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Hudson, N.Y. — "If anyone asks," Aubrey Plaza said, "you're my cousin Nina."
"You're from Philadelphia," she went on, supplying more back story as she collected an iced coffee at a cafe on the main drag here. The fiction was necessary because Ms. Plaza, a "Parks and Recreation" star, was working nearby, on a movie with a closed set (or at least, closed to reporters). It was the second-to-last day of production, and Ms. Plaza was feeling a little loopy.
"We're playing hooky," she said as she strolled around unrecognized with her cast mate Max Greenfield (Schmidt on the Fox series "New Girl"). He was bearded; she was dressed in shorts and a baseball hat. "My character's a loser, and I'm in character right now," she explained, straight-faced. They took turns goading each other: "Ugh, I'm so embarrassed already," he said when she told a meandering story. She borrowed $20 from him to pay for the coffee and pocketed the change.
And when Ms. Plaza returned to the set to have her hair and makeup done, she smoothly picked up the thread of her lie. "Can we get a chair for my cousin Nina?" she asked, and, with an air of familial duty, inquired about "Nina's" summer.
Having studied comedy since she was a teenager, Ms. Plaza knows how far to take a bit. At 29, she is reaching new career heights, less than a decade after she got a foothold in television as an intern on "Saturday Night Live." She worked in the art department, despite — or perhaps because of — her clear lack of interest in it. After five seasons as the similarly disaffected onetime intern April Ludgate on "Parks and Rec," Ms. Plaza has several high-profile films on the horizon in which she stretches from drama to zombie. And for her first leading role, in "The To Do List," out July 26, she creates what may be a new screen archetype: the randy, brainy, politically savvy teenage girl. She plays a strait-laced high school valedictorian determined to lose her virginity in the summer before college, drafting a YouPorn-worthy sexual checklist in the process. Set in 1993 but presented with a 21st-century feminist point of view, the raunchy coming-of-age comedy is the feature debut of the writer-director Maggie Carey, who developed it with Ms. Plaza in mind.
"The character of Brandy Klark is sort of Aubrey Plaza's version of Tracy Flick from 'Election,' " Ms. Carey said, especially if Tracy Flick wore skorts and had groping fantasies. She knew Ms. Plaza could handle the R-rated and awkward-teen situations. "You see her in a room or onstage or on set, and she's not afraid of making someone else uncomfortable," Ms. Carey said. "But the tension is comedic, and it works. It's a very specific Aubrey quality."
They met when both were taking classes at the Upright Citizens Brigade in Chelsea, the comedy theater co-founded by Amy Poehler, star and a producer on "Parks and Recreation." Ms. Poehler was on "SNL" when Ms. Plaza worked there but heard of her first through Upright Citizens channels, where Ms. Plaza made a name for herself quickly.
Told about the Nina bit, Ms. Poehler gave her signature hooting laugh. "Nobody loves to play pretend more than Plaza," she said. "She has a really fun and playful sense of imagination." Compared with April, "Aubrey is goofier."
But, she added, Ms. Plaza also has tremendous commitment and a healthy sense of competition. (She plays on the "Parks" softball team, alongside her cast mate Nick Offerman and a bunch of crew members.) "Plaza certainly paid her dues," Ms. Poehler said.
"There's a fun little dangerous quality about working with her," she added, "because she's fearless, and she's paying attention."
Ms. Plaza was hired to play April after a whirlwind week of meetings on her first professional trip to Los Angeles, which also landed her roles in the films "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," with Michael Cera, and "Funny People," from Judd Apatow. She had just turned 24.
"I remember I wore jean shorts to a lot of my meetings," Ms. Plaza said. "And I was sleeping on the couch of one of my friends from college." But she was already an ambitious performer. To get the part in "Funny People," she began doing stand-up. "The third show I ever did, I followed Adam Sandler in front of a paying audience," she recalled. She had a Sarah Silverman impression and a bit about what tails celebrities would have if they were animals. "Ben Affleck's tail, he would have, like, a badger tail," she mused. "I remember Bill Clinton had a polar bear's nub." She considered this for a minute. "That is the worst thing I've ever said."
Her deadpan sensibility made an immediate impression. Mr. Apatow shaped the "Funny People" role around her. Ditto for "Parks and Recreation." "In our first script, the character was named Aubrey," said Greg Daniels, who created the show with Michael Schur. Ms. Plaza has a mature take on comedy, he said, geared toward honing small, writerly moments. She's "a real perfectionist, like Sydney Pollack or something," he said. "She's got this super-mature old person's taste, coming out of a young, attractive person. I don't know where she got it."
The oldest of three sisters, Ms. Plaza was raised in Delaware, where her father is a financial adviser, and she watched "SNL" with her mother, a lawyer. "Still, today, she'll call me after the episodes, telling me what she thought about the sketches," Ms. Plaza said.
A self-described comedy nerd, she started taking improv classes in Philadelphia as a teenager, choosing New York University in part so she could be involved with the Upright Citizens. She sent her résumé to every department at "SNL" to get the internship.
Her improv training is always in use, like when she crashed the stage while Will Ferrell was accepting an MTV Movie Award this spring; she had "The To Do List" and its opening date scrawled across her bare upper chest.
In between takes on the set of the movie in Hudson, "About Alex," a sort of indie remake of "The Big Chill," she played high diva. "My trailer is right over there," she said, gesturing at an empty spot behind some train tracks. "I don't want to show you my trailer. I don't want you to be intimidated."
She first got the attention of the broader comedy world as a petulant teenager on "The Jeannie Tate Show," a Web series written and directed by Ms. Carey; it also guest-starred Bill Hader of "SNL," Ms. Carey's husband. Pregnant with their first child and underemployed after a network series she was writing for was canceled, Ms. Carey came up with "The To Do List," basing it on her own perspective as a high-achieving teenager in Boise, Idaho. "I was in all the A.P. classes," she said. "I used to iron my T-shirts for soccer camp. I was doing all these things, but then my diary is just all about boys. For two seconds I would talk about camp, and then the whole diary would be about some boy I saw across the way, and did he notice me when I was juggling the ball."
The script wound up on the Black List, the annual roundup of the best unproduced screenplays circulating around Hollywood, and a staged reading with Ms. Plaza and Mr. Hader at the 2010 Austin Film Festival drew raves.
Along with an ensemble cast that includes Mr. Hader, Donald Glover, Andy Samberg, Clark Gregg and Connie Britton, that buzz helped get it picked up by CBS Studios, albeit on a shoestring; it was made for $1.2 million in 24 days. (The original, more explicit title was changed once location scouting began at schools, lest anyone think it was actual pornography.)
Ms. Carey, 37, showed Ms. Plaza her diary for inspiration, as well as old photos of her with friends. But some '90s stylistic choices did not translate. "She kept trying to get the costume designer to take things in or get them more fitted," Ms. Carey said. "And I was like: 'Aubrey, look at my high school yearbook. We shopped at the boys' section of the Gap.' "
For Ms. Plaza, the movie represented not only her first sex scene but also her first time simulating fellatio, masturbation and more. "It was a nightmare," she said, smiling broadly. She was instructed to react to the moment of her character's deflowering — in close-up. "I was like, this is the weirdest acting job I've ever had in my life."
But over beers in an old-man bar in Hudson, where she was all sweetness and no glower with the patrons, she gave credit to Ms. Carey for keeping her performance on track. As a director, she was "sensitive to things that maybe a male director wouldn't be sensitive to," like how mystifyingly pleasure-free those first moves are for girls.
And Ms. Carey praised her star for choosing funny over vanity. "Aubrey was game for anything," she said.
The libidinous travails of teenage boys have driven entire movie franchises ("Porky's," "American Pie"), but the sexual frankness of young women is something new on screen. It's a reflection of several generations of feminist theory, the openness of online culture and, crucially, the presence of women behind the camera. Ms. Carey and Ms. Plaza also gave Brandy a political point of view: she wears a "Pro-Choice/Pro-Clinton" T-shirt and — shades of Ms. Poehler's Leslie Knope — has a framed photo of Hillary Rodham Clinton in her bedroom. The movie's message is that for thinking ladies, too, sex can sometimes be taken lightly.
"It wasn't about love, she wasn't looking to get married, she was just like, 'He is hot,' " and she wants him, Ms. Carey said. "Women have those feelings as much as men. You don't see it a lot in this genre of movie, so that was important to me."
"I was so adamant about, this is not a romantic comedy, this is a comedy-comedy," she added.
Ms. Plaza said the matter-of-factness in her character's sexual awakening was appealing. "Girls learn how to masturbate, too; we just haven't seen it before," she said. And it gave her a chance to step outside her "Parks" persona. "For April, I feel like I have very bad posture, and I'm always slouching," she said. Brandy is "awkward but confident," more like Ms. Plaza as a teenager herself.
Ms. Plaza chipped away at her sarcastic veneer with the 2012 indie comedy "Safety Not Guaranteed," in which she is a somewhat earnest writer. She made a deal with Razorbill, a Penguin imprint, to write a young-adult novel, but held back, put off by the publishing formula.
Ms. Plaza would still like to write, but for now is focused on back-to-back acting projects. In "About Alex," a drama directed by Jesse Zwick (son of the filmmaker Edward Zwick), she's a 30-year-old lawyer, "definitely the most mature part I've ever played," she said. "She's kind of a mama bear in her group, which is cool for me."
Next she is working with John C. Reilly on a zombie comedy written and directed by her screenwriter boyfriend, Jeff Baena ("I ♥ Huckabees"), whom she met playing the game Balderdash at a house party. ("Yeah," she said. "Sexy.") And then it's the sixth season of "Parks," in which April, who started as a nihilistic youth, has emerged a near-adult, with a husband and a possible veterinary career — all without sacrificing her intrinsic prickly charms.
On Twitter, Ms. Plaza is known as @evilhag, but in real life, "she's not a mean person," Ms. Poehler said. "When I'm around her, we end up doing a lot of snuggling and hugging and cuddling." But Ms. Plaza does know how to wield a negative.
At this stage in her career, "the only power you have is to say no, and then do your thing," she said. And there are upsides to having an acerbic reputation.
Recognized outside a hotel recently by fans who demanded that she say something in character, Ms. Plaza told them to go away. She meant it. But they laughed as if it was hilarious.
"Oh, right!" she said delightedly. "I've somehow created a thing for myself where I can pretty much say whatever I want, and get away with it."


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Mohammed ALtuwaym
- Riyadh
- 05546119877
- [email protected]
Seeking a position as an Accountant where I will be able to contribute my skill, knowledge and experience to a company that will give me an opportunity to develop my career.
Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
Knowledge of computer maintenance and computer applications.
Good command of English language and developing it continuously.

subset: commoncrawl


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Prudence - Mini Print
Prudence - Mini Print
Mini-Prints come with a story excerpt on the back so that you can learn about the person behind the work. Art is supposed to be a conversation starter, especially art made with visibility at its core. Our stories help you launch in to that dialogue with ease and fall in love with the art in a new way.
Printed on 130 lb. premium glossy paper, and larger than the name suggests at 8.5 x 5.5in, these prints look and feel fantastic. A splendid way to own or gift your favorite Gender Portraits piece on a small budget!
A Little About Prudence
My name is Drew Riley, artist of the Gender Portraits series. Prudence is a self-portrait created as the third painting in a set of four self-portraits chronicling stages that I went through in transitioning.
After my stage of exploration forged a more solid understanding of identity and social confidence, I began incorporating my new selfhood into everyday life. When daily routine mixed in, a number of complications arose that made me see my gender presentations as impractical. I started taking steps to guard and relearn myself in a stage that I call prudence.


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Who We Are & What We Do
When it comes to running a business, some things come naturally and others leave you scratching your head. Multiple moving pieces must all come together to create a successful car dealership. Sales, service, finance, inventory, website management, customer service – the list goes on. Do you have a grasp on every area of your business?
Ethos Group Compliance Solutions (EGCS) has over 15 years of Human Resources, Consumer Protections, and Safety experience in the automotive industry. We develop successful training, communication, and resolution plans to help you manage the day-to-day operations of your dealership.
If you need a human resources solution, we are here to help! We still hire real people that come to your dealership and sit with you to diagnose problems, answer any questions, and build an action plan to address your concerns. Rest assured knowing that whenever you need us, a dedicated team assigned to you is standing by to assist.
We produce customized policies, training programs, and websites specific to your needs. EGCS works with you to identify compliance vulnerabilities that pose a business risk and crafts innovative solutions that help protect your business and employees.
Keep your employees up to date in best practices. Our team of experts works with you to provide web-based and in-person education so employees reduce their exposure to risk.
Customized Solutions for your Dealership
Ethos Group Compliance Solutions provides protection for both your business and your employees. Our HR professionals will help ensure you have all documentation you need, policies are followed, and employees are satisfied at work.
We train employees, conduct audits, develop action plans, and hold all employees accountable for their work.
Keeping employees safe during work is a top concern. EGCS conducts audits and creates detailed reports for your safety needs. We make sure there is a plan set in place to reduce your risk.
You Can Count on Ethos Group Compliance Solutions
Contact us today to see how we can help your dealership grow faster and run smoother while being confident that you're up to date with the latest regulations and trends. We pride ourselves on providing top service for dealerships and look forward to showing you how we can assist your business.


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At Lundy, Lundy, Soileau & South, our attorneys often play a pivotal role in shaping the outcome of class action and mass tort lawsuits across the country.
What is a class action lawsuit?
A class action is a type of lawsuit in which one or more people sue on behalf of a larger group of people.
While the subject matter of class action lawsuits can vary widely, two factors are almost always present for every class action:
- the issues in dispute are common to all members of the class, and
- the people affected are so numerous as to make it impracticable to bring them all before the court individually.
Depending upon the type of class action, resolution of the lawsuit binds all members of the certified class.
Many of our cases started as the result of complaints by one or a handful of people. If you have been harmed by a fraud, defective product, illegal conduct, or a deceptive practice, please feel free to call us today at 337-439-0707 or 800-259-1005.
What are some types of class action lawsuits?
Examples of class actions include claims by:
- homeowners and residents affected by a toxic spill in their neighborhood;
- consumers who purchased the same defective product;
- consumers who were harmed by unfair business practices committed by a corporation;
- patients who took a drug with undisclosed, dangerous side effects;
- merchants and consumers who pay inflated prices for products as a result of the activities of large corporations; and
- investors who are victimized by fraud committed in connection with the purchase or sale of stocks and other securities.
What are the public policy reasons supporting class action suits?
Class action lawsuits are designed to advance several important public policy goals. A class action is often the sole means of enabling people, even those with serious injuries, to remedy injustices committed by powerful, multi-million dollar corporations and institutions. As stated by former United States Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, "The class action is one of the few legal remedies the small claimant has against those who command the status quo."
In other situations, each person within a large group may have suffered only limited damages and the cost of individual lawsuits would be far greater than the value of each claim. The total damages, however, to the class could be quite large. The wrongdoer would have no incentive to discontinue its misconduct but for a class action.
In the age of mass production and mass marketing, class actions are necessary to allow individuals to take on multi-national corporations, where expenses of litigating would be otherwise prohibitive. The class becomes a de facto corporation for the purposes of suit, allowing individuals to band together and be equally matched against corporate defendants.
Finally, where the defendant has engaged in a pattern of wrongdoing, a class action can provide an effective remedy for the group without incurring the costs of thousands of separate lawsuits and risking inconsistent decisions by the courts.
Why are class action lawsuits controversial?
Increasingly the public sees the class action lawyers, both defense counsel who work for hourly fees regardless of the outcome of the case and plaintiffs' counsel who only receive a recovery if the class prevails, as the only winners in such a system.
This image of class actions, however, is often advanced by organizations and large corporations seeking to undermine the ability of consumers and small and mid-sized business owners who would otherwise be unprotected against corporate misconduct. Without private enforcement of our rights through the civil justice system, we would be dependent upon government regulation to prevent and remedy corporate misconduct.
The ability of corporations to prevent effective government regulation has been demonstrated repeatedly. A recent example is Toyota's "success" in stopping federal regulators from ordering recalls of its vehicles that suddenly accelerated after the problem first came to the attention of the National Highway Traffic Safety Association.
Before any class action settlements may occur, the judge presiding over the case must give notice of the settlement to the class, allow all who wish to be heard to state their positions and/or objections, and approve the settlement, including the attorneys' fees, only if the settlement and fees are fair and reasonable.
Contact Lundy, Lundy, Soileau & South
Please contact our firm today to schedule your free consultation with one of our experienced class action lawyers and for more information about joining a class action lawsuit. Call us at 337-439-0707 or 800-259-1005 or contact us online.


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What does our First Lady, Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, and my mother, Amelia DeNofa, have in common that make a family thrive?
In an interview with NBC News that aired Tuesday evening, Clinton explained one of the many reasons why she may forgo a 2016 run.
"I am about to become a grandmother in the fall, which I know is gonna change my life," she said. "I don't know how I'm gonna feel about that. I wanna feel the feelings around becoming a grandmother. I don't wanna be focused on something two years away. I wanna be focused on this baby right in front of me."
Before Barack Obama was elected President, Michelle Obama insisted on having a comfortable place for her mother to live with them to ensure that their two girls would have a solid foundation. This made it possible for her to campaign with her husband without fear for their daughters' well-being.
A Mother's Wisdom
When my daughter was just 2 years old and my first husband's company wasn't doing well, I took a part-time job as a hairstylist on Saturdays to make some extra money while my husband stayed with her. I loved working and being with other adults, and my boss wanted me to work more than one day a week. I wanted to accept, but I noticed that my mom was not very supportive when I told her about this plan. When I asked why, she told me that my daughter was much too young for me to even consider leaving her for a job, and that I could go back to work when she started school in a few years. She also told me that I had the rest of my life to focus on my career, and that this was not the time to do so because it was my responsibility to nurture my child before she started school. After hearing that, I stopped working entirely because I couldn't stand having Mom upset with me and I trusted her wisdom. I have never regretted my decision, because by the time my daughter started first grade, I was a widow with the total responsibility for supporting both of us. I realize now that those first five years were of the utmost importance for my daughter, helping to maintain her sense of well-being during such a trying time for both of us.
About Amelia DeNofa
Against all the odds, my mother kept all 17 of her children under her wing. It was only after she died that so much had changed. She wasn't Marie Curie or Florence Nightingale, but she knew the formula for raising happy children and maintaining a thriving family. It was her presence that brought light and love to our lives. And her absence left us in confusion and darkness. Sadly, this led to broken families and strained some of us who were mothers with young children, and who had to work outside the home. This new of child-rearing was considered proper and modern, so we went tried it for a while, especially without our mom to guide us and put us back on the right track. Within two years after her passing, family members had mental health issues that resulted in drug dependency and depression, and even some of my teen siblings dropping out of school. In some cases, the primary responsibilities of marriage and parenting were put aside to fulfill careers and outside interests. Without our mom to face up to about those things we weren't doing right, many of us faltered and then had to face ourselves and cry.
And it continues. Just in the past couple of years, we mournfully buried four young nephews and two younger brothers. We cried over our siblings' grandchildren's attempted suicides. We didn't see the warning signs that surely, our remarkable mother would have seen in her deep wisdom; while she walked the earth, all 17 children miraculously thrived and were safe in her hands. I know these tragedies could have happened if she were alive; however, none of them did. And I know, at all cost, I have a duty and responsibility to be a parent first to the best of my ability. These things Mom taught me by example and with grace and a positive outcome, in much the same way as First Lady Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton showed their love and responsibility with their most precious cargo, which in turn demonstrated a blessed success for everyone around them.
Role Models
We've all been blessed with incredible role models that continue to show us the way. And by the grace of God may we open our hearts, minds, and souls so we may learn from the wise the difference between material success and the true riches in life.


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Free VPN Client for Windows – FreeVPN
HotSpot Shield is quite popular software out there, this is largely because users could easily access Hulu and watch shows from outside US. But since Hulu added some tighter restrictions and blocked users of Hotspot Shield, there is no reason why users should continue using it.
Hotspot Shield is not free because they practically come with ads and force users to click an ad when starting for the first time. This is annoying and not a good practice at all. FreeVPN is a free Windows VPN Client that doesn't come with ads, the whole interface is dead-simple and requires no configuration at all.
Best of all, you can not only connect to a VPN in US but also in UK, which helps users better stay anonymous. It secures your web session with HTTPS encryption and allows users to bypass firewalls.
All you have to do is run the program, hit Connect, and choose the VPN you want to connect to.
Once it is connected, it will assign you a new IP. You can then start browsing using any web browser. One thing I have noticed is that it is connects faster than HotSpot Shield or any other VPN program I have encountered with.
Hit the close button and it will minimize to the system tray where it will run silently in the background.
Proof that it works? Check Pandora website below that I accessed flawlessly from outside US.
The developers behind this tool release updates multiple times a month to keep it updated, which shows how serious they are to make this tool the next big thing.
Download FreeVPN
It works on Windows XP, Windows 7, and Windows 10. Enjoy!


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The Panel
The first panel of PAX weekend was "Discover the Dragon Age", starting with a humble introduction to the devs of Inquisition and a playing of the trailer "Discover the Dragon Age" that released in March. Touching on the story and whole of Thedas, the developers noted on their efforts to make Inquisition a memorable exploration where it keeps "the content fresh for the player" and rewarding those who decide to wander beyond the beaten path. Drawing from examples like the Dalish plains and other Elven areas untouched for ages, they illustrated how these populating areas served purpose, established reason, and built storyline.
Players will experience the levels, but hopefully they will be able to draw from the random systems that are involved. Events like factions clashing in your vicinity may unfold before your eyes. Beyond gaining allies and expanding reach, your camp (the place where you conquer and place your standard) will be your bases of power. Take pictures of the start of an area and the end of it and you will definitely find out how you impacted the world.
The developers placed emphasis in allowing the players to explore with rewarding experiences. While playing the game, you might get the idea of venturing that obelisk no one is talking about, but doing so may get you great loot (and a load of trouble from an arcane horror). Not every player will experience the same things, venturing out to explore Thedas's lost treasures, so the developers are excited to see more stories of player experiences shared when Inquisition drops.
The combat team is working hard on making sure the engagements are…well, "spicy" enough. Focusing on multiple disciplines: environmental effects, environmental hazards, and more. The creatures and enemies you experience fit within that ecosystem; conversely, certain enemies are not to be found anywhere else.
Now, it's going to get a bit hazy. The Q&A was all over the place, as expected because not everyone had a question centered on one topic. Bear with me, friends.
"What does it mean to be an Inquisitor?" will be a great question for you to answer in the upcoming game. In Dragon Age 2, Hawke's companions were thematically outcasts (Merrill left her clan, Anders left the Grey Wardens, Fenris left and didn't know his origins). In Inquisition, you are in charge. Your nine companions, classes evenly distributed across mage/warrior/rogue, will be the best of the best. All powerful in their own right: Cassandra is the most highly regarded Seeker in Thedas, Vivienne was First Enchanter and served the Divine and Empress Celene, and more. Expanding, investigating the bad guys, and building earnest respect will be only part of answering your purpose in Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Romances in Inquisition in Dragon Age* (see clarification post) are not one in the same: some for affection, humor (like Varric buddying with you), or hate-fueled forbidden love (i.e rivalry love). Don't worry, guys: you don't need to romance in Inquisition. Just consider it an option. That being said… Cassandra Pentaghast and Cullen are two confirmed romances for Inquisition. More to be announced in the future.
No clear given answer on whether a certain class can use specific weapons, i.e mage using a sword.
Certain areas will exhibit its personality in the area. Further, groups will be somewhat clustered together, like the mages being in one general area.
The Iron Bull #TwoHander
"We are aware that there are a number of loose threads where player characters are involved". As far as the Warden and Hawke are concerned in Inquisition, there is a "solid possibility," Mike Laidlaw says ever so mysteriously.
On Flemeth, "you can never be a dragon, but she'll probably show up".
The Fade will be a sparingly used place. It's a dangerous place, and while the Inquisitor is the only person who can handle the Fade tears, you will not be consistently and constantly exposed to the Fade.
As far as characters returning from Dragon Age: Origins and 2, this is what the devs had to say: If X is coming back, we want to use X in a significant, meaningful way. As we know Alistair is returning in Inquisition, he will have an impact in gameplay (if he is alive in your playthrough). Same goes for any character that is brought up. They will avoid having insignificant, small cameos where the past character barely is involved with the player. Naming any character right now to return, beyond the announced Alistair, is too much of a spoiler.
As mentioned before, the choice of race and class determines the Inquisitor's origin. As mentioned before, Elven Inquisitors will be Dalish. Qunari will be Tal-Vashoth. In having the backgrounds for these Inquisitors set by race and class, the interactions with world NPCs will be more impactive. Dalish elves will recognize Elven Inquisitors, Qunari will recognize Qunari Inquisitors, and so forth.
Fun fact: the internal wiki for Dragon Age's lore is restricted to only the writing team and Mike Laidlaw. In regards to Dragon Age's lore, the main thing to take away is that everything is based off "what he said, what she said". Mike Laidlaw says it best that there is prospective, there is history, and it was written by the victors. What the Chantry, the Qunari, the magisters say…is not always the whole truth.
As far as the Chant, we will hear more verses in the future. Admittedly, not only will we most likely never see the full Chant, but sometimes the Chant is written and expanded "by need". At the very least, (thank you to the fan who suggested this), Bioware is now considering offering the sheet music for sounds of the game. But no word on if this will be a thing or not.
Long, flowing locks for females, you ask? "Maybe, likely, probably" but they are apparently a technical nightmare because of the variating height for armor. It's currently being investigated.
Qunari (Tal-Vashoth) mages will have magic similar to what we see Ferelden/Orlesian-trained mages. The history behind Saarebas magic will be explored, and its culture down the line will be illustrated, but the player's Inquisitor will not show in this game.
(Disclaimer: As mentioned the last time I did these PAX posts, sometimes I get it wrong. I'm not Mordin. However, most of this is what I heard straight from the panel. I'm reiterating what they say to the best of my notes and memory.
But yea, Cullen and Cassandra are confirmed. Cross my heart hope to die, sacrifice me to the demons and what say you)


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Zuiun-kyo – Atami Sacred Grounds
- Address
- City Atami
- State Shizuoka
- Country Japan
- ZIP Code 413-8585
- Contact 0557-85-3131
- Opening time 09:00 AM
- Closing time 17:00 PM
Zuiun-kyo is the name given to the Sacred Grounds of Atami.
Zuiun means a bank of light clouds said to portend something auspicious; kyo means a place. The Zuiun-kyo can be referred to as the "celestial paradise." About the Zuin-kyo Meishu-sama once said, "Atami is ideally blessed with mild weather, hot springs, mountains, the Pacific Ocean, and a beautifully jagged coastline; thus presenting matchless scenery, full of variety. The fact that I was able to purchase a parcel of land in the best location in Atami so quickly shows that God had prepared this area since the beginning of time."
The Zuiun-kyo is a place provided by God in His Great Plan.
The area was once a mountain thickly covered with trees, without anything even resembling a road. In the spring of 1946, full-scale construction of the Sacred Grounds was started under Meishu- sama's direction, with the dedicated service of hundreds of members from all over Japan. The area where the Hall of Worship now stands was made level by shaving off a part of the side of the mountain. Earth removed from this area was used to fill in the area under the southern part of the hall and also to build the hills in the plum garden. Stones taken from the mountain were used to build the stone walls on the grounds. It was a very difficult and great construction project for those days.
Meishu-sama visited the construction site every day to give instructions, chart new plans, and encourage the members engaged in the construction work.
Meishu-sama once remarked, "As I stand at the construction Atami site, a good idea comes to me and I apply that idea to the construction." The building of the Sacred Grounds was carried out following Meishu-sama's personal instructions, and the basic pattern of the Zuiun-kyo, as we see it today, was completed in 1954. At present, the grounds comprise over 50 acres (202,350 m2).
The Hall of Worship (Kyusei Kaikan)
The present Hall of Worship was reconstructed in April 1972. Previously at the same site, there was a hall which was designed personally by Meishu-sama.
The exterior of the new hall was designed to express Meishu- sama's conception of the old hall, which had vertical stripes in white and gray, by creating a similar effect with the reflection of a row of columns against a white wall. The auspicious clouds (zuiun) design by Meishu-sama is found on the drop curtain in front of the altar, and also on each of the forty-two fifteen-meter high columns.
The whole building is about 3 acres (12,000 m2) and has 3,456 seats in the main auditorium on the third and fourth floors. Including its spacious conference rooms, the hall can seat 6,000 persons – twice the capacity of the old hall.
The Holy Sanctuary (Kyusei Shinden)
The Holy Sanctuary was completed in October 1961 under the direction of Nidai-sama, who succeeded the spiritual leadership of the Johrei movement in 1955. It is dedicated to the Great God of Light. The solemn and graceful Holy Sanctuary is built in the irimoya style, with split gables; the roof is covered with copper sheets. The exterior is covered with granite and the interior is finished with Japanese cypress; it is a sanctuary with modern brightness and a quiet purity.
The Crystal House and Azalea Hill (Suisho-den and Tsutsuji-yama)
This building was d esigned by Meishu- sama. The name "Crystal House" is derived from Meishu-sama's idea of p aradise on earth as a crystal world, free from clouds. Using a cantilever structure, Meishu-sama removed pillars from the structure to give an unobstructed view of the beautiful Pacific Ocean. This building is used mainly as a reception hall for guests.
In front of the Crystal House is a gently sloping hill of about 3,000 m2 (32,250 square feet) covered with 3,600 azaleas. The azaleas are in full bloom from late April through early May. More and more people come every year to enjoy the beautiful array of colors, making this one of the most scenic spots in Atami.
Plum Garden (Baien)
The plum garden can be appreciated from above or below. Meishu-sama enjoyed the paintings of Korin Ogata very much and he fashioned this garden in the style of Korin. The garden consists of undulating hills with small paths meandering through various species of plum trees. There are 360 trees, some of which are over one hundred years old. Meishu-sama instructed his workers, "Plum trees which bloom beautifully have no fragrance, so only plant trees which bear fruit for they have a sweet fragrance." Thanks to the devoted care of servers, the old trees bloom beautifully every year.
Lightning Stairs (Inazuma Kaidan)
This is a stone stairway leading to the main entrance of the Hall of Worship. It is named after the zig-zag shape of lightning.
This was also Meishu- sama's design. Each of the openings on the handrail of the stairway is of a different size, but they fit naturally with the number of stairs a nd landings. The white s tone gives a refreshing Atami feeling of brightness and purity. Meishu-sama gave careful thought to the width and height of the stairs to provide easy walking for people of all ages.
The MOA Art Museum
The Atami Art Museum was established within the old Hall of Worship in 1957, as an accompaniment to the Hakone Art Museum. The museum was temporarily closed during the reconstruction of the hall and reopened again upon completion of the new Hall of Worship.
Combining man-made beauty and the natural beauty of the area, a new museum and garden were completed in 1982 to commemorate the centennial anniversary of the birth of Meishu- sama. It was constructed on a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The art collection of calligraphies, paintings, sculpture, and ceramics consists mostly of items chosen personally by Meishu- sama. The collection contains nearly 2,000 items including such Japanese national treasures as the Red and White Plum Screen by Korin Ogata, the Wisteria Jar by Ninsei, and the Kanboku jo, a collection of poetry.
Zuiunkyo in Atami (Atami Sacred Grounds)
There are Holy Sanctuary, Worship Hall and other facilities at Zuiunkyo (24.7 ha / 2,688,172 sq ft) in Atami, five-minute drive by car from Atami station.
Meishu-sama started to construct this Zuiunkyo about the same period when he started to build Shinsenkyo in Hakone.
There are 360 plum trees both in red and white that fulfill the garden with sweet fragrance in early spring. There are also many cherry trees, 3,600 azaleas of 40 different kinds, hydrangeas, bush clovers, etc. You can enjoy all the seasonal blossoms.
As Zuiunkyo is located on the top of the hill by the sea coast, it produces a beautiful view of the Sagami Gulf in the Pacific Ocean. You can overlook the Hatsushima Island and Izu-Ohshima Island, and even the Miura Peninsula to Bousou Peninsula over the gulf on a fine day.
The Suishoden (means "Crystal House") was built in 1954 at the most beautiful outlook of Zuiunkyo. This hall has the semicircular front with no pillars, with an angle of 180 degrees, which provides a panoramic and picturesque view just like "Fusuma-e ", the paintings on Japanese sliding doors. MOA Museum, established 1982, holds three national treasures including "Red and White Plum Blossoms" by Korin Ogata (1657 – 1716), which was collected by Meishu-sama himself, and further 3,500 works including 65 important cultural properties. Focusing its collection on Oriental Arts of paintings, calligraphies, and crafts, it also has some Western paintings and sculptures collected in recent years.
Additional broad cultural activities are held, such as flower arrangement, tea ceremonies, exhibitions of children's works and so on.


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As long as you can walk, know your right from your left, and like to laugh, you can learn to square dance. Together with seven other people in your square, your goal is to execute directions given by the caller, all at a brisk walking pace. It's literally teamwork set to music.
Speaking of music, today's square dance uses a wide variety of tunes. We've danced to hits such as Shut Up And Dance, Uptown Funk, Call Me Maybe or Blurred Lines, as well as classic hits such as Thriller or Ghostbusters. We've also danced to show tunes, classical and traditional music. The music choice all depends on the instructor.
If you're a step-counter, you'll easily log up to 3,000 steps per class.
BEGINNING Square Dance Lessons
Glenview Squares, in partnership with the Glenview Park District, offers Beginning Square Dance Lessons twice a year -- once in September, and again in late January.
The Beginning Square Dance course consists of two 9-week sessions. Students will learn approximately 50 square dance calls, from Circle Left to Grand Square and more. Each week students will be introduced new calls and review what was previously taught. At the end of the course, students should be ready to attend Glenview Squares Club Dances.
No partner needed, no experience required! Plenty of experienced square dancers volunteer their time each week to partner-up with new dancers whenever needed.
FALL/WINTER 2019: Beginning Square Dance Lessons
Sept 3, 2019 to Jan 14, 2020
WINTER/SPRING 2020: Beginning Square Dance Lessons
Starts Jan 21, 2020 (through May 2020)
INTERMEDIATE Square Dance Lessons
Sept. 3, 2019 through May 2020
Glenview Squares, in partnership with the Glenview Park District, offers Intermediate Square Dance Lessons once a year, starting in September.
The Intermediate Square Dance course consists of four 9-week sessions, running from September through the end of May of the following year.
Dancers who have learned the first 50 calls will go on to learn the next 50 calls, which will allow them to attend Plus-Level dances hosted by Chicago-area Square Dance clubs.
Prerequisite: Students must be proficient in Club 50 (Beginning) Square Dance calls.
Students enrolling after September 17 must have instructor approval.
Beginning and Intermediate Square Dance Lessons are held at the Glenview Park Center, 2400 Chestnut, Glenview, Ill., on Tuesday evenings from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm. People with a Household Number from the Glenview Park Center may register online here.
A MESSAGE TO MEN About (Square) Dancing
It's well known that many people of the male persuasion are hesitant to (learn to) dance. Don't believe us? Check out this humorous article in the The New Yorker entitled 'Men and Dancing'.
We've put together some advice aimed at men who may be hesitating over the idea of learning to Square Dance. (Women attempting to persuade their Significant Other to try Square Dancing may also find the advice useful.)
Check out this Advice Letter, penned by Bruce Holmes, about men and Square Dancing.
Questions? Email Lesson Coordinator Phil Moulden, firstname.lastname@example.com
Square dance lessons are supported by the Glenview Park District in partnership with the Glenview Square Dance Club.
Arlene Kaspik
We're excited to have Arlene Kaspik as our instructor for the Beginning Square Dance lessons. Arlene began calling in 2005, is one of the club callers for Chi-Town Squares, and also teaches and calls for a number of other clubs in the Chicago metro area. She enjoys teaching beginners thru 'plus' levels, as well as providing a taste of square dancing for community events. She also teaches 'styling' each year, during the Illinois State Square Dance Convention.
James Cha
James Cha will be stepping up as instructor for the intermediate Square Dance Lessons starting in September 2018. James has been dancing with Glenview Squares since 2004 and has been a caller since 2017. In his other life, he has taught many workshops and training sessions, so teaching the intricacies of Mainstream and Plus calls will be a walk in the proverbial park.
Additional Support for Students
The Lessons page on our Shutterfly site has a wealth of information to help our new students learn to Square Dance. In addition to tracking the calls that are taught each week, we post links to videos, animated instructions, and other useful information to make learning easier. There's also information about upcoming special events, dancing tips and tricks (and more).
Phil Moulden & Joy Nachtrab are our Lesson Coordinators. Besides taking care of the weekly lesson logistics, they keep students informed of new dancer dances and events where they can use what they have learned in class. With creativity and enthusiasm the coordinators work to make sure everyone (including club members who help at lessons) is having fun!
Our Square Dance Angels
"Angels" are experienced Glenview Squares club members who attend the lessons. They partner up with new dancers to help them learn and ensure everyone is having fun!
Lesson Location
Lessons are conducted on the second floor at the Glenview Park Center, located at 2400 Chestnut in Glenview, Illinois.


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This two-volume expositional and inspirational commentary on the book of Matthew integrates rigorous scholarship and clear communication. It will inform and help a wide range of readers--from serious Bible students to interested laypersons--understand and apply the truths found in the text. Both volumes deal with Matthew's emphasis on Jesus as the Messiah or King of Israel.
Topics in volume one, The King and His Kingdom, include:
Boice not only explains the meaning of the text verse by verse and section by section, he also relates the text's concerns to the world in which we live, the life of the church, and the realities of the Christian life.
Dr. Boice's commentary series is a treasure for the church and for her pastors. No expository preacher can afford to be without it.
—R. C. Sproul
James Montgomery Boice (1938 - 2000) was senior pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was also president and cofounder of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, the parent organization of The Bible Study Hour, on which Boice was a speaker for more than thirty years.


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Managing Forests for Future Resilience: Field trip summary/
By Stacey Sargent Frederick
California Fire Science Consortium Program Coordinator
On May 14, 2014 a diverse group gathered to visit sites throughout the UC Center for Forestry's Blodgett Research Forest. The "Managing Forests for Future Resilience" field trip sponsored by the California Fire Science Consortium featured a variety of forest treatment activities that could be used to promote forest resilience. The treatment activities were implemented and monitored with the results on this handout. You can also check out the map of the sites. The field trip was joined by a group of foresters from Israeli which prompted some interesting discussions throughout the day.
So what is resilience? During the first site visit, this concept and its application were described. Beyond being a popular buzz-word of the day, it's a way of thinking about how much a forest system can change and still be a forest; a forest with similar functions and characteristics. For example, a severe fire could convert that a non-resilient forest into a shrubland. However, fuel reduction may create a more resilient forest that will still burn, but will remain a functional forest. The analogy of "a ball in a trough" was discussed (for a quick explanation of resilience, watch this video).
Around 1915, areas of this forest were "blitzed" logged using a railroad system constructed for the purpose. This was a common logging practice during this time in the Sierra Nevada area. In some areas, as few as six trees per acre were left.
Then came the era of fire suppression, which created the overly dense forests and heavy fuel loads (estimated: 35 tons/acre) in fire prone ecosystems. This fuel situation now creates high fire risk for human resources and forest ecosystem functions in some cases.
Discussion points and take-home message from each site
With no treatment and no wildfires, the forest regenerated to a very high stocking level. With over 450 trees per acre currently on the site. The biomass in these areas continues to increase over time despite some mortality and fuels continue to accumulate in the understory.
The importance of surface fuels on fire behavior was strongly stressed here. The risk that any wildfire in the area would kill most of the trees continues to increase from these fuels and fuel ladders formed by all the suppressed trees.
Mechanical only:
This treatment removed merchantable logs with a feller – buncher. Then a large piece of machinery (masticator) ground up sub merchantable material with diameter less than 10 inches into smaller chips.
The "mechanical only" treatment seemed to be the biggest winner of all the treatment types. Though a lot of material was removed, growth of biomass on the site (mostly in larger trees) continues to increase . Masticated material was very deep on the site (at least 18 inches deep in some areas) but was almost completely decomposed within 7 years, further reducing the fire risk. The moisture and fungi at this site were unusual for the region, causing faster chip decomposition than may be found in some areas of the Sierra Nevada.
Mechanical and prescribed burn site:
This treatment involved similar harvest as the mechanical site (with removal of logs and mastication of sub-merchantable material), but then the remaining activity fuels were burned within the same year. Because of the deep layer of masticated material, the fire was quite hot, with 6 foot high flames, and long fire residence times which scorched tree cambiums causing higher than desired tree mortality (especially to oaks). Tree vigor had not recovered at this site and biomass was not increasing. If researchers were to redo this treatment, they would wait several years between treatment and burning to allow the slash and masticated material to decompose and reduce prescribed fire intensity.
The shrub regeneration was extraordinary here. The group had a discussion on the pros and cons of shrub regeneration. While shrubs are additional fuel and can increase fire risk (especially as they mature) they provide important wildlife habitat and forest diversity.
Prescribed burn only:
The prescribed fire only treatment was burned twice, once in 2002 and again in 2009. "Putting a fire in the first time isn't restoration, its reclamation" said Scott Stephens, fire science professor at UC Berkeley and the study's lead investigator. The first fire killed some of the standing trees. The second consumed the fire-killed trees that had fallen to the ground by that time. The second burn is more like restoration. Even though the tree vigor might be reduced by fire, it may be worth the price to lower risk.
A discussion of grazing as part of the fuel reduction was prompted by the herd of cattle chased off during this site visit.
Knowing the season and type of day to burn is vital to attaining the desired result.
The "prescribed burn only" area was burned twice during the treatments and made a great spot for lunch.
Slash burn pile and biofuel:
Blodgett forest managers worked with Placer County Air Quality to monitor the emissions from this massive slash pile burn. This showed that black carbon (one of the most damaging forms of emissions to climate change) was being released.
Five other fuels piles were instead taken to a biofuel plant. The benefits and issues with biofuel were documented in a study commissioned by Placer County:
Over 40 homes worth of energy was generated and the emissions (including black carbon) from the biofuel plants were far lower than a pile burn.
The drawback is the cost of getting the material to the plant. To break even, biofuel plants need to be within 20-30 miles from the treatment site, this slash was sent to one over 75 miles away.
Ways to subsidize the cost were discussed and the need for market mechanisms to encourage biofuel use of fuel reduction activities.
This short video describes the outcome of the bio fuel and smoke emissions project.
Conclusion: Which forest treatment is the best?
The answer is….
….it depends (you probably saw that coming). Most treatments kept the forest as a functioning ecosystem (created resiliency) and successfully reduced fuels. With each of these alternatives, other considerations such as cost, management objectives, time between treatments, site constraints, public opinion, etc. would factor into the determination of a "best" treatment.


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State College of Florida, Lakewood Ranch
Medical Technology & Classroom Building
While working at Fawley + Bryant Architects, I managed the project from the initial master plan workshops through conceptual design, design development, construction drawings and a Guaranteed Maximum Price process working with a construction manager.
The building program for State College of Florida (formerly Manatee Community College) was ambitious and complex. My challenge – to solve multiple requirements from several departments and a diverse user group – was made even more interesting due to a limited budget and the desire for sustainability. The goal was to attain a LEED Silver status.
The project included traditional science labs, a media center, classrooms and nursing simulation labs using lifelike METI simulation "patients" in a re-created hospital environment.
After several months of working through the schematic and design development process, while simultaneously coordinating price estimates with the construction manager, a consensus was achieved with all stakeholders, and the owner approved the project so that our team could proceed with construction documents.
Using the Building Information Modeling (BIM) approach, I launched a highly coordinated effort with our team and managed an ambitious schedule which necessitated weekend and holiday work. The result was a complete set of construction documents and specifications delivered to our client within six weeks, cutting our company's expected delivery time in half.
I have worked in a 3D and BIM environment for 19 years and have expertise in creating well-coordinated documents that clearly convey the requirements of each project. This approach means that each project can be built without speculation and interpretation on the part of the contractors on the team.


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ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images
Zoe Saldana is going to have a house full of guys after she gives birth!
The pregnant actress and her husband, Marco Perego, are expecting twin boys, multiple sources exclusively confirm to E! News. "It's twin boys and Zoe is thrilled!" a source tells us. "Zoe always wanted a boy."
News that the 36-year-old Guardians of the Galaxy star is pregnant with twins broke back in July. Saldana herself confirmed that she has two buns in the oven just the other week. When asked if she'd be dressing up for Halloween this year, Saldana told E! News exclusively, "I might. I might need three costumes. I might have to make some adjustments, but it would be nice."


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home | exhibitions | artists | about us | contact
Get VARGA Gallery MERCHANDISE at our Cafe Press Store!
VARGA Gallery was established in June 2003
as the studio and exhibition space of artist
PAINTINGS |MIXED MEDIA WORKS | PIXELATIONS | VARGA Girls | BOWIE
and we EXCLUSIVELY HANDLE the works of
James McColgan
VARGA Gallery also works with other select self-taught, outsider & visionary artists
from the Hudson Valley and beyond and CURATES SHOWS. To have your space curated
or to participate in upcoming exhibitions please contact VARGA Gallery.
VARGA Gallery curates the GARDEN CAFE in WOODSTOCK, New York.
Woodstock's only Vegan Venue. Visit them on the Village Green.
VARGA Gallery maintains pages for the following artists:
|Burning Vision - wood etchings
|mixed media collage artist


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About CERENIS
Cerenis Therapeutics is an international biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of innovative HDL therapies for the treatment of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Cerenis is developing HDL mimetics for the rapid regression of atherosclerotic plaque in high-risk patients, and drugs that increase HDL in patients with low HDL. Cerenis is well-positioned to become the leader in the HDL therapeutic market, with a broad portfolio of programs being developed.
Therapies focused on increasing HDL (good cholesterol) represent the next frontier in the treatment of cardiovascular disease. Clinical evidence has demonstrated that HDL therapy can rapidly regress atherosclerotic plaque and elevating HDL can reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.
Cerenis is developing CER-001 which has the potential to be the first-to-market and best-in-class recombinant HDL (CER-001).
CER-001 is an engineered complex of recombinant human apoA-I, the major structural protein of HDL, and phospholipids. It has been designed to mimic the structure and function of natural, nascent HDL, also known as pre-beta HDL. Its mechanism of action is to increase apoA-I and the number of HDL particles transiently, to stimulate the removal of excess cholesterol and other lipids from tissues including the arterial wall and to transport them to the liver for elimination through a process called Reverse Lipid Transport.
CER-001 is being developed to rapidly regress atherosclerotic plaque in high-risk patients. This product is based on the multiple innovations of Cerenis in the science of HDL that allowed the company to identify and develop a recombinant HDL particle of high purity and efficiency.


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Actor Darryl Hickman was discovered at age three by kiddie-troupe entrepreneur Ethel Meglin, to whom Hickman's insurance salesman father had sold a policy. Whenever young Hickman would ask his ambitious mother exactly why he was trodding the boards with Meglin's Kiddies, she would reply, "But, dear, it's what you've always wanted." Hickman's first movie was a minor role in If I Were King (1938), followed by a better, critically lauded role in Bing Crosby's The Star Maker (1939). After free-lancing for several seasons, Hickman signed a five-year MGM contract, which he later considered a mixed blessing in that, while his roles were good ones, he grew up much too quickly for his tastes. During the 1940s, Hickman often played the film's leading adult character as a child: young Ira Gershwin in Rhapsody in Blue (1945), young Eddie Rickenbacker in Captain Eddie (1945), and so on. Hickman's first mature role, for which he garnered a passel of excellent reviews, was as Clark Gable's son in 1949's Any Number Can Play. Weary of the Hollywood game in 1951, Hickman entered a monastery, but quit this austere existence after 18 months to enroll in Loyola University. Some of Hickman's better adult roles after his Army service included a meaty part in 1956's Tea and Sympathy and a starring part on the 1961 Civil War-based TV series The Americans. In the late 1950s, Hickman found that his fame had been eclipsed by his younger brother Dwayne, who co-starred on TV's Bob Cummings Show and played the lead in the weekly sitcom Dobie Gillis. Like Dwayne, Darryl eventually went into the production side of the business as a CBS executive, though he was still willing to take a part if the project interested him (as 1976's Network obviously did). Darryl Hickman was married to actress Pamela Lincoln, whom he met on the set of The Tingler (1959).
Darryl HickmanActive - 1940 - 2007 | Born - Jul 28, 1931 | Genres - Drama, Comedy
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Jul 3rd Upcoming maintenance on Sunday July 7th
Dear customers, We are preparing an important update and upgrade to your main servers this coming week-end on Sunday. This should be fully transparent to all with very little downtime. Expected downtime could be as long as 2 hours. The scheduled date is this coming Sunday at 6:00 AM. If you have any questions please let us know ASAP. --Steven ... Read More »
Jun 29th Maintenance Update This Week-end
Hi all,
Please take note that some servers will be down this comming Sunday July first in the morning. You can expect between 2-4 hours as we enhance our disk clusters.
Have a great Canada Day,
Steven Liberty


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Denon is recalling abut 3,400 HEOS 1 Go Pack rechargeable battery packs designed for use with its wireless speakers because the battery can overheat, causing a fire and burn hazards.
This recall involves Denon's HEOS 1 Go Pack lithium-ion rechargeable battery packs for wireless speakers. Only HEOS 1 Go Packs with a 10-character alpha-numeric serial number beginning with 5 or 601G91 and ending with 3517 through 4004 are included in the recall; the battery packs are black or white, hexagon-shaped, and have four blue LED lights and a power button. HEOS, the model, and serial numbers are printed on the bottom. Only the speaker battery is being recalled.
Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled battery packs and contact Denon for a free replacement battery pack, including shipping.
The units were sold at Best Buy (Magnolia), Brookstone, and online at BestBuy.com and Amazon.com from May 2015 through June 2016 for about $100.
Consumers can contact Denon toll-free at 844 -759-1987 from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET Monday through Friday and 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. ET on Saturday or online at https://usa.denon.com. Just click on "Product Recall Information" at the bottom of the page.
The recall was announced by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Keep an eye on your inbox, the lastest consumer news is on it's way!


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A low-profile Quad-Grip Seat makes this NRS Stern Frame easier to stack with other rafts on a trailer or in the boat house. You guide the raft from the stern while the paddle crew supplies the muscle.
- Built to fit 14' and longer rafts.
- The NRS Raft Stern Frame adjusts to fit any stern tube height.
- The 4' long, 1' wide Quad-Grip Slant Seat attaches to the Seat Bar and Foot Bar with conduit clamps.
- 3/4" marine-grade Quad-Grip plywood features a tough, slip-resistant plastic laminate finish for long-term durability.
- The Stern Frame with Low-Back Drain-Hole Seat (Item # 92007.04) is a great alternative when boats are not being stacked with the frames on.
- The heart of the NRS frame system, the LoPro™ Fitting allows complete adjustability for all frame parts.
- NRS Oar Mounts are lighter, sleeker and stronger than ever with hot-forged aluminum alloy construction and a nylon insert to reduce rowing friction.
- Use NRS Tie-Down Straps to secure the frame to your boat.
- Components: Side Rails, Cross Bar, Foot Bar, Quad-Grip Slant Seat and 8" Oar Mounts.


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I'm enthusiastic about promoting German literature to the Yorkshire community and beyond. Currently, I am working on a Holocaust Memorial Day project, to engage the University with the city's commemorative events. I'm always delighted to speak about my research, and German culture more generally, to wider audiences.
- January 2014: collaborating on a Holocaust Memorial Day theatre project, based on testimony held in the University's Liddle collection, with The Theatre Company Blah Blah Blah and Leeds City Council.
- September 2013: participating in workshops with museum professionals at the Cape Town Holocaust Centre; speaking on 'Literature and Forgiveness' at Lilliesleaf Museum as the guest of the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre.
- 14 June 2013: participating in PERFORMANCE and VIOLENCE sandpit event with Opera North
- 24 January 2013: Introducing The Counterfeiters as part of the Leeds Holocaust Memorial Day events programe.
- 24 October 2012: Holding talk on 'Mephisto: Faust on Film' at the Scarborough Anglo-German Society
- 20 September 2012: Introducing the film Mephisto as part of the Opera North Faust season.
- 14-15 March 2012: Organised visit of German writer Clemens Meyer to Leeds
- Co-organiser (with Dr. Richard Hibbitt and Dr. Matthew Treherne) of the HEIF-funded 'International Writers at Leeds' series, co-hosted by Leeds Central Libraries
- 13 October 2011: Organised visit of Austrian writer Alois Hotschnig and Tess Lewis to Leeds
- 21 September 2011 and 27 October 2010: Held talks on 'W. G. Sebald: Memory, History, Identity' at the York Anglo-German Society and at the Scarborough Anglo-German Society
- 2 July 2011: Organised sandpit event on 'The Resurgence and Rediscovery of German Literature in Translation', exploring ways to link publishers, readers and teachers of German literature in translation locally around Leeds
- 28 March 2011: Hosted visit of German writer Larissa Boehning to the University of Leeds, including a translation workshop with MAATS and undergraduate students and a reading from Boehning's work
- February 2009: Held introductory talk to the film The Death Mills as part of the public screening series 'Injustice on Film' at the University of Liverpool


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Viewing: Uncateogorized
November 7, 2016
Formal Statement Outline
Joining our team isn't as straightforward as it may appear at first sight. Our specialist group of skilled academicians is always ready to fit your requirements. With every one of these offers on the internet, deciding the most suitable company isn't therefore easy.
Posted in Uncateogorized | By nrolfert


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The Rev. René Laurentin, a prominent Roman Catholic theologian who devoted his career to investigating reports of supernatural religious visions, died on Sept. 10 in Evry, a suburb of Paris. He was 99.
His death was announced by the Catholic Church in France.
Often compared to the French philosophers Henri-Louis Bergson and Jacques Maritain, Father Laurentin was one of the world's foremost students of Mariology, the theological exploration of the Virgin Mary; an expert on historic religious apparitions; and an investigator of celestial sightings reported everywhere from a hill in the Balkans to a Texas backyard.
The author of more than 150 books, he wrote six volumes on Our Lady of Lourdes alone, perhaps the world's best known account of a Virgin Mary apparition.
In that episode, in the French town of Lourdes in the mid-19th century, a miller's daughter, Bernadette Soubirous, reported that a woman who later identified herself as the Virgin Mary had appeared to her. After a church investigation, the girl's account, detailing multiple encounters with the apparition, was deemed authentic and Lourdes became a shrine. Bernadette was canonized in 1933. Father Laurentin concurred in the vision's authenticity.
He was more credulous than a number of his fellow clerics about another episode, when six children in Medjugorje, a tiny village in southwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina, reported in 1981 that the Virgin Mary had delivered tidings to the public and, eventually, secret messages to them.
Pope Francis said this year that he believed that the children's visions were worthy of further study, but he expressed skepticism that Mary had been returning daily since then at an appointed time.
"I prefer the Madonna as Mother, our Mother," the pope was quoted as saying, "and not a woman who's the head of a telegraphic office."
Father Laurentin explored claims by an Argentine woman that the Virgin Mary had since 1983 shared hundreds of messages and a luminous rosary with her, and that Jesus himself had brought her 68 prophetic visions. (The local bishop suggested last year that the sightings could have indeed been supernatural.)
If an apparition is not immediately sanctioned by the church, local bishops typically apply one of two formulas: either "the supernatural is not proved" or "the nonsupernatural character is proved."
Father Laurentin said that reaching the conclusion that " 'the supernatural character is not established' — in other words, the miraculous aspect is not proved" — can be misleading.
In Medjugorje, he said, "the bishops chose not the second formula, which excluded the supernatural, but the first, which had an element of doubt." That doubt did not rule out a supernatural dimension, he said; rather, it indicated only that the supernatural was not yet possible to prove.
Father Laurentin was careful to acknowledge that claims of apparitions can flow from illuminism — a belief that one has attained a degree of enlightenment denied to most people — or madness.
He offered guidelines for discerning an apparition: that the messages "conform to faith and good morals"; that the seer be "credible, disinterested, balanced"; that the message not deviate from church teachings or the instructions of prelates; and that conversions or healings result from the experience.
As he explained in The Call of Heaven: The Journal of Messengers and Apparitions, the church's decision implies neither certainty nor an obligation to believe.
"Even where the church recognizes an apparition (including Lourdes and Fatima, the most solemnly recognized), she does not employ her infallibility or even her authority, since it is not a question of a dogma, necessary for salvation and taught in the name of Christ, but of a discernment, only probable and conjectural," he said in a 2003 interview. "She does not say 'You have to believe' but 'There are some good reasons to believe. It is beneficial to believe.' "
René Laurentin was born in Tours, France, in the Loire Valley, on Oct. 19, 1917 (the same year that three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal, said they saw a vision of Mary). His father, Maurice Laurentin, was an architect; his mother was the former Marie Jactel.
René entered the Carmelite Seminary of the Catholic University of Paris at 17 and earned two degrees in philosophy from the Sorbonne. Drafted into the French Army during World War II, he was captured in Belgium in 1940 and spent five years as a German prisoner of war. After he was ordained in 1946, he earned doctorates from the Sorbonne and the Institute Catholique.
Father Laurentin taught at the Catholic University of Angers in France, the Universities of Florence and Milan in Italy, and the International Marian Research Institute at the University of Dayton in Ohio.
He was also a correspondent for Le Figaro, the French daily newspaper, and a consultant to the reformist Second Vatican Council, where he sought to strengthen a provision exonerating Jews for collective guilt for the crucifixion.
In 2009, Father Laurentin was named a Prelate of His Holiness by Pope Benedict XVI.
The rector of Lourdes, Abbé André Cabes, praised him in a statement for having "the solidity of the theologian, the seriousness of the historian, the agility of the journalist."
Recalling Father Laurentin's role as a consultant to the Second Vatican Council, the first such assembly to deal with church doctrine in a century, Vatican Radio called him "certainly one of the last living witnesses of this great period of effervescence."
Father Laurentin would remind critics that they did not have to accept his personal verdict on supernatural visions as doctrine.
"That was already the position of Bernadette," he said, "who did not involve herself in discussions with the opponents who wanted to dispute with her, but, if they insisted, answered simply, 'I am charged to tell you. I am not charged to make you believe.' "
It was his view that reports of apparitions had increased in the 19th and 20th centuries, and he attributed this to "the troubled situation in which our world finds itself." But he said that no matter what form the visions take, the messages they deliver rarely vary.
"What strikes me in Our Lady's messages is that they are an echo of the Gospel," Father Laurentin said in 2003. "The messages from Medjugorje do not say anything new; they just repeat to our deaf ears what we have forgotten, what we do not want, or are not able to hear any more: to pray, to have a strong faith in God, to fast, to read the Gospel."


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What we have here is the Republican Party of Canada.
A few things that make this so...
- Complete disregard for environmental issues.
- Secretive and my-way-or-the-highway administration.
- Antipathy towards First Nations -- otherness, immigrants, etc.
- Electoral shenanigans involving voter disrespect.
- Policy lip-lock with US Republican playbook.
- Despicable shills such as Ezra in the "Rush Limbaugh" role.
- Media influence and outright funding threats.
What we need is a system of proportional representation that does not eliminate the concept of local ridings. Seriously, that we have to be lead around by a group with the support of a clear minority of the public is a major flaw.
A democracy is not about minority rule. What we have here is the Republican Party of Canada ruling in an undemocratic environment.
When I think about it I am at a loss for words.


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Running Gait Analysis (RGA): Meet Kien Mau
About Kien Mau
35 year old Kien Mau graduated from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) with Honours in Mechanical and Production Engineering but decided follow his passion and forge a career in track and field. He has been involved in competitive long distance running since 1996 and has been coaching for the past 12 years.
He has recently started his training as he wishes to participate in a Half-marathon in Japan, Osaka. However, along his training, he has realised that certain shoes give him pain in his heel. When Kien Mau heard about the Running Gait Analysis, he decided to make an appointment to meet Jordan for a RGA Assessment to determine the root cause of the pain as well as solutions for dealing with the pain.
RGA Assessment
Upon initial assessment, we found out that Kien Mau has a collapsed arch, thus shoes that provide too much support can potentially cause arch pain. After going through Running Gait Analysis, we found that Kien Mau tends to land in pronation and had several muscular imbalances which was inadvertently causing the pain in his arch.
Jordan proceeded to assign several exercises to Kien Mau to strengthen his weaker muscles and scheduled a follow-up Physiotherapy session.
Results of RGA
Just a week after his first Physiotherapy session, we are pleased to find out from Kien Mau that he went for a few runs and did not experience any pain in his arch. He is enjoying his runs much more now and feels more confident about his upcoming half-marathon.
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="8″ gal_title="RGA Trial Kien Mau"]
Let us help you find the most efficient and pain free running form for your body today. Book a Running Gait Analysis with Jordan by calling +65 6226 3632 now!
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You can easily request for a physiotherapy clinic or fitness appointment through any of the 3 convenient ways below with your preferred date, time and clinic location. Our staff will be happy to help allocate you to the first available appointment slot that best fits your convenience.
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The USO Naples has been serving the Naples community since 1944 and continues to support its men and women with the same dedication and care shown in the first USO canteens. A liaison between the military and the local culture, the USO Naples also offers a variety of services to make Italy more accessible. This new and improved website will help you navigate through the many opportunities and support services available through the USO Naples. Don't forget to stop by one of our centers for a great cup of coffee!
Upcoming 2017 Weekend & Extended Tours
Nove Express Shopping Tour 03-05 Nov 2017
journey in the most famous ceramic factories of Nove, to learn about the art of
ceramic painting and to shop the many collections at factory prices.
We will visit four different factories, and have free time for lunch at the
Vicenza Army Base. Limited Seats Available !!!
Price per person: €97,00
Siena & Montalcino Weekend 11-12 Nov 2017
the most exquisite and refined part of Tuscany, in a journey vineyards and
olive groves in the hills of Siena and Montalcino's boutique wineries.
The tour includes a visit to the breathtaking medieval city of Siena, with a
professional guided tour through the city center.
Visit the quaint town of Montalcino, and tour a local wine estate. Enjoy the
very best of wine tasting events, as you savor outstanding Rosso
and Brunello di Montalcino, and other local wines served with delicious local
cheese and biscotti. Learn to relax Italian style,
and join the USO on this laid back weekend of wine and culture!
Price per person: €187,00
Thanksgiving Wkd. in Tuscany 24-26 Nov 2017
the USO for this Thanksgiving weekend for a Grand Tour of Tuscany. Together we
will visit the cities of Florence, Lucca, Siena, Pisa and San Gimignano. The Tour will include: Bus
Transportation in a deluxe
motor coach, 2 overnights in a 4 star hotel in Montecatini Terme,
Guided Tours with professional English
speaking tour guide,
2 Breakfasts and 2 Dinners and a USO Group leader assistance for the duration of the tour.
Sign up today. Limited Seats.
Price per person: €293,00
USO Do-It Yourself
Wine Tasting Vouchers
for the flyer click here
USO Daily Tour Listing
(by month)
October Daily Tours
November Daily Tours
Link will redirect you to our
Facebook page, where you will find all of our monthly tour offerings.


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Directions: http://g.co/maps/a423y
Prior to your first appointment please print and complete the paperwork below. If you are unable to do so then please plan on arriving at our office 10-15 minutes early to complete paperwork in our reception area.
We do respond to emails, however the quickest way to get information about our services is to call 817-600-9351


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A Father or mother's Guide To Teenage Relationship And Sexuality Issues
Has your teenager got here residence with new injuries after a date? There's a small window of time between when your teen begins relationship and when she's going to be getting into the grownup world. In truth, along with helping to develop intimacy with others, dating serves many functions for our teenagers. First, research have proven that early and intensive (unique and serious) dating before the age of fifteen can have a considerably stunting impact on adolescents' psychosocial growth.
While it's not healthy to get wrapped up in your teen's relationship life, there will be occasions when you will have to intervene. One in three ladies in the US is a victim of physical, emotional or verbal abuse from a relationship associate, a figure that far exceeds rates of different varieties of youth violence.
Most teens say they've never felt pressured to be in a relationship before they had been prepared. Many states have additionally adopted teen courting violence consciousness weeks or months, in an effort to attract the public's consideration to a nationwide marketing campaign that promotes prevention, healthy relationships, and provides info and assets.
§15-712.01 Allows college districts to incorporate relationship abuse info that's age appropriate into the college district's existing well being curriculum for pupils in grades seven via twelve. As a mum or dad, it will be important for you to acknowledge the danger indicators of an unhealthy or abusive relationship.
17 Adolescent dating violence is a topic which have to be understood to ensure that true equality between the sexes to be achieved and to help stop associate violence in adults earlier than it happens. In a healthy relationship, the feelings are mutual. It helps to remember that most teens be taught the social guidelines of dating whereas socializing with their associates.


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I don't agree with the seller that this diecut might very well have been made by Beistle. Although Beistle did produce a remarkably similar diecut in the 1960s, this one for sale has little of its predecessor's charm or detail. I suspect this diecut was made by a local manufacturer in the 1960s with little marketing or distribution muscle to widely disperse the design.
09/04 Update: As I now know from a listing now active on Ebay, this rather plain diecut was produced in the early 1960s in Japan and packaged as an offering by Favorline, a small firm out of Green Bay, Wisconsin.


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Chris' Comics: X-Men '92 #4
SHILL ALERT: New York Comic Con is this week, and I'll be there all 4 days as an attendee, which is the first time in forever. As usual, you can follow my nonsense on Twitter and Instagram, at @theanarchris. WARNING: I GET KINDA NSFW/ CURSE HAPPY WHEN I START DRINKING/GETT ANNOYED, SO HEAD'S UP THERE. Anywho on to #content
Chad Bowers, Chris Sims, Scott Koblish, Matt Milla
Marvel $4.99
For the record, if X-men '92 wasn't already confirmed for a returning on-going next year, I would have probably spent half this article pleading for people to go buy X-men '92, because it was an incredibly fun book. Fun and X-men rarely go hand to hand these days (see the OTHER X-Men Secret Wars tie-ins, and the upcoming solicits for the All New Marvel Now stuff), making X-men '92 a bit of a rarity. A welcomed one at that, taking one of the most recognizable incarnations of the X-men, and setting them up in a world that loves and adores them for a change, all while injecting with a ton of humor and fan service into the story.
The final issue of the mini-series sees the X-men and their various allies fight the dreaded X-Sentinel, while Professor Xavier battles the Shadow King. Artist Scott Koblish does an incredible job drawing the massive fight scenes, having to draw and impressive amount of characters several times throughout the book, and never once dialing down the detail or the acting. The sense of scale and action he manages to portray is fantastic, and it's cool to see him be able to switch up between action, comedy, and drama without skipping a beat. His character work is super expressive, and he manages to sneak in his fair amount of inside jokes and reference just as well as his writers, while perfecting capturing the excess of the nineties without going overboard. Matt Milla, the book's colorist is also as impressive, managing to set the scenes perfect with some excellent lighting and palette choices. While the books character designs are very much stuck in the 90s (because again, X-men 92), the coloring looks like a book from today.
Writers Chris Sims and Chad Bowers, do a fantastic job wrapping up this mini on a high note. The writing is superb in this issue, making sure every core character gets their moment to shine, and having some fun while doing so. The dialogue is especially strong this issue, be it Gambit and Rogue being….well Gambit & Rogue (something 90s X-fans will get says Buzzfeed), an insanely hilarious scene featuring Wolverine, and a touching end bit with Storm and Cyclops being the personal highlights of this issue. As I've said in the past I love how the use some of the obscure and insane elements of X-men history, and play it straight. The final fight has not one, but 2 bonkers bits that had my cackling like a mad man as I read this book, and am I grateful for them.
X-men '92 was a mini that was welcomed for a number of reasons; one of them being one of the few Secret Wars tie ins that shipped on time for the most part. It was also a legitimately fun read that looked great and celebrated the X-men at the peak of the popularity, while poking some fun at it without coming off as mean spirited. I encourage anyone who grew up on the 90s animated series and found the comics too daunting to give this book a shot, especially since it basically laid the groundwork for the new ongoing next year.


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TOKYO (March 22): The dollar struggled at a four-month low against the yen early on Wednesday after a slide in Wall Street stocks sent U.S. Treasury yields sharply lower, eroding the greenback's interest rate allure.
The U.S. currency was off 0.2 percent at 111.56 yen after plumbing 111.43, its lowest since Nov. 28.
The dollar also nursed large losses against the euro. The common currency was steady at $1.0810 after surging overnight to $1.0819, its highest since early February.
"A key factor behind the latest currency developments was the big drop in U.S. equities. The question now is whether equities will keep falling," said Shin Kadota, senior strategist at Barclays in Tokyo.
"Unlike the dollar and treasuries, the 'Trump trade' still had an impact on equities. But if such impact on equities is to fade, it would weigh on dollar/yen. The dollar will also suffer against other currencies as U.S. yields would decline."
Wall Street fell sharply on Tuesday as investors worried that President Donald Trump will struggle to deliver promised tax cuts that propelled the market to record highs in recent months, with nervousness deepening ahead of a key healthcare vote. The Dow lost 1.1 percent and Nasdaq shed 1.8 percent.
The dollar index against a basket of major currencies was a shade lower at 99.707 after retreating to a 1-1/2-month low of 99.642 overnight.
The greenback has faced a confluence of negative factors recently, with the dollar index pulling sharply back from a peak above 102.00 scaled at the start of March.
Dollar bulls were disappointed as the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates earlier this month but did not signal a faster pace of tightening to come as many had anticipated.
The U.S. currency has also felt the pressure from a resurgent euro.
Growing expectations of a tightening in European Central Bank monetary policy this year and the possibility of anti-euro candidate Marine Le Pen being defeated in the French presidential elections have supported the common currency.
The euro rose above $1.080 for the first time in six weeks on Tuesday after centrist Emmanuel Macron's performance in a TV debate fuelled expectations he would win the French presidency ahead of Le Pen in May.
The pound hovered near a three-week peak of $1.2495 scaled overnight on data showing British inflation jumping above the Bank of England's 2 percent target for the first time since late 2013.
The Australian dollar was down 0.2 percent at $0.7672 , having lost steam after rising to a four-month high of $0.7748 at the start of the week. The wobbly U.S. dollar and higher commodity prices have benefited the Aussie. - Reuters


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The Charlotte Hilton, skin loving, nourishing bath and skincare blends are exclusively hand created using the finest soil association certified organic and natural ingredients.
The inspiration to create these lovely pampering products has come from a growing knowledge of the incredible benefits of using these fabulous vitamin enriched oils and beautifully scented essential oils which have a powerful therapeutic effect on the mind and body.
All of the ingredients we use are organic or from a natural source. We also use active botanical ingredients which provide a high level of antioxidants all of which can visibly improve skin tone and texture.
Personally, I have always been a bit of an addict when it comes to skincare and bathing. For me a long soak in the bath is deeply therapeutic and uplifting, where you can be alone with your thoughts and have some real me time.
"There must be quite a few things that a hot bath won't cure but I don't know many of them" – Sylvia Plath


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The WEBfactory i4 is a software platform designed by WEBfactory GmbH, a specialist for automation software and web technology. The platform allows companies to manage their individual Industry 4.0 approaches by mapping machines and production plants virtually, online and on different mobile devices.
Five modules enable real-time administration: i4SCADA, i4Monitoring, i4Maintenance, i4Energy and i4Analytics. They can be purchased individually or as a package. The system gathers and stores data of the whole company thanks to data warehouse technology. i4SCADA visualizes sites and machinery, whereas i4Monitoring constantly surveils and evaluates key indicators to verify that all machines are running properly. I4Analytics evaluates and analyzes the measured indicators to ensure anticipations and prognosis. The ISO-certified i4Energy module is the application, which unites the energy management of the whole factory on one screen. And finally i4Maintenance calculates when the next check of the system is due.


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The Evergreen Chorale launches into spring with its presentation of "Sun, Moon, Earth and Sea" for two performances only this Friday and again on Sunday.
Through heartfelt expression and song, the concert is poised to sweep you away, deep into the realm of majestic nature. Sight combined with sound accentuates the many sensations normally found outdoors. Clouds, snowflakes, trees, butterflies and mountains, to name a few, will be offered for your imagination and enjoyment.
If you currently subscribe or have subscribed in the past to the Canyon Courier, then simply find your account number on your mailing label and enter it below.
Click the question mark below to see where your account ID appears on your mailing label.
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Huntington Takes Step Toward Heckscher Park AGZA Green Zone
5/11/17 Town of Huntington, NY - News Details
The Huntington Town Board, at its May 9 meeting, took a significant step toward establishing a demonstration program replacing gas-fueled landscaping equipment with battery-operated units at Heckscher Park and Town Hall, creating a "Green Zone" with reduced emissions and less noise.
The Board approved a resolution co-sponsored by Supervisor Frank P. Petrone and Councilwoman Susan A. Berland to retain the American Green Zone Alliance (AGZA) to conduct a study that will analyze the Town's existing landscape practices, recommend the appropriate, cost-effective battery powered equipment and instruct Town personnel on the use, care and maintenance of the devices.
Headquartered in Studio City, California, AGZA is a leader in a nationwide effort to help communities address noise and air pollution issues. It provides certification and accreditation in zero-emission landscape maintenance strategies; educates individuals, property owners, and landscape maintenance professionals to reduce or eliminate the use of gasoline powered maintenance equipment in favor of cordless electric and manual equipment; and promotes those strategies through its Green Zone certification program that allows the owners of properties of any size to create, maintain, and promote their own zero-emission Green Zone. It is working with the town of Southampton on a similar project.
The resolution follows more than a year's worth of discussions with Huntington CALM (Citizens Appeal for Leafblower Moderation), a citizen's advisory and advocacy group with over 1,600 supporters whose goal is to limit the use of gasoline-powered leaf blowers by commercial landscapers from May 15 through September 15, when residents spend more time outdoors. CALM representatives have appeared before the Town Board and met with Supervisor Petrone and Councilwoman Berland. The group also arranged a test of battery-powered equipment at Heckscher Park for Town officials.
"Heckscher Park and Town Hall are perfect locations for a demonstration program to test the feasibility and efficiency of battery-powered equipment that reduces emissions and operates at significantly lower decibel levels than gas-powered equivalents. I look forward to seeing, and not hearing, the results," Supervisor Petrone said.
"This resolution is a great first step to protecting our environment and reducing air and noise pollution in our Town," Councilwoman Berland said. "Many constituents have contacted me to restrict the use of Gas Powered Leaf Blowers to address their quality-of-life concerns. I encourage everyone to visit the Town's website, watch my public service announcement and complete our leaf-blower survey. I look forward to working together with Huntington CALM and the American Green Zone Alliance to create a 'Green Zone' at Heckscher Park and Town Hall."
SAVE THE DATE: WED Jun 21
agza certifies the first AGZA Green Zone park in the Eastern united states
East QuogUE Village Green
630 Montauk Hwy, East Quogue, NY 11942
Wednesday, June 21 at 10:30 a.m.
TOWN OFFICIALS, AGZA, PRESS, and local environmental groups
(631) 287-5745 or southamptontownny.gov
Southampton Town Councilwoman Christine Scalera, local officials, residents, and environmental organizations will celebrate the dedication of the first American Green Zone Alliance (AGZA) Green Zone Park in the Town of Southampton and eastern United States at the East Quogue Village Green on Wednesday, June 21 at 10:30 a.m. The project, led by Councilwoman Scalera in partnership with non-profit, Quiet Communities, and the AGZA, will bring electric-powered maintenance equipment to the park. By replacing gas-powered equipment, such as leaf blowers, the Town will reduce levels of noise and completely eliminate emissions at the park.
"Establishing a Green Zone at the East Quogue Village Green is a starting point to test innovative equipment and techniques that would improve the quality of life for residents in terms of noise and air quality, which is consistent with the action goals of the Towns Sustainability Plan," stated Assemblywoman Scalera.
A certified AGZA Green Zone is a defined area, such as a park, hospital, or school campus, where routine maintenance is performed with zero emissions, low noise equipment, and manual tools. AGZA is the global leader in sustainable zero-emission grounds maintenance strategies and Quiet Communities in the Eastern lincensee for AGZA's Green Zone program. It informs municipalities, businesses, and schools on risks associated with the use of commonly used industrial equipment. There are alternatives and AGZA's Green Zone program is focusing on one place at a time to start changing the way communities perform maintenance.
AGZA President, Dan Mabe, has helped to create more than 25 certified Green Zones on the West Coast. In partnership with Quiet Communities, AGZA is bringing the program to the East Coast! "On the West Coast, we have proven that commercial sized properties can be maintained without gas-powered equipment at the same level of quality and at lower cost. We look forward to bringing these benefits to the East and other parts of the country," said Mabe.
The Towns Parks and Recreation Department participated in a demo during 2016 with Mean Green Products to test out their electric powered equipment, including full size lawnmowers. The Town has since purchased a fleet of state-of-the-art electric battery equipment that will achieve the same aesthetic in a much healthier and more sustainable manner.
Referring to a 60 inch deck mower, Southampton Town's Parks Maintenance Supervisor, Jon Erwin, stated, "It's amazing how such a large mower can be so quiet." According to Mean Green, this lawnmower is about 15-20 decibels quieter than a comparable gas engine product.
"Parks maintenance staff members use power equipment on a daily basis and after testing the electric products, and getting a better sense of how they function and perform, they're very enthusiastic about their implementation," added Kristen Doulos, Town Parks Director.
Southampton Town has started a trend as several other Long Island towns have begun to follow their lead. The Town of Huntington has recently voted to create an AGZA Green Zone at Hecksher Park. "This is just the beginning of a movement on Long Island and New York State," said resident Bonnie Sager, co-founder of the group Huntington CALM. "We will reduce our carbon footprint and improve the health of our workers and our neighborhoods. We applaud the Town of Southampton for their foresight and leadership."


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Our view from 'la ferme' looking out towards the town of Fréjus. Fréjus. France. 2016.
Jacques' allotment at la ferme, Fréjus. France. 2016.
La ferme, Fréjus. France. 2016.
Late afternoon at 'la ferme', Fréjus. France. 2016.
Fréjus. France. 2016.
Breakfast, Fréjus. France. 2016.
Saint-Raphaël. France. 2016.
Fashion, Saint-Raphaël. France. 2016.
Saint-Raphaël. France. 2018.
Roquebrune-sur-Argens. France. 2016.
Water Glisse Passion, Roquebrune-sur-Argens. France. 2016.
Le Muy. France. 2017.
After church, Le Muy. France. 2017.
Lake of Sainte-Croix. Var. France. 2016.
Chapelle Saint-François, Lorgues. France. 2016.
A rug trader shows me his wares, Lorgues. France. 2016.
Lorgues. France. 2016.
Valensole Plateau. France. 2016.
Valensole Plateau. France. 2016.
Ice cream, Saint-Tropez. France. 2018.
Saint-Tropez. France. 2018.
Fashion, Saint-Tropez. France. 2018.
Nice. France. 2018.
Fontaine Miroir d'eau, Nice. France. 2018.
Nice. France. 2017.
Cours Saleya Flea Market, Nice. France. 2017.
Volleyball, Nice. France. 2018.
Promenade des Anglais, Nice. France. 2018.
Wild flowers mark the entrance to Vignoble du Clos des Roses, Fréjus. France. 2018.
Sunset view looking out away from Mont Vinaigre, Fréjus. France. 2018.
Agay. France. 2017.
Agay. France. 2017.
Marché Forville, Cannes. France. 2018.
Marché Forville, Cannes. France. 2018.
Cannes. France. 2018.
Cannes. France. 2018.
Cannes. France. 2018.
Plage de la Gravette Beach, Antibes. France. 2019.
Antibes. France. 2019.
Marché Provençal, Antibes. France. 2019.
Beau Rivage. Monaco. 2018.
Grand Hotel Hairpin. Monaco. 2018.
Port Hercules. Monaco. 2018.
Menton. France. 2018.
The Festival of St. Peter is a traditional celebration of the sea which begins with mass before a procession down to the seafront. Menton. France. 2018.
Locals dressed in traditional fishing attire carry a statue of Christ down towards the seafront. Menton. 2018.