text:
The Position of the United Church of Christ
The United Church of Christ is perhaps the only Christian denomination to directly support marriage equality (The Unitarian Universalist Association has also done so). In 2005, the General Synod of the United Church of Christ adopted a resolution stating in part:
?The United Church of Christ affirms equal marriage rights for couples regardless of gender and declares that the government should not interfere with couples regardless of gender who choose to marry and share fully and equally in the rights, responsibilities and commitment of legally recognized marriage.?
First Church?s Support of Marriage Equality
First Church supports the fundamental right of each person to marry the person they love, including those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT), or heterosexual. This position is a natural outgrowth of our Open and Affirming Statement.
Our church community includes many LGBT families, couples, and individuals. They are a vital part of our church, as members and also serving as deacons, council members, ministry team leaders, and ministers. We stood in solidarity with all members of our community in opposing Proposition 8, which would single out LGBT individuals for unfair treatment based on their sexual orientation. The California Constitution protects everyone equally?it protects the fundamental rights of every citizen. The freedom of LGBT couples to marry is about fairness and equality.
Want to Get Married?
First Congregational Church of Berkeley welcomes all couples who wish to marry, including those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or heterosexual. Our ministers have performed many weddings for same-gender couples over the past decade and will continue to do so whether they are deemed legal by the state or not.
Please contact the church office at 510/848-3696 or firstname.lastname@example.com for more information and to set up a meeting with one of our ministers.
- 68 views


text:
Kids love to learn! But sometimes in winter it seems like it gets too cold to do much other than bundle up in front of something warm and try your best not to shiver. It doesn't have to be that way, though! Don't let your child's inquisitive mind hibernate! These 25 super cool … [Read more...]
25 Super Silly Slumber Party Ideas For Boys
Sleepovers are fun when you're a kid. Between the games, and the food, and just being in someone else's house for the night, sleepovers give kids a chance to truly see how the other half lives. And for boys, having that chance to bond with their friends over silly, fun things is … [Read more...]
25 Ideas To Help Sick Kids Feel Better
Being sick is miserable. But when you're a kid, it's worse. Kids don't know that these aches and pains and more will go away with time, so they go from being happy and playful to down and sad as soon as that first sniffle hits. Consider these 25 sick-day essentials for … [Read more...]
25 "Celebrate Winter" Art Projects For Kids
Kids love to create! Giving kids the tools to build their creative side is easy: kids can create with just about anything. But teaching them basic techniques will help them grow as artists and creators. These 25 "celebrate winter" art projects for kids will help them grow their … [Read more...]
25 Awesome Lego Activities For Kids!
Because with Lego, everything is Awesome! From the second kids get their first set of Lego's, they're hooked. And why not? Lego's give kids the freedom to express themselves creatively. They teach ratio, engineering, mathematics, and spatial awareness. Playing with Lego's combats … [Read more...]
25 Spectacular Indoor Snow Crafts And Activities For Kids
Kids love snow! Whether you find yourself buried in snow each year, or never see a flake, these 25 spectacular indoor snow crafts and activities for kids are a fun way to enjoy the season, without spending hours outside in the cold. From homemade snow to art to different ways of … [Read more...]
25 Silly Spoon Crafts for Preschoolers
You'll never throw away another plastic spoon once you see these 25 spoon crafts for preschoolers!Looking for a fun craft that lets you recycle those old wooden and plastic spoons? Look no further! These 25 super adorable silly spoon crafts for preschoolers will give your … [Read more...]
25 Beautiful DIY Bracelets for Kids
Your kids are going to love making these beautiful DIY bracelets. Maybe they'll even make one for you!Next time your creative kiddo's are bored, show them these 25 Beautiful DIY Bracelets for Kids. From friendship to fashion, these bracelets use materials like Lego's and … [Read more...]
25 Silly Straw Activities for Five Year Olds
Your five year old will love making and playing with these straw activities and crafts.Straws make for great building materials and are so fun to play with. What kid hasn't found joy in twisting straws into spirals at a restaurant? These 25 silly straw activities for five … [Read more...]
25 Edible Science Experiments For Kids
These experiments are so fun, your kids will eat them up! Teaching kids about science is way more fun when they get to eat the results! These 25 Edible Science Experiments For Kids will give you your fill of learning and a tasty snack, too! Enjoy!25 Edible Science … [Read more...]
25 Apple Crafts for Preschoolers
Apple crafts are a fun way to explore texture, color, and fall. Kids will love these apple crafts.When our babies are little, one of the first fruits we introduce them to are apples. We hang apple pictures on their walls, teach them the alphabet using a is for apple, even … [Read more...]
25 Autumn Process Art Ideas for Preschoolers
Let your preschoolers get messy and create art without intent with these fun fall ideas!Process art lets kids explore color, texture, shape, and the actual process of creating art without expectation of the outcomes. Which is a fancy way of saying that process art lets kids … [Read more...]

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Fill your growler or enjoy a pint! Hang out with Chetco Brewing Company at the Saturday Market at the Port of Brookings Harbor! We have corn hole and skee ball now too!!
Back to All Events
Earlier Event: September 10On Tap @ Vets Day @ McVay
Later Event: September 175K Foamin' Fun Run


text:
Clutch & pouch combo
Clutch & pouch combo
Bold and elegant, this clutch is perfectly sized to store day or night must-haves easily in one place. A matching pouch hides inside or tags along for keeping up with smaller essentials.
Made in California with soft leather and a gold plated zipper.
Product Details
Large Clutch: 9'' x 9''
Small Pouch: 7" x 3.5"
Add To Cart


text: Beaverton!!! We will be taking over one of the taps at Broadway Saloon all month long with our Space Fruit Citrus Infused IPA. We'll be on hand on Tuesday April 4th from 5-7pm to pour some free samples and give away some swag. There will be pint specials all month long so stop by and say hi to Max from our team. Cheers!


text:
In a surprising development, a prescription drug for rheumatoid arthritis may be able to reverse some symptoms of dementia.
There is great disagreement about what causes Alzheimer's disease. Amyloid beta is the most well known culprit, but another camp believes a protein called Tau is really to blame. Whether one is more important than the other, they both appear to play a role in forming fibrils and plaques. Large amounts of resources have been directed at removing amyloid plaques, but one research team has discovered an old arthritis drug, Salsalate, could remove the tangles caused by Tau.
Re-purposing an existing drug
The prescription drug Salsalate inhibits a process called tau acetylation by interfering with an enzyme called p300. This is a specific modification in which chemical acetyl group is attached to the tau protein - turning it into a toxic molecule. Scientists believe this acetylated tau is a significant driver of dementia.
Scientists from the Gladstone Institute discovered that in mice salsalate could lower levels of toxic tau, rescue memory, and even protect the hippocampus from atrophying further - a region particularly effected by dementia. The drug could have beneficial effects in both Alzheimer's patients and fronto-temporal dementia.
"We identified for the first time a pharmacological approach that reverses all aspects of tau toxicity. Remarkably, the profound protective effects of salsalate were achieved even though it was administered after disease onset, indicating that it may be an effective treatment option."
The Tau protein has not undergone as comprehensive research as its amyloid cousin, so there is no existing drug that targets its build up. After a post-mortem of Alzheimer's patients, researchers noted that tau acetylation is one of the earliest signs of dementia. The toxic form of tau drives a number of negative processes and neurons fail to combat the onslaught, so many believe it's time to target tau as well as amyloid.
"Targeting tau acetylation could be a new therapeutic strategy against human tauopathies, like Alzheimer's disease and FTD. Given that salsalate is a prescription drug with a long-history of a reasonable safety profile, we believe it can have immediate clinical implications."
Because this is a pre-existing drug, there's hope trials could be comparatively speedy. If salsalate proves to have similar effects on human patients, then it could be an excellent way of fighting dementia progression and even help reverse memory loss.
Read more at Neuroscience News


text:
Director Darko Tresnjak and choreographer Peggy Hickey have a professional relationship they describe as "very much like a marriage" — but certainly nothing as volatile as the showbiz couple in the Cole Porter musical "Kiss Me Kate."
Tresnjak and Hickey are collaborating on the revival of this musical-within-a-musical that centers on a battling pair of ex-mates who star in a musical version of "The Taming of the Shrew," Shakespeare's problematic — and some feel misogynistic — play about the war of the sexes.
"We're like an old married couple," says Tresnjak about his 14-year association with Hickey. "There's stuff we fight about, but at the end of the day we have a martini."
Hickey has been Tresnjak's go-to choreographer for any project that calls for movement, large or small, including plays ("Antony and Cleopatra," "A Midsummer Night's Dream"), opera ("The Ghosts of Versailles" at Los Angeles Opera) and Broadway (the Tony Award-winning "A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder" — "which change all of our lives," says Hickey).
"It's a new chapter for us to do a big dance musical," says Hickey of the revival of the 1948 Broadway musical "Kiss Me Kate", which she describes as a "no-holds-barred, clear-the-deck, hey-we're-dancing musical."
Hartford Stage's co-production is now in previews and opens Wednesday, May 20. The show, the theater's first musical since it premiered the Tony Award-winning "Gentleman's Guide" in 2012, will run through June 14.
Goodspeed Connection
They first met in 2001, when Michael Price, then executive director of Goodspeed Musicals, and line producer Donna Lynn Cooper Hilton brought Tresnjak and Hickey together. She was making her mark choreographing musicals like "Brigadoon," "King of Hearts" and "On the 20th Century" at the East Haddam theater and Price had just brought in Tresnjak, an up-and-coming director at the time, to direct "A Little Night Music."
It was a perfect pairing for both and their relationship has deepened over the years, working again at Goodspeed with a sublime production of "Amour" at its Chester theater and in a lyrical revival of "Carnival" in 2010. Tresnjak was named the following year as Hartford Stage's new artistic director.
"There's lots of stuff we agree on without needing to say a word,' says Tresnjak. "We complete each other's sentences. We both deal with bodies in space and time, and ideally you don't want to know where my work ends and hers begins, and that's how it should be." But [in 'Kiss Me Kate'] her work will get more attention than for mine and that's great."
Hickey says the musical numbers in the Hartford Stage co-production with San Diego's The Old Globe are in the style of Hermes Pan — who crafted the dances for the 1953 "Kiss Me Kate" film, which starred Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel and featured a killer dancing cast including Ann Miller, Bob Fosse, Carol Haney, Bobby Van and Tommy Rall.
She is also influenced by veteran Broadway choreographer Jack Cole, whose signature was for a more muscular, athletic style, especially for the men, mixed with some jazz and exotic influences, too.
"This is a highly athletic show," she says. "We have flipping and tumbling and throwing girls about. It's exciting. It's our hope to hit this thing just right..not to be too slavish to what came before but not reinvent the wheel for something that works so beautifully well."
In developing her moves for the show, Hickey also worked with dancer pals at her home in Los Angeles last year, sending video clips to Tresnjak of ideas she had for the show "to be sure I was on the right track."
Hickey also worked on one of the show's big and iconic numbers — "Too Darned Hot" — at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival musical-theater lab for choreographers in the Massachusetts Berkshires last summer. It's the only "think tank" for choreographers, she says, compared to the many creative retreats available to playwrights and directors.
For this production Hickey has an ensemble of seven with an addition of three principal dancers but, she says, everyone in the 19-member cast keeps things moving in the show
"Because the company is so small, all the dancers had to have incredible dance technique and sing their faces off," she says. "There was no wiggle room for even a medium voice. We needed crazy triple threats (dancing, singing, acting) and they're all so good."
She particularly praises Megan Sikorai who plays Lois/Bianca, Tyler Hanes who plays Bill/Lucentio (who dances effortlessly, like Gene Kelly") and James T. Lane who plays Paul ("who is just a dancing firecracker").
'Sweet Spot'
For Tresnjak, who has a particular fondness for mid-century style — most represented at Hartford Stage in his production of "Bell Book and Candle" — as well as a passion for Shakespeare (he's already directed four of the Bard's plays here with a sixth set for next spring), this Renaissance-meets-Broadway musical was an obvious choice.
"This hit right in his sweet spot," says Hickey.
Tresnjak says he wanted to do the show as far back as the early '90s after he fell in love with the album "Red, Hot + Blue: A Tribute to Cole Porter," which was the composer's material performed by contemporary artists in a very modern — and sexy — way.
"I've always loved Cole Porter," he says, "because his music makes me so happy. He also writes about desire and sexuality in such an open and healthy way."
Deciding to do "Kiss Me Kate" also solved a dilemma for Tresnjak, but he says he had no interest in directing "The Taming of the Shrew" in part because of its less-than-feminist ending. "The things that I can't stand in 'The Taming of the Shrew" I don't have to deal with 'Kiss Me Kate.'
Hickey says its Porter's "wacky world," more than Shakespeare's, and that this version "levels the playing field. Nobody wants a Stepford Wife – so there's a 2015 spin, obviously."
Tresnjak says putting on a musical this time at Hartford Stage compared to "Gentleman's Guide" is less stressful because he is dealing with an standard from the Golden Age of the Broadway musical. "So we're not getting rewrites handed to you overnight," he says.
Plus, he says, there's the sublime assurance that he's dealing with one classic musical number after another. Among the show's songs are: "Another Op'nin,' Another Show," "Too Darn Hot," "Wunderbar," "So in Love," "Why Can't You Behave," "We Open in Venice," "Tom, Dick or Harry" and "Brush Up Your Shakespeare."
"KISS ME KATE'' is now in previews at Hartford Stage, 50 Church St., Hartford. The show opens Wednesday, May 20, and runs through June 14. Tickets are $25 to $85. For more information, visit hartfordstage.org or call 860-527-5151.


text:
MEMPHIS, Tennessee – Memphis trailed 4-2 in the bottom of the eighth and 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth, but two runs in the home-half of each inning gave the Redbirds a 6-5 walk-off win over the Omaha Storm Chasers (Triple-A Royals)Saturday night in front of 8,265 fans at AutoZone Park.
The Redbirds led 2-1 after 6.0 innings of work by Alex Reyes, who became the second-straight Redbird starter to work at least 6.0 innings after the previous 10 did not. Reyes struck out eight and issued two walks while scattering six hits, five of which were singles.
Miguel Socolovich needed 10 pitches, all strikes, to take care of the Storm Chasers in the seventh, but he loaded the bases in the eighth before being lifted in favor of Sam Tuivailala. Tuivailala gave up a three-run double to the first batter he faced, and Memphis trailed 4-2 after seven-and-a-half.
But the Redbirds answered right back and tied the game in the eighth with two runs, which came on just one hit and four walks. Jose Martinez singled to start the inning, went to second on a wild pitch, advanced to third on a walk and scored on another free pass. Efren Navarro then sprinted home on the inning's second wild pitch, and the game was tied at 4.
Omaha had two doubles in the top of the ninth off Tuivailala and regained a 5-4 lead, which was short-lived as the Redbirds had a trio of one-out singles in the home-half of the ninth, including a run-scoring knock by Carson Kelly, to set upAnthony Garcia's sacrifice fly that scored Navarro and gave Memphis a series win over the Storm Chasers.
Breyvic Valera was on base five times in the game, going 3-for-3 with two walks, and he is hitting .545 (12-22) on his six-game hitting streak. He also drove in a pair of runs, and he now has eight RBI in the last five games after having 13 in his first 40 Triple-A games.
Martinez finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored, and Kelly was 2-for-5 with an RBI. Navarro entered the game as a defensive replacement in the seventh and walked and singled and scored both times he stepped to the plate.
Dean Kiekhefer earned the win after retiring the two Omaha hitters he faced in the ninth, and he is now 5-1 on the season.
The Redbirds head to New Orleans to play six games in four days tomorrow through Wednesday, and after a league-wide off day on Thursday Memphis returns to AutoZone Park for eight games Friday the 12th through Friday the 19th. The upcoming homestand features a "Yadi-Air Freshener" giveaway on the 12th, a Trevor Rosenthal Talking Bobblehead Theme Ticket and postgame fireworks on the 13th, and weekly promotions Prairie Farms Ice Cream Sunday, King Cotton $1 Hot Dog Night (Tuesday) and College Night (Thursday).
For tickets or for more information on the 2016 Redbirds season, contact the Redbirds front office at (901) 721-6000 or visit www.memphisredbirds.com.


text: www.rebelscum.com Rebelscum.com; Star Wars Toy News Archive Randy Martinez, No price listed, Available in Celebration Store Latest News Hasbro: European Convention Exclusive The Black Series Luke Skywalker (Skywalker Strikes) Figure Revealed! Posted by September 23, 2019 at 12:19 PM CST | Forums This figure will be available at select conventions in the U.K. and Europe, starting with Berlin Comic-Con in Germany. It will also be available at key conventions this Fall including MCM London Comic-Con, Paris Comic-Con, Lucca Comics & Games, Salon Manga Barcelona, and Madrid Comic-Con (in limited quantities, while supplies last). In addition, the item will also be available at select retailers in Asia and North America beginning November 4, 2019. Click through for photos and Hasbro's press release. FULL REPORT SEND Free LEGO 40333 Battle of Hoth Micro Build Posted by September 22, 2019 at 03:21 PM CST | Forums British and mainland European customers at LEGO.com can enjoy a free miniature version of the epic Battle of Hoth. Details are a click away! FULL REPORT RELATED ARTICLES SEND Free Mini LEGO BB-8 Promo Posted by September 22, 2019 at 02:55 PM CST | Forums If you missed the 40288 BB-8 GWP promotion during last year's May The 4th Be With You extravanganza, US customers at LEGO.com are getting a second chance. All you have to do is sign up to the new LEGO text notification system and you'll get a code for the mini BB-8 set. Aside from handing over your phone number, you will have to spend at least $60 before you can apply the code. SEND Gentle Giant: Dreamer Rey Premier Guild Edition Posted by September 21, 2019 at 03:50 PM CST | Forums At SDCC, Gentle Giant Ltd. showed off their first entry in the Star Wars Premier Collection line of statues, Dreamer Rey with both helmeted and unhelmeted heads. Now, GG Ltd. is excited to announce that the helmeted head version will be the next Premier Guild exclusive! FULL REPORT RELATED ARTICLES SEND Film Jackets Ep9 Finn Release Posted by September 20, 2019 at 05:44 PM CST | Forums Want to dress up like your favourite Star Wars character? If it's Finn then this is your lucky day. FULL REPORT RELATED ARTICLES SEND Hasbro: The Retro Collection Back Up For Pre-Order On Entertainment Earth! Posted by September 20, 2019 at 11:04 AM CST | Forums Miss out on The Retro Collection, or need more? The Retro Collection is currently relisted on EntertainmentEarth.com. Click through for the direct links.UPDATE: Individual Links Added FULL REPORT SEND Return of the MeUndies! Posted by September 20, 2019 at 09:31 AM CST | Forums If you�ve missed your chance to pick up MeUndies� latest Star Wars designs, they�ve got you covered. Literally! FULL REPORT RELATED ARTICLES SEND Hasbro: "First Edition" The Black Series Figures Found Early In Puerto Rico! Posted by September 19, 2019 at 12:26 PM CST | Forums Fellow collector a_creature_inamask has found variant "First Edition" The Black Series figures in white packaging at a Walmart in Puerto Rico. Click through for the images. FULL REPORT SEND Marvel Comics For December 2019 Posted by September 19, 2019 at 11:00 AM CST | Forums Marvel has sent out solicitations for their December 2019 titles, including 12 Star Wars comics and 4 trade paperbacks! Check out the advance solicitation list after the jump. FULL REPORT SEND Hasbro: Triple Force Friday The Vintage Collection Figures Found Early In Ohio! Posted by September 19, 2019 at 10:12 AM CST | Forums Fellow collector Doug wrote in to say that he found the latest The Vintage Collection figures at this local Meijer store in Marysville, OH. Click through for the images. FULL REPORT SEND Back to Rebelscum.com


text:
Product Description
Whimsical, inventive, and profound, the tales are as vibrant and diverse as the city whose stories they tell.
These must read pieces from established and up-and-coming writers will captivate and delight you, whether you grew up in Philadelphia or have yet to make your first visit.
- "I liked every one of the tales in this anthology… Philly Fiction rocks: Buy your own copy and see."—Philadelphia Inquirer
- "The writing sings; in 'The Shanghai Ship to Love,' Edward P. Clapp hilariously describes a trip on the Chinatown Express. There's genuine emotion in Michael Aronovitz's 'The Big Picture' …. In Greg November's 'Dinnertime at 42B,' a loser pays a hooker for her company, but the woman isn't pretty, and the ending isn't Hollywood. Welcome to Philadelphia."—Philadelphia Magazine, Best of Philly issue
- "Delish"—Philadelphia City Paper
- "If you feel that indescribable sense of Philly pride, then this book is a must read. If others, maybe living outside the city, don't understand your feelings, then this book is a must gift."—Play magazine
- "Stories that use the Philadelphia landscape, not only to highlight Philly's literary talent … but also for the enjoyment of Philadelphians."—Chestnut Hill Local
- "Philadelphia stories, themes, and concerns can only be told by local writers."—Gloucester County Times
- "I recommend this book to both Philadelphia residents and people who don't live in Philadelphia."—Zoe Strass
- "Philly Fiction covers all the bases in an eclectic collection that exposes the city at its worst and its best. A friend of mine recently said that Philadelphia hasn't found its soul. I will send him this collection as Philly Fiction reveals the city's soul with all its bumps and bruises."—G. Emil Reutter, blog360
Features stories by: Phyllis Carol Agins, Michael Aronovitz, B. J. Burton, Edward P. Clapp, Elise Juska, Tim Keppel, Jaime Leon Lin-Yu, Josh McIlvain, Greg November, C. Natale Peditto, Jon Petruschke, Rafael Reyna, Xavier Richardson, David Sanders, Serge Shea, Christopher Stanton, Amber Dorko Stopper, Walt Vail, Jim Zervanos.
Edited by: Josh McIlvain, Christopher Munden, Greg November, Tracy Parker.


text:
Written Manifesto
An Inquiry into Motorcycle Maintenance & Designers values.
In 1906 statesman Winston Churchill delivered a speech to the House of Commons that included an extended instance of the well-known phrase "with great power comes great responsibility." Being a designer often results in having considerable influence over what comes onto the market, consequently leaving designers with the obligation to produce products in a responsible manner. Thus I believe that the values we possess as designers is one of, if not the most important attribute; that must be developed to a higher level of thinking in order to be successful.
These attributes also translate directly into the world of motorcycle maintenance. The feeling of riding a motorcycle is like nothing else, I can't begin to explain how peaceful it is. Although violent from the outside, it's one of the most serene actions, the boundary between earth and sky loses itself within a white haze. Motorcycles are more than machines, more than art, they bring out the instincts, wildness and vulnerability from within me, it feels like nothing and it's from this point I would like to introduce the relationship that motorcycle maintenance has with my design.
I was brought up around the smell of oil and sound of machinery, I know realise that it was at this point in my life when I started learning not only the Four Pillars of motorcycle maintenance but the Four Pillars of design also.
These Four Pillars are often be effected by what I like to describe as gumption. Gumption can be defined as a "shrewd or spirited initiative, resourcefulness, Imagination or ingenuity". It is this quality that motivates an individual to perform a worthwhile task like fixing a motorcycle. Gumption is vital, however 'gumption traps' can drain an individual's motivation and ability to perform Quality work. I hope to catalog these traps for a reader, so that others can learn how to avoid being stymied by gumption traps. Learning lessons – developing deep understanding of the pillars.
The internal gumption traps also known as hang-ups, are divided into three categories:
"Truth traps," which block intellectual comprehension;
"Muscle traps," which block physical actions; and, most dangerous of all,
"Value traps," which interfere with internal understanding.
The most common and dangerous value trap is "Value rigidity," in which a calcified understanding of the world prevents repairers from evaluating problems as they work. Repairers can conquer this value trap by slowing down and developing a genuine interest in the workings of the motorcycle, which will allow them to see their project in new ways.
An understanding of possible traps isn't enough to ensure flawless motorcycle maintenance. Most importantly of all, one must live one's entire life in a way that avoids gumption traps and channels Quality in all activities. This attitude prevents one from viewing motorcycles and their maintenance as objects separate from one's self, and allows for seamless, Quality work.
Four Pillars:
There are four pillars to every being: your physiology, your psychology, your philosophy and your history. All the boxes loop together.
Physiology: This Pillar refers to the Physical construction of the motorcycle or design. The emotions felt from what's Tactile.
Psychology: The emotional connection and or character, the feeling of satisfaction obtained from taking the time to achieve a successful design or well running cycle. We often personify both designs and or cycles for example 'she's a dog'
Philosophy: The idea of reason or wisdom behind what you have done. Detachment from the real world, speed gods and Burt – ride till you die experience –
History: Why you do what you do and how you learned to do what you do.
Psychomotor traps, which can be engendered by unsuitable tools, physical discomfort, or a lack of "mechanic's feel." To cultivate the proper feel, one must become comfortable interacting with and manipulating the array of materials... Although the Four Pillars are inherently present to both motorcycle maintenance and design it is important to remember that there is much more than this examined methodology. Both actions crave boundless freedom.


text:
This is article on 30th Birthday Cake For Husband.
30th Birthday Cake For Husband pictures
More than a number of businesses retain the services of the whole family for the complete day. You will find a mission where you should meet many particular targets. Switch any package deal into an extremely exclusive and special occasion for one more cost of 0.00.
Extra keywords are beautiul cake decoration and 30th Birthday Cake For Husband.


text:
FILE - U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens being moved by Libyan civilians trying to rescue him after gunmen and protesters rampaged through the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012. (AP Photo/Fahd al-Bakoush)
Your feedback is important to us!
We invite all our readers to share with us their views and comments about this article.
Disclaimer: Comments submitted by third parties on this site are the sole responsibility of the individual(s) whose content is submitted. The Daily Star accepts no responsibility for the content of comment(s), including, without limitation, any error, omission or inaccuracy therein. Please note that your email address will NOT appear on the site.
Alert: If you are facing problems with posting comments, please note that you must verify your email with Disqus prior to posting a comment. follow this link to make sure your account meets the requirements. (http://bit.ly/vDisqus)


text:
PrimusRS – Not Your Dad's Rehab Treatment Method
Gone are the days of manual limb manipulation, guesswork, and primitive data-collection. The PrimusRS is the most versatile and functional rehabilitation equipment on the market. Specifically designed for evaluating, rehabbing, and tracking progress using Isotonic, Isometric, Isokinetic, and CPM resistance modes, this innovative machine is perfect for multi-joint testing, orthopedic rehab, neuromuscular re-education, and even advanced musculoskeletal athletic training. As a matter of fact, in addition to rehab, the PrimusRS is actually used by many professional trainers and strength coaches for data-driven testing and training of athletes.
Regain Full Range of Motion
By combining the rehabilitation systems of four different machines, the PrimusRS provides comprehensive treatments to suit the unique needs of every patient. From a functional standpoint, its seamless resistance modes, adjustable height, and full set of functional attachments, allows for the replication of virtually any daily task or activity. The aim of rehabilitation is to get you back on your feet, and performing daily or occupational tasks efficiently and painlessly. The only way to accomplish this goal is to replicate these motions in a safe and controlled environment until full range of motion is restored. The PrimusRS provides exactly that – it ensures that the ultimate goal is achieved through personalized, gradual, safe, and monitored repetition.
This physical versatility, combined with its powerful and innovative data-collection software that captures and reports real-time objective data, allows your doctor and chiropractor to:
- Establish an evidence-supported pre-rehab reference point: Initial evaluation and performance data is automatically recorded and stored within PrimusRS' internal software.
- Develop a safe and objective rehabilitation program: Programs are personalized according to each individual's capabilities, and based on real-time recorded data.
- Track rehab progress: Progress data is continuously collected and stored, and can be retrieved at any time to gauge improvement.
- Objectively assess progress and development: By providing you with visual and real-time feedback on-screen, the PrimusRS allows you to see exactly what progress you've made since the beginning of treatment, as well as to set attainable goals to ensure knee replacement rehab evolves steadily, and at an optimal intensity.
Improve Your Golf Swing Speed Performance with PrimusRS
Golfers, hit the ball farther! Increase your golf swing speed and power by strengthening the specific muscles used in your golf swing. More strength and speed of your swing equals greater club head speed and greater ball distance. More endurance means greater consistency of your swing mechanics throughout your round.
At Alberta Back and Neck Rehab & Sports Injuries Clinic, we measure the speed of your golf club head, then on our high tech $100,000 Primus sports testing and rehab machine we can measure the strength of your specific golf swing muscles. Over 5 or 10 sessions you will work at increasing the strength of your golf swing muscles and increase your golf swing speed, power, and endurance so that you can hit the ball farther.
Contact Alberta Back and Neck Rehab & Sports Injuries Clinic to discover how the PrimusRS can help you.


text:
Desert oak coloured faux wooden venetian blinds crafted using high quality PVC, the fine grain re-creates the warm, hoemly effect or natural wood. Durable and versatile making them very suitable for areas with high misture content like the bathroom and kitchen. The slat absorbs less moisture which means it will not warp, yet still retain its natural look.
Delivery 5-7 Days, One Year Guarantee
- Timber: Basswood
- Min Width: 290mm Max Width: 2600mm
- Min : 200mm Max :3000mm
- Timber Slat Thickness: 3mm
- Pelmet / Valance: Fauxwood
- Cords: Colour co-ordinated
- Toggles: Wooden, optional metal pulls available
- Control: Left hand tilt cords, right hand lift cords
- Fixings: Includes all brackets & screws, suitable for top/side/face fixing


text:
What better way to celebrate Halloween, than with a fabulous 1980 Dr. Strange illo? This is from the rare 1980 Doc calendar, and features the master mage fending off the enigmatic Eternity, in some truly mind-rending artwork by Gene Colan and Tom Palmer! Click below to enlarge, and here to see more from this colossal calendar!
BONUS! The same calendar included this little snapshot of the times, a photo-feature depicting much of the 1979/1980 Marvel bullpen! How many do you remember?


text:
Run For Office
Do you have a message to share, and want to be the Libertarian candidate who gives voters a choice? The Montana Libertarian Party is seeking candidates to run for office. If you're interested in giving liberty a voice, fill out the form and our team will help you get started!
We appreciate your willingness to run for office and help build a new political majority in America. Thank you!
Contact Information: Only the fields marked with asterisks (*) are required to complete this form. Most information is voluntary, but the more information you can provide, the easier it will be for us to contact you and help you get started.
Run for Office:
There are many other ways you can get involved and help support the Montana Libertarian Party, so be sure to visit our other pages to learn more about how to Contact us, upcoming Events, Becoming a Member, Volunteering, or Donating.


text:
Roasted ratatouille pasta (or quinoa, or rice, or whatever)
Self, I feel the compulsion to apologize for the radio silence on this little journal of ours. I know it makes me/us uncomfortable. But we have been scrimping and saving in order to travel for an entire month, and that has involved a lot of front-loading of other priorities. And now that we're away, we have actually been working quite a bit, albeit in a less structured, less orderly, reduced kind of way, squeezing focused time in between oodles of exploring. Amazing how relaxing certain types of busyness can be without actually allowing for time to relax. There hasn't been any real time for the likes of posting recipes...and yet at midnight I'm going to, driven by the preoccupying desire to record every moment. Every bite, even. Nothing new there, I guess.
This week we're in Switzerland, and the scenery that inspired Tolkien's Rivendell is so truly, magically breathtaking words can't begin to compete with images, which are forthcoming. Soon, promise. For the moment, there is this:
Because when you're keeping to a shoestring budget of sorts, having splurged on travel itself, it's nice to know you can make something suitably satisfying and also rather lovely to look at with a few reasonably priced vegetables you can find at the tiny local Coop, or even the nearby campsite general store. Roasting elevates the sweet and savory flavors and adds a quality that is both homey and elegant to just about everything, imho. This ratatouille is simple, delicious, versatile, and brightly beckoning. It's so straightforward it doesn't actually need a write-up. Except, I want to collect memories with gusto right now. So here is where we segue transparently and awkwardly into something sweet that transpired before we left for this trip. Because, it was also bright and colorful, of course.
The Friday before our big trip, our little family trio went to Denver because to see a photography exhibition called Inspired by Nature, from Front Range Wildlife Photographers. Dave had two photos on display which had been selected as among the top ten, and Felix was sooo excited and proud to share in it.
We'd been creating all kinds of cool sculpture art together with cardboard boxes, and Flix was inspired to have our own little exhibition in our tiny living room. He wants to save money for a new Paw Patroller and thought, why not sell tickets? One penny each.
An afternoon was set aside for an official "Felix's Box Art gallery opening". We had invited two friends to come view Jack the box robot, Dino World, Sky Flier the plane, Ready Jet Go the rocket, the box Choo Choo camper, egg carton caterpillars, a box telescope, and the grand masterpiece we'd completed that morning, "Pidgie Pirate Ship" complete with its own plank. At the grocery store we even picked up a special veggie tray and grapes to serve our special guests.
Plans at age four must change on the fly more often than not, and our friends looked like they weren't going to be able to make it. Flix had carefully set up the "snack bar" on the piano bench and insisted on waiting by the door, staring out. "What's taking so long?" he exclaimed at one point. "We're never going to get to show off this art!" He was quietly, shyly excited, and I was sweating, internally panicking and shooting off texts on the sly hoping to enlist some others at the last minute.
There were a few tense moments, but then, hurrah! Dear, amazing, I-am-forever-in-your-debt Ms. Sarah made it; she drove from across town even though her daughters were playing at grandmother's house. She saved the day. Felix beamed as he opened the door for her and explained all the art. He piled his plate with celery sticks, carrots, grapes and tomatoes, and we all shared "bubble water" (seltzer).
The next morning, two little friends and siblings came to see "the big exhibit", and we had a lovely play date. It made our day! Flix told "the guys"--stuffed animals-- all about it all afternoon.
Thank you, Ms. Sarah. Thank you, friends. Thank you creativity and the wonder of being four.
Thank you, ratatouoille. Thank you, simple things. Thank you goodness, and wholesomeness, and all those little moments that keep fueling faith in the power of little joys.
More soon. ;)


text:
How do I set up the Reviews widget?
Conversio Reviews Widget allows you to seamlessly collect and post your best reviews on your product pages. If you have existing reviews from other apps, no worries! You can transfer those over, so nothing is lost.
How does it work?
Step 1:
Set up your Product Review Email. This is the email in which you ask the customer to leave you a review for the purchased item. We already created the email for you, all you have to do is review and switch it on: Simply go to your Reviews and select Campaigns.
Step 2:
Edit and customize the Product Review Design Forms.
Step 3:
Import any existing reviews in a CSV file into your Moderations Page.
Step 4:
Create a Summary Widget, Recent Widget, Tab or Badge with one click from your Product Review Widget page.
Step 5:
Install the widget(s) to any of your templates following these instructions.
You're all set!
You can check reviews from this dashboard. You can also Auto Approve reviews, for more automation.
Customers can leave a review on your product page (we provide a direct link), and they can leave the review in the email, as an alternative, for added convenience! The ability to do that is possible for most email clients. For unsupported email clients, we will redirect the customer to the product review page, which you can edit following Step 2 above.
You can also set a reward discount to incentivize reviews. Hover over the review module in your email, click on the settings icon (green icon), and set your discount. It works automatically with your store, just like all of Conversio discounts.


text:
Can't believe your selling some of these clothes! They are soo nice.Love the stripey topshop cardi xx
I know I have to try and not look at them so I don't try and put them back in my wardrobe haha but it has to be done, running low on funds and this is the only thing I can think off. Might want to get in quick if you like it, it is in great condition barely worn as I accidently left it at home while I was at uni :)xx
Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment on my blog, I really enjoy reading them all and I try my best to look at everyones blogs and comment back :)


text:
An English bulldog has fetched the crown in the 2018 World's Ugliest Dog Contest in Petaluma, California.
>> PHOTOS: Zsa Zsa the English bulldog wins World's Ugliest Dog Contest
According to The Associated Press, Zsa Zsa, a 9-year-old pooch from Anoka, Minnesota, won the pageant Saturday, beating out more than a dozen less-than-pretty pups for the $1,500 grand prize.
>> PHOTOS: 2018 World's Ugliest Dog contestants
>> 2018 World's Ugliest Dog Contest: Contestants, how to vote and past winners
According to the event's website, Zsa Zsa "was a puppy mill dog for five years in Missouri, and instead of placing her in a loving home at her end of breeding, she was put in a dog auction." After Underdog Rescue saved the uncomely canine, current owner Megan Brainard found her on Petfinder and adopted her.
Check out some memorable moments from this year's contest below:


text:
About Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR)
Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) is one of the leading progressive private universities in Malaysia. The University was established in 2002 as a not-for-profit private university and is wholly-owned by the UTAR Education Foundation.
Guided by its vision to be a global university of educational excellence, UTAR is highly reputed as one of the fastest growing private higher education institutions in the country with phenomenal growth in all aspects of its development since its inception. With the first intake of only 411 students in its one campus in 2002, the University's enrolment has now reached 26,000 students with campuses located in Kampar, Perak and Bandar Sungai Long, Selangor.
UTAR has graduated over 50,000 students since its inaugural convocation in 2005 and has made impressive strides in establishing a strong reputation as a comprehensive University with dedication to achieving excellence in teaching and...Show More


text:
Dr. Adeni completed his Residency at Hahnemann University Hospital, Philadelphia and his Neonatology fellowship at the University of Illinois Hospital, Chicago, IL. He moved to Austin in 2001 to join Mednax Medical Group. He has a particular interest in respiratory diseases of the newborn and Neonatal ethics. He is currently the Medical director of the NICU at Seton Medical Center, Austin and believes that it is a a great honor to be able to help infants and their families during times of stress and illness.
Hospital Affiliation
Provides Care Through
Suggest an edit on this page


text:
A few weeks back I went on holiday with my family to Nice in the South of France. First proper group holiday in ages! I thought it'd never happen but I managed to pull it out of the bag. I mean, Airbnb and TantrumXYZ asking me if we fancied staying in one of their properties for the week kind of sealed the deal for everyone really! I am aware of how much of a #smug git this makes me right now but I am NOT complaining!
So this is who went:
Me, Hubby and our daughter Marley (4)
My sister, her boyfriend and their three kids (Ralph 6, Bear 2 and baby Delilah who is 8 weeks)
My Mum
My brother and his girlfriend
We chose Nice because:
a) it was hot
b) it's not too far to travel with kids and flights are affordable
c) it's kind of fancy
We picked an Airbnb property that was really suited to kids. It has things like travel cots, washing machines, toys, a pool fence and alarm and loads of grass and open space for them to play.
It also had things for me like Wifi and loads of pots, pans and utensils for cooking!
We pretty much spent most of our time lazing around the pool, taking it in turns to float around on inflatables or cooking up a BBQ feast.
We were also given an amazing refurbished old school polaroid camera from the lovely folks at The Impossible Project so we had fun creating memories.
It was super easy to get into the centre of Nice from the house, just a 5 min drive to the tram stop and then about a 10 min tram. We all decided it would be good to go into Nice one day and have a walk along the seafront, plus a really fancy lunch at none other than McDonald's. Classy.
This also gave me a chance to take a look at some of the architecture in the area, which is really stunning. Gorgeous colours against the deep blue sky!
I loved these seven statues of Massena Square - created by Jaume Plensa. they are to symbolise the seven continents and communications between them. They light up at night!
On the way home we found these incredible fountains on the Promenade du Paillon that the kids were obsessed with. It was 30 degrees so I couldn't blame them, kinda wanted to strip off myself and jump in. There was also a really cute little playground for them - a good place to head to if you're going to Nice with kids.
There are some really good art museums in Nice - Chagall has a museum as does Matisse. Sadly we didn't have enough time to visit those but another day we visited the MAMAC (Nice's modern art museum) which had a really nice curation of contemporary art. Marley actually volunteered to come with Jason and I instead of playing in the pool with her cousins which made me feel quite proud!
The MAMAC also has an incredible roof terrace which looks out over all of Nice...
We also visited a beautiful little restaurant right down the hill from our house called Chez Simon. The name still makes me LOL a little bit...
It had gorgeous views over the hills of nice and don't even get me started on the food. Pure perfection! The deep fried courgette flowers were a MUST. A local dish apparently.
Most importantly, it was a time for all of us to reconnect and hang out. My favourites parts were eating together outside (minus the mozzies), spending quality time with my daughter, nephews and newborn baby neice, cooking with my mama and giggling into the night with my brother, sister, their other halves and of course hubby. Some serious jokes going down that if I tried to explain here I'd sound crazy...
We had such a great time in Nice and I really think it's an underrated city. The food is incredible, it's easy to drive / get around, it's great weather, you really just need a great Airbnb with a pool and the odd trip into town here and there for variety and you are sorted. And I mean, who can argue with that blue sea? The flight into the airport is amazing, you see all these luxury yachts and islands... incredible. We are already planning our return!
S x


text:
An elite US outfit with a perfectionist streak and a "more mature" working environment.
A state of union
When trainees describe a firm's culture as "one of excellence, bordering on perfection," you know it means business. But this is what you'd expect from "one of the elite, 'aristocratic' New York firms." Sullivan & Cromwell's London office may be a much more compact operation than the firm's HQ in the Big Apple, but it's clear that it shares its rigorous approach to law. And how could it not, when roughly half of the office is made up of associates from the US? "The US and UK teams are completely integrated. Having a very strong understanding of US financial regulations is something that is leveraged throughout the practice," sources explained.
In a firm whose most junior US lawyers are older than incoming trainees, sources felt that "you're given more responsibility. Joining as a trainee at the same time as our US counterparts means we have to get up to speed very quickly!" As insiders duly noted, the presence of the older US associates in the London office also meant "the atmosphere is going to be different to a firm taking in hundreds of 22-year-olds."
S&C's perfectionism wins it the trust of multiple household corporate and financial names, such as Coca-Cola, Barclays, and Goldman Sachs. In the UK, it's best known for its mixture of corporate, capital markets and project finance work, all of which are ranked by Chambers UK. Chambers Global also dishes out honours for those practices, attesting to the firm's formidable reputation on the world stage. But trainees also pointed out that "the competition practice has been growing very quickly," and to that end the firm opened a Brussels office in 2017, headed by a competition partner snagged from Wilson Sonsini. That office is the 13th in a global network of offices that comfortably brings in revenues in excess of $1 billion every year – a healthy bottom line with which to fill trainees' pockets. "The firm pays quite well" was a particularly understated response from the joint-highest paid trainee cohort in the country.
Free range trainees
S&C "expects you to remain as generalists until later in your career." In practice this means there "aren't any clear delineations between seats or departments." For example, a capital markets seat could quickly switch to M&A should the firm's current workload dictate it. Trainees reflected: "It can sometimes be frustrating because you can't really sink your teeth into something, but you will get to see how the finance aspects of a deal link with the corporate side. The structure helps you take ownership of certain work too."
It is also "the default position" that most trainees will qualify into the firm's general practice group, which encompasses capital markets, finance, restructuring, M&A, private equity and project finance. Between 2015 and 2017 the firm retained all 12 of its qualifying trainees; in 2018 it kept on four of five. Fittingly, seat allocation "is an organic process." Trainees simply express their interests to an HR team labelled as "very accommodating of trainees' preferences." For the latest cohort, that accommodating attitude meant being allowed to complete two six-month, and three four-month seats because the structure fit trainees' preferences best.
"I was regularly co-ordinating with lawyers in Moldova and Kazakhstan"
Trainees can expect a mix of both public and private work during an M&A seat that regularly involves cross-border deals. The team represented BP on its agreement with Bridas Corporation to form the Pan American Energy Group, which, when complete, will be the largest private energy company in Argentina. It has also advised Kennedy Wilson Europe Real Estate on its £1.4 billion combination with Kennedy-Wilson Holdings. On one deal a trainee recalled: "I did all the preliminary research into the industry, looking at what issues might arise from a takeover, what the political environment was like and generally getting a feel for how the takeover would go down. It was great being privy to what was going on." Not all the work is so exciting however. Due diligence was an inevitability: "It's not my favourite work to do, but I appreciate it has to be done. It's the best way to familiarise yourself with a deal." Fortunately, trainees were also used to ensure local counsel from around the world were up to speed: "I was regularly co-ordinating with lawyers in Moldova and Kazakhstan to see which points of local law we needed to consider."
S&C's capital market's expertise covers both debt and equity, with the firm representing both issuers and underwriters. Recently the team has advised Coca-Cola HBC Group in connection with its €3 billion Euro medium-term note (EMTN) programme, as well as a group of underwriters (which includes Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citibank and Barclays) on the European Investment Bank's multibillion-dollar note offerings. Clients also include Ferrari and Fiat. "It's very technical," one source emphasised, "so the work can be more piecemeal and isolated. Around 90% of my time was spent researching precedents. It's a really good way of learning, but also meant not getting involved in the rest of the deal." The new MiFID II regulations took up a lot of our interviewees' time: "I would be reviewing up to ten documents a week," one trainee explained, while another described "researching dozens and dozens of questions from clients on the implications the regulations would have on their business."
S&C's project finance team is big in the oil and gas and mining industries, and represents clients across the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. It recently advised Kazakhstan-focused joint venture Tengizchevroil on its $16 billion upstream oil project financing. The team also advised Rio Tinto (the world's largest mining company) on the $4.4 billion financing of the Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine in Mongolia.While sources in this department found themselves frequently drafted into other teams, they had written diligence reports, and worked on some closing checklists, "doing project management, with endless calls to local counsel."
"It's a real challenge to be both perfect and quick."
The tax and competition teams mostly support the firm's transactional groups – both played a role in the BP–Bridas Corporation combination, for example. They're popular spots, since trainees typically work side-by-side with just one partner. "By the end of the seat I was writing my own chapter of a European Commission file," one source gloated, while others perfected their writing skills "drafting tax covenants and tax warranties." Over in competition, trainees explained that "although it's still very technical, a lot of the work involves getting to know the industries that clients work in. You learn an awful lot about what the clients do on a day-to-day basis. I've learned so much about random industries, from agriculture and seeds, to roofing materials and ATMs."
Shakespeare & Chaucer
Let's return to the American influence on the office. "You will hear American accents roaming the halls," said one source, "and we like to celebrate Thanksgiving." More substantially, combine the age difference we mentioned before with a "perfectionist streak that filters down through the firm," and it should come as no surprise that trainees stressed S&C's "more conservative working environment. There is no pressure to socialise. We don't have a boozy Friday night culture." That's all well and good for the more introverted among us, but the pursuit of perfection does come at a cost: "Some of the partners here are very meticulous and can be quite fussy about things. When you're in the office past midnight, having to make sure your wording, grammar and footnotes are all consistent, it can be frustrating."
Moreover, though S&C lawyers seemed happy in their pursuit to "write beautiful English," they did concede that "it's a real challenge to be both perfect and quick – both of which our clients demand." With the transactional work providing an extremely irregular work schedule, trainees had become familiar with 12-hour days, and occasional weekend work. "You don't really get your weekday evenings to yourself. You should be prepared for that," warned one source. But sources had been afforded some flexibility: "If I'm asked to produce a ten-page draft of a contract overnight, that's something I would do in my pyjamas at home." Still, the "hands-on" perfectionism of trainees' seniors led to "lots of direct feedback from partners." Trainees reported useful weekly breakfast training sessions, while also stressing that "you need to be a big believer in on-the-job training."
Trainees are flown out to the firm's New York office for a week of orientation. They have also done overseas seats in Hong Kong, Paris, Melbourne, New York, Palo Alto, Sydney and Washington DC.
You may also be interested in...
These US firms with small London trainee intakes:
• Cooley
• Curtis
• Dechert
• Goodwin
• Orrick
How to get a training contract at Sullivan & Cromwell
Vacation scheme deadlines (2019): 11 January 2019 (opens 1 November 2018)
Training contract deadline (2021): 12 July 2019 (opens 1 May 2019)
Sullivan & Cromwell's training contract is both newer and smaller than most, taking on a maximum of only six candidates a year. Instead of the more typical online form, Sullivan & Cromwell applicants register their interest by sending in a CV and covering letter. These need to be tip-top perfect to stand out from the crowd, too – the firm gets 400 to 450 applications for its training contracts as well as an additional 350 to 400 applications for the six to eight places on its vacation scheme.
So what's the secret to getting to interview? The firm's trainee solicitor recruitment manager Kirsten Davies explains that "some candidates copy and paste deals from our website, but we know that information already because, of course, we worked on those deals. What's more helpful is to let us know why they interest you, and how they match what you want from the job." She also adds that "it's pointless to repeat what's on your CV already." Instead, candidates should write a "punchy letter of motivation, covering no more than one side of A4."
Candidates called back to the next stage come into the firm's offices for a morning or an afternoon session. This starts with an informal chat with Kirsten Davies. Candidates are interviewed by two partners separately and also have a tour of the firm conducted by trainees, including introductions to key members of the office. Kirsten Davies explains that "our assessment process is very collaborative, so I will speak to the partners about my time with the candidates, and we'll also speak to the trainees who took them for coffee. More often than not everyone's on the same page."
Vacation scheme
Candidates for the vacation scheme go through the same process of CV, covering letter and interview session as direct applicants for the training contract. Six to eight a year are selected to go on a two week placement at the firm in July. Kirsten Davies tells us that "they are allocated a supervisor and are fully immersed in the firm, as well as going for lunches and dinners with partners, outings with trainees, and educational tours such as going round Lloyds of London and the law courts. We aim to have a good balance between work and social activities." Vac schemers get the generous sum of £500 a week for their trouble, as well as being considered for a training contract. Around half of Sullivan & Cromwell trainees so far have been through the vacation scheme.
Trainee profile
Sullivan & Cromwell plays particularly close attention to grades. As Kirsten Davies tells us, "we take grades quite seriously, so that means we're looking for a high 2:1 or a first. We ask for a full percentage breakdown of academic results right the way through. We understand if there's the odd blip along the way but we do look for consistency." Grades aside, she adds that the firm looks for "common sense, commercial aptitude, analytical skills, enthusiasm, resilience, initiative, and motivation to be part of the team at Sullivan & Cromwell. We have relatively small intakes so people are given a much higher level of responsibility, so it's also important trainees have the level of confidence to handle that level of work."
Interview with training principal Ben Perry
Chambers Student: What advantages do you feel US firms have in London compared to larger firms such as those that make up the Magic Circle?
Ben Perry: One of the key advantages that US firms in London have over Magic Circle firms is that lawyers at US firms work on a broader range of matters, as compared with lawyers at larger UK firms who are frequently more narrowly specialised, which gives our lawyers a broader perspective for advising clients. For clients, the ability for a lawyer to provide high-quality and highly relevant legal advice from a broader perspective is a real value-add and a clear differentiator. For trainees and junior lawyers, the ability to gain this breadth of experience is also a significant advantage in the early stages of their careers.
CS: Among the US firms in the city, what makes Sullivan and Cromwell's training contract distinct/attractive?
BP: One of the distinctive features of our training contract programme is the small size of our intake. This year we're taking on five new trainees, and we have a further five trainees signed up for 2019. Our small intake means trainees get greater responsibility from the start. Our London office works on some of the most cutting-edge, global legal work in the City and our trainees get a front-row seat on the action because of the small intake. Our trainees also get responsibility that you may not get until you are an associate at other firms. We also provide individual attention and lots of support in our programme and we give trainees flexibility to pursue and develop a practice in line with their interests.
CS: Trainees mentioned that they are expected to remain as generalists for their first few years at the firm. What is the reasoning behind this?
BP: The generalist approach to practicing law is a hallmark of what it means to be a lawyer at S&C and this extends to our training programme. Our trainees move between different seats during their training contract, but when they qualify they become all-round business lawyers within broad practice areas. We work in different areas from the start of our legal careers and this gives us a thorough and wide-ranging understanding of law and business – the training contract is just the beginning of this. Our multi-disciplinary approach makes our lawyers better advisers to our clients, positioned to advise on the most complex and strategic matters.
CS: What have been the main highlights 2017/18? Have any practice areas been particularly strong?
BP: Our London practice has had a strong 2017/18; highlights include the headline work done by our EU competition team on the merger clearance of the Bayer/Monsanto and Praxair/Linde M&A transactions. Our M&A practice advised on a number of UK public takeovers, including the acquisition of Cityfibre by Goldman Sachs and Antin and Apollo Management's bid for First Group. Our finance and restructuring practice has also led on a number of the most complex and innovative transactions in the market over the past year or so, including advising the ad-hoc committee of Brighthouse Group noteholders on a debt for equity swap and the lenders to Danaos Corporation in a $2.2 billion partial debt-for-equity restructuring. Overall, our practice is focused on quality and not quantity of transactions.
CS: What goals does the firm have for the next five years in London? What are the main challenges it faces?
BP: S&C's long-term goal has always been to provide the highest quality legal advice and representation to clients around the world. We are continuing to grow our London practice to further develop our strength in depth, particularly in M&A and private equity.
Because of their broad based training and practices, our lawyers are able to adapt well to changes in the global environment in which we advise. This adaptability has served us well in the past and will, we believe, continue to serve us well through during the coming years. The legal industry itself is also currently going through a period of change. Legal technology is now a permanent feature of how practitioners deliver their services. In addition, the growing size and expertise of in-house teams is also disrupting the way law firms have traditionally provided services to clients. This will require lawyers to be more nimble, and we believe we are well equipped for this because of our adaptability.
Lastly, the SRA is, through the introduction of the SQE, going to be changing the way in which lawyers qualify as solicitors in England, and we, in common with other firms, will need to rethink some aspects of our trainee programmes over the coming years to address the requirements of the SQE.
CS: Would it be fair to describe the firm's culture as conservative?
BP: S&C is welcoming and truly collaborative place. It is a meritocracy and not hierarchical. When I think of a conservative culture, I think of a lot of barriers to entry and fussy rules. That is not S&C. We empower our lawyers from the moment they walk through the door and support and train them to be the best and most creative lawyers in the world. A better description of our firm's culture is 'the relentless pursuit of excellence.' We strive for excellence in everything we do. Excellence is what we offer clients and building our culture around continually pursuing excellence is how we get there.
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
1 New Fetter Lane,
Website www.sullcrom.com
- Partners 19
- Associates 48
- Total trainees 9
- UK offices London
- Overseas offices 12
- Contacts
- Graduate recruiter: Kirsten Davies, [email protected], 020 7959 8900
- Training partners: Ben Perry
- Application criteria
- Training contracts pa: 4-6
- Minimum required degree [email protected] 2:1 or other
- Vacation scheme places pa: 6-8
- Dates and deadlines
- Training contract applications open: 1 May 2019
- Training contract deadline, 2021 start: 13 July 2019
- Vacation scheme applications open: 1 November 2018
- Vacation scheme 2019 deadline: 12 January 2019
- Holiday entitlement: 24 days
- Sponsorship
- LPC fees: Yes
- GDL fees: Yes
- Maintenance grant pa: £12,850
- International and regional
- Offices with training contracts: Hong Kong
- Overseas seats: Other offices in the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific
Firm profile
Main areas of work
Training opportunities
Training contracts with S&C will be divided into at least four seats.
We aim to provide interested trainees with the opportunity to spend time in one of our other offices during their training contract. Our trainees have spent time on secondments in the United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
Vacation scheme
Other benefits
Open days and first-year opportunities
University law careers fairs 2018
This Firm's Rankings in
UK Guide, 2018
Ranked Departments
London (Firms)
- Capital Markets: Debt (Band 4)
- Capital Markets: Equity (Band 3)
- Corporate/M&A: High-end Capability (Band 3)
- Energy & Natural Resources: Mining (Band 3)
- Projects (Band 2)


text:
OAXACA, heart and taste of Mexico
by Loreta Kovacic, July, 2018
photos by Loreta Kovacic and John Parani
"Oaxaca es el mas hermosa", my friend told me, "and if you want to learn Spanish, it's the best place in Mexico". Well, he didn't have to convince me, I've traveled to many parts of Mexico and I have never been disappointed with what it has to offer. With excitement and expectation I booked my maiden voyage to Oaxaca. With the help of my boyfriend, Senor Google, I found a school for Spanish there and was ready to embark on a one week cultural immersion with my teenage son, who will be going to college soon.
This will be the first time for us to go to a school in Mexico, and instead of hotel, we chose an option of "home stay", which was offered by our school. This means that we are staying with the family, eating breakfast and other meals together with them and other students who are staying there as well. I am an ambitious person because I chose full immersion, which includes classes in the morning from 9 to 1, and a workshop in the afternoon from 3 to 6. The plan is to improve our Spanish AND to learn more about Mexico so a full day should do the trick.
How did we prepare for this trip? Two months before this trip I studied with Rosetta Stone app almost every day for about 30 min. I also studied and learned few songs in Spanish. One on them was recommended by my friend Rafael, it's the beautiful "Sabor a mi" by Los Panchos y Eydie Gorme. This one was my favorite, so I memorized the words (not an easy task in a new language) and learned it on the piano as well. My son has been taking Spanish in school so our level ended up being pretty close. My native language is Croatian, second is Italian and third is English. I believe that this gives me a bit of advantage, even without formal schooling in Spanish. Not to mention that I am a talker, and not much of a perfectionist, which gives you an advantage only in very few things in life, this being one of them.
We arrived to Oaxaca from Houston late Saturday night. I was in love from the first sight; as soon as we came out, I was charmed by the perfect temperature and a perfect night outside. Goodbye Houston humidity and boiling summer temperature!
Hello perfect mild climate of Oaxaca!
A taxi took us to the city, which was alive with people walking the streets, hanging out in bars and cafes, just like in Europe. Ahhhh, que bueno! My son wanted me to stop expressing my joy, comparing it to Croatia, etc. but you are who you are, and my son just had to live with it!
Our home stay mom was at the gate to greet us and show us our room. It was a simple room with two beds, in one of her casitas, part of a big concrete complex, complete with a big friendly dog - Apollo and a great grapefruit tree with huge fruits. I managed to make my first joke in Spanish by telling our hostess that if one comes home drunk, they might mistake that fruit for their wife's head? It worked, because AnaMarija and I are now amigas. Her name is the same as my sister's and her food, especially her soup is like my mom's, really deliciosa!
The next day we started with a juicy watermelon, my favorite fruit, followed by yummy tostadas breakfast. We met other students who were staying there as we gathered for breakfast. We made fast friends with Ian from New Orleans and we went out to town with him that day. We learned quickly that the town is very close by, a pleasant walking distance. We live behind the hospital and a bank machine is safely and conveniently located inside this lovely hospital. Oaxaca's streets blossomed in front of our eyes showing us more colors then we could ever imagine, vibrant with life, this is Mexico! If you love architecture and color, you have to see Oaxaca! We went to a beautiful cafe nestled in a patio of an old building. We had popular local chocolate drink and we watched the World Cup soccer there. The whole cafe was rooting for Croatia which made me feel especially welcomed there!
Like most beautiful cities in Europe: Florence, Zagreb, Split or Prague (my four favorites) you can see the whole center of the city on foot. This is so very pleasant, not to have to use a car! Me gusta caminar! I love walking! And I like shopping! These two activities work in perfect union in Oaxaca, a city rich in arts and crafts markets and vibrant shops all selling beautiful hand made traditional indigenous clothing, ceramics, jewelry and art. I am so drunk absorbing the colors of the architecture and clothes, that it becomes a hard decision, which color and-or style to choose. I enjoy this feeling, it's a bit of an adrenaline kick, plus I inherited a good ability to communicate and negotiate in markets from my Croatian dad. I bought three peasant style dresses from an old man who knew all about Croatian soccer success. We discussed everything, from sports to culture, color, style, all in my almost intermediate Spanish! He even managed to first console me, then convince me that silver is just as good as gold, especially for such a tiny country like Croatia to win its first silver medal in Soccer...Yes, Shopping is really fun and uplifting experience in Oaxaca! If you love a great deal on hand made ethnic style stuff as much as I do, you will be in heaven.
Next day we started our Spanish classes at "Instituto Cultural de Oaxaca", or, as the students call it, ICO.
What an impressive building our school was; Everything from the grand chandelier at the reception to charming classrooms or salons was decorated with Oaxacan traditional tapestry, it was all so tasteful, traditional and very comfortable. The lady I communicated with prior to our arrival was this school's owner and founder. My instincts were good when I picked ICO for us because, out of many language schools in Oaxaca, this one is the oldest and the best. Senora Lucero's grandparents used to live in this beautiful villa, and she used to play around here as a child. I will always remember how my voice echoed naturally when I sang to her "Sabor a mi" in the grand foyer and maybe, just maybe she might remember it too?
Our home stay house had a piano so I played this song for them, and I was surprised how much they liked it... I found out at the end of the week, from our cab driver Jesus, that "Sabor a mi" is a song written by Oaxacan composer, Alvaro Carrillo. Well, another weird coincidence? Should I really return and live in Oaxaca? The more I find out about it, the more I am in love with it.
My son and I were tested and marked as the same level in Spanish, not total beginners, something like early intermediate, so we were put in the same class. This was not the case with all other students who came as a duo. Call us lucky? Hehe. There were 8 of us in class and our teacher was a young gentleman, Mr. Gonzalez, a wonderfully relaxed and cultured person. He was successful in making us all feel at ease in speaking and communicating in Spanish. But, more then that, he thought us about Oaxaca, it's traditions, culture and it's famous people. One of the famous Oaxacans was Mexico's great former president, Benito Juarez. We see his name everywhere in Mexico, including Mexico City airport, which is named after him.
In class we talked about traditions and customs in our own lives compared to local Oaxacan traditions. Majority of Students in class were American, mixed with other nationalities such as Canadian and Russian. Americans often look down at Houston as a city, so I had a brief mission to defend it by sharing the story of the fabulous and totally authentic Houston tradition of the Art Car Parade. I learned that even my own son does not know yet how to appreciate all the good things that Houston has to offer. He is too young still…
It was the third week in July and Oaxacan tradition of Guellaguezza was just around the corner. We were lucky to experience the start of it: endless parades of marching band music with religious images symbolic for each different indigenous group from all different parts of the grand state of Oaxaca. Followed by people dancing to the beat, all dressed up in vividly colorful costumes while big sculptural puppets danced theatrically through the streets. This is the great fiesta de Oaxaca, one matched only by the great Dia de Los Muertos at the end of October. It's noisy, it's crowded, it's happening, it's colorful, it's from the people for the people, and as they say, it's "Una locura" (craziness).
While dancing and trying to navigate through the crowd to the beautiful Santo Domingo Church, I find myself studying the fantastic art of some really captivating street graffiti. My teacher explained political and social background of the images I capture. I love how this art form is not just artistic but also socio-political, historical and culturally informative! Oaxaca is a city rich with folkloric traditions, culture, and arts.
My son convinces my to sign up for a traditional cooking class as our afternoon workshop. I am so glad that my son chose food. I was considering taking salsa dance, but he told me that food is better then dance because we will learn more about the language and culture through food. We found grasshoppers as one of typical foods in the markets the day before, and this made me a bit apprehensive, but I am so glad that we choose food. It was really the best bonding experience for the two of us, as well as culturally the most important experience in Mexico. Also, I was grateful that we did not cook anything with grasshoppers.
We learned to make a fabulous local mole, yummy molotes and the Aztec soup all from scratch. This experience was heavenly. Our teacher was relaxed yet informative and friendly, very much like all the great people of Oaxaca. We made tortillas using tortilla machine, making many a bad one before success. We even created a song about tortillas, as we learned so much about Mexican culture through cooking: Its plants, its mixtures and its intense taste (sabor) will stay with us forever. And when we want to remember it, we can use its recipes? My son and I agreed: This was some of the best cuisine we have ever tasted. Que Sabor! Despite the fact that our cooking was labor intensive, my son and I were able to experience the true taste of Mexico: rich in flavor, authentic, colorful and artistic.
Last day of our trip, we went to visit a historic site Monte Alban. It's a half hour ride up the mountain. An ancient civilization Zapotecas lived there BC. It is majestic but Zapotecas had a cruel ritual of sacrificing children to their God. We do not know why because we are not history buffs and I am sure that this can be looked into with my boyfriend, Senor Google, if one is interested in learning about this in more detail. Alternatively one can purchase a tour of Monte Alban to find out more about this fantastic historical site. We chose to just walk freely and soak in the beauty of the site. My son was investigating and discovering ancient and mystical looking bugs at the site: insect adoration was one of his favorite activities when he was little… There is a nice gift shop, a great museum and a fantastic little café there overlooking the mountains, decorated with colorful flowers, inviting you to daydream about the past and the future, while enjoying the beauty of the moment.
Some places you visit stay in your heart forever and you know that you want to see them again because you want to reconnect with the people, the food and the culture once more, desiring to open more doors, cook more meals, and make the experience deeper, and the connection stronger. In the meantime, while your daily life goes on, during those hypnotic meditative moments, you know that you will go back to those special places and experiences of Oaxaca. So I say "Hasta luego Oaxaca!". See you later. The sooner, the better! And grazias por todo. You are forever in my heart and in my taste. I am yours.


text:
Time flew by so quickly - which I just realized by thinking about the fact that these three months period sounds longer than it feels. But anyway, it's time for me now to return home to Germany, to see my friends and family. My first part at IHAEC is now over and it was amazing - really can't complain about that! I met amazing people, got a good impression of Belgium, learnt Dutch and blogging (I will let you decide whether it has become good enough to list it here, but I can tell you that it took a while longer to make my school English better!) My return to Belgium will be at the latest mid January, but probably a bit earlier, so I can enjoy the country. Fröhliche Weihnachten und einen guten Rutsch - as we say at home- and "see" you again soon in January!
View Results
List of polls


text:
Scrum Anti-pattern: Outlier PigsJanuary 25, 2010 Posted in: Software Development Team Leadership
In the Pig and Chicken analogy for Scrum participants (Jeff Sutherland explains Pigs & Chickens), the Pig is the one who is required to make the biggest commitment and put his proverbial skin in the game. For the Pig, it is an all or nothing proposition. They either meet their commitment or they do not, there is no gray area. However, many teams fail to get this level of commitment from their Pigs, or don't even ask for it in the first place. This is the genesis of the Outlier Pig.
Continue reading »


text:
The ACTS Propagation Campaign began in 1994 and provided 5 years of site dependent propagation measurements at K and Ka bands at 7 different locations across the North American subcontinent. These sites were chosen due to their accessibility and unique climatological zones (see Figure 1 below). The primary purpose of the propagation campaign was in the development of a global model to define expectations for atmospheric-induced propagation losses for future ground segment site selection at Ka-band frequencies.
- Fairbanks, AK
- Vancouver, BC
- Fort Collins, CO
- Las Cruces, NM
- Norman, OK
- Clarksburg, MD
- Tampa, FL
Beacon signals from the ACTS satellites at 20.185 GHz and 27.5 GHz provided direct attenuation measurements, in tandem with radiometric observations at similar frequencies. By collecting propagation data at various climates (rain rate zones) throughout the US, the data collected from the ACTS propagation campaign led to global propagation models for satellite system design and performance analysis, still in use today.


text:
Off the Market
We're close to being approved, paperwork is complete and application submitted.
So what's next? I'm thinking two lawn chairs and a bottle of wine at sunset sounds about right. Maybe even a stroll around the perimeter? Once that's checked off the list, I'm believing for quick processing on the construction loan and an end of summer house-warming party! Here's our house plan drawn with SmartDraw, an easy-to-use program that is too expensive to buy. The outcome of the 6-day free trial...
If I look at the plan in its entirety, I get extremely overwhelmed, so Brett and I devised a plan of attack. You see, every person has a moving style, luckily ours match. We both want to feel settled as quickly as possible, meaning boxes will be emptied within 24 hours in our new house and rooms with the most daily traffic will be decorated first. These rooms include: the master bedroom, kitchen/nook, living room and study.
Brett and I agree we should move into the house before purchasing big pieces of furniture (I've tried breaking this rule a time or two), but that won't stop us from brainstorming the look we desire for each room. In the past few days, we have started giving some thought to interior paint colors. We have already settled on the exterior look (here) and want to make sure our interior is complimentary. I'm concerned with being "design consistent" - not sure if that's a real term, but I like it. Below, are the interior colors we are considering.
Breakdown by room
1. Study - darker gray, Steel Wool or Pewter.
2. Dining Room - I like Pearl River, Brett is undecided
3. Living Room - We're hoping for a wheat color, Timid White?
4. Kitchen/Nook - Harbor Gray or Calm, not sure how dark to go
5. Master Bedroom - Both undecided
I envy the person that can look at a color and see a finished room. I'm a visual learner, I need to see how each piece fits into a room. So, I'm going to start with #1, the study, and create a mood board...be back soon!


text:
Crime - Sacto 911
I Street freeway onramp closed for an hour before knife-wielding man surrenders
After standoff that closed Sacramento freeway on-ramp, suspect turned himself in
A man was in custody Monday after a standoff with Sacramento police on a downtown I-5 onramp that diverted midday traffic for about an hour before he surrendered to officers.
No one was hurt.
Police said Johnny Jackson, 27, of Sacramento was arrested on suspicion of brandishing a knife and resisting or delaying arrest. He was booked into Sacramento County Main Jail.
Police said Jackson brandished a knife at someone just after noon at Sacramento Valley Station on I Street. He then walked across the station's parking lot and onto the I Street onramp to northbound Interstate 5.
Officers blocked traffic on westbound I Street at Fifth Street and also sealed a portion of Third Street as police negotiators began to talk Jackson off the onramp. California Highway Patrol officers also briefly blocked a portion of the freeway to prevent Jackson from walking into oncoming traffic.
Negotiators were in talks with Jackson for nearly an hour before he surrendered.
"A good resolution," said Officer Matthew McPhail, a Sacramento police spokesman. "Our goal is always to work with the person engaged in a crisis to have them voluntarily turn themselves over to us."
Darrell Smith: 916-321-1040, @dvaughnsmith


text:
It's going to be a comeback special of sorts for one band that 45 years ago played in Costa Mesa and wasn't invited back.
Eric Burdon and the Animals performed during the 1968 Newport Pop Festival, a fabled two-day event reputed to have attracted more than 100,000 attendees to the Orange County Fairgrounds, either with a proper ticket or over the fences.
Now the English band — whose 1960s hits included "The House of the Rising Sun" and "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" — is coming to the fairgrounds again as part of Costa Mesa's 60th anniversary celebration June 28 to 30.
"The Costa Mesa mayor at the time vowed never to allow that kind of concert again in Costa Mesa," Mike Scheafer, chairman of the city's 60th Anniversary Planning Committee, said in a prepared statement. "We think nearly half a century is enough time to have passed to allow Eric Burdon and the Animals back into our city."
Burdon will be joined by follow headliners Chevy Metal — featuring members of the Foo Fighters — and Berlin during the weekend festival with three stages, classic car show, art walk and children's zone, according to a city news release.
The OC Tastefest is also planned, featuring more than 30 restaurants.
Festival events are free except for concerts on the main stage, according to a news release. Beginning May 6 at https://www.TicketFly.com, three-day passes are on sale for $50. One-day passes are $20 in advance or $25 at the door.
For the festival, the section Fair Drive in front of City Hall and Vanguard University — specifically between Fairview Road and Newport Boulevard — will be closed. A public meeting about the closure is scheduled for 6 p.m. May 16 at the Council Chambers within City Hall, 77 Fair Drive.
The celebration, whose slogan is "60 & Fabulous," celebrates Costa Mesa's 60th year of being incorporated. Other city events throughout the year, such as annual Fish Fry and Costa Mesa Community Run, plan to incorporate 60th anniversary festivities as well.


text:
Pronunciation Power Endorsements
Government Endorsements
- Pronunciation Power 1 has been reviewed and accepted as an approved learning resource by the California Dept of Education – California Learning Resource Network.
In our intensive English program, we have absolutely no aspiration to recreate native like accents in our international students. What we know is important however, is an explicit and structured curriculum wide component to help students develop strong and effective pronunciation in English so that our students achieve truly effectual communication in peer groups with native speaker classmates or with English speaking academic faculty. Our program is most successful when we include these two latter groups in addition to international students as obvious beneficiaries of a job we do well. As such, we look to native English speaking students and faculty for guidance in shaping outcomes, objectives and expectations for English learners.
Having worked for almost 20 years with close to 7500 students of widely disparate proficiencies from 45 or so countries, I can understand almost anything anybody is saying. For me to say what is intelligible to an 18 year old monolingual American student who has never traveled out of the US is arrogant. Without sophisticated and effective software programs like PRONUNCIATION POWER to address pronunciation matters specific to certain groups (think about Vietnamese students attempting the bilabial plosives /p, b/), our efforts would not be as successful as they are in terms of target audience understanding of our students' utterances.
I believe PRONUNCIATION POWER in particular allows us to equip our students with much needed skills and abilities to build better understanding and therefore deeper relationships with their fellow students and their teachers all in an effort to achieve their academic goals and future success.
Kai Hibbeln
Program Director, IESL
Green River Community College
The English Department at the Universität Oldenburg (Germany) has been using the Pronunciation Power and 8 in 1 Dictionary programs for two semesters. In addition to having installed it in our computer lab, many students have decided to purchase individual subscriptions as well, allowing them to use the program at home and at school.
As a teacher I particularly appreciate the chance to show students exactly how a particular sound is articulated. The fact that the students can record their speech and compare it to native speaker speech has also proved extremely valuable. Students have been able to improve their pronunciation much quicker than with our traditional language lab program.
As a result, these programs have become an integral part of our pronunciation courses; in fact, we have revamped our pronunciation classes in order to integrate the software. I highly recommend this software for students who need to improve their pronunciation as well as for teachers who would like to be able to demonstrate the articulation of particular phonemes in class.
Deidre Graydon
Universität Oldenburg
Thank you for Pronunciation Power! Our ESL students really enjoy using the software. In fact, we are going to have to purchase more as a result of their incredible popularity. The few language lab stations onto which the programs are currently installed are always occupied, and this is, no doubt, thanks to the program's entertaining design, the ease of use, and, most importantly, its effectiveness.
Georges Detiveaux
Language Lab Coordinator / Lead French Faculty
Cy-Fair College, LRNC-212A
9191 Barker Cypress Road
Cypress, TX 77433
We have found that the Pronunciation Power programs are really useful for the students.
We have several students from the Middle East who speak Arabic and they have spent hours on the program. It has facilitated their learning of English. Our students are being more successful in learning English by using Pronunciation Power. The programs have proved to be invaluable and are very serviceable to our English language students. They are excellent programs!
Rose Herrera, ESL instructor and program coordinator
NAF Multicultural Human Development Corporation
Omaha, Nebraska
I received an excellent level of customer service that from your employees. It was nothing else but amazing.
I work for DELL Computers and we bought 10 packs of Pronunciation Power 2 software for our lab usage and it was giving me problems with activation. So I contacted English Learning support and dealt with the staff who were nothing other than wonderfully patient, courteous and efficient with me. I very rarely say this about large companies but I am very impressed. Great customer service – your staff are a credit to your organization!
Thanks again and well done English Computerized Learning.
Amoldeep Singh Sasan
CTS Training Lab Incharge & Training Co-ordinator
DELL International Services (Chandigarh)
Pronunciation Power is the only pronunciation software in our Macintosh based language labs at this time. The interface is intuitive enough to follow without reference to any manual or other instructions; a prerequisite for programs in our labs. Simple access to playing native models, recording student production, and comparing the two make this program an effective tool for learning instead of an obstacle, as more complicated programs sometimes prove to be. The variety of minimal pair discrimination exercises for all 52 phonemes presented provides plenty of instruction, practice, and reinforcement for students looking to improve their listening comprehension and pronunciation.
John de Szendeffy
Multimedia Language Lab
Center for English Learning and Orientation Programs
Boston University
I would like to congratulate you and your design team; Pronunciation Power is an excellent teaching tool. It is also the program of choice by most of our students in our English Language Institute because of its ease of use, logical sequencing, variety and overall capacity of the program.
We look forward to receiving your future products and ongoing updates.
William B. Stewart
President and CEO
The YMCA of Greater Vancouver
Pronunciation Power is truly one of the best and most powerful pieces of software for students to improve their pronunciation of the English language. Compatible for both the Macintosh and Windows operating systems, students can spend hours improving their pronunciation as well as listening skills. And, most importantly, it's very interactive and easy to use! I can highly recommend this excellent product.
Dave Sperling
California State University, Northridge
Dave's ESL Cafe (http://www.eslcafe.com/)
Pronunciation Power gives the user a wonderfully exciting experience to learn on one's own.
Kathryn Chiu
Manager Language Training Section
Proctor and Gamble Corporate Training Group, China
Pronunciation Power has built in steps to developing fluency, beginning with listening exercises which concentrate on receptive skills and building up to recording pronunciation exercises. Students can hear the sound replayed as often as necessary, and record their voices for comparison. A visual representation of the sound aids pronunciation. A variety of activities reinforce the target sounds. Instructors can listen to the recordings and provide feedback. Higher level students can cope well with the written descriptions of sounds. The sound analysis feature is unique and could benefit students at all points on the CLB spectrum. Rating: Excellent.
National ESL Software Inventory
ESL/LINC Software Database Project
Ottawa Board of Education
Pronunciation Power is an excellent tool for students to learn the correct pronunciation of sounds as they are used in the English language. My students are extremely pleased with its easy to use and effective design. This software stands out as the best in its class and nothing compares in its price range. It is affordable, comprehensive and gives hours upon hours of solid practice. this products stands alone with its numerous lessons, exercises and visual feedback. the speech analysis lets learners see where they're going wrong, even if they can't hear it. Pronunciation Power is an outstanding piece of educational software, I'd recommend it for any second language learner.
Michael J. Galli
ESL Program Consultant & Instructor
Metropolitan Separate School Board
Toronto, Ontario
If ever a student asks me what to do independently to improve their skill: whether they need individual sound work, intonation, syllable or word stress, vocabulary, or listening, I direct them to Pronunciation Power. Even (I venture to say especially…) the higher level ESP students I have
taught can use this to their advantage. I just looove your stuff!
Melody Redford
Teacher – LSC Calgary
We have purchased online subscriptions for eenglish.com for clients and are getting really good feedback. I love this program, and as I said before, it really is an answer to many problems we had with course materials. It's a great program, it's affordable and easy to use. What's not to like?
Sonia Lambajian, MS/CCC-SLP
Global Speech & Language Consultants


text: Going back to school is a sacred right that belongs to every child. Help spread the Stand Up for Girls movement as we gear up for the October 11th Day of the Girl. Make a donation to LitWorld to create meaningful learning opportunities for girls around the world. Rally your community with an event and motivate your friends and followers online to #standup4girls alongside you. Watch and share the Stand Up for Girls campaign video and click here for more ideas on how to share the campaign on social media.


text: Boobs. God's gift to earth. No matter the gender or sexual preference, we can't help but to stare in wonder at these pillows of comfort. Digital boobage translates into a similar case, except, they aren't pillows or comfortable. But this doesn't stop any of us from making our characters jump more than required to see them in action. After years of making our character's puppies bounce across the screen repeatedly, we believe we have a pretty good idea where the best boobs can be found. And now, without further ado, we present to you the 20 best boobies in video games.


text: For St Patrick's Day you might find yourself needing a hearty stew. Hands up for Irish Stew? It might not have the traditional lamb in it but this version of Irish Stew has been made vegan with meaty mushrooms replacing the lamb but keeps the traditional root vegetables and it's all cooked in Guinness.Read More