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Are you an Adventure Philanthropist too?
My name is Erin and I'm Adventure Philanthropist. I'm writing a book about my recent 2-year around-the-world trip. During this adventure, I visited all 7 continents and 62 countries. I traveled solo and mostly overland, taking local buses and boats.
At the heart of my travels is my volunteer work. The purpose of my journey was to get off the beaten path to work alongside local humanitarian organizations. For instance, I worked with HIV/AIDS organizations in Ethiopia, built a well in northern Uganda, visited children's homes in central Sri Lanka, and started a library in Laos. By volunteering with more than 20 organizations, I gained an inside perspective on how people truly live.
My book Adventure Philanthropist is about this magnificent journey—the wonderful people I've met, the beautiful places I've seen, and my many harrowing encounters. I'd like to share with you what I've seen and learned. I'd like to invite you into the world of the Adventure Philanthropist!
Destination + Inspiration
My story traces my steps as I start my journey in the Pacific Islands and work my way around Southeast Asia. I then visit Europe before traveling to the Middle East and heading overland through sub-Saharan Africa. The second year I visit South Asia for the first time, up to the Arctic Circle, followed by many months traipsing through Eastern Europe and South America. The big finale was my visit to Antarctica!
During my travels, I trekked the jungles of Colombia and Borneo, climbed the Himalayas, and experienced new cultures I didn't even know existed. Most important, I met dozens of inspiring individuals along the way. People who are living passionately and changing the world in their own small (and sometimes not so small) ways.
My book Adventure Philanthropist shares my new friendships and highlights these lives full of imagination, courage and sacrifice. I invite you to travel with me to these far-flung corners of the world, and experience the tense moments, overflowing emotions, and rare encounters that embody my travels!
Join the Journey!
By participating in my Kickstarter campaign you too can join the journey by helping spread these important stories. If you're someone who cares about what is going on in the world today — take action! Make an investment and become an Adventure Philanthropist too!
Our reward package is centered on the 7 continents, so just choose your favorite global destination and make a donation today!
Each reward provides a combination of personal access and professional advice. By donating, I can help you:
- Explore the world of global volunteering - Choose Asia!
- Learn how to set up a personal charitable giving plan - Pick Africa!
- Help your favorite nonprofit organization raise more money - Antarctica is all you!
Globetrotter Thanks: All donors will receive heartfelt thanks for helping me reach this final leg of my journey — Sharing my story and the story of all the Adventure Philanthropists that I met during my global trek. In addition to your rewards, all donors receive:
- Personal Invitations for preregistration as well as priority seating at all Adventure Philanthropist events, including book tours and presentations.
- Pre-notification of the book launch date, including an opportunity to buy and review the book before it is released to the general public.
All or Nothing: With a Kickstarter campaign, I only receive your donation if I meet my entire goal of $6,000. So please give generously! I can't reach my fundraising objective without your support -- Thank you!
My Publishing Game Plan
As you know, writing a book is a long, involved process, but I would never ask you to join me on this journey unless I was 100% sure that I could deliver the goods. I am up to the task!
Here's my game plan for this publishing process:
Personal Commitment: To show my level of commitment, I am co-financing this project with my own money and simply asking you to match that amount. The total estimated cost of self-publishing my book is $12,000. I have already invested $6,000 to date and seek an additional $6,000 to complete the publishing process. Together we can publish this book!
Writing: As a highly motivated and goal-oriented person, I've slated this summer to finish writing Adventure Philanthropist. I have the first two chapters written, as well as a full narrative Table of Contents. These samples chapters have already undergone a "pre-read" by more than 20 GoErinGo readers providing me valuable feedback as I finish writing.
Publishing: As I write, I'm drawing on more than 500 posts that I've published on my www.GoErinGo.com blog during the last three years. I've cleared my calendar for the summer to devote as much as 4 hours a day for writing. My goal is to have the book written by the end of the August. I will then use the month of September to manage the self-publishing process. My launch date for the book is October 2013. I will make my deadline.
Marketing: After I publish the book, I plan on embarking on a 3-month book tour, traveling to major cities within the U.S. to introduce the book to my supporters and new audiences. I especially look forward to talking with students about the importance of global travel and volunteering. I also plan to incorporate more traditional marketing strategies, like press outreach, as well as a souped-up social media campaign.
Funding: This Kickstarter campaign is crucial to help me publish Adventure Philanthropist. As I mentioned, the total estimated cost of self publishing the book is $12,000. I have already invested $6,000 of my own money and seek to raise the remaining $6,000 through this appeal.
Specifically, the invested funds will go toward:
- Content Editing & Proof Reading
- Cover Art and Interior Page Design
- Intellectual Property and Copyright Protection
- Book Launch Marketing (Web & Traditional)
- Technology Support for eBook Formatting
- Printing & Distribution
Spreading the Word: If you'd like to participate in the journey but can't make a donation at this time, then please help get others involved. Share this Kickstarter campaign with your friends on Facebook and Twitter. Or send an email out to family and colleagues. The more people we get involved, the greater the impact on all our lives!
More Info: If you have questions about where I am in the writing process or about my budget, I'm happy to answer them. Heck, if you just need some travel advice or want to know more about volunteering and global giving write me at email@example.com.
Acknowledgements: Enormous thanks to Laurie Rud, who filmed and produced the video, and Stephanie Dawson, our video editor. These ladies are fun, creative, and fabulous to work with! Also a big shout out to Kristopher Fillion, the illustrator who rocked the art for the book cover. Thanks team!
Risks and challenges
Every project has challenges. For me, I think my biggest challenge is to be hyper-vigilant about protecting my time and energy. I'm a girl that can juggle a lot. But I don't want to get distracted right now. I want all my time to go toward finishing this book.
To ensure I'm protecting my creative process, I've notified my friends and family of my timeline and how important it is to finish at the end of this summer. I've also purposely taken only a part-time consulting assignment that will allow me the maximum amount of time to write. I think setting up these parameters early will help me stay focused and motivated.
If I fall off the writing wagon, then I'll get right back on the next day. This summer, I live to write.Learn about accountability on Kickstarter
Funding period
- (31 days)


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Letters to the Editor
Learn from Europe
There is a grave lesson to be learned from Europe's terrorist attacks.
Europe may be unable to stem the tide of terrorism, but the United States has the opportunity to act now before we, too, have areas of non-assimilating immigrants.
We cannot allow neighborhoods to become "balkanized" by any ethnic or religious group. We cannot allow areas of a city, county or state where assimilation is rejected by significant numbers. We cannot tolerate a separate society that doesn't wish to learn or speak English, obey our laws or allows some to dress and live as they please. We cannot accept a separate population that doesn't respect our Constitution or cooperate with law enforcement creating a "no-go" area of danger to outsiders.
These are the safe harbors that produce and protect the seeds of terrorism.
We should and must allow investigation of any community or neighborhood that exhibits the symptoms of such urban separation.
Europe for years has allowed these communities to exist and become so entrenched that extraction will result in urban warfare.
Political correctness be damned, we have no choice but to aggressively monitor, and if need be, intervene if an incubation chamber for terrorism develops.
Bob Guerin,

subset: commoncrawl


text: Are you a slave? Recently I wrote about how governments manufacture and evoke powerful symbols to essentially brainwash us and keep us obedient. I used an analogy of similar tactics in the past to efficiently maintain the obedience of household slaves. I have a friend who claims my language is far too strong. He says I overuse words like "violence" and "slave" to artificially infuse my arguments with emotion when I'm talking about governments. I can't really recall his exact argument but I think it amounted to "Nuh uh!". But I thought of a way that he, and others who agree with his assertion could prove me wrong. They can take the slave test!


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To support our clothes closet event, we have set aside a few work days for volunteers to come to the church to help get everything ready.
If you want to help us out for this work day on MLK day, fill out our sign up genius form.
If you have questions, please contact firstname.lastname@example.com


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Main Building : Five stories single corridor building which offering 40 deluxe rooms with the balcony facing the Pattaya Bay. Sea view rooms are offering from the third floor and garden rooms are offering on the first and the second floor.
Pool Villa : Two stories building surrounded the pool which offering 3 buildings, 34 rooms, in the 70s environments. All rooms have easy access to the pool. The pool villa offers a pool bar, pool table, small petong field, dart, games, etc.
Pattaya tourism started towards the end of 1950 with the arrival of American soldier. The Nautical Inn was one of the pioneering hotelsfounded by Air chief marshal Dawee Chullasapya as family run business. It originally had the pool villa with the main buildingconstructed in 1980.
Resort Facilities- One large Saltwater pool plus ons wadding pool for children.- Room service till late night.- Elevator service on main building.- safety box in front desk.- White coffee stylish coffee house, home made bakery- Unique atmosphere and tropical garden.


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When you're looking to making a statement with furniture, it often only takes one piece to act as the cementing focal point for a room.
And, when that piece happens to be co-ordinated with the season, that statement is even bolder.
The Bloom Chair by Kenneth Cobonpue will make you feel like you're being hugged by a flower. Made of deep soft folds of handmade microfiber fabric stitched into a steel base, the chair is available in Red, Moss Green, Light Green and Yellow.
The unusual lounge chair was the winner of the "Coup de Coeur" Award at Maison et Objet Paris, September 2009. And we can see why. It's captivating. Don't you want to try it out?
Priced at $2,465 USD per chair it's probably just as well there aren't any more than four seasons, even for the most extravagant of interior design-lovers amongst us.
The Bloom Chair's are available for purchase at Unica Home and Switch Modern.


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Kicking off the party on the main stage, Five Finger Death Punch put on one of the most fun and photogenic performances of Mayhem Fest. To boot, FFDP had some of the "easiest" lighting of the day, with a nice mix of white light and color washes.
Photographer's Notes:
Five Finger Death Punch were really a lot of fun to photograph, with lots of energy and movement from the band on stage.
Overall, the lighting for these guys was great, though of course the band benefited from the daylight filtering in under the shed for some nice, airy fill. Still, their set was probably one of the easier performances of the day, not because of the lighting, but because of the engagement of the band on stage.
Cameras Used:
Lenses Used:
Lots of stage front action for this set that made the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 the perfect choice on the full-frame Nikon D3. With the exception of picking up drummer Jeremy Spencer, I could have shot this entirely with the midrange 24-70. Speaking of Jeremy Spencer, good luck; he has an absolutely huge drum kit that seems nearly impenetrable at first glance.
My Camera DSLR and Lenses for Concert Photography
|Nikon D850:
I use two Nikon D850 for my live music photography. A true do-it-all DSLR with amazing AF, fast response, and no shortage of resolution.
|Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8:
For most gigs, the 24-70mm is my go-to lens. Exceptional image quality at wide apertures and super-functional range.
|Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR:
A perfect pair to the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8, I can basically shoot any job with the midrange and this lens. Superb image quality.
|Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8:
Ultra-wide perspective, ridiculously sharp even wide open at f/2.8. I love using this lens up-close and personal, where it excels.


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The Cottage Greenhouse
From Our Cottage Greenhouse to You
Made with
Good to Know
Fill Weight
12.0 oz / 340 g
80 hour burn
Purifying | Eucalyptus & Mint Ceramic Candle
From Our Cottage Greenhouse to You
Immerse yourself in the purifying aroma of our Eucalyptus & Mint Ceramic Candle. Our long-lasting aromatics are hand poured in small batches and packaged in a beautiful keepsake ceramic container.
Made with
Non-GMO Soy Wax Blend
Good to Know
Never animal tested
No animal by-products
All cotton lead-free wicks
No dyes
4"H x 3.75"D
12.0 oz / 340 g
80 hour burn
Click for Ingredients
Soy wax blend


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Burritt Bros.' Magic Carpet Ride
Congrats to our friends at Burritt Bros. Carpets who just enjoyed a huge week in the Vancouver Sun.
First, there was this Business section article and video about how Harvey Burritt, Keith Donegani, and Chris Dragan have turned their 110-year-old carpet business around through sheer determination, guts, and, frankly, just being really good people.
And then today, Rebecca Keillor featured the Burritt's in this beautiful story about rug trends.
In our humble opinion, it couldn't happen to a better group of people. Congrats to the whole Burritt Bros. team on your amazing new space in the River Design Quarter! And here's to the next 110 years of success!


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There was a couple and they had a nine-month baby.
It was a holiday and they were at home. The husband was working on his office project while the wife was busy on TV serial. The baby was on sleep.
Suddenly, the baby woke up and started to cry. The wife carried her baby and tried to cool down but the baby cried continuously. She fed her milk but still, the baby didn't stop crying. The husband was shouting at her wife as he couldnot concentrate at her office project due to baby crying. The wife too was frustrated with her baby cry as her favourite TV serial was going to end. The baby was still crying and this lead to the conflict in husband and wife.
Later a moment, a house keeping women arrived. She saw her owner were in conflict and the baby was lying on bed crying. She went near bed and carried baby. She saw baby was trying to point something. Near a bed there was a bottle of water. She took the bottle and let the baby to drink water. Then, the baby stopped crying and so was the conflict between husband and wife. The husband and wife couldn't find out that the baby was thirsty.
Our life is also just like it. When a problem comes to our life, we don't try to find out the causes and solution rather we blame others for the problem. We only see the problem but never try to face it. We rather try to skip it. Problems are not for skipping. Its for facing so that you can be more stronger with every problem you solved.


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What's your "Street Team" all about?
Basically, if a fan is very active in promoting a show and spreading the word about Lez Zeppelin's appearance in their city, the group likes to reward that supporter with a meet-and-greet, or other treats such as that.
Previous question
Do you plan a tour in Brazil?Lez Zeppelin responded on 03/06/2012 Next question
when are you gonna play Oneonta NY? already working as your 'advance' street team there,wearing our LeZ shirts to othr big name LZ trib shows & pushing fans to LeZ gigs with, "now see the best!".Lez Zeppelin responded on 03/07/2012
1000 characters remaining


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POSTS on May 2015
For most businesses and consumers, water is something we don't give a second thought. We turn on the tap, and out it comes. We run the dishwasher, and away it flows. Periodic ???boil water??? alerts and sewer backups happen, but they are generally limited in size and scope.


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Slow down, relax, and reconnect with your best self in these 30-minute, drop-in classes for busy parents - young parents, empty nesters, and everyone in between. You'll learn simple, relationship-focused tools that foster open-hearted awareness, lasting psychological strengths, and moments of calm and humor even when stress and strong emotions run high. I posted a live track of the first class for anyone who wants to get a sense of it before stopping by. Listen here.
Join me from 10:30 am - 11:00 am at Unplug in Santa Monica this Thursday, March 1st, and on the following Thursday mornings:
To learn more and register, visit the website for Unplug Meditation in Santa Monica.


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Are you Valvoline?
Are you Lawyer?
Recent Home Appliances Complaints
Samsung - Refrigerator not serviced
Kochi: Samsung refrigerator bought in **** stopped cooling. So complain registered on **/**/** with ...
By Gitanjali Natarajan
naukriplace.com - REFUND NOT GIVEN
I received a call from Naukriplace.com on June **th, from Raghav Agrawal / Nishant Roy. They sai...
By Vinod Pandey
Air India - Harassment of Minor by Airline
I have booked above ticket for my Minor Son i ** Years and sequence of Events is as under- *- Ori...
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Nokia India(hmd Global) - Parts unavailability Phone too slow/hanging
IMEI* - ***************/** I trusted Nokia again and brought one Nokia *.*Plus on **.**.**** fro...
By Mahender Choudhary
LG Electronics - New Washing Machine Buyback not received
Currently I am Staying at Guwahati. On **th June, ****, I bought one LG washing Machine under excha...
By Madhab nath
Mitashi Edutainment Private Limited - Regarding request for warranty within warranty period
Ref: Invoice No.- MP/****/SA/***** dated- **/**/**** of Great Eastern Retail Pvt Ltd. West Midnapore...
By Ashim Kumar Chai


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RSS Feed
Recent Posts
Three of Sydney's finest on Friday night. Roll out! Roll out! 8:00pm Main Room $10"Day of the Meerkat have built their reputation on spleen-fracturing live shows, their musical ore heated in the furnace and beaten in the smithy of the … Continue reading
To Everyone Who has Supported the Sando, If you've ever attended a gig at the Sando, played there or even just spent some time shooting the shit and having a drink or two, we'd like to thank you so much … Continue reading
Well it's business as usual at the Sando this weekend. Despite the suits roaming the old boards, you can't stop the music! Gigs are going ahead as usual so for more info check out the gig guide. Thanks so much … Continue reading
Hi to all our loyal supporters and supporters of live music in Sydney. It's a sad day today with the appointment of receivers to the Sando. It will still be business as usual for the moment and the bands will … Continue reading


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Global demand for food continues to grow and we are more concerned than ever that food should be safe and nutritious. Climate change predictions highlight serious challenges for future food production, but in the meantime agriculture makes a significant contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. Lancaster University's Prof Bill Davies explores the hard decisions we need to make and how plant science provides opportunities to create the kind of world we want to live in.
Presented by Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Ages 14+
Venue: Lecture Theatre, Royal Botanic Garden
While we take every opportunity to ensure the details for Sourcing Healthy Food as the World Changes are accurate, we always advise that you contact the event organiser before setting out for the event to avoid disapointment.
Looking to reach new customers? We offer a variety of advertising options with prices starting from just £30 per month!


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Essentials 1-7 Complete Classroom Starter Set
Everything you need to teach Essentials Lessons 1-7 with up to 20 students! Save 10% on all teacher and student materials.
Set includes all materials for one teacher and 20 students, including reusable student and teacher supplements and 21 copies of each consumable.
Recommended for
- Ages 8 to adult
- Grades 2-6 as a main classroom Spelling, Grammar, and Vocabulary program
- Struggling readers age 8 to adult
- Struggling spellers age 8 to adult
- Students with dyslexia
- Students who have completed Foundations and are ready to go deeper with the phonograms and rules, build spelling mastery, and learn grammar and new vocabulary concepts. (Foundations is not a prerequisite. Learn more.)
- Anyone who wants to learn why English words are spelled the way they are.
Highlights of Essentials
- Differentiated instruction
- Three levels of spelling and vocabulary in each lesson - teach multiple times or differentiate instruction within one classroom
- Discovery-based instruction
- Engaging activities
- Meaningful practice
- Scripted lessons
- Extensive helps and teacher tips
- 75 Phonograms
- 31 Spelling Rules
- Parts of Speech, punctuation rules, capitalization rules
- Efficient vocabulary instruction with prefixes, suffixes, and Greek and Latin roots
- Optional reading comprehension supplement, The Essentials Reader
- None.
- See notes below for materials to add if the student needs handwriting instruction.
- If needed, use the ten optional Pre-Lessons in the 1-7 Teacher's Guide to strengthen foundational skills before beginning Lesson 1. There is a Placement Test to help you determine the right starting point for each student.
Learn More
Essentials 1-7 Complete Classroom Starter Set
This set includes all the components of Essentials needed to teach the first seven lessons of the curriculum - typically a quarter to a semester depending on your pace - to twenty students.
Teacher materials
- 1 - Essentials Teacher's Guide, Lessons 1-7
- 1 - Basic Phonogram Flash Cards
- 1 - Spelling Rule Flash Cards
- 1 - Advanced Phonogram Flash Cards
- 1 - Grammar Flash Cards
- 1 - Morpheme Flash Cards, Lessons 1-7
- 1 - Phonogram and Spelling Rule Quick Reference
- 1 - Spelling Analysis Card
Student Supplements (Reusable)
- 5 - Phonogram Game Cards - 1 Bookface deck
- 5 - Phonogram Game Cards - 1 Handwriting deck (choose Cursive or Manuscript in the drop down menu above)
- 10 - Phonogram Game Tiles
Student Consumables (1 per student, plus teacher copy)
Other Materials
- Student Whiteboard - recommended (included in Rhythm of Handwriting Complete Set)
- Rhythm of Handwriting - if handwriting instruction is needed
- The Essentials Reader, with accompanying Student Activity Book and Essentials Reader Teacher's Guide - reading comprehension supplement, recommended with Essentials for struggling readers age 8 and up.
- Materials for Essentials Lessons 8-30 - after completing these lessons
Teaching multiple students?
Each additional student will need:
- Essentials Student Workbook, Lessons 1-7
- Spelling Journal (one per student)
- Student Whiteboard (recommended; included in Rhythm of Handwriting Set)
- Optional: Phonogram Game Cards (add additional sets if teaching more than four students; used in groups of four)
- Optional: Phonogram Game Tiles (we recommend one set for every one or two students)
Handwriting Styles
- Essentials does not teach handwriting. Students may complete Essentials lessons with either cursive or manuscript handwriting; the sample text is in a standard bookface font to allow greater flexibility.
- Choose your second set of Phonogram Game Cards (using the drop down menu above) according to which handwriting style the student is using. This enables students to practice reading the phonograms both as they appear in books and as they appear in writing.
If Handwriting Instruction is Needed
- If the student struggles with handwriting or needs handwriting instruction, introduce either cursive or manuscript using The Rhythm of Handwriting. The Essentials Pre-Lessons include a suggested schedule for integrating Rhythm of Handwriting instruction.
- Learn why we recommend beginning handwriting instruction with cursive.
Continuing through Essentials
After completing these lessons, add the new materials for Lessons 8-15. Continue with Lessons 16-22 and 23-30 when you are ready for them. At a pace of one lesson per week, you can complete all 30 lessons in a school year; at a pace of half a lesson per week you will complete about 15 lessons in a school year.
The entire curriculum, Lessons 1-30, can then be reused up to two additional times at a more advanced level of instruction, depending on which starting level is right for your class.
Product Details
SKU: PE2S1CP - Essentials 1-7 Complete Set with Cursive game cards
SKU: PE2S1MP - Essentials 1-7 Complete Set with Manuscript game cards
Shipping Weight: 38 lbs.
Essentials Teacher's Guide, Lessons 1-7
- Lessons 1-7
- 352 pages
- Full color
- Casebound textbook
Essentials Student Workbook, Lessons 1-7
- 113 pages
- Paperback
Logic of English Spelling Journal
- 79 pages
- Paperback
Logic of English Cursive & Manuscript School Fonts © David Occhino Design.
PE12CSS20 - Essentials 1-7 Classroom Set with Cursive Game Cards
PE12MSS20 - Essentials 1-7 Classroom Set with Manuscript Game Cards
We Also Recommend


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Hockey Team Kits
Whether you are looking for match day kits, training wear or after match wear, The Print Room can supply Hockey team wear for all your needs.
With our in house printing & embroidery machines, we can replicate your club's crest and sponsor's logo and print or embroider them onto your garments.
Discounts available on multi-buy's.
Some of our Customers


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When Product Managers present a roadmap, people often conclude that it is an absolute commitment. For some reason they assume that the learning process stops when the roadmap begins. Weird but true. I've seen this again and again in multiple companies.
Like anything, a roadmap must adapt when the environment changes. A competitor may be bought, a huge deal comes through, or the market explodes.
When presenting a roadmap, make sure to manage expectations. Let sales and marketing know that the roadmap will evolve, just as their priorities do.
I have tips for ways to manage expectations in Chapter 10 of my book Product Roadmaps Relaunched. Got roadmap stories to tell? Write back.
Hiring? Let me know about your difficult to fill positions and I'll highlight them in future issues.


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Leave it to Trump to blow the cover of a complex money laundering scheme on something so elementary as a demand for a loyalty oath. Did everyone sleep well after having their faith in democracy and the American way restored? Yeah right, just kidding. Did you at least enjoy the season finale? The best parts of yesterday's Senate intelligence committee hearing with fired FBI Director James Comey was when he called the president a liar and did so many times and many different ways. Comey did what needed to be done which was suggest Trump had tried obstruct justice without making that judgment for us as Americans just love their own opinions so much! He also upheld the basic tenets, or lies, about American democracy right now, such as how theoretically before 2016 no foreign entity should influence the course of our debates. Comey wisely warned that this is just the beginning, they will be back if we do not mount a rigorous defense (hint: we're not, the military is, well, sort of if it got this bad). He also said unequivocally that this was "an active measures campaign driven from the top of the government. No fuzz on that… It is not a close call. That happened." Do not worry, that will not settle it for the millions of Americans on the left and the right so lost in the fog of conspiracy. Ultimately though, you walk away thinking the president behaved like a mob boss and no way on earth is he running multiple wars on multiple continents, there is just no way. But there is a castle, let's call it the White House, on a cloud of corruption. Spoiler alert: highlights from next season include princeling Jared testifying against his Daddy-in-law and Aryan princess Champagne Popsicle turning on everyone.
From The Washington Post and Globe and Mail.
TIME gives you your news as twenty first century news consumers and American bureaucrats across agencies like it – in listicle form and with no more than three to five items! Four! They have four! And if you like "Lordy!" in your speech there is number four for you! They are:
1) "Comey arranged for his own memo about Trump to be leaked"
2) "The special counsel will probably look at whether Trump obstructed justice"
3) "Comey felt pressured by Obama's attorney general to downplay the Clinton investigation"
4) "'Lordy,' he's not afraid of any tapes Trump has"
And because TRUMPISTAN WATCH is so good to you, here is our bonus, number five!
5) The former FBI Director is not, in his words, "Captain Courageous"
From TIME.
McCAIN LOST HIS MARBLES + NO ONE CARED IF MAYBE RUSSIANS DID THAT
During the course of the questioning by U.S. Senators, things went a little south when it came time for Senator John McCain's questioning. Now given how screaming to the high heavens about Russia he has been, this was odd to say the least. More odd to TRUMPISTAN WATCH is that while millions of Americans have lost themselves in the weeds of conspiracy on the right and left alike at no point did a Russia conspiracy come out of this. It is as if we hold the Russians to different standards whereby they can be more human and barbarous at once, and foolishly many Americans find this approach meticulous because they themselves are like bulls in a china shop even as the Kremlin claims McCain is "Old World". In any case, USA Today even says that McCain's exchange with Comey "broke Twitter," — but no, because just last week was the covfefe. According to USA Today, "The Arizona Republican spent most of his allotted time for questioning Comey to ask about the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of State. But his questioning wasn't exactly coming out in the most coherent manner." At one point Comey said, "I'm a little confused, Senator." Later McCain tried to clarify a bit, "What I was trying to get at was whether Mr. Comey believes that any of his interactions with the president rise to the level of obstruction of justice. In the case of Secretary Clinton's emails, Mr. Comey was willing to step beyond his role as an investigator and state his belief about what 'no reasonable prosecutor' would conclude about the evidence. I wanted Mr. Comey to apply the same approach to the key questions surrounding his interactions with President Trump – whether or not the president's conduct constitutes obstruction of justice." He also blamed watching baseball late into the night. What!?! Remember when the moderate Republicans were supposed to save us? – Although reference was once made to many, it turns out there really is just one and he flubbed it for reasons that do not make sense. Well, cross that off. As we run out of institutions that you wish to pretend are left to save us, recall what is left is you, the citizens.
From USA Today.
POLITICO reports, "President Donald Trump's outside counsel on Thursday attacked former FBI Director James Comey for disclosing the content of memos he kept of his conversations with Trump and said the White House will let the authorities determine whether to investigate the ousted FBI chief." Marc Kasowitz, Trump's personal counsel, released "a statement following Comey's testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee earlier Thursday that he 'admitted' to sharing the contents of the memos to a personal friend, who then leaked it to the press. It's unclear if such a disclosure would be a violation." During yesterday's hearing, "Comey, who kept notes after his interactions with the president, told lawmakers that he shared memos with a friend, with the idea that such a disclosure could lead to a special prosecutor." Leave it to Trump to blow a complex money laundering scheme on something so elementary as a loyalty oath. Did he never watch a single film about Nixon? He did not even have to read. Comey shared the memo with a friend so as to not feed the seagulls – the media – parked at the end of his driveway himself. He also got out of town. Media circuses that drag the family in are what every public official dreams of! Kasowitz also stupidly claims, "Of course, the Office of the President is entitled to expect loyalty from those who are serving in an administration," because the loyalty is not to the man (never been a woman, probably never will be a woman), but to the office and the constitution, e.g. the nation, which is supposedly greater than Trump, but nowadays we must ask the uncomfortable question: is it really?
From POLITICO.
USA Today has a headline that sexes up the reality a wee bit, "Donald Trump's new FBI director pick has Russian ties of his own," because he works for a firm, King + Spalding, that has represented Rosneft and Gazprom, the Russian mafia state energy giants. However, USA Today cannot point to whether Wray worked on any cases for these clients or related cases. The firm has 800 attorneys and like most major global white shoe law firms not everything that touches it makes everyone infected. Of course both Rosneft and Gazprom are very close to the Russian mafia state as in they are instruments of it and if he has worked on either account, this should fully derail his hopes of ever becoming the director of the FBI and surviving long enough in these political winds to be destroyed by Trump instead. However, the fact that he would even agree to a nomination process at this time suggests this deserves much greater scrutiny. Congress, are you listening? Many of you are awake now, we know.
From USA Today.
POLITICO reports, the Republican Steering Committee has opted to have Trey "Benghazi" Gowdy lead the House oversight committee after Jason Chaffetz steps down from Congress mid-summer, allegedly citing a "mid-life crisis," but probably to get the hell out of dodge before shit really hits the fan. Gowdy is a lifelong tool with very little intellect who has gone from an endless crusade against the Clintons over Benghazi to stonewalling all truth concerning Trump and Russia, usually through frivolous, time wasting questions that cost the taxpayer dearly. It is unclear whether Gowdy himself may have some Russia ties or something to hide or whether he is the classic useful idiot who need not be coerced into doing everything Moscow could dream of. "The move — if confirmed by the full Republican Conference — would put the South Carolina Republican at the helm of a contentious probe into President Donald Trump's decision to fire FBI Director James Comey," POLITICO notes, which is exactly where anybody who desires the truth would not like to see him.
From POLITICO.
The Washington Post has a story today, "Trump keeps pretending his infrastructure plan is real. It's not." The editors paired it with a choice photo from what can easily be described as the highlight of the Trump presidency to date, that time the lunatic toddler make big truck go honk honk while his health care overhaul (a plot to rob millions of Americans of their health care) was failing in Congress and top advisors Aryan princess Ivanka and princeling Jared were off skiing on "family spring break". Moving onto the first paragraph lede of the story: "President Trump's "$1 trillion infrastructure plan" isn't $1 trillion and it isn't a plan. It's a $200 billion plan to have a plan that hasn't advanced beyond that stage for six months now." Really this is all happening, has happened and is continuing to happen as in none of it is actually real but the pageantry of fakery. Remember when Aryan princess said Daddy would "over deliver"? About that… She may have lied and exaggerated too.
From The Washington Post.
Evidently Kerry's crime was to put a wind on his surf. The Daily Mail for whatever reason has pictures of Trump's first ousted National Security Advisor Michael Flynn surfing from a few days ago. In case you ever wanted to see Michael Flynn in a wet suit, because let's face it unless waterboarding is your particular fetish, why on earth would you? The Daily Mail has you covered nonetheless! Yeah, ew, TRUMPISTAN WATCH knows, but we do this every weekday to save you hours and you should at least be grateful and prepared to commiserate fully from time to time. This is barely safe for work, adolescent and children's eyes, oh who is kidding who? It is a train wreck. Enjoy!
From The Daily Mail.
Guess who is getting a show on Russian state-run RT? No not Uday or Qusay and everyone knows Aryan princess or Champagne Popsicle Ivanka is too vanilla for anything other than home shopping. Wait for it… Why it's "Jesse Ventura, the former Navy SEAL turned professional wrestler who eventually became Minnesota's governor," according to The Washington Post. Is it not enough for the Russians to co-opt the Republican Party, drag both the Republican Party and then the country from the back of the truck, now they have to play Nickelback real loudly too while they do all that? These Russians, they have no humanity. This is pure sadistic barbarism. Evidently the Russian reality TV propaganda "episodes will capture 'the feeling of freedom,' Ventura said in a promotional video for the program, which showed him zooming down an isolated road atop a motorcycle, wearing a sleeveless leather jacket." TRUMPISTAN WATCH will allow for motorcycles but seriously, sleeveless? Who wants to see the dood's underarms? Some humanity, please. Oh wait, appealing to Russia, none will be given. Let's hope viewers enjoy that feeling and then promptly forget they ever had it by the time it comes for them to march to the gulag by way of Cyrillic mental slavery or else they will be so very unhappy when they are too dead to realize what a terrible, horrific hoax this all was. Curtain on The Stupid for now, until Monday! You will never change the channel on America, never!
From The Washington Post.
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text:
Accomplishments: 1) Approval and implementation of a pancreatic cancer study to collect clinical specimens from PDAC cases: The study includes 500 primary PDAC cases, including 150 cases with surgical resection from which fresh-frozen tumor and surrounding nontumor specimens are being collected at the University of Maryland at Baltimore under NCI-UMD resource contract of the laboratory. Blood samples are being collected from all cases. The collected samples are being used for molecular profiling study with the following specific aims: 1) Functional role of genes and metabolites that are associated with survival in PDAC. 2) Characterizing molecular subgroups in early stage PDAC and screening the subgroup- specific tumor biomarkers in body fluid. 3) Identifying the critical molecular differences between early stage tumors from patients surviving less than 6 months and more than 2 years. 2) Establishment of Multiple independent validation Cohorts: It is important to ensure that our results are broadly applicable to PDAC outside the study population. To ensure the availability of clinical specimens from independent cohorts of PDAC, I established collaborations at different institutes around the world. I have been successful in receiving clinical samples from collaborators at University of Heidelberg and University of Medicine, Goettingen in Germany and Jikei University in Tokyo, Japan. I am continuing my effort to expand the sample size in each of these cohorts. 3) Global-Gene expression and Metabolite Profiling a) Pilot Gene Expression Profiling Study Identified Dipeptidase-1 (DPEP1) as a biologically relevant gene in the progression of PDAC (Zhang et. al., PLoS One, 2012): DPEP1 expression was independently associated with cancer specific mortality when adjusted for tumor stage and resection margin status in both univariable and multivariable analysis. Mechanistic analyses revealed that DPEP1 inhibited pancreatic cancer cell migration and invasion, and increased their sensitivity to gemcitabine, a first-line chemotherapeutic drug for treating pancreatic cancer. We also found that DPEP1 is regulated by EGF/MEK/MAPK pathway, and MEK1/2 inhibitor enhanced DPEP1 expression in vitro. These results show that the analysis of transcriptome in human pancreatic tumors can yield novel prognostic genes with a potential role in disease aggressiveness. b) Integration of Metabolomics and Transcriptomics Revealed a fatty Acid Network Exerting Growth Inhibitory Effects in Human Pancreatic cancer (Zhang et. al., Clin. Cancer Res., 2013, In Press): To identify metabolic pathways that are perturbed in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), we investigated gene-metabolite networks with integration of metabolomics and transcriptomics. We have performed global metabolite profiling analysis on two independent cohorts of resected PDAC cases to identify critical metabolites alteration that may contribute to the progression of pancreatic cancer. We then searched for gene surrogates that were significantly correlated with the key metabolites by integrating metabolite and gene expression profiles. Fifty-five metabolites were consistently altered in tumors as compared with adjacent nontumor tissues in a test cohort (N=33) and an independent validation cohort (N=31). Weighted network analysis revealed a unique set of free fatty acids (FFAs) that were highly co-regulated and decreased in PDAC. Pathway analysis of 157 differentially expressed gene surrogates revealed a significantly altered lipid metabolism network, including key lipolytic enzymes PNLIP, CLPS, PNLIPRP1, and PNLIPRP2. Gene expressions of these lipases were significantly decreased in pancreatic tumors as compared with nontumor tissues, leading to reduced FFAs. More importantly, a lower gene expression of PNLIP in tumors was associated with poorer survival in two independent cohorts. We further demonstrated that two saturated FFAs, palmitate and stearate significantly induced TRAIL expression, triggered apoptosis, and inhibited proliferation in pancreatic cancer cells. Our results suggest that impairment in a lipolytic pathway involving lipases and a unique set of FFAs, may play an important role in the development and progression of pancreatic cancer and provide potential targets for therapeutic intervention. Ongoing Studies: 1) Characterizing molecular distinctions in early stage resected PDAC with good and poor survival: Early-stage PDAC, if detected, are resectable and offer relatively better prognosis in resected patients with a median survival of about 2 years. However, more than 80% of the resected cases show recurrence within two years with fatality, in some cases, reported even within 6 months following surgery. In contrast, a small number of the resected cases may survive up to 5 years (12% of the resected cases) and even 10 years (5% of the resected cases). Survival following resection is associated with many clinical prognostic factors including tumor stage, grade (degree of differentiation) and resection margin status but no one factor is consistently prognostic and we do find variable outcomes among cases with similar stage, grade or resection margin status. We hypothesize that molecular characterization of early stage PDAC with markedly different prognoses may identify critical pathways associated with disease aggressiveness and candidate targets for therapeutic intervention. To test this hypothesis we are conducting a pilot study, as shown in the schema 2, by examining and comparing protein coding genes and non-coding miRNA expression profile of tumors in two groups of resected patients: one with a short survival (7 months, N=11) and the other with a longer survival (2-6 years, N=16) following resection in PDAC cases. In this study, we are asking the following questions: 1) What are the differentially expressed protein coding genes and miRNAs in the tumors from short survival as compared with long survival group? 2) Are inflammatory genes expression profile different in short versus long survival groups? 3) What are the functional roles of the most differentially expressed genes and associated pathways in the aggressiveness of pancreatic cancer? 2) Molecular Subgroups of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma: Molecular diversity in tumors contributes to the discrepancies in therapeutic response. Examining a large cohort of PDAC for multi-level, global molecular changes including mRNA, miRNA and metabolites, and their integrative analyses may help characterize molecular subgroups, subgroup-specific biomarkers, and candidate therapeutic targets. One of our areas of interest is the role of inflammation in pancreatic cancer. Several of these inflammatory and immune-related genes are shown to have a functional role in the aggressiveness of pancreatic cancer. We hypothesize that Inflammation-associated gene signature defines aggressive subtypes in resectable PDAC. We are conducting a comprehensive transcriptomic (mRNA and microRNA) and metabolomic analyses in a large cohort of PDAC (N=200) with complete clinical, demographic and epidemiological profile. Our goals are as follows: 1) Characterize molecular subgroups of PDAC through integration of transcriptomic and metabolomic profiles. 2) Search for inflammation-associated gene signature in aggressive subtypes. 3) Examine the mechanistic role of subtype-specific genes and metabolites in tumor progression. 4) Evaluate the potential therapeutic significance of subtype specific genes and pathways in pre-clinical in vitro and in vivo models.
|Wang, Jian; Hussain, S Perwez (2017) NO(•) and Pancreatic Cancer: A Complex Interaction with Therapeutic Potential. Antioxid Redox Signal 26:1000-1008
|Wang, Jian; Yang, Shouhui; He, Peijun et al. (2016) Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase Traffic Inducer (NOSTRIN) is a Negative Regulator of Disease Aggressiveness in Pancreatic Cancer. Clin Cancer Res 22:5992-6001
|Hussain, S Perwez (2016) Pancreatic Cancer: Current Progress and Future Challenges. Int J Biol Sci 12:270-2
|Budhu, Anuradha; Terunuma, Atsushi; Zhang, Geng et al. (2014) Metabolic profiles are principally different between cancers of the liver, pancreas and breast. Int J Biol Sci 10:966-72
|Zhang, Geng; He, Peijun; Gaedcke, Jochen et al. (2013) FOXL1, a novel candidate tumor suppressor, inhibits tumor aggressiveness and predicts outcome in human pancreatic cancer. Cancer Res 73:5416-25
|Zhang, Geng; He, Peijun; Tan, Hanson et al. (2013) Integration of metabolomics and transcriptomics revealed a fatty acid network exerting growth inhibitory effects in human pancreatic cancer. Clin Cancer Res 19:4983-93
|Zhang, Geng; Schetter, Aaron; He, Peijun et al. (2012) DPEP1 inhibits tumor cell invasiveness, enhances chemosensitivity and predicts clinical outcome in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. PLoS One 7:e31507


text:
Entry in blank
to make this mark takes
patience, maybe
a burst bulb
say light or flower or bomb
to make this day
mark it
set the wick in wax and let it burn, but first the flash:
what it captures light fear
each face
a hand-fast
dented to the forehead, rock
turned human-motion flee
the blunt
to mark this
mouths stuffed
full of paper
and pennies
pocketed, the news of the world
at work
screens itself before us the holes in our heads
our eyes
only receptacles
dumb squacking
of a riverhorn behind us
what slosh time spills
out from its container:
embodied in one of many shows.
In echo the things of this world
surface and shadow
That rockfaced human
yet to be etched
in stone, a record
turning definite
into its proper form, a prayer
in one direction
as water is to drain
by hemisphere
and the brain is
to split
the body into actions
and dissembling:
I resemble what I melt and mask
my hesitance in language,
one thought trapped
to say how little
of what passes is
nothing and of the virtues
what to note
with sound and aim, say
directness thin hour
or directionless
to take a curve and turn it
rounder as you traverse
the steps
to bed the dark come back
its house
quiet among the flitting lamps
in this, the old world where we gather
our religions by their tresses how we steady
the waterways
astream through time
to grow a populace
and round them out
now whats burned
in leisure
in the same box of jewels
it was a thousand years ago
the past this
pin hole camera capturing shade
in magazines and so many blanks
to shout through, each trigger an uneasy
pull and right into the target ridge
the roof it says your mouth
was not attributed to statuary
or purchasing prowess
just glottal stops
along the opened tributary say devotion, say
tithe and
who wants the light to make
the circles query their projections
their parts upon us
I cant say what lever I pulled
to get this response reposted
and in repose know
only that the cup is full. Has always
been an answer to the pessimists
question but at some point,
one of us will knock it over.
Hurried leaves make the grave a ground
or inverse to many thoughts is one line
a dug hole and thought superimposed
upon a series of others,
so the effect is simply to blot out perspective
and to decipher in language the threats
that block or threads to post this now to post
in knots and a bell to mark the hours
is to make this mark, to make the today
sign and cross it off.
To make this mark, pin each page
back like an ear to the head, hair behind it,
skin bare. Among the branches
one bird gives up.
Its stuck and shit upon the pastiche of statuary
and bogus paintings. We want experience
you and I, to make us move, to move us
fairly and without quest or simple knowledge
of the future what it is to die and not be gone.
To die and in this living to have to
touch again the strangers that we were
as children
and the pail of wonder we dragged across
these many miles swans in the blast-
white desert, their bead red eyes the only
sign of waking or of our fears. Such mistaken things
as birds among the eggs were left alone
to be
left and alone, readied
for the conjunction between what has
and hasnt happened. Fiction careening into
our actions.
We touch again the lions tongue, the tired
building marches toward its hunch, the class
disperses, a candle lit and searching for
a sconce to hold its wish
we placed a dollar and some change
in a box and did or did not lose
the tickets when the train departed
then returned in pictures and across the world
poets were making quiet pleas again
for lost students and scholars were tamping
down the wretched habits of our collected pasts
as we wore hats
and ate and laughed
and tried not to come back
but one always has to return within another
version of themselves unseen/uneven
as the days names change the shape
of ones shadow and the shape also
of what its tied fast to
our shared experience, which means nothing
to anyone but can be pleated and shit.
I will tell my story to your mind, how it gets
wronged and righted there is all OK
or better now is not the time to put it down
with our pencils sharp, to fill the patterned circles
out until their confused conclusion gets scored
and recorded for measure and distress. What some say
is a period, others will define and defend
as continued motion, if only in its roundness
set among the fat and flattened ends
of this world and its words.
One way to limit
verticality is to draw
a roof in on top
Play money
makes the same
its sound when shuffled
is as imaginary
as anything
they let the people
sit in their own seats
until they cant
be seated again
but rearrange everything
around them
the success
of humans
in groups
the list
of favorites
color coded
and bullied
into a shelf
the notes sustained
and measured out
When you bring in strangers
silence is a language
shared by the room,
excepting all organic
noise to hear what
sport in thought
all groups in threes
or bigger numbness
bring to the time listed
earlier than ported, the board
a shuffle of whispering letters.
When people who are grouped
together want something
or wait for it in front of
others, that organic
sound is quiet and coarse
as a fire. Theyll get it
eventually in what crescendo
can be part by part
constructed almost a wall
of sound to pitch and pick into pieces.
Eventually they call in all the names
like grains of rice on a white sheet, like all
of the positive attention each story can unfold
in its dumb vagaries. The hum of the human heart
a pale system of counting. One pedal pressed against
the sun and wishes. To be combed and combined in letters
or better seating arrangements, each grain scrubbed, trained,
and tight. Class a stick that keeps the masses racing for flights
and fits and fights with voice-overed services a tracheotomy
on the river just reads as a whorl on the water. The dark
dark hole comes up rough and rouged in its holdings.
From now on I will act as if my friends
are only captives somewhere else. I know
my curtain has a bent rod and
history wont let us out at the end.
Tony Mancus is the author or a handful of chapbooks, including City Country (Seattle Review), Bye Sea (Tree Light Books), and Apologies (Reality Beach, forthcoming). He lives with his wife Shannon and three yappy cats in Colorado and serves as chapbook editor for Barrelhouse.


text: Arguably the "crown jewel" of Central America, Costa Rica has myriad of national parks to choose from, untouched beaches and adrenaline-pumping adventures (zip-lining, anyone?). The country's central Pacific region is among the most visited, as it's home to the fun beachtown of Montezuma and the popular Manuel Antonio National Park. Here you'll see families of Capuchin monkeys hanging out above your head as you walk to any of the pristine surf spots along the coast.


text:
Ponderosa Pine and the Coconino National Forest of Arizona
As a girl raised among the dense rainforests of the Pacific Northwest, crowded with ferns, rhododendrons, and dripping with primordial mosses, my first glimpse of a Northern Arizona forest was a little disconcerting. Frankly, there just wasn't that much to it. From the roadside, all you see is a carpet of grass, lanky tree trunks spaced unsociably apart, and not much else. I was sure this was a sign of something amiss, but later learned this is just what a good stand of ponderosa pine should look like.


text:
Restaurant Bar
Our concept is fresh cuisine and our menu has varied alternatives of international cuisine by author. Every day of the week enjoy a different taste of the world in our gastronomic festival. Monday: Mediterranean, Tuesday: East and Middle East, Wednesday: Grill, Thursday: Colombian, Friday: Paella and Sangria. P>
Routes from the hotel to local businesses, shopping malls and tourist attractions. Additionally, hotel-airport-hotel shuttle service and personalized service.
Schedules Routes: AM: 6, 6:30, 7 and 7:30. PM: 5, 5:30, 6 and 6:30. Ask at the reception the map of the routes and select the one that suits you. p>
Games room
We have a large specialized area for games: table football, ping pong, billiards, electronic games and table games. P>
Free wifi
(High Speed Internet) Dedicated high speed internet channel, total connectivity in all areas of the hotel.
Business Center
(Ideal space to work outside of the room) Our business center has a PC, printer, scanner, stationery and everything you need to make your work more efficient. p>
We know that fun is fundamental for you, so every day of the week we have a different activity. Monday and Tuesday: Xbox Championship, Wednesday, Billiard and Pinball Olympics, Thursday and Friday: Karaoke, Saturday and Sunday: Zipaquirá, Guatavita, Sisga Dam. Additionally we counted on shutle service towards the main commercial centers and restaurants of the zone. p>
Our gym is located on the first floor, it has specialized machines for personal training. It´s open hours are: Monday through Sunday from 6 am to 10 pm. p>


text:
When I work up this morning we were using 250 Watts of electricity; last night with the microwave, kettle and some lights on we were using 10 times that amount. We know this now that British Gas finally got round to sending us a smart meter, as part of the latest tariff we're on. I have been regularly tracking the overall meter readings for a while, and can see the variations with outside temperature, particularly for the gas. But this is the first time we can get an instantaneous view of our usage. And just how much the microwave takes (pretty close to its rated 900W it seems). And what happens if we can a fridge off for a while.
It'll be interesting to see how it changes our behaviour, as I think we've been generally quite good about turning things off when not needed.


text:
Join DC Artist Collective Taffety Punk and singers from Wolf Trap Opera in an aural exploration of the music and poetry written around the Lucretia story. This event includes a punk reading of the Shakespeare poem as well as musical excerpts from Handel's oratorio Lucrezia, Respighi's opera Lucrezia, Britten's The Rape of Lucretia, and a new work by D.C. area composer David Hanlon.
Britten's The Rape of Lucretia presents audiences with much food for thought. Its timeless themes still resonate—violence against women in time of war, the societal and theological responses to that violence, and the ways in which art can help us grapple with essential but difficult subjects.
In conjunction with its 2016 performance of this compelling opera, Wolf Trap presents The Lucretia Project – a series of community dialogues exploring social issues and works of art related to the Lucretia story. Click here for more info about the other events in this series.
All events and concerts are free and open to the public. Capacity is limited, and reservations are suggested but not required. To guarantee seating, please RSVP to email@example.com


text:
Marshall County, Mississippi is recognized as the home of the Hill Country blues, and the home of its two greatest exponents, Junior Kimbrough and R. L. Burnside. So it was entirely fitting that this year, one of Junior's sons, Robert Kimbrough, put together an event to celebrate the life and legacy of his father, the Kimbrough Cotton Patch Blues Festival. Over several days, the event featured an exhibition of photographs at Rust College in Holly Springs, a guitar workshop, a jam session and a Sunday afternoon concert on an outdoor stage adjacent to the old VFW Hut on West Valley Avenue. On Mother's Day afternoon, with impeccable weather, a crowd gathered to enjoy authentic Hill Country blues from Robert Kimbrough Sr. and the Blues Connection, Little Joe Ayers (who had played with Junior), Dan Russell, Memphis Gold, Cameron Kimbrough, Leo Bud Welch, R. L. Boyce with Carlos Elliot Jr and Lightnin Malcolm, and the Kimbrough Brothers, featuring Robert, Kinney and David Kimbrough. Young drummer and guitarist Cameron Kimbrough is a grandson of Junior and son of drummer Kinney Kimbrough, and was especially impressive on drums with Memphis Gold and Leo Bud Welch. Altogether, it was an amazing day of some of the best blues Mississippi has to offer.
Leo "Bud" Welch and Friends at Red's in Clarksdale
After the screening of the last film of this year's Clarksdale Film Festival (which was appropriately enough a documentary about Leo "Bud" Welch), my girlfriend and I headed around the corner from the Delta Cinema to Levon's to get a dinner at what has become Clarksdale's greatest restaurant. But an after-party in honor of Leo was being held down at Red's Juke Joint, the legendary spot near the corner of Sunflower Avenue and Dr. Martin Luther King, so as soon as we had finished dinner, we made our way there. Red's is always the perfect ambiance for blues, and although the weather was cold outside, the inside was warm and cozy, perhaps due to the large and ever-growing crowd. Leo performed a couple of sets accompanied by his own musicians, and was then joined by Arkansas bluesman Lucious Spiller, who recently moved to Clarksdale from Little Rock. When we left near midnight, the party was still going strong.
Great Music Documentaries and Live Music at the Clarksdale Film Festival
The annual Clarksdale Film Festival is a rather unusual film festival. For one thing it is held in the Mississippi Delta city of Clarksdale, which is more known for blues music than for film. For another, the films it presents are almost all documentaries, and the majority of them are films about music. But all of this makes the Clarksdale Film Festival worth attending. Unfortunately, this year, the films I would have liked to have seen the most were shown on Friday afternoon, during times when both I and my girlfriend had to be at work. But we managed to make it down on Saturday to catch Bayou Maharajah, Lily Keber's superb biography of New Orleans piano legend James Booker, and the world premiere of Late Blooming Bluesman, a documentary about the late discovery of 84-year-old bluesman Leo "Bud" Welch, whose debut album for Big Legal Mess Sabougla Voices shocked the world. Before the film, Clarksdale bluesman Sean "Bad" Apple performed with Stud Ford on drums, the nephew of the late T-Model Ford from Greenville, with juke joint dancer Sherena Boyce joining them. Then Leo performed a handful of tunes as well before the start of the film about him. Altogether it was a great final day of the film festival.
A Night of Hill Country Blues at LR's White Water Tavern
Although Arkansas has a delta region as well, and although the state has produced lots of great blues and jazz musicians, Arkansas has few blues clubs. Little Rock's venerable White Water Tavern is one of the few places in the state to consistently book great blues, as well as many other forms of roots music. I first became acquainted with the place in 2015 when the young retro-soul star Leon Bridges performed there, and I soon became aware that the Tavern has played host to such blues figures as Patrick Sweany, Cedell Davis and Lucious Spiller. So this dive bar was a perfect site for Lightnin Malcolm's traveling caravan of Hill Country blues musicians, including R. L. Boyce, Leo "Bud" Welch and Robert "Bilbo" Walker. Every event I have ever attended at the White Water Tavern has been standing-room-only, and this one was no exception. There is a back patio, but because the weather was so cold and wet, nobody was going out there, and the room was very crowded indeed. But the crowd was treated to some of the very best in Hill Country music, starting with Leo Welch backed by Lightnin Malcolm on drums, and then Lightnin's own solo set with guitar and drums as a one-man band, and R. L.'s daughter Sherena Boyce on tambourine and juke joint dancing. R. L. Boyce followed, doing a number of his traditional tunes, and then Robert "Bilbo" Walker followed, in a style that showed considerable Louisiana influence. Altogether, it was an amazing show in an amazing place.
Celebrating Hill Country Blues at Foxfire Ranch
Fans of the unique Mississippi style of blues known as Hill Country blues are of course very familiar with Marshall County, as it was the home of both Junior Kimbrough and R. L. Burnside, arguably the two most important Hill Country bluesmen. And they are probably also familiar with the Foxfire Ranch at Waterford in Marshall County, where a superb summer schedule of live blues occurs nearly every Sunday at 5 PM, under a shelter known as the Hill Country Pavilion. But this year, the Hollowell family, which owns the ranch, decided to sponsor an all-day concert of blues, and somewhat surprisingly, chose to do it in March, which is slightly earlier than the start-up of the festival season, which generally occurs in April.
Although the weather can be chilly and unpredictable in March, this year's inaugural Foxfire Blues Festival was warm and pleasant, with plenty of sunshine. A large portable stage had been set up in the valley at the back of the large hill on which the pavilion stands, and a moderate crowd sat on blankets on the hillside, enjoying performances by Little Joe Ayers, Bill "Howl-N-Madd" Perry, Heavy Suga and the Sweet Tones, The Duwayne Burnside Band, Kenny Brown, Christone "Kingfish" Ingram and Lightning Malcolm. For a first-time festival, the event was fairly well-attended, it rolled smoothly, and the crowd enjoyed a beautiful day of great music.
An All-Star Gala of Hill Country Blues at Leo Bud Welch's Album Release Party
Perhaps Easter doesn't bring thoughts of blues to many people, but this Easter evening was the occasion for an amazing event at Foxfire Ranch celebrating the release of a new album by 84-year-old bluesman Leo "Bud" Welch. Welch's story is amazing, for he is an authentic traditional bluesman who remained undiscovered until 2013 at the age of 82, when he began recording his first record. He signed with Fat Possum's Big Legal Mess subsidiary the same year, and released his debut album Sabougla Voices, which was a gospel record. ("Sabougla" is a hamlet in Calhoun County, Mississippi where Welch is from). Gospel is Leo's preferred music, but his young audiences love to hear him play blues, and he does so on his sophomore album, which is aptly entitled I Don't Prefer No Blues. But to celebrate its release, rather than a typical release party, a full evening of live Hill Country blues was scheduled at the Hill Country Pavilion at Foxfire near Waterford, Mississippi. Although the sun was out, the day was chilly, but a decent crowd showed up at 5 PM for the opening act, Jason Carter, who performed acoustically with another guitar player. Right behind him came Cedric Burnside and Trenton Ayres, collectively known as the Cedric Burnside Project, who got things crunk with the heavy, rock-inflected brand of blues they play, including one of Cedric's trademark extended drum solos. Several members of the legendary Burnside family were in the audience, including Duwayne and Garry Burnside. The next act up was something a little different. Jimbo Mathus and the Tri-State Coalition are also on the Fat Possum label, and are more of a strange but winsome amalgam of indie rock, traditional country, blues and funk, which Jimbo whimsically calls "catfish music". Although he maintains a different sound than Hill Country blues, the influence of blues can be heard through much of his work. Robert "Bilbo" Walker is 76 years old nowadays, and is a former Mississippi bluesman who currently lives in California. Although he is originally from Mississippi, his music has considerable Louisiana and swamp influences, which came to the forefront in his reading of the classic blues/soul song "Staggerlee". Finally, at the end of the night, Leo "Bud" Welch came up with his three-piece band and performed a collection of songs from the new album, which he had available for sale there at the pavilion. When things finally came to an end around 10 PM, there was still a decent crowd.
Keep Up With Jason Carter & The Healers:
Tweets by skydogj
Keep Up With Cedric Burnside:
Keep up with Jimbo Mathus:
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Keep up with Robert "Bilbo" Walker:
Keep up with Leo "Bud" Welch:
Keep up with Foxfire Ranch:
Keep up with Fat Possum Records & Big Legal Mess Music:
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Stud & Cactus Live at the Delta Blues Alley Cafe in Clarksdale
Friday February 6 was some kind of special day for blues apparently, because there were blues performances everywhere. Ori Naftaly was at Lafayette's Music Room in Memphis, Duwayne Burnside was at the Blue Monkey in Memphis, Leo "Bud" Welch was at Rooster's Blues House in Oxford, Albert King Jr and the Final Touch Band was at Ground Zero in Clarksdale, Anthony "Big A" Sherrod was at Club 2000 in Clarksdale, and Bill Howl-N-Madd Perry was at Red's Lounge in Clarksdale. Choosing between all of these great options was hard, but I finally decided to head for Clarksdale, stopping first at Sardis, Mississippi in order to enjoy a pizza at the superb Tribecca Alley Cafe, and then heading across the Delta on Highway 6. I had intended to check out the Albert King Jr. performance at Ground Zero, but when I first arrived in Clarksdale, I could hear a loud rock-influenced band playing elsewhere downtown, and since I could hear the Hill Country blues influence in it, I started looking for it. At first, I thought that the band was playing in an old warehouse on Sunflower Avenue, but it soon became clear that the sound was bouncing off that building and was coming from somewhere on Delta Avenue, so I walked around the Ground Zero club and found that they were playing in the new Delta Blues Alley Cafe, which is the former Club Vegas across the street from Ground Zero. It cost me $10 to go inside, and I proved to be the only patron, but the duo that was playing was Greenville, Mississippi drummer Stud, the nephew of the late T-Model Ford, and a Native American guitar player named Cactus from South Dakota who periodically hitchhikes to the Delta each year to play. They sounded good, and I spent some time checking them out before I finally headed back across the street to Ground Zero.
Blues at Home Blowout in Oxford at the @LamarLounge with @JimboMathus Et Al
I learned about the Blues At Home Blowout at the Lamar Lounge from attorney Tom Freeland's excellent North Mississippi Commentor blog, which is a great online destination for all things Oxford, from music, to legal things to Faulknerian lore, so even though I had just gone to Oxford the week before, I had to go again. The line-up displayed on the poster was absolutely amazing, and I frankly could not imagine how all of those artists would be able to perform even in the three hours or so allotted for the concert. As it turned out, not all the performers listed appeared, but even so, the three hours were jam-packed with blues, and everything got worked in by the expedient of having Jimbo Mathus on drums for everyone, and keeping the same bass player throughout, and they did a yeoman's job, although I'm sure they were quite tired when it was all over. The event was actually an after-party for Mississippi artist H.C. Porter's remarkable Blues At Home exhibit at the University of Mississippi, and fearing that I wouldn't get a table in front of the stage otherwise, I showed up at the Lamar Lounge two hours before starting time. As it turned out, Jimbo Mathus performed a dinner hour set on guitar with his bass player for an hour before the starting time for the concert. He then switched to drums, and the first performer of the night came on stage, 82-year-old Leo "Bud" Welch, who released his first album Sabougla Voices this year on Fat Possum Records' Big Legal Mess subsidiary. He was followed by Hattiesburg/Jackson bluesman Vasti Jackson, a musician I had often heard my poet friend Charlie Braxton mention. Vasti Jackson was followed by Natchez blues guitarist Y.Z. Ealey, who is a brother of Southern soul star Theodis Ealey, and whose style showed a considerable influence from swamp blues and swamp pop. He was joined by Broke and Hungry Records artist Terry "Harmonica" Bean sitting in on harmonica. Mickey Rogers was up next, a blues guitarist I had seen last year on a trip to Indianola, and then Jackson-based Jesse Robinson came up, a guitarist I was really not familiar with, but whose guitar skills amazed everyone in the room. Behind him came Kenny Brown, the hometown favorite who grew up with blues legend Joe Callicot in Nesbit, Mississippi and who studied with the late R. L. Burnside. His music can always get an Oxford crowd to their feet, and what little space was available for dancing was soon filled. Finally, the headliner of the night, Bobby Rush came and performed very briefly, as he had driven down from an earlier performance at Rhodes College in Memphis. Altogether it was an amazing night of Mississippi blues, from a number of different performers than the ones often seen in North Mississippi, and there was a sort of lagniappe when, quite unexpectedly, Vasti Jackson and Bobby Rush launched a brief guitar and harmonica duo on the back patio near the barbecue pit. All in all, one of the most memorable Mississippi blues nights ever.
Leo "Bud" Welch Live at Red's Lounge #SunflowerBlues2013
I went from having never heard of Leo "Bud" Welch a couple of weeks ago to suddenly hearing his name everywhere. He's getting booked a lot more often suddenly, and he has an album in the works from Fat Possum Records/Big Legal Mess. Saturday night, the North Mississippi All Stars were on the main stage, and they're great, but I've heard them many times, so I decided to check out Red's Lounge to see who was playing, and it was none other than Leo "Bud" Welch. Red's is a true juke joint with worlds of authentic atmosphere. The tiny open space in front of the "stage" was occupied by dancers, and Robert Belfour, another legendary Hill Country bluesman was in the audience listening.


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To protest harassment, Indian women donate the clothes they wore
By Anuradha Nagaraj
CHENNAI, India, Jan 19 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Yamini Karunagaran was on the bus to work in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru when a man sat in a women-only seat where he leered at her, and then followed her when she disembarked.
Almost as disturbing as the incident itself were reactions from many of those she related it to.
"It angered me that so many people later asked me what I was wearing," Karunagaran told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
That attitude is almost as common as harassment and assault, which affect almost four out of every five women in India, according to a 2016 survey by non-profit ActionAid UK.
Rather than hold perpetrators accountable, many people shift blame to the victim, accusing her of inviting attention by wearing revealing clothes or laughing too loudly.
In protest, Karunagaran decided to donate the clothes she was wearing at the time to Blank Noise.
The advocacy group started the "I never ask for it" campaign, which has become part of a nationwide conversation about harassment.
Blank Noise travels to different cities collecting clothes women were harassed in and putting them on display in spaces where they hold healing circles and other events.
"Some have brought their ageing aunt's clothes, while others have drawn the dress they were wearing when they were abused as a child," said founder Jasmeen Patheja.
"Women told us how they had tucked away their garment in the corner of their cupboards," she said. "It was a memory that didn't quite go away."
Karunagaran was "traditionally clad" when she was harassed. Her orange leggings and kurta, a loose knee-length shirt, now hang on racks alongside outfits of all styles.
They include the pants, pink tank top and pink shirt that twenty-six-year-old fashion designer Eeshita Kapadiya was wearing when she was harassed.
"Garments help people see it as it was and realise that it doesn't matter what you are wearing when you are harassed or abused," said Kapadiya, who declined to give details of the harassment she suffered.
The ActionAid survey found that almost 80 percent of Indian women in India are subject to harassment and assault that ranges from staring, insults and wolf-whistling, to being followed, groped or even raped.
It occurs on the street, in parks, at community events, on college campuses and on public transport, campaigners say.
Sameera Khan, co-author of Why Loiter?, a book about the risks for women on Mumbai's streets, said that Blank Noise, as well as women like Kapadiya and Karunagaran, are making a powerful and long overdue statement.
"Campaigns like this firmly put the blame back on the perpetrators," she said.
(Reporting by Anuradha Nagaraj, Editing by Jared Ferrie; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking and climate change. Visit www.trust.org)
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Getting interviewed by a Czech newspaper
Last week I got a message, if I was willing to talk to a reporter from the Czech newspaper the Prague Post. Eh Prague…? Czech..? That is not really my area, I live in the Netherlands. I did speak in Prague a few months ago, maybe that is why?
It turned out to be a short interview about the 'dispute' which is going in Czech between the Czech leading search engine, Seznam, and Google. You have to know that Czech is one of the few countries world wide where Google is NOT the dominant force. In Czech Seznam is the biggest. An Internet search company, Toplist, however gave out some numbers indicating that Google had surpassed Seznam. Seznam disagreed.
The newspaper wanted to talk to me about the dispute but also about local search engines in general. I do a lot of writing about European search, both on State of Search as on Searchengineland. Therefore they came to me. That was fun! I was interviewed next to friend and organizer of the SES Conferences Mike Grehan.
See an extract of the article below. The entire article you can read here. I wrote a bigger article on the matter on State of Search to describe what is going on in Czech.


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Lunar Lanterns
Take a short stroll around Circular Quay from Sydney Opera House to The Rocks to discover 13 larger-than-life animal signs of the Lunar zodiac.
Explore the Lunar Lanterns from Friday 1 February to Sunday 10 February.
The Lunar Lanterns are a creative, contemporary interpretation of a centuries-old tradition. Bring the whole family and get up close to these magnificent giant artworks.
Delight in modern technology blended with classic Chinese techniques as these magical lanterns light up Sydney's harbour.
- The Pig
- The Monkey
- The Rabbit
- The Rooster
- The Dog
- The Rat
- The Dragon
- The Tiger
- The Horse
- The Sheep
- The Ox
- The Spiral Pig
- The Snake
Find your zodiac sign, catch a live performance by our community groups or simply enjoy summer in Sydney in a unique celebration of the Lunar New Year.
While you visit the Lunar Lanterns along the foreshore don't forget to check out the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It'll be lit in festive red and pink for the festival's 10 nights.
Download the Sydney Culture Walks app for a fun, easy way to navigate the festival and Lunar Lanterns.
Download a map of the Lunar Lanterns (PDF 161KB).
See all the Lunar New Year celebrations on offer in our city.


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2019 Knowledge Graph Conference
Event Dates
Knowledge Graphs for AI in the Enterprise
Columbia University presents the first major knowledge graph technology conference. Knowledge graphs are a defining technology that will transform data management in the next decades and we want to be leaders of the transformation. Knowledge graphs:
- provide an elegant solution to the complex problem of data management in the enterprise
- are a mature technology and adoption is growing fast
- have a very strong potential backed by decades of research
As an educational institution, we also realize there is a need to educate and enable a community to facilitate technology adoption. The goals of this conference are thus:
- to showcase major knowledge graphs implementations
- to educate on how knowledge graphs are built, maintained and used
- to build a community around technology leaders
We have gathered world experts representing leading organizations working with knowledge graphs. See below the list of speakers and presentations. We are building this conference as a yearly forum gathering the community around this topic. This year's theme: knowledge graphs for AI in the enterprise, will be strongly represented in the program.
The conference is organized by Francois Scharffe, the Applied Analytics Club of Columbia University and the Executive Education program of Columbia University School of Professional Studies.
List of speakers, and presentations by topic
Applications in Digital Commerce...
Xiaoya Wei, Knowledge Graph Lead, Airbnb - Knowledge Graph at Airbnb
Subhabrata Mukherjee, Machine Learning Scientist, Amazon - Deep Learning for Knowledge Extraction and Integration to build the Amazon Product Graph
Joshua Shinavier, Research Scientist, Uber - Building an Enterprise Knowledge Graph at Uber: Lessons from Reality
Andrew Chumney, Managing Director, Single View Solutions, Pitney Bowes - Intelligent Customer Service Using Knowledge Graphs
Applications in Financial Services...
Pierre Haren, CEO and Co-Founder, Causality Link - A Perspective on the Reasoning Power of Knowledge Graphs
Patricia Branum, Enterprise Data Governance, Capital One -Knowledge Graph Pilot Provides Value
Christos Boutsidis, Scientist and Software Engineer, Goldman Sachs- Pythia: the Goldman Sachs Social Graph
Arthur Keen, Senior Solutions Architect, TigerGraph - Analyzing Time-varying Transitive Risk in Swap Networks using Graphs
Tim Baker, Global Head of Applied Innovation, Refinitiv Financial - Practical Use Cases and Challenges to Implement Graphs in Financial Services: Combating Financial Crime
David Newman, SVP, Innovation R&D Group, Wells Fargo - Knowledge Graphs and AI: The Future of Financial Data
Applications in Health Care, Government, Supply Chain, Libraries...
Tom Plasterer, Director, US Cross-Science, AstraZeneca - Fair Data Knowledge Graphs (From Theory to Practice)
Parsa Mirhaj, Director, Clinical Research Informatics, Montefiore Hospital - The Chasm of a Million Analytics, and How to Bridge it?
Lambert Hogenhout, Chief Analytics, Partnerships and Innovation, United Nations - A Graph as a Means to Store Unpredictable Knowledge – A Practical Implementation
Ron Snyder, Director of Research, JSTOR Labs - Why Wikibase? Why not?
Chris Brockman, CEO, Eccenca - Knowledge Graph for Digital Transformation in the Supply-Chain
Professor Soren Auer, Director, Head of Research Group, Data Science and Digital Libraries, German National Library of Science and Technology - Creating a knowledge graph based Enterprise Innovation Architecture
Applications in Forensics...
Friedrich Lindenberg, Data Team Lead, OCCRP - Using Graphs and Data Integration to Track Organised Crime
Thomas Moran, Senior Data Scientist and Analytics Team Lead, Enigma.io - Impact and Insights from Public Data: Fighting Money Laundering by Linking and Resolving Entities
Tim Baker, Global Head of Applied Innovation, Refinitiv Financial - Practical Use Cases and Challenges to Implement Graphs in Financial Services: Combating Financial Crime
How To...
Michael Tung, Founder and CEO Diffbot - Knowledge Graphs for AI
Teresa Tung, Manager Director, Accenture Labs - Using a Domain Knowledge Graph to Manage AI at Scale
Juan Sequeda, Co-Founder, Capsenta - Designing and Building Enterprise Knowledge Graphs from Relational Databases in the Real World
Denny Vrandecic, Ontologist, Google AI - Wikidata, Knowledge Graphs, and Beyond
Alfio Gliozzio, Research Manager, Knowledge Induction, IBM Research - Extending Knowledge Graphs using Distantly Supervised Deep Nets
Amy Hodler, Analytics Program Manager, Neo4J - A Real-World Guide to Building Your Knowledge Graphs
Vicky Froyen, Researcher, Collibra - Collibra's Context Graph
Registration Fee: $450
Group enrollment and student benefits: Organizations enrolling two or more participants are eligible for a tuition benefit. Limited student ticket rates also available. Please email firstname.lastname@example.com for details.
Cancellation Policy:
Full refunds of the program fee may be obtained through March 4, 2019; no refunds will be provided after this date. All notification of withdrawals must be sent in writing to Columbia School of Professional Studies. Columbia School of Professional Studies is not responsible for travel or related costs under any circumstances.
We recommend participants consider purchasing trip cancellation insurance in the unlikely event the program is cancelled or they cannot attend for personal or professional reason
Columbia University
New York, NY 10027


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Flint hill school gala invitation
The Flint Hill School needed to improve attendance at their annual fundraising scholarship gala.
The invitation package was built around the concept of the classic children's book, The Wizard of Oz,
to highlight the school's values of respect, responsibility, honesty and compassion.
Illustrator Xanthe Bouma brought a fresh approach to the beloved characters by reinterpreting them in her whimsical style. The interior of the invitation features a full-color map, a nod to the contrast between grayscale Kansas and colorful Oz in the 1939 film. The invitation won a Gold 2016 DC ADDY Award.
The concept and illustrations from the invitation were applied across a variety
of channels, including a digital save-the-date that was shared via email.
Creative Director: Jamin Hoyle
Art Director/Designer: Allison Rinaldi
Illustrator: Xanthe Bouma


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The Mortgage Lifters
band bio:
Named for an heirloom tomato, The Mortgage Lifters play upbeat Swing music from the first half of the last century, some true-to-the-era originals, a few sing-alongs, and several world beat tunes. Like their namesake, this tasty band "starts off mild, and then builds, with a long finish on the palate. It has a roasted, fruity and slightly salty flavor."
The Mortgage Lifters are Kim Thal, Robert Hinrix, Johnny Calcagno and Tony Mates. They play fiddle, guitar, ukulele, mandolin and upright bass- and they all sing.
Hailing from Seattle and Vashon Island, ML members play in many other fine bands, including "BeSides," "Fendershine," "The Na Hilahila Boys," "Zazou," and "Peckin' Out Dough."
You're bound to enjoy The Mortgage Lifters mix of delectable music, 3-part harmonies and relaxing mayhem.


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Simi discloses when she had her first love
Nigerian sensational artist, Simi has in a new interview with a news outlet, revealed the age she first fell in love.
According to the lovely songstress who has over time, been romantically linked with more than one male celebrity, she got to discover what love feels like when she was just 13 years old.
In her own words;
"My first love? I met him when I was 13 and in SS1. I was just about to turn 14 and he just came to my school. How do you really explain that as a child? But it did happen, and he left my school after a while, so we drifted apart. Then we met somewhere again. We drifted apart again and then that was it."
Simi also admitted that she is in a romantic relationship;
"Well, I hope he is the one because I don't think relationships should just be for leisure. I can't really speak for anybody but for me." "If I am giving you an access to that part of my life then it has to be worth my while and worth his while as well. But I can't force it though, if he is the one, fine and if not, fine"