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Achieve power distribution flexibility with USB PD18 Sep 2015 | Paul Pickering
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The PHY supports cable ID detection/identification and loopback modes. The PHY includes a 24MHz FSK modulator/demodulator and provides integrated terminations. The on-chip microcontroller manages the I/O and implements the Power Delivery local policy engine and device manager.
The SPI ROM controller is used by the microcontroller for optional external code execution from ROM. A One Time Programmable (OTP) ROM is integrated in the UPD1001,which is available in commercial (0°C to +70°C) and industrial (-40°C to +85°C) temperature ranges and offered in a 32-pin SQFN package.
The PTN5100 from NXP is a single-port USB Type-C Power Delivery (PD) PHY and protocol IC that provides a USB-C Configuration channel interface and USB PD Physical and Protocol layer functions to a System PD Port Policy Controller.
The device is targeted for a wide range of platforms including standard notebook PCs, desktop PCs, tablets and smart phones, as well as PC accessories such as docking stations, monitors, and cable adapters. It can support system power provider, consumer, or combination functions; programmable registers allow operation as UFP, DFP or DRP as discussed above.
The PTN5100 implements a VCONN low RON switch with register-programmable Forward Current protection feature. The VCONN switch also provides reverse current protection to detect reverse current flow into the system whenever an inductive or charged cable is unplugged from the connector. It provides either an SPI or I2C interface for system host control; the choice of interface is pre-configured at the factory.
Cypress Semiconductor has a broad range of USB-C and USB PD products, including the CCG1 USB-C controller with integrated PD, shown in figure 5.
The CCG1 supports provider and consumer roles and all USB PD power profiles. It incorporates a 48MHz ARM Cortex-M0 32bit MCU with 32KB flash and 4KB SRAM. Integrated functional blocks include a 12bit, 1-Msps ADC for VBUS voltage and current monitoring, dynamic over-current and over-voltage protection, 2 configurable 16bit TCPWM1 blocks, and up to 8 GPIOs. Serial communications include I2C master or slave, SPI master or slave, or UART.
The CCG1 operates from 1.71-5.5V and offers several low power modes: Sleep (1.3 mA); Deep Sleep (1.3µA); Hibernate (150 nA); and Stop (20 nA). A variety of packages are available, including 40-pin QFN, 28-pin SSOP, 35-ball CSP, and 16-pin SOIC.
Figure 5: The CCG1 (source: Cypress Semiconductor)
Conclusion: One spec to rule them all?
The USB Power Delivery Specification adds powerful new functionality to the basic USC serial communication function. When combined with the USB-C interface specification and the USB 3.1 high-speed data protocol, it points the way forward for serial communication. Together, the three specifications are designed to accommodate future upgrades, and commercial products (such as the new Apple Macbook Pro) are already beginning to include one or more of the specs as standard features.
As the USB PD becomes more widely adopted, it's expected that it will lead to a rethinking of power distribution for consumer devices, as illustrated in figure 1, and render unnecessary untold millions of power bricks and wall warts. The world's landfills will be breathing a collective sigh of relief!
About the author
Paul Pickering has over 35 years of engineering and marketing experience in the electronics industry, including time spent in automotive electronics, precision analogue, power semiconductors, flight simulation and robotics. Originally from the North-East of England, he has lived and worked in Europe, the US, and Japan. He has hands-on experience in both digital and analogue circuit design, embedded software, and Web technologies. He has a B.Sc. (Hons) in Physics & Electronics from Royal Holloway College, University of London, and has done graduate work at Tulsa University. In his spare time he plays and teaches the guitar.
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Robotic glove helps restore hand movements
The device is an improvement from conventional robotic hand rehabilitation devices as it has sensors to detect muscle signals and conforms to the natural movements of the human hand.
K-Glass 2 detects users' eye movements to point the cursor to recognise computer icons or objects in the Internet, and uses winks for commands. The researchers call this interface the "i-Mouse."


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There are a growing number of people advocating a creative approach to our curriculum in the UK. Ken Robinson is undoubtedly the most high-profile advocate, but with 45,000,000 views (YouTube and TED.com combined) for his TED talk on creativity, he clearly isn't alone. But why are so many of us starting to think this way; why do so many teachers and people involved in education claim to have an answer that Education Minister after Education Minister fails to agree with?
What is the point of a creative curriculum?
There is a short answer to this – creative thinkers are more likely to understand and think about the needs of our world as well as their communities. Creativity is about questioning and challenging, researching and considering things in depth. A curriculum that doesn't embrace creativity simply learns facts, accepts them, and regurgitates them in exams. The main purpose of education is to enable students to understand the world around them and develop their talents; to help them become fulfilled individuals and active, compassionate citizens.
If entrepreneurial celebrities like Richard Branson and Lord Alan Sugar can fail in our education system but go on to achieve an incredible level of success, the curriculum as it has been taught is clearly failing.
Preparing For The Future
A curriculum which is based around studying for and passing exams teaches valuable life skills. No, really: it does. The dedication and organisation required to effectively revise a subject are important – and the subject matter learnt isn't likely to be detrimental to students either. However, what life skills are there to be gained from revision?
Ken Robinson argues that the current curriculum is designed to prepare students for further education and, ultimately, to become university lecturers. This is ideal for the comparatively small number of people for whom that is their life goal. However, there are many more students who need to develop a wider range of skills to be prepared for life.
A creative curriculum is an approach to learning that opens up genuine creative thinking processes in all subject areas, rather than simply seeing creativity as using the arts to illuminate or enliven a curriculum area. A creative curriculum encourages children to use their imagination and curiosity.
We must encourage creative skills in the children, not just by making the learning more memorable, but by getting children to observe, classify, hypothesize, experiment, interpret, draw conclusions from evidence and recognise patterns in events and learning. If we nurture these skills, our students are bound to benefit from them in later life.
Learning, much like life, must have investigation, discovery, invention and co-operation at the heart of it. Teaching has to be about 'uncovering the subject', rather than 'covering the subject.' We should aim to teach our students all seven of Tony Wagner's survival skills, not just one or two.
Recognising children's abilities – all of them!
"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid" – Unknown
Currently, our education system only tests for a few types of intelligence. We measure pupils' academic ability to memorise and regurgitate information. We have spent decades convincing ourselves, and each other, that this is the single most important and vital skill one can possess, and, therefore, our education system should be designed to test for this.
I've never been lucky enough to ask him in person, but I am fairly confident that if I did get the chance to ask David Beckham whether his academic intelligence or footballing intelligence have served him best in life, he would quickly arrive at the obvious conclusion.
Not every student who wishes to is going to make it as a sportsperson, just as not every student who wants to be an actor, a musician, or a novelist will achieve those goals. It is an outdated and outmoded practice to convince our children to give up on their pursuits of a creative career and focus on academia. There are hundreds of creative careers in music, in sport, and in theatre. Whilst your students may not form the next One Direction, they might just put together the backing track to a future number one. They may not appear onstage at a West End show, but they might orchestrate the logistics making it happen.
We must recognise all of our students' abilities – including their creative mindset – and encourage them to work on and pursue what they are good at. To quote Mark Twain, "…find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life".
Did you know that Paul McCartney and George Harrison attended the same school, and none of their teachers ever recognised, let alone encouraged their musical potential? Could that happen in a school today? Probably. That is exactly why we need to re-evaluate the way we recognise and value different types of intelligence.
Britain is creative, and it always has been
The UK has a long and rich heritage of creativity and the arts. From Jane Austen to Freddie Mercury, we have produced and celebrated some of the most incredible creative minds in history.
We have had a thriving music industry, produced some of the most renowned films ever made, and been home to literary works exalted the world over. That's before we even mention the talented artists and poets who have called our island home.
We mustn't allow our heritage of being at the forefront of art and creative development to end just because we don't value it in our schools.
There is a great story of Churchill being asked whether the country was going to cut the arts budget in favour of the war fund.
Then what are we fighting for?
In terms of historical accuracy, I think this has been almost totally debunked, but its sentiment is spot on. We are a creative country, and always have been; we mustn't let that end.
Come with me, and you'll be in a world of pure imagination
It is vital that we encourage and develop our students' imagination. From the seed of imagination grows creation and innovation.
There is little to no imagination involved in learning endless dates and historical facts, or memorising the times tables – other than daydreaming, perhaps.
We should strive to create an education system in which imagination is cherished and encouraged; otherwise, we are depriving the world of possible future inventors, entrepreneurs, and writers.
"A lot of people never use their initiative, because no one told them to."
It is of course vital that, as human beings, we are comfortable with using our initiative to make our own decisions and direct our own learning or work. The above quote is credited to Banksy, although I am not sure whether this has been confirmed, and whilst it sounds pithy and succinct, I don't actually agree with it.
When I was at school, I was told to use my initiative quite frequently. Whether that was by teachers who were trying to encourage independent thinking and learning, or just by those who were fed up of answering my questions. I don't think the issue is that we are not asking our students to use their initiative; it is that we are asking them to, and then they leave school and suddenly no one is telling them to use their initiative anymore.
Rather than telling students that they can or should use their initiative on a task, we should be creating learning environments in which our students know that they can and should be using their initiative at all times. Such an environment will encourage creativity, and prepare students for a life outside of school where no one will be telling them to use their initiative any more.
I believe that creativity is as important to education as literacy. Imagination and curiosity are at the heart of all human achievements, so we must give children the opportunity to express themselves creatively through a wide range of subject areas. We need to teach a curriculum that encourages children to think and learn creatively.
A creative person:
- Questions and challenges
- Makes connections and sees relationships
- Envisages what might be
- Explores ideas, keeping options open
The Fulbridge Academy chose a creative curriculum, and it has certainly worked for them. Find out why they chose a creative approach.

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I first saw a few of them when I got on the plane in Los Angeles. I had a stopover in Dubai and would be traveling there first. A few women got on the airplane wearing burqas.
A burqa is something that some Muslim women wear to cover their face and body so that all you can see is their eyes. The burqas are often all black. With a long flowing black burqa on, to a Westerner a woman looks quite sinister. The robe even drags behind them.
These women proceeded to sit the entire sixteen-hour flight without removing their burqas! How cool is that!
I like the look. It's deep.
Not sure what the point of a burqa is, but there is something cool about being followed around by your wife wearing one of these things. To me it seems sort of like saying: "I've got some really sinister stuff going on. See that behind me? Back off!"
Personally, I think it is really manly being followed around with a woman in one of these. The guy is in charge and you cannot see his second half.
I'd even like to have a few women in burqas riding in the backseat of my car when I drive around.
Did I cut you off? Look what I got here? These women are sinister! Don't mess with me, buddy!
I got to Dubai, still fascinated with these burqas. I also felt comforted sitting a row over from a woman in a burqa for sixteen hours. It was so traditional and unusual for me.
When I got to Dubai, I spent more than thirty minutes arguing with an Arab man in a white robe and turban because I had too many stamps on my passport. I was only there on a layover but the guy told me I would not be allowed to leave the country because there was no room for another stamp on my passport when I left!
I missed my flight and would be stuck there for the next few days.
I went to the U.S. Consulate in Dubai to get the passport pages put in that day. I went there, came back, and then waited in line for some time. In line in front of me was a man with his wife wearing a burqa.
I have been seeing these women everywhere and I am absolutely fascinated.
The man in front of me finally got to the first guard checkpoint (you have to pass through five separate security checkpoints in the U.S. Consulate in Dubai), and they told him that his wife needed to have a passport to be allowed upstairs. He argued a bit, then went to his car and came back fifteen minutes later and showed him her passport (women who wear these burqas are apparently not allowed to speak either). When he finally showed the customs officer her passport, the passport officer looked at her picture and then waved her through.
Her husband turned around and got angry again: "You are such an idiot! You cannot even see her face. How can you let her through when you do not even know if this is her?"
Then, last night, I had such a strange experience, I am still trying to get it out of my mind. I am still not sure if it was for real. It has transformed how I view the world to a great extent.
When a Westerner like me thinks of the burqa, I think it means a lot of things. In all seriousness, if you were to look at this very objectively you might say it represents:
I could go on and on; however, the burqa is not something that Western society looks kindly on. In fact, it has even been outlawed in France recently and there is a lot of anti-Muslim sentiment surrounding burqas. I am not really bothered by burqas, but do find them intensely interesting from a sociological perspective.
Last night, I decided to sample some semi-local food while in Dubai and went out to a fancy Lebanese restaurant in the hotel where I am staying. Instead of sitting alone at a table, I ordered and ate my meal at the bar. I am glad I did so because I was treated to some incredibly interesting information.
The woman who was serving me was working alone at the bar. She was not up to much, and the entire time I was there, very few people ordered drinks. We chatted for at least an hour while I ordered.
The bartender was Russian and in her mid-20s, and was quite forthright with her various opinions about people, her job, and so forth. She told me that working in the hotel was like being in camp. The 1,500 employees of the hotel were all from foreign countries and everyone stayed in a giant apartment complex where there were various buffets for people of different nationalities—Indian food, Filapino food, Chinese food, Russian food, and so forth. The employees even had their own movie theater!
She told me that she was "trolling" for a husband—European, American, she did not care. She predicted she would be married and starting a family within a year. Her family was from a poor village outside of St. Petersburg and were extremely proud of her and what she had accomplished with the job.
"I could meet the guy tonight, tomorrow, who knows. No problem. I will find my husband here."
I decided to ask her about the women in burqas. She had shared with me so many details about her life that I figured she would be extremely forthright—and she was.
She told me that she generally works at the bar until around 3:00 a.m. Around midnight each night, she told me, the scene in bars around the hotel often changes dramatically. Women wearing burqas or head scarves show up. Sometimes they are alone. Sometimes there are a couple of them together.
She told me that most of these women are married, but their husbands are not around. They come out of the house late and sneak into hotel bars when their husbands are out of town. They sneak out late at night because they do not want to be seen leaving the house.
She told me that Arab men love these sort of women—and within moments of one of these women showing up, all sorts of Arab men start appearing.
"They are like sharks. The second one of these Arab women shows up, the men all tell each other and from all over the hotel, the men start appearing. It only takes a few minutes."
The hotel has around ten bars, so this to me was quite surprising. What she told me next, though, was even more surprising.
She said that at least a couple of times a week, one of the men manages to seduce one of these women and take her to the bathroom for sex. They do not go up to hotel rooms … just the bathroom. And it only happens late at night and early in the morning. Then the women disappear into the night.
This story was so incredibly unusual to me that I was not sure what to make of it. The more I thought about this story, though, the more I realized that something quite powerful was going on.
The women, who seemed oppressed, really were not oppressed. Instead, the people they were (and/or wanted to be) were still able to come out despite being in such a radicalized and fundamental religious environment. Perhaps the women were even more radical, promiscuous, and so forth due to the circumstances of their lives and oppression.
To me, the entire thing seemed absolutely fascinating.
On a deeper level, though, I think you have to ask what all of this means. What it means is that people will always find a way (no matter how twisted) to be the person they want to be. Our desires and character are too difficult to hold back. They will come out in ways we cannot even imagine.
I certainly do not condone women sneaking out of the house and having affairs with strange men in hotel bathrooms, while their husbands are out of town and children are sleeping at home.
What I do find interesting, though, is that the lesson this teaches is that the person we want to be cannot be held back. It cannot be held back by religion. It cannot be held back by oppression. It cannot be held back by threats of violence (for all I know, fundamentalist women in burqas might be killed for such affairs).
I think the actions of these women represent the incredible drive of the human spirit to express itself—no matter what the cost and no matter how degrading it may be.
In other countries, you do not have to sneak out to hotel bathrooms at 3:00 in the morning to express your individuality. You can be whoever you want right now and do whatever you want right now. There is nothing holding you back—not time or space.
On a deeper level, I believe that most people are not oppressed physically like the women in burqas. Instead, the oppression for most people is part of their own mind and their belief that they cannot do this–or they cannot do that. You can do whatever you want and can do it now—you can be whomever you want. You need to express yourself and find the work and life that you want for yourself. Do not let anything hold you back.
You need to express your individuality and fight to do so.
People will always find a way express themselves and be who they want to be, as their character and desires are too difficult to permanently repress. When you attempt to repress your individuality, it will come out in ways you cannot even imagine. You can do and be whoever you want by expressing yourself, and finding the work and life that you want. Do not let anything hold you back.
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The year began with a life ending. My grandmother was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer and died quickly – but, thankfully, painlessly – within a few weeks. Her bodily deterioration scraped down the iron exterior of her social self. I had grown up with her presence always filling any room or event that we attended. The gaps of silence between withdrawn family members forced to interact, the awkward distances moulded by time apart between once close siblings and cousins, were filled by her incredibly sharp – usually scathing – wit, creating a bridge on which interaction could take place. She was someone who was lucky enough to have more people love her than she loved; not through malice but through being unaware that so many did.
And then she was gone. The gaps return without resistance, distances arise without being combated. Her home without her presence has become merely a house. Rooms and lives are little emptier, a little smaller, a little colder.
As part of the Muslim tradition of burial, I was part of the group that literally put her in the ground. Her corpse was covered in a simple cloth, while around us the stony walls of her sons murmured lines in Arabic, in deep tones. We took our turns being unnecessarily busy with dirt and rocks, trying to be engineers and architects in order to set a neat space for the dead. Climbing inside the hole, I grabbed her head and we struggled to insert her like a jagged puzzle piece deep into the earth. We turned her, so her back was away from the wall, so that her face would not be hit by falling rock chunks. Not because it would 'harm' her but because, at that moment, she was not dead to us; she was merely not conscious, not alive.
And reflecting on it now, I realise that is nonsensical, but at that moment, we all still held her as though she would feel pain. We appear to slip into this way of thinking, I realise. Indeed, throughout my time in that graveyard, I realise now that I actually stepped over graves in case I should stand atop one beneath which a stranger was buried. From a distance, the teeth of broken gravestones struggled for attention amidst weeds and decaying flowers, making walking difficult enough anyway – but still I tried to respect acquired space. Climbing out, we circled the now closed grave, as the lines being murmured from the Quran grew louder. There was no sobbing or sniffing, merely the intense focus on the occasional rolling stone that was soon kicked off, or the random weed which before was unnoticed but now occupied someone's full attention because its shadow came too close to the gravestone.
The Purpose of Death
We fight death through ritual. In the shadow of frozen angel wings, in tombs better decorated than most people's homes, in grounds more beautiful than many parks, we have perfected strict codes of conduct for corpse disposal. We do this not for the dead but for ourselves, since those we bury are, as Hazlitt said: "fixed as the marble over… breathless as the grave that holds." In 409, in the Southern Italian city of Nola, the bishop Paulinus expanded the tomb of the local icon, St Felix. Though located well outside the city limits, as per ancient Roman and Christian laws, the sinews of the necropolis and the metropolis were connected in a mortician-like manoeuvre. As Colin Dickey said of this construction, "With its triple archways and wide porticoes, travellers on the way to Nola often confused Felix's tomb with the city itself." This extravagance was no doubt lost on the great Saint, unless he nodded from Heaven (or Hell). It is, in other words, not for the Saint that Paulinus underwent this necropolis extension, but for his own glory and the city's.
So it is not for dead, but for the living, for our own memories, and the assertion that these memories are being cherished that we give eulogies and ritualise our goodbyes. Being an atheist, I don't believe my grandmother has gone to Heaven, is holding Allah's hand or is meeting her dead friends and family. I think my grandmother is gone and I will never see her again. Her body is beneath the ground, jammed like a rock at an angle away from the sky.
It fell to purveyors of nonsense to give eulogies, not those who knew her; it not we who loved her, but men whose only expertise was a particular book, supposedly recited by a possibly epileptic, Arab businessman from several centuries ago. I'm not sure what I would've said if I had the opportunity.
Most of us, I think, want to utter words to the deceased in a moment of weakness or realisation. The confusion and light as a result of that friction gives rise to a eulogies and obits. If I saw her, knowing I never would, if I wasn't a coward compared to her, I think there are things I would done: I think I would've thanked her. I think I would have told her I loved her. I think I would've wanted her to see me make something of myself, to make her proud of her grandson. I think I would've wanted her to know that I didn't believe in her god, in her faith, in her views, but that I did respect her. I would've told her that I'm scared, terrified, of losing her, of never seeing her.
Our Purposeful Confusion
Death means complicity with nature, a relationship most of us refuse to acknowledge. We want to fight nature, scratching her in the face, tearing at her sides. We are not mere playthings for the forces which shape suns and forge mountains. We are humans, dammit, we are godlike in our creativity, in our ingenuity, in our brilliance! The light of our knowledge stretches through the universe and yet, still, we are felled by a complication in our livers. We reach for the moon, we literally touch it, and yet we are be killed by stairs. Spinning and exploding around us, with a force incomprehensible, is a universe uncaring and cold, dark and endless, that contains us like a candle-flame in a breaking lantern. Whatever light we cast, it fades and flutters as the wind of reality slowly seeps in. Then, we'll be left with mere sunspots where the light was moments before.
The problem is the assumption that complicity means apathy. Because we are part of a system which is uncaring, that we should therefore emulate this attitude. This seems to me wrong. An understanding that bad things happen, that people we love get liver cancers and die, that people we revere die, means we have a foundation firmer since it is aligned to reality. Having a foundation that is skew means all the aspects we build on top will be off. We must start with the realisation then focus from there. This seems to me mostly a losing struggle, that there seems almost no option but a kind of rational pessimism – not apathy, but pessimism. It means we ought to be prepared, not allow things "to just be", but try constantly to change them as far as we are able – but we should always prepare for the worst, never expect things to "just work out". They don't.
My grandmother in her life and in her death taught me many things. Perhaps I'm wrong. However, the realisation that such things really do happen confirmed this to me. Religion, it seems to me, commits some of its worst crimes by painting not simply a false picture of reality, but one that furthers the idea of an inherently wonderful existence. The problem though is that we are stupid, fallible creatures. Attempting this consideration is difficult. Religion helps to give reality a rose tint and a soft exterior – but this is not solely a fault with religion, since these types of religious systems are merely catering to the needs of humans to rather be safe, sound, secure. Rationality must constantly be fought for unless it loses out to comfortable lies. And I am no different. I realise now how hard these ideas are, how hard they are to defend, when I cleared a grave and whispered when I was close to a grave. I consider myself a rational person, but I still stepped over the graves of strangers.


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The Last Hope
That idle Tuesday in wasteful January appears when I close my eyes.
Was it yesterday or years ago?
It doesn't matter, it hurts all the same.
The twin voice, in a tone I had never heard before,
sent me to my knees.
The words crushed my chest with the force
of a thousand planes.
My body was cold and burning all at once--
my throat, numb from the crash.
Vanished was my brother without my blood.
When the justification of dark was over,
only empty but hopeful certainty remained.
The end has never really come.
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The Last Hope
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Valentine Day Gift Ideas For Her
Valentine day is a great holiday that reminds us all to appreciate our special someone and gives us a reason to take time off of our busy schedules to celebrate with a glass of wine or over a nice fancy dinner.
When it comes to Valentines Day gift exchange is a big part of the day. On this day, gifts become a big thing because partners tend to buy each other gift to show their love and affection towards their significant other. If you're thinking about something as mainstream as flower delivery or a box of chocolates, we have some unique gift ideas that will definitely have your girlfriend or wife speechless.
Plants for a nature lover
If your girlfriend is a bit of a hippie who loves nature and all things eco friendly, she will definitely love a plant of some sort. Buying her a nice plant will also give you the chance to stray from things that are as mainstream as flower delivery Dubai or boxes of chocolates. A true nature lover will definitely appreciate a plant as a gift on Valentine's Day but if your girl is not so concerned about her surroundings, the ideas listed below will be ideal for her.
Scented items
If there's one thing girls love more than chocolates, it has to be a scented item. Scented items can vary between anything from a bar of soap to her favorite Chanel perfume so if your girlfriend shows up for dates smelling like a bouquet of roses, the ideal gift for your girlfriend would definitely be a scented item.
A Spa Kit
Every day we see women around us who work so hard to achieve different goals in life, it maybe to get promoted at her workplace or to stop her teething baby from crying but despite the tasks they complete, women all around the world do a great deal. Whether your wife or girlfriend is a stay at home mom who looks after your kids all day or she is a dedicated businesswoman, she needs a moment to take a breather and reboost once in a while which is why a spa kit will show her the amount of appreciation you have towards all her hard work.
A little bit of bling
Even though most women prefer to be gifted with sentimental items that may have a deeper meaning, they love their jewelry too. A woman does not have to be a gold digger or a materialistic person to be fond of jewelry and a little bit of bling so if you're looking for a way to win the heart of your loved one on this special day, jewelry will definitely do the job for you.


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As a parent, you have the right to know what the kids in your care are doing with their digital devices, and to control what kids can see and use. It's key to introduce controls and rules when a device is new so you and your child can be clear about what is and isn't O.K. during screen time.
First of all, the device your family or child will use likely has its own parental control options. Some can screen out Internet access altogether, and others can filter out certain sites. Because they are all different, the best plan is to read up on the parental controls for each device and operating system your family will use.
Below are some tools for monitoring or limiting the amount of time the device is in use, tracking the software or apps used, and more.
Windows PCs When you create an account designated…
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So comfortable, this is my second time at Sakura Hotel. It's great...I give ten stars...I don't search any hotel again and I always choose Sakura Hotel.
Based on 111 reviews
Check-in and Check-out Time
Check-in: 2:00 PM
Check-out: 12:00 PM
Sakura Boutique Hotel is located in area / city Pudu.
There are plenty of tourist attractions nearby, such as Chan Sow Lin LRT Station within 0.56 km, and Pudu LRT Station within 0.69 km.
About Sakura Boutique Hotel
For you, travelers who wish to travel comfortably on a budget, Sakura Boutique Hotel is the perfect place to stay that provides decent facilities as well as great services.
Have fun with various entertaining facilities for you and the whole family at Sakura Boutique Hotel, a wonderful accommodation for your family holiday.
Sakura Boutique Hotel is the smartest choice for you who are looking for affordable accommodation with outstanding service.
24-hours front desk is available to serve you, from check-in to check-out, or any assistance you need. Should you desire more, do not hesitate to ask the front desk, we are always ready to accommodate you.
WiFi is available within public areas of the property to help you to stay connected with family and friends.
Sakura Boutique Hotel is a hotel with great comfort and excellent service according to most hotel's guests.
Sakura Boutique Hotel is the ideal choice for you who are looking for a comfortable yet affordable accommodation.


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Use complaining in a sentence
- His nasal voice was complaining, yet distinctly aggressive, and he emphasized his words by gestures. [9]
- And what could they, for their part, do for the complaining crowd? [10]
- Macrinus tells me they are complaining. [10]
- She had heard the wind complaining in the night, and the day dawned wild and wet. [9]
- We were not the moping, complaining graybeards that many might suppose we must have been. [6]
- These travelers had spent wakeful nights, in the forests, in a cold rain, and never thought of complaining. [4]
- There were no sounds but the dulled complaining of the torrent and the occasional tinkling of a distant bell. [5]
- At Hebron Pentaur parted from the princess, and Bent-Anat bid him farewell without complaining. [10]
- Princess Mary, foreseeing no end to this, rose first, and complaining of a headache began to say good night. [2]
- A faint wind moaned through the trees, and Tom feared it might be the spirits of the dead, complaining at being disturbed. [5]
- But no one is the worse for the journey; certainly not Cathy, nor Dorcas, nor Soldier Boy; and as for me, I am not complaining. [5]
- Huni certainly would have gone into the fire-pots of hell without complaining, and he left me quite cheerfully. [10]
- I thought life had been cruel to me, but when I think of yours I feel mean and little for my complaining. [13]
- They must have burned very fiercely; for, while awake at night and in her dreams, she had often heard him wailing and complaining piteously. [10]
- His voice was at first reproachful, and then complaining, and loud as he spoke, only sorrow rang in his tones, and not anger. [10]
- Jonah was disobedient, and of a fault-finding, complaining disposition, and deserves to be lightly spoken of, almost. [5]
- It was mournful and complaining, but very soft and sweet. [10]
This page helps answer: how do I use the word complaining in a sentence? How do you use complaining in a sentence? Can you give me a sentence for the word complaining? It may also be related to classrooms, find school, diploma, literacy, educational, and
Example sentences with the word complaining, a sentence example for complaining, and complaining in sample sentence.


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TORONTO, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Toronto's main stock index ended higher for the first time in four sessions on Friday as oil prices rose following a shutdown of a big Enbridge Inc (ENB.TO) pipeline supplying Canadian oil to the United States.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE unofficially ended up 63.56 points, or 0.53 percent, at 12,097.09. (Reporting by Jennifer Kwan; editing by Peter Galloway)


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Chapter Fifteen
"The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r ,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
Awaits alike the inevitable hour,
The paths of glory lead but to the grave,"
-Thomas Gray, "Elegy in a Church Courtyard."
Commander Ty Lee sat at the table in a far corner of the mess hall, picking at the pasta dish slathered in dark red tomato sauce peppered with balls of cooked ground meat with her chopsticks. She'd first encountered spaghetti a week ago when she'd come aboard, it had been the first real meal she'd eaten in months, and the first developed on another world. She was alone in the mess hall, as apparently the fact that they were chasing down and openly preparing to offer battle to a Klingon battleship that had them outmanned and outgunned, robbed people of their appetite, though she believed firmly in dying on a full stomach. Spaghetti had been a welcome part to the largely bewildering, confusing, and frightening first encounter with the concept that her world wasn't the only world in the universe inhabited by humans. And that there were thousands of species other than her own in the galaxy.
And whatever lingering thoughts I possessed that the three aliens on this ship, indeed it's very existence, are just some hallucination I've created to escape life in the Boiling Rock were just blown two hours ago when I actually fought and killed a Klingon warrior. The moment flashed in her mind, her sword flashing in the overhead lights as the blade came up. The thunk of steel charging through the flesh of the Klingon warriors neck, her sword running with magenta blood. The color of the Klingons blood surprised her, though she'd kept it off her face at the time. She'd read precious little about Klingons in the past week, most of the time she'd spent reading was spent on trying to catch up with the woman on Earth her age were supposed to know about history and other subjects, and mandating that her men do so as well. And what she did read, didn't mention that Klingons had magenta blood.
Unfortunately, she thought to herself, a sense of comfort settling over her when she thought about it, as it validated to her all the more that she shared the same species as this ship's crew, like on my world, young woman on Earth couldn't care less about such things. Unless they wanted to join Starfleet or the Military Assault Command, both of which are actually fairly common career choices.
She heard the door open at the other end of the room and who she saw caused a jolt of shock to run through her, leg muscles sending her jolting up out of her seat, standing at perfect attention, ramrod straight as Suki walked into the room. Her commanding officer, she noticed had a sad look in her blue-green eyes when she caught her gaze. The other woman waved her back into her seat she rapidly closed the distance between them. Ty Lee, obedient to her commander as always, dropped back into her seat like a stone.
"May I sit?" She asked politeness tinged with a sharp sadness on her voice.
"Of course, sir," she said as she waved at the seat, the Kyoshi Warriors, as part of the strategy of adopting MACO weapons and uniforms, had adopted their modes of address for officers as well. "You don't have to ask that question."
"Even commanding officers are required to be polite," she said pointedly as she sat down across from her. "That's one of the things that we share with our homeworld."
"That wasn't my point," Ty Lee said seriously, putting down her chopsticks. "You never have to ask my permission to sit at my table. We've both been through too much together to ever have to do that."
Suki smiled. "Thank you, my friend. That-that means a lot."
Ty Lee bristled, feeling as though someone had pricked her skin with a thousand pins and needles. "What's wrong?"
"You remember what you said to me in the ship's 'sweet spot?'" She asked, sighing. "About how I could possibly know so much about forgiveness?"
"How could I forget?" She asked, remembering the incident clearly. "It's only been a week, Suki." When Suki sighed again, suddenly it all clicked together in her head. Lurching forward, leaning onto the table, she said, "You want to finally tell me about it?"
Suki sighed, then nodded, her face scrunching up ever so slightly. If she didn't know any better, she would've guessed that Suki looked like a little girl who was about to confess to her mom that she stole a roll without permission.
Suki started sighing for a few moments and then she said, "Do you remember hearing about an incident aboard a refugee transport in the Chameleon Bay defense perimeter called the Hope of Salvation?"
Ty Lee nodded, unsure about what she was getting at. She'd heard rumors of the incident for days while during her service to Azula, while her, Mai, and Azula were still poking around inside the perimeter, looking for ways to get directly into the city. She'd even read a heavily redacted report on the incident in the Full Moon Bay station, recovered from the commanding officer's office right before local military units drove Azula's troops out, though by then the three of them had been moving towards Ba Sing Se.
"Yes," she finally said. "From what we could tell, patrolling ships in the waters off Chameleon Bay signaled that they had detected a ship that refused to stop and be searched as per procedures. The Water Tribe force that was supposed to be preventing hostile ships from getting in the defense zone was out on training exercises so it encountered no resistance getting into the bay and up the mouth of the Chameleon River. Guard posts spotted her and sent word to higher headquarters deeper inside and a strike team was dispatched to board the ship and eliminate the threat before she could pray on refugee transports. However, there must have been a mistake in the orders because the strike team boarded the wrong ship. The ship, barely visible in a blanket of heavy fog refused to heave to and prepare to be boarded. Therefore the strike unit forced their way onto the ship. Encountering stiff resistance they proceeded with their orders to seize the ship and eliminate what they believed to be pirates. Unfortunately, by the time someone got a boat out saying they reached the wrong ship, half the people onboard…her…," the flow of words from Ty Lee's mouth ceased, her mouth closing forcibly of its own volition as realization as to what her friend was saying flooded her with a cold chill.
"That was you," she said after a moment, when she finally conceived of the enormity of what she said. "You were in charge of that mission, weren't you?"
Suki nodded silently, "by the time we were told what had happened, the actual ship had raided a ship downriver and assaulted a refugee camp before being destroyed by shore artillery. But that pales in comparison to the fact that the ship we boarded and the crew we attacked were refugees and had passed through the checkpoint."
"How could you confuse a bunch of refugees for pirates," she asked incredulously, fighting to hold back her anger until Suki finished what she was saying. "I mean, I can understand mistaking one type of ship for another in heavy fog, but surely you could tell refugees apart from pirates."
Suki shook her head, "A lot of the refugees that travelled upriver towards Ba Sing Se are surprisingly well armed. Which isn't surprising, the coastlines are thick with privateers and out and out brigands. And with a lot of dispossessed soldiers heading towards Ba Sing Se, soldiers from both sides who've lost their units and their bases due to the actions of both sides and for which Ba Sing Se is the only an option, the crews tend to be capable of putting up a fight. They're difficult to distinguish from pirates during the best of times."
"That's what Zuko and Iroh did," Ty Lee said, nodding in understanding. "My people have an unfortunate tendency to treat such people as deserters. And as the lives of deserters are forfeit, heading towards Ba Sing Se, even if it was the heart of Earth Kingdom territory, seemed very attractive, so long as those that firebend could keep it to themselves."
"Exactly," Suki said, sighing. "The ship refused to come about for inspection, which naturally heightened our suspicion. We caught up with her and attached grappling hooks to the side and boarded up via the gunwales. The moment we were boarded, we heard a woman scream and several other men and women with swords and leather armor charged us. That should've been my first clue, she screamed when a pirate would've charged and called for the people who attacked us to join her. By then, though, we felt we had all the proof we need and I ordered the attack pressed. The rest of my men joined boarded and engaged while the crews of the patrol boats provided cover with arrow fire."
"Wait," Ty Lee said, Suki's last sentence jarring with what she knew. "The crews wear the uniform of the Earth Kingdom Coastal Defense Command. Wouldn't one of them have stopped the fight when they saw who and what they were fighting?"
Suki sighed, and a look of annoyance mingled with the sadness and pain in her eyes. "That would've been so much simpler, wouldn't it? But unfortunately, corruption is rife in the Coastal Defense Command, and we've caught boats preying on refugees in their uniforms." She shook her head in disbelief, her eyes taking on the haunted look of a woman reliving her past. "It just so happened the ships we were using were loyal, and no, they didn't try to stop the fight and rebuffed our efforts by taking the head of whoever one of my soldiers tried. So we charged forward. But I'm starting to get ahead of myself, and there are still things I have to do so here." And she reached into her pocket, pulling out a padd and setting it down on the table. "The whole story is on here, complete, nothing edited and nothing removed."
Ty Lee, her hands numb with shock, reached out across the table and grasped the padd, the cool temperature of the casing barely registering in her shocked hands. She slid it towards her and into her pocket, not wanting to read the padd in front of her, for fear of causing her friend more emotional pain, if such a thing were possible. Suki looked on the verge of tears, her eyes glistening, as she sat there, impulsively wringing her hands.
"Why didn't any of them tell me about this incident the first time?" She said finally, her voice hollow.
"It's not something we like to talk about," Suki said, sighing "Even with ourselves. I'm pretty sure Kurosawa or Nakagawa probably would've told you eventually. But now to the other reason I'm here." She breathed in a heavy sigh, but she shuddered as she exhaled, closing her eyes, clearly forcing herself to say the words she wanted to say. "I'm resigning my command and my commission effective immediately, and I hereby grant you a field promotion, effective immediately, to the rank of Captain and appoint you as the commanding officer of the Kyoshi Warriors, not just here on this ship, but back on the planet."
The words slammed into Ty Lee with the force of a bag full of hardened bricks, causing her to shake her head in disbelief, hyperventilating slightly as her head swam with confusion, shock, anger, all of which fought fiercely with two other competing urges, one to drag Suki down to sickbay by force and have Phlox examine her head, and two, to smack some sense into Suki, literally.
"Why," she said after her head cleared and she brought her breathing back under control. "Why are you doing this?"
"You saw what happened to me in that dream, Ty Lee," Suki said a hint of anger on her voice warping her voice. "You know and I know that I'm going to die today, when we board that Klingon ship in five hours." She relaxed, and, her voice shorn of anger, she said, "I would feel better knowing that when I died, I was leaving the Kyoshi Warriors in the hands of a woman of proven abilities, yet didn't have the Kyoshi Warrior training and therefore was more flexible, more capable of adapting to the changing military and political environment, and therefore able to convince others to do the same."
She shook her head roughly from side to side, anger suffusing her own voice. "That dream doesn't have to come true. My destiny, for the longest time, was to be Azula's crony forever. Do you know why I'm sitting here right now having this conversation with you? I freed [i]myself. I changed my destiny myself. If I can change my fate, change my life, then you surely can avoid whatever fate you feel is waiting for you on that ship."
"Death is inevitable," Suki said, shaking her head as he regarded her with annnoyance. "And my death will serve others. Every soldier puts on their uniform knowing that they may be called upon to die so that others may live. My time has come, and you know it."
"But," Ty Lee said, intent on arguing the point with her. Suki however, glared daggers at her , and shot her hand up.
"No, Ty!" Suki shouted. "There are some things in life that are beyond our control. This is one of them. I'm going to die today. My time has come and you know it. It's done. As much as I wish it otherwise, it is done." Without another word, Suki pushed her chair back and left the table, her footfalls echoing through the room as she made her way towards the door.
Ty Lee, stunned, watched her walk towards the door to the mess hall, struggling to find the words to say to her friend. Suki had reached the door when the words came to Ty. They were so simple, so to the point.
"It's been an honor to serve with you," Ty Lee said. "It really has."
Suki turned back, her eyes sad, and she smiled, a wan, resigned smile on her face. "Thank you, very much." Suki had turned back to the door when she found herself blurting out."
"And on the off-chance you don't die in the next few hours," she said. "What then?"
She heard Suki's audible sigh as she pressed the button next to the mess hall door. The door slid open with a dragon's hiss.
"We'll cross that bridge if we come to it." And without another word, she walked out the door, closing it behind her.
Captain Jonathan Archer of the starship Enterprise sat alone in his ready room, looking at the screen of his data terminal, looking over his logs from his last encounter with the Bortas. They had managed to escape the Bortas when she had been under the command of Captain Duras by luring her into a gas giants rings and detonating a spatial torpedo, which thereby disabled the ships sensors, allowing them to disable their weapons and engines and escape.
He thought about the differences between then and now and shuddered. We're not running from a fight this time. We're actively going to attack that ship, take her, and get our people back. There's no other option, I wish there were, but there isn't. When he thought about how the Klingons had reacted to just damaging the Bortas last time, he found himself thinking.
Imagine the dance I'm going to have to do to avoid a Klingon death sentence this time, he thought to himself.
It was at that point that the door chime rang. Returning himself to the moment, he leaned back in his chair and said, "Come."
The door slid open, and to his surprise Katara walked into the room. The young woman, clad as she was in the clothes of a MACO sans insignia was carrying a padd in her right hand and a half eaten bear claw, which she must've forgotten she had in the rush to come up and tell him whatever she had to tell him, in her left hand.
"May I come in, sir?" Katara asked, a curious expression on her face. "I have a few suggestions about our plans to rescue Mai and the others." Archer had a feeling in his gut that he knew what one of the suggestions was. Under normal circumstances, he would've taken that plan first but these were far from normal circumstances.
"Can I imagine that one of your suggestions is to avoid the full-scale boarding action aspect of the plan in favor of you and your team holding back the Klingons while the rest escaped?"
"That is the chief suggestion, Captain," Katara said, walking in and letting the door close behind her.
"Me, Sokka, Zuko and Suki could beam into the brig area once you disable the shields on the Bortas and hold off the Klingons while you beam out everyone they took."
"Out of the question," Archer said immediately. "Outside a solar system you're just another group of MACOs, good MACOs but still, experience has shown that small teams of MACOs don't stand much of a chance against Klingons. You'd hold out for thirty seconds, a minute at the most before you'd be killed, then we'd start pulling the dead bodies of those people off that ship."
"But to physically take her would in all probability start a war with the Klingons," she said anxiously, giving him an exasperated look with her cerulean blue eyes, and part of Archer once again wished he was still in his teens or early twenties. "With all due respect, the last thing our species needs right now is to be doing is fighting two enemies with faster and more powerful ships than we have. It would be suicidal."
"Don't you think I know that, Katara?" Archer said, getting up out of his chair and walking towards Katara, staring at her with an annoyed look.
Standing her ground and staring right back, she asked, "then why are we doing it?"
"Because we need to know why," Archer said, folding his arms. "Was this a rogue attack by a Klingon captain looking to increase his standing with Qo'noS? Or was this an operation sanctioned by Chancellor M'Rek and the Klingon High Council, another attempt to negate a so-called genetic advantage my people are getting?"
"Another attempt?" Katara asked quizzically, cocking her head to the side. "Oh, right that flu virus." After a moment she said, shaking her head, "Dear gods."
"Unfortunately," Archer said with a sigh, "the only way to find out both is for us to seize the ship."
"And if the Klingons find out, and decide to take it out on us?" Katara said, pointedly.
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Archer said. "Either way, we're taking that ship. All you have to decide is whether or not you're going to help."
"Of course I'll help, Captain," Katara said, a steely glint in her eye. "When the time comes, just get me and my friends aboard that ship, and we'll do our part. We'll find the prisoners, and ensure they get beamed out before we go and join the main fight."
Katara was silent for a few moments, during which time her eyes drifted over to her left hand and widened to the size of dinner plates, exposing the whites of her eyes, when she realized she was still holding the bear claw. She hastily finished it in three bites and when she was done, she pocketed her padd, which presumably carried her revision of Archer's attack plan and asked,
"How long until we catch up with Bortas?"
He checked the timer on his screen and said, "four and a half hours. Why?"
"There's one last person I want to see," she said finally before walking to the door. She pressed the door control and the ready room door slid open with a hiss. Before walking out she turned around and gave a firm nod to Captain Archer. Archer, recognizing the nod as one of one commander, albeit a subordinate one, to another, nodded back, before Katara left the room, the door closing behind her.
Archer gave a frustrated sigh and walked over to the window, looking out at the gossamer red and orange clouds of the Briar Patch.
"What has happened to this mission?" Archer said to no one in particular. When he'd left spacedock for that very first time, eager to return the Klingon courier Klaang to his homeworld. He had been so… eager then. He wanted to get out into deep space and prove the Vulcans wrong about humanity, that they were ready for deep space. He had wanted to explore worlds no other human had ever seen and experience things no other human had ever experienced. And he had done those things. But his mission of wild-eyed exploration had been marked from the start by a war being fought throughout time, and had ended when war that cost the lives of seven million people in the United States, Cuba, Jamaica, and Venezuela. Since then, it seemed like his life had been one unending battle against one threat to humanity's long-term survival or another: Xindi, time-travelling alien Nazis, renegade Vulcan military dictators, genetically-engineered throwbacks to the Eugenics Wars, Klingons, Romulans.
And now we come full circle, he thought to himself. I find myself out here, fighting my fellow humans and trying to protect them from threats beyond their world. I listen to Katara and Zuko tell stories about the century long war among the people on this planet, a war that began right when humanity on Earth had exhausted its own ability to destroy itself. I listen to them, and I can't help but wonder, "Were the Vulcans right? Should we never have tried to expand and explore beyond Sol and the surrounding systems? Are we really nothing more than brutal savages who still haven't learned to channel our aggression properly? Then without compulsion, images of Katara, Zuko, Sokka, Toph, and the others filed in front of his vision. He'd seen them in battle, fearless, brutal, and uncompromising. He'd seen them when they weren't, smiling and laughing. He'd seen them argue, even fight amongst themselves, and he felt happiness bubble up within him, and he let out a barking laugh, thinking about the fact that human nature transcended worlds.
We are ready, he thought to himself. As long as our species is truly fortunate to count people such as them among their number, than we are ready.
Archer smiled. We are ready. Now we have to ensure we survive.


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The pepper spray was a warning, then came a gunshot.
Henry Bartels said he was scared of his roommate so he dashed upstairs to get his husband's gun before firing a single shot.
The roommate said he was doing his laundry Friday night when Bartels, from whom he rents a room, suddenly assaulted him for no apparent reason.
Pierce County prosecutors on Monday charged Bartels, 56, with attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault and fourth-degree assault. He was ordered jailed in lieu of $500,000 bail.
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The roommate has lived in the home in the 9600 block of C Street East since last April, and told detectives Bartels has never liked him because he views him as rude.
Charging papers gave this account:
While the roommate was doing his laundry, Bartels began pepper spraying him while he stood on the porch. When the roommate yelled in protest, Bartels ran into the house, breaking the glass on the screen door, and retrieved a gun.
Bartels then yelled, "I'm going to kill you," before firing a round.
The roommate ran into the front yard and called 911. He was still there when deputies arrived.
After being arrested, Bartels said he pepper sprayed the victim as a "warning."
"The defendant stated he was scared of (his roommate) so he ran upstairs and armed himself with a gun, came downstairs with the gun and fired a round off into the air," documents show.
"He stated he was just trying to scare" the roommate.
Stacia Glenn: 253-597-8653


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There's so much you can do with the punch, and all sorts of animals. They're just adorable.
I wanted to make a woodsy scene, and it took a while to fit the animals on the card, but I managed to do it. I'm so excited ... here is the card I made:
Cardstock: early espresso, very vanilla, smoky slate, tip top taupe, cajun craze, basic black, whisper white
Ink: smoky slate, black memento, sahara sand, soft suede, wink of stella
Stamp Set: foxy friends
Accessories: woodlands EF, fox builder punch, wooden accents
I have some cards I need to make this month, and I think I just might use these cute little friends again. They're so cute!!!
See you tomorrow.


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Jubilee Vintage Street Party
With aims of recreating the community spirit of a bygone era, this Jubilee inspired street party has retro enjoyment at its heart. 'Mother's Ruin' Gin and Tea Rooms, a '50s style beauty parlour and even swing dancing sessions will be available for your enjoyment and amusement, and just around the corner in the Balham Community Space you can find children's entertainment with Punch and Jody shows- which will never go out of fashion.
|Event website:


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Bladder Cancer
Bladder cancer is a cancer that starts in the lining of the bladder, the balloon-shaped organ found in the lower part of the abdomen that stores urine. While bladder cancer can occur at any age, it typically affects older adults. Smokers are more likely to develop bladder cancer than nonsmokers. Workplace exposure also can be a contributing factor; people who have been exposed to certain industrial and organic chemicals may have an increased risk.
St. Luke's physicians from St. Luke's Center for Urology offer compassion and experience in diagnosing and treating bladder cancers using appropriate and effective treatment options.
Symptoms of bladder cancer can include:
- Blood in the urine
- Painful urination
- Frequent urination
- Feeling the urge to urinate but not being able to pass urine
- Frequent urinary tract infections
- Lower back pain on one side of the body
- Unexplained appetite loss and weight loss
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The treatment of bladder cancer depends on the tumor's clinical stage, how deep it has grown in the bladder and if it has spread to other organs.
Treatments may include:
- Surgery, including minimally invasive laparoscopic procedure. Surgery for bladder cancer may include any of the following types:
- Transurethral resection (TUR) or transurethral resection of the bladder tumor (TURBT)
- Partial cystectomy (part of the bladder is removed)
- Radical cystectomy (the entire bladder is removed), including nearby lymph nodes, part of the urethra and nearby organs that may contain cancer cells
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This is something that was part of my yearly goals last year, and still continues to be one. I am certainly not the best with my sleeping schedule: before the Christmas holiday I found myself going to bed around 3am which is not ideal. I try to get up to 8h sleep every night, I try to go to bed before midnight, but as I have absolutely no routine and reason to be out and about come 8 o'clock, I've really come to struggle with going to sleep at a reasonable hour. I've been a bit better while visiting my mum, but still - I am currently still in my PJs and it's nearly 5pm. Please, tell me I am not the only one who is this bad at being an adult/reasonable and responsible human bean!
But this is what I'm trying to do. Early to bed and early to rise, so that I can be all the things I want to be in 2018 and every other year: healthy, wealthy and wise. If enough sleep can make a man all that, it'll surely give something extra to a woman, right? I'd be happy to just be these three things, though!


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MP4 video no longer works in 4.18 for Android
We are trying to package the project with a single video. It's a base level with a mp4 video. It works very well with 4.17 version. We made all changes for the new frameworks. But it doesn't work. In PC it works.
asked Nov 29 '17 at 06:47 PM in Packaging & Deployment
smbv1 Jan 17 '18 at 12:27 AM
I have the same problem in 4.18.2, can't compile for android.
tgraupmann Jan 17 '18 at 12:29 AM
Can't compile for Android? In my case it always compiled, it's just video playback didn't work. You likely are just missing a dependency. You'll want to install Nvidia Codeworks to get the compile dependencies. And then in your project settings enable Android. There wasn't much to configure after that.
smbv1 Jan 17 '18 at 12:32 AM
Sorry, I can compile, but the video doesn't play on the material. Is there any other way to make the animated material to play, at least 50 frames sequence of images?
tgraupmann Jan 17 '18 at 12:34 AM
I stayed on 4.17 to get video playback working that follows the documented way to do it. That said, UE4 Staff have commented on my thread about the steps needed to make it work in 4.18. I have not verified that it works. If you can make it work, plz let me know. - https://answers.unrealengine.com/questions/740083/android-streaming-mediaplayer-clearing-gl-error-0x.html Thanks!
IslandPlaya Feb 07 '18 at 11:33 AM
Has anyone come up with a solution for this? I tried using a material with external sampler source and UI domain instead of directly using the media texture as suggested elsewhere. Still no video output on Android but works fine on windows. I'd hate to have to go back to 4.17 just because of this. Cheers.
IntervideoFilm Feb 27 '18 at 01:01 PM
I'm still having an issue with this in 4.18.3. It works with ES3.1, but not ES2.
This is a known issue. We just fixed it for 4.18.2.
answered Nov 29 '17 at 06:53 PM
VR-EVO Nov 29 '17 at 06:58 PM
Thanks! When it will be possible to download this new version? We only see 4.18.1. Thanks in advance.
gmpreussner STAFF Nov 29 '17 at 07:06 PM
Should be pretty soon. Cut-off date for 4.18.2 fixes is today.
VR-EVO Nov 29 '17 at 07:08 PM
Thanks! :)
Tosom Dec 03 '17 at 09:26 AM
Same problem for me. When will be ready to download 4.18.2? Thxs
olim_simon Dec 04 '17 at 01:07 AM
I have downloaded entire UE4 source code from github and adapted modified code which is commented above, but still the bug arises. What can I do more? Mp4 file is normal and playing in Window is OK, but On Android it does not work.
Tosom Dec 12 '17 at 03:27 PM
Finally 4.18.2 is here but still the same problem. New proyect in 4.18.2, third person & configured for mobile (android). New default level with only 3 planes in scene. I downloaded sample video from link text
and follow the steps for create file media source,media player & media texture, etc and everything works perfect but when I package in ASTC and try to play it, videos are invisible but the sound is working and the most stranger thing is when I shoot the weapon from the third person and the ball (proyectile) hit where the planes would be then I see the plane in red color, no video. What can I do?
tgraupmann Dec 25 '17 at 08:28 PM
The fix or something related appears to have broken Android Mp4 streaming.
Android MP4 video streaming works in 4.17, but it broke in 4.18.
If you are using a UMG widget to show the mediatexture, please make sure you create a Slate material to sample the media texture and assign it to the widget instead of directly using the mediatexture.
answered Jan 08 '18 at 07:23 PM
Chris Babcock STAFF
Erzz May 17 '18 at 05:37 PM
Thank you, this fixed it for me. You may wish to update this tutorial with that step. It worked on PC, but resulted in a black screen on Android before I made this change.
Hi, i have the same issue and i need help plase, im working in a important proyect. It is not work yet on 18.2? i cant fixed it.
answered Dec 26 '17 at 07:33 PM
tgraupmann Dec 26 '17 at 08:58 PM
I just realized that Android MP4 Streaming works in 4.17 but not 4.18.
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text:
Price: £25.00
Quantity: 1 available
Signed by Moore on title page. Illustrated d/jkt, unclipped, in clear film. Dk blue boards; bright; generally unworn, but a few small marks. ; 8vo (5 3/4" x 9"); 271 pages; Signed by Author
Title: Cold Heaven
Categories: Suspense,
Edition: First
Publisher: London, Jonathan Cape: 1983
ISBN Number: 0224020994
ISBN Number 13: 9780224020992
Binding: Hardback
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text:
Unnecessary and unwanted baggage weighs down both our inner and outer worlds. Here are some valuable tips on how to de-clutter both worlds, a must for living a life of freedom. Since your external environment is just a reflection of your inner one, begin by clearing your inner space first. Here's how:
Detox your inner space
• Smell the roses. In other words, slow down the frantic pace of your life. This is the first thing to do to make all the other strategies effective. Life is not a race you need to run; there is no final destination. Remember that freedom and happiness cannot be achieved by running a mad race is being run after a seemingly elusive goal. Never mistake frantic activity for genuine progress.
• Live for today, fully. Yesterday is only alive in your own mind; the future is yet to materialise. The past cannot be changed and the future is uncertain. Don't worry about what's not under your control, work with what is. Remember, tomorrow never comes; when it arrives, it's today.In this moment lies your true power to decide how you want your life to be.
• We may passionately know what we don't want in life, but do we know what we really want? Be clear about this; focus on it. Keep your mind free from all things you don't want, since by thinking about them, you are actually feeding them. You are the creator of your life experience and you do it through what you choose to focus on. This is a powerful truth that can change your life completely if you apply it.
• Count your blessings – literally. All of us have things in our life to be happy about. Look to the sunshine and you won't see the shadows of life. Write down 10 blessings of your life, then read them daily, with feeling. Don't believe us? Try it and see.
•Blame and resentment will weigh you down. If you truly accept responsibility for your life, you will spontaneously release all blame and resentment. Holding onto some hurt or hatred over what others may have done in the past makes you their slave in the present. Stay away from chronic moaners and complainers. The more you judge others, yourself and the world, the heavier you become: every judgement you make is extra weight you carry around inside your head. Adopt the principle "live and let live". Detox your own inner and outer space and let others worry about their own happiness.
Detox your outer space
• Decide which room will be the top priority. No point tackling the whole house at once. Remember the saying "You can only eat an elephant one bite at a time."
• Take a long, hard look at what you see in the room. Which areas are stagnant and full of clutter? Look at the corners and the things stuffed into closets. Are there any drawers which you never even open? If so, prioritise these.
• Set up a system of plastic boxes. Label them like this:
"To throw away" (anything broken, irreparable or out of date)
"Charity / giveaways / for sale"
"For repair" (Be ruthless here! Only repair something you will use again)
"Not in this room" (things that belong elsewhere)
• Group similar items together, but before you do this take a look at your items and decide what memories they hold. Do not keep things that you feel you ought to but don't truly like – for example, an unwanted gift that was never your style yet is displayed to keep others happy. Only keep things with positive messages.
• Anything you haven't used or have forgotten about over the past year gets given away. Unused things hold stagnant energy and also remind you of things you wanted to do, but never did. How many of us hold onto exercise machines or tennis racquets that we haven't used for years? If you have a storeroom full of things that never see the light of day until you move house (only to be stored again), then you need to question why you hold on so much.
• All masters of feng shui agree that energy (chi) needs to circulate freely around your home, so the main entrance is vital as this is where energy enters your home. Remove all clutter from inside and outside the main door and hallway. Invest in neat shoe cabinets, remove any dead or dying plants, and invest in bright, welcoming lighting.
• Wardrobes and clothes need to be cleared at least annually. Categorise clothes according to use – long dresses, tops, bottoms, and so on. Also, colour co-ordinate your clothes as you hang them. You'll get negative messages each time you look into the closet if you face clothes that are now too tight, so give away anything that doesn't fit. It's also harder to lose weight if you have negative reminders around.
• Piles of paper on desks literally weigh down your creativity and career progress. Too many personal items on a desk detract from work focus and create stagnation. Clear the clutter on your computer, too: trash unwanted emails and out-of-date files, and establish a clear filing and retrieval system.
SoulCentre Academy offers classes in meditation, feng shui, life guidance and healing, as well as free talks and more. Visit www.soulcentre.org for more information.


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Accepting Ancient Alien Shock - Ancient Alien Theory ReleasedWed, 01/26/2011
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The unexplained ancient temples with amazing technology, like the site Pumu Punku.
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It means we will have to leave behind the comforting yet juvenile ideas of a 'virgin birth' and start to see the possibility of advanced engineering of life on earth, (much as we do in our own labs). Visits from 'god', flying 'chariots of fire,' cave paintings and UFO's will be seen to depict what they were actually trying to depict: the fact that advanced technology did indeed exist on earth many millennia ago. With evidence of "Ancient Airstrips" like the Nazca Lines.
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What exactly is Nokia 6681 phone unlocking ?
The majority of service providers lock their phones to their network, stopping you from using your phone on various other service providers. Basically , they want to retain your business as the phone can only work only on their Network. Phone unlocking is the way of releasing the Network lock from the phone. Nokia 6681 Unlocking can be carried out by a choice between obtaining an unlock code that is calculated from your Nokia 6681 unique IMEI number or perhaps by downloading unlocking software to unlock your phone directly. Be aware: An unlocked 2G phone will not take a 3G simcard. However an unlocked 3G handset can take and work with a 2G phone. 3G phones have reverse compatibility which enables those to recognize and operate with a 2G simcard Nevertheless, an unlocked 2G phone cannot recognise the newer 3G/4G sim card technology.
Is Nokia 6681 unlocking illegal?
In great britain unlocking your Nokia 6681 phone is absolutely legal but unblocking a Nokia 6681 phone that is reported lost or stolen is illegal. In the USA according to a ruling on the 28th October 2012 , means that it is illegal to unlock phones purchased ninety days after this date without the carrier's agreement. In other words, users may unlock phones they already own, in addition to phones purchased before January 29 , 2013 , nevertheless phones purchased after this point can only be un-locked with the carrier's authorization. For additional country legislation visit this site:
How can I check to see if my Nokia 6681 phone is locked ?
The least complicated way to check if your Nokia 6681 phone is locked will be to stick in a SIM card from a different carrier and see if the phone will accept it. In the event that your Nokia 6681 phone is locked you will usually see an error message of some kind. A majority of these messages are different depending on your phone manufacturer. Here are a few examples ;
- "Enter restriction code" or "SIM card rejected"
- "Enter special code" or "Enter Subsidy code"
- "Enter Correct SIM"
- "Incorrect SIM"
- "Invalid Network SIM…Enter Code"
- "Invalid SIM"
- "Phone disabled ! NETWORK LOCK"
- "Invalid Network SIM"
Should you not have access to a SIM card from an alternative carrier in that case there exists a less scientific method you may use to verify if your Nokia 6681 phone is locked. Simply look to see if your network has placed their logo on your Nokia 6681 phone any where. As an illustration in great britain orange usually lock their handsets additionally they usually "badge" their Nokia 6681 phones with their own Orange company logo possibly on the front or even the back of the Nokia 6681 handset.
Nokia 6681 PUK Codes
PUK is short for Personal unblocking Code. You have to enter it if you have typed your personal pin code wrong. This acts as a security feature on your Nokia 6681 phone. If you do not have your PUK code , you should make contact with your Network provider that will supply the PUK code after several security checks.
How to Unlock your Nokia 6681 Phone
There are a number of methods to get your Nokia 6681 Phone unlocked;
Nokia 6681 Unlocking by Unlock Code using your IMEI number:
Unlock your Nokia 6681 by unlock Code is substantially the least complicated method to unlock your Nokia 6681 phone. You can simply buy your Nokia 6681 unlock code from a web-site which will then email your Nokia 6681 unlock code to you therefore you just simply enter the Nokia 6681 unlock code into your phone. Straightforward as that and also a good number of site can send you the code within a day or so and some are instant. You can even apply for the Nokia 6681 unlock code from your service provider.
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If you're technically experienced and are feeling adventurous , an increasingly popular preference to unlock your Nokia 6681 phone making use of Nokia 6681 Unlock software. To unlock your Nokia 6681 phone via Nokia 6681 unlocking software , you will have a Nokia 6681 data Cable to connect your Nokia 6681 phone to your PC in-order to allow the software to unlock your Nokia 6681 . The cable which is supplied with the Nokia 6681 phone will work typically however for specific phones , you should have a Nokia 6681 unlocking cable
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If the carrier who locked the Nokia 6681 phone agrees and supplies you with the code to unlock your Nokia 6681 then is totally acceptable all of which will not have an effect on your warranty. In the event that however you unlock the Nokia 6681 by any other technique you will completely void the warranty and void any potential some help from the service provider or manufacture.


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Stealth 520 - Microphone Not Working
If you can hear game audio through the Stealth 520 headset but the microphone isn't working, please check the following:
1. The Mic Boom is Connected Correctly
The Mic Boom must be plugged into the Mic Boom Jack on the Left Earcup of the Headset. The Left Earcup does not have any buttons or controls; all functional buttons are on the Right Earcup. The 3.5mm jack on the Right Earcup may be mistaken for the Mic Boom Jack; however, that is the Mobile Connection jack intended for use with the included Mobile Cable.
2. The Mic Boom is Plugged Fully into the Mic Boom Jack
After checking that the mic boom is plugged into the correct jack, make sure the mic is plugged fully into the Mic Boom Jack. Disconnect the mic boom by pulling it straight out and plug it back in, making sure to plug it in until you hear a "click". This may take a couple of tries.
3. The PS3/PS4 Chat Settings are Configured
If you are able to hear yourself through the headset when you speak into the mic, then the mic boom itself is working properly but the settings on your console may not be configured for headset use.
PS4: Go to Settings > Devices > Audio Devices and select USB Headset (Stealth 520). Go back one screen to "Adjust Microphone Level" and follow the on-screen calibration instructions. If the bar moves when you speak into the mic, you have verified that the mic is working properly.
PS3: Go to Settings > Accessory Settings > Audio Device Settings and select the headset as the default Input and Output Device. If the bar moves when you speak into the mic, you have verified that the mic is working properly.
If the microphone still isn't working, please contact our support team: Contact Support
9 comments
Hello turtle beach. I bought your turtle beach stealth 520 headset and I have been experiencing issues with the microphone not working. I have followed all the steps on both youtube that was posted by your company and the manual guide that was given. The headset has already been set up but and I can hear my friends in chat but, I cannot respond. The headset is new and I have just got it today so, the microphone was not broken. Canyou please help me with
Sorry to hear the two of you have an issue with the mic.
If you have tried everything here, in our guides, etc. then it may be unfortunately an issue with the mic proper.
If the you can hear others, but they cannot hear you then that would unfortunately lead to the Microphone as the culprit. We understand this is new, but a dud like this can still happen even to the best of us. In that case, swapping out the microphone would be the next bet.
If the store cannot help you in regards a full exchange, then our support team can help you with sending out a replacement part as needed.
If it fails to respond while charging, and you have tried it on more than one device(away from console to charge) then you would want to contact our warranty team for service if applicable.
Bought the 520 and the mic boom crackles and sometimes goes out. I switched the boom with my 400 (headset snapped) and it works fine. Sometimes my friends complain that I sound too loud, even if my setting are low. And for the record, this headset DOES work on PC. Someone from Turtle Beach posted on Amazon saying it didn't. -_-
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YouTube Video Optimization
Crunchgear has a cool article on optimizing video for YouTube. This is cool because I just started loading videos and need all the help I can get. I can't afford Adobe Premiere ($799), but have heard good things about ULEAD ($99.99) and QuickTime Pro ($29.99). I have used Microsoft MovieMaker for now since it is free, but I am about to invest in a video cam and will be making a software investment as well. DownloadSquad also has a cool article on audio/video codec installers.


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Last Saturday I was lucky enough to attend the launch of the new brand Urban Veda here in Waterford in Shaws Department stores. Urban Veda is a natural skincare brand that prides itself on using only organic ingredients to create it's products. The range consists of four different skin care regimens and each regimen is tailored depending on ones skin type and skin concerns. Each regimen also has it's own scent and outer packaging colour so that there's no need to remember the name of the line or the name of the product but just the colour of it.
The event itself was displayed rather neatly in the centre of Shaws Department near the beauty section. The entire range was aligned on the shelves, which each of the different regimens getting it's own shelf. They looked so pretty and colourful and to be honest the packaging is one of simplest yet eye-catching packaging that I've seen from a skincare brand.
Ciara, the Urban Veda representative was present on the day to explain everything that there is to know about the brand itself. She also explained that all of the products can be used on sensitive skin and acne prone skin. The great thing about this range is that it comes with a do it yourself questionnaire that can be filled out in order to allow you to know which range is best suited to your skin type. The Reviving range is the one that can be used universally however it is rose scented and I know not everyone likes rose.
In total there are four ranges. The Radiance range used Tumeric as it's active ingredient in order to brighten the complexion as it's a natural anti-oxidant.
The Soothing range uses sandalwood which is an antimicrobial and an antiseptic. The helps greatly with those of us that suffer with dehydrated and sensitive skin.
The Purifying range uses Neem Oil which has cleansing, toning and moisturising properties which is perfect for use on oil skin types.
As I've already mentioned the Reviving range can be used on all skin types as it's a very nourishing range due to the rose flower water that is in it. Ciara said that she personally tends to recommend this line from Urban Veda for those that have mature skin or are tired. I personally think this line would be amazing for those that are just after having a baby. You can even gift basket the whole range and it would make an amazing baby shower gift.
Urban Veda have also released travel sizes of all there products so I've want to get them to try the brand before getting the full size. They also have parcels of their products in which you get three full sized products at a slightly lower price point that if you were to buy them individually.
I got given so many samples of the products on the day from the very generous Ciara and I also picked up the Soothing Hydrating Toner myself to try so I will of course have reviews coming up soon for all those products as soon as I've given a proper testing.


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High-Tech Plumbing Recall in Japan
I had to replace a toilet seat today. $13.88 worth of painted particle board. When I got home I discovered it was exactly the same brand and color as the broken one, which means that this one has an expected lifespan of 4 years.
But apparently I'm not a very choosy toilet seat shopper. All I ask is for the seat be sufficiently robust to support the weight of one person, that the color roughly matches that of the the toilet, and that there be no splinters. Consumers in Japan have higher standards. A typical Japanese home bathroom has something called a "washlet" -- a combination of a toilet and bidet.
There is a Japanese company named Toto (no relation to the famous Kansan pooch) which is known for high-tech washlets which feature (in addition to front and rear washing) heated seats, blow-dryers and even air purifiers. That's a lot of high-tech wizardry for the place where you sit and do your daily sudoku. And it's apparently not foolproof. Toto recently revealed that 26 of its washlets had malfunctioned by emitting smoke and that another three had caught fire. And a company named INAX, owned by JS Group Corp., confessed that 7 of its washlets had smoked or caught fire. INAX had previously recalled 30,000 washlets in 1985 due to cases of overheating and fire.
When it comes to working my sudokus, I'm sticking with my painted particle board seat with no wires or sophisticated plumbing. I will, however, continue to use my fancy mechanical pencil.