text:
Expat Life in Taiwan6 min read
Taiwan Tales: One Country, Eight Stories: A Multicultural Perspective by the eight authors listed below attracted me because of one word: multicultural. I look for books written in English by non-native English speakers. I can then point them out to my non-native English students as an example of the skillful, clever, and artistic use of English by non-native English speakers (and writers). Here are my impressions of eight short stories.
Roger Jergenson's Flyout by Patrick Wayland Sam Fillmore might be described as an "old China Hand," a term used to describe expatriates that live, travel, and work in any Asian country for most of their adult lives. Sam meets an unnamed American in a bar. Over drinks, while the unnamed one is trying to watch a baseball game on TV, Sam recounts the story of Roger Jergenson, an American baseball player who lost his baseball skills in the US, was dismissed from his team and was offered a chance to play on a Taiwanese team. Roger did not live up to expectations and was as bad in Taiwan as in the US until one day his boss took him to a remote village and abandoned him. What he learned there, how he survived, and how he lived the rest of his life are delivered in an understated but powerful way with a surprise ending that emphasizes cultural differences. What did the girl say that affected him so much? After reading this, I downloaded Wayland's novel The Jade Lady.
Gap Years by Tony Messina This story comes with an adult language warning. Although justified, only the very sensitive should take note. This is the story of an expat (expatriate) US English teacher in a complicated romantic relationship with a Taiwanese lady. Marriage is the presumed ultimate goal held by both parties but a lot more so by Steph. The two share a common love for food but that seems to be their only common interest. Readers will have fun making up a physical description for the two main characters. The author never states the physical description. The way he draws out the descriptions of the two over time made me feel very unsympathetic to both characters. My conclusion is that Steph should give up and run away, the sooner the better.
Superstition by Amanda Miao It is the ghost month and there are rituals that must be observed. Mom, Dad, and six-year-old brother Ah Jie observe the rules; Ah Jie even looks forward to carrying out every prescribed ceremony. This is not true for Jia-ying; she is a modern girl and doesn't believe in ghosts. She even plays the coin fortune game and invites a ghost into her life. But she forgets to tell it to leave. A series of unfortunate events push Jia-ying to the temple where she will seek forgiveness for her actions. She might be rescued but it may be too late for others. If you like ghosts with a sense of humor, you will like this story.
The Collector by J. J. Green This story is a bit dystopian. Climate change deniers will not approve. In a complete reversal of roles, the future of the 21st-century world is in the past, specifically in the minds and memories of old people. But there were few old people survivors of Peak Heat. When older survivors could be found, they were detained and maintained by the government until their memories could be completely mined. Other attempts at recovering the past followed a path of reverse engineering. Artifacts from Peak Hit days were collected and studied to determine their function so that conveniences of the past could be reconstructed for the present. Chiang was a collector of past artifacts which he sold in a kind of antique shop until the government seized his shop and confiscated his inventory. It seemed Chiang collected more than just "things."
In the Mood by CK Hugo Chung Primarily set in a military environment that demanded two years of service from its citizens, this is a tale of a search for sexual identity and friendship. It is a short story mixed with periodic inserts of poetry. I found the language used an unpredictable mix of complex phrasing and everyday narrative style of expression. This story should be of interest to aspiring writers. Does this writing live up to the author's goal in telling the story? Readers will have to decide.
Dragon's Call by L.L. Phelps Lara was a seer by inheritance and with that came responsibilities. There were choices she had. She could become a public seer or a private seer. She could even try to renounce her powers but that might lead to her being branded a renegade seer. There were punishments as severe as death for that. Lara really just wanted to be "normal" and teach English; she didn't want to be involved with dragons, concealment spells, brounies, or boggarts. Fate had other things in mind.
Bitter Pill by Katrina A. Brown People were bored hearing again and again of the main problem plaguing their home city of Keelung: overpopulation. And now there were the unending and periodic shrieks of the warning sirens signaling a disastrous leak at the nearby nuclear power plant. Luckily, the government had prepared years ago for such a possibility. Each home had a survival kit with medicine that would ward off radiation sickness. Each family receiving the kit was thankful for government thoughtfulness in preparation until they discovered each family kit had only one pill. Families would have to decide who would take the pill as the chosen ones took the pills and left Keelung in a convoy of evacuation buses. Pei-Ling chose her oldest child, Hao-Ping, to leave as he would carry on the family name. She and her daughter would stay in Keelung and wait for death. Hao-Ping went to his assigned bus with his pill to find his seat taken by an elderly man who he did not recognize to be Mayor Chen. Chen was the mayor of over-populated Keelung. He was supposed to stay in the city and aid in its recovery. Instead, he had acquired one of the pills and sneaked onto the bus. As mayor, he couldn't solve the problem. As an escapee, he could be a part of the solution.
We'll See Each Other on Facebook by Edward Y. Cheung This last story is a familiar one to "permanent expats" (those of us who don't go home). If it hasn't happened to us, it has happened to our friends. Most likely it is a combination of both. Mikey was bored with his job at his home in California. Endless, boring, repetitive duties made him flee to a more exciting, challenging environment. Arriving in Taiwan, Mike followed the life of a party animal. He fell in with an expat crowd that did the same thing. After months of alcohol, partying, and complete freedom, the ATM was unwilling to dispense more money. Find a job. He could teach English. That job also became routine. Then he met Sakura, a truly dedicated party animal. Sakura avoided one thing, entangling permanent relationships. Mikey fell in love. Sakura didn't. Guess what the ultimate result was? There is not much of a surprise here.
This is a collection of stories where the authors are offering a different perspective. Some of the authors are Asian, some Asian-American. Even the US-born authors offer a unique perspective due to their experiences in Asian countries that are more extensive than typical tourist experiences. This was a pleasant weekend read. As a "permanent expat" myself, I identified with each story.


text:
Beauty by Kelsey Turns 1: Sharing the Love/
Hey everyone, I wanted to include a bonus post this week because a year ago today this little blog was born! I had spent all last summer going back and forth on whether or not to start one, and I finally took the plunge. It just seemed like a fun little hobby, but I had no idea I'd fall so in love with it. In a year I've gained a few friends I can chat to and freak out about beauty with without annoying my friends and family, I've developed my writing and photography skills, I've learned a little bit about coding, and become absolutely addicted to reading other blogs. When I first started blogging, I only read two or three, but now my "following" count is off the charts and my Bloglovin feed is constantly full to the brim with new posts to read. I thought to celebrate 1 year of Beauty by Kelsey, I'd go through a few of my favorite blog discoveries of the year.
JASMINEHARDINGMAKEUP | I just had to start with Jasmine because she's the first friend I made through blogging. I'm pretty sure I started reading her blog within days of her first post going up and I've been a loyal reader ever since. Her blog is one I'm constantly checking for updates - it's completely flawless, from her beautiful photography to her captivating writing style. She has fabulous taste in products and is definitely one to go to for recommendations if you love a good glow.
MAKEUP-SESSIONS | I first found Beti's blog through her gorgeous Instagram account. Her photos are so lovely and you can tell they're hers the minute you see them. Her reviews are incredibly informative, and she makes me want to buy everything she writes about. We've discovered we've got very similar tastes in products, so her blog is always one I turn to when I'm feeling a little spendy.
TAMIRA JARREL | Tamira's blog is another one I found through Instagram. If you want to see an example of impeccable branding, look no further. Her photos are phenomenal and always follow a minimalist monochrome palette. She always pulls together the best products for the most lovely and natural looks. I blame her for my recent obsession with taupe-y brown nude shades for the lips. You should also check out her YouTube channel as well - it's one of my favorite channels I'm subscribed to.
GH0STPARTIES | I found Kate's blog soon after I started blogging, and everything is just goals. She is my biggest inspiration photography-wise, her photos are just flawless. She has a talent for making me want to buy whatever she writes about - I've added the Oskia Renaissance Mask and lots of things from Bobbi Brown to my ever-growing wishlist because of her. I love that she writes about a variety of topics - I come for the beauty posts of course, but her interiors posts always make me swoon and wish I had my own place to decorate.
THAT'S JUST FABULOUS | Faith is a blogger I've been following only for the past couple months, and seriously I don't know where I've been. She puts together the most beautiful and aesthetically-pleasing flatlays (can you tell it's the photography that attracts me to a blog?), and I love when she makes really cute gifs of the products being laid out or opening and closing; it's such a unique touch that I've never seen on another blog. If you're not following her blog, do it now!
Thank you to all my readers for sticking with me through my first year. I can't wait to see what year 2 brings!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Many of us knew energy efficiency funds coming from Switzerland. One of the best known is SUSI Partners. It is encouraging to see in a news item on the Swissinfo.ch website that the country was named the top global investor in energy efficiency. Now we need more to follow its lead. Switzerland named top global … Continue reading
Filed under financial instruments …
The European Investment Bank has launched consultation in support of sustainable energy goals
For our low-carbon energy transition, we definitely need more investments in renewable energy technologies. David Foxwell writes on the Offshore Wind Journal website about a new consultation by the EIB to strengthen the impact of its future energy lending. The EiB page on the consultation is here. EIB launches energy lending consultation in support … Continue reading
New support to improve energy performance of buildings in Lithuania
We all know the challenges to decarbonise the building stock in Europe as part of the EU's objective of meeting its Paris climate obligations. Financing is fundamental and there is a growing array of initiatives from the Energy Efficiency Financial Institutions Group (EEFIG), the Sustainable Energy Investment Forums, Smart Finance for Smart Buildings and much … Continue reading
Looking at the financial community and the low-carbon energy transition
Remember the financial crisis ten years ago? You have to. Our low carbon energy transition needs significant financing if we are to achieve our Paris climate objectives. Tomaso Ferrando, Lecturer in Law from the University of Bristol writes on The Conversation website that we need to put everything into perspective. COP24: ten years on … Continue reading
Electric co-ops in the USA offering low-interest loans to members so they can afford energy-efficiency improvements
The US has a large number of electric co-ops and it is encouraging to see that they are offering low-interest loans to its members. Miles Hadfield explains on the Co-operative News website. US electric co-ops use low-interest loans to power efficiency savings Electric co-ops in the USA are offering low-interest loans to members, which … Continue reading
Importance of providing low-cost finance options for homeowners and businesses if ambitious targets for energy saving are to be met discussed in recent event in Dublin
This past week, there was an event in Dublin examining how energy efficiency is financed in Europe and discussing the importance of providing low-cost finance options for homeowners and businesses if ambitious targets for energy saving are to be met. The event was reporting in an article on the Irish Tech News website. Low … Continue reading
Update on high-level meeting on SDG financing
Ana Maria Lebada from the SDG Knowledge Hub of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) provides an update on a high-level meeting on SDG financing in New York. High-level Meeting on SDG Financing Calls for Better Data, Long-term Investment During the UN Secretary-General's High-level Meeting on Financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, … Continue reading
Financing America's renewable energy sector
In the energy transition, much effort is given to unlock necessary financing. Julia Pyper writes on the GreenTech Media website about what financiers need to do to facilitate financing since they say could double their planned investments in the U.S. renewable energy sector What Financiers Need to Unlock $1 Trillion in Renewable Energy Investment … Continue reading
Foreign investments in Africa's energy need to focus on self-sufficiency, inclusiveness and sustainability
There are considerable investments now in Africa to improve the energy infrastructure and ensure better energy access. However, as written in an article on The Conversation website, Philipp Trotter, PhD candidate at the University of Bath and Sabah Abdullah, Research Fellow, The University of Queensland, write that more understanding of the long-term implications of current … Continue reading
Nearly-zero energy buildings get important funding in Denmark
To be effective, the energy transition requires our buildings to be as efficient as technically possible. It is encouraging to see that the European Investment Bank is willing to invest in such buildings. The GovernmentEuropa website provides a news item of a recent investment in a building complex in Copenhagen. This is the bank's first … Continue reading


text:
Lay Off Locke!
Media Release
14 March 2001
At a time when Major McNutt's family are endeavoring to come to terms with the loss of their loved one, Mr Keith Locke's comments display a degree of insensitivity which is enormously regretful said Ron Mark MP, the New Zealand First Spokesman for Defence.
"There may well be a time when you can discuss your views of New Zealand's participation in any of the 27 international operations that New Zealand Defence Force personnel are deployed on. But now is not the time to be demeaning or questioning the value of a deceased soldier's contribution to a mission given to him by his government," said Ron Mark.
"Service personnel like Major McNutt do not question the government's intentions or political objectives, they simply do their best to understand and implement them - often whilst risking their own lives.
"When the worst happens, rather than seizing the opportunity to use the tragedy to highlight or champion a particular political mantra, it would be more appropriate that Mr Locke consider the effect that his comments may have on the family of the soldier.
"For Mr Locke to be sending messages to the bereaved family that their loved one's death was pointless or of no value, is inappropriate, regretful, and heartless," said Mr Mark.


text:
Hot, Monday 7:55: Before the 9:45 talk (watch video here and press "triangle play" in the lower left corner if paused; schedule; Laureates' server is overloaded), see this five-page paper by Atiyah. It starts with crackpot-style comments on the fine-structure constant but don't stop too early. The 15-line-long proof by contradiction using his "Todd function" (defined in another paper, thanks, pis.) is on Page 3. The strategy of halving the imaginary part of the Siegel root is exactly what I predicted on Quora! However, I don't understand his "Todd function" that is polynomial in convex sets of the complex plane but not in general. Can't it be proven that a regionally analytic polynomial function is polynomial everywhere? Oh, I see, it's just "weakly analytic". I must see what it means because he seems to mix real and complex analytic functions.Originally posted on Fri Sep 21st morning
In 2012, Šiniči Močizuki claimed to have a proof of the \(abc\) conjecture. Now, exactly six years later, his proof – distributed over 500+ pages of text, not counting some "background" in additional 500+ pages of text – remains disputed. Some mathematicians claim that it has to be correct but they seem to be "insufficiently independent" of Močizuki. The truly independent ones remain silent or... negative.
In particular, the Quanta Magazine says that Jakob Stix and (the young, celebrated, fresh Fields Medal winner) Peter Scholze claim that they have isolated an unbridgeable gap in the Japanese proof. They met with Močizuki. The two sides couldn't agree. Scholze was just a "cheeky Hun who just barely jumped out of a vagina", Močizuki was a "brownie, gook, and nip", you can imagine that the exchanges between mathematicians keep their highest standards of diplomacy.
I think that this controversy is similar to some controversies in theoretical physics, perhaps including the "de Sitter space in string theory" controversy. In principle, it could just mathematics where everything is clear. But it's complex enough, with a potential for mistakes and some room for replacing detailed solutions by philosophies, so that people may end up believing in very different answers.
But frankly speaking, I don't really care about the \(abc\) conjecture – and I have never cared. So I wasn't ever tempted to start to read the 500 pages.
Óscar Santiago Gómez has pointed out a text by John Cook Consulting which talks about something that I care about a lot.
Next Monday, there should be a talk by Michael Atiyah, a top mathematician, who should talk about... his proof of the Riemann Hypothesis. What the ideas should be? He's claimed to have a
"radically new approach … based on work of von Neumann (1936), Hirzebruch (1954) and Dirac (1928)."The choice of the background makes it sound rather conservative – and I like it.
Two papers seem to be the Dirac equation (the year works fine – Atiyah-Singer theorem is about the index of Dirac-like operators), the Hirzebruch-Riemann-Roch theorem (the year works, and it makes sense – Riemann-Roch is about locally holomorphic complex functions with prescribed zeros and allowed poles). See a page by Atiyah where both papers play a role. Just to be sure, the Atiyah-Singer theorem is a generalization of the Riemann-Roch theorem, too, but he will probably use a more Hirzebruchy one.
Von Neumann (1936) may be regular rings (unless it's related to the Turing machines, the same year, which I find too far from the RH but I could be surprised; or some presentations of quantum mechanics by von Neumann in 1936 which seem too unoriginal). For years, we could have speculated whether the problems would be solved by a newbie or one of the most famous mathematicians. If this work existed and were correct, the second answer would be right.
Here you have a tweet by an organization serving the Abel Prize winners:
Is Sir Michael Atiyah giving lecture on Monday Sept. 25 @ #HLF18? Yes.— Heidelberg Laureate Forum (@HLForum) September 20, 2018
Will he presenenting a proof of the Riemann Hypothesis? Yes, that is what his abstract says. pic.twitter.com/v1dJhUUUEk
The word "presenenting" doesn't sound too persuasive – it's similar to "covfefe" – and the date also seems to be wrong but I wouldn't dismiss the rumor just because of these two typos.
Here you have the abstract that someone turned into a screenshot:
OK, I admit that I have thought that the third floor of the "new auditorium at the new university" is a prank. But I don't want you to miss the story in the case that it is not a prank LOL. The issue is that the New and Old University do exist in Heidelberg and a new auditorium was donated by an ex-ambassador to America.
I've spent hundreds of hours with efforts to prove the Riemann Hypothesis. Most of these efforts were basically variations – sometimes e.g. string field theory variations – of the Hilbert-Pólya program. In recent years, I changed my mind and became a Hilbert-Pólya skeptic. The program has proposed to prove the Riemann Hypothesis by showing that there is a Hermitian operator \(L\) whose eigenvalues are the imaginary parts of the Riemann zeta roots.
I still think that there may exist extremely natural operators \(L\) with this property but I no longer think that the existence and Hermiticity of \(L\) directly leads to the proof of the Riemann Hypothesis. Why? Because aside from the normalizable eigenstates, \(L\) may also have non-renormalizable "quasinormal modes" with eigenvalues away from the real axis. So the Riemann Hypothesis claim may reduce to the question whether all formal solutions are normalizable, and this question may be as hard as the original Riemann Hypothesis.
Lots of proofs have been wrong so even if the new auditorium exists and Atiyah presents a talk over there, it may be incorrect, too. It's probably more likely to be incorrect than correct. But it's Atiyah, so I won't dismiss it out of hand. Instead, I plan to study his work carefully.
Michael Atiyah is more than 89 years old. Most people are dead by that age – and almost all the remaining ones are hopelessly senile. But Michael Atiyah is a top mind. He has also co-written a paper about M-theory with Witten which I sort of liked. It's a guy who is close to string theory and I believe that this kind of background is appropriate for the Riemann Hypothesis.
It may be lots of fun on Monday morning. Stay tuned. And return to The Heidelberg Laureate Forum YouTube channel where the videos will be posted after the event. The live video hyperlink is at the top of the blog post.
Update Monday noon: I am almost sure the proof is hopelessly wrong.


text:
A little busy today so I don't have time to do anything much, just thought I'd enter a bit into the blog so as not to disappoint you folks. Last weekend was quite eventful, though perhaps not as much as how I would describe it.
Last Friday night was Malaysian Idol, most of them pulled off a decent show but I thought Nikki was the best (I am soooo biased), but she did indeed rock the house with her take of Jackson 5.
The results however were fucked up as she was in the bootm three with Rydee making the exit together with the Huckleberry Hound lookalike in Fahmy. I broke down when I met Rydee and somehow it became a huge sobbing mess with Rydee, Nikki and me crying our eyes out.
Anyways, hope everything pulls together for Nikki this week as I really do want to see her go on.
On Saturday night, it was the last leg of the Siti Fantasia tour, with Akademi Fantasia season one and two, and it was obvious who the real stars were at the event.
Zahid got the most cheers (hooray!) and I didn't even bother watching the concert after Akademi Fantasia finished their first slot. Just hung out with the kids throughout the night in their dressing room.
Got some quality time with Zahid, while the rest of season two kids warmed up to me when they saw how their senior were so close to me. Anyway, to cut a long story short, so that I can finish my work for today (I have to head for Karyawan's dinner tonight where Zahid will be performing).
A little relieved for today because I just spoke to Zahid on the phone and he's all ok. Sempat juga call Bob yang dah balik kampung kat Sarawak cuti, dengan Linda sekali yang tengah photography masa itu. Enjoy the pictures,
More of Zahid!!!
Zahid and who else???!!!
Johnny - the star of the night!
With Ojah - the president of Mas' Fan Club during the photoshoot


text:
2015-11-20 *UPDATED!* new version with neopixels, click here
Back in the 80is, we had "home computers". Usually 8 bits computers with 64kB of RAM or less (computers these days have at least 4194304kB (4GB) of RAM) build-in keyboard and connected to a regular tv-set. Software was mostly on audio cassettes and plug-in cartridges. These cartridges were plastic boxes containing a piece of PCB with an EEPROM or ROM on it.
My first computer was one of these home computers: I had an MSX (a VG8020 by Philips).
MSX was supposed to become the one standard for homecomputing. Specified by Microsoft and Ascii running on a z80 processor at 3.5MHz (nowadays computers run at 3000 MHz).
Had a lot of fun with this MSX. Writing all kinds of little programs initially in the BASIC programming language, later on directly in z80 assembly code.
Around that time the movie War Games was in the cinemas. It featured a large computer called WOPR. WOPR was a grey box with lots of red lights blinking in interesting patterns. Unfortunately my MSX did not do that.
A week or two back I suddenly realized that I could add these so called blinken lights myself! So I sat down and started experimenting.
The cartridge port of the MSX is connected directly to the address- and databus of the MSX (please correct me if I'm wrong). So I though it would be the easiest to solder a couple of LEDs directly on there. I'm not very transistor-happy so I took an Arduino Nano as a buffer. Using an Arduino inbetween has the extra benefit that I could do some processing before toggling the LEDs; that proved to be a wise decision (see late on). I could've cut a pcb to fit in that slot, instead I took an existing game cartridge:
This game is called h.e.r.o.. I had fond memories of this game so I wanted it to stay working; so the first step was cutting the trace for pin 4 (SLTSL) and putting a switch inbetween. Then I traced the data-bus pins to the ROM on the PCB and soldered wires on them. These wires I connected to pin 2-9 of the Arduino. Then I soldered LEDs to A0-A5 and pin 11 and 12 of the arduino (with a 220 ohm resistor in between).
I inserted the cartridge, switched on the MSX: no smoke! It booted like no franken-cartridge was inserted at all. Also the switch for disabling and enabling the ROM worked fine.
On to the software. My initial Arduino "sketch" (software for Arduinos are called sketches) would read all 8 pins in a tight loop and then toggle the LEDs depending on the pin-states. This worked a bit: the leds switched very fast between 0 and 1, too fast for my eyes to see the difference between on and off. A bit of experimenting later I found that toggling them 24 times per second is too slow and 50 times per second is almost perfect.
Arduino sketch: MSXBlinkenLights.ino
backside, closed
front, closed
top, closed
Youtube videos (recorded at RevSpace):
Room for improvement: it may be that the address bus gives more interesting light-patterns. One could then use e.g. an Adafruit i2c 24-channel led driver so that only pin 0, 1 (for serial comms) and pin a4/a5 are for leds and pin 2-13 and a0-a3 can be used for input-signals.
updated on 2015-11-20
New version!
Youtube video (recorded at RevSpace):


text:
God desires to bless you and will Himself work everything in you. God loves you as a Father and sees that, to be able to live in perfect health and happiness as His child, you have need of nothing but this one thing - to be full of His Spirit. Jesus has by His blood opened up the way to the full enjoyment of this love.
Enter into this love, abide in this love, and by faith, acknowledge that it shines on and surrounds you, even as the light of the sun illuminates and animates your body. Begin to trust this love. I do not say trust in its willingness, but in its unspeakable longing to fill you entirely with itself. Your Father's love waits to make you full of His Spirit. He Himself will do it for you.
Andrew Murray


text:
Video games have become widespread and they are a great source of places nowadays because they're very entertaining to people. Most families have at least one console in the home. This does not mean you might not need gaming help will be useful for somebody. Video games are often times very expensive.You can find used video games.
Source: http://flightunblocked.com.Video games are often times very expensive.You can save as much as 50% by purchasing used games at a 25 to 50 percent discount from the retail price.
Make sure you set a reasonable age for kids should be before playing M games. You can rig many consoles to prevent your younger children from playing these more mature games; however, if you wish. Be on top of monitoring your child's gaming habits.
If your child's video game console goes online, be sure that you adjust the settings for the family before he plays with it. This helps you filter what your child experiences to be sure it's appropriate content. You can also filter out how much chatting they are allowed.
If your kids play on video games consoles hooked up to be online, be sure that you adjust the settings for the family before he plays with it. This helps you filter what your child only sees appropriate content. You can also limit the amount of contact your child can have with other online chat feature.
When purchasing for a child, look for educational games or ones with better ratings.
Make use of parent control settings for your children's safety. You should see if the game online. If it is, limit your children's Internet access. You may also want to check their friends requests and limit the amount of time they do not play excessively.
Keep your body in mind when gaming.A stability ball is a great investment if you play for a long time; it will help improve posture while gaming.If you are playing active games, then you need to take breaks and stretch as you may be accustomed to sitting for long periods of time when you're gaming.
Keep your body and posture in mind as you are gaming. A stability ball can really help in keeping your spine properly aligned. If you are seriously involved in gaming, then remember to take breaks and stretch.
Drink water as you are playing video games to keep hydrated. Video games are great at helping people to escape from reality, forcing you to forget to eat and drink. Dehydration is a serious condition, so be sure you stay properly hydrated while you play your video games.
Stay hydrated when you are gaming for long amounts of time.Video games can often keep you outside of reality, but you may become so interested in the game that you don't take care of yourself. Dehydration is a potentially dangerous condition, so keep water available when playing your games for any length of time.
Be sure to set limits to how long your kid's video gaming. Don't let your children play from longer than a couple of hours each day because it may damage their eyesight and make them forget their priorities.
Video games have been around for some time now. They have undergone a phenomenal change through the years. Only in the imagination is known what future video games are going to be like. It will be interesting to see what types of gaming systems you will be enjoying in the future.


text:
We are pleased to host the next Red Cross blood drive on Friday, April 20. (We generally host a drive on the third Friday of each month) If you are able to give, consider incorporating the blood drive into your Lenten Journey. The Red Cross will be in the Church House on Friday, May 18, from 11:30-4:45. Please call 1.800.REDCROSS or log onto redcrossblood.org to make your appointment today.
Back to All Events
Earlier Event: April 20Blood Drive
Later Event: May 20Mourning Palestinian Lives Lost in the Great March of Return


text:
The Hiring Process: The TEFL Contract
Okay! So you've contacted Top Notch ESL about Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) in China. We've answered any of the questions that you have and even got you an interview with one of the many private schools that we work with across China. You're interview went off without a hitch (…Read More


text:
You can cancel your subscription at any time in the Payments section of your Account Settings (if you signed up via the Skillshare website). Once you cancel, we will set your Premium Membership to expire at the end of your current pay period. If you believe you were charged in error, contact us here, and we'll see what we can do to help.
Note: Skillshare does not have control or access to subscriptions, cancellations, or refunds for accounts that were set up and are being billed through Google Play or iTunes, but you can definitely reach out to them directly for assistance!


text:
I am originally from Huntington, WV, and graduated from Huntington East High School, Marshall University, and received my MBA from the University of Kentucky. My current hobbies include spending time with my family, traveling, gardening, and preparing home cooked meals.
I am a licensed Realtor in the state of Kentucky. I specialize in representing my clients in the purchase and sale of single-family residences and income property within Lexington and surrounding areas. I truly love this area and pride myself on my knowledge of current transactions, school districts, neighborhood information, and related services, including mortgage, insurance and inspection information. I have served the the Lexington Bluegrass Association as President and have the designation of being a past realtor of the year.
I am a customer driven Realtor dedicated to achieving results and providing exceptional service. If you are in the market to buy or sell a home, I will put my 37 years of real estate expertise to work for you!
Register Now
Already registered? Login
Sign in to take advantage of all this site has to offer. Save your favorite listings and searches – also receive email updates when listings you like come on the market for free!
*Contact Information is NOT Shared*


text:
Sometimes you just need people to tell you who you are and give you permission to be it.
In Factor 75's case, the start of a great brand relationship with their own story involved a Golden Ticket. Through our work together, we uncovered a quirky, goofball founding team whose most authentic engagement with their customers would take the form of a Willy Wonka themed party – chocolate fountain included.
Everyone has a story. In order for it to be interesting, it must change the protagonist. The story of your organization is the story of you – it's okay (even necessary!) to intertwine the two.
For Factor 75, this Willy Wonka party was the culmination of 6 months of storytelling work with Swell Story. Once they authored their story, we taught them how to apply it to all aspects of their business.
Below, we offer some instructions to move beyond the prologue and get to the heart of your story – so you can harness its energy and drive your own business results.
1) Find your voice
The best stories revolve around the deep, unconscious truth of the founders of the business. From Apple to Avon, I challenge you to find a memorable brand where this isn't the case. One of our favorite ways to dig for these truths is with an in-depth psychographic profile – we create these for each of an organization's founders in order to distill down the essential truths of the team. From there, what emerges is a clear story – once it's articulated and rehearsed by the founders, it instantly becomes their own.
Story: Like any new venture, Factor 75, a healthy meal delivery start-up, had a lot of voices which weren't their own. Through creating their psychographic profiles, we identified the basis of their nearly two decade long friendship – a goofy, self-effacing camaraderie as well as a scientific, community-oriented personality.
Impact: At the end of three months, the founders were able to clearly articulate their story, experienced an increased sense of alignment and enjoyment at work, and had attained additional focus & strategic clarity in light of their story for business decisions from PR to hiring to events.
2) Run your experiments
All creative processes need structure. Telling your story is no different.
Your story isn't just for you - it needs an audience. And if you've just discovered your story, you're going to want to tell it to everyone. The challenge is: not everyone wants to hear your story (yet). You need the right audience - and the right reaction - to know you are telling the right story.
Story: Over the course of a month, we performed a series of tests across social media channels, Google AdWords, and in-person interviews, and brought the data back to the Factor 75 team to determine which audience responded best to the story based on their strategic goal of customer growth. We emphasized to the F75 team that it's okay to speak to one person. Who you speak to does not limit you in terms of customers – it's just who your voice resonates with the most. In this case, Factor 75 was looking for those who had a strong positive emotional response to their experience with the service, as these were the early evangelists who would promote F75 and help them grow their business.
Impact: Between a better understanding of their story and their data-driven results from story testing, the Factor 75 team had more confidence in sharing their new strategic shift in product with investors and team members.
3) Live your story
Owning and understanding your story is a huge accomplishment for any organization, big or small. There are months of uncertainty, painfulness of searching for the right word or phrase, and getting comfortable with a new direction forward. Once you have settled on your story, you unlock a new power: the ability to use your story to fuel everything you do and achieve your goals.
Story: Factor 75 lived their story in the way only they could - they threw a Willy Wonka golden ticket party for their one year anniversary. Several lucky Factor 75 customers received a golden ticket in their meal, which provided access to a wonderland of games, poker, libations, and, of course, a chocolate fountain. Judge for yourself how much fun they had.
Impact: First and foremost, the founders and team had a concrete milestone to celebrate their storytelling accomplishment. They could also share the event and their new story with their customers, increasing loyalty and retention as well as generating user content from the Golden Ticket party. Additionally, there was a small increase in sales during the promotion due to the social buzz around the event.
4) Change your conversation
Once you know your story inside and out, it's time to start to change the conversation and have other people carry your story. Because there is no better marketing than other people telling your story - that's a movement. Everything else is just noise.
Story: Along with Factor 75's Director of Marketing, Caitlin, and their talented copywriter, Emily, we worked to revamp Factor 75's email system to more adeptly reflect their story. We added bits of levity and inside jokes, themed around Chicago, to reflect the goofy personalities of the founding team.
Impact: By providing current and potential customers with the information they needed to move forward, we increased the sales conversion rate by 30%.
5) Create your future
Stories are not only informative but also inspirational. They provide us with direction and insight into our future.
Story: As Factor 75 existed to help their customers thrive – to live life to its fullest and most enjoyable state – they realized they needed their service to do the same. They switched from an individual one-off ordering system to a subscription meal plan, which removed the hassle of remembering to order by certain times. They made the lives of their customers simpler and more enjoyable with one quick step.
Impact: The shift in Factor 75's business model from individual dishes to a subscription meal plan allowed the team more touch points with their customers - and thus more opportunities to learn how it would impact both their service and their bottom line. The team instituted an hour a week of calls to their customers to let them personally know about their new meal plan and ask if they would stay with them. In the course of a month, they had loyal customers for life and had reached half of their quarterly sales goal.
When you tell stories, you become both part of and apart from them in a wonderful way. By shifting between these different perspectives, you can truly live your story and let it change you in an organic, natural way that drives meaningful business results and empowers authentic growth.
Related Frameworks:
- Founder's Story


text:
Element Mechanical is ready to meet your residential heating and air conditioning needs with speed and integrity. In business since 1995 and serving the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and all of North Texas, we're a team of experienced experts ready to help. In emergencies or for scheduled maintenance, we're here for you.
If you have heating or air conditioning concerns, it's best to call sooner rather than later. Problems tend to get worse, not better. If you haven't had your system cleaned or serviced recently, making an appointment now can save you on expensive repairs later. Plus, we offer maintenance agreements that can save you money while keeping your system healthy all year.
For Emergencies And Before Problems Happen
At Element Mechanical, we're happy to schedule a service appointment and come to your home to repair to HVAC system. We can even provide emergency service. But we'd rather prevent problems by regularly servicing your system. Benefits of regular maintenance include:
- Reduced repair costs because we can often find problems while they're small and correct them
- Greater efficiency because we fix issues and clean your system so it can function at peak performance
- Longer equipment life because the system is maintained professionally
- And more.
When problems arise, we come to your home ready to handle most repairs in a single visit. Our uniformed HVAC professionals arrive at your home in a company vehicle stocked with everything we need to complete most repairs. When parts must be ordered, we have direct connections with suppliers to ensure speed and quality.
When You Need A New System
When your HVAC system reaches the end of its life, we're proud to offer the best brands in heating and cooling as well as indoor air quality equipment, including products from York, our preferred brand. York offers affordable, high-quality system for homes and commercial buildings.
Our team of professional installers are experts at installing systems right so they function well throughout their lifespan. In fact, Element Mechanical has a long tradition of excellent service. From complex HVAC system installation to simple repairs and smart preventative maintenance, we're here for you when you need us. We have the staff, the tools and the products to handle every residential HVAC need with speed, accuracy and reliability – and we offer financing options to fit almost any budget.
Contact us now for HVAC sales, service and preventative maintenance in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, including Rockwall, Royce City, Caddo Mills and beyond. We're good people ready to go a good job for you.


text: VideoBeautifulBridging The Divide: Christian And Muslim Show Each Other Their Most Private Shark Drawings1/31/18 11:15amSEE MORE: IncredibleSEE MORE: IncredibleIncredibleReligionSharksVideoEditEmbiggenSend to EditorsPromoteShare to KinjaChange in-article videoGo to permalinkWow. This is so powerful. Just goes to show that we all might have more in common than we think.AdvertisementMore videos from BeautifulPost This Video On Facebook To Let Your Friends Know That You Have Officially Completed PubertyShare This Video To Tell Your Friends You're Stuck In A Ditch And Not Trying To Get OutPost This Video On The Pep Boys Facebook Page To Let Them Know You Are CircumcisedThis Girl's Reaction To Tasting Ice Cream For The First Time Pales In Comparison To This Man Eating His 600th Pastrami SandwichGet Ready: Can You Handle This Grouse Marathon?Beautiful: This Man Still Feeds His Dead Wife's Parking Meter Every MorningInclusivity Win! This Toilet Has A Loud Speaker Begging People To Shit In It Regardless Of Race, Gender, Or Sexual OrientationThe Power Of Love: Woman With Very Long Neck Kneels Down To Kiss Man In Third-Story WindowBeautiful: Widow Releases Ashes And One Arm Of Dead Husband Into The Ocean


text:
Topaz is a stone of many colors. Bright Blue Topaz currently enjoys commercial popularity, but the stone naturally appears in white, blue, green, yellow orange, red, pink, purple, and brown tones.
Topaz is the birthstone of November. Precious topaz refers to the rarest of Topaz colors - Imperial Topaz (reddish-orange, or pink), and Sherry Topaz (brownish yellow or orange). Imperial Topaz derives its name from its association with the royal family of Russia, and was primarily mined in the Ural Mountains. Topaz can be found throughout the world in pockets of igneous rock, most notably in Utah and Brazil.
The origins of the word Topaz are disputed; some say it comes from the Greek word topazos, and was named for the obscure island in the Red Sea where it was mined. Others attribute its origin to the Sanskrit word tapas, meaning heat or fire.


text:
Twitter is having its best year ever, stock chart points to more gains
Twitter is popular on Wall Street this year.
The social network stock has surged nearly 50 percent since the beginning of 2018, crushing competition from Facebook and Snap, and tracking for its best annual performance ever.
Todd Gordon, founder of TradingAnalysis.com, says the stock chart is setting up for an even bigger rally.
"There's all sorts of cool technical patterns here known as head and shoulders, traditionally a reversal pattern," Gordon said on CNBC's "Trading Nation" on Thursday. "We should have broken down in TWTR. We did not."
Twitter formed a bearish head-and-shoulders pattern with a high in March, a higher high in June, and a lower high in August. That setup typically suggests the end of an uptrend. However, since then, Twitter has managed to break out above the lower high set more than three months ago.
"If you take that pattern and you just kind of isolate that and flip it upside down … we have an inverse — so a failed head and shoulders," said Gordon. "A failed head and shoulders actually results in a strong move."
The inverse head-and-shoulders pattern formed with a low in July, a lower low in October, and a higher low in November. That formation suggests the reversal of a downtrend.
"Despite a weak overall market, I am long the stock," said Gordon. "I was hoping for a gap close — that's at around $38.50. If the overall market can stabilize, I feel like Twitter can go up and close that gap, so I like it."
At $35.50 in Friday's premarket, Twitter shares are 8 percent from capturing $38.50. It last traded at that level in July.
The fundamentals picture for Twitter also supports more upside, says Mark Tepper, president and founder of Strategic Wealth Partners.
"The knock on Twitter is that the daily average user growth has been slowing for the last few quarters, but keep in mind that they're really focused on shutting down fake accounts, so I think a number like that is really important for Facebook where people might only log in once a day, but with Twitter it's more about the user engagement," Tepper said on "Trading Nation" on Thursday.
Daily active users rose by 9 percent in Twitter's third quarter, its first quarter of single-digit growth in two years. Sign-ups decreased by 20 percent as efforts to detect spam and malicious accounts made progress.
"They're doing everything possible to increase engagement levels, and live streaming is a big part of that, and as you increase engagement, that's going to lead to more advertisers," Tepper said.
Advertising revenue grew by 29 percent in the September quarter, its third quarterly increase of more than 20 percent.


text:
Wild About Dinosaurs
Welcome back stampers. Everyone loves dinosaurs, right? This was a quick card with little stamping and pieces of the same paper from the Pick a Pattern DSP. The dinosaur pattern used in the make shift polaroid. The reverse side is the Crushed Curry polka dots you see in the background.
Embellishing with ribbons is a blast. You don't always need a bow and if you use one, it could be tied around another ribbon for a unique ribbon accent. I also added the leaf paper clip for your eyes to notice the ribbons on the top left hand side.
The lil' Emerald Envy T-Rex is so adorable and is almost the perfect height for the addition next to the White heat embossed sentiment.
Creative Color Combination
This combination can never be extint.
Click the photo(s) below to purchase the products used to create this project directly from my online Stampin' Up! store.


text:
State of Florida Certified
Minority, Women & Florida Veteran Business Certification
National Women's Business Enterprise Certification
Though we may not currently have an opening in your field, we're always accepting applications.
We move fast and so do our customers. While we may not have a place for you today, who knows about tomorrow?
Download an application here and email to email@example.com.
© 2018 - MERCEDES MEDICAL - 800.331.2716 - 12210 Rangeland Pkwy - Lakewood Ranch, FL 34211
Web pricing includes changes made for short term promotions and other offers, this does not constitute a new quote or permanent pricing adjustment.
Web pricing may vary from quoted pricing by a sales representative. The names of various manufacturers, their instruments, and their products contained within web site content, web-based advertisements, email advertisements and/or online catalogs may be protected by trademark or other law, and are used herein solely for purpose of reference. Mercedes Medical expressly disclaims any affiliation with or sponsorship by the companies referred to herein. References that Mercedes Medical may make to any names, marks, products or services of third parties do not necessarily constitute or imply Mercedes Medical's affiliation with, endorsement of, or endorsement by the third party, product or service.


text:
Genetic researchers in China, Britain and the United States are teaming up to unravel the full genetic code of at least 1,000 people around the world – an unprecedented scientific project that could cost tens of millions of dollars and eventually reveal the roots of hundreds of diseases. The 1000 Genomes Project will examine the human genome at a level of detail that no one has done before," Richard Durbin of Britain's Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, who is the project consortium's co chair, said in today's announcement. "Such a project would have been unthinkable two years ago. Today, thanks to amazing strides in sequencing technology, bioinformatics and population genomics, it is now within our grasp.
Site – http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com


text:
Lesson 37: Against Midnight's Dumb Abysses
Listen to the audio here:
The reminders of your personal struggles, large or small, are constant. The "material cage" in which you live is guarded on all sides by the neurology that imprisons you. The neurology defines everything you see, smell, taste, hear, touch and intuit. The neurology is the prison guard. Your past experiences determined your perceptions and before you knew it, you were unable to see what was really happening. In short, you've got a problem with reality. But it's OK. Everybody does.
It is this cage that all religions, schools, philosophies, therapies, self-help books and political and social movements try to resolve and eradicate. You think the cage came from somewhere else, someone else, God, Satan, your parents or life itself. Some of those formulas have been at it a long time and have accomplished very little. In fact, many of those approaches have done as much harm as good.
Now, notice with great accuracy that your version of reality is nearly 100% of the time congruent with your past experiences. Notice that your version of reality is accustomed to a certain fixed and well-defined state. But as is true with aspects of your life, it is only your willingness to tolerate it that prolongs it. You are not obligated. The mind need not be imprisoned by your past and your experiences but nonetheless, the voices of pain and loss resurrect themselves in the most mundane of circumstances.
Savitri is confronted once again by Death and reminded of her dismal lot in life.
"O mortal, turn back to thy transient kind;
Aspire not to accompany Death to his home,
As if thy breath could live where Time must die.
Think not thy mind-born passion strength from heaven
To uplift thy spirit from its early base
And, breaking out from the material cage,
To upbuoy thy feet of dream in groundless Nought
And bear thee through the pathless infinite.
Only in human limits man lives safe."
Death continues.
"Know the cold term-stones of thy hopes in life.
Armed vainly with the Ideal's borrowed might,
Dare not to outstep man's bound and measured Force
Ignorant and stumbling, in brief boundaries pent,
He crowns himself the world's mock suzerain,
Tormenting Nature with the works of Mind.
O sleeper, dreaming of divinity,
Wake trembling mid the indifferent silences
In which thy few weak chords of being die."
So, I want to ask you something. But what if you could? What if? What if you could train your mind not to accept these terms and conditions of living? What if a new conversation began between you and the cells that make up your physical body? The cells…the waiting receivers of incoming information…waiting for the signal…suddenly…hears a different signal. The mind freed…if but for only a moment…free from the past…free from fear…empty…rises.
"The Woman answered not. Her high nude soul,
Stripped of the girdle of mortality,
Against fixed destiny and the grooves of law
Stood up in its sheer will a primal force.
Still like a statue on its pedestal,
Lone in the silence and to vastness barred,
Against midnight's dumb abysses piled in front.
A columned shaft of fire and light she rose."
The description above is real. It exists. It is available to you because you, too, are a columned shaft of fire and light. It is not going to be in the escape of your issues that you will find what you are looking for. You will find what you are looking for right in the middle of the mess, right in the middle of midnight's dumb abysses that are piled right in front of you.


text:
I send my condolences to the family and friends of these three...
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Great loss...
I'm sure everyone heard about Jonny Copp, Micah Dash, and Wade Johnson. I didn't know them personally except for seeing Jonny around Boulder. I have a great deal of respect for the climbing they did. Today is a sad day for anyone that new or followed these three's travels.
Posted by Phillip Schaal at 4:53 PM
No comments:
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
DETROIT -- General Motors Co.'s new U.S. advertising chief has again tapped another winning automaker to strengthen Chevrolet's marketing bench.
Kevin Mayer has been named director of Chevrolet advertising and sales promotion, the automaker said Thursday. He joins GM from Subaru of America Inc., where he had been director of marketing communications.
In recent months, GM has also lured marketing executives from Hyundai -- one of three brands to post a U.S. sales increase last year. Subaru and Kia were the other two, and Subaru was the only marque to advance in 2008.
"Kevin has consistently demonstrated a unique ability to engage the customer and build a relationship with the brand -- and ultimately the products -- through bold strategies," Joel Ewanick, GM's vice president for U.S. marketing, said in a statement.
Ewanick joined GM in May after leaving Hyundai earlier this year for Nissan, where he worked six weeks.
He said in a statement that Mayer will be an "asset" as GM prepares to launch two key products, the Chevrolet Cruze small car and the Volt plug-in hybrid.
Hyundai recruits
In August, Hyundai's chief U.S. marketing officer, Chris Perry, was lured away to head marketing at Chevrolet. GM's biggest division lost sales and share in 2008 and 2009 as the automaker slid into bankruptcy and battled the weakest U.S. market in nearly three decades. This year's Chevy sales have risen 19 percent through August, more than twice the industry's advance.
Mayer, 41, will report to Liz Boone, GM's new director for U.S. advertising strategy. Boone was recently hired from Innocean Worldwide Americas -- where she led Hyundai's passenger car account. She reports to Ewanick.
Mayer joined Subaru in 2007. Before that, he served as senior vice president and account director at Colby and Partners, where he led the American Suzuki Motor Co. account.
In a related matter, Subaru said Alan Bethke will replace Mayer as director of marketing communications.
Bethke, 38, was previously marketing planning and operations manager for Subaru. He joined Subaru in 2003 from Suzuki.


text:
Following our look at the toilet sign ideograms in this week's Lecture, we set about creating our own. We began by using graph paper to plan out our designs, which forced us to think about our work within the constraints of a grid (just as designers before us were constrained by the tools of the time). When sketching out the male / female symbols for my sign, I aimed for it to be a relatively abstract sign suitable for western culture; I also aimed to use similar shapes and styles across the two 'people' as a means of matching them as a set. I had to try out a few different styles before I found one that conveyed seemed to work well.
To recreate our plans in Illustrator we enabled and customised the grid feature, and turn on the snap to grid feature. I made use layers as well as the pen and circle tools to draw my figures, then once I had the general shape the 'people' I spent some time adjusting the angles and spaces on the symbols (trying out different angles, widths and heights). I had some difficulty deciding on whether the female symbol's head or bow should be level with the male character's head, as neither seemed to fit well with the overall appearance. Stuart noted that much like the 'x height' in typography, in this circumstance it would be best to play with the height to get the best visual appearance (not just the technical height); and thus an appropriate height was found!


text:
Earlier this year we ran an exclusive competition for one lucky baker to win a place on Dan Lepard's Sweet Sourdough Bread & Cakes course hosted by Juniper & Rose Kitchen Garden School in October. Dan taught the group of keen bread bakers some original and delicious sourdough recipes including chocolate sourdough cakes, fruit focaccias and fruity sourdough loaves. Sweet sourdough enthusiast Andrea Norrington has written a fantastic review of the day if you would like to read more. Congratulations to Michael Wake-Walker who won the competition – we were pleased to hear you had a very enjoyable...
sourdough baking
Sourdough Scotch pancakes
This recipe comes from Vanessa Kimbell, our resident baking expert.
More often than not I am asked what to do with the leftover starter that is normally discarded after refreshing sourdough starter ready for some bread baking. It seems a shame when it's still relatively fresh and has developed such a lovely sour flavour to just throw it away. Continue reading
Sourdough September
We've long been supporters of the Real Bread Campaign and were pleased to hear about the launch of its latest campaign, Sourdough September. Throughout September, sourdough lovers across the UK are sharing the delights of the original form of leavened real bread in Britain's first ever national sourdough celebration. If you haven't got involved already, there's still plenty of time to celebrate baking real sourdough, with plenty of events and courses on offer across the UK – see the Real Bread Campaign for full details.
San Francisco Sourdough Starter
Goldrush San Francisco Starter The dried San Francisco starter is very easy to use and will get you started in the world of sourdough baking, quickly and effectively. Once activated, your starter will, if looked after through simple feeding, last forever and you will not need to buy any more. See this article for guidance on looking after your starter. Activating Your San Francisco Starter A point of note for all sourdough (and yeast) baking is that in some places, the tap water can be fairly heavily chlorinated. The job of the chlorine is to kill of yeasts and bacteria...
4 Item(s)


text:
Bullies are mean. They try to build themselves up by putting other people down.
Religion is mean because it builds up it's followers by putting others down that don't follow the religion.
"You're going to hell!" no "You're going to hell!", well, we all know that "he is going to hell!"
Rules, regulations, and a man's desire to build a stairway to heaven. Your hair is too long, you smoke, you drink, you listen to rock music, you listen to jazz, you read the wrong Bible.
C'mon folks. Stop being a bully. Lay down your gavel and stop being the judge. Criticizing someone else isn't going to get you closer to God. Standing on the street corner yelling won't show the way to a loving God. Hating everyone that isn't like you isn't going to make God love you more. There's a speck in your eye. There's a plank in mine. Sorry for all the times I've been a bully.
Luke 18:9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'
13 "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'
14 "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."


text:
Makina, Daniel, University of South Africa, South Africa
Vol 19, No 3 (2016) - Original Research
The source of investment cash flow sensitivity in manufacturing firms: Is it asymmetric information or agency costs?
Abstract PDF
ASSAF letter regarding DHET accreditation of SciELO SA..
This journal is DHET Accredited. Recent DHET and SciELO SA communication clarified.
We are thrilled to launch our new journal website, which provides additional functionality and visual enhancements.
Get specific, domain-collection newsletters detailing the latest CPD courses, scholarly research and call-for-papers in your field.Subscribe
South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences | ISSN: 1015-8812 (PRINT) | ISSN: 2222-3436 (ONLINE)


text:
Despite the pipeline of 60 venture-backed companies currently in registration for IPO in 2012, M&A is still the most common exit for most startups.  And prognosticators forecast an improving M&A market after the slowdown in the 2nd half of 2011.  So how do companies who position themselves for acquisition and those who acquire them deliver on the value they anticipate.  Industry data reminds us time and again that the failure rate for mergers and acquisitions hovers between 70% and 90% despite the annual $2 trillion spent every year.
A key criterion for success when acquiring for innovationÔÇÖs sake, as opposed to scale economies, is laying the foundation for fundamental change in both the business model and the organizational culture.┬á Buying what could be considered disruptive or bleeding edge IP or products means that business as usual doesnÔÇÖt cut it.┬á Few companies who go on buying sprees soften the beachhead internally for the degree of change required.┬á Incentives and other management metrics are not aligned in advance with the potential of the new technology so old and new management are caught in the crossfire while making important strategic decisions about budget and other business priorities.
Achieving the potential business value of an acquisition means losing the emotional attachment to the cash cow business(es) that enabled the acquisition in the first place.  It requires a clear understanding of where the creative destruction within the organization should occur and puts incentives in place for the organization to create a new business from the ashes.
Let Vision & Execution work with your teams to facilitate decisive action around new business models and product roadmaps as you plan for or seek to integrate innovative acquisitions.


text:
Effective Delegation
Course Aims
The art of delegation is one of the most important management skills, and one of the easiest to go wrong. We must examine the reasons to delegate, how to delegate, and the consequences of failure to delegate.
This half-day programme places 'delegation' within the context of four leadership styles, which can be adopted within the working environment. It provides insight to human attitudes and behaviours surrounding this skill and enables participants to measure how successful their own delegation methods are.
Course participants will receive a blueprint of the steps to effective delegation, and they will be able to consider each step in the light of their current behaviours and plan any necessary improvements.
Course Outline
- Welcome and introductions
- Barriers to effective delegation
- Authority, Responsibility and Accountability
- Leadership Styles
- Skills Assessment
- Five Steps to effective delegation
- Action Planning
You may also be interested in our Time Management Training course.
Our team are based in Kent but operate across the UK, delivering training sessions to your team. For more information on our courses or to discuss a bespoke training programme that you may require, please get in touch.


text:
Chief Operations Officer Mailing list & Email list in UK
The Chief Operating Officers have a huge responsibility for the entire office like maintaining daily operations of a company and execute the plans appropriately. We understand that as an entrepreneur or marketer, you would like to reach out to the top decision makers of that designation to market your products to them and enhance your business.E-Health-Care-Lists are a well-reputed b2b marketing firm that provides you a reliable Chief Operations Officers Email List & Mailing Lists which helps you to make your marketing campaign successful.
Our Chief Operating Officers Email List & Mailing List are well-researched and thoroughly verified by the team of professionals to ensure that data is accurate and authentic.E-Health-Care-Lists have worked with small, medium, and the large scale companies, as well as different individuals and helped them to emerge as a winner with only one accurate database.
Benefits of Chief Operations Officer Mailing list & Email list
• Get the database that is fully authenticated and verified.
• Restores and updates you the old customers' details.
• Provides you with additional customer contacts
• Retain your customers with good services and rapport
• Successful b2b marketing campaign
• Quick Delivery.
• The database can be downloaded in any format that you want.
• Increased Return on Investment (ROI) with least marketing cost.
• Stay a step ahead of your competitors.
Though the broad variety of categories available you can reach your target audience and business who are interested in your services or who would like to purchase.
Contact E-Health Care List Today!
Call us today at: 1-201-688-0862
Email us at: firstname.lastname@example.com
|Related Link: Click here to visit item owner's website (0 hit)
|Target Nation: England
Target City : London
Last Update : 06 September 2018
Number of Views: 70
|Item Owner : E-Health Care Lists
Contact Email:
Contact Phone: 2016880862
|Friendly reminder: Click here to read some tips.


text:
About two years ago, former NTV presenter Janet Kanini-Ikua went public with an astonishing announcement. She was ailing from stage-four lung cancer! This piece of news was unexpected and it hit us in a very shocking way.
Everybody who knew the beautiful TV girl was devastated by her revelations. However, Janet took it all in her stride, fought like a soldier at the war-front, conquered all the fear that comes with such realizations, to emerge victorious in that battle with the deadly disease.
She went to India for treatment and earlier this year, she declared that she was cancer free. Throughout the traumatizing and costly ordeal, Janet maintained her posture as a strong-willed woman who was determined to see a positive end of the battle. And she did.
Now, months after he cancer-free declaration, she is working towards her physical fitness. And she is doing it in the most amazing way possible.


text: The I2SL (International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories) Annual Conference is the nation's premier gathering of sustainable laboratory and high-technology facility professionals from around the world. The conference was held in Kansas City last week, featuring a tour of the PGAV-designed Stowers Institute for Medical Research campus. Mike Schaadt described the design to tour attendees.


text:
Spend an afternoon deeply relaxing and releasing in this wonderful 2 hour restorative yoga workshop with Naomi. We will practice rejuvenating breathing techniques and some deeper yin postures to release held tension. There will be lovely long Savasana (relaxation) and a short meditation practice.
Places will be limited to 12 students to give you maximum attention and guidance.
Time: 2 – 4pm
Price: £25 (£20 concessions)
Teacher: Naomi Hayama


text:
anxiety, attitude, exhaustion, honesty, life update, personal, restoration, Silence, stress, Travel
How long does it take for the tranquility of a vacation to leave one's mind?
I'm not sure exactly, but, if you're not well, and your child is not well, and if you have 2 cars full of stuff to load in 78 degree heat and humidity in FEBRUARY and then 4 – 5 hours on the road in the rain only to end up at the local after hours clinic that you LOATHE but you just can't drive any more and all you want is a shot in your ass so you can breathe and swallow without wanting to die and all they'll give you is an antihistamine that doesn't even help for 2 days and you end up having to take your child to her regular doctor anyway and you realize that your vacation week is now turning into eat-up-all-your-sick time week and you miss book club but you didn't get to finish the book anyway because every time you pick it up you get interrupted and the only thing you really want to do is cuss people out on Facebook for just being stupid and binge watch Mad Men and The Office on Netflix and then you occasionally check your email and suddenly remember that you shouldn't do that either because it reminds you of things that make you stressed and irritable and you're already hella irritable but you're not really sure if it's just the heat in February the lost vacation the sickness new medication other physical issues or just the fact that you wanted a few days of introspection but that didn't happen because you literally got sick as you were headed out of town to a beautiful condo on the Florida coast that you barely got to enjoy because it's honestly all kind of a blur now even though you've barely been home 48 hours….
Yeah. Not long.


text:
Searching for Aquaman
I have no idea how I come up with the names of my paintings...
It's a whirlwind of a time here in my household. My daughter has been home sick with pneumonia this week.... The daytime temperatures here in San Diego are over 100 (even at the coast!) and I'm feeling a little run down.. Nurse Mom has been worrying all night and excessively checking her temperature.
I spend a lot of time writing emails.. I spend a lot of time answering questions on email and never hearing from the sender again.. no "thank you', no "you're crazy"... nothing. It makes me a little crazy..I always wonder what happens to the people who write.. where do they go? What's with this take all the knowledge and split mentality? Where the hell are your manners??? You know what I mean... maybe you don't... I guess that's why I am writing this.
I am SUPER proud of the online workshops I host here. I feel like I am taking mixed media to a whole new level when I tell you... you want to know this? Ask me in your class room. That too? Ask me. You took a course 10 years ago and now you need to know about this completely different issue? TRY ME. That is what I offer to every student...anytime. Seriously. If you are a student of mine, I ALWAYS want to hear from you. How's that?
It's true. See you in class.


text:
|Last update:
|Modern Tribe
|Modern Tribe
|WordPress Plugins
Product Details
Community Tickets is a WordPress plugin from Modern Tribe developers, that extends the functionality of Community Events and Event Tickets Plus plugins so that your website visitors can seamlessly create and sell tickets for the events they submit to your calendar—without needing to access your WordPress admin dashboard.
With flexible payment and fee options, Community Tickets gives you control to setup your business exactly how you want it. The fab four of Community Tickets, Community Events, Event Tickets, and Event Tickets Plus creates a truly interactive calendar experience with revenue potential that is sure to be a huge hit with your organizers. Note: Community Tickets can also be used with Community Events and legacy ticketing plugin WooCommerce Tickets.
Community Tickets enables events or organizers to sell and submit events with tickets to fill in front end of your site. First, you need to have Community Events add-on. Than you can extend it functionality, installing this plugin. When you install a plugin and scroll to the bottom, you will see a new section there. It allows you to add ticket to the events. First, you need to fill ticket name and the description. You can set a price for your ticket, start day and end of sale. Also you can fill, how many tickets available to stock. Once you done, just save the ticket and finally submit the event. You will see all the event information what been processing to front end of the site. If you click on "My events" button, you will be able to see full description of all events and you can look in the attendees information for each event. There you will see the order number, order status, purchaser name, purchaser email, ticket type, ticket number, security code and when time comes, you can allow them to check in. You can also get sales information for each ticket: there you get the events summary, the date, event ID, organizer and organizer PayPal information, the total tickets sold, the ticket name and how many of them has been sold and left in stock and finally the total revenue. This makes ordering and processing tickets easily from a front end of your site.
Read before purchase
Before making a purchase, please read the Terms and Conditions on this page: https://wpnull.org/en/terms/
All digital products are purchased without the possibility of free updates. Download links will be available for 24 hours after the purchase.
If you have any questions, please first read the FAQ on this page: https://wpnull.org/en/faq/
If you haven't found the answer to your question, please contact us by e-mail email@example.com, Skype wp.null, online chat or feedback form.
Please note that any digital products presented on the website do not contain malicious code, viruses or advertising. You buy the original files from the developers. We do not sell any products downloaded from other sites.
You can download the product after the purchase by a direct link on this page.


text:
Notes on Mortality, Paris & Photography
Here's what I'm thinking about and reflecting on today:
1. How we die in America (and why it's important to talk about it) – Yesterday, I listened to Rolf Potts and Ann Neumann talk about death and dying, end-of-life care, the parallels between death and travel, and more in this wide-ranging conversation. It's an important segment, and it made me reflect on my dad's illness and death. For example, I wasn't prepared for the realities of caregiving or the grief that slammed me after my dad died in June 2012. Talking about the fragility of life, death and dying, and grief doesn't have to be scary. It's helped me prioritize what matters in my daily life, and I'm less inclined to take my days for granted.
2. Paris in Stride: An Insider's Walking Guide – My CrossFit buddy sent me an article about Paris in Stride this morning, and I took it as a sign. It's the fifth time I've seen the book mentioned in an article, and it's been on my book list for a month, so I bought a copy. It will come in handy on my trip to Paris!
3. Everyday Magic – Spring has arrived in Northern California, and the weather is amazing, so I'm trying to take all the photos. And speaking of photos here's a roundup of images I took in Yreka, CA and Ashland, OR earlier this week. Enjoy!


text:
A casual jam session for all skill levels! Bring your instruments and your voices to play and sing along. Music will be provided. The Sunday Jam meets every second Sunday of the month. Join the Jam today! For more information, contact John McFarlin or Mark Hughes
Back to All Events
Earlier Event: October 8Highlands Connections Luncheon - Children and Youth Focus
Later Event: October 8be still: a contemplative worship experience


text:
We're establishing a reference group to make sure that people accessing our Closing the Gap program are able to speak about their service wants. Utilizing HIT, your well being plan can give you instruments that can assist you set up your health information, access info targeted to your health wants, and determine the quality and value/value of the doctors, hospitals and different providers that you and your loved ones use for day-to-day healthcare wants.
The first cease for present, necessary well being data, Health Reference Middle consists of comprehensive, in-depth coverage of body programs, present health points, major ailments and conditions, therapies, and procedures, in addition to health and nutrition information specific to males, girls, kids, teenagers, and seniors.
See the laws which govern the Federal Workers Health Benefits Program. The listings are divided into two distinct reference databases. Professionally ready master index supplies easy accessibility to descriptive information, definitions, and related ideas. Every quantity in the Well being Reference Sequence is a straightforward-to-use and authoritative supply designed for lay readers—customers with no specific medical data.
Useful glossary offers definitions of technical phrases. Info contained within the Medicaid Reference Guide is revised and updated on a regular basis. The Well being Reference Collection provides fundamental medical data for patients, households, caregivers, and the general public.
2 pp. 31-fifty eight of Nielsen-Bohlman L, Kindig DA, Panzer AM, Institute of Medicine Committee on Well being Literacy Workers. 1.2 Employees aren't healthcare professionals. Handbook to information attorneys through court docket ordered retirement, health advantages and life insurance.


text:
What's in a face?
From the aesthetic point of view, everything we need to know.
Unfortunately, most exhibit catalogs, headphones, or wall posts do not help much if what you want to understand is the art in the painting of a face.
Case in point: On August 3, the Philadelphia Museum of Art launched an exhibit titled "Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus." Most of the information about the exhibit has nothing to do with Rembrandt's visual innovations and everything to do with his contribution to "humanizing" the face of Jesus. The focus is on religious and historic significance, not aesthetic.
A few months ago, I visited an art exhibit of Edward Loper, Jr.'s work in Wilmington, Delaware. There I saw a self-portrait he had recently completed.
Eddie Loper (I will call him Eddie to distinguish him from his father, Edward) had provided me a wonderful gift: a chance to show how a 21st century artist could use visual ideas invented by a 17th century Dutchman. And make them new.
On the right is Rembrandt's Self-portrait with Beret and Turned up Collar. On the left is Loper's Self-Portrait.
|Rembrandt, Self-portrait with Beret and Turned up Collar, 1659,NGA
|Edward Loper, Jr., Self-Portrait, 2011, Private Collection
Let's compare and contrast these two self-portraits.
What did Eddie Loper borrow from Rembrandt, and what did he do to and with those borrowings? What visual ideas did he borrow from other artists?
1. Obviously, Eddie Loper knows the Rembrandt painting. He used Rembrandt's painting as his subject, and he dressed and posed as Rembrandt did. Nothing new here. Artists have done this sort of thing throughout the history of art.
2. Loper's picture is more colorful, with light illuminating both the figure and the background. Rembrandt's color is limited in variety, but his use of chiaroscuro creates a richness and depth of color. Consequently, while Rembrandt's colors are limited in range, somber, and not bright, they have expressive power.
3. The space in the Rembrandt recedes limitlessly. The shallow space in the Loper acts as a projector, and this makes the central mass (the head) loom forward.
4. Loper's brush strokes, visible as pulled, banded, overlapping, and full of energy and movement, create a convincing, solid, central mass. Rembrandt's brushstrokes are so subtle they are imperceptible. They build a solid, three-dimensional mass that stands out from a receding background and create color units that render the different feelings of hair, flesh and textures, but how they do this is impossible to detect.
5. Loper's line demarcates edges and outlines detail decoratively, while Rembrandt's line does not exist as a separate entity. His line merges so completely with chiaroscuro, the central volume emerges from the background as if by magic.
Rembrandt is a tough act to follow.
That said, let's see what other visual ideas Loper borrowed to make his self-portrait and whether those borrowings lead to a new and personal end.
Dr. Barnes argues that few painters have been able to use Rembrandt's ideas creatively. He mentions Daumier and Monticelli as two who achieved some degree of success.
Look at the Daumier and Monticelli pictures below:
|Daumier, The Painter at His Easel, 1870, Barnes
|Monticelli, As You Like It, n.d., Phillips Collection
Like Rembrandt, Daumier, in this tiny picture measuring 4 5/8 x 3 1/8 inches, modifies chiaroscuro to achieve deep, rich color-harmonies with somber colors. The solid three-dimensionality of the figure results from the surrounding space, a type of "space-decoration" Dr. Barnes calls it, decoration that is an integral part of the structure of the picture. The Painter at His Easel shows line creating dynamic movement, a quivering, curly, wavy activity producing a convincing drama and force.
Monticelli's juicy color takes Rembrandt's somber color-harmonies up a notch while maintaining the effects of chiaroscuro to create glowing, three-dimensional masses moving in and out of a relatively compressed space. The thick, impasto color creates a decorative charge in itself.
Now consider Soutine and Matisse.
Examine the cropped details of the pictures below:
|Soutine, The Pastry Cook (detail), c. 1919, Barnes
|Matisse, The Woman with the Hat (detail), 1905, San Fransisco Museum of Modern Art
Loper's painting incorporates Soutine's rich, variegated color and Matisse's decorative bright, vivid, contrasted color areas. While he does not stress Soutine's animation and motion, nor Matisse's dramatic cold/warm color contrasts, he adapts their pulled, banded, vigorous brush-strokes , their bold distortions, and their vivid, intense, and dramatic rhythms.
To what end?
Eddie Loper's Self-Portrait draws us in via the illustrative: something about that "wicked" eye, and that angry, set jaw, start us on our journey. It would be so easy here to slip backwards into a biographical discussion of the artist's life, what might have made him so "angry," or "fierce," or "determined." However, our goal is to understand the color statement. To do that, we need to subdue the subject by turning the picture upside down.
Now you can see the sweep of banded, saturated, vivid color units. To the upside-down picture's left, you see a dome-like mass bulging forward (the shoulder) echoed by several strips of lower-key color bands receding to the right (the other shoulder). Bulging further forward and centered is a large, solid warm color mass (the head) made up of thick, pulled, and dragged color units topped by receding arcs of violet and cerulean blue (the cap).
The head sinks into the peachy, rosy background like a melon into Jell-O. The amorphous browns and violets in the mid-section of the picture, between the background and the body, recede slightly.
Did you see this before I turned the picture upside down? I didn't.
"Faces," or anything to do with portraits present an additional challenge. We easily stop seeing the aesthetic message conveyed by color on a flat surface once curiosity about the subject is aroused.
What, then, has Loper given back that is his: a picture built of fiery color bands organized into vibrant color masses and compelling spatial intricacies informed by ideas he adapted from Matisse, Soutine, Monticelli, Daumier, Rembrandt, and his father Edward L. Loper, Sr. You have seen Edward L. Loper Sr.'s work in these posts, enabling you to verify his work as one source for his son's work. If you wish to re-read those posts, click on the following titles: Loper's Link; How Creation Happens, Cont'd; Making Connections; Tackling Transfers; Pentimento.


text:
Multiplied Foundation Delivers Spark Tank Finale Keynote
The Multiplied Foundation Sponsors Opening of MODS' Science Park and its Expanding Science Program
Science Park Opening Ceremony Highlights
The Multiplied Foundation Presents Coding Workshops
The Multiplied Foundation and the Museum of Discovery & Science Host Hackathon 1.0
The Multiplied Foundation and the Museum of Science and Discovery (MODS) hosted today Hack-A-Thon 1.0 – an event designed to inspire future coders. Students from New Renaissance Middle School won ten iPad minis for their classroom.
The Multiplied Foundation and IMACS Provide Scholarships To Hi-Tech Summer Camp
The Multiplied Foundation partnered with the Institute For Mathematics & Computer Science (IMACS), to provide full scholarships to 20 students to enroll in one week sessions of IMACS' 2016 Hi-Tech Summer Camp. Camp scholarships were awarded to rising 4th through 9th graders who have a desire to build their math and logical reasoning abilities but who would otherwise not have the resources to attend. Recipients were selected from Piney Grove in Lauderdale Lakes, Plantation Middle School, and Andover Middle School.
Teen scientists' foundation sends 20 students to math and computer science camp
The Multiplied Foundation Seeded and Founded
Clint Eastwood, PGA Professional Jimmy Walker, and Peyton Robertson raised $200,000 for science and math charities at the 2015 Pebble Beach Pro Am Celebrity Challenge. $100,000 of the earnings were used by Peyton Robertson to seed the Multiplied Foundation and $100,000 of the earnings were separately distributed by the Monterey Peninsula Foundation to further math and science education in Monterey County and surrounding areas.
Partner Organizations:
The Museum of Discovery & Science STEM Center:
The STEM Center Initiative of the Museum of Discovery & Science, the most visited Museum in Florida, seeks to raise the level of STEM education, instruction and career interest and to create a science literate community by increasing awareness of and engagement in STEM.
The Institute For Mathematics and Computer Science is an independent teaching and educational research institute focused on helping students reach their highest potential in math, computer science and logical reasoning. For more information, visit www.imacs.org.
The Community Foundation:
Founded in 1984, the Community Foundation provides leadership on community solutions and fosters philanthropy. The Community Foundation manages more than 450 charitable Funds representing $173 million and has distributed in excess of $80 million during the past 31 years.
Monterey Peninsula Foundation:
For almost 80 years the Monterey Peninsula Foundation strategically disburses charitable funds from the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the PURE Insurance Championship to a wide spectrum of initiatives which effectively address social needs. www.montereypeninsulafoundation.org


text:
Michael T. Flynn, the retired general who served a brief month as President Trump's national security adviser, wants to make a deal. He is seeking immunity from prosecution in exchange for testifying on the Trump campaign's possible coordination with Russia. Instead of categorically rejecting Mr. Flynn's offer, as the Senate Intelligence Committee appears to have done today, at least for the moment, both houses of Congress and federal prosecutors should carefully review Flynn's proffered testimony and the details of the immunity deal and then make a decision.
This is the latest development in a scandal more frightening than Watergate because it involves a foreign adversary attacking the American political system. We need to get to the bottom of it as soon as possible. The president tweeted on Friday morning that he supported Mr. Flynn's request for immunity. Although we do not think it is proper for Mr. Trump to insert himself into the investigation, we agree on that point, at least.
Mike Flynn should ask for immunity in that this is a witch hunt (excuse for big election loss), by media & Dems, of historic proportion!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 31, 2017
It is standard for potential targets of an investigation to ask for immunity, and it often takes months or even years for prosecutors to decide whether it's worth granting it. Prosecutors spend a lot of time developing a case before they ask a judge for an order granting immunity. They have to balance their responsibility to deliver justice and punish the guilty against the need to find out the truth so that they can bring charges against other potentially guilty people. Congress can also obtain a court order extending immunity after a majority vote of either house or a two-thirds vote of a relevant committee, but must first give prosecutors notice. Historically, Congress has been very deferential in exercising its immunity powers in order to avoid interfering with criminal investigations.
This time, the stakes are too high to wait. Immunity should be granted as soon as Congress and prosecutors are persuaded that Mr. Flynn has information that will lead to a criminal case against one or more people at least as important to the alleged wrongdoing as Mr. Flynn may be. The overriding objective must be learning who if anyone in the United States collaborated with the Russians as well as who knew about it, what they knew and when they knew it.
This case is different from ordinary criminal investigations. Finding the truth is even more important than punishing the guilty, because it is critical to our national security and the future of our democracy.
It is also vitally important that decisions about whether to grant Mr. Flynn immunity, and all other decisions about the Trump-Russia investigation, be made only by people who are completely independent of anyone who could possibly be a subject or target of that investigation. This includes President Trump, who made Mr. Flynn his top national security adviser and, during the presidential campaign, openly encouraged the Russians to spy on his opponent and to reveal what they found.
Thank goodness Mr. Flynn's campaign colleague, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who also had contacts with the Russians that he was not truthful about, has recused himself from the investigations. President Trump's appointees in the White House and in the Department of Justice should do the same. President Trump's tweet on Friday morning only emphasizes the point. All of this is yet one more reason to do what we and many others have long urged, which is to appoint an independent special counsel to take over the executive branch's investigation.
Congress — particularly the House of Representatives — has also compromised its independence by treating the Trump-Russia investigation as a partisan issue. The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes, has turned it into a farce by running over to the White House to give and receive information in the dark of night, and even to possibly publicly divulge classified information. He must also recuse himself for purposes of the immunity grant and the investigation as a whole.
Because this scandal involves the hostile acts of a foreign adversary, it is a national security issue. We now have a witness who may help us get to the bottom of it. A prompt and proper grant of immunity can maximize our chances of finding out what happened — and making sure that those who may have betrayed the United States are never in a position to do so again.


text:
Seminar on "Performances on the Periphery" (ACLA 2014; New York, NY)
Whenever a cosmopolitan performer tours, the center meets the periphery. But something subtler happens when that performer works in a culturally peripheral art form and represents a socially marginalized identity: the margins meet each other and, if all goes well, they invent their own centrality. By all accounts, Anne Sexton's poetry readings were exactly such galvanizing events—for people suffering from mental illness, for women racked by "the problem that has no name" (before it had even that one), and for dissenters from Cold War American culture more generally—"secret beatniks" to use Sexton's epithet for herself. Indeed, the mere fact of these readings was a powerful thing—that at midcentury, before second-wave feminism made such spectacles more common, a woman stood behind a microphone in Cazenovia, NY and Fayetteville, AR and Muncie, IN and El Paso, TX and she spoke the truth of her experience. But very little evidence of these readings remains—and, well, suppose we had more: could we, from our belated vantage point, really understand exactly what was so startling and enthralling about them?


text:
- Font:
- +
- -
NEW YORK — Paying by credit card is about to get a little bit easier.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. on Thursday said it plans to launch a new credit card that will allow users to pay for items by simply holding the card near a terminal instead of manually swiping it, in an effort to increase the speed and convenience of card purchases.
The new card, being marketed under the name 'blink' on Chase credit cards, will come equipped with encrypted data readable by a point-of-sale terminal at the checkout counter. At the time of purchase, cardholders can place their card near the terminal, which will emit a tone confirming payment, the bank said.
Besides speeding up the payment process, the new cards are aimed at bolstering credit card sales for JPMorgan Chase, the nation's second largest financial services provider and its premier credit card issuer.
"The new card makes it easier and faster for people to pay in places where they currently use cash, like convenience stores and fast-food stores," said Thomas O'Donnell, senior vice president of Chase cards services. "If you can get them to stop using cash, that translates into more frequent credit card use and greater loyalty with customers."
Although the new cards will not require a customer signature, JPMorgan maintained they provided the same level of security as the traditional card-swiping method.
"The customer has to hold the card close to the terminal, but it stays in their possession at all times," O'Donnell said. "The card and the reader in the terminal are safe and secure, and the transaction is handled the same way that credit cards are managed today."
JPMorgan said it will start mailing out the new cards in June, first in two major U.S. cities followed by a nationwide rollout continuing into next year.
7-Eleven Inc., the world's top convenience store chain, will test the new card in 170 of its stores, while Sheetz Inc., a family-owned convenience store chain, has agreed to launch a co-branded credit card offering the new service at its 300 locations, the bank said.
Drugstore chain CVS Corp. and movie theater operator Regal Entertainment Group have also agreed to use the new cards, O'Donnell said.
JPMorgan said it plans to have thousands of merchants nationwide accepting the new cards by the end of this year.
© 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


text:
- Creative
- Animation
- Film Production
- Fine Art
- Graphic Design
- Illustration
- Music Production
- Photography
- UI/UX Design
- Writing
Hello Skillshare friends.
I loved the class. I made a little alien and used the voice of my nephew to say Hello!
I hope you like it and please leave me some feedback


text:
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to meet and work with Yesi (@Simplylively), a very talented photographer from the Miami area.
I've been a fan of her work for a while now, so when she said she was coming up to Orlando, I couldn't contain my excitement. You should totally check out her site, it's full of amazing photos: simplylively.us!
I hope you all enjoy this outfit along with the photos!
Love, Jomy! xo