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Talk of the Town
The curtain of the World Congress was drawn against
the backdrop of the aftermath of Enron; a general
lost of confidence in accountants; the looming threats
of the Sarbane-Oxley Act and a groundswell of global
opinion calling for tighter controls on the accountants'
profession. However, being stunned by the dramatic
appearances of premier Zhu and much impressed by the
silky smooth operation of the Congress programmes,
the public seemed content to temporarily forget the
accounting issues at hand. Instead they turned their
attentions to what the premier has to say about Mr
Tung, the budget deficit and his promises to support
the economy of Hong Kong. However, premier Zhu's simple
but powerful remarks on 'no false accounts' unwitting
left a very vivid impression.
Press takes up the call
There is no wonder why the newspaper headlines were
dotted with sensational captions like the 'Hong Kong
version of Enron' and 'No False Accounts for Hong
Kong' in the few days after the ICAC arrests. However,
with the benefit of valuable experiences shared in
the World Congress, the HKSA and your LegCo representative
were well prepared to come up with swift responses.
In ignorance
As your political representative, I was bombarded
with embarrassing questions from the press on the
very day it happened. It is not easy to properly communicate
our defence when reporters can hardly distinguish
the difference between the functions of the HKSA Council,
our Investigation Committee and the Disciplinary committee.
Some of them even think that we are like the military
with our own marshall laws and accountants' courts
to try accountants who had committed serious crimes.
They wonder why our legal sanctions are so light.
Some simply joined the well-rehearsed game of calling
for greater regulations and stiffer penalties whenever
they see any sign of trouble. Few will give you a
chance and listen objectively to the proper arguments.
In order to buy some time for the HKSA Council to
formulate a proper response, I consistently explained
in the first few days after the arrests, in numerous
forums and interviews, that we should clearly distinguish
between criminal prosecution and disciplinary proceedings
of unprofessional conducts. The reported cases have
revealed neither details of non-compliance of auditing
or accounting standards nor our ethnical guidelines.
It appeared to be a classical case of suspected corruption
and false accounting which are both serious criminal
offences. They are by nature outside the scope of
our self-regulatory frame work. The ICAC will investigate
the matter and the Courts will hand down the sentence
for any wrong doings. If the accountants are found
guilty of criminal offences, then the Professional
Accountants Ordinance is clear on this point, they
should be suspended from membership. There is absolutely
no room for accountants protecting accountants by
means of some secretive internal procedure.
However, we must admit that the series of scandalous
events revealing that irregularities and false accounting
are at play have already tainted the public's confidence
in the profession. A very conscious effort will need
to be made quickly to restore that confidence. As
a matter of fact, 'self-regulation' of accountants
is well defined and narrow in scope. Quite a few pieces
of legislation like the Serious Organised Crime Ordinance;
the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance; the Securities
and Futures Ordinance and the Companies Ordinance
all provide means and powers for the Government to
appoint inspectors to investigate the conducts of
accountants and the records kept by us. In the recently
reported case, the ICAC has all the powers it needs
to investigate and to prosecute, if necessary, the
accountants in question. The Government does not have
to depend on the HKSA to regulate its own house in
this instance. The present system has served the community
well and should not be discarded before a better system
is found.
Crimes and dishonest acts cannot be totally prevented
even with the best and most elaborate regulations.
Liberal view
Personally, I hold a very liberal view on how our
self-regulation can operate. I wrote on the same subject
some two years ago in this column; it was entitled
'Barking, Biting Watchdogs'. I fully subscribe to
the conclusions of a recent study which recommended
increasing the number of lay members in many of the
HKSA Committees including the Disciplinary Committee
and to open its proceedings to the public. Given that
the [Disciplinary] Committee is already open to public
scrutiny, I envisage no problem in further increasing
the number of lay members from two to three out of
a total of five and thereby concede the majority on
the Committee.
With regard to the investigation Committee, I also
keep a very open view as to the involvement of lay
members in the supervision and monitoring of its works.
However, I do not think that adding lay members to
the Committee can actually solves the underlying problems
of delays in processing its works.
Complex cases brought to the attention of the appropriate
committees of the HKSA are time-consuming and require
vast physical and intellectual resources. The lack
of statutory powers and financial resources available
to a non-state organisation such as ours is very real.
For example, that we cannot compel information from
involved parties who are non-members can be a serious
limitation to the efficacy of any investigation. Worse
still, our frequent complainants like the Stock Exchange
and the Securities and Future Commission, who have
their own wider powers to obtain information, may
not always find it appropriate to pass such information
to us. In a more complex commercial transaction, it
might not always be easy for us to obtain the same
information, which makes it difficult for us to fully
appreciate the complaints made, quickly and efficiently.
Unfortunately in our case, following due process under
these restrictions takes a long time.
I have urged the leaders of the HKSA to seriously
consider a more comprehensive and effective way to
tackle these difficulties once and for all. In my
view, an independent Board of Investigation under
the auspicious of the Financial Services Bureau with
adequate resources and wider powers to obtain evidences
is clearly a preferred long-term option in the investigation
of accountants' conduct in listed Companies.
Dr Eric Li is the LegCo
Accountancy Functional Constituency Representative.
For more information, refer to his website at
返回 Back


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Midlee Dog Diaper Insert (XXL)
Regular price $19.99
Reusable and machine washable dog diaper liner pads. These liners help to absorb any excess waste that your dog's diaper doesn't catch thus adding extra absorbency and protection. To use, place this liner inside your dog's belly band and replace it when soiled. - Each liner measures 13.4" L x 3.8" W

subset: commoncrawl


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What is Magento?Up to now, Magento has become one of the most prevalent e-commerce platforms to start an online business. Being a part of Adobe Experience Cloud and written on PHP. Hence this platform is robust, highly flexible, and easy to customize for the merchants' different needs. In other words, Magento can bring almost everything you expect for a successful eCommerce website development. The Adobe acquisition in 2018 had even made Magento more vigorous than ever.
What is Wix?While Magento might be the leader in terms of the e-commerce platform, Wix, by far, has been recognized as one of the most outstanding and potential website builders in recent years. It was developed by an Israeli company – Wix.com Ltd. Owing to its dynamic drag-and-drop tools, Wix makes the e-commerce website development process much easier for everyone (included both professionals and nonprofessionals) and requires less time to release. Unlike Magento (focusing only on delivering e-commerce solutions), Wix gives you the capability to develop various websites such as business, online store, photography, music, designer, events, blog, portfolio, and CV so on.
The History: Magento vs Wix
MagentoIn the previous blog post, we introduced you to Magento's long history from 2007 to 2018. It's not easy for Magento to get its position today in the e-commerce industry, but a long journey of continuous effort and innovation. During that time, Magento held many events (named Meet Magento) and spread its reputation around the world (in the US, UK, India, Greece, Singapore, Thailand, Germany, Poland, Japan, etc.).
History of Magento
WixWix is founded one year ahead of Magento. Here are some highlights in Wix history from 2006:
- Established in 2006 by three Israeli programmers – Abrahami brothers and Giora Kaplan
- Releasing the beta version based on Adobe Flash in 2007
- The users of Wix were 3.5 million users in 2010, which increased by an incredible 5 million in 2011
- In 2012, replacing Adobe Flash with HTML5 site builder
- It reached 34 million users in 2013 and 50 million one year later
- Wix had an initial public offering (IPO) on the American stock market (NASDAQ), attracting $127 million from investors in 2013
- In 2014, Wix acquired Appixia – An Israeli startup specialized in native mobile commerce app development, and OpenRest, famous for restaurants' online ordering systems
- Wix announced its acquisition of DeviantArt for $36 million in 2017
History of Wix
Magento vs Wix: What Are The Solutions?
MagentoNow Magento provides us with two editions – Open Source, formerly Magento Community (free edition), and Commerce, formerly Magento Enterprise (annually paid edition).
Magento Open Source
Magento Commerce
WixSome people think that they can start e-commerce with Wix at no cost. Wix indeed allows us to build free websites using its drag-and-drop tools. However, free pricing is applied to only certain kinds of websites. To develop an e-commerce website, you must subscribe to a Wix Premium Plan (among Super Store, VIP Store, Unlimited Store, and Basic Store plan), which costs from $16.16 to $39.91 monthly.
Magento vs Wix: PopularityBoth Magento and Wix are viral platforms for e-commerce development. However, to have a more in-depth insight into these platforms, we got some data about the current number of Magento and Wix websites from builtwith.com: As you can see:
Magento215,425 total live sites & 305,541 additional website redirects (more than 80 thousand stores in the US), and approximately 1,5% are websites with over 1 million revenue (14,727).
Wix3,076,563 total live sites & 10,059 additional website redirects (more than 19 thousand websites in the US), and approximately 0,6% are websites with over 1 million revenue (5,667).
It will be a big mistake if we depend only on the above statistics to compare Wix and Magento's popularity.
As we mentioned before, while Magento emphasizes offering e-commerce solutions, Wix delivers a wide range of website types. That's why the number of Wix websites is significantly greater than that of Magento. Moreover, it's hard to compare the number of e-commerce stores empowered by Magento vs Wix. For Magento, probably 90% of its entire live sites are e-commerce, but for Wix, it perhaps makes up less than 10%, just our guess.
Magento vs Wix Comparison Regards Geography (according to SimilarTech)
Examples Of Magento & Wix Websites
When it comes to Magento e-commerce websites, there are some big names such as Nike, Ford, Fox Connect, Vizio, Olympus, Rebecca Minkoff, Christian Louboutin, Fiji Water, The North Face, and so on. In another blog post, we listed some with an attractive design. Let's have a look!
Christian Louboutin's Magento WebsiteIn comparison, most of the Wix website owners are small to medium companies, for example, Monica Pack Pilates, Brown Owl Creative, Linda Franzosi, Leandro Pedretti, Jellyfish & Co, Adam McCain, Sonja van Duelmen, and Natalie Latinsky, to name a few.
Vintique's Wix Website
1. Ease of Setup and UseThe first Magento vs Wix battle is about ease of setup and use from different users' perspectives.
Magento eCommerce reviewIt takes just a few minutes to install the Magento package on a new site for the developers. However, the time to complete a Magento website development might take a long time, from 1 to 5 months, depending on the initial requirements' complication level. Apart from it, since the developers are familiar with technical terms, they can easily navigate to any sections on the Magento backend (the management board of Magento)* for configuration. (*Each Magento website has two parts: front-end, where the customers can access, and backend, where the store owners can monitor their stores.) On the other hand, from the merchants' perspective (without technical knowledge), they can't build a Magento website yourself. They can select a theme (website design) and list all of the functionalities on the site that they want, and then the coders will turn those into reality. Regarding the website management on the backend, the store owners will need to spend their time learning Magento user guides to understand the admin panel structure, how to configure the store, and take advantage of the all-powerful features of this platform. It might be quite tricky at first, but after 1-2 weeks, most merchants can know what they can do and how to do that with their stores. Gradually, they even might "fall in love" with the professional, intelligent, and high-tech of the Magento backend.
Magento 2 frontend (default demo)
Magento 2 backend (default demo)
Wix eCommerce reviewOne of the most vital factors that make the Wix famous is its ease of use and fast to set up. In contrast, it requires a specific technical background to develop a Magento website. Wix is immensely easy to use. It might take just a few hours to be familiar with the interface and settings. There is no need to download or install the software since all manipulations are directly processed on your web browser. To create a Wix eCommerce website, you need to sign in (via Facebook or Google account), select a template, and get started. Nonetheless, some users complained that using Wix's available templates is not as easy as it looks. In the beginning, "playing" with the theme brings a lot of fun. Although Wix is much easier than Magento, if the store owners don't have an artistic instinct, their Wix website can be a mess. It's also worth noting that since the Wix website is set up on the web browser, you will need a stable Internet connection. Otherwise, you might lose your setups when the connection fails. Moreover, if there are too many components on the site, it will no longer be easy and fast to move the subjects to change the design (lagged and inactive status).
Wix Template Settings Demo
So, Magento vs Wix – which is the winner in terms of Ease of Setup and Use?
From the above analytics, Wix might defeat Magento by its highly user-friendly at the beginning. However, in the long-term, Magento seems to be a more stable and reliable platform.
2. Available Themes & TemplatesThe second battle of Magento vs Wix is about their "quantity and quality" of the themes and templates.
MagentoAlthough Magento does not provide us with an official bank of themes, we can easily find thousands of templates (both free and paid) from the theme market/ providers like Themeforest, Magento Marketplace, TemplateMonster, CreativeMarket, ArgentoTheme, UberTheme, VenusTheme, and so on. There is a wide range of these categories for you to choose from, such as fashion, technology, health, beauty, entertainment, sports, electronics, shopping mall, etc. In the previous blog post, we also listed the Top 100 Magento Responsive Themes For Free Download that you might want to have a look at.
Magento Themes On Themeforest
WixWix advertised that they offer over 500 free designer-made website templates; notwithstanding, just one-fifth of them can be used for eCommerce stores. Compared to thousands of Magento themes, this number is too small. The only plus of Wix templates is the attractive design for different types of products, from Fashion, Jewelry, Art, Home Decor, Food, Sports, Electronics to Pets, etc. Since we only evaluate Wix and Magento from the e-commerce perspective, Magento wins in the Magento vs Wix Theme battle.
3. Number of Apps/ Extensions
MagentoAfter setting up your Magento store, if you want to add more advanced features or improve the site performance, let's find some proper extensions. There are more than 4,500 modules on Magento Marketplace (both free and paid) in different categories, including Accounting & Finance, Marketing, Content & Customization, Customer Support, Payments & Security, Reporting & Analytics, Sales, Shipping & Fulfillment, and Site Optimization. Although Magento officials do not develop those plugins, they all had to experience strict censorship and code standard testing to get a place on the list.
Magento MarketplaceBesides Magento Marketplace, you can find quality extensions from reliable Magento extension providers such as Tigren, Amasty, Aheadworks, Mirasvit. In case that none of the existing Magento extensions can fully meet all your requests, find a trusted Magento developer and ask for a custom module development.
WixUp to now, Wix has offered 250+ apps in the market (free and premium), which can be installed with ease. Unlike Magento, you are not allowed to install any third-party extensions, just Wix's. Moreover, it seems impossible to customize the available apps or build a custom one for your Wix eCommerce store.
Wix App MarketMagento outweighs Wix when discussing the number of available apps/ extensions and the ability to add/ develop custom ones on the e-commerce store.
4. Short-term & Long-term CostThe cost of developing an eCommerce website is a fundamental matter for online businesses. Let's figure out how much does it cost to build a Magento vs Wix website!
MagentoAs mentioned in the previous part, you can opt for Magento Open Source (free edition) or Magento Commerce (premium edition). From our experience, if you possess a small to medium eCommerce store, there is no need to use Magento Commerce edition; the Magento Open Source is already "too good to be true." Therefore, what costs you the most might be the fee of hiring the Magento developers to develop your store. The price range of Magento web development is vast. To know how to estimate the Magento pricing yourself, read our guide here, or contact us to get a detailed quote at no cost. Besides, you might have to invest a certain amount of money in buying the theme and hosting service. On the flip side, if your Magento e-commerce store has a large scale with many SKUs, you might consider Magento Commerce. Here is the cost of acquiring this edition:
WixThere are four Premium plans for developing a Wix eCommerce store, ranging from $16.16 to $39.91 per month. Besides the cost of the subscription to a plan, you might also have to pay for designers to give you an appealing website storefront. In the short-term, undoubtedly, Magento development is more costly than Wix's growth. Hence, going with Wix sounds more reasonable for start-ups or small e-commerce businesses. However, it does not mean that developing a Magento website is not affordable. Assumed that you have a minimal budget, hiring an Asian Magento agency (in Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, India, etc.) might be an ideal option. On average, you will be charged from $2,500 to $5,000 to achieve a Magento website.
5. E-commerce FeaturesThe most crucial thing to evaluate the quality of an eCommerce platform is its functionalities/ features. Let's see what Magento and Wix bring to the table:
MagentoThere must be some reasons for the high acquisition price of Magento e-commerce development, and we guess that they are due to all of the excellent eCommerce features of this platform. There is a very long list of Magento features, providing everything you need for an e-commerce store. Here are the highlights:
|Promotions & Pricing Catalog Management Catalog Browsing Product Browsing Payments & Checkout Site & Content Management Order Management Customer Service
|Customer Loyalty Customer Accounts Support for Global Sites Search Engine Optimization Analytics and Reporting Architecture and Security Layout and Theming Performance and Scalability Cloud Offering
WixWe can find a list of Wix eCommerce features that are fewer but quite similar to Magento's; however, most of them are very basic.
- Product & catalog management
- Order management
- Customer management
- Marketing tools
- Payment & shipping
- Tracking & analytics
- Tax
- …
6. Supported Languages & CurrenciesNowadays, there is a considerable increase in the number of global e-commerce stores, who need to develop a site with multiple currencies and languages. For Magento, it's easy to set up a multi-currency or multi-language website. However, it's worth noting that you will need to install a language pack to translate your site automatically to different languages. For Wix, you have the same ability to select more than one language for your site, but unfortunately, you can choose only one currency.
7. Payment & Shipping IntegrationWix allows you to integrate with multiple payment gateways such as Stripe, PayPal, Square, Wirecard, 2Checkout, Moolah, Braintree, WorldPay, eWay, Fat Zebra, PagSeguro, Yandex, Leumi Card, and so on. By default, Magento is integrated with several popular payment gateways, namely PayPal, Braintree, Authorize.net, CyberSource, and WorldPay. It also offers some payment methods such as COD, bank transfer, purchase order, and check/money order. If you want to connect to another payment gateway beyond the list (e.g., Stripe), you will need to install a module (e.g., Stripe and Magento integration extension).
8. SEO & MarketingLet's move on to Magento vs Wix's comparison in terms of SEO and Marketing capability.
MagentoMagento provides us with an effective SEO and Marketing tool. Here are the outstanding related features: Promotions and Pricing
- Set promotional pricing for specific stores, categories, customer segments, or products
- Create flexible coupons for particular stores, customer segments, periods, products, and categories
- Export coupon codes for offline distribution, email, newsletters, and more
- Track and report coupon usage
- Automatically generate a Google sitemap
- Create search engine friendly URLs
- Set meta keywords, meta title, and meta description
- Integrated Google Analytics and Google Adwords
WixWix also offers some exciting marketing tools, for instance:
- Get found on Google
- Email marketing
- Social posts
- Marketing integrations
- Automation
- Coupons
- Videomakers
Wix Promotion SetupAs you can see, the Coupon function of Wix is very basic. You need to set a code, label the coupon, set a discount amount, select customers' target, set time for applying the coupon, and limit coupon usage times. On the contrary, you can do considerably more than that with Magento. It allows you to set a discount rule for each product/ catalog or shopping cart. Therefore, assumed that you wanted to give your customers 10% off when they spend over $100 on the store, Magento can help you to do that with ease, while Wix cannot. It also means that Magento wins in Magento vs Wix Marketing Tools Battle.
Magento Promotion Setup
9. Customer SupportBoth Magento and Wix are highly evaluated in terms of customer support. Their Help Centers provide a strong knowledge base to help the users find the answers yourself. In case that the knowledge base cannot help, the users can create a ticket/ contact Magento/ Wix officials for assistance.
Magento Help Center
Wix Help Center


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Remember me?
by Scott O'Dell
This is the story of Karana, the Indian girl who lived alone for years on the Island of the Blue Dolphins. As she waits for a ship to take her away, she uses her skills of survival to stay alive.
Ages 9 – 12
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
© 2023 · Tree of Life School and Book Service. Designed By Ex Nihilo Designs.


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MediaOne to Help you Meet Specific E-Commerce Requirements
For all kinds of e-commerce singapore needs, you should consider MediaOne Marketing services. They would be your best bet to meet your specific requirements. The agency has been serving the needs of several companies and businesses in the right manner. The agency would ensure that you do not spend a fortune on e-commerce needs.
MediaOne is the best solution for all problems related to your SEO needs. They would offer the right answer meeting your specific needs and requirements at an affordable price. The agency would meet your needs for maintaining the standards of e-commerce website development needs at an affordable price.


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The centrality of data is a reference point of the development processes at the base of Nikè CRM. Often, in fact, companies do not realize the intrinsic value of their data, especially when they are organized and related to each other. Thanks to Nikè CRM it will be possible to easily organize the fragmentary nature of the company's data and create a beneficial alignment between the marketing and sales departments, managing activities on different channels also in the mobile version.
Marketing managers will be able to stay in touch with their customers while maintaining a 360-degree view of every single customer-related activity. They will also be able to simplify planning and control processes; optimize the relationships at the base of the company's business; create smart and more profitable sales approaches; develop targeted promotions, increase cross-selling and up-selling opportunities and improve customer satisfaction.


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New Zealanders turn in guns as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern promises tighter restrictions
New Zealand's prime minister vowed Monday to unveil gun law changes within a week and called on gun owners to surrender their firearms to police after last week's shooting rampage that left 50 people dead.
"Within 10 days of this horrific act of terrorism, we will have announced reforms, which I believe will make our community safer," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.
Ardern promised a review into security agencies after the mosque shootings, the New Zealand Herald reported.
New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush said his officers would willingly accept guns from anyone who wanted to get rid of them. He suggested that people alert police ahead of time "given the current situation."
Ardern said she "applauded" people who handed in weapons and encouraged more to do so. Some gun owners took to social media to share stories of giving up their semiautomatic rifles. John Hart, a farmer and Green Party member from the Wairarapa, said on Twitter he had owned a gun for 31 years.
"On the farm they are a useful tool in some circumstances, but my convenience doesn't outweigh the risk of misuse," Hart tweeted. "We don't need these in our country."
The New Zealand auction website Trade Me said it was pulling semiautomatic weapons from its sites. Trade Me CEO Jon Macdonald had previously argued that his site was a better venue for dealing in weapons than more nefarious alternatives.
"But it is clear public sentiment has changed in relation to semiautomatic weapons, and we acknowledge that, which is why we're putting this ban in place," Macdonald said.
Gun City, a Christchurch gun shop, said Monday that it sold four guns to the accused shooter online since November 2017. "We detected nothing extraordinary about the license holder," store owner David Tipple said. Two of the guns used were semiautomatic weapons that had been modified.
Monday, the man accused in the shooting, Brenton Tarrant, fired his lawyer and wants to represent himself at trial, the court-appointed lawyer said.
Richard Peters said the accused killer expressed no condolences or regret in the brief time they spent together.
"What did seem apparent to me is he seemed quite clear and lucid, whereas this may seem like very irrational behavior," Peters told the Herald. "He didn't appear to me to be facing any challenges or mental impairment, other than holding fairly extreme views."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: New Zealanders turn in guns as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern promises tighter restrictions


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September 15, 2023
vidIQ Coupon Discount: The Best Youtube Video Optimizer
Don't buy a vidIQ license at full price! Redeem my coupon code to enjoy whopping up to 90% discount here. A vidIQ is the Youtube certified organic video marketing platform for big brands and small businesses. Are you struggling to get enough views and subscribers for your Youtube channel? Learn the exact things that make


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NSX-T – How to figure out what those weird UUIDs really represent
If you've been running NSX-T for a while, you probably know that a lot of error messages and CLI lists contain UUIDs rather than the actual NSX-T object names.
One example below, where there is a 'Partial Success' on the realization of a segment/LS. The error message only lists the Transport Node's UUID (1e107ae9-452b-4f12-b710-ef53934782c2). How do we know which Transport Node it's referring to?
The solution is very simple: Just copy the UUID and paste it into the NSX-T search feature (the magnifying glass icon) that's available in the top right hand corner of the web UI:
After filtering the search to only list Transport Nodes we can se that the node we were looking for was esx-04.
This search feature works for all types of NSX-T objects, and we can also search for IP addresses, host names, network names etc. Example below where we search for the esx-04 hostname and can list all its VMs etc.


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Via press release from GLAAD: Today MNDR and Scissor Sisters release a charity single called "SWERLK." Proceeds from the single will go to Contigo Fund, which emerged from the Pulse mass shooting and offers financial support to organizations working to heal, educate and empower LGBTQ and Latinx individuals, immigrants and people of color, as well as those working to end …Read More »
Tag Archives: Jake Shears
NERVO – The Other Boys
Via Pop Crush: DJ duo NERVO just unveiled their collaborative track "The Other Boys," which features Kylie Minogue, Jake Shears of the Scissor Sisters and Chic legend Nile Rodgers, and it's the kind of upbeat electronic hit that disco-dreams are made of. "The Other Boys" is an ode to unreciprocated romantic feelings, perhaps one of the most relatable scenarios — …Read More »
Milan Fashion Week Clip: Music By Jake Shears, Narration By Jane Fonda
From the New York Times: Consider "The Future of Flesh," a short film by the director Luke Gilford that has its premiere here, which features models in surreal latex body suits outfitted entirely in Prada's current fall 2013 collection. The eerie, evocative video features an original score by Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters and is narrated by Jane Fonda — …Read More »
Ali Forney Center Announces Shred Of Hope Celebrity Online T-Shirt Auction
A galaxy of stars have come together to support the Ali Forney Center's Shred Of Hope, an online auction in which you can bid on original t-shirts created by gay celebrities and straight allies. Each of the participants worked with designers at the Manhattan-based fetish wear company Nasty Pig to create one-of-a-kind "shredders," which are sort of not-tank-tops. Among the …Read More »
Avec – Disppearer
Cher Records With Jake Shears
At The GLAAD Media Awards
Loyal JMG photographer Dr. Jeff snapped over 650 photos on the GLAAD Media Awards red carpet and afterwards and he's edited that down to a more user-friendly 130 shots. Click through for lots of heroes to the movement like Chris Kluwe, Brendon Ayanbadejo, Peter Staley, and many others. Kitchen Cousins!Read More »
Jake Shears Vs Azealia Banks
Yesterday former Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears took on his one-time collaborator Azealia Banks over her "faggot" attack on Perez Hilton. GLAAD also responded yesterday on their blog: Our society knows that "fa**ot" is a derogatory word for gay men, and in this case it was used to attack someone in a very public altercation with hundreds of …Read More »


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Tonight at 7:00 PM, the Wildcats basketball team tips off the Blue-White scrimmage. This is an important event in that it is more of competitive than just a simple exhibition of dunks and 3-pointers like we had at Big Blue Madness. In this game, we will actually see some defense (if not a great deal of it) and get some idea just what this year's version of the Wildcats brings to the table.
Even though it is just an intra-squad scrimmage, the Blue-White game gives us a peek into where the Wildcats are as far as teamwork is concerned, and who will be doing a lot of what in the first few games of the season. As the season progresses, we'll see roles change just like always, but this game generally defines, at least to some extent, the type of basketball we'll be seeing out of the Wildcats early this year.
Guy Ramsey at Cat Scratches says this game is Calipari's "laboratory:"
With a versatile, talented and deep roster this season, there isn't a thing Calipari has taken off the table in terms of how his team will play. The way his players talk about all the different philosophies and sets the team has toyed with in practice, Calipari almost sounds like a mad scientist.
First of all, it takes a confident coach to be willing to change what had become "his system," namely the Dribble Drive Motion that he made famous at Memphis, and be willing to integrate it with other offensive systems like the pick and roll, or a regular low-post offense, as dictated by his talent. This is often known as doing something "out of your comfort zone," something that Calipari demands not only of his players, but is also clearly willing to embrace personally in his coaching.
For those who think John Calipari isn't a great coach because he's never "won the big one," this is an example of why he truly is great. I can't think of a single Division I coach other than perhaps Louisville's Rick Pitino (and nobody seems to doubt Pitino's credentials) who has been willing to embrace other offensive systems to this degree, and Pitino is not nearly as willing as Calipari.
Calipari has done that his entire career, and it is a big reason for his success. He did it at Memphis when he installed the DDM. He did it last year when he started initiating the offense with handoffs between Brandon Knight and Josh Harrellson. He's already talking about doing it this year with the pick and roll. This is how you innovate in college basketball -- by doing things that look like they might work, but that you have never or rarely tried.
With all that said, let's go to the man himself for comment. Watch the whole thing, then I'll highlight some points:
In here, Calipari explains why he hasn't run the pick and roll that much before -- why bring two defenders to his best player when he doesn't need the help to get open? He used the example of John Wall, explaining that running Wall on the P&R, the defenders would have both gone under the pick and prevented the drive, forcing Wall to shoot jumpers -- just what the defense wants Wall to do.
But this year is different, and Calipari is using the pick and roll to initiate the DDM. This year, when the defender goes under to take away the drive, they have to always be aware of who it is. If Teague is the guard you might get away with it, but if it's Lamb or Miller, you're giving up an open three to a 40%+ shooter. If the defender tries to fight through the pick and gets hung on the screen, it forces the inside defender to rotate or the screen defender to switch to a mismatched player.
Say Davis or Jones is the screener for Lamb and the defense switches. Now, you have a guard on Davis or Jones and a big trying to chase Lamb to the basket. That's not Josh Harrellson out there, that's Davis or Jones with guard skills at 6'9"+ and a 36" vertical. Lamb can kick back to the screener, if needs be, for a drive, an open three or a post-up. If the wing defender rotates, you have an open shooter in the corner. Tough to guard.
Another thing I found interesting was how Calipari is constantly trying to innovate his own system and picks the brains of the NBA coaches who come to watch the Wildcats practice. Who else in college basketball does this? I'd like to know, because I'm thinking it is unique, and incredibly smart.
It's hard not to be encouraged by the statement from Coach Cal that he hasn't had to coach effort at all. How awesome is that? Listening to him talk about these guys, it's hard not to feel like this year is finally the one that gets us back to the top of the mountain, and the way these kids are approaching this season could not be more correct.
I can't wait for that first tip.


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For non-commercial apps
For business-focused applications
For mission-critical apps
Yes, you can upgrade your project to the Scale plan and downgrade at any time, by contacting our support team using the in-app messaging widget located at the bottom right of the Prisma Data Platform UI.
Yes, it is possible to pay annually on our Enterprise plans. Get in touch with our Support team via the in-app messaging widget directly in the Prisma Data Platform.
Yes, we support invoice payments on our Enterprise plans. Get in touch with our Support team via the in-app messaging widget directly in the Prisma Data Platform.
Billing occurs on a monthly basis aligned with calendar months. You are billed and receive invoices for each month on the 1st. Each invoice bills upfront the usage until the end of that month.
The first invoice is at a pro-rated amount of the monthly plan price. This means that we bill you only for the period during which your project uses the paid plan during the first month.
Read more about how billing works.
For projects on the Free plan, the number of team members and environments is limited.
For projects on the Scale plan, when using team members and environments beyond the quota included, overages are pro-rated by the day.
Read more about how billing works.
Data Proxy usage is metered by CPU milliseconds across all environments in the project. This corresponds to the aggregate of actual CPU time that the Prisma Data Platform spent processing, not the time spent waiting.
Projects on the Free plan have hard limits in terms of Data Proxy usage, meaning that no overages will be charged, but the Data Proxy will be paused past that point until the next billing cycle. You will receive multiple warnings before reaching these limits.
For project on the Scale plan, any additional CPU milliseconds going above the plan quota will be charged as overages and included in the monthly bill at the end of the billing cycle.
Read more about how billing works.


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This event has now taken place but you can watch the video recording of it through our Youtube Channel, get to it by clicking the button below
WhenThursday, April 29th from 6pm to 8pm CEST
WhereOnline symposium via Zoom.
FormatThere'll be a great line-up of speakers plus ample scope for discussion and debate.
Why you should attend
The reputational integrity of the finance sector has been very badly damaged in recent decades, with one scandal after, another including of course the Global Financial Crisis itself.
As a consequence, the Transparency Task Force is initiating and facilitating a global conversation about what needs to be done to address the real underlying causes of the malpractice, malfeasance, misconduct and mis-selling that has plagued the finance sector for far too long, causing extensive consumer detriment and a collapse in trust and confidence.
If you believe there is scope for Europe's finance sector to serve society better, this is definitely an event for you, because we'll be working hard to galvanise support for the positive, progressive and purposeful finance reform that is so desperately needed.
We know there are many great ideas that can help drive the transformational change; and we want to shine a big bright light on those ideas and the people that can bring them to life.
We'll be tackling many important questions head-on, such as:
- What are the underlying forces that continue to drive poor market conduct?
- Are Europe's financial regulators using their powers effectively?
- How much of an issue is regulatory capture in Europe?
- Are class actions having to fill the void created by ineffective regulatory enforcement?
- Are vested interests still getting in the way of consumers getting good outcomes?
- Is obfuscation and opacity still preventing consumers from getting the information they need?
- Are the fiduciary standard and best interest rules working as intended?
- Has the Friedmanite idea of "profit maximisation" spoiled the sector's culture?
- Is the Business Round Table thinking on "multi-stakeholder" starting to have an influence?
- Is the regulatory framework in Europe working as it should? – if not, what can be done?
Given the obvious importance of the finance sector to Europe, discussing and debating what can be done to get it to perform in a manner that serves society properly is always a hot topic; please be sure to book your complimentary place and be part of the conversation.
Here's the programme and timings so far...
—————————————-6:00pm CEST—————————————-
Welcome to the symposium, introductions and initial exploration of the main issues; by
Andy Agathangelou
Founder, Transparency Task Force; Governor, Pensions Policy Institute; Chair, Secretariat Committee, APPG on Pension Scams; Chair, Secretariat Committee, APPG on Personal Banking and Fairer Financial Services
—————————————-6:20pm CEST—————————————-
Presentation #1, for 10 minutes + 5 minutes discussion/Q&A by
Tamar Joulia-Paris
Managing Director, TJ Capital
—————————————-6:35pm CEST—————————————-
Presentation #2, for 10 minutes + 5 minutes Q&A/Discussion by
Bob Lyddon
Owner, Lyddon Consulting Services
—————————————-6:50pm CEST—————————————-
Short leg-stretch & comfort break
—————————————-7:00pm CEST—————————————-
Presentation #3, for 10 minutes + 5 minutes Q&A/Discussion by
Josina Kamerling
Head of Regulatory Outreach, EMEA CFA Institute
—————————————-7:15pm CEST—————————————-
Presentation #4, for 10 minutes + 5 minutes Q&A/Discussion by
Edoardo Carlucci,
Research & Policy Officer, Better Finance
—————————————-7:30pm CEST—————————————-
The "Just a minute"-round
Inspired by the BBC Radio 4 programme, we have asked a selection of our attendees to spend just a minute sharing their thoughts on what has been covered during the symposium. But unlike the Radio 4 programme our speakers won't be penalised for hesitation, repetition or deviation!
Krzysztof Grabowski
Retired Capital Markets and Corporate Governance Expert
Ian Veitch
Self-employed, Helping organisations drive product and business development
Christiane Hölz
Lawyer, German Association for the Protection of Securities Holdings (DSW)
—————————————-7:35pm CEST—————————————-
General discussion and Q&A, 20 minutes
—————————————-7:55pm CEST—————————————-
Final conclusions; and suggested next steps and close to the formal proceedings.
However, for those that want it…
8:00pm CEST until 108:30pm CEST
….informal, unstructured networking and informal conversation; a "fireside chat"
*The programme will continuously evolve so is subject to change.


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What is a mockup?
Mockups are mid to high-fidelity static visual designs that represent the look and feel of user interface (UI) design. They demonstrate the basic content layout, color schemes, typography, white spacing, and user navigation. Mockups can be created using online visual design apps or software.
Benefits of mockups
Mockups provide you with a snapshot of your final product
Mockups are produced before development is started, and enable final iterations before coding the design.
Mockups stimulate collaboration and communication
When designers and developers gather to review mockups, they can discuss what is and isn't working in the design, and propose final changes to the design before progressing the project into development.
Mockup revisions can be done quickly and easily
Before web development begins, it's important to ensure all visual elements are properly placed and nothing is missed. Mockups are an easy way to illustrate this. Since mockups are typically from mid to high-fidelity designs, revisions can often be done relatively quickly without significant time and budget.
Anatomy of a mockup
Colour palettes should be demonstrated within a mockup and reviewed to ensure they are aligned with the client's project goals and brand guidelines.
Typography refers to the font type, size, style, alignment, spacing, and indentions. Typography should be clean, clear, and easy to read within your mockup.
The content layout refers to how content is displayed on a screen – text, images, illustrations, and more. The layout should follow a strategic content hierarchy, where the most important information is presented first.
Contrasting elements
Contrasting colours are key to effective design. They can increase visibility and draw the user's eye down the page or to key content such as a call-to-action.
White space
White space (or negative space) is an empty space not taken up with content (text, images, etc). White space is powerful, as it gives room for the eye to focus on content. A lack of sufficient white space can cause users to become overwhelmed and miss important aspects of the page.
Visual navigation tools
Visual navigational tools include toggles, sliders, headers, footers, arrows, and dropdown menus. They are critical to design and should always be included within a mockup to demonstrate the final user experience.


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While this is not an official FAQ of the Society for Pentecostal Studies (SPS), I offer it in response to a series of questions I was asked by a friend who is a student member wishing to submit a proposal for a paper to be presented at an SPS Annual Meeting. I have also offered a few of my own questions which I thought might be beneficial. I have been an active member of the Society since 2008 and helped to found the SPS Student Caucus in order to assist students in developing as scholars within the broad field of Pentecostal studies and as Pentecostal scholars. I believe my responses to his questions might prove helpful to others who might also be wondering similar things about writing and presenting research for SPS.
What is the standard length of a paper submitted to SPS?
There is no official standard length for papers. Some present papers of only 10 pages while others have submitted papers over 50 pages. The key is how much time your session will allow for presentation and questions afterward. Typically there is about 20-30 minutes for presentation and questions which means a paper of 15-20 pages is almost all that one has time to read in that timeframe. Longer papers are not discouraged, but that means much of the material will need to be summarized rather than shared outright.
Does the paper have to be completely written before you submit a proposal?
No. For student members it is better to have already written the paper (or much of the paper) prior to submission of the proposal since it can be difficult to meet the time demands of writing a paper after being approved. Proposals are submitted by the June deadline, approved by August-September then the paper is expected to be submitted in January. While this sounds like a lot of time it can slip away rather quickly in the midst of study and work.
Does a paper have to fit the theme for SPS?
No. It is helpful to use the proposed theme for the upcoming meeting in order to offer something which is more likely to be approved, but members are welcomed to submit on any number of topics which may or may not have anything to do with the overall theme.
Are all papers that are accepted also presented at the SPS conference?
That is the agreement made when submitting the proposal. If a student submits a proposal they are agreeing to write the paper, renew their membership, and attend the conference to present. The approval process is approving papers for presenting and the schedule of the conference is developed according to the papers approved.
How would I go about finding 2 respondents?
It isn't necessary to have two respondents, but if you know people who are a part of SPS and might have some expertise or interest in your topic then they can be included. Most papers do not have respondents in my experience. I've only ever had one respondent and it was not even a person that I knew nor had I put their name down, but they were an expert in the field and their feedback was excellent.
I have done something similar for my thesis, but I haven't written a paper for a conference yet. Is this something I should wait on and try to attend SPS and see how it is done?
You are always welcome to attend an SPS conference to see how such things flow. Many other conferences function similarly so it isn't necessary to attend SPS to see how an academic conference can be run. However, the spirituality and the comradery of SPS are unlike any conferences I have had the pleasure of sharing in or attending. I would personally say that presenting at SPS is an excellent opportunity for students beginning their engagements within the broader academic world as the members of SPS are primarily sympathetic and constructive. You would likely find that the feedback and engagement with your presented work will benefit its further development.
How would I join a special interest group?
You "join" a special interest group by attending that group's meeting at the annual SPS meeting. It is as simple as saying you want to be a part of a particular group because you feel it intersects best with your reason for being a part of SPS. When filling in the interest group information online for your proposal simply select the group which seems to best fit the broad field of study being proposed. For instance, several years ago I wrote on an engagement between Post Modern and Pentecostal homiletics so I submitted the proposal to the "Practical Theology" interest group. My typically writes philosophical works and thus typically submits to the "Philosophy" interest group. Most years I propose something that is primarily exegetical (with theological orientation) and thus submit my proposals to the "Biblical Studies" interest group.
I trust these are helpful and would welcome any further questions that are felt to be pertinent particularly to student members of the Society.
Some of My Publications
Community: Biblical and Theological Reflections in Honor of August H. Konkel
Pentecostal Theological Education in the Majority World: The Graduate and Post-Graduate Level. Vol. 1
Receiving Scripture in the Pentecostal Tradition: A Reception History
A Theology of the Spirit in the Former Prophets: A Pentecostal Perspective
"Emerging Homiletics: A Pentecostal Response" in
"N.T. Wright's Justification and the Cry of the Spirit" in
Recent Posts
- A Question of Canon: Star Wars and the Old Testament July 4, 2023
- Concerning Contexts for Interpretation of Scripture February 19, 2022
- Hearing the Prophets on Justice: A Response April 27, 2021
- Proverbs 31 and the Virtuous Woman March 11, 2021
- Genesis 2.18 and the "Not Good" of Creation: Random Reflections February 3, 2021
Tag Cloud
- baptism in the Holy Spirit
- Bible
- Biblical hermeneutics
- Biblical Interpretation
- books
- Christ
- Christ Jesus
- Church
- creation
- David
- ethics
- God
- Hebrew
- Hermeneutics
- history
- Holy Spirit
- Humor
- Israel
- Jesus
- Life
- Literary
- literary interpretation
- literature
- Lord
- Love
- Matthew
- Old Testament
- pastor
- Paul
- Pentecostal
- Pentecostalism
- pneumatology
- Preaching
- Psalms
- Question
- Samuel
- Saul
- Sermon
- Society for Pentecostal Studies
- Spirit
- Theology
- Tongues
- translations
- Trinity Bible College
- women


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Smyrna teen arrested on drug, stolen firearm charges
SMYRNA, Del. – Smyrna Police arrested an 18-year-old Friday night after a traffic stop led to the discovery of drugs and a stolen handgun.
At around 9:30 p.m., an officer saw a suspicious vehicle parked in the roadway running with its lights off at the intersection of Owens Brook Dr and Kent Way. As soon as the occupants saw the officer, they began to drive away, leading the officer to initiate a traffic stop. While making contact with the occupants officers detected evidence of drug activity, and say the driver, 18-year-old Bashan Mcivor, began moving around the vehicle and refused to keep his hands where officers could see them.
Mcivor was taken into custody following a brief struggle, and a search of the vehicle was initiated, leading to the recovery of a stolen 9mm handgun in the glove box as well as a small amount of marijuana and 27 bags of heroin.
Mcivor was charged with possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, possession of a firearm by a person prohibited (previous felony), possession of ammunition by a person prohibited, receiving a stolen firearm, possession of a controlled substance, resisting arrest, and possession of marijuana. He is currently being held on $33,000 secured bond pending a preliminary hearing.


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My wife is a superstar. Despite being a working professional, she pretty much runs the household. She also runs. In fact, tomorrow morning, she will be running the Boston Marathon. This will be her second marathon, and she has always wanted to run Boston. My wife is running on behalf of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and she raised over $6,000 from friends and family. Needless to say, I am very proud of her.
Here are some domain industry updates and thoughts. Yours are also welcome in the comment section if you have anything you would like to share:
- I think the Snapnames / NameJet partnership on drops will yield good results for both companies. What I anticipate is that auctions will have more participants and that will drive up bidding. Previously, I might backorder a name at one company, and if the other got it, I would forget about it. Now, it seems like I will be entered into more auctions. I think this will mean bigger auctions, which will yield more revenue. Yes, the companies will split the revenue, but it will likely pay off in my opinion. I don't know if this is good for bidders, but I would imagine it will give more opportunities for people like me to win when I would have forgotten about a name.
- I was glad to see that the KQ.com UDRP was decided in favor of the domain owner. According to the DomainGang.com article, the UDRP decision has not yet been published, so I am looking forward to reading it once it is published on the WIPO website.
- The Times of India published an article about the apparent reported sale of maxchanzuckerberg.org. In my opinion, this was cybersquatting since the registrant seems to have bought the domain name only because Mark Zuckerberg and his wife gave that name to their baby daughter.
- I am interested to see the TopCoin pricing for Uniregistry-owned/managed domain names. I probably have quite a few TopCoins and I would certainly trade them for domain names.
- There is going to be a Boston domain investor meet up either late this Spring or early Summer. I will keep you posted when the date has been determined.
- My favorite most recent domain acquisition is Stallion.com.
- I am 23% of the way towards my Pan-Mass Challenge fundraising goal, and I am 0% of the way done with my training. I've been running a fair amount, but I haven't gotten on my bicycle since last Fall. In fact, it's been in the shop getting tuned up. I need it to be at least 60 degrees to ride, and the weather has not been cooperating so far. Thanks to all of my domain industry friends and colleagues for their support!


text: HEALTH CARE ASSIGNMENT- don't request if you don't know it. Aloha all I'm tired of those who have done me wrong which caused me to have a high refunf rate cause they give me copied work which gives me a high turn it in report. To avoid this I would really appreciate to have someone who's true to do the workÿand be 100% in errors, grammars, and please no copying work from another source. I greatly appreciateÿit.ÿ2 pages, must have 3 schloray Resources. Must be in APA format.ÿHealthcare managers and certified medical administrative assistants (CMAAs) need to be aware of the many medical options that are available for patients in their community.ÿFor this assignment, develop a document that contains the community resources for breast cancer patients.ÿDiscuss the steps that will be taken to gather and present the information.ÿÿInclude a procedure to update the information on a regular basis.