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Overview of features
As of mid-November, 2016, Tidepool's main web application for PwD's and their care teams to view and contextualize the PwD's diabetes data & notes has five data views:
- Basics
- Daily
- Weekly
- Trends
- Device Settings
Table of contents
- Shared state
- Notes on the five views
- Data preprocessing
- Navigation
Shared state
These views share some common state, including:
- a PwD's data: diabetes device data & notes
- blood glucose units for display (mg/dL or mmol/L)
- blood glucose target range
- timezone for display
- current datetime location
The blood glucose units and timezone for display are not yet user-configuarablea, although we plan to surface them soon in a user display preferences page and then persist them to Tidepool's servers as part of the data stored for each user. The defaults for these are:
- blood glucose units = mg/dL
- timezone for display = defaulted to timezone from most recent upload metadata object in the PwD's data; this defaulting happens in blip's processPatientData utility functionc, which is called from
The target-related fields in the blood glucose target range, however, are configurable at /patient/:id/profile in blip. The entire specification for blood glucose thresholds and target range consists of four things, with the following defaultsb:
+ very low threshold: < 55 mg/dL
+ lower bound of target range: >= 70 mg/dL
+ upper bound of target range: <= 180 mg/dL
+ very high threshold: > 300 mg/dL
Aside from these three things, the remaining state—the current PwD's data and the current datetime location—is all ephemeral, relevant only to the current patient data viewing session.
Because of this large amount of shared state @jebeck has come to think about the data visualization in blip not as five separate views but as a single "meta" visualization that can manifest in five different ways, one at a time (although it's not that great of a leap to imagine a mega dashboard composed of all five views at once, with all views updating as/if necessary when the user navigates along the datetime dimension).
Notes on the five views
The Basics view is the newest of the five views, and it was developed quite quickly in the summer and autumn of 2015. The Basics largely consists of some summary statistics in the left column and in the right column a set of calendar-like grids with Monday through Sunday rows showing the last two full weeks plus the current week in progress (up to three weeks total). There is a calendar section for each of: fingerstick blood glucose readings, boluses, infusion site changes, and basal events with some filters available for all but infusion site changes. The intent of the Basics view as a whole is to give a user (but especially a clinician user) a quick at-a-glance view of the "basics" of a PwD's diabetes therapy. Is the PwD checking their blood glucose? Is he or she delivering boluses? Is he or she changing his or her infusion site at an acceptable frequency? Does he or she use temp basals? Double-clicking on any day in one of the calendar sections takes the user to the Daily view for that day so that they can dive into the details of any particular day.
In order to release the Basics quickly, we left out navigation along the datetime dimension. In general the data "munging" strategy that drives the display is not an example of how we want to handle data munging for a new view. The strategy taken with the Basics is to find the subset of the data that represents the most recent two full weeks plus the current week in progress and "munge" this data in all the required ways (counting fingersticks and boluses per day, etc.), then simply store a data structure containing the results of this munging in state and pass it to the Basics React components for rendering. In short, the data processing for the Basics view is entirely static and separated from the rendering components too much because it is separated out as a prerequisite step before rendering begins. This has the consequence that there is no easy road for making the data munging more dynamic to add navigation along the datetime dimension.
The Daily view shows one day of a PwD's diabetes device data at a time, and the user can navigate along the datetime dimension by clicking and dragging to pan in small increments, by clicking and dragging the scroll thumb in the scroll bar, and by using the left, right, and "skip to most recent" buttons in the visualization navigation sub-header.
The Daily view is optimized for viewing insulin pump data without or without CGM data. It is divided into four "pools" showing, from top to bottom, (1) icons representing device time changes & notes that the user can click to open in a modal, (2) fingerstick and CGM data, (3) bolus and carb data (the latter only available via bolus calculator data), and (4) basal insulin data. When the user navigates along the datetime dimension, all pools move in sync.
More detail about each datum displayed in the daily view is available through hover interactions that produce tooltips displaying various amounts of information.
[💣 tech debt 💣] The performance of the scrolling on the daily view leaves much to be desired. @jebeck has spent time in the past experimenting with different techniques to improve the rendering performance, but none are compatible with the architecture of the view in tideline, which is rather tied to the particular method of timeline rendering that was chosen. If the Daily view is reimplemented more-or-less as-is in this repository, two (not necessarily mutually exclusive) techniques should be considered:
- the "virtual" rendering strategy employed in @jebeck's zipline experiment (see also her slides from a D3 meetup talk about this)
- using HTML5's
<canvas>instead of SVG for all or part of the rendering
The Weekly view shows two weeks of a PwD's fingerstick blood glucose readings at a time in a vertically-scrollable display of stacked days in reverse chronological order (most recent the top). Three "widgets" below the stacked days display summary statistics about the two weeks in view assuming the insulin pump or blood glucose data are sufficient to calculate them: the basal to bolus ratio, time in target range, and average (mean) blood glucose for the two weeks. As the user navigates the datetime dimension (using the same mechanisms as available for the Daily view, only the panning and scrolling are vertical instead of horizontal), these widgets update to reflect the newly selected time period.
[💣 tech debt 💣] The scrolling—i.e., essentially the same as for the Daily view.
See the Trends view documentation.
Device Settings
The device settings view is the simplest, showing just a relatively simple tabular display of (a subset of) the PwD's insulin pump settings, including basal schedules and bolus calculator settings such as the user's programmed insulin sensitivity factor(s) and insulin-to-carb ratio(s).
Because Tandem pumps require a quite different visual representation (as well as a different structure to the data model) to capture the way the settings are programmed, the release of support for Tandem pumps was our forcing function for writing new code to display the Tandem settings, and so we also reimplemented the device settings display for all other Tidepool-supported pumps.
A new feature added as part of the reimplementation is the preservation of open or collapsed basal schedules (or Tandem "timed profiles") even when the user navigates away from Device Settings to elsewhere in the app before coming back. Leveraging blip's Redux store to manage the state of each collapsible section made this feature-add quite easy. (See @tidepool/viz's usage of Redux for more information on managing visualization state through blip's redux store.)
[💣 tech debt 💣] Only the most recent insulin pump settings are displayed, and a blip user cannot navigate along the datetime dimension at all to view older insulin pump settings.
Data preprocessing
While the Tidepool diabetes device data model(s) were developed with client applications in mind, there are still advantages—mainly for performance—to preprocessing the raw data returned to the client application before passing it on to the rendering code.
Some background on tideline's data preprocessing and its problems are documented in viz data preprocessing notes.
We plan to replace tideline's data preprocessing, as well as the data filtering that happens during navigation, with a Web Worker that performs these tasks. In fact, we started implementation in the fall of 2016 but then set it aside (temporarily) to focus on higher priorities. You may want to read some additional discussion and planning notes and especially the documentation for the beginnings of the Web Worker implementation.
Blip currently renders the component that provides navigation across the five data visualization views and along the datetime dimension.
[💣 tech debt 💣] This navigation is not a common container for each of the views, but rather the
<PatientData/> component renders a navigation
<Header/> alongside each view. This has the result that each of the views reimplements and repeats very similar (and probably sometimes identical) logic for navigating between the views and along the datetime dimension. Especially tricky (and ripe for DRYing out) is the code for refiltering the data to restrict it to the updated datetime domain when the user is navigating along the datetime dimension.
a. Via the user interface in blip. When logged in with "Remember Me" checked, blood glucose units may be switched from mg/dL to mmol/L via the query parameter
?units=mmoll, and the timezone may be configured with the query parameter
?timezone=Nonefor timezone-naïve rendering). Use timezone names from the IANA Time Zone Database, replacing any
/(e.g., in 'US/Pacific') with
-, resulting in 'US-Pacific'. ↩
b. @jebeck is about 90% confident that this location in the TidelineData constructor is the ultimate source of the hard-coding for the current blood glucose target range. ↩
c. Display timezone can also currently be configured via query parameter (again, as long as "Remember Me" is used on login)—e.g.,
?timezone=Europe-Paris. The
/found in most IANA timezones must be replaced with
-in the query parameter value:
US-Pacificinstead of
US/Pacific. ↩


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Major Celimene LaLanne | Boca Raton Corps Officer and Pastor
Major Celimene "Ce Ce" LaLanne was Born in Port Au Prince, Haiti in 1951. Raised Roman Catholic, CeCe received God's call to join The Salvation Army at 20 years old in the town of Vieux d'Aquin. After high school, she went to sowing school, where she graduated in 1978. She started work as a supervisor at Colles' Furniture. She studied food service preparation at Chapelle Cuisine in Paris, and she graduated from The Salvation Army Catherine Booth Training College in Atlanta.
Major Ce Ce has a very giving heart and is an amazing cook. She provides lunch for Council Members, cooks for Church and youth events, and any time there is a need at the Boca Raton Corps.
Major Celimene, along with her husband Major Serge LaLanne, has been a Corps Officer in The Salvation Army for 21 years. Their appointments have taken them to the Naples, Miami Edison, Haiti and Sunset Corps.
Majors Serge and Celimene LaLanne have served as the Corps Officers and Pastors in Boca Raton since 2017.
Get involved:

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Passport Cover
- Regular price
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Passport Cover
Store your passport and other travel details in this immaculate leather cover. It is made of leather that is sourced from Kenya and tailored by our able leather artisans. It has become one of our best sellers in and around the globe as we also do personalization according to our clients liking.


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Central Switzerland has some of the highest, most beautiful paved passes I know. The most…
Browsing: grimsel
Here is a comprehensive map of almost a 100 road bike cycling climbs all across Switzerland.
Hopefully to help me plan some trips. 🙂
Today I saw more waterfalls, glaciers, hairpins, and tunnels than I have ever seen in a single day.


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James Christian The Calm
$ 42,000.00
Heavy sterling silver rectangle James Christian buckle. With 18k triangle wire surrounding an 18k gold triangular shield featuring a solid platinum JC Jester. The background is adorned with 14k and 18k gold pieces, in addition to platinum, and (4) rough cut diamonds. In addition, there are faceted yellow, blue, and white diamonds. One of a kind.


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Beard Product Scent Change or Fade - Why?
One of the most exciting things about receiving "Beard Mail" is smelling the scent. You can read the description and be lured into purchasing it and even create the scent in your mind, but when it arrives and you take a smell you can sometimes be left in disappointment. Perhaps you take a smell and find it nice and strong with amazing scent in bottle, but you put it on your beard to find it fades quickly or the scent changed.
Just like a cologne, lotion, or anything else with fragrance added, there can be a few reasons scent change or fade can occur. It's common and you are not alone in noticing this. There have been many times I have thought a scent description sounded amazing and I purchased it. When it arrived, I found it pleasant in the bottle, but once applied I noticed character changes as time passed. Below I'll run through some of the reasons for scent fade and change specifically in Beard products.
It's Your Nose Not the Product
I would frequent the mall with my wife and our first stop is always the beauty stores. My only mission at this location was to beeline straight for the Men's cologne wall and kill time by smelling the different offerings. It may sound silly because it now seems so obvious, but I never had any idea what the small cups of coffee beans where for. Turns out, they are there to help your nose and brain effectively "reset" itself so you can enjoy the next fragrance without the previous one being fresh on your scent palate. Game changer. Although I didn't register this until I started creating scents for Bearded Coast products, it was an almost instant light bulb most likely registering due to the insane amount of fragrances I was sampling over hours of work. Moral of this one is that your nose may grow accustom to the scent quickly and you may feel it is fading but in reality, you're just getting used to it.
Your Body Chemistry
There have been a few times that my wife and I both loved a scent smelling it right out of the bottle, but after I apply it to my beard it has a different smell. Maybe the spices are accented more heavily, or the scent fades quick, or it smells vastly different than what I would expect. My wife can put that same product on her arm for testing reasons and it smells wonderful, but on me it simple does not. Why? Your body chemistry. The bacteria on your body, your hormones, your diet, and more can determine the scent outcome once applied. Unfortunately, this is mostly not something that you can correct.
The Scent Itself
All fragrances or scents for the most part are comprised of 3 layers: The Base Note, The Middle Note, and The Top Note.
-Base Note
This is the foundation of the fragrance or scent. The Base Note usually lasts the longest because its slower to fade and make itself known. These fragrances usually will pop through anywhere from 30 minutes to even a couple hours after application.
-Middle Note
I call this one the balancing note. The fragrances found here help balance the Top and Bottom notes and bring them together into one scent. The Middle Note makes the scent fuller adds to the overall body.
-Top Note
This is the fragrances here are the ones you smell first and end up evaporating the quickest. This is also the most important part to why the smell from the bottle or jar may be quite different once applied. For example, there is a citrus blend I absolutely love but the clear lemony scent out of the bottle is completely gone within 20 minutes after I apply it to my beard. I still love the soft aroma of the spices but it's a noticeable change.
The 3 levels of scent notes work together to make a single scent profile. The top notes fade quicker. The middle sticks around for a while longer, and then the base kicks in and finishes a scent off. The 3 levels is also why smelling a scent directly from a bottle versus smelling it after applied to the Beard can be a bit different or change.
Any way I can make the scent stronger in Beard?
One of the only ways to achieve this is to use the same scent Beard Oil with the same scent Beard Butter or Balm. This is what we would recommend to amplify the in-Beard scent throw. Still, this may not help much if any at all. I have personally noticed positive results when I pair the products but have had instances where scents still fade out or notice scent changes.
We all want the scents of our Beard products to last all day strong, but this is not always the case. Everyone's Beard is unique, no one's is the same. Some need only need a little oil, while others need every Beard product available to maintain. Everyone's body chemistry is unique to them. I can use my favorite fragrance and it will last for hours and maintain its original scent, while my friend can use the same scent and it changes within an hour and fades out. Remember, your main reason to use Beard Oil, Butter, Balm etc. is for the health of the skin under the Beard and conditioning and styling of the Beard hair. The scent or fragrance that is added is just a nice bonus we love and enjoy. No matter what be stoked. Your Beard is!
~ Bearded Coast


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Holy Cross Parish (Paroisse Sainte-Croix) has a long history in Digby County. Although Holy Cross Parish (Plympton) is not part of Clare (Baie-Sainte-Marie), many of the inhabitants had their origins in Baie-Sainte-Marie and therefore one sees many of the same surnames (Comeau, Melanson, Thibault, Amirault, Theriault and others). For that reason, we have included Holy Cross cemetery and parish on our website.
Following is a brief history of the parish from the 1988 publication prepared for the 150th Anniversary of the parish:
In December 1818, Father Anssant was sent from France to assist Père Jean-Mandé Sigogne, the pastor of Paroisse Sainte-Marie in Church Point. Father Anssant was given charge of two missions: Saint-Mandé (Meteghan) and Sainte-Croix (Holy Cross, Plympton). At the time, the Catholic mission of Sainte-Croix (Holy Cross) in Plympton covered the town of Digby, Bear River, Digby Neck and the Islands to the east, and to the west, as well as Corberrie, Weymouth and parts (east) of Saint Bernard.
Father Anssant administered baptism in Plympton for the first time on January 14th, 1838, to Suzanne-Henriette Comeau, born the same day. Suzanne was the daughter of Olivier Comeau and Françoise Thibault.
At this time (1838), the first chapel was built at Holy Cross and it stood where the present cemetery calvary scene stands now. Oral tradition has it that the land for the chapel was donated by Bénoni-Henri Melanson and that this first chapel was built by Mathias Melanson. By 1868, Saint-Bernard had become a parish in its own right and Holy Cross became a mission served by the pastor of Saint-Bernard.
In 1881, construction began on a new church to replace the chapel. The Stations of the Cross were erected in 1890 to coincide with the completion of the new church. Construction on the rectory began in 1891 and was ready for the arrival of the new resident pastor, Father Louis Decheneau, in 1892.
Between 1818 and 1909, Holy Cross Parish was served by priests from away: from France, English-speaking priests of mostly Irish origin and French-Canadians from the province of Québec. In 1909 Holy Cross parish was finally able to welcome one of its own sons, Father P. Thibault, who remained pastor until 1923. During Father Thibault's tenure, a mission church was built in Doucetteville. Father Thibault was followed by Father Michael Doucet (1923-1929) and Father Luc Gaudet (1929-1943). {More about the pastors serving Holy Cross Parish}
It fell upon Father Luc Gaudet to rebuild the church and rectory after the disastrous fire of June 3, 1938 destroyed the church, the rectory, the parish hall and three outbuildings in the space of an hour and a half. As reported in a local newspaper at the time:
"…Father Luc Gaudet, parish priest, told the press he was eating his dinner when he was told the church was on fire.Entering the building, he found the flames coming through the floor from the basement, and were breaking out in all sections…"
The only items saved in the 1938 fire were the blessed sacrement and vestments (from the church), furnishings and parish records from the rectory) and some furnishings in the new parish hall.
In May 1939, less than one year after the fire, the cornerstone of a new church was was blessed; the new church took ten years to complete. At this time, Holy Cross Parish served not only Plympton inhabitants but also those of its missions at Doucetteville, Marshalltown and Digby Neck.
After 1948, Holy Cross Parish had only one mission church, that at Doucetteville. Responsibility for the missions of Marshalltown, Digby Neck and Freeport was transferred to the town of Digby. The parish of Holy Cross now encompassed Plympton, Plympton Station, Gilbert's Cove, Ashmore, Weymouth North, Hillgrove, Barton and the mission of Doucetteville.
1958 was a landmark year for Holy Cross Parish as this marked the arrival of three Sisters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. These good sisters worked with the children of the parish and their parents, ministered to the sick and the troubled, and also worked with the youth of the parish. They left an indelible mark on the parish.
Sheila Amero, Thibault-Potter, Patricia and LeBlanc, Sister Marie-Thérèse n.d.s.c. Holy Cross Parish Plympton, N.S. 150th Anniversary 1838-1988. Plympton, Nova Scotia, 1988
Diocese of Yarmouth website (Catholic Churches in Digby County Nova Scotia Diocese of Yarmouth, 2009), which has subsequently been taken down by the diocese since the Diocese of Yarmouth no longer exists; it is now the Diocese of Halifax-Yarmouth. I leave the information about the original website here because I used it extensively while researching the history of each parish at Baie Sainte-Marie (Clare).


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You can register for the yearly program between November and July of a given year.
For example: register between November 2021 and July 2022.
Your yearly payment will be pro-rated based on the month of your registration and number of programs you can attend.
We will ask for your permission to get your credit card information and then monthly payments will automatically be taken off your credit card.
Goalie Sessions (10 sessions October – December & 10 sessions January – March)
Power Skating (16 sessions September – December & 16 sessions January – April)
League Games (12 games September to December & 12 games January to April)
Summer camps (Half day Goalie camp & Advanced Camp)
Yes, you can select your own programs and have monthly payments. Please contact email@example.com
Yes, you can cancel your Yearly Shield Program subscription. You will be required to pay the balance of the full price for the programs in which the goalie has completed up to and including the date of cancelation in relation to what the customer has already paid.
If a customer decides to cancel their Shield Yearly Program subscription, we require the customer pay the balance of the full price for the programs in which the customer has completed up to and including the date of cancellation in relation to what they have already paid.
For example: A customer cancels their Yearly Shield Program in October 2021 and began their subscription in January 2021. Our administrator would add up the total cost of all the programs that customer had completed to date at the regular price, total what the customer had paid for (monthly payment times 8 months) and charge (or credit) the customer the balance.


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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7348707835191843632.post3672160804105528586..comments2023-09-26T00:51:04.765-07:00Comments on theswca blog: A Serious Competitive Threattheswcahttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7348707835191843632.post-13945570620093277302014-11-25T11:08:41.707-08:002014-11-25T11:08:41.707-08:00I was a total G.I. Joe convert. I loved the articu...I was a total G.I. Joe convert. I loved the articulation and the Marvel comic book, and, I think, Star Wars was starting to look like baby toys, since I started getting them when I was four. I never liked He-Man.Scott.https://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7348707835191843632.post-47242993087468546342014-11-07T19:40:10.047-08:002014-11-07T19:40:10.047-08:00I had three MOTU figures -- all received at Xmas i...I had three MOTU figures -- all received at Xmas in '82. I remember liking the art and the little comics that came with them. They had this evocative, Frazetta-like quality...not that I knew who Frazetta was at that time, of course. But the cartoon was so, so lame. I never got into the line beyond that. Never had a single G.I. Joe. Really, the only toy line I was into for any amount of time as a kid was Star Wars.

I loved Gauntlet and other video games. Ronhttps://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7348707835191843632.post-21630497646022017832014-11-06T12:36:03.385-08:002014-11-06T12:36:03.385-08:00He-man did take over from Star Wars for me but now...He-man did take over from Star Wars for me but now for very long. It was the awesome ZX spectrum home computer system that killed off Star Wars. Playing computer games for long hours, copying mates' cassette tapes to load onto my system ..... happy days. I'd probably suggest that for 99% of my mates this was also true. Some got into Zoids, Transformers and other toy lines but classic computer games like Horace Goes Ski-ing, Space Invaders, Jet Set Willy, Gauntlet..... they were our new obsession.Rich Hhttps://email@example.com


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The Legend of Sanna
Bring your people to a brand new age as you oversee the Rise of a Great Colony, Sanna! Lead your colony forward to wealth and peace, and away from the war and sickness plaguing the land. Develop different buildings and unique structures as you gather valuable resources from all over the world. Take care of your people and become their hero in Sanna- Rise of a Great Colony, a fun and exciting Strategy game.


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'Jai Shri Ram' not a Bengali call? Amartya Sen is both right and wrong
It is famously said that the Bengalis celebrate 'baro mashe tero parbon' (13 festivals in 12 months), a phrase used to symbolise the rich culture of the state and the plethora of festivals that it celebrates. But the wisdom of such a saying seems to be lost, especially at a time when religious chants have turned into political slogans, and have come to define one's political leanings rather than religious beliefs.
Take for instance, the case of 'Jai Shri Ram' and the hullabaloo over its indigeneity to the state.
Even as videos last month showed an irate Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stopping her convoy and threatening people chanting 'Jai Shri Ram' of dire consequences, a recent statement by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has taken the controversy a notch further.
Sen at a recent seminar in Kolkata claimed that 'Jai Shri Ram' was not a part of Bengali culture. "It (Jai Shri Ram) is a recent import used as a pretext to assault people," Sen had said, arguing that the culture of 'Jai Shri Ram' was imported to the state to create an atmosphere of divisive politics.
Ram, not new to Bengal
While the issue stirred up a storm, drawing criticism from many quarters, the most riled up were the BJP leaders in the state. Quick to take a dig at Sen was BJP MP Babul Supriyo who tweeted that it was Sen's age speaking and not his mind. "In Bengal, 'Jai Shri Ram' is more a symbolic phrase of protest than a religious one," he said. State BJP president Dilip Ghosh wondered if Sen knows the real Bengal. "Does he know about Bengali or Indian culture?" he had said.
Sen in his talk had said that he had never heard of the 'Jai Shri Ram' slogan in his earlier days. "Nowadays, Ram Navami is celebrated more in Kolkata which I haven't heard earlier," he had stated.
Responding to Sen's comments, BJYM state secretary Aroon Shah called it a biased statement. "Ram is a part of our very existence, and not just of our culture. Look at Ramrajatala and Ram Mandir in Serampore. If Lord Ram isn't a part of Bengali culture, then why are so many places named after him," he said. "But, when we criticise a Nobel laureate like him, we are branded as uneducated," he added.
"Dr Sen thinks people are being beaten up in the name of Ram. But, in reality, those chanting 'Jai Shri Ram' are being assaulted in West Bengal. The chief minister openly called the chanting of 'Jai Shri Ram' a crime," Shah said.
In the name of Ram
But, whether or not 'Jai Shri Ram' is native to the state, the fact remains that the name of Lord Ram and the festival of Ram Navami are being used to blatantly display of power and authority by fringe right-wing elements in the state.
In April this year, hundreds of Ram Navami rallies were taken out across the state, including some where members brandished maces and swords, according to media reports.
Ghosh refutes allegations that such processions are being carried out by "outsiders" from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Defending the participants in such rallies, he said they had carried arms to protect themselves.
He refused to link politics with the celebrations despite the Opposition seeing Ram Navami rallies as a tool to mobilise some kind of "pro-Hindutva" brigade.
Kolkata-based political analyst Professor Biswajit Das said Sen's remark was being misinterpreted and quoted out of context. Professor Sen is one among the greatest Bengali intellectuals and his understanding of the Bengali culture cannot be questioned, he says.
However, he asserted that it will be wrong to say worshipping Lord Ram isn't a part of Bengali culture. "In several villages, Lord Ram is worshipped on a daily basis. I have seen Ram temples in several villages in Purulia and Bankura districts." However, it is new to the culture of Bengal that the slogan 'Jai Shri Ram' is being used in political context, he points out.
In a cosmopolitan city like Kolkata, Professor Das argues, that holding religious rallies must not be seen as a political move. But in the current scenario, the line between religion and politics seems to have blurred.
Also read: Why India is showing an increased thirst for instant mob justice


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Jamboard is the whiteboard from Google that offers users a doodling space unlike any other. Jamboard used to be available as a hardware tool only but then Google introduced Jamboard as a web app for anyone to use with a Google account.
Jamboard offers many tools like different pens, sticky notes, images, laser, additional pages, etc. to its users. But one feature that sets it truly apart from other whiteboards is that it is collaborative. You can share the whiteboard you are working on with others and work with them at the same time.
You can use Jamboard in Google Meet to share its contents with other people in the meeting and if need be, also collaborate on it with other meeting participants to work with them on the Jamboard in real-time.
How to Share Jamboard in Google Meet
Go to jamboard.google.com on your browser before or during a Google Meet. It will show your previous Jam files if there are any. You can open an existing Jam file, or click on the '+' icon at the bottom-right corner of the screen to create a new one. With Jamboard, you can share an existing whiteboard in Google Meet, or start fresh with a new Jamboard. It's entirely up to you.
Now, if you are not already in a meeting, go to meet.google.com and join or create a meeting. After you are in the meeting, click on the 'Present now' button on the call toolbar when you want to use the Jamboard.
Choose 'A Chrome tab' from the various options on the 'Present' menu.
A window will open with a list of open Chrome tabs on your browser. Select the tab where the Jamboard is open, and click on 'Share'.
Now, everyone in the meeting will be able to see your Jamboard and everything you doodle or write on it. Use it to instruct, share, draw, or whatever you want during the meeting.
How to Collaborate on Jamboard with Participants in a Google Meet
While having a whiteboard during a meeting comes in very handy, having a collaborative whiteboard can take it to the next level. Whether you want to share the whiteboard with certain people during the meeting, perhaps a fellow teacher or trainer or you want all participants to have access for an interactive session – with Jamboard it's all possible.
On the Jamboard screen, click on the 'Share' button on the top-right corner.
By default, your Jamboard is private and only you can access it. But, you can change that on the Sharing settings screen. If you want to share the Jamboard with only certain people in the meeting, you can enter their names or email address in the 'Invite People' textbox and send them an invite.
Also, make sure that the access setting for the whiteboard is 'Can edit' otherwise people you share the Jamboard with will only be able to view, and not edit it. Click on the drop-down menu with the 'Pen' icon to check and change the access settings.
If you want everyone in the meeting to have access, there's an easier way than typing in everyone's email ids. There is a link that you can share with people so they can access the Jamboard.
You will also need to change who has access to the Jamboard. Click on the 'Change' option next to the current Privacy setting.
Then select 'Anyone with the link' from the list of options. You can change back these settings after the session is over if you want to restrict the access afterward.
Copy the link and then send it in the Google Meet chat so everyone in the meeting can see it. Click on the 'Chat' icon next to the 'People' icon in Google Meet to open the meeting chat.
When someone is collaborating on the Jamboard with you, all changes happen to your whiteboard in real-time. So everything will be visible to all participants in the Google Meet.
There are quite a few options for whiteboards available for Google Meet, but Jamboard from Google has to be one of the best options. The whiteboard that Jamboard offers is collaborative that makes it ascends all others in this category. Use the Jamboard in Google Meet to instruct, teach, or just set agendas during meetings.


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In this course you'll learn how to improvise at the piano. This course is great for students who have never improvised before, or those who have tried improvising in the past and want to get back into it!
This purchase includes all of the video files, sheet music and tracks (if applicable).
You will receive a download link via email after purchase.
Course level: beginner
Time to complete this course: 6-8 weeks
What will we be learning? I'm going to teach you a bit about chords, improvisation and creating your own licks. We will use a slow blues (an awesome sound for...
Want to start training? My 5-week technique bootcamp collection is designed to help you focus your technique practice routine for maximum results. Have you ever been stumped when it comes...
Ready for another round of bootcamp? In this next round of ear training bootcamp we will cover solfege for the Natural Minor scale. We will also work through several examples...


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From Dancing in Australia as a kid, 1940's, to Masters Diving in USA in my 70's!
Royal Academy of Dance Newsletter March 2008: article by Helen Bayly, MRAD, 1951, Sydney:
"You're kidding!" everyone says, upon learning that in September 2007 I won, at age 70, the US Masters Diving Nationals gold medal for springboard diving for Women, 70-74. Of course they laugh when I tell them I was the only diver in my age-group: older women (over-60's and definitely 70's-80's) are still rarities in springboard diving today.
"How could you do that?" they ask - so I happily launch into describing how the RAD - Royal Academy of Dancing (so called world-wide in 1940's-50's) provided me with training and discipline that have lasted me my lifetime of 7-plus decades, and that now help me dive from springboards. What a surprise, though - the long-term benefit of that dance-training keeps bringing delightful surprises into my life. The RAD set me up with a lifetime of "centre-of-gravity" and "balance" skills which come into so many aspects of life, amazingly - good health, strength, longevity and more....all affecting what one does or can do as the years pass.
I write now so that todays' students and parents know that they too will reap unguessed-at rewards through their lifetimes, from their dance training today! In fact, I could wager that wonderful surprises will continue to fill any-age students' lives, because of their RAD training - and that is what has happened throughout each decade of my own life. I was able to visit London in 1954 (on an old ship - ask me later about that voyage!), when as a 17-yr-old MRAD, I took summer classes from Dame Margot Fonteyn, newly-appointed President of the RAD. Never-to-be-forgotten, those dance classes in the Academy's London premises took this 17-year-old (me!) to seventh heaven, kinda!
It's at least 62 years ago (in 1945) since I started those dance lessons in Sydney, Australia. My mother, a New Zealander/teenager when Anna Pavlova toured NZ and Australia in 1925, for years told us her kids about her thrill at seeing Pavlova dance in NZ. Since those distant years, and because I loved dancing, I became a dance teacher in upstate New York, enjoying many years of other different jobs and sports besides. For these activities, plus raising a family on a farm and shovelling snow for many winters, my youth's RAD disciplined dancing seems to have given me strength and flexibility - (which, darn it, decline faster now I'm over 70! Groan).
My Sydney-side dance teacher in those days was Lorraine Norton: she was also an RAD examiner in Australia and New Zealand, a recipient of RAD honours, and a wonderful teacher whose guidance I have never forgotten .
Miss Norton taught us little Aussie kids the RAD curriculum so that we loved dancing and music, passed our RAD exams, danced in Sydney' Eisteddfods, and kept dancing as a life-long love.
Then this past year (2007), another wonderful teacher - this time, a springboard-diving college-coach in Troy NY, offered to teach me how to dive -"because you point your toes - you must be a diver!" This after the coach, Maria Coomaraswamy, had only seen me dive from the pool-edge to swim a few laps!
Now, to take up springboard diving at age 70 had NEVER occurred to me before! I kept thinking "If I don't try this now, I'll never ever try it!".....and I also thought "This outstanding coach (Maria) will teach me the right way to do things, anyway, so I won't belly-flop - she'll keep me safe". And she did!
Well, the first thing Maria said to me was that diving is an art as well as a sport - with as much dancing through the air as being a skilled athlete! That immediately made me eager to learn more diving from Maria (I loved hearing her bring dancing into the subject!).
So - the rest is really "history".....from last June 2007, to the Masters Diving National Championships on Long Island in September, Maria taught me how to spring from the oh-so-flexible diving-boards, how to position the board's fulcrum to help me get maximum "lift", and then how to perform at least six different dives (front, back, half-twists, somersaults, inward) for competition. Of course, friends and family laugh when I tell them that I was the only diver in my age-group: older women (especially grandmothers in their 70's!) are rarities in springboard diving, for obvious reasons.
This is what I discovered: that in every minute of diving and practices, I had to call upon my dance training from so many years before! Balance, centre-of-gravity, posture, graceful arms/body; pointed toes; "spotting" with eyes/head, for twists, was like pirouettes. Even "pike" and "tuck" positions were still reachable by this grandmother (me) because of the flexibility that my youthful dance-training/stretching still made possible! The dry-land exercises (all those crunches and "abs" exercises my diving class did) were descendents of my RAD training....Today's "Pilates" movements are offspring of the old ballet developpes, plies, ports-de-bras etc..
In fact, to help my diving, I (and my other mentor, 52-yr-old Margaret Cheney) would do grands battements, deep plies, tendus, many different port-de-bras, entrechats (lying flat, with legs in air). Every RAD balletic move or step I'd ever learned and taught at any time in my life - everything had helped me unexpectedly bcome an OK diver at age 70 this past year!
Another surprise awaited me - to find that I could still learn complicated physical moves (dancing throught the air from springboards!) at the ripe old age of 70! No-one was more surprised than I was, to learn these new dives over several weeks - even a couple of months ! No-one was as surprised as I when the 10- and 11-year olds in my dive class would say "Mrs. B, your dives are getting better!" Many of these kids were dance- or gymnast-students when they weren't diving - they knew exactly what a challenge it was to learn to dive!
So all in all, it's been a thrill for me to (unexpectedly) learn springboard-diving this past year, and to (unexpectedly) find I could still "dance and fly" through the air - catapulting from modern springboards! Quite like those Grands Jetes I used to love as a young dancer - but which I have no hope of ever performing again (without a diving springboard, I mean!).
Today's young RAD students, their teachers and parents, might enjoy "googling" subjects such as "Physics of Ballet", "Physics of Springboard Diving" . Prepare to be fascinated by the similar background of ballet's pirouettes and diving's twists/somersaults, by interesting phrases such as " rotational mechanics", "projectile motion", "centre-of-gravity" - and of course "oscillations"!
By the way, from my dance years with Miss Norton in Sydney, I became good at French and French studies all my life! Where else could I have learned all those "pas" - de cheval, de chat, de bourree, other basic French grammar and the whole French language, in fact - but in my dance classes with Lorraine Norton's perfect French pronunciation and translations? And our classes' piano accompanists were a superb group of fine student musicians from the local little music college. These students practised all their music homework in our dance classes! And they helped me fall in love with music for ever. These additional gifts from dancing - the French and the music - have become more and more significant in my life with the passage of every year since I was a kid in Sydney.
So, dear readers, you can see that the dancing gave me much happiness during my youth - but who could ever guess, myself least of all, at the other lifelong joys that my dance training and discipline would give me? I taught and danced over many years in Upstate New York, in different places and institutions. Though decades have passed, my RAD classes and training still seem as if they were only yesterday, and they are still bringing surprises and pleasures in my activities nowadays.
Of course, I remain eternally grateful to many, many people for the dance and diving influences that continue in my life, even after 62 years of dancing - no longer on hardwood floors, but now off springboards, through the air and into deep water.
Helen Bailey Bayly (MRAD - 1951, Sydney, Australia) Written for RAD Newsletter 3/08: from Troy, NY, March 2008.
Return to US Masters Diving Home Page


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Cooks Submarine Cable Landing Station Underway
By Radio New Zealand
November 6, 2019
There was a ground breaking ceremony on Wednesday in the Cook Islands for a landing station for the Manatua One Polynesian Submarine cable.
The 3700 kilometre long cable will provide internet connectivity for both Rarotonga and Aitutaki.
The landing station will house telecommunications equipment and is expected to be ready for service in February.
The Cook Islands deputy prime minister, Mark Brown, says the new cable is vital for the economy.
He says it will enable the country to engage fully with the rest of the world


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Dec 14, 1:00pm to 3:00pm
10 West 35th Street, Tower Auditorium
Join us for the the first of four free & interactive panel discussions sponsored by the Office of Community Affairs and the Real Time Communications Laboratory at Illinois Tech. Moderator, Alexandra Franco will guide the conversation among Cynthia Hood, Vijay Gurbani, and Germaine Walker.We will explore how our communities are impacted by today's technologies and how citizens can impact these technologies to ensure they advance the health and well-being of our communities. Topics will include, Policing & Surveillance; Health; Education & Employment; and Action. Free registration.
|Dr. Alexandra M. Franco
Visiting Professor,
Chicago Kent College of
Law, Illinois Institute of
|Dr. Cynthia Hood
Associated Professor,
Department of Computer
Science, Illinois
Institute of Technology
|Dr. Vijay K. Gurbani
Chief Data Scientist, Vail
Systems, Inc., /
Adjunct Professor, Department
of Computer Science,
Illinois Institute of Technology
Dr. Germaine Walker


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Roarkshop here: Welcome to the new and improved Sense and Flexibility. Big long authors notes are a thing of the past as I will post them on my blog from now on so those who do not with to read them, do not have to. Your comments, reviews, faves, and feedback are always read, appreciated, and loved. Thank you all for the tremendous support, you all are what keep me writing. Thank you so, SO much.
For a list of links to my other sites, blogs, pages, and work, please see my profile page. I await you all eagerly.
This is a fan fiction, all themes and character belong to Bioware. No copy-write infringement intended.
(Updated 1/1/12)
"Commander Shepard? Garrus Vakarian," he said with a slight, respectful, nod. Garrus was no xenophobe, but the First Contact War hadn't been long ago and the stereotypes about humans existed for a reason. As was apparent by their gunning for a human specter. Councilor would be next, no doubt. He didn't so much have a problem with humans, but most he'd met were over ambitious, demanding respect even if it hadn't been earned, and most of all, did not like turians. So when he saw the human specter candidate approaching him with her two Alliance lackies, his mandibles twitched with irritation. But, he had heard stories about her, far be it for him to disrespect her. "I'm the C-sec officer in charge of the investigation on Saren."
"You must really want to catch him," she said, sinking into a hip and crossing her arms. Her head motioned in the direction his boss had left in, obviously referring the conversation that had just ended.
"Damn right, Saren's hiding something. I couldn't find enough evidence in my investigation; he's a specter so everything he touches is classified. But he's dirty, I know it. Like you humans say, I can feel it in my gut."
She was silent as her eyes traveled from his eyes, down to his toes, and back up again. He imagined this was what a slab of meat on a butchers table felt like. Suddenly he felt like he hadn't done enough, like his effort was insufficient. He bunched his hands into fists anticipating reproach from the human Commander.
"I think they're ready for us, Commander," the man behind her interrupted. She nodded without taking her eyes off the turian.
"Good luck, Commander. Maybe they'll listen to you," Garrus offered as she started to walk past him. She put a metal hand on his shoulder and made eye contact with him, a sad smile on her lips. And without her saying a word, he understood that she already knew what he knew. For whatever reason, he felt the need to apologize to her as he watched the three of them walk away, but opted to stay quiet. The other female looked back at him with a sneer.
The Commander had barely spoken to him, but she had touched him like they were comrades. That was unexpected. Humans usually avoided touching him, or any turian for that matter. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't remember ever seeing a human touch any other species, except the Asari, of course. He decided he would reserve judgment on her for now, considering the unique first impression.
Not to mention the sudden shame he felt. He didn't know why he cared about some human Commander's opinion, but the way she had looked at him was...troubling. He suddenly felt the need to do something.
It was only a few hours later when he saw her again; In a hostage situation with Dr. Michele, of all places. He was crouched behind a pillar, listening to the merc threaten the doctor when Shepard and her humans whooshed the clinic door open. He'd never seen a human arm themselves so fast. She made eye contact with Garrus and a smirk crept across her face.
"Freeze right where you are," she shouted, as the man turned to put the doctor against his chest, his gun pointed at the intruder. Garrus took the opportunity to turn around the corner and send a bullet through the side of his head. Three more, who were in the back of the room, raised their guns, but Garrus put a round between the eyes of the nearest one. In a flash of crimson, Shepard dove over the counter, wrapping her arms around the doctor and crashing to the floor with her behind one of the crates against the wall. Her team barely had time to react before he had head-shotted the last two mercs.
He went to the two women as Shepard was helping the doctor up. Both seemed completely unharmed, the doctor only mildly shaken.
"Thank you," the doctor said. "Both of you."
Dr. Michelle went on to tell Shepard about the quarian who had damning evidence on Saren, and how Fist, a local crime lord, was a fool for having crossed The Shadow Broker, the infamous information broker. Shepard thanked the doctor and turned to leave, patting Garrus on the shoulder and nodding at him as she left.
"Commander wait," he said, before he even knew what he was going to say. She turned to him, sank into her hip and crossed her arms again, giving him that appraising eye. "I uh... I know this is your show but I want to catch Saren as bad as you do, let me come with you."
The pause before she spoke seemed endless. Her piercing green eyes studying his face. For what though, he had no idea. "You're a turian. Make me believe you want to bring him down."
"He's betrayed the Council and he's a disgrace to my people. I couldn't prove it, but I know what's really going on. And if I don't get a chance to bring him down, and he gets away with whatever he's planning that's on my head. That's my failure."
He didn't mean to have sounded as angry as he did. He also didn't like the idea of following a human's lead on his investigation. But Specters had no red tape to bog them down, and he might actually be able to get something done.
"Can you follow orders, Detective?" she asked.
"I'm a turian," was all he said. It was common knowledge that almost all turian enrolled in the military, and following orders was a critical part of their training. Good turian's follow even bad orders. He was never a very good turian, but she didn't need to know that until after they'd caught Saren.
"That's not what I asked you," she said, much to his surprise. She closed the gap between them, bringing her arms down to her sides. "You may be one for stereotypes but I, most certainly, am not. I don't care what color you are, what planet you're from, or how many fingers you've got," she punctuated the word by poking him hard in the chest. "Can. You. Follow. Orders?"
"Yes, Ma'am," he said. He didn't even mean to say it. It just came out that way. Like a reflex.
"Then let me make one thing clear," she pointed at the shivering doctor with one hand and pulled him down by the collar of his armor until he was eye level with her with the other. "That will be the last time you endanger an innocent civilian like that. Do you read me?"
Stunned silence.
"Do you read me, Vakarian?"
"Affirmative." Damn it. Again. His mandibles clicked territorially, but his military training ran deep. Garrus wondered if she brought out the soldier in everyone, if that was how she rocketed through the ranks like she did. She bared her teeth at him, and he almost did the same, but her lips upturned and he realized she was smiling at him, not threatening. She patted him on the side of the shoulder again.
"Welcome aboard, Detective. Let's nail this son of a bitch, hmm?" She turned to walk away, picking up the rifle she had dropped to get the doctor out of the line of fire. And it was only then that he noticed the blood dripping off the fingers of her armor. How could he have not seen? She didn't act like she was hurt at all, but now that he looked he saw the hole through the back of her shoulder armor. A hole that might have gone through the doctor, if not for her. He felt like a fool.
The male human glared at him while rifling through his pack for medi-gel and handing it to the Commander. She batted it away. "Jesus Alenko," she said. "I got shot, I'm not missing a limb."
Alenko almost looked like he was pouting as he tucked the packet back into his satchel and fell in step behind her.
Well, Garrus thought. I'm certainly sold.
They went and recruited a krogan mercenary, Wrex, that was also trying to get to the crime lord they were all after. Once Fist had been dealt with, they fought their way to the quarian. Tali'Zorah Nar'Raya was her name. Garrus found that he kept watching The Commander. Not just taking note of her, considerable, combat ability but, observing the odd ways she would move, the way she would touch people, trying to pinpoint what it was about her presence that was so profound. There was an undeniable power in her and Garrus realized she was either extremely fascinating, or extremely dangerous.
Upon finding the quarian, Shepard's immediate concern was her safety. Not the evidence she needed or if it was still in tact, but whether or not the girl was alright. This alien she had never met, and who belonged to a species typically known to be sneaky or thieving, was her first priority. She wasn't kidding when she said she wasn't one for stereotypes.
Udina was a vile little varren of a man. Garrus decided rather quickly that he disliked the human Ambassador, and was curious why someone as obviously powerful as Jane Shepard was putting forth so much effort to be respectful to him. The more indignant the Ambassador was to her, the more he could hear her breath forcing itself from her throat and her heartbeat increasing. She obviously didn't care for him either, but was trying very hard to hide it.
"Very well," The Ambassador droned. "Shepard, gather your team and meet me in the tower so we can show this to the council. I will set up the meeting immediately," he said, already walking out of the room. After he and the Alliance Captain had left, Shepard exhaled a large breath and rubbed the back of her neck.
"God, I hate that guy," she said in a harsh whisper, obviously talking to herself rather than anyone in particular. She turned around and her eyes scanned the congregation of people behind her. "Chief, Alenko, you're dismissed for now. Get some rest."
"You don't want us to come with you, Commander?" the man asked.
"No. Who knows where this cluster-fuck is going to take us. I need the crew rested. Report back to the Normandy."
"Aye, Aye, Skipper," Williams said. The two saluted her, then turned and headed out of the room.
"So what do you say," she asked the remaining squad. "Shall we head to the tower?"
"Us?" Garrus asked, motioning a hand between Wrex and himself. "You want us to go with you?"
"And why shouldn't I?" she said, sinking into a hip. "It's always nice to have someone as intimidating as Wrex around. Plus I figure, out of all of you no one's going to enjoy watching me shove this evidence down the Council's collective throats more than you."
He laughed.
He had never been to a meeting with the Council before, he had only been bogged down with their regulations and politics. While it was satisfying to watch them eat their words and revoke Saren's specter status, they still refused to see facts. Not surprising. Though they did yield and made Shepard the first human specter. If someone was going to step up as specter, he was glad it was someone who obviously cared more about people than policies.
"Bastard didn't even thank you," Wrex grumbled, referring to Udina's hasty retreat from the meeting.
"Thank me for what? Doing my job? That's like thanking you for being ugly," she said. The three of them had a good laugh as they headed out of the tower and elected to go their separate ways now that the job was done.
"It's been a pleasure, Commander," Garrus said, as she shook his hand.
"I'm sure we'll be seeing each other in the future, Detective Vakarian."
"I look forward to it, Ma'am," he said. As he headed back to his apartment, he couldn't help but feel satisfied with himself. He was sure to catch some flack for disobeying a direct order from Pallin, but in that moment he didn't care. He had done something right, something important, and it felt good.
He was almost sad to be going back to the world of paper-work and boundaries the next morning. Almost idly he thought he might have made the wrong choice turning down the specter training like his father had told him to. But he was back in the world of C-sec. His fathers world. He did, however, receive high praise for his work from his acquaintances.
The extranet screen beamed with her face as everyone watched her being interviewed on the case and being the first human specter. With a pat on the back from everyone in the room, he settled on a desk to watch.
"I am unable to comment on the identity of the rogue specter at this time," she said. "But I didn't do it alone, I couldn't have done it without Garrus Vakarian, Tali'zorah Nar'raya, Urdnot Wrex, and the crew of the SSV Normandy. This win belongs to all of them."
Everyone in the room cheered when she said Garrus' name and he couldn't help but chuckle as everyone shouted at him. Sharing the glory. She continued to surprise him.
He got bombarded with questions and comments after that. How did you end up convincing her to bring you along, can she fight, was she as nice as she seems?
"She looks scary," an asari woman said.
"She looks smokin' hot is what she looks," A human man said.
"I'd have to agree on that one," said another.
Garrus looked up at the screen, still beaming her vibrant green eyes and flame colored hair. He was surprised to find that she was attractive to the males of her species. Usually the men in the office preferred the soft squishy asari with their overly exaggerated curves and soft round faces. Soft round everything, now that he thought about it. Shepard wasn't those things. She was lean and she was sharp. Though, he supposed, her facial features were rather soft. Garrus obviously wasn't attracted to her but now that he looked, he could definitely see how she fit into the context of beauty for humans. Though he suspected it was her sudden power, not her character, that made her attractive to the men in the room.
"She could order me around any time," one man said.
"What was she like Garrus?" asked a woman.
He didn't really know what to say to that. So he just told them the truth.
"She brings out the soldier in you."
"I bet she made you stand at attention, eh?" the man next to him said, nudging him in the ribs with his elbow and raising his eyebrows.
"No, actually. She turned out to be rather casual." He had known what they meant, but didn't feel like indulging them. These men were part of her species and even they were being disrespectful. The one human he thought actually earned the respect she was given, and these humans still talked as if they were better than her, like she was just another object. He was trying to figure out why that irritated him so much when Inspector Pallin burst out of his office.
"Vakarian," his superiors voice boomed, "In my office. Now."
Garrus groaned and got up from the desk. He knew this was coming. But he was publicly acclaimed now, so surely the punishment couldn't be too harsh, right? As he entered the room, he made sure to leave the door open since he knew Pallin wouldn't shout when everyone could hear him.
Pallin didn't sit down, just leaned his hands on his desk and seemed to look past Garrus at the wall.
"So," he said. "Quite a show, Garrus."
"Yeah," Garrus replied as he sat down, not wanting to say anymore than he needed to.
"Well, you went and got yourself reassigned."
"Reassigned?" Garrus said, astounded. "I go and prove a specter's gone rogue and I get punished?"
"It's not punishment. It wasn't my choice, Vakarian."
"Oh? Then whose was it?"
"Mine," came a third voice along with the sound of the door shutting behind him. The gust of wind it gave off made a vaguely familiar scent hit him. He turned around as the closing door revealed her, leaning against the wall with a smirk.
Commander Jane Shepard.
"Commander?" was all he could think to say, as he stood to face her.
"I've got lives to save," she said as she approached him. "A rogue specter to hunt, and no time to waste. Think you're up to the task, Vakarian?"
"You bet your ass, Ma'am," he said with a grin.
She held her hand out to him, which he gladly shook.
"Glad to hear it, Vakarian. Don't forget that sexy rifle of yours."


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I ran across this interesting bit over on TelephonyOnline that came out of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show this week. Norwegian triple play provider Lyse Tele has a unique way to do FTTH. They build fiber to the curb, then usually just give the customer instructions on how to connect the house itself. That's right, the customer gets to dig his own trench, and 80% of their 130K customers have done it this way in exchange for a discount. Given the personal stake one then puts into the build, it's understandable that churn rates are subsequently very low.
In a way, I'm surprised we don't do this already here in the USA. After all, I'm responsible for my sewer line right out to the curb, why not my conduit and fiber? Then FTTC is enough, the ILEC has fewer house calls to make and homeowners that want fiber can get it by upgrading their house and property. They could even, *gasp*, switch providers should other fiber come rolling down the street.
I'd jump at the chance, except for the fact that Verizon would probably never go for it and is aerial in my neighborhood anyway. I don't really trust anyone else to get it right, no matter how well meaning they might be. Would you trench your own fiber if you could?
If you haven't already, please take our Reader Survey! Just 3 questions to help us better understand who is reading Telecom Ramblings so we can serve you better!Categories: Fiber optic cable


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Sax True Flow Heavy Body Acrylic Paint, Half Gallon, Chrome Yellow
Item #: 1572439
Create masterful art pieces with high quality paint.
$25.29 $18.97
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This paint dries to a matte finish and is ideal for traditional acrylic painting as well as block printing or silk screening. It offers excellent flow, coverage, blending, and drying. Cleans up with soap and water. Packaged in durable plastic bottles. Not recommended for outdoor use. Freeze - thaw stable. Pumps sold separately, search item 2019759.
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Spooky Halloween Treats
This post may contain affiliate links, which help keep this blog up and running. Thank you for your support!
October 14, 2021
I love a good theme, so obviously Halloween is totally up my alley. Anytime I host, I like to keep things fun and festive, so this year for my Halloween gathering, I will be putting out cute little sweet treats that are just a little bit spooky. Here's what I made and how I made them (with a ton of help from my super creative and crafty sister!)
Pretzel Mummies
You'll need:
mini pretzels
white chocolate melting wafers
candy eyeballs
Melt white chocolate wafers according to package directions. Using a spoon, drizzle pretzels with the white chocolate. Add candy eyeballs before the melted chocolate hardens. Optional: drizzle a little more melted chocolate to slightly cover eyes. That's it!
Witch Fingers
You'll Need:
pretzel rods
white chocolate melting wafers
green food coloring or decorating gel
black decorating gel
raw almonds
Melt white chocolate wafers according to package directions. Add in food coloring/green decorating gel and mix. Spoon melted chocolate over pretzel rods to cover completely. Cut almonds in half along center (like hot dog bun style so they're still in the same fingernail shape). Paint the nails with the black decorating gel and secure at the end of the pretzel rods. Using the toothpick, create knuckle wrinkles in the middle of each rod as well as below the nails. Let the chocolate harden and you're good to go!
Cookie Tombstones
Biscoff cookies
white chocolate melting wafers
black decorating gel
Cut Biscoff cookies in halves. Melt white chocolate wafers according to package directions. Mix in black decorating gel to get a grey color. Using a butter knife, cover cookies in melted chocolate and refrigerate. Once hardened, use a toothpick to write RIP on cookies. Place upright on serving platter and add more melted chocolate around base to make it stand up. Enjoy!
Pretty Vampire Lips
You'll need:
sugar lip candy
mini marshmallows
white icing (you can use the leftover melted white chocolate from the other recipes instead!)
This is definitely the easiest one. Simply cut the mini marshmallows diagonally. Slightly roll each piece using your fingers to create a cone shape. Secure on the lips using white icing. All done!
How adorable are all these little treats?! And so super easy. The best part is that it doesn't have to be perfect, because it's Halloween and everything is a little creepy and decayed, so this is not the time for perfection anyway! I didn't include the little ghosts because I used antlers from a Christmas cookie kit and I feel like that's too specific to find that shape. But it can totally be done just using cookie dough, white chocolate melts, and black decorating gel!


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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A cold front will work its way through the state of Michigan during the day Wednesday, but one effect will actually be to warm things up a bit.
Breezy conditions from the west-southwest will develop, helping temperatures back to around 80° for much of the area. The front itself will swing through with very little moisture, so dry weather is likely to hang on.
The worst the cold front may bring is some additional high and mid-level cloud cover in the afternoon for West Michigan.
As the front slides out of the region, things will cool down a bit once again Wednesday night and Thursday. Lows in some spots will fall into the 40s, with highs Thursday staying in the mid 70s.
Chances of thunderstorms will return as the weekend approaches; you can check out the full 7 Day Forecast on the Weather page.


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GTBank's CEO; Segun Agbaje disclosed the Bank's plan to restructure as a holding company in order for it to take on fintech.
Nigeria's banking sector being the second-largest in sub-Saharan Africa behind South Africa is one that has experienced a lot of changes and restructurings as different banks progressively leap forward to boost capital level, performance and sustainability.
The Nigerian Banking sector has journeyed from what it used to be with the advent of mobile money and other technological reforms. It can be deduced that the sector is one with much more untapped potentials.
GTBank rather than restructure to proffer more banking solutions is venturing into fintech.
Please check out more feeds here
According to the Seun Agbaje:
About 10 years ago, we made a decision then looking at the operating environment, that we were going to shed all our subsidiaries and become completely bank-focused,
"Everything we have seen over the last 2, 3 years, has told us that it's time to have a bit of a rethink."
"Most banks are growing 5% to 7%. We don't think that's sustainable.
Seun Agbaje believes despite the encouraging progress the bank has made, there are more untapped potentials for the bank to plunge into.
When you take GTBank, which has one of the best valuations in the banking industry, it is valued at a one-time book," he said at a recent social media event in Lagos. "Then you come to the payment space where fintechs and payment companies are being valued at 30x earnings. What is there not to like about this space?
He believes that the restructure would expand the bank's capacity to pursue new profitable horizons beyond just banking operations; this outlook is focused on Fintech.
There are other lines of businesses that are doing very well.
If you look at our financial statement, you will see that our payment business is growing by about 60%. So, that is an area we like.


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It was almost a year ago that Microsoft announced that it's rebuilding its Edge browser from Google's open-source Chromium project. Today at its Ignite 2019 conference in Orlando, it finally announced that general availability is slated for January 15, and the release candidate is coming today.
Well now, that release candidate is finally available from the Beta channel. The version number is 79.0.309.11; Dev and Canary are on the newer Chromium 80, which is to be expected given that they're updated more frequently. In fact, you can expect Edge Beta to move to Chromium 80 right before Edge 79 is released to production.
Another announcement that was made recently was that Edge is getting a new logo, as you can see from the image above. Interestingly enough, this release candidate does not have the new icon, although we should be seeing it in builds later on this week, probably alongside new Canary and Dev builds that have it.
But if you want to check out the release candidate now, you can download it here.


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NRA Leaders Try To Insulate Organization From Board Member Ted Nugent's Obama Slur
After ducking the controversy over National Rifle Association board member Ted Nugent calling President Obama a "subhuman mongrel," NRA leaders at last week's Conservative Political Action Conference tried to shield the organization from the fallout over those comments.
While some NRA supporters criticized Nugent, three NRA board members sought to downplay his actions and his connection to their organization, suggesting he isn't viewed mainly as an NRA representative or brushing the controversy off as unimportant.
Nugent issued the slur during a January interview, but the comments received new interest last month when Nugent campaigned with Texas gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott. Following days of negative coverage for both Abbott and Nugent, including condemnations from GOP leaders, Nugent offered a half-hearted apology, though "not necessarily to the president," for his "subhuman mongrel" comment. He then attacked Obama as a lying, law-breaking racist who engages in Nazi tactics.
Former NRA president and current board member David Keene said the "subhuman mongrel" comments do not reflect on the gun-rights organization because "Ted is seen as Ted more than as an NRA board member."
Grover Norquist, another NRA board member, said the comments were "not a good idea," but added they are not bad enough to hurt the NRA's image because Nugent is viewed differently than other NRA leaders.
"He's a rock star and people know he's talking as him and he is talking outrageously," Norquist said following a CPAC "meet and greet" he hosted for fans. "If an establishment Republican said that, you'd go, 'whoa Nellie.' Rock stars and hip hop artists are cut some slack in American society."
Despite their attempts to suggest Nugent's comments don't reflect directly on the NRA, as a musician and conservative commentator, Nugent is to many the public face of the organization. He has had a longstanding relationship with the group, serving on its board of directors since 1995. In the group's 2013 board elections Nugent was second only to Fox News contributor Oliver North for most votes in favor of reelection.
Nugent is also a fixture of the NRA's annual meeting, delivering talks in 2008, 2010, 2011,2012 and 2013.
After the 2012 meeting, Nugent drew the attention of the Secret Service for saying he would be "dead or in jail" if Obama was reelected as president. An NRA memo indicated that he was paid $50,000 by the group for a "spoken presentation" in 2011. Nugent has also recorded the song "I Am The NRA," which includes the lyrics: "If you hate tyrants and dictators and are ready to give freedom a whirl/Celebrate the NRA and the shot heard round the world."
Oliver North denied knowing about the "subhuman mongrel" comments during an interview at CPAC. He accused Media Matters of trying to instigate criticism from him. Questioned at CPAC's radio row, North said, "I'm not necessarily sure how to take your word for what he said since I didn't hear it I am not going to comment about it."
He later added, "I spend 99 percent of my time interviewing soldiers, sailors, airmen, guard and the marines and I don't pay a lot of attention to what other people say."
Asked again, he grew stern, stating, "I think what you are trying to do, you are trying to draw me into a confrontation with a friend of mine. We seat alphabetically at the board meetings so where do you suppose he sits?"
John Lott, a pro-gun author and NRA supporter who appears regularly on NRA News, said "they were dumb comments," adding "Ted speaks sometimes without thinking about what he says."
But Lott said Nugent's apology weeks later was enough: "If he hadn't apologized then I would say it would be a clear cut answer that he be removed. He says he didn't mean it as a racist thing, surely that's the way that people took it. If you know Ted a little bit you know that he sometimes says things without thinking."
Ken Blanchard, an NRA supporter and pro-gun author who spoke just after being interviewed by NRA News (where he is a frequent guest) also saw no downside to Nugent's views: "It probably doesn't hurt because the people who are inflamed by him wouldn't join the NRA anyway."
Other NRA representatives at CPAC included NRA News on-air host Cam Edwards, who declined to comment on Nugent. Representatives at the NRA booth in CPAC's expo area and at the annual NRA University sessions held Saturday to recruit new members also declined to offer views on Nugent.


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Thanks to your support, TFL has been around for more than a decade now. In that time, we've produced more than 6,000 videos spread across five channels, and had plenty of opportunities to drive some of the greatest cars of our generation. Not only that, but we also had the displeasure of sampling some of the worst this past decade also had to offer. In the videos above and below (yes, we have a two-part series on our hands!), Roman and Nathan recount some of the winners and losers of the past decade.
Some say there are no such things as truly terrible cars anymore, and that's been largely true. At worst, most of the cars I've experienced cutting my teeth in this business have been meh, but not so godawful I parked it at my house and refused to drive it for a whole week. That has happened with both the guys, as you can see in the video below (without giving up any spoilers).
What were some of the worst cars you remember from the past decade? Let us know in the comments below! Some of you had made some excellent suggestions for the worst list, including cars like the Mitsubishi Mirage and the Dodge Journey. Of the Crosstour, one of you guys said: "The Crosstour has to be the worst car for me it looked like Quasimodo with a weird hunchback….Good list; all those cars on that list were dreadful."
As we turn over into 2020, here's to hoping the year will be filled with great cars and trucks. We're off to a good start, thanks to models like the new Ford Bronco and Land Rover Defender. Let us know what you're most looking forward to in the upcoming year as well!