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About the awards
The ACT Training Awards are an annual opportunity to showcase the commitment, innovation and outstanding achievements of all those involved in the ACT vocational education and training (VET) sector.
The awards encompass the opportunity to recognise and reward the success of individuals and organisations in the ACT across 14 categories. Winners in aligned categories will go on to compete for national success at the Australian Training Awards.
4 March 2019 - ACT Training Awards nominations open
16 May 2019 - ACT Training Awards nominations close
12 September 2019 - ACT Training Awards presentation event
18 to 22 November 2019 - Australian Training Awards finalist week (Brisbane)
21 November 2019 - Australian Training Awards presentation evening (Brisbane)
Winners from the 2019 ACT Training Awards (in aligned categories) have the opportunity to compete with other states and territories to win the title of the 'best in Australia' at the Australian Training Awards.
The 2019 Australian Training Awards will be held in Brisbane, Queensland on 21 November 2019.
For more information please visit the Australian Training Awards website.
Being an ambassador
Winners and finalists of the ACT Training Awards are recognised as ambassadors for the ACT vocational education and training (VET) sector and are at times called upon to participate in forums and speak at events.
The Awards are a great opportunity to identify VET students that showcase the range of opportunities and careers available through a VET pathway.
As an ACT Training Awards winner, you may be invited to participate in many activities following the awards, including but not limited to:
- photo and video shoots promoting your achievements
- media opportunities (speaking with local media outlets)
- presenting at stakeholder forums
- judging for your award category in future years
- involvement in professional development days for future winners
- presenting at industry and VET sector events.
Winners from the ACT Training Awards (in eligible categories) will represent the ACT at the Australian Training Awards. Our ambassadors represent the great outcomes Canberra's VET sector produces and build the reputation of our VET community to both the ACT and the rest of Australia.
By sharing your experiences, advice and knowledge, you can encourage people of all ages and backgrounds to realise how VET can benefit them and potentially change their lives. In addition, you may be able to inspire employers and training providers to review their training methods and continue to make improvements.
You can represent the ACT VET sector as a VET Ambassador in many different ways and all ACT Training Awards finalists and winners have a story worth sharing.
The ACT Training Awards relies on the contributions of our generous sponsors. Sponsorship provides your organisation with a unique opportunity to gain positive exposure for your business and displays its commitment to vocational education and training in the ACT.
Sponsorship opportunities for the 2019 ACT Training Awards will be available shortly.
2018 winners
Name: Matthew Egan
Qualification: Certificate III in Electrotechnology Electrician
Training provider: Canberra Institute of Technology
Employer: NECA Group Training
Host employer: Star Group
Matthew completed his Certificate III in Electrotechnology Electrician with the Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT). He was employed by NECA Electrical Apprenticeships and host employer, Star Group.
With the electrical industry moving forward with energy efficient products and systems, Matthew enjoys that he can contribute to the larger picture of clean energy.
To help broaden his career options and keep his skills up-to-date, Matthew also completed a renewable energy skill set at CIT which gave him a Statement of Attainment in Working in the Wind Industry. Because of this, Matthew was presented with an opportunity to travel to Europe under the Commonwealth funded VET Outbound Mobility Program and experience firsthand renewable energy practices from world leaders in renewable energy.
Matthew hopes to use what he has learnt through this experience to help shape change in Canberra and surrounding areas, and to be a champion for renewable energy.
Name: Tylah Saunders
Qualification: Certificate III in Business
Training provider: Australian Training Company
Employer: Australian Training Company
Host Employer: ANU College of Science
Tylah completed her Certificate III in Business through the Australian Training Company with host employer the Australian National University (ANU) College of Science.
The opportunity to study business and work concurrently excited Tylah, as she felt it would give her the balance she was looking for in her first year out of school.
During her traineeship, Tylah has experienced enormous growth in her confidence and self-esteem which has helped her to accept challenges and new tasks. She has been rewarded at work, being given more responsibilities such as purchasing local Indigenous artwork and organising launch events for them.
Tylah has recently accepted a 24-month contract with the ANU, commencing a new traineeship in a Certificate IV in Business. She hopes to see young people like her siblings create opportunities for themselves later on in life via a VET pathway as she has done.
Name: Danielle Jackson
Qualification: Certificate IV in Aged Care
Training provider: Quest Training Solutions
Employer: Australian Training Company
Host employer: Villaggio Sant Antonio
Danielle has always known that she wanted to work in an environment where she would be helping people. In 2017, Danielle completed work experience at Villagio Sant Antonio, and as a result of her work ethic and passion, she was offered a traineeship.
When Danielle first started her traineeship, she had no idea where it would lead her, but completing the Certificate IV in Ageing and Support has opened up numerous opportunities to her and proved to be a pathway for employment and further study in the field of Nursing.
In 2017, while studying and working full-time, Danielle completed UC Connect, granting her entry into a Bachelor of Medical Science at the University of Canberra. After completing her traineeship and working in aged care at Villaggio Sant Antonio, Danielle leaves work every day knowing that she has had a positive, and possibly lasting, influence on the facility's residents.
Name: Miah Jagoe-Shaw
Qualification: Certificate III in Individual Support
Training provider: Quest Training Solutions
Employer: Australian Training Company
Host employer: The Woden School
School: Hawker College
Miah is currently undertaking an Australian School-based Apprenticeship (ASBA) in a Certificate III Individual Support (Disability) hosted by The Woden School. Her employer is the Australian Training Company and her registered training organisation is Quest Training Solutions.
Miah is passionate about helping people and hopes her work within the disability sector can make a difference to people's lives.
Miah chose an ASBA pathway to allow her to finish year 12 with a work ready qualification. Through her ASBA, Miah has developed her non-verbal communication, as many of the students she supports are not able to communicate verbally. Earlier this year, Miah undertook an Auslan course to further support her studies.
Outside of her ASBA, Miah is an active member of the Indigenous Interest Group at Hawker College and played a significant role in setting up the Indigenous Resource Room at the school.
Name: Sophie Corver
Qualification: Certificate I Furnishing
Training provider: Daramalan College
The School House Captain at Daramalan College, Sophie is studying a Certificate I in Furnishing. Having studied wood technology since she was 10 years old, Sophie also participates in structured work placements during the school holidays with a local furniture company.
Sophie believes her training has helped her develop her problem solving, team work and communication skills and has become a leader in her class often assisting her peers with their work.
As the only girl in her furnishing class, Sophie recognises there is a lack of women completing practical courses such as furniture making or automotive technology and hopes to encourage younger female students to try a technology trade.
In her spare time, Sophie has represented the ACT in AFL, competed at the national level in rowing and has a black belt in Taekwondo.
Name: Evan Street
Employer: Canberra Institute of Technology
A teacher at the Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT), Evan delivers a range of welding and metal fabrication classes to apprentices and night welding classes for the Canberra community.
Evan maintains a flexible training environment where students are able to undertake self-paced learning and utilises a project based assessment model to assess student's skills holistically.
Evan understands the importance of building strong relationships both internally and externally to ensure students receive a high quality education that meets industry needs and demands. Evan's relationships with industry give CIT access to some of the latest technology including the supply of data recording devices linked to welding machines. These devices allow accurate information to be recorded while students are welding, providing students with instant and precise feedback on their performance.
In 2017, Evan was awarded the CIT Student Association Teacher of the Year for Trade Skills and Vocational Learning.
Name: SPARK Strathnairn Construction Program
- Riverview Projects (ACT) Pty Ltd
- Quality Training in Construction
- Strathnairn Arts Association
- ACT Suburban Land Agency
The SPARK Strathnairn Construction Program (SPARK) is a four-way collaboration between Riverview Projects (ACT) Pty Ltd, the ACT Government Suburban Land Agency, Quality Training in Construction and the Strathnairn Arts Association.
SPARK delivers Certificate II in Construction to individuals disconnected from the labour market in the Belconnen and wider Canberra region. The program also delivers white card, asbestos awareness and industry work placements.
Social inclusion is a key component of the Ginninderry development with a strong focus on improving the education, social and economic outcomes of residents in the local area over the life of the project. The program is specifically delivered within a community facility in the Belconnen region rather than a traditional education setting to create a non-threatening learning environment for participants.
Participants in the 2017 program increased their self-esteem, confidence, academic learning ability, work readiness and most have now gained employment as a direct result.
Rick Maier Paint Plus
Rick Maier Paint Plus is a painting and decorating business specialising in heritage and renovated private residential works. Founder Rick was the ACT Apprentice of the Year in 2005 and since then has maintained his desire to encourage and support others to undertake apprenticeships, with over nine employees having completed apprenticeships under his guidance.
Over the past 12 years Rick Maier Paint Plus has increased from one employee to a current staff of nine, of which six have completed or are currently undertaking their apprenticeship. Taking on apprentices has increased business productivity, enhanced communication between employees and clients, and created a positive working environment.
Collectively Rick and his apprentices have won multiple awards in the ACT building industry.
In 2016, one of Rick's apprentices competed in the painting and decorating competition at the WorldSkills National Championships in Melbourne, after having won the Canberra Regional WorldSkills competition in 2015.
Flexible Transport Services, Transport Canberra and City Services Directorate
Flexible Transport Services (FTS), part of the ACT Government Transport Canberra and City Services Directorate, is responsible for ensuring Canberrans have access to an accessible bus service.
In 2017, FTS was actively looking for opportunities to provide additional relevant, appropriate training to staff. Special Needs Transport Attendants (SNT) assist young people of school age with disabilities to travel on buses to and from home to attend special needs schools around the ACT.
In 2017, 13 SNTs took part in the new Certificate II Community Services training initiative. The SNT Training Program was very successful in assisting FTS to improve its services, including enhanced work health & safety, increased client satisfaction and a more productive and collaborative workplace.
As the first round of the SNT training program covered 32.5 per cent of current staff, FTS has committed to another round of training opportunities in the near future.
McDonald's North Canberra
McDonald's North Canberra is one of the largest licensee organisations within McDonald's Australia with a total of 12 restaurants and over 1,100 employees. Currently, McDonald's North Canberra have 83 crew members completing traineeships and more than 75 managers completing certificates, diplomas and advanced diplomas.
Traineeships provide a strong foundation for a management career at McDonald's or with another organisation within the retail, hospitality or business sector. McDonald's offers the Certificate II in Retail as recognition to crew members who show potential in their work performance and the Certificate III in Retail is offered to those crew members who wish to move into a supervisory role. It develops the skills and knowledge of senior crew members, crew trainers and individuals who show leadership potential.
To ensure traineeships are executed successfully, each restaurant has a workplace coach who meets regularly with each trainee and supports them through the program.
Wisdom Learning
With a commitment to excellence and leading practice in vocational education and training for the public and private sectors, Wisdom Learning aspires to help people and organisations reach their full potential through the provision of truly effective, relevant and high quality learning solutions.
Wisdom has 24 qualifications on its nationally recognised scope of registration, from Certificate III to Graduate Diploma levels, across: Property Services; Training and Education; Business Services; and Government. In the last four years, over 650 trainees/apprentices, mostly ACT residents, have completed qualifications with Wisdom.
Aiming to provide the most imaginative and innovative Educational Technology (Ed Tech) and learning spaces available, Wisdom deploys their learning management system and Ed Techs to inspire and engage their students in digital/online learning environments. This has improved their existing service promise to provide students with modern, contemporary opportunities to 'inspire, create, learn, challenge, innovate and grow'.
Canberra Institute of Technology
Training around 20,000 students each year and delivering 280 qualifications, The Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) has a long dedicated history providing technical and further education in the ACT and surrounding area.
CIT offers apprenticeships, traineeships and certificate level training through to diplomas, bachelor degrees and graduate certificates. CIT is growing the region's talent and economy by developing and delivering innovative skills training for new and emerging industries and responding to government priorities.
Central to the new culture of innovation taking hold is CIT's ongoing transformation through the implementation of the Strategic Compass 2020 – Evolving Together (SC2020).
Through new commitments embodied in the nine SC2020 projects, CIT's transformation has delivered an organisation-wide shift in new thinking and new practices with a vision of being the leader in vocational education and training locally, nationally and globally.
Glenn Carter
Glenn completed his apprenticeship with HIA Group Training as a Carpenter in Sydney in the early 1980s and progressed to complete his building license at Ultimo TAFE some years later.
Glenn moved to Canberra in 1997 and commenced work at the Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) as a casual teacher. This was a particularly challenging time at CIT in the construction faculty as the student numbers were quite low, however, this created opportunities for Glenn to secure employment as a trade teacher and apply his skills in establishing high quality training for apprentices.
In 2002 Glenn stepped up as the Head of Department in Building and Construction at CIT and in 2007, Glenn was successful in winning the Director position for the Building and Environment Centre, a position he held for 6 years. In this role Glenn championed the integration of new technology into training to better support students and was a key driver in supporting staff to consider flexible and alternative delivery models to meet industry demand and changes. Glenn worked closely with staff to develop blended and flexible delivery training models that incorporated the latest technology and utilised the resources at hand to meet the demand of today's student needs.
In 2013 Glenn was appointed to the role of CEO at the ACT Building and Construction Industry Training Fund Authority (TFA). Over the past five years at the TFA Glenn has continued to promote increased productivity and career opportunities ensuring equitable distribution of training funds to employers and employees in the ACT Building and Construction Industry.
Glenn is an engaging leader who has positively influenced those around him to explore options and continually seek to improve oneself. Throughout his 20+ year working career in VET Glenn has continually endeavoured to improve opportunities for industry and students under his care. Glenn has always pushed the barriers forward to allow students and industry to embrace the opportunities and experience quality training and education for the benefit of all.
Kevin Patchell
Kevin Patchell held a number of distinguished senior leadership positions with the Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) and CIT Solutions Pty Ltd over a 20-year period. Kevin brought to CIT and CIT Solutions his valuable depth and breadth of experience, knowledge and skills honed from working across local and federal government agencies and in private enterprise.
Kevin's commitment to good governance, high standards of integrity and propriety, and excellent financial management have contributed strongly to the two organisations becoming strong, sustainable and respected ACT institutions delivering quality vocational education and training to government employees and individuals across the ACT, the nation and internationally.
Kevin became a member of the CIT Advisory Council (CITAC) in November 1997 and was later appointed Deputy Chair in 2006. Kevin chaired the CIT Resources Board from 1998 to 2003 when he was appointed Chair of the CIT Audit Committee. In these positions Kevin led CIT's strategic direction that in 2015 saw it attain greater autonomy when CITAC was replaced with a new CIT Board.
Kevin's professional strengths and abilities have made a significant impact on the ACT's VET environment. He has shown himself to be a strategic and conceptual thinker with an understanding of the contemporary issues facing VET, and strong understanding of the market and regulatory challenges facing both CIT and CIT Solutions.
It is through Kevin's leadership and focus on the continual review of CIT's performance, and the measures identified to provide that assurance, that CIT and CIT Solutions maintain the quality of their work in the VET sector as a whole – a legacy he can be proud of.
Kevin's high standards of governance and financial management have helped make CIT Solutions a sustainable, high growth and profitable company delivering high quality vocational education and training to government agencies and individuals in Australia and internationally.


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Arduino Yun is the first member of a new groundbreaking line of WiFi products combining the power Linux with ease of use of Arduino. The first Arduino Yun is the combination of a classic Arduino Leonardo (based on the Atmega32U4 processor) with a WiFi system-on-a-chip running Linino (a MIPS GNU/Linux based on OpenWRT). Arduino embedded the Linux machine directly on the PCB of the Arduino Leonardo and connected the two so that from Arduino very easy to run commands on the Linux side and use it as an Ethernet and WiFi interface.
The Arduino Yún is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega32u4 and the Atheros AR9331. The Atheros processor supports a Linux distribution based on OpenWrt named OpenWrt-Yun. The board has built-in Ethernet and WiFi support, a USB-A port, micro-SD card slot, 20 digital input/output pins (of which 7 can be used as PWM outputs and 12 as analog inputs), a 16 MHz crystal oscillator, a micro USB connection, an ICSP header, and a 3 reset buttons.
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subset: commoncrawl


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'Would you like to Super Size that?'
The day before the United States premiere of Super Size Me, Morgan Spurlock's chronicle of a month spent eating nothing but McDonald's, the fast-food chain announced a new product. Surreally, the GoActive Happy Meal comprises a salad, a bottle of water — and a free pedometer.
'The timing was just an amazing coincidence," says Spurlock, arching his eyebrows as he echoes the McDonald's official line on the matter.
Soon after, they began phasing out Super Size meals, too.
'Again — just a coincidence." And weeks beforehand, Jim Cantalupo, the company's burger-loving US chief executive, died of a heart attack. 'Another amazing coincidence!" exclaims Spurlock — which in that instance, assuming no divine intervention in collaboration with his documentary's publicists, it presumably was.
'Obviously," he adds, poker-faced, 'a very sad coincidence." Nothing about the 34-year-old's $65 000 film project seemed destined to make the Golden Arches wobble.
Spurlock was mainly known, if at all, for a gonzo reality show called I Bet You Will ('We once persuaded a Wall Street trader to sell us the clothes off his back," he recalls. 'We left him in his underwear and his shoes at eight in the morning.") And in any case, McDonald's executives must have reasoned, who wants to watch someone shovel away 90 consecutive meals of burgers, buckets of fries, plasticky cheese and litres of Coke, just in case it sends them into some sort of grotesque physical and mental meltdown? Well, yes, exactly: everyone does!
'That's the great thing," says Spurlock, now apparently recovered from his ordeal and lounging next to a huge plate of pastries at London's Dorchester hotel. 'You already have an investment in the movie just because you want to know what happens to this guy. It's a great way to take the edge off a very preachy subject." At the US box office the film has taken more than $10-million.
Spurlock's journey to dietary hell is the core of the film — the rules are that he must eat everything on the menu at least once during the month, and must always answer 'yes" to the question: 'Would you like to Super Size that?" But following the Mary Poppins principle about a spoonful of sugar Super Size Me also manages to weave in a powerful argument about the politics of food.
The result, which won Spurlock the best director award at the Sundance film festival this year, has also provoked an increasingly loud and coordinated response from McDonald's, and from several individuals who have taken it upon themselves to conduct rival binges to try to discredit him. In Australia, cinema-goers get to watch a McDonald's ad arguing that the film they are about to see is full of misleading distortions. (The firm refused to cooperate with the movie itself.)
Spurlock's month starts off pleasantly enough — for one day. On the second day, he vomits graphically out of a car window, the camera following every splatter.
By the fourth day, he is complaining of 'weird pulsing feelings" in his stomach, and then his penis.
'About seven days in, I started to notice this pressure on my chest, and by day nine I was getting incredibly depressed," he remembers. He had become addicted, he maintains.
'I would eat the food and feel fantastic for about an hour. Then I'd feel depressed again." About halfway through, he starts complaining of headaches. This is also the point at which we see Spurlock's girlfriend — a vegan chef — tell the camera that he's 'having a hard time getting it up".
Soon after, the doctors monitoring his condition stop treating it as a joke and warn him that his liver is 'turning to pâté"; by the end of the month, Spurlock has gained a 10th of his original body weight and his cholesterol has increased by 65 points.
Subtlety isn't Spurlock's forte, but Super Size Me is more than a simple tirade against McDonald's. The original inspiration was the legal action filed on behalf of two New York teenagers whose parents claimed the chain was responsible for their obesity — 'I thought they were crazy," Spurlock recalls. 'Are we so litigious in America that we're going to sue a company for selling us the food we buy?"
But the company's response irked him just as much. 'A spokesman for McDonald's comes on TV and says listen, you can't link our food to these girls being obese. Our food is healthy, it's nutritious. So I said, well, if it's that good for me, shouldn't I be able to eat it for 30 days straight with no side-effects? To live the all-American diet of over-eating and under-exercising, and be fine?"
This, of course, is where the film's logic falters: a three-McDonald's-a-day diet is so extreme that it seems, at face value, unlikely to reveal much about more realistic levels of overindulgence. Spurlock pleads artistic licence: plenty of people eat at McDonald's five or six times a week, 'and if you're doing that, let's be realistic. You're not going home and eating humus sandwiches and then going to the gym."
It's to his credit, though, that one of the film's best interviewees seems to undermine his point that a fast-food diet is necessarily nutritionally catastrophic: Don Gorske, a Wisconsin man, walked into a McDonald's in 1972, ordered nine Big Macs over the course of that first day, and has eaten almost nothing else since, clocking up almost 20 000 burgers. He's not fat.
By the end of the film, Spurlock's perspective on who should take the blame for fast-food-induced obesity turns out to be surprisingly nuanced. It's only really the McDonald's marketing — not its menus, nor the sheer fact of its existence — that seems to provoke him.
'If you saw someone pouring $1,4-billion into encouraging people to eat apples," he says, a reference to the amount McDonald's spends in a single year on radio, television and print advertising, 'you'd see apple sales go through the roof. Suddenly, you'd have Justin Timberlake on TV going: 'Man, I love apples! You should eat some apples, too! Look at me — I'm running, and I'm eating apples —'"
He hasn't been back inside a McDonald's since the end of his experiment — 'luckily, they have this wonderful smell of deep-fried cleaning solvent that you only get in their stores."
He has eaten the food, though, 'and it just doesn't taste like food to me any more. The french fries taste like smoked plastic. If I take a bite of a Big Mac, it'll taste great in that instant, and then I'll chew it up and swallow it and I'll get this aftertaste in my mouth, this — McFilm, that I can't really describe." —


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Incline Village, NV….Incline Village General Improvement District announces the Championship Course opens May 25th and the Mountain Course opens May 27th.
The Championship Course at Incline Village is situated at 6,500-feet elevation with a course rating of 74.1 and a slope of 144. Course amenities include a 23,000 square foot clubhouse with an award-winning golf shop, lessons by PGA and LPGA staff, state of the art driving range, putting and chipping greens, complete tournament services and professional club fitting.
The Mountain Course at Incline Village, is at 6,800-feet elevation, features creeks or water on 14 holes, four par-4s with elevated greens, and 14 challenging par-3s that average over 150 yards in length. Those with limited time can play the course in 3 and one-half hours. Course amenities include a putting green, chipping green, clubhouse, snack bar, and golf shop. Right and left-handed rental clubs are available for men and women.
Start warming up your swing before the golf courses open at the Championship Course's driving range. Range pass are available for $250 for 50 buckets. A range pass saves you money and extends your available practice hours from dawn till dusk. The driving range's normal hours are from 9am-7pm. The putting green will open on May 18th.
The Championship Course is located at 955 Fairway Blvd. in Incline Village, Nevada. The Mountain Course is located at 690 Wilson Way in Incline Village Nevada. For more information about the Golf Courses at Incline Village, visit www.YourTahoePlace.com. To reserve a tee time, please visit www.golfincline.com, call (866) 925-GOLF or (775) 832-1146.


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For general inquiries, please fill out the form to the right and one of our attorneys will get back with you. For more specific questions, please use the phone number below. To contact a specific attorney, click here to see direct contact for our attorneys.
Law Offices
Charfoos Reiter Hébert, P.C.
30500 Northwestern Hwy. Suite 450
Farmington Hills, Michigan 48334-3179
Phone: (248) 626-7300
Fax: (248) 626-7305


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Football is for all—except India
Of the many realities refreshed by the ongoing football frenzy, two are revelatory for India. First: Kicking a ball around is an instinctive urge of all humans, which explains both the universality an
Published: 24th June 2018 04:00 AM | Last Updated: 24th June 2018 07:25 AM | A+A A-
Of the many realities refreshed by the ongoing football frenzy, two are revelatory for India. First: Kicking a ball around is an instinctive urge of all humans, which explains both the universality and the irresistibility of football. India fell off the grid because of the willingness with which it surrendered its soul to the concocted colonial game of cricket. Second, which follows from the first: In a world festival where even countries like Saudi Arabia and Tunisia are stars, India is nowhere to be seen. These fundamentals will not change in the foreseeable future, India being what it has become.
The extent of "filthy lucre" that cricket makes is one reason for the game's anomalous growth in India. The BCCI is known as the richest cricket club in the world. Naturally it attracts politicians and business tycoons as administrators, making a bad situation worse. It also makes the unnatural natural. An honest BJP leader cannot stand the sight of a 24-carat Congressman, and both of them will see an NCP leader as a betrayer. Yet Arun Jaitley and Rajeev Shukla and Sharad Pawar are bonded buddies in cricket.
The combination of political weight and money power has helped the BCCI stay above normal democratic scrutinies. It goes its way despite the Supreme Court's ruling that it's not a private body, the Law Commission's proposal that it be brought under the Right To Information Act, and the Lodha Committee's recommendations for sweeping reforms. The man who lifted cricket corruption to the level of genius, Lalit Modi, remains beyond the reach of law thanks to the abetment of lawmakers.
Football overtakes cricket in corruption because football money is bigger than cricket money. BCCI's net worth is under $300 million. Real Madrid's is around $3,500 million. Even Manchester United, though no match to the Continental or South American giants, has a net worth of $2,800 million. Individual earnings reflect the same chasm. Virat Kohli, the only Indian in the Forbes list of highest paid athletes, ranked 89th in 2017, with a total pay of $22 million (of which $19 million is from endorsements, not cricket). Messi's earnings in this season were $146 million and Ronaldo's $108 million.
That both Messi and Ronaldo got involved in tax evasion cases is a minor detail. The big story is corruption under the almighty governing body of football, Fifa. Sepp Blatter, long-time president, was so powerful that he was considered unshakable—until 2015, when a $1.7 million bribery scandal did him in. The crowning piece was awarding the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, obviously for major kickbacks. America's FBI also got involved in investigations, finding that well above $150 million was paid in bribes for marketing rights. Swiss police arrested seven FIFA officials. What was revealed was a tale of "rampant, systemic and deep-rooted corruption, racketeering and conspiracy".
Yet football marches triumphantly on. Because football is human nature. Football is owned by people whoever they are and wherever they are—by Icelanders and Algerians, by Africans and Scandinavians, by the Japanese and the Mexicans. If cricket produces heroes like Tendulkar, football produces gods like Pele. And Pele said it all when he said, "Brazil eats, sleeps and drinks football. It lives football." To all mankind, football is heartball.
Even its sordid moments have a touch of class. Who can forget the drama of the 2006 World Cup final when the incomparable Zinedine Zidane floored Italy's Marco Materazzi with a mighty headbutt. It was Zidane's last-ever match as a player. Gossip that the Italian had insulted the Frenchman's sister has been rejected by the Italian. But he did admit later that he had used "stupid words" to rile Zidane. The unforgettable incident ended Zidane's career on a sour note, but it did not affect his profile as a football great. (Marco Materazzi later had a stint in Chennai as coach for Chennayins).
This year's World Cup is remarkable for the preparations completed by Russia on time—12 stadiums, some of them brand new and considered architectural masterpieces. Remember the 2010 Commonwealth Games, when we could not get even toilets completed? Small wonder that Bhaichung Bhutia and IM Vijayan believe India won't play in the World Cup in the foreseeable future. How can it when football is in the hands of a politician like Praful Patel, remembered for crippling Air India when that airline was in his hands? We should be grateful that we can at least watch other countries on the screen.


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Even after winning a gold medal in the 2012 Olympic Games, it seems that the drama continues for U.S. women's soccer goalie, Hope Solo. Remember back when she was on the 13th season of Dancing With the Stars with partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy? Maybe not, but since she wrote her tell-all book, Solo: A Memoir of Hope, everyone now is trying to remember her time with Maksim and if her brand new allegations hold any weight.
She says in her book that Chmerkovskiy slapped her in the face during a training session. "He was often nasty, swearing at me and being harshly critical," she wrote. "He manhandled me in rehearsals from the start, pushing me, whacking my stomach, bending my arms roughly." She says the show's producers asked her if she wanted a different partner following the incident and she declined.
You know what I've got to say about all this? Whip out the tape, ABC!
Don't they film all the rehearsals on Dancing With the Stars? I'm sure if Chmerkovskiy (wow his name is tough to type) did actually slap Solo like she alleges, there's film from the incident somewhere. Since Maks and ABC aren't making any public statements about this, they're considering what they can do legally.
Since ABC is jumping on board with pursuing the legal option against Solo, it probably doesn't bode well for her, especially if ABC has recorded almost every single time she's rehearsed with her partner. I'm sure they're willing to do whatever they can to protect Maks if this footage doesn't exist.
But of course we can't jump to any conclusions, and Maks has definitely been known to be a bit of a drama queen himself. Though I didn't watch their season, many commenters are saying that Maks didn't treat Solo very well and that he was pretty harsh with her. I'm sure this was the case from seeing him in previous seasons, and it doesn't surprise me there was some physical contact with the way these dances are choreographed and how quickly they have to learn their routines. But slapping her in the face definitely crosses a line, and I'll bet if this did indeed happen, ABC has got the footage and will hopefully be able to clear this mess up.
Here's more on the story:
What do you think about Maksim Chmerkovskiy and ABC thinking about suing Hope Solo?
Image via ABC


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We've got a bullish "Harami" at the last low, which has been confirmed, so there's a local correction in progress. Therefore, the market is likely going to reach the nearest resistance line, which can reverse the price movement into the bearish direction. As we can see on the Daily chart, here's a "High Wave" at the local low, but we haven't got a confirmation for this pattern. So, bears are probably going to deliver a new low afterwards.
There're a "High Wave" and a "Harami" at the local low, which both have been confirmed. Also, we've got a "Shooting Star", so bears are still in the game. However, if the nearest local "Window" acts as a support, we could see a new local high very soon.


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6/1/2016 Print Version
NASDAQ has extended the stay of delisting until the
"We continue to make progress in getting our first quarter 2016 10-Q ready for filing," said
About BBSI
BBSI (NASDAQ: BBSI) is a leading provider of business management solutions, combining human resource outsourcing and professional management consulting to create a unique operational platform that differentiates it from competitors. BBSI's integrated platform is built upon expertise in payroll processing, employee benefits, workers' compensation coverage, risk management and workplace safety programs, and human resource administration. BBSI's partnerships help businesses of all sizes improve the efficiency of their operations. BBSI works with more than 4,000 clients across all lines of business in 22 states. For more information, please visit www.barrettbusiness.com.
Investor Relations:
Tel 1-949-574-3860


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...To the place I belong.
Interestingly enough, we heard this song twice on the bus on the way up and down the mountain. I think it is a sign that we definitely belong here. I, for one, am so glad to be at my home away from home in Central America. I've had this surreal feeling all day while we have been traveling, and finally it's hit me that we're actually here! Coming up the winding roads as we were climbing the mountain and beholding the beauty of God's handiwork...it's not something I can describe in words. You just have to experience it for yourself *hint hint*.
Before I keep rambling on, let me introduce myself, my name is Inigo Montoya...JUST KIDDING! My name is Leah Wright and I am now a senior at Freed-Hardeman University (YIPPEE!!). This is my 5th trip with TORCH and I will be your blogger for quite some time, so you best get used to hearing from me. I have had a passion for mission work ever since Terry took me on my first trip to Honduras. My goal in doing this blog is to give you all a taste of what life is like here and the work we are doing. While it's impossible for me to tell you everything that happens, I hope that I tell you enough to entice you to come with us in the future.
We have a wonderful group that has come in today and I am so excited to meet and work with every one of them. All the groups have arrived safely at the Hotel Aires Del Sur in Buenos Aires, Costa Rica today. The few coming by bus from Panama City arrived around lunch time at the hotel and were able to fit in a nap this afternoon. The first arrivals at the airport began about 11:30 this morning, and our last got in about 2:30 this afternoon. We were greeted at the airport by Terry, along with two of our translators for our trip: Diego Rojas, and Hannah Phillips. We were able to leave the airport in San Jose by 3:15, stopped for supper on the mountain, and made it to the Hotel by 9. Our supper tonight was everyone's first taste of Costa Rican cuisine, from pupusas, plantains, rice and beans. I didn't hear any complaints so I think everyone enjoyed what they got. The group was pleased to hear some familiar country music favorites on the bus...everything from John Denver to Johnny Cash to Shania Twain. While it was not expected, for the majority of us from Music City it was a piece of home traveling with us. We are all thankful to have had such a smooth traveling day. God has already begun to bless us, and I know He has much more in store for us as the trip progresses.
Our brother in Christ, Daniel Chaves, the preacher at the church here, has a full day planned for us tomorrow. We're beginning bright and early at 7 AM with breakfast provided by the beautiful ladies at the church. Then a devotional will follow and an assortment of evangelistic duties which I don't have a lot of details on. Just know that we'll be very busy but are ready to begin our work here!
Emergency Contact:
In case of emergency, please contact the nearest authorities.
Okay, time to get serious.
If you need to contact someone on the trip, the telephone number for the hotel we are staying at in Buenos Aires is: 506-2730-5051
That is the only contact info I have for the moment, and if I get anything else I will be sure to let you all know. If you need something, but it's not an absolute emergency, you are welcome to email me at email@example.com. I will be checking my email each night as I do the blog so I can get a message to anyone you need.
Please keep our work here in Buenos Aires in your prayers. We have a small group this year, but so much can be done with the determination and love of Christ we all have. One person can make a difference, and stay tuned to see the difference we are trying to make here in the beautiful country of Costa Rica.
"This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations..."
Matthew 24:14
Dios te bendiga,


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How to make payment to Peeka
We accept payment by bank transfer (immediate with FAST) and cheque (Please make it payable to N-Idea Pte Ltd. We will only process your order after the amount is in our bank, it normally takes 2 working days).
Please use your Peeka username (nickname) as Payer's initial when adding us as Payee. Do not leave it blank, nor use 'Peeka' as the Payer's name. We use this information to indentify your payment.
Please try to pay the exact amount quoted (cents value included). Do not round up to nearest whole number. This would help us to indentify your payment.
Please transfer to one of these two current accounts. Account name is N-Idea Pte Ltd.
After the bank transfer, you must acknowledge it in the order page so that we can verify your payment.
For ATM payment, please note both of our accounts are CURRENT account.
Thank you!


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The devil's cellar guards the taste of Chile
A top reason I'm going to hate leaving Chile someday: Amazing wine. Cheap, amazing wine. You can get a delicious bottle of Chile's rich specialty Carmeneré for US$6 to$8, but even $4 will get you something decent. At those prices it's hard not to become a wine connoisseur in this country, not to mention Chile is home to some of the best wines in the world.
Panama City in 7 hours
With just 7 hours in Panama City, I toured the capital's colonial neighborhood, new town, and of course, the world-renowned canal.
Costa Rica: Somewhere in the middle
For my mom's big 5-0 birthday, we all wanted to celebrate together in a special place none of us had been. We decided to go "somewhere in the middle" and found ourselves in the paradise of Costa Rica where the season is always summer.
10K: An almost perfect race day
Although this race reminded me how difficult it can be to live so far from home, it was also another show of the incredible connections I've made here and how much I've changed throughout this journey.


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Contact Us:02038287318
These would be the most affordable loft transformation while they entail switching the loft room that is present. Almost no variations towards the top room are needed, Loft Conversion London in Wandsworth. Windows arranged into the existing top mountain, padding and strengthening of the ground are included by improvements.
At fastloftconversionslondon.co.uk we've over 10 years' knowledge creating, advancing and switching properties, containing of over 250 loft conversions of numerous sorts across London. In times of rising house charges, a growing number of individuals are turning to loft conversions to fix the situation of additional living space, Loft Conversion London in Wandsworth. Loft conversions are a substantial expenditure and certainly will cost from ??20,000 but study suggests that within the most cases they are doing incorporate more value to the residence compared to the original cost.
Used, the particular location will depend upon the design of a floor under, and wherever essential the available peak may be accomplished using a dormer or adding a rooflight above the stairway or, if ideal, changing a hip-roof end to some gable.
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Building Regulations authorization will be needed by ou for both extensions and attic conversions - like, to verify electrics and the fundamentals, top, floor, drainage in an expansion or to make sure that the newest ground is structurally sound in an attic conversion. First, you may need to have plans accepted by your local authorityis building control crew and used by a designer before starting function. You will also need-to observe if the work-you are organizing falls Inside The Celebration Act 1996.
The most typical dimension of expansion is 15 to 25 square measures, that might carry a structure expense between 21,000 and 33,000 (excluding the inside fitting). The fee for interior fitting stages to 20,000 to get a single storey extension that is tiny. The fees that are presented may well be variable depending on the preferences of the homeowner, as an example rock flooring is cheaper than timber.
Your Manchester home extension companies that are bespoke are a particular alternative to boost the resale value of the household. Depending upon your need and budget, we could supply double or solitary extension providers that are storied. We often make an effort to tailor our companies to complete your fantasy, no matter whether it's to produce an additional liveable space or a supplementary home. Superb new models are also designed for making your property office, food area, living conservatory, room or kid ?s play area, Loft Conversion London in Wandsworth.
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Dealer Comments
TOYOTA CERTIFIED USED VEHICLE!!! PANORAMIC SUNROOF!!! 2014 Toyota Corolla ZR hatch with 1.8L engine and CVT automatic transmission.
One private owner from new
Perfect Toyota dealer stamped log book service history
Panoramic sunroof
Full leather interior with heated front seats
Satellite navigation
Reverse camera
Dual zone climate control
Push button start with proximity key
All of our vehicle come with a FREE 3 year or 175,000KM mechanical protection plan!!!
We take pride in pricing our vehicles to be ahead of the rest of the market, so please REALISTIC OFFERS ONLY!!!
We are proud to be recently appointed as the newest Toyota dealership in Canberra, are located in the south of the ACT and have access to over 300 quality used vehicles. We are an award winning dealer for Toyota, Nissan, Isuzu Ute, Suzuki, Renault, Holden, Haval, Great Wall, Honda, Subaru, Mitsubishi, Kia and Hyundai, so if we do not have what you are looking for we will find it for you. We also offer a range of services to make your buying experience simple and fun.
Finance available T.A.P
Extended warranties available
Trade ins welcome and encouraged
We can arrange ACT and NSW registration
Delivery to your door available Australia wide


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Greatest Things About Cake Delivery In And Gifts Delivery In India05/09/2013 16:14
Deciding upon an Online Cakes Delivery in India is nowadays much more desired among the individuals due to convenience and far reach. On account of the progression in e-commerce business life has become simple and everything has come within reach. You can find cakes, gifts, and clothing besides other accessories at ease just by browsing the web at the hit of the mouse. The great thing about Cake Delivery In Bangalore services could be as follows.
Presence of variance in cakes:
Online cake stores delivers wide array in flavour, design. The cakes are prepared bearing in mind the requisites of the customers so can be obtained for vegetarian as well as non-vegetarian cake eaters. Keeping in mind your young ones you can get cakes with creative designs and multi colored theme cakes online with cream as well as, toppings.
Besides you can find wedding cakes, cakes for corporate parties, theme parties and moreover you could have it delivered at the doorstep in a stipulated time. The cakes may be found in assorted shapes and forms with delicious flavors deeply incorporated into it which will leave you captivated.
Fast Shipping and delivery
You can now order cake online and have it presented at the doorstep of friends or loved ones residing at far end and seeing them might be complicated for you. You can have cakes supplied for any of the occasions which can be birthday celebration, anniversary, wedding or some other. To make sure the timely Online Gifts Delivery In India on special occasions, do make sure that you make the reservations couple of days prior to. However, due to multiple online shops all over India your order will get shipped in the shortest stipulated time. And so, should you be lazy and do not want to get out there and find a very good cake shop to buy anything for your special loved one. Online shopping for cakes can typically be best option to get.
Online stores for cakes and gifts can certainly turn out to be your companion in the event you didn't remember to wish your loved one on the big day in his/her life. Gifts & cakes indeed could be among the best things to provide somebody as an expression of your love and exhibit how important they're in your daily life. Online shopping store may be a great place where you can pick from among a variety of gifts as well as accessories .Place the order quickly to acquire it delivered and therefore could help you improve your relationship with them.
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Hello readers, this is Ritu Mehra student by discipline and it has an enduring passion of writing and sharing words with you. I do hope you all enjoyed my article .To figure out more https://www.hamaramall.com/searching-cakes-1/194


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Fusion Coated Polyvinyl Insulators
Model M-6-FCV, M-8-FCV and M-12-FCV casing insulators are made of 14 gauge steel, with 10 mil vinyl coating. The runners are abrasion resistant, and are attached mechanically with bolts. The bolt heads are TIG welded to the band. The extra heavy duty vinyl liner assures double insulation. Skids are available in both polyethylene and phenolic.
|Band Gauge
|Band Width
|6, 8 and 12 inch
|Coated Carbon Steel
|Bolts, Nuts & Washers
|cadmium plated or stainless steel
|Insulating Liner
|PVC or EPDM
|Runner Tensile Strength
| 17,400 psi (LDPE)
22,000 psi (HDPE)
|Runner Flexural Strength
| 25,000 psi (LDPE)
32,000 psi (HDPE)
|Runner Compressive Strength
| 17,800 psi (LDPE)
25,000 psi (HDPE)
|10 guage steel on risers when used
CALPICO, Inc. - 1387 San Mateo Ave. - So. San Francisco, CA 94080
650 588-2241 phone - 650 873-6952 fax - 800 998-9115 toll free


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H2Flow Tanks & Systems Inc.
Partnered with PERMASTORE to provide Glass-Fused-to-Steel tank technology across Canada. We serve the Industrial and Municipal Water/Wastewater marketplace and offer field erected process and storage tank systems built to a higher quality standard offering long life, low maintenance, and low lifetime cost.
Since opening for business in January 2006, our ongoing commitment and goal is to establish H2FLOW TANKS & SYSTEMS INC. as the Industry leader for tank installations in the Industrial and Municipal water/wastewater marketplace using PERMASTORE Glass-Fused-to-Steel tank systems.
With over 50 years experience, PERMASTORE is recognized as one of the world's leading tank manufacturers dedicated to Glass-Fused-to-Steel technology, a material able to withstand the rigors of the construction site and provide a lifetimes protection in almost any water/wastewater application. Permastore has over 300,000 tanks in operation in over 110 countries and have been accredited with a 30 Year design life.
Modular construction of bolted steel tanks allows benefits such as: rapid installation, construction in remote and restrictive environments, factory quality control, and cost competitiveness. If there is a bolt in every hole, a nut on every bolt, and mastic in every joint, the structural integrity of the storage tank is insured. PERMASTORE tanks are built and tested to "zero defects".
Offers the Following
Tank Sales and Installation
H2Flow Tanks will properly advise you as to the correct liquid storage solution for your specific application. We offer our sales and installation services across Canada.
What is your tank used for? Integrated Systems
We don't just sell tanks. With very strong in-house engineering capabilities, H2Flow is able to provide seamless integrated, functional, complete, water-wastewater and biosolids equipment packages.
After-sale service and warranty
H2Flow will be there to assist for any after-sale service, modifications or enhancements, in addition to honouring our warranties.
Recent News
H2Flow receives mining project awardAug. 3, 2018
Great news as H2Flow Tanks received an order for two Glass Fused to Steel tanks for a large Moving Bed Bioreactor system. Client is a repeat mining customer in Western Canada. Thanks for all our ...
Havelock's new water tower officially launchedOct. 23, 2017
H2Flow Tanks & Systems Inc. built Havelock's new water tower and now it's officially launched. Please click on the link below to read the full article: https://www.thepeterboroughexamine...
H2Flow and GW&E selected for MolsonCoors wastewater treatment in Chilliwack, BC.May 20, 2017
To view the article please click on the link below: http://journalofcommerce.com/Projects/News/2017/5/Anaerobic-reactor-to-treat-new-Molson-Coors-brewery-wastewater-1023803W/


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Blue Jackets Sign Schroeder to Two-Year Contract
CLEVELAND – The AHL's Cleveland Monsters, proudly powered by Constellation, announced Tuesday that the team's NHL affiliate, the Columbus Blue Jackets, signed center Jordan Schroeder to a two-year contract with the first year of the deal a two-way AHL/NHL agreement and the second year a one-way NHL pact. Schroeder was acquired by the Blue Jackets on June 23rd via trade from the NHL's Minnesota Wild in exchange for center Dante Salituro.
A 5'9", 184 lb., right-handed native of Prior Lake, MN, Schroeder, 26, posted 17-23-40 with 10 penalty minutes and a +9 rating in 144 NHL appearances for the Vancouver Canucks and Minnesota spanning parts of five seasons from 2012-17. In 292 AHL games played for the Manitoba Moose, Chicago Wolves, Utica Comets and Iowa Wild spanning parts of eight seasons from 2010-17, Schroeder supplied 77-118-195 with 78 penalty minutes and a -9 rating.
Selected by Vancouver in the first round (22nd overall) of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, Schroeder notched 22-51-73 with 43 penalty minutes and a +10 rating in 72 NCAA appearances for the University of Minnesota spanning two seasons from 2008-10. In 2008-09, Schroeder earned WCHA Rookie of the Year honors and was named to the conference's Second All-Star Team in his first season with the Golden Gophers.
Last season, Schroder notched 6-12-18 with 12 penalty minutes and an even rating in 25 AHL appearances for Iowa and posted NHL career highs in goals, assists, points and games played for Minnesota tallying 6-7-13 with zero penalty minutes and a +5 rating in 37 appearances for the Wild. Prior to his professional career, Schroeder represented Team USA in multiple international tournaments, including the 2008, 2009 and 2010 IIHF World Junior Championships and logged time in the NAHL with USA Hockey's National Team Development Program.
The Cleveland Monsters are part of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Quicken Loans Arena organization and also owned by a group led by Cavaliers Majority Owner and Quicken Loans Founder and Chairman Dan Gilbert. The group also owns and operates the Cleveland Gladiators of the Arena Football League playing at Quicken Loans Arena and the Canton Charge of the NBA G League playing in nearby Canton, Ohio at the Canton Civic Center.


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The Proprietor- Nick Pearson
Here I am dismantling a large cherry tree which has succumbed to honey fungus. A cold clear December day with a warm cup of tea and a beautiful view. Can't ask for much more.
Welcome to Wood Be Tree Surgery. We offer a friendly, experienced and professional range of tree surgery services across the south & the south east of England
Our staff are all fully trained and insured. We take Health & Safety seriously; we can provide copies of our method statements, risk assessments and emergency procedures for each job, as no two jobs are ever the same.
Most recent work undertaken:
We recently undertook a large damaged Oak tree. One limb had fail due to a poor union and brought down a further two limbs. After a lot of carful manoeuvring and rigging we were able to safe most of the fence and do no further damage to the tree.
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COMEX Gold jumped nearly 2% in intraday moves as traders reassessed their outlook for the US Fed interest rates following the release of consumer price data. The US Consumer Price Index increased 0.1% in September after rising 0.2% in August. In the 12 months through September, the CPI increased 2.3%, slowing from August's 2.7%. Sentiments remained tense for global stocks as DOW shed another 2%. European stocks also fell near 20 month lows on Thursday on concerns about slowing global growth. COMEX Gold raced up above $1200 in a hurry and hit a two and half month high near $1230 per ounce. The metal currently trades at $1224 per ounce, down marginally on the day. MCX Gold futures ended at Rs 31991 per 10 gram, up 2% on the day after testing a high of Rs 32014 per 10 gram as the Indian Rupee hit a fresh low of 74.50 per US dollar.
Gold is expected to hold this massive break above $1200 levels amid a broad economic slowdown globally. A latest update from the IMF stated that the global economy is strong at the moment but it can clearly be seen that growth has plateaued. IMF expects global growth to remain at 3.7% for three years in a row (2017-19) though some of the risks that it highlighted in April, have now begun to materialize, especially from rising trade barriers. If these tensions were to escalate, the global economy would take a significant hit. With global public and private debt at an all-time high, any slight change in the wind could provoke capital outflows and economic instability in emerging markets. It said that global economy needs to press ahead with the financial regulatory agenda and resist backsliding.
Powered by Commodity Insights


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Re: I Wanna Be The Fat Guy
Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 1:16 pm
Hi. The project (IWVTFG) has hit some bumps in the road. We had to start fresh and is more creative with more function and ideas. We hope to get back to work on it and get things done so a beta cand be release.


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Get your eBook and join the newsletter. You'll get tips, short videos, swipe files, job aids, articles, updates, and more.
This is your guidebook – if you are a supervisor or manager, human resources professional, employee assistance professional, consultant, business owner, executive, CEO, or anyone else interested in ending bullying in your workplace. It is written from my own experiences as a consultant, and my goal is to help you understand what bullying is and the steps needed to effectively eradicate it.
Subscribe here
More Resources
- White Paper: Cost of Harassment and Bullying at Work
- Assessment: Are you being bullied at work?
- Assessment: How assertive are you?
- Culture Assessment: Does your organization foster bullying at work?
- Visit our SlideShare channel for downloadable presentations on workplace bullying
- Visit our website on workplace bullying, NoWorkplaceBullies.com
- Civility in America 2011 Poll by Weber Shandwick
- Sodexo 2012 Workplace Trends Report
- University of Missouri's "Show Me Respect" Civility Toolbox
- Workplace Violence Prevention for Nurses
Resources for K-12 Schools and Universities
- Workplace Mediators Seek a Role in Taming Faculty, The Chronicle of Higher Education
When Students Become Class Bullies, Professors are Among the Victims, The Chronicle of Higher Education
- Teachers Who Bully Students, paper presented at the Hamilton Fish Institute's Persistently Safe Schools Conference
- Teachers Bully Other Teachers, BBC
- Staff Relations: A Report on Adult Bullying in Schools, Irish National Teachers' Organization
- International Bullying Prevention Association
- White House Conference on Bullying Prevention
- The Mobbing Portal, Resources for Teachers website


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To achieve scale fast in the rapidly consolidating and competitive market for driverless vehicles, automakers and tech companies with driverless car aspirations are realizing they have to share strategy, financial burdens - and the intellectual property underpinning their technology if they want to survive, let alone succeed. JL
Stephen Wilmot reports in the Wall Street Journal:
Car makers don't want to lose their connection with consumers if car-ownership gives way to cheap driverless taxis but most of these investments seem destined for failure in markets where scale is key. A more collaborative approach could limit losses while keeping car makers close to the technological frontier.
Detroit is putting a lot of faith in car-sharing. It may have to get better at technology-sharing.
In what may be the first of many such disclosures in the auto industry as sales growth stalls, Ford is planning substantial job cuts following a first-quarter plunge in profits. Investments in far-off tech may be early victims of industry belt-tightening. A more collaborative approach could limit losses while keeping car makers close to the technological frontier.
Ford and General Motors GM 0.77% have rival Silicon Valley ventures for developing driverless cars, perhaps the hottest area of car tech today. GM bought Cruise Automation last year for roughly $1 billion. In February, Ford bought Argo AI in which it said it would invest $1 billion. The car makers are also developing a range of apps to compete with Uber, among others. GM offers short-term rentals ("car-sharing") through its Maven unit and taxis through a $500 million stake in Lyft, Uber's key U.S. competitor. Ford has said its new "smart-mobility" unit will eventually have a 20% profit margin. Car makers don't want to lose their connection with consumers if car-ownership gives way to cheap driverless taxis. This is understandable, but most of these app investments seem destined for failure in markets where scale is key. Consolidation has already started. In the peer-to-peer car-sharing niche, Shwetha Surender of consultancy Frost & Sullivan counts some 30 players, down from 40 three years ago.
Silicon Valley is increasingly open to collaboration. Google sister-company Waymo, which is widely seen as the leader in self-driving technology, revealed Sunday that it would work with Lyft. That is after making clear last December that it had no interest in producing a car itself. Apple's secretive car project also appeared to shift its focus last year from making a vehicle to developing self-driving technology.
There are few details surrounding the Waymo-Lyft deal, but the motivations are clear. Drivers account for almost three quarters of the cost of a ride-hailing business, estimates brokerage Evercore ISI. Self-driving cars would cut costs dramatically, paving the way for mass adoption and market dominance for the company that gets there first. In exchange, Waymo may eventually get access to Lyft's customers and their travel data, and a bit more leverage over Uber, which it is suing for stealing its technology.
Lyft is also expected to test GM's driverless-car technology, so the ride-hailing company will end up with two different self-driving systems on trial. All this duplication may be good for technological progress, but wastes investors' money.
There is the odd example of platform-sharing. The German car makers formed a joint venture to buy mapping service HERE from Nokia NOK 1.15% in 2015. BMW has courted partners for the self-driving technology it is developing with Intel , Mobileye—now being acquired by Intel—and Delphi.
Investors are tolerating the current technological arms race while sales are strong. With the industry set to enter tougher times, collaboration, not competition, seems the obvious route.


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When it comes to loose powder, I am as loyal as a dog to Innisfree No Sebum Mineral Powder. I am head over heels in love with this loose powder since the day I got my hands on it. But as much as I love Innisfree, I always make sure to keep an eye out for other options.
There's one product that I am currently loving these days and it's no other than this loose powder from the Korean beauty brand, W.Lab.
Today I am going to share my thoughts about this product. Let's head over to the review!
W.Lab Sebum Out Finish Powder
Product Description
This powder claims to control excessive oil and to cover up enlarged pores, making the skin look fresh and smooth.
Usage Instruction
After applying your favorite BB cream or foundation, gently pat or dust the loose powder on your face using a powder puff or a powder brush.
Quantity | Price| Availability
10 g | PHP 280 | Althea Korea
For someone like me who lives by the no make-up makeup look, I rely heavily on loose powder to keep me looking fresh throughout the day. I usually set my powder over a layer or two of my sunscreen. Sunscreens are notorious for making the skin feel slick and sticky, but this loose powder really helps in reducing that annoying sticky feeling.
The W.Lab Sebum Out Finish Powder comes in a small hard plastic container with a screw cap closure.
The product information is written in Korean. The expiry date, as well as the shelf life, is indicated here. Please note that 24 M stands for the duration of time you must use the product once it is opened. In this case, it is 24 months. I've seen reviews stating that 24 M means 24 mg of product. I hope this clarifies the misinformation.
It comes with a powder puff. I use the puff and I can tell that it does the job and it transfers the product evenly.
Like the usual powder containers, it has a plastic separator with holes. You will see a sticker over it when you open it for the first time.
The powder is finely milled, but not as finely milled as the Innisfree No Sebum Mineral Powder. The powder is also slightly rougher and a bit paper-ish to the feel than that of Innisfree. It has a strange scent, which for me, is close to the smell of paper bills.
Honestly, I wasn't expecting it to work well on my face because it felt slightly rough and patchy on my fingers. However, once applied on the face, it creates a smooth texture that is more matte than Innisfree does for my face. I've never been this matte in my life haha.
It also covers certain blemishes on my face and makes the surface look more even and flawless. It controls oil for about 5-6 hours, which is pretty impressive considering that I wear this over a sticky sunscreen. The only downside is that this powder feels slightly heavy or cakey on my face sometimes.
4.5 out of 5 stars
What I like:
- This loose powder has good coverage and makes the skin smoother and pore-less.
- It has a great mattifying effect and controls oil.
What I don't like:
I'm taking away half a star for the slightly heavy feeling it leaves on my face. But other than that, everything about this loose powder is pretty impressive.
Will I repurchase?
Will I recommend?
Yes! I recommend the W.Lab Sebum Out to those who are looking for a setting powder with impressive coverage and oil control.
I am not paid or compensated to write this review.
All opinions expressed in this post are my own.
All items featured in this post are purchased through my own means.
That is all for today's blog post.
See you again in the next one.
Thank you for dropping by! 💕


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A record number of people made a recovery from mental ill health after receiving NHS talking therapy last year, with almost half of people completing a course of treatment for depression or anxiety recovering, a new report has revealed.
The annual report on Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services (IAPT) defined recovery as when a person begins therapy as a "clinical case", meaning their symptoms of mental ill health are severe, but symptoms are no longer classed as clinical by the end of their course of treatment. Symptoms are defined as "clinical" or "non clinical" measured by scores from questionnaires tailored to the patient's specific condition.
The review, published by NHS Digital, revealed 1.4 million people were referred for IAPT services during 2016 and 2017. Just under half (49.3%) of people made a recovery, which is a 7% increase compared to the period of 2012-2013, when records for this service began.
While the Mental Health Foundation welcomed the news, the charity told HuffPost UK the figures can't be used to show patients are making a "permanent recovery" from anxiety or depression as they perhaps would from a physical illness, as "our mental health is always fluctuating".
The report on the effectiveness of talking therapies comes a week after a major study found antidepressants are an effective treatment for depression.
Talking therapies available on the NHS under the IAPT programme include cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), individual counselling for depression, couples counselling for depression and mindfulness therapy.
The report found more patients are getting care for mental ill health within six weeks compared to the year before. Of the 567,000 referrals that finished a course of treatment in 2016-2017, 87.5% waited less than six weeks for their first treatment and 98.2% waited less than 18 weeks. This compares to figures from 2015-16, which were reported at 81.3% and 96.2%, respectively.
Despite the overall increase in recovery rates being good news, the figures revealed a pronounced difference in experiences of patients from different ethnic groups. Recovery rates for patients from the white ethnic group stood at 50.2%, for black or black British it was 44.9%, for those of mixed multiple ethnic groups 44.5%, for Asian or Asian British it was 44.2% and for other ethnic groups 41.7%.
The NHS director of mental health, Claire Murdoch, welcomed the report, stating the health service is "reversing years of under-investment" to tackle mental illness. "Putting mental health on a level footing with physical care remains a priority for NHS England, and from April this year every part of the country will be required to increase the share of their budgets going towards mental health care," she said.
"No one would claim that the transformation we all want to see will happen overnight, but with a rising number of people getting successful treatment for common conditions like depression and anxiety, it's clear that we are making important progress."
Commenting on the report, Mark Rowland, a director at the Mental Health Foundation, said while the charity "welcomes the strong new evidence about the effectiveness of talking therapies", we should be aware that "recovery" from mental illness is not always the same as recovery from physical illness. The results of talking therapy may not be permanent in the way treatment for a broken leg might be.
"Our mental health is always fluctuating as we pass through life's difficulties and pressure points. What these results show is that talking therapies can be very effective in helping people recover from periods of mental ill health. This isn't necessarily permanent recovery, but the skills learnt in talking therapies are lifelong and can equip us to better manage our mental health successfully," he told HuffPost UK.
"Sustaining good mental health is a challenge we are all faced with. There's no one size fits all solution, it's about finding the best combination of approaches that prevent us getting unwell and help us recover when we do."
You can read more about the use of the term "recovery" relating to mental ill health on the Mental Health Foundation website.
Useful websites and helplines:
- Mind, open Monday to Friday, 9am-6pm on 0300 123 3393
- Samaritans offers a listening service which is open 24 hours a day, on 116 123 (UK and ROI - this number is FREE to call and will not appear on your phone bill.)
- Get Connected is a free advice service for people under 25. Call 0808 808 4994 or email: email@example.com


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Dillon Geiser had 13 1st quarter points, and 26 overall to lead Cozad past Gibbon last night on Parent's night in Cozad. Kyle German poured in 10 and Caden Marhenke came off the bench to score 8 to help lead the Haymakers.
For the Buffaloes, Ben Wiley came off the bench to lead Gibbon with 14 points and Chi Onate scored 8.
To listen to the game, click here.


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'A very special day': Shoal Lake 40 celebrates Freedom Road construction
Published Friday, June 30, 2017 2:50PM CST
Last Updated Friday, June 30, 2017 7:03PM CST
A celebration was held in Shoal Lake 40 First Nation Friday to mark the beginning of construction of a new all-weather road.
The 24 kilometre Freedom Road will connect Shoal Lake 40 to the Trans-Canada Highway in Manitoba.
It will provide year-round access between the mainland and the isolated community, which is located in northwestern Ontario just east of the Manitoba-Ontario border.
"This is a very special day today," Shoal Lake 40 Chief Erwin Redsky told a crowd of around 50 people gathered inside the community's arena. "It's been a long, long journey to get to this point."
"We can go back decades."
The community was cut off from the mainland more than a century ago during construction of an aqueduct that supplies Winnipeg with drinking water.
Shoal Lake 40 has been under a boil-water advisory for 20 years.
Once the road is built, a water treatment plant will be the community's next big project.
Right now, residents rely on a barge that can carry four vehicles at a time to get on and off the island.
While a celebration was held Friday, construction started in the middle of May on the first portion of the road, which is an 8.7 kilometre stretch located on reserve land.
"Canada's providing 100 per cent of the on-reserve portion of Freedom Road, which is one-third," Redsky said. "City of Winnipeg and the province of Manitoba are contributing $10 million each towards the road."
Sigfusson Northern Project Manager Bryan Razmus said the on-reserve portion of road construction that the company is working on remains on schedule and should be completed in October.
About 30 crew members are working for Sigfusson Northern on the project. Sixty per cent of the crew is from Shoal Lake 40.
Redsky said the completion of the first portion of the road should pave the way for the rest of construction to begin.
"The Province of Manitoba's working through their processes as well and they're getting their environmental approvals and their consultation processes to get the off-reserve or Crown land portion of Freedom Road underway. Hopefully by the time we're done with the on-reserve portion, it'll just continue on with the off reserve."
Redsky said it's more than a road. He hopes it can serve as a symbol of something bigger.
"It is a new beginning of our relationship with Canada," said Redsky. "This is a major milestone."
"Shoal Lake 40 has been that model of a broken relationship since treaty. We are working towards that reconciliation and Shoal Lake 40 can be that model."
"I look forward to the next 150 years."


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Escape from Laos
Presidio Press, Jan 1, 1979 - Prisoners of war - 211 pages
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Media Options
Federal authorities and General Electric have struck a deal on dredging polychlorinated biphenyl, or PCB, contaminated sediment from the Hudson River. We have a discussion between an EPA administrator and an attorney from Riverkeeper. [includes rush transcript]
Over the years, GE dumped an estimated 1.3 million pounds of PCBs into the Hudson before the Federal government banned the substance in 1977. The chemicals came from GE's plants in Fort Edward and Hudson Falls. PCBs are classified as a probable cause of cancer.
The dredging is now scheduled to begin in 2007 and yesterday's settlement calls for GE to pay the government up to $78 million for costs of the clean-up. The EPA called the settlement "a historic agreement" and GE said in a statement to the Associated Press that the deal shows that it is committed to working with environmental regulators and the state." But environmental groups have criticized the agreement pointing out that it only requires GE to pay for 10 percent of the clean-up.
- Robert Goldstein, Senior Attorney with Riverkeeper.
- Alan Steinberg, Regional Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
JUAN GONZALEZ: We're joined on the phone by Robert Goldstein. He is the Senior Attorney with the group, Riverkeeper. We are also joined by Alan Steinberg. He is the Regional Administrator for the EPA. GE declined our request for an interview. Welcome to Democracy Now!
ALAN STEINBERG: Good morning.
ROBERT GOLDSTEIN: Thank you, Juan.
JUAN GONZALEZ: I'd like to first start with Alan Steinberg, why you think this is an historic settlement, and what you think the government and the public — how they benefit?
ALAN STEINBERG: Thank you, Juan. Let me start off by saying that this agreement gets GE into the river to, at long last, begin the dredging process. And also, it provides compensation for a large portion of our past and projected oversight costs. We are committed to the complete clean-up. Let there be no mistake about that, and if GE does not agree to do phase 2, and this has to be emphasized, we retain all our enforcement authorities and powers, and we will compel a completion of phase 2 on the part of GE.
Again, GE is going to build a sediment processing facility in Fort Edward, will carry out the first phase of dredging. And not only that, a roadmap is laid out for GE to do phase 2, because they're required to pay $5 million to begin the process of establishing infrastructure at that point to do phase 2. The commitment is there. We are working with the locals up in Fort Edward in terms of developing all the standards — air, noise, light and navigation — and at long last, you are going to see the Hudson being remediated. We think this is an historic moment for the Hudson River.
JUAN GONZALEZ: And Robert Goldstein, Senior Attorney with Riverkeeper, your concerns about the settlement?
ROBERT GOLDSTEIN: Well, first of all, I really appreciate Mr. Steinberg's comments. Don't get me wrong, I want this clean-up to go ahead as soon as possible. And frankly, if GE approached the clean-up with the same zeal that they approach their profit-making ventures, I would be satisfied, but they are still kicking and screaming. They are still challenging the basic superfund law in court. They are still challenging various regulations that require them to dispose of sediments in certain ways. So, I'm not convinced that GE is on board here.
And secondly, I'm concerned with this particular agreement that the devil here is in the details. And the details are not in the settlement agreement that was announced yesterday. All the headlines are going to say, GE has agreed to the clean-up. But the real issue here are the details that are contained in the intermediate design report and will be in the final design report that detail how GE will go about doing this clean-up.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Well, could you tell us a little bit, for those who are not familiar with the contamination situation in the Hudson River, how extensive is it? What have been the health impacts or environmental impacts, and how long has this case been going on?
ROBERT GOLDSTEIN: This case has been going on an awful long time. It was first pointed out by one of the founders of Riverkeeper, I guess in the 1980s, early 1980's. And it's had significant health impacts. If you go up and you listen anecdotally to the people up there, and they tell you about all their relatives and neighbors that have had cancer, it is a significant health risk and remains so. And the sad thing is that it will remain so after this agreement is carried out, if it ever is, because there are sediments on the flood plane that contain PCBs. This agreement is not going to remove all of the PCBs from the upper Hudson region. It's going to take a select amount of PCBs from the river. And what we concerned about and what we hope the EPA is watching very carefully is how GE is going to test to determine whether it's actually removed the PCBs or not. This is a big concern for us.
ALAN STEINBERG: Juan, if I may, I have a lot of respect for Robert, and we're actually in a way on the same side as Robert is in a lot of ways. We share his concern about the Hudson. We admire the fact that the Riverkeeper has been so focused on this. So, we don't really, per se, have a disagreement with Robert or Riverkeeper. And we're not here to defend the past actions of GE, let me make that clear.
Where we do have a difference is on how to get this done. And if you are going to litigate everything, you are just going to delay the clean-up forever. We now have a commitment from GE to do phase 1. That's the key. And we are retaining all our enforcement powers to force them to do phase 2. Robert is right. We have to maintain very strict oversight here. And not only that, we want public comment from the Riverkeeper, from Robert. There is going to be a public comment period once the official notice is published in the federal register. And Robert, and I haven't had a chance to do this yet, I have been on the job a month, but I hope to meet with you in my office and hear your concerns. Again, we're not really at odds with the Riverkeeper. We are here basically to do the job, to carry out the commitment to remediate the Hudson, and we think this agreement has actually accelerated the pace of the clean-up and represents a very good first step.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Now, Mr. Steinberg, you say you are not here to defend GE. Obviously, GE stock went up considerably yesterday after the announcement, so the company obviously feels that it's in its interests to make this settlement. And the superfund law has been, or at least money for superfund clean-up has been, as I understand it, drastically cut back in recent years. Is the federal government — is there money in the budget for the EPA to be able to take up most of the costs of this clean-up?
ALAN STEINBERG: We are not supposed to bear the costs of the clean-up. GE is supposed to bear the costs of the clean-up. And if phase 2 is done, something like 94% to 95% of the recovery will have been made. Our expenses are in terms of supervising, oversight over GE and we are being reimbursed a substantial percentage of those amounts. So, the money is there for us to do the supervisory work both — and the oversight — both in terms of the federal budget and in terms of what GE is required to reimburse us. I don't have anything to do with the price of GE's stock. You know, that's not what I'm looking at here. I'm looking, as Robert is, in terms of the remediation of the Hudson River, and we are going to be most vigilant. Let me indicate this: This is a huge, high priority of the EPA. There should be no question about that. From the administrator, Steve Johnson, on down, this is a major priority of the EPA.
JUAN GONZALEZ: And Robert Goldstein, the amount of money that is going to be dedicated to the clean-up, do you think it is sufficient? And could you talk a little bit about this phase 1 and phase 2, as you understand it?
ROBERT GOLDSTEIN: Well, it's not a question of the amount of money that GE would ultimately have to spend if they did phase 2. I'm sure that if they do it properly, it will cost a fortune. But it's the question of what GE's incentive is here. And they have a lot of hazardous waste sites around the country. This is going to be a test, a very public test for them to see if they can get out of having to complete this clean-up. If they come back to the EPA under this agreement and say, 'Hey, you know, we can't do it, it's impossible,' you know, there's a whole — there are pages and pages in the agreement about how that situation is rectified. And I'm not too confident that, you know, this administration or the next administration, with great respect to Mr. Steinberg, I'm not confident that the administrations are willing or able to push GE to comply, or as you said, if they don't comply, I'm not confident that the government has the wherewithal or the desire to step in and do the clean-up themselves.
ALAN STEINBERG: Just responding to what Robert said, —
JUAN GONZALEZ: Alan Steinberg from the EPA.
ALAN STEINBERG: Yes, just responding to what Robert said, and I understand his concerns, I can assure all the listeners that EPA from the very top on down, from Steve Johnson, the administrator, to me as regional administrator on down, EPA does have the commitment that we will compel the performance of phase 2 by GE, if they do not voluntarily comply. And we do have the wherewithal to go to court and to force compliance on the part of GE if they will not do phase 2. We do have that desire. We do have that wherewithal. The priority is there. And we welcome the involvement of Robert and the Riverkeeper to basically give us their input. If they think along the way that there are certain aspects of the clean-up they don't like, let us know. We're a public agency. We welcome public input.
ROBERT GOLDSTEIN: Well, if I can respond to that.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Sure. Robert Goldstein from Riverkeeper.
ROBERT GOLDSTEIN: Again, I appreciate Mr. Steinberg's position in this and his apparent goodwill in dealing with Riverkeeper and other people who are interested. We'll have a test of that. We have submitted comments on the design report, and we want to see what EPA's response. If they're going to take the ball and run with it, you know, I'll have great respect for Mr. Steinberg's office if they do that. And I urge them to take into account the things that we have already asked for in terms of comments on this design report and to make GE tow the line with regard to them.
ALAN STEINBERG: I hear you, Robert, and again I look forward to working with you. I have been on the job since September 7. It's been a very busy time in my life, and this is really one of my top priorities, and I look forward to your input.
ROBERT GOLDSTEIN: Great.
JUAN GONZALEZ: I also would like to ask Robert Goldstein, since Riverkeeper has been also very involved in the issue of the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant up there. There have been recently some problems with the plant, a few weeks ago, another leak. Your continuing concerns over the situation with that plant?
ROBERT GOLDSTEIN: Well, it seems every day there's a new leak or new problem. We have had the problem with the sirens that have been recurring over the summer months. We have leaks. We have — the infrastructure is getting too old. And here we are faced with the prospect of re-licensing the plant based on rules that would absolutely exclude it from being initially licensed. If this were a new plant in this area, 50 million people, there's no way that a license would be approved at this time. Now, we are dealing with an old plant with lots of problems, and the re-licensing procedure that is going to — about to begin is just inadequate to protect us.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Robert Goldstein, we're going to have to wrap it there. Thanks very much.


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I left Bukhara after an unsuccessful internet connection attempt. When I left the cafe, there were a dozen little Bukharan boys on bicycles admiring my motorcycle. I may be a little older, motorized, and a bit further away from home, but basicly we belong to the same category. Boys on wheels! We played a bit and I gave them some baloons. Then they escorted me out of the center since the road I came two days ago was now closed. On the road, I met some other boys in uniforms with guns and sticks. They were doing radar speed checks ad pulled me over. I gave them cigarettes and started talking with my silly Turkish accent. I talked so much that they had to forget why they pulled me over. Pushing my luck even further, I asked them if they could take a photo of me with the radar gun ...Read More
Tag Cloudadd-on Adriatic Alps around the world Countries Croatia DL 1000 documentation economy Equipment excitement ferry flip Flip Mino HD fork France geography hd Horizons Unlimited inner tube Italy Johnson London mechanical migration mino Montenegro Motorcycle movement Nebraska Niagara Falls Rocky Mountains Route shocks Skye Slovenia Suzuki test Turkmenistan UK Uzbekistan V-Strom Video visa Wales


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I'm sure you might have heard that South Florida has been experiencing a pretty rough dry season. Lake Okeechobee levels are falling to dangerous lows, and there is concern about saltwater intrusion into the Biscayne Aquifer that supplies the Keys with drinking water. (Once that happens, we're doomed.) The Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority ("Taste It, Don't Waste It") is considering plugging in and starting up Old Bessie, their multi-million dollar reverse osmosis plant that can turn seawater into fresh water.
We all know about the restrictions on watering plants and washing cars we used to have imposed upon us. The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD – "We Manage Water So You Don't Have To") has been closely monitoring the water shortage and has just released new restrictions and guidelines, effective as of April 1, to help South Florida conserve what's left of our dwindling drinking water. Long time Keys residents may remember some of these from years ago. Many thought we would never see it get this bad again, but it really has been a dry winter.
Beginning retroactively to April 1, SFWMD is implementing their new Potable Intake Supply Stream protocols in order to prevent unnecessary wasting of potable (pronounced poe-ta-bull, NOT pot-a-bull) water in septic tanks and sewer systems. Part of this program includes decals for every residential toilet in the district featuring Drippy, the cartoon water-drop character, and the slogan, "If It's Yellow, Let It Mellow; If It's Brown, Flush It Down!" SFWMD calculates that the reduced flushing could save more than 30 percent of the fresh water supply that's currently being sent into our toilets. Of course, salt water and recycled gray water toilets, as well as composting toilets, are exempt from this new rule. Look for the Drippy decals in your next water bill.
Speaking of toilets, the district is also getting serious about installing low-flow toilets that use 1.5 gallons per flush (GPF) or less. Old style toilets used 4-5 GPF, and many are still flushing to this day all around South Florida. Effective today, SFWMD will begin onsite inspections of residential and commercial bathroom facilities to make sure that low-flow toilets are installed. This new Personal Onsite Toilet Survey will enable SFWMD to locate all the old style water-wasting toilets and begin to inform their owners of the new mandatory Tear Out / Install Low Emission Toilet rule that requires property owners to replace all toilets with low-flow models by April 1 of next year.
SFWMD officials didn't want to comment on the record about this new rule, but an unnamed high-ranking official said about meeting the ambitious toilet replacement deadline, "It's a crapshoot." When asked about how they plan on enforcing the "If It's Yellow" rule, this official conceded that voluntary compliance would be predominantly relied upon, but that they were training local law enforcement officers under the new Certified Residential Apparatus Police guidelines established by the Legislature on April 1.
I reminded this official that Keys people are already water-conservation savvy, and asked him about all the potable water going to water lawns and landscaping in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, and why the Keys were seemingly the main focus of these new rules. He explained that the Legislature had worked with SFWMD officials to try and overcome the enforcement problem, to no avail. Legislators from the more heavily populated cities were able to pass the Lauderdale And Miami Exempt (LAME) provision as part of the Certified Residential Apparatus Police bill last year.
Once again, we here in the Keys are being asked to do more and sacrifice more than our mainland counterparts. Then again, it's worthwhile to remember that all our drinking water comes to us via one long pipe from the mainland. That will make it easier for all of us to comply with the new P.I.S.S. protocol, the P.O.T.S. survey, the T.O./I.L.E.T. rule, and the C.R.A.P. cops. Put that in your pipe and taste it! Just don't flush it until it's brown… and please don't give me a week off of my column during April Fool's ever again.
April Fool's Day passed John Bartus by … and he just couldn't stand it. Yes, this whole column is a hoax. No matter your opinion on his pranking skills, John is a singer/songwriter. He performs this Saturday at the 7 Mile Bridge Run and at the Key Colony Inn, Sunday evening with Jade Storm at Holiday Isle Tiki, Mondays at the Castaway Restaurant in Marathon, this Wednesday with Storm Watch at Looe Key Tiki, and Thursdays at Sparky's Landing. www.johnbartus.com.


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Eat out in Ojai and take your choice: The Ranch House, Suzanne's, Boccali's, Casa de Lagos.
Eat out in Upper Ojai: Head for the Summit.
But the cafe -- which exudes all the ambience of a '50s Dairy Queen -- is more than the community's sole restaurant. It also functions as town hall, infirmary, library, lonely hearts club, homework center, kennel and -- occasionally -- massage parlor.
The place and its owner, Kathleen Weedon, are the center of Upper Ojai, says Virginia Bougas, a patron since 1964.
To get there, take California 150 through Ojai and keep going. Head up, up, up the Dennison Grade and pass its crest -- the overlook from which Ronald Coleman peered down into Shangri-La in Frank Capra's 1937 movie, "Lost Horizon."
Keep on trucking through walnut orchards, pastures and horse ranches.
And there it is, surrounded by dusty pickups. The dining room, tacked on over an asphalt parking space, is heated by a wood stove made from old oilfield casings.


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Warrior Games
The Air Force will host the 2018 Department of Defense (DoD) Warrior Games June 1-9 at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. Approximately 300 wounded, ill and injured service members and veterans will participate in the competition. The athletes will represent the United States Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and Special Operations Command. Athletes from the U.K. Armed Forces, Australian Defence Force and Canadian Armed Forces will also compete.