given to other players for similar infractions; and it also attacked the credibility of the Wells Report.
Just hours after the appeal was filed, news emerged that Goodell intended to serve as the appeals officer. The NFLPA then demanded that Goodell recuse himself and appoint a neutral arbitrator, arguing in part that if the league truly believed the Wells Report was a fair and independent investigation, it should have no problem having an independent individual oversee the appeal.
Additionally, the NFLPA made clear its intention of calling Goodell and Vincent as witnesses at the hearing, and having the commissioner as de facto judge and witness would complicate that.
On May 22, NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith, appearing on ESPN, said the union had not gotten a response from Goodell on whether he would recuse himself and if there wasn't a response within a week, the union would "turn up the volume" on its request.
A report came a short time after Smith's interview aired that Goodell had decided to remain as arbitrator, but a league spokesmen said Goodell had not made his decision. Rather, the NFL's lawyers had submitted their arguments to Goodell as to why he should not hand off the hearing to a different arbitrator.


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Ezekiel De'Shun Chester, 19 of Adairville, was jailed in Rome after police said when they attempted to pull him over for failing to maintain a lane he tossed a r marijuana blunt out of the passenger window of his car.
A search of his car led police to then find an open container of alcohol. Police went on to add that they spotted Chester supporting his cellphone with his body.
Chester is charged with possession of marijuana, tampering with evidence, failure to maintain lane, open container, distracted driving and possession of alcohol by a minor.


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Chart: USDJPY, H4
From the top of this year, hit in May, the US dollar lost about 9.5%. It managed to recover about 78% of this fall after Federal Reserve announced that it will start tapering the QE program this year and stop it in 2014.
Yen is becoming a week currency because of the monetary easing started by BoJ. The program already shows an improvement in Japan's economy so the Central Bank will maintain it a current values until the end of the year. They are targeting deflation and the devaluation of the currency, in their opinion, is just the effect.
During the past 7 days USDJPY has consolidated in a symmetrical triangle right under the 78.6 retrace of the latest impulse of the main uptrend. This means that investors are not yet convinced in which currency to invest. While they are waiting for further signals from the Central Banks, we can look for technical signals to understand in which they will invest next.
If the price will break the upper line and close on a 240 minutes time frame above it could trigger a new rally for the US dollar and target the 102.00 price. On the other hand, if the price will close under the lower line we might witness a drop to 96.70 (the 61.8 Fibonacci retrace of the uptrend).USD or JPY what would traders choose? by Razvan Mihai


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The meeting took place in Wiener Neustadt in March 2019. From all partners participants attended the meeting, The focus was set on management and project related issues.
The aim of the meeting was: "Bring the project on rails". The project group discussed the project's detail in presentation and has done specifications. The preparation work before the project start has been evaluated, the project details have been discussed, necessary agreements have been arranged.
The steering group of the project was established and fixed. Organisational issues were cleared as well as the final communication (using different channels) has been established. The date of the first teaching event has been fixed.
Here is a short statement of the participants of the meeting.
Video: of the project.
Videoed & edited: Stefanie Mayrwöger (EBI/EIE)


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Thursday, December 6, 2001
Killer depressed
Feared family would disappear, inquest toldBy BRIAN GRAY, Toronto Sun
Clinical depression kept Ralph Hadley from leaving home because he irrationally feared his family would disappear before he returned, a coroner's inquest heard yesterday.
Family counsellor Birgit Van Helsdingen told the inquest into Gillian and Ralph Hadley's murder-suicide that Ralph cried through a session on Oct. 28, 1999, when he revealed his fears.
"He envisioned he would come home and the family would not be there," Van Helsdingen said. "But he admitted his feelings were not reality based."
Ralph missed work for almost a month in the fall of 1999 because he couldn't leave the house.
The depression drove Ralph to seek help from his family doctor days later, and after a depression test confirmed his poor mental state, Dr. Mark Milgram perscribed an anti-depressant.
However, the doctor never saw signs Ralph was suicidal, Milgram testified yesterday. "Usually the patients will almost tell you they want to kill themselves," he said.
Van Helsdingen said Ralph had "power and control and anger issues" to work out during five sessions between Oct. 5, 1999 and Feb 4, 2000, but even Gillian never expressed any fears about Ralph physically abusing her or the children.
In their last meeting, Ralph told Van Helsdingen about finding Gillian having sex with another man, slapping her shortly afterwards and putting her in the car.
"What would have any other man done?" was Ralph's attitude, Van Helsdingen testified.
"He was thinking in terms of justifying the assault."
The inquest continues Monday.
Copyright © 2001, Canoe Limited Partnership.


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|Cycplus Electric Air Pump A8
|Available at
|High Performance Electric Air Pump A8
|Max Inflation Pressure
|36 x 64 x 172.9mm
|My Rating
Gone are the days of pumping away with your foot to inflate a tyre – with the new generation of electric air pumps, you can sit back and let the pump itself do the work for you… that is unless, you're a glutton for punishment or are looking for new and innovative ways to do a workout, in which case you may want to stick to your old hand pump…
I'm going to be taking a look at the Cycplus High Performance Electric Air Pump A8 to see if this innovative device is worth investing in.
Table of Contents
- Overview
- Specification
- Key Features
- Conclusion
The Cycplus Electric Air Pump A8 can be used to inflate any inflatable tyre – from bicycles to cars and anything in between.
In fact it can also be used to inflate other inflatables, such as footballs too.
However, Cycplus have said that it won't be able to handle large vehicles such as trucks, vans or buses in addition to not being suitable for items like air beds, air mattresses or inflatable boats.
It can inflate up to a maximum pressure of 150psi and has a rechargeable battery to power it.
- Length: 172.9mm
- Width: 65mm
- Thickness: 36mm
- Weight (Body including battery): 461g
Body Material
- Double structure aluminum alloy shell
Power Source
- 2600mAh Built-in Lithium Battery
Display Units
Available Colours
- Grey
- Blue
- Black
- 1 Year warranty
In The Box
- A8 Inflator
- Drawstring Bag
- Type-C Charging Cable
- Air Tube
- Ball inflating Converter
- Presta Valve Converter
- User Manual
Key Features
Fit & Finish
The A8 is sits in the hand very comfortably… measuring just under 173mm long, 65mm wide and 36mm thick, it's fairly compact and can easily be stored in a backpack or car glove compartment.
It looks quite stylish too – with a matt finish, rounded edges and is available in 3 colours
- Grey
- Blue
- Black
User Interface
At the top of the pump is the attachment for the air tube and the LED flashlight, while at the bottom is the USB-C charging port.
The operating buttons and LED screen are located on the front side of the device.
There are 5 intelligent modes that have common preset air pressures for
- car
- bicycle
- motorbike
- ball
- custom (can be set to desired pressure)
|Reference pressure
|Time from empty
|Frequency from empty
|2.3-2.5 bar
|8-12 minutes
|Road Bike
|2-3 minutes
|Mountain Bike
|2-3 minutes
|2-3 minutes
|0.5-1 minute
- Long pressing the power button turns the power on.
- You can choose one of the preset modes or you can adjust the target pressure manually.
- To adjust the pressure manually, the +/- buttons should be pressed until the desire pressure is reached.
- The air tube should be attached to the pump before is attached to the tyre.
- If it the air tube is attached to the tyre before it is attached to the pump, then air will be rapidly released from the tyre – this can be useful if you want to deflate a tyre deliberately.
- Once the air tube is attached to the pump and the tyre – the LED display will show the current pressure of the tyre.
- To inflate to the desired pressure that you have already preset – press the power button once and inflation will start.
- The pump will automatically switch off once the target pressure has been reached.
|Buttons (see image below)
|Long press
|Power button
|Start/Stop inflating
|Turn power on/off
|Unit button
|Choose mode
|Choose unit
|Light switch
|Turn on/off light
|+ button
|Increase pressure
|Quick increase
|- button
|Decrease pressure
|Quick decrease
Charging occurs via the USB-C port that is located at the base of the pump.
There is a charging indicator located next to the charging port – this will turn red when charging and green once fully charged.
The A8 should be fully charged before using it for the first time and it takes 2 hours to fully charge it from flat.
It should also be charged every 2 months if it hasn't been used during this time to prevent damage to the battery by over-discharging.
LED Flashlight
The LED flashlight is a very useful feature… it is positioned in such a way as to provide light onto the tyre valve, so that if you are pumping up the tyre in the dark, you can see what you are doing.
The Cycplus Electric Air PumpA8 is a very useful tool that takes all the hard work out of inflating tyres.
The different adapters makes it extremely versatile and it's compact and light enough to carry in a backpack or leave in the glove compartment of your car, although it would be a bit too heavy for your pocket…
The one slight downside is that Cycplus only offer a 12 month warranty, slightly longer would have been nicer… but all in all, a great electric air pump.
You can pick yours up from Cyclpus today.
You can read more reviews from The Camping Equipment here.
I hope you've found this review useful. If you have any questions or comments, then please leave them below and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post via affiliate links to products or services associated with content in this article. We may also receive free products for reviewing, all reviews are carried out honestly and in an unbiased fashion. Click here for our Affiliate Disclosure.
Cycplus Electric Air Pump A8£54.35
- Clear LED screen showing digital pressure reading
- LED light makes it very practical to use at night
- Excellent long lasting battery
- Easy to stow in backpack or car glove box
- Only a 1 year warranty


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Update on New Blended Learning Opt-in Window for Families
Click the link below for blended learning application Update for Families March 24 2021
Blended Learning Reminders/ Announcement
Please make sure blended students and their guardians are reminded of the following protocols: Blended Learning Reminders at a Glance To ensure that staff and students do not report to school if they have or potentially may have COVID-19 or are feeling ill, a health screening, including a temperature check, must be completed by all students, staff, and visitors before entering NYCDOE
PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCE LINKS BELOW Virtual-PTC-March2021-THURSDAY-FRIDAY Virtual PTC March2021 Jueves y Viernes
Liberation Parent Association + School Leadership Team Meeting Wednesday March 17th @ 05:30pm! Join via ZOOM Video Link for PA+SLT virtual meeting. Please text Parent Coordinator Ms. Abby (929) 282-1622. Please download ZOOM for your smart phone or computer as the application works best.


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One of Nigeria's gospel artists, Psalmist Funmi Enilolobo and her musical band is set to hold the 2021 edition of Praise with the King Concert, themed: "New Wave of Glory".
The event which is scheduled to hold on Saturday, 25th September will also feature the release of a new singles titled; "Ojo Melo", as the band is also set to commemorate its 21st anniversary.
According to the statement released by the organizer, the event is set to be virtual and will be aired online via Facebook; Fb@The Anointed Voices Praise Band; Instagram, @psalmistfunmi Enilolobo and on Youtube; @Psalmist Funmi Enilolobo.
Psalmist Enilolobo is the founder and leader of the famous Lagos-based musical band: 'The Anointed Voices Praise Band'. She is a singer that stands out among her peers not only in Nigeria, but everywhere the Word of God is preached, especially in gospel music.
According to report, the Anointed Voices Praise Band Music Ministry started through the inspiration of God and the discovery of God's talent in the Psalmist since September year 2000. The ministry had been ministering in various churches within and outside Nigeria. The group specialises in singing gospel music that suits every occasion like weddings, birthdays, concerts, seminars to mention a few.
It could be recalled that the group has won international competitions with medals even in the Africa Cup of Music in April 2013 and 2014. The band's audio debut album was released in 2007 while the video CD of the same album was launched on the 6th of December, 2009.
Also, the second album was launched in April 2012 while the third album was released in 2017 respetively and the fourth album will be unveiled at this year's Praise with the King 2021 coming up on Saturday, the 25th September 2021.


text: Travel security solution provider Pangiam acquires TruefaceNews / TechnologyBy Mitra Sorrells | June 3, 2021Share Trueface, a provider of facial recognition technology and a PhocusWire Hot 25 Startup for 2021 and Phocuswright Summit pitch winner in 2020, has been acquired by Pangiam.Terms of the deal were not disclosed.Pangiam provides identity management, biometrics and analytics software and consulting services to government and commercial customers.This is the company's second acquisition since Pangiam was formed in October 2020 by private equity firm AE Industrial Partners through the combination of Linkware and PRE. In March Pangiam acquired the VeriScan facial recognition system from the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. Get a dose of digital travel in your inbox each day Subscribe to our newsletter below Submit I accept the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy. Founded in 2013, Trueface creates computer vision solutions used in a range of industries for things such as access control, contactless temperature checks, social distancing and PPE compliance monitoring. Trueface founders Shaun Moore and Nezare Chafni will continue to lead the growth of Trueface, which now has clients in more than 13 countries. Pangiam says the acquisition will help it achieve its "mission to provide a safer, faster and more personalized travel experience for all.""We are excited to welcome Trueface to the Pangiam family. Shaun and Nezare are pioneering thought leaders whose advances in computer vision have the potential to drive innovation in identity management, data labeling and biometrics," says Kevin McAleenan, Pangiam CEO. Watch Moore's interview with Phocuswire editor-in-chief Kevin May, which took place after Trueface won the Innovation Summit: People's Choice Travel Innovator Of The Year and Most Innovative Startup awards at the Phocuswright Conference 2020.Trueface interview (PhocusWire @ Phocuswright Conference 2020) AirlineAirportGovernmentInvestmentsBiometricsSecurity


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Sonke is pleased to announce that our co-founder and Senior Programmes Specialist, Bafana Khumalo, will be recognised alongside U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, activist and celebrity athlete Donald McPherson, and actor Patrick Stewart for their leadership in pursuing a world free from gender-based violence. The four men will be receiving the inaugural Vital Voices Solidarity Award which recognises men who combat violence against women at an event "Voices of Solidarity" which will be held in New York City on the last day of 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence – December 10, 2014, which is also International Human Rights Day.
The Vital Voices Solidarity Award acknowledges men who have shown courage and compassion in advocating on behalf of women and girls in the United States and around the world.
The four recipients of the award, given in recognition of exemplary leadership in pursuit of a world free of gender based violence to men who fight for universal equality and a world in which women live free from violence, are:
- Joe Biden, Vice President of the United States;
- Bafana Khumalo, co-founder, Sonke Gender Justice;
- Donald McPherson, athlete and educator;
- Patrick Stewart, actor and activist.
For more than 17 years, the Vital Voices Global Partnership has collaborated with civil society, the private sector and government to end violence against women. They advocate for effective legislation to ensure the full protection of women's rights; provide innovative training programs for judges, prosecutors and police; and in conjunction with the U.S. Department of State, offer emergency assistance directly to victims facing extreme acts of gender-based violence around the world.
Bafano Khumalo is Sonke Gender Justice's Senior Programmes Specialist and one of the organizations' co-founders. He served as co-director of the organisation from 2006-2010, and as manager of Sonke's International Programmes Unit and the Policy, Advocacy and Research Unit from 2010-2011. Active in the anti-apartheid struggle, Bafana worked with the Soweto Civic Association and subsequently participated in the peace accords. Bafana has spoken at many national and international conferences on men, gender and HIV/AIDS, including the UN Commission on the Status of Women in 2007, 2008 and 2010, and at the International AIDS Society conference held in Mexico in 2008. He has been published widely in professional journals and appears frequently on radio and television in South Africa. He has both a bachelors and masters degree in theology from the University of Natal. Together with Sonke co-founder and Executive Director Dean Peacock, he was awarded Men's Health Magazine "Best Man" Award in 2007.
- December 10th 2014
- 6.30pm-10.30pm
- IAC Building in New York City
- IAC HQ 555 West 18th St, New York, NY 10011, United States
- www.vitalvoices.org
- Tickets available at here


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A fascinating contrast in views and expectations between new entrants and veterans in EH&S as they address evolving technology and regulatory requirements. Herb Gibson, OSHA Area Director, sits down with Scott Brothers to discuss recent regulatory changes and how OSHA is approaching changing technology. Topics discussed include:
- Discussing generational transitions in safety such as new technology and the impending retirement of the first generation of safety professionals
- Introduce recent video interviews with new entrants/veterans in industry as they discuss what drove them to the profession, what can each learn from the other, how each group differed, and the things and values that each group shared.
About our Expert
Herb Gibson, CIH, CSP
Herb is the Area Director for OSHA's Denver Area Office. He has held numerous positions from Field Industrial Hygienist to Area Director at OSHA for the past 38 years. The Denver Area Office is responsible for enforcement of the OSH Act and providing compliance assistance to employers in Colorado. The Area Office is also responsible for federal enforcement in Wyoming and Utah. He is a graduate of Colorado State University and is a Certified Safety Professional and Certified Industrial Hygienist.
Scott Brothers
Vice President
Herb Gibson
Area Director


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You've never seen paint quite like this before. And this is only the Behind the Scenes video!
MercyMe is premiering a brand new music video featuring their song, "Flawless." The video includes an interesting variety of people, dozens of paint cans, and a surprisingly powerful way of using them.
Don't miss the full video!


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University of Cambridge > Talks.cam > Engineering Design Centre > Bodies-in-Space: a crash course in non-verbal group interaction
Bodies-in-Space: a crash course in non-verbal group interaction
Add to your list(s) Download to your calendar using vCal
If you have a question about this talk, please contact Thomas Jun.
People are fluent in non-verbally negotiating group interaction to decide who will speak and about what by adjusting their posture and position. How people do this has been well documented in the social science research area, interaction analysis. As designers and engineers, we create tools that unintentionally, or occasionally intentionally, affect how groups can interact by changing what non-verbal behaviours are available to the people in them. This talk covers some of the theory of non-verbal group interaction from interaction analysis and looks at how it might be applied to the design of technology and facilitation techniques.
This talk is part of the Engineering Design Centre series.
This talk is included in these lists:
Note that ex-directory lists are not shown.
Other listsFERSA Guest Lectures Talks in Architecture Centre for Gender Studies-Public Events
Other talksAre hospital admissions for people with palliative care needs avoidable and unwanted? Skyrmions, Quantum Graphs and Carbon-12 Viral infection dynamics in transplant recipients undergoing immunosuppression Climate and Sustainable Development Finance for Industrial Sustainability in Developing Countries Insight into the molecular mechanism of extracellular matrix calcification in the vasculature from NMR spectroscopy and electron microscopy A domain-decomposition-based model reduction method for convection-diffusion equations with random coefficients Cambridge-Lausanne Workshop 2018 - Day 2 Disease Migration 100 Problems around Scalar Curvature 'Cryptocurrency and BLOCKCHAIN – PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE' Cambridge Rare Disease Summit 2017 Stopping the Biological Clock – The Lazarus factor and Pulling Life back from the Edge.


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People who think that lawn care and landscaping take a break during winter should reconsider. Now, more than ever, lawn service companies are at their busiest times, and you should schedule some activities while you still can. Winter is a troublesome season, coming with plenty of tasks for the homeowner who wants a neat, clean, and safe property throughout the season. Such chores are also dangerous to some extent and require professional interventions. Today, our experts in lawn care in Montclair, VA, are here to tell you what activities are the most popular among homeowners during the cold season.
- Property Maintenance. The vegetation is asleep in winter, but it does not mean you don't have plenty of things to do. Our specialists in lawn care in Montclair, VA, can help you with the following tasks: leaf and vegetal debris removal, shrub & tree trimming, flowerbed maintenance, lawn aeration & overseeding, fertilization, outdoor furniture removal and storage, raking, and even weed control;
- Irrigation Installation Winterization. Our lawn service in Montclair, VA, can help you drain the sprinklers, check the irrigation installation, winterize the system, and more;
- Gutter Cleaning Services. In case you didn't know, gutter cleaning is mandatory if you want peace of mind during winter. A professional lawn care service in Montclair, VA, can help you with this daunting and rather dangerous task any time you want;
- Snow Removal. When snow and frost hit the land hard, you should be lucky to find prompt services to remove the snow so you can still have freedom of movement. Our experts in lawn care in Montclair, VA, can help you with this task. Removing snow from driveways, walkways, and parking lots is difficult, and you cannot always rely on the city to send the plows on time.
- Mulching and Weed Control. It may seem like nothing, but winter weed control is crucial to keep a healthy lawn until spring. Ask our specialists in lawn care in Montclair, VA, to come by, check on your property and landscape, and take immediate measures in case they notice winter weeds. Moreover, applying mulch and refreshing the existing mulch layer is also essential to keep your vegetation safe and your soil nourished.
If you want our lawn care company's professional services in Montclair, VA, feel free to contact us and ask for a free estimate. Our lawn service is ready to help you with everything you need. Just make sure you schedule some activities in due time!


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Sullivan County man James E. Slater, aka "J Rock", was arrested on Monday, Feb. 22, after being spotted driving without headlines late a night, said Monticello Police Lt. Mark Johnstone.
The incident began around 11:10 p.m., Feb. 22, when Monticello PD officers Kenneth Conklin and Kyle Geraine spotted Slater driving a 2001 Honda Accord in a northerly direction on Pleasant Street in the Village of Monticello. Slater was operating the vehicle without headlights being turned on.
Officers attempted to stop Slater but he refused to comply and drove onto Route 17, heading westbound. Slater continued to drive the vehicle without its headlights on and at speeds approaching 100 mph while on Route 17 with Monticello Police in pursuit, Johnstone said.
Slater drove 11 miles to Exit 101 in the Town of Liberty and while attempting to exit at high speed, crashed the vehicle into a snowbank on Sullivan Avenue.
He then attempted to flee on foot and briefly fought with officers before being brought to the ground and placed in custody.
Slater, of Monticello, was found to be in possession of 1 gram of crack cocaine and other drug paraphernalia upon his arrest, police said.
He was charged with:
- Criminal possession of a controlled substance
- Reckless endangerment
- Resisting arrest
- Two counts of possession of a controlled substance, seventh-degree
- Unlawfully fleeing a police officer
- Aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle
- Reckless driving
Slater was additionally issued 17 vehicle summons.
Slater was remanded to the Sullivan County Jail without bail pending further court action.
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Posted in: Comics, Recent Updates | Tagged: Andrea Mutti, brian wood, Comics, dark horse comics, entertainment, Jordie Bellaire, rebels, Tula Lotay
An Inside Look At The Making Of Rebels From Co-Creator Andrea Mutti
Rebels, the new Vermont-set story of the American Revolution written by Brian Wood, drawn by Andrea Mutti, with colors by Jordie Bellaire and covers by Tula Lotay, arrives on April 8th. Its approach seems to fill the comics scene with an approaching crescendo of drums–and the knowledge that we are about to encounter something rather unique.
There have been some very worthy history-based comics and graphic novels produced in the past, but having talked with Scott Allie recently about the comic, as well as having had a peek at an upcoming interview with Brian Wood in Bleeding Cool Magazine #16 (arriving April 22nd), I'm convinced of the fact that such a personal creator owned comic, and yet a comic so grounded in American history hasn't been seen before.
Artist and co-creator of the series, Andrea Mutti decided to give us our own personal tour of his inspiration and process on Rebels this morning. I didn't expect to receive the photographs he ended up submitting! This is a wildly entertaining expedition.
First, we have Andrea observing a musket for reference:
Then, a close-up on hats and weaponry used to draw the comic:
And some of the brushes he uses for his work:
Followed by the initial layouts for pages #19 and #20 of Issue #1:
The pencils for Issue #1, page #19:
And finally, the inks for page #20:
We can't thank Andrea enough for being so generous with his process and photos on Rebels.
Rebels #1 arrives on April 8th from Dark Horse Comics, is currently listed in Previews World here with item code: FEB150008, and reaches FOC today, March 16th.
For an insider look at the cover process for Rebels from artist Tula Lotay, you can also check out a recent article on 13th Dimension here.


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3+ acre lake-view estate with a custom 4 bedroom, 4 bathroom 3100+ sq.ft. home that also has an additional 1998 sq.ft. of unfinished living space in the basement. Great outdoor living space via the 16x36 in-ground pool with a pool house and outdoor 2-pce bathroom. Detached triple car garage, making for lots of covered parking and potential workshop space. Top-end finishings that have to be seen in person to appreciate. Master on the main with a luxurious 5-pce ensuite w/ heated floors. Designer kitchen with quartz, stunning center island, and stainless steel appliances & walk-in pantry. Family friendly layout upstairs w/ 3 bedrooms, each with their own walk-in closet space. Jack & Jill style bathroom as well; great for kids! Overall, this property offers an incredibly well-built home with stunning views (which will only improve; orchard/vineyard slated for planting for a nearby property in the future), tons of parking space with this oversized estate-style lot of over 3 acres in size, detached triple car garage, a pool, and so much more.
(250) 470-2388
RE/MAX Kelowna


text: Modern knee replacements are performed on an outpatient basis. Many patients are able to go home on the same day, and sometimes the following day. This is because our pain control and anesthesia have significantly improved. Some patients who do not have adequate support at home will require a skilled nursing facility to recover until they are strong.


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What have we got to lose? Intellectual integrity, self-esteem, and a passionate, rewarding life for starters. In short, everything that makes life worth living. -George H. Smith, Atheism: The Case Against God
We all know, of course, that Pascal's Wager is a perfect and irrefutable argument for choosing religion over irreligion.[1] Otherwise, why would theists keep beating people over the head with it?
Nevertheless, it does have one major flaw: Once Pascal's Wager convinces the reader to take up a religion, it offers no guidance as to which religion to choose. Blaise Pascal himself chose Christianity, but according to his reasoning, any set of beliefs which bases the quality of your afterlife on your choices in this life demands consideration. In order to make it a proper tool for deciding between various religions, it must be expanded. Therefore I propose:
1) The two criteria for choosing a religion, in keeping with Pascal's Wager, must be "desire for heaven" and "fear of hell."
2) A proper formulation will allow the user to weigh these two criteria depending on his personal preferences (for example, a person more concerned with getting a really cool heaven than avoiding a really nasty hell would be able to modify the formulation to reflect that fact).
3) This can be expressed mathematically as:
R(max) = ( A * B ) + ( C * ( 1 - B ) )There it is. All you have to do to choose the ideal religion is to find out how nice the heaven is and how nasty the hell is. Then plug all the various religions into the equation, and whichever ends up with the highest number is your religion of choice for the remainder of your life. It should be noted that, in some religions (atheism, unitarianism, etc.), everyone goes to the same place. Therefore, you lose nothing if it's true and you don't believe in it. Such religions are automatically disqualified from analysis.
R(max) being the proper religion to choose.
A being the niceness of heaven in this religion (on an arbitrarily chosen scale running from zero to ten)
B being the user's desire for heaven expressed as a number between 0 and 1 ( 1 demonstrating total desire of obtaining a nifty heaven, with no concern for the nastiness of the hell the user will end up in if wrong ). By this formulation, 1 - B will express the user's aversion to hell. If the desire to obtain an enjoyable heaven is equal to the desire to avoid an awful hell, then the reader should allow B to equal 0.5. If, on the other hand, one wishes to "go for broke," and desires the best possible Heaven without regard for the suffering one must endure if wrong, then let B = 1.
C is the nastiness of the hell being avoided by choosing religion R(max).
Now, to examine several religions according to the formula. For convenience, the scale will be from 0 to 10, with 10 being the best possible heaven or the worst possible hell:
Mormonism: Heaven consists of building worlds and having sex with numerous women. I'm not into the competitive rat race which "eternal progression" entails, but "numerous women" is fine by me. LDS Heaven gets a 6 for unambitious males, 10 for Type A personality males, and a 2 for females.
The Mormon Hell, usually referred to as the Telestial Kingdom, is a relatively nice place. Oh, you'll be sharing it with the likes of Timothy McVeigh and Hitler, but it's a pretty big place and you'll only have to meet them during certain limited social gatherings. Anyways, Joseph Smith said that people would kill themselves to be in such a beautiful place. LDS Hell gets a 2. [2]
For me, R(mormon) = ( 6 * .5 ) + ( 2 * .5 ) = 4
Atheism: Everyone goes to the same place (nowhere), so atheism isn't relevant to the discussion.
Buddhism: Heaven consists of merging with Nirvana, which is a consciousness expanding experience which will literally leave you wondering who the heck you are. Sounds like fun to me, so I'd give it at least an 8. Hell consists of living an eternal sequence of lives as a fruit fly. Again, sounds fun to me. But if you remember, a fun hell means a low score. 3.
R(buddhism) = ( 8 * 0.5 ) + ( 3 * 0.5 ) = 5.5
Now I have eliminated the LDS faith as a possible religious avenue.
Christianity: Heaven is a place either 1 mile square or 6,000,000 miles square, depending on who did the calculations. Inhabitants spend their time singing a rather repetitive song ("Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord"), not having sex, and enjoying the eternal radiance of the Lord of Hosts. Unfortunately, like a sauna, the feeling of the Infinite Presence gets old after twenty minutes, and uncomfortable in ninety. Christian heaven gets a 2.
Hell involves eternal suffering in a pit of fire, brimstone, woe and despair. Sounds nasty, so I'll give it a 9. See Dante's Inferno for a more complete analysis.
R(christian) = ( 2 * 0.5 ) + ( 9 * 0.5 ) = 5.5
When deciding between Christianity and Buddhism, coins are available under the cusions of most neighborhood sofas.
Let us end our survey of world religions with a discussion of Islam. It will be a somewhat trickier analysis, since Islam rewards practitioners according to deeds, and not just belief in the religious precepts, per se. For example, if one believes the doctrine of the more militant versions of Islam, a man who dies in a jihad will be swept into heaven, there to be greeted by seventy virgins, all his. That would definitely be a "perfect 10" heaven. On the other hand, the descriptions of the suffering awaiting the infidel are umatched in imagination and nastiness, if one is analyzing the same fundamentalist factions. Trust me, you immoral atheists, your rationalizations will not save you from Allah's judgement. Even if Socrates IS there, he'll be too busy screaming and begging for mercy to pay attention to an esoteric conversation. So the Islamic fundamentalist hell also earns a 10.
R(islam) = ( 10 * .5 ) + ( 10 * .5 ) = 10
Don't make the mistake of just looking up the nearest mosque. They'll probably be a bunch of namby-pamby liberals who think Allah is a kind and patient deity. Instead, make a thorough search until you find a mosque that teaches unimaginable glory for the righteous, and hideous, torturous, nasty suffering for the wicked.
Once you've analyzed each religion from a cost/benefit standpoint, using my formula, all that is left is for you to force yourself to believe whatever precepts are required by your new religion. It is my hope that this proposed tool can help any who have questions regarding matters of faith.
1) Actually, it suffers several major flaws. First, it's impossible
to decide to sincerely believe something. Second, deciding on a religion based solely on
self-interest might make God angry, which could get you stuck in the region of hell
especially reserved for people who chose the One True Religion after being convinced by
Pascal's Wager. More generally, if there is a God, he/she may very well be more interested
in cultivating people who lived their lives with intellectual honesty. Third, and
finally, his argument that "nothing is lost" by wagering for God is incorrect. If a person
wastes their only shot at life by ignoring this world in favor of a non-existent next world,
then they have lost something precious. My personal opinion is that, though Pascal was a
brilliant thinker, you couldn't tell that just from the Wager.
But I'm not going to let any of this get in the way of a good parody.
2) Complication: There is a specific, separate type of hell in LDS theology
called Outer Darkness. This place of weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth is
reserved for those who "partook of the Holy Spirit," and then fell away from LDS teachings. But
for the purposes of this discussion, this fact is irrelevant. If you fall into the described
category, your fate in the eyes of LDS theology is already sealed. Therefore, you'll want to
maximize your odds by joining a different religion where you have a shot at winning.
But I'm not going to let any of this get in the way of a good parody.
2) Complication: There is a specific, separate type of hell in LDS theology
called Outer Darkness. This place of weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth is
reserved for those who "partook of the Holy Spirit," and then fell away from LDS teachings. But
for the purposes of this discussion, this fact is irrelevant. If you fall into the described
category, your fate in the eyes of LDS theology is already sealed. Therefore, you'll want to
maximize your odds by joining a different religion where you have a shot at winning.


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Denver Collection is a geometrical and rich tribute to the city of Denver. We intend to express what Denver has meant to us and what it has to offer through our different pieces in this collection. You will experience a combination of earthy materials, Colorado like colors, and the sleek features that Denver across each piece of furniture.
Denver Console
Sleek. The Denver Console is our tribute to the city of Denver. We combine the outdoors by incorporating beautiful materials with the clever design that the city has to offer, all in one piece. Lines coming and going with sharp turns and precise finishes. Materials and finishes can be in different options to accommodate any type of request.
Technical Information
60″l x 31.5″h x 16″w
This item ships using our white glove service. Domestic and international delivery available.
Please contact us for product prices and shipping quotes.
All materials are of the highest quality, however they are natural materials so variations may occur


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Berkeley Vale Pre-school is a community based pre-school, funded by Department of Education and Communities on a term basis. This funding combined with your fee payments, assists with the general running costs of the centre and staff salaries. Berkeley Vale Pre-school Kindergarten Inc. is a non-profit organisation and we aim to keep fees as low as possible.
The pre-school is managed by a Management Committee and is a necessary and much valued part of the pre-school. The Management Committee works on a voluntary basis to organise and distribute the pre-school's funds.
All parent/guardians are members of Berkeley Vale Pre-school Kindergarten Inc. Association and are encouraged to attend the Annual General Meeting that is held in March each year. At this meeting the Management Committee is elected to be responsible for the general management and financing of the service. Regular general meetings and parent/guardian evenings are held, to which parent/guardians and interested persons are most welcome. You are invited to join the committee and if you are interested in becoming a member please see the Nominated Supervisor or Committee Member at the beginning of the school year.
Parent/Guardians or Grandparents are encouraged to be involved in the pre-school in a number of ways, apart from being on the Management Committee. We have a Volunteer Roster which provides an opportunity for parents/guardians or grandparents to spend a morning at pre-school, assisting the children and educators in many enjoyable ways. During the year the committee organise fund raising activities which is another way to be involved in the pre-school. We also have an open door policy which means parents/guardians are always welcome to spend time at pre-school. We encourage parental/guardian involvement and participation with the pre-school program. We hope you will feel as welcome as your children are.
A Community Based Pre-school benefits from parent/guardian involvement.
Your ideas and suggestions help the centre provide your children with
a quality educational environment.
Throughout the coming year we will be having a number of fundraising ventures. We look forward to your help and support in these activities.
The children's photographs will be taken during the year. These are always beautiful and provide you and your family with lasting memories of his/her year at pre-school.


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Does your industrial data infrastructure scale and enable your organization to organize, clean, validate and assemble the data they need? Have you tried to manage this and struggled with data management? Are your industrial IoT (IIoT) applications failing to provide the expected value because the data feeds are not reliable or comprehensive enough? Have you integrated your operations data and implemented successful IoT proofs of concept, but found that they have not progressed beyond the pilot stage? Or are they unable to meet return on investment (ROI) requirements to justify spreading across the enterprise?
Meeting the Special Needs of Industrial
The data management requirements of an industrial operation are not the same as a bank or insurance company. Hitachi provides the tools that make the job of correlating operational technology (OT) and IT data easier. For example, OT data is high-velocity time-series and event information that many times lacks the detailed descriptors and features needed to leverage it outside of operations. Business IT data comes across in batches or transaction records with different metadata descriptors. Industrial DataOps automates the process of abstracting, tagging and rationalizing IT and OT data. It organizes the data in your data lake or data warehouse so it is usable for analysis and building AI and machine learning (ML) solutions. Data pipelines are established, and multiple transformations and inferences are calculated and orchestrated for you as part of the workflow. Industrial process engineers can work with data scientists, analysts, and applications consultants to unlock the combined value and make significant operations improvements.
The Tools To Enable Your Digital Enterprise
As part of Hitachi's enterprise IoT platform including Hitachi's Lumada solutions for digital innovation, the Lumada Industrial DataOps portfolio offers a comprehensive and sustainable platform for your operations data management and AI/ML application delivery needs. It provides the tools that power the data fabric for an industrial organization to reduce costs, supplement organizational knowledge and worker capability, and help to create new digital products and solutions to grow your operational effectiveness. Built on the solid core of Hitachi's Lumada DataOps, it adds industrial features needed by operations data teams.
Value for Every Data User
Industrial DataOps Example for Smart Grid Data Management and Analytics
Say, for example, that you are a major utility wanting to blend and integrate data from smart meters and enterprise resource planning (ERP) sources to get better insights for operations, marketing, and services. Your data is in multiple formats, across several owners and data stores. Data available includes historical records, smart meter data, tariff, usage, billing, demographic, geographic information system (GIS) mapping, weather, and grid asset data. You may want to:
Industrial DataOps enables data integration, blending, and cataloging IT and OT data. Data is tagged with metadata, reformatted, enriched, and published for wider consumption: for example, by downstream AI or ML models that predict remaining useful life, process anomalies, and so forth.
Potential benefits include:
Professionals Standardize and scale data management to enable analytics across regions and sites. Reduce false positive alerts and give more accurate predictions with the best data. Use trusted tools to enable collaboration and create the most productive AI and ML solutions.
For IT Professionals
Unleash innovation by giving your staff the freedom of choice to work the way they want, using the tools they are familiar with. Enable them to more effectively leverage operations datasets at scale, with appropriate governance and security.
IIoT solutions have stopped being technology experiments and are now becoming a mainstay approach for operations to solve specific business problems across the organization. Regardless of what kind of organization you have or whether you are digitalizing the business for internal optimization purposes or creating new products, AI and ML applications fed with quality data will help you better monitor, predict and prescribe instructions, helping your organization remain more competitive.
But scalability in industrial analytics has been hampered by the inability to handle the entire industrial operations data life cycle. Constantly having to manually integrate, clean, merge, curate, rationalize, govern, and operationalize data is a tedious process that does not scale. This is one of the main reasons why Industry 4.0 initiatives do not make it past the pilot stage. Industrial DataOps overcomes these challenges.
Hitachi Vantara delivers tools that are optimized for the environment and tasks of the industrial data engineer and data scientist. Our capabilities provide near-real-time insights and outcomes within your critical operations groups and empower high quality and more reliable industrial data management at scale.
Building on a solid base of device management, business data integration and metadata cataloging capability, Lumada Industrial DataOps adds core IIoT software capabilities like digital twins and analytics solution (or solutions) cores to enhance your ML model training needs. This real-time organization of equipment attributes along with pretrained ML models reduces the amount of work needed to deliver industrial solutions.
Extend Into Vertical Industry Solutions From Hitachi
Building on the capabilities of Lumada's software for IIoT, the Lumada Industrial DataOps portfolio is the underlying data services layer, including IIoT Analytics, that can support Lumada advanced digital solutions for energy and utilities, manufacturing, transportation, or smart cities. Clients can choose between packaged vertical solutions or a develop-your-own-approach with a framework, or anything in between.
IIoT Management
IIoT Core software and its Edge Connect component enable actionable real-time insights at remote locations and enterprise-class data management from edge to cloud. It is deal for hosting third-party and custom developed IIoT applications addressing industry-specific business operations requirements. Deploy AI and ML analytics applications at the edge or cloud and generate alerts anywhere and anytime to act. Automated data movement and processing optimization with store and forward. Integrate time-series data through a combination of embedded and third-party servers. Leverage open standards, which provide more choices for storing and exposing data, and 3D visualization tools like Grafana and Kibana, which can plug into the architecture and consume data from a persistent API layer.
Collaboratively build, deploy, and monitor data flows to streamline data delivery. Connect real-time and batch data sources. Deliver analytics-ready data to end users faster with visual tools that reduce time and complexity. Without writing SQL or coding, Data Integration Software, built with Pentaho technology, along with Lumada Video Insights, lets you gain real value from structured and unstructured data sources, such as:
Also, integrate and blend your OT data sources with applications like manufacturing execution systems (MES), customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), enterprise asset management (EAM), application performance monitoring (APM), computerized maintenance management system (CMMS), and building management systems, as well as external systems, such as weather, GIS, financial market feeds, and emergency alert systems, to name a few. Build situational awareness dashboards by using analytics or third-party visualization tools.
Data Catalog accelerates data discovery for self-service analytics, compliance, and data rationalization across your data fabric with accelerated metadata discovery and data categorization. Search in the same way you would an online shopping application and share and collaborate between engineers, operations SMEs, and IT data teams.
ML Application Acceleration
IIoT Analytics provide prepackaged modules to give you a faster start by providing the data integration and preconfigured functions, so you can focus on fine tuning for your specific application.
Hitachi Vantara has the experience, products, and services capability to start with a site-specific pilot and scale globally across your organization so your entire data team can benefit from innovative ideas and ways of solving problems. Along the way, our tools handle the hard technology problems so you can focus on what you do best, running and maintaining your business. We have the people and partners located across the globe and can deploy resources where and when needed to support implementations and provide hands-on support.
Contact Hitachi Vantara to take the next step and experience what Lumada Industrial DataOps can do for you.
Hitachi Vantara solves digital challenges by guiding you from what's now to what's next. Our unmatched industrial and digital capabilities benefit both business and society.


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The objective of the game play would be to chance for the in the die, which you as being the crap-shooter roll. Typically the payouts outs manufactured depending on the sum of the amount of that die when the roll stops. To get started the video game, you'll because shot create a first show up move, these it is best to develop a Excrete Tier or simply a Won't Distribute Clubhouse guarantee just before in business this dice. Determined by up to you against this early decision, you can expect to make an effort to spin certain information to be able to win. When you chuck a fabulous 7 or possibly an 11 in the earliest jiggle it becomes an auto get, termed as Natural. In case you heave craps 2, 3 or simply 12 it's an automated loss. Adhere to what they an individual pitch anything different aside from 7, 11 or possibly casino craps you definitely generate a Point. The dealership are going to signature the point range by means of locating a puck with their whitened confront upon it. Therefore once you are wagering for any telephone number you merely furled (The Pass) into the future further up repeatedly just before any 7 can be rolled. Whenever it is doing, anyone win.
After the actual is actually identified, you Вулкан Платинум казино бесплатно can increase your sections guarantee by removing odds. It indicates once you are bet additional money the fact that figure mobile computer rolled (The Point) should come in place repeatedly earlier than your 7 is undoubtedly rolled. In the event and also, one win. This unique can guess is positioned exclusively at the rear of a unique set bet. Each and every point will pay for different odds. Unlike an original excrete set decision, a great uncertain go sections probability decision may be removed. You are usually betting your the complete opposite of Forward Line. If you ever dispose of a new 7 or even any 11 on the subject of the original agenda now you have an robotic loss, but you profit generally if the chop amount of money 3 or even 12. A 2 is referred to as the Holder Shut off or Tie also,you neither of the 2 profit nor lose*. You can definitely you actually agenda any other thing furthermore 7, 11 and "Craps" you then produce a "Position ".In such a circumstance, then its the precise complete opposite of Circulate Line. This means you are now gambling in order to succeed you organize the 7 ahead of phone number you only rolled.
Right after the idea appears to have been demonstrated you are able to raise your set bet if you take odds. So that you are actually bets further finances you do heave the 7 prior to a quantity you recently furled (The "Place") occurs up. Your you shouldn't go series prospects option is upon the right facet within your original guess during the Won't Move Bar. An absolute You shouldn't Circulate Tier probabilities guarantee gives legitimate odds. Your wavering don't move series betting odds wager may be removed.


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On the trail with the Fujifilm X100V
As promised, what follows is a brief write-up of my experience using this camera on one of the Rota Vicentina trails. This is a network of many walking trails that exists in southwest Portugal, with a total of around 750km. The one I am writing about today is one I have previously done in December … Continue reading On the trail with the Fujifilm X100V
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Hollywood has a long, illustrious history of casting white people for Asian characters. And film heavyweights like Aaron Sorkin have the gall to complain that, "There aren't any Asian movie stars."
Serious question: How does someone become a movie star if they're never cast in anything?
So here's one solution, courtesy of Twitter: Just cast John Cho in everything.
@StarringJohnCho is a thought experiment/Photoshop masterwork from a young digital strategist named William Yu. It reimagines Hollywood blockbusters from Jurassic Park to The Martian with Cho in the leading role. It turns out the dreamy, criminally undercast star of #Selfie and Harold and Kumar looks good in basically every context.
The account is "a social movement that shows you what it would look like if today's Hollywood blockbusters cast an Asian-American actor as their leading man," according to its Twitter bio.
"I'm tired of hearing that a role can't be played by an Asian actor because people 'just don't see it. #StarringJohnCho is here to literally show you," Yu, who is 25, told NBC News. "Films with more diverse casts result in higher box office numbers and higher returns on investments for film companies, yet Hollywood won't cast lead actors to reflect this fact."
Asians represented just 5.1 percent of speaking or named characters across film, television and digital series in 2014, according to a USC study on diversity in entertainment highlighted in the Hollywood Reporter. And despite Cho's obvious talent (RIP #Selfie), his IMDB page only lists a handful of upcoming roles. So let's hope some of these posters nudge the industry in the right direction.


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Sunday, July 18, 2021
Blooming Sweet Potato Vines
Blooming Sweet Potato Vines
While I was visiting my Mom in June, I came back with some sweet potato vines from the nursery where my sister works. They were quite little. I planted them and then set the pot under my tree.
It has been growing and doing well. When I came back on Thursday, hubby said, "did you see your plant blooming?"
There were these small pink flowers that remind you of morning glories.
I was so excited. I sent my sister a picture and she was shocked. She showed the plant to her boss and he was shocked.
Little did I know that it is rare for sweet potato vines to bloom. She said in all the years she has been there, no sweet potato vines have ever bloomed.
They wanted to know what I did. I didn't even fertilize the plant, just sat it under my tree.
Like morning glories, they close up at night and then bloom in the day. I checked online and it said the same thing about it being rare for them to bloom.
Do any of you have flowering sweet potato vines? I would love to hear from you.
The post Blooming Sweet Potato Vines first appeared on Eclectic Red Barn.
Labels: #blooms , #floweringplants , #plants , #rareblooms , Bev@Eclecticredbarn , sweet potato vine
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Book Details
Check out the book details for Can You See What I See? The Night Before Christmas
- Author: Walter Wick
- Illustrator: Walter Wick
- Publisher: Cartwheel Books
- Series: Can You See What I See?
- Type: POB
Book Specifications
- Language: ENGLISH
- Publish Date: 10-01-2005
- Pages: 40
- Trim: 10-1/2 x 10-1/2 (in inches)
- Grade Level: to
- Age Level: 1 to Adult
Developmental Areas
Reading will help develop in these areas:
- Communicative Skills
- Cognitive Skills
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4201 Fee Fee Road
Bridgeton, Missouri 63044-2217
(314) 739-5599
Fax (314) 739-2484
City of Bridgeton
Parks & Recreation Department
Terry Briggs, Mayor
Brendan Kane, Director
For Media Inquiries Contact: Brendan Kane Parks and Recreation Director Bridgeton Parks and Recreation (314) 687-4470 direct
City of Bridgeton Announces Construction of New Inclusive Playground at Bridgeton Municipal Athletic Complex
St. Louis, MO – (October 9, 2020) – The City of Bridgeton Parks and Recreation Department has begun construction of a new inclusive playground at the Bridgeton Municipal Athletic Complex (BMAC), and it is scheduled for completion in November 2020, officials announced today.
"The purpose of this inclusive playground project is to revitalize the existing playground at BMAC, which is approximately 25-30 years old," said Brendan Kane, Parks and Recreation Director. "We currently experience issues with lack of inclusivity, drainage, surfacing, concrete, and problems finding replacement parts for broken equipment."
This playground attracts not only those visiting the athletic complex, but also many from the surrounding areas. "We know that several families have been looking for ways to remain active outdoors, which is why we will continue to follow guidelines from the St. Louis County Health Department and the CDC to protect the health of our community in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Funding for the Inclusive Playground
The Parks and Recreation Department was awarded a grant in the amount of $350,000 from the Bridgeton Landfill Community Project Fund, a component of the St. Louis Community Foundation, to complete the construction of the new playground. The Bridgeton Landfill Community Project Fund was established in July 2018 with $12.5 million from a legal settlement between the State of Missouri and Republic Services related to the odors that were emitted from the Bridgeton Landfill.
Per the terms of the settlement, the Bridgeton Fund will support nonprofit 501 (c) (3) organizations providing services in or located within a four-mile radius of the Bridgeton Landfill. Grants from the Bridgeton Fund are for initiatives that contribute to the betterment of the environment, health, and safety of the communities within this area.
About City of Bridgeton Parks and Recreation The City of Bridgeton has one of the most comprehensive collections of parks and recreational programs in the region. There are ten park locations providing more than 376 acres for leisurely activities like picnicking, sports, swimming, fishing and trailblazing. The Bridgeton Municipal Athletic Complex (BMAC) is located in the northwest corner of the City and covers approximately 67 acres. BMAC provides facilities for baseball, racquetball/handball, trails, soccer, softball, and tennis.
For more information about the City of Bridgeton and its recreational facilities visit www.bridgetonmo.com.


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I'm having trouble with this code:
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id item;
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This is the problematic bit:
[item selectedHeight]
The compiler is assuming that the return type is id. I though that adding a cast would fix this:
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but it doesn't work.
What am I doing wrong? (I suspect the problem is to do with resolving pointers related to id but I can't find any relevant documentation).


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Extra Ed will support your language journey through conversations, games and exciting group projects at every level to encourage teamwork and have fun. Our inclusive learning environment is open to all. Students will work together through a variety of puzzles and tasks to help their team win in a challenging and motivating competition which encourages memory and practical language use. Some of the games will include Snowman (school friendly hangman), madlibs, grammar games, flash memory games, lego building and art projects in a range of topics like: coding, finance, and other life skills. Each game is designed to be a reflection of everyday situations that people can encounter for maximum learning.
Beginner ESL:
Students at this level have little to no understanding of English. Students at this level are limited in written and oral skills, but can communicate at a basic social level.
Level 1:
Students will be able to communicate in simple phrases and relate one word objects from native language to English. Students will learn how to identify everyday elements and basics of social conversation.
Level 2:
Students will be able to communicate in basic routines. They can identify essential needs and their surroundings. Students will also learn how to write simple identifications such as their name.
Intermediate ESL:
Students at this level have some understanding in English in both oral and written skills. They can participate in some social and academic conversations at grade levels and use routine words and contexts.
Level 1:
Students will be able to communicate in everyday conversations that they are familiar with. They are able to participate and contribute to conversations in social settings with some ease, and in academic settings with some support.
Level 2:
Students will be able to write simple sentences with connections to their everyday life, building to paragraphs of approximately 5 connected sentences. Students will be able to read simple passages in multiple text sources (books, newspapers, online articles, etc.)
Advanced ESL:
Students at this level are able to participate within academic and social settings with some ease. Students are able to create connections outside of common surroundings with some fluency.
Level 1:
Students will be able to engage and start conversations on a variety of topics in both academic and social settings. Students will be able to expand upon their own ideas with fluency.
Level 2
Students will be able to write in paragraphs pertaining to various content areas. Students will be able to proficiently complete academic tasks with little to no support.


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Kanpur Nosepins
It is understood that this city was established by Raja Hindu Singh of the Sankandi event. Kanpur's initial name was Kanpur. Whether it is assumed to be associated with the King Hindus of the reality of the heart of the city, or relating to the heroic Karna of Mahabharata period, it is so certified that in the last phase of the reign of Awadh, this city is situated in old Kanpur, Patkapura, Kuraswam, Juhi and Seemamau villages.
Kanpur Nosepins History
Kanpur had a history of all the important raja maharaja and as we know what they were found of jewelry. Jewelry was an important of daily clothing back then now it is also. Kings and queens used to feel more elegant and beautiful. Nose pins were an important part of women's jewelry. With the adjoining state, the rule of this town remained in the hands of the rulers of Kannauj and Kalpi and later the rulers of the Muslim rulers. Nose pins were called "nathh" throughout this time, although the name is still in use onward with other equivalents like laung, there have been diverse modern improvements and categorization to nose pins as a complex. Nathh was soon admitted as a prime symbol of power and success. As soon as the amenities caught on to their attraction of nathh, Begums created mesmerizing over annular and elongated nathhs inlaid with precious stones like diamond and ruby. Soon, the classification began and jewelry was acknowledged as one of the dividends between classes, caste, and social standing. Mistresses and clowns used to wear nathni made of steel or the ones that are gifted to them by begum.
Being located on the banks of the Ganges, there was a facility of traffic and industry. Therefore, the British gave birth to the industry, and here the development of the city started. First of all, East India Company started the business of Neel here. After the construction of the Grand Trunk Road in 1832, the town was connected to Allahabad. In 1864 AD, Lucknow, Kalpi, etc. were added by roads to the main places. The Upper Ganges canal has also been constructed. With this development of traffic, the city's business re-accelerated. Once it was connected with other cities the merchant from their started coming they shared their design and ideas about jewelry. In India, jewelry is compatible with gold. The blingy costly metal doesn't just have an artistic value but is profoundly rooted in the culture and traditions of our country. We consider gold as a very auspicious metal that stands for purity, prosperity, and wealth. This makes gold jewelry a compulsory part of a woman's wardrobe.
Kanpur Nosepins in modern days
Women in India truly love gold jewelry. Their wedding gives them a chance to dive a little deeper into their sea of love for gold. Needless to say, Indian women are one of the biggest consumers of gold. Gold never loses its sheen and never goes out of trend. The demand and love for gold are only going to rise with each passing day.


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What to Look for When Hiring a Window Replacement Company
It is a good thing to have your windows replaced if the is in a bad situation. Replacing them will also give your house a new and more beautiful look. However for this to be achieved, you need to ensure that you hire the best window replacement services. There are plenty of window replacement companies that you can want from. But you need to ensure that you only select the best one. Ensure that you also purchase the best materials for the job. Below are some practical strategies that can help you in this process. If your goal is to have the best window replacement services, start by doing your proper research.
Check the customer's satisfaction feedback of the companies you are thinking of hiring. Invest your money into the best services so that you do not have to do other repairs later. Don't hire a company judging by how good they seem to be because this might leave you not satisfied by their services. Find out whether the company you want to hire has a reputable track record also if they are certified. To confirm their track record you can visit their website to read the customers review. For you to know what kinds of windows are best for your house you weigh your options.
You can do this by checking what options some window replacement stores have. This will help you decide better on what products are best for your house requirements. Make sure that you replace your windows with ones that can open, close and also be cleaned without difficulties. Before hiring a window replacement company, it is vital that you prepare an estimated budget. It is also essential to learn whether the companies offer services and products guarantees. You need to be sure of all the charges before hiring a service provider. You will find that some companies prefer charging you after the full installation is complete and successful.
Hiring a good company will ensure that they reduce the expenses and still do an excellent job. A good window replacement company will give you experts to do a great job even if you are not familiar with the process. You should also confirm the amount of experience that a company has because it will determine whether you reach your desired results. Ensure that you also check the expertise of the company as you check their track record. When removing and replacing the windows it is important to learn how a company does it. A company that handles one thing at a time will also manage the materials carefully and avoid damages.
Case Study: My Experience With Glass


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Though Mohanlal's action thriller Pulimurugan made a gross collection of over Rs 150 crore at the global box office, it is not a common trend for Malayalam movies. However, many Malayalam films released in 2017 garnered a stupendous response from the audience with some of them even earning over Rs 30 crore at the Kerala box office alone.
Check out the highest box office collection of Malayalam movies released in 2017:
Baahubali 2
Among the movies released in Kerala, SS Rajamouli's multi-lingual Baahubali: The Conclusion (Baahubali 2) remains the biggest grosser. The Prabhas-Anushka Shetty starrer has earned over Rs 75 crore from Kerala alone leaving all regional languages way back in the list.
Munthirivallikal Thalirkkumbol
Mohanlal's family entertainer Munthirivallikal Thalirkkumbol is said to be on the top spot among the Malayalam movies at the Kerala box office this year. The Jibu Jacob directorial has approximately made Rs 33.8 crore from Kerala alone.
Read Munthirivallikal Thalirkkumbol movie review
The Great Father
By collecting Rs 4.31 crore on the first day of the theatrical run in Kerala, Mammootty's The Great Father was in the box office race from day one onwards as the highest opening day grosser in Mollywood. The action thriller, directed by Haneef Adeni is believed to have made a total collection of Rs 32 crore from Kerala box office alone.
Prithviraj Sukumaran's horror thriller Ezra had opened to a positive response. Director Jay K's movie, which marked the acting debut of actress Priya Anand in Malayalam collected Rs 31.1 crore approx at Kerala box office.
Read Ezra movie review
Despite the boycott campaign against Ramaleela, the political thriller has emerged as the highest grosser in actor Dileep's career. The movie, helmed by debutant Arun Gopy, is said to have crossed Rs 32-crore mark from Kerala alone. The makers had revealed that it collected Rs 55 crore in 55 days worldwide.
Check Ramaleela celebrity review
Actor Soubin Shahir's debut directorial venture Parava got an immense response from the audience from opening day onwards as young star Dulquer Salmaan appeared in an extended cameo role in it. The family entertainer revolves around the pigeon race popular in Fort Kochi, Mattancherry area in Kerala. It has almost collected Rs 20.27 crore at the box office within 26 days in Kerala.
Here's Parava movie celebrity review
Other movies that collected less than Rs 20 crore at Kerala box office
The other top-grossing Malayalam movies in 2017 include Nivin Pauly's Njandukalude Naattil Oridavela that made a business of almost Rs 20 crore, Dulquer's Comrade in America (CIA) with an approximate collection of Rs 18.10 crore, Prithviraj Sukumaran's Adam Joan that earned Rs 17.5 crore and Parvathy's Take Off that collected around Rs 16 crore from theatres across Kerala.
While director Lijo Jose Pellissery's critically acclaimed Angamaly Diaries is said to have made a collection of Rs 15.2 crore gross, filmmaker Omar Lulu's campus movie Chunkzz collected Rs 13.2 crore despite getting the negative talk.
Manju Warrier's family entertainer Udaharanam Sujatha collected Rs 8 crore gross. The Phantom Praveen directorial was made on a budget of just Rs 3.5 crore.
However, though the hype around Dulquer's biligual anthology Solo was high, it could earn only Rs 9.5 crore from Kerala owing to the negative word-of-mouth from the viewers.
[Box office figures credit: Malayalam Review]


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What you need to know about HIE, before HIE Awareness Day
This Sunday, 4 April, is HIE Awareness Day and we are proud to have supported the charity Peeps HIE in their event for HIE Awareness Day with a donation to their Pledge for Peeps initiative.
Peeps HIE's Pledge for Peeps campaign asks people over the month of April to set their own challenge to raise money and awareness for the charity. This could be a sponsored walk, a wheelchair push, a themed online meeting, or even just a 'wear it yellow' day. If you want to get involved you can register your interest on their website here.
Peeps HIE do some fantastic work with children who have been affected by HIE, and having worked with many families living with complications of the condition, we know how important this work is. So, if you can, please join us in supporting the charity with a Pledge for Peeps!
So, what is HIE?
HIE stands for hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy and describes an injury to the brain that has occurred because of a lack of oxygen. HIE often occurs at birth.
How does HIE happen?
There are many reasons why blood flow and/or oxygen may be restricted either before or during a baby's birth.
Causes include:
- placental abruption (where the placenta supplying necessary nutrients and oxygen to the baby comes away from the wall of the womb)
- issues with the umbilical cord, such as compression, prolapse, wrapping or knots
- intrauterine growth restriction
- a baby becoming trapped through impacted fetal head or shoulder dystocia
- delays to delivery
Can HIE be treated or even avoided?
Avoiding HIE usually comes down to effective monitoring of the baby during pregnancy and labour.
Monitoring of the baby in labour involves listening carefully to the fetal heart. Obstetricians and midwives will study the heart rate carefully to ensure it is within the normal range. They will also listen out for drops in heart rate because these may indicate that the supply of oxygen to the baby's brain is running low.
In many of the scenarios that can cause HIE, prompt recognition of what is happening and swift action to deliver the baby is required.
Taking issues with the umbilical cord as an example: The umbilical cord transfers essential oxygen and nutrients from mother to baby. During delivery, the cord may descend before or alongside the baby and become compressed and the supply of oxygen to the baby reduced.
Cord prolapse needs to be recognised quickly and the midwives will take steps to alleviate pressure from the cord. The baby will be delivered (usually be caesarean section) as quickly as possible and commonly within 15 minutes.
We detail many of the causes and ways to mitigate infant brain damage in our guide to the causes here.
Happily, due to the skill and training of our amazing NHS, even when potential causes of HIE arise, they are identified and the necessary action is taken and HIE is avoided. But just like the charity Peeps, we know this is not always the case, and are therefore proud to contribute to the work they do in supporting families across the UK affected by HIE.


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Directions from New Jersey/New York
Take I-78 West crossing into Pennsylvania. Exit at No. 67, PA-412/Hellertown/Bethlehem and turn left off the ramp onto PA-412/Hellertown Road, heading south through Hellertown. Continue 5 miles and make a slight right after Bechdolts Orchards onto Old Bethlehem Road. At the stop sign, turn slightly right onto PA-212, heading west, and proceed 1.5 miles through the town of Pleasant Valley to where the road makes a "Y." Bear left, again onto Old Bethlehem Road. Go over the bridge and continue up the hill, .2 miles. Travelda Farm will be on your right.
Directions from Philadelphia/Quakertown
From the Pennsylvania Turnpike's Northeast Extension/I-476 take the Quakertown exit, No. 44, and make a left off the ramp onto PA-663, John Fries Parkway. Continue 3.2 miles into Quakertown and at the intersection of PA-663 and PA-309, turn left onto PA-309 North. Continue 1 mile up a hill and at the intersection of West Pumping Station Road (Target will be on your left), make a right and continue .7 miles on West Pumping Station until it ends at a "T" intersection. Make a left onto California Road and drive 3.8 miles to another "T" intersection with PA-212. Make a left onto PA-212, heading east, and continue 1.7 miles into the town of Pleasant Valley, then make a right onto Bridge Street*. Cross the one-lane bridge and at the end of the street, make a right onto Old Bethlehem Road. Continue up the hill, .1 mile. Travelda Farm will be on your right.


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Posted by Paul Anderson
6 ways to make your employees love you
Before delving into how to become a likable boss – let's first discuss does being liked by employees even matter? Most of us (who are bosses of course) do not give much effort in making ourselves liked by our team members. What's the need to do that? We can be effective without being likable, isn't it?
While the belief is technically true, the odds to it are many (and most of us would not like it). In a Harvard Business Review blog, there was a mention about a survey carried over 51,836 leaders. Out of these only 27 were such who were rated at the bottom quartile in likability but held the top position for overall leadership effectiveness. This means that the possibility of a boss who is highly unlikable but still appears in the top quartile of overall effectiveness is as rare as 1 in 2000 cases.
The above-mentioned survey has substantiated the fact that bosses or for that matter any team leader needs to work hard to score high in the likability parameter.
To become likable, a leader has to possess a broad set of attributes that goes far beyond than just smiling and having a pleasant personality. In the words of a HR manager – ''Likability has got nothing to do with how pleasing you are, or how frequent you give employees a raise. There are multiple examples where it is seen that likability towards a leader/boss gets developed by the way the boss interacts with his employees on a day-to-day basis.''
What can you do to be a likable boss?
1. Develop positive emotional connections with employees: Are you aware of the fact that your emotional state affects your employees? Surprised?
Let's read what a renowned psychologist has to say about this –
''I have often seen that the ambience of the office gets determined by the boss's emotional temperament. If the boss is angry or frustrated that emotion instantly spreads to others as well. On the other hand, if the boss is cheerful and content, it makes the whole office environment positive. So you can say that emotions are contagious just like cold or flu, they spread to others.''
2. Cooperate with your employees:There is nothing better than holding weekly team discussions. As a team manager of an IT organization puts it – ''we have regular WIG sessions. While these clarify the wildly important goals of every employee, it also gives them a chance to voice out their opinions to the team leaders/managers.''
Taking prompt steps based on employee concerns is an ideal way for leaders/bosses to increase their likability factor. So next time, when your employees complain of any operational problems, you can think of a custom software development which renders to their need.
3. Build integrity:Ask yourself do your employees trust you? Do they see you as someone who keeps commitments and promises? Do they perceive you as someone who is always fair and does the right thing?
Remember employees like bosses whom they can trust.
4. Donne the role of a mentor and teacher: Think about someone who has helped you develop or learn a new skill. Instantly, you will feel a sense of respect and admiration for that person. By training employees/team members in carrying out their tasks, you will also present yourself in a positive light.
5. Be precise in your long-term goals: Think when you take your children out to a road trip, the one question they keep asking is – Have we reached the destination?
Since your children do not know where they are heading to, they find the trip boring and seemingly long. Similarly, your employees too if unaware about the company goals can be frustrated and dissatisfied.
You need to make your employees visionary and future focused and not someone with no control and no other option but to complain.
The PepsiCo Story – Recognize the "whole person" at work.
PepsiCo CEO, Indra Nooyi (named by Forbes as one of the ten most powerful women on the planet) has added another dimension to employee-boss relation. While writing acknowledgement/thank you notes to employees is a practice practiced by many bosses, Indra Nooyi has gone one step ahead to write thank you notes to employees' parents.
Describing her approach, she stated –
''We've worried about buying employees, we've worried about bouncing them when things didn't work, but we've never focused on engaging them with their hearts [emphasis mine].''
The whole idea of writing out to employees' parents struck Nooyi's mind on one of her visits to her mother. According to her, getting greeted by an endless parade of her mom's friends, made her realize that her career success substantiated the fact that how well her mother had raised her.
This is when Nooyi decided to write thank you notes to her employees' parents, making them feel successful on their duty as a good parent.
An example of a thank you letter written by Nooyi –
''I'm writing to thank you for the gift of your son, who is doing this at PepsiCo, and what a wonderful job this person is doing.''
(To read the full PepsiCo story, check Forbes).
Final Thoughts
Today, business leaders are focused more on quarterly goals and tasks to be done than on building healthy relations with their employees. But what they fail to understand is while they may be successful in the short run; eventually strained employee-boss relationship causes a mar on company's operations. By integrating Indra Nooyi's strategy or any other strategy mentioned above, leaders can take a first and significant step towards wholehearted leadership, to strengthen relationships with employees and increase their engagement.


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Wednesday, 2 May 2007
CMAQ Radio Reloj, Pinar del Río 790
Not easy to get a verification from those Cubans nowadays, but today I got two in the same email after a reminder sent yesterday. This was very nice indeed!
Posted by Arnstein Bue at 16:46
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