text:
On Wednesday, February 18, the Duchess of Cambridge began her day with a visit to the Emma Bridgewater factory in Stoke-on-Trent.
She toured the factory and saw how the earthenware products were made and decorated by hand using traditional techniques.
The factory will be in production of a range of mugs in support of the Nook Appeal for East Anglia's Children's Hospices, of which Kate is patron. All proceeds going to help terminally ill children and their families.
After the tour, the Duchess chatted with production staff and then joined families from the Donna Louise Children's Hospice in a ceramic painting workshop.
Before she left, Kate unveiled a plaque to commemorate the visit in front of assembled staff in the factory courtyard.


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Yesterday, he came home with a large pile of letters and ads. Guess because the GSS is here, plus the school holiday is starting this Saturday, so retailers are all out to woo the shoppers. I briefly went through the ads (some I didn't even bother to open up to look inside) and something in one brochure caught my eyes.
It's a brochure from Plaza Singapura. The last time I was there was a few months ago for dinner and we didn't stay to shop because somehow, I just didn't quite like it there. Perhaps it was the layout of the mall or the mix of tenants, I just never have the shopping mood whenever I'm there. I also remember the nursing room in PS - it was possibly the worst I've ever used - old, dirty and smelly, I told myself never to set foot in it again.
So what was it that caught my eyes? The Family Lounge. Yes, apparently they now have a Family Lounge on Level 4 and comes with the following facilities:
- Cable TV with the latest movies, sports and news updates
- Fashion, health, parenting magazines, books and newspapers
- Massage chairs and drinks
- Toys, board games and Xbox for the children
- Mobile phone charging and locker service
- Wi-Fi and surfing stations
BUT wait.. there's a catch. I called to enquire if shoppers need to pay to use the Lounge and found out that you need to spend a minimum of $50 to use the facility (can accumulate up to three same-day receipts). There are some terms and conditions for the use of the Lounge, you can read about it here (rules such removing footwear and wearing socks before entering the playroom, including adults; usage of the Lounge is limited to an hour and admits one adult and two children, children below ten must be accompanied by an adult etc.).
Honestly, I do applaud and appreciate the move of offering more family-oriented services. But I would be happier if we could use the Lounge without having to first spend $50. I mean, won't it be a good place to 'park' the husbands and kids while we women shop? If I have to spend first in order to use the Lounge, then I might as well get all my shopping done and then go off? But guess it's better than not having such a facility.

subset: commoncrawl


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Kevin Pearson
21955 Granada Street
Gretna, NE 68028
(402) 916-9091
Create excellent solutions for customers using the latest and best suitable business technology.
2007 – Present Nebraska Public Power District Columbus, NE
Senior Systems Analyst – SAP ABAP Developer / SAP PI (Process Integration) Architect
- Implementation leader for SAP PI/XI project with multiple real-time interfaces using web services
- SAP conference speaker topic "Building Interfaces with SAP Netweaver PI and Web Services" at SAP TechEd 2008 and SAPPHIRE / ASUG Annual Conference in 2009
- Two way real-time PaSTA / SAP interface with work order and time confirmation information for work week scheduling
- Security Screening Information System (SSIS) / SAP exchanging contract/employee and nuclear qualifications
- Nuclear power plant specific interfaces for PCRS, PADS, NANTeL, and SAP LSO / QuestionMark
- DevonWay TimeWay / SAP interface passing employee and time confirmation information for nuclear Fatigue Rule compliance
- DevonWay CyberWay / SAP interface passing digital Functional Location and Equipment
- Transmission Outage Application (TOA) / SAP exchanging employee and substation qualifications
- OSI / TWACS Load Control interface
- GIS / SAP exchanging work order and equipment information
- Several external to SAP applications creating SAP Notifications via web service calls
- Several FTP interfaces and SFTP interfaces using the Seeburger Adapter
- Developed SAP Visual Composer Solutions for Supply Chain manager's portal site
- ASUG Midwest – Central Chapter Vice Chair providing planning and leadership for our local chapter including Nebraska, Kansas, and Iowa
Aug 2006 – Dec 2006 Recruit 121 Dallas, TX
Consultant for Raytheon
- Implemented an SAP ABAP Direct Labor Application with custom Z tables, Batch Update Process, and ALV Reports relating WBS Elements and Pegging
- Built a VM to SAP Order Cross Reference function module for Data Conversion and Interface translation, including the data load program for this cross reference
- Created ALV reports for Inventory and Stock Management
- Improved the QM Approver workflow process by changing the design of the QM Approver table which substantially reduced data maintenance
2005 – 2006 ConAgra Foods Omaha, NE
Senior ERP Analyst for ConAgra Foods
- Supply Chain Management Data Migration Team – responsible for establishing connections to legacy systems, used the BackOffice Associates cranberry tool to create a small web application, created data conversion rules in the BackOffice Data Staging Warehouse tool, and experience using Microsoft SQL Server
- Created CIF Models for SAP APO – came into an unorganized situation and provided structure and simplification to the CIF Model generation and activation process
Setup the APO CIF Administration Team Process and trained the ABAP Development staff on how to support the CIF
Approved Functional Specification documents and created Technical Specification documents for ABAP programs
Code Reviews for adherence to ConAgra standards and performance tuning
Redesigned the Sales Representative Lookup Process – replaced a CATT script process which ran for hours with an ABAP direct input into a Z table utilizing existing screen validation code, which now runs in minutes as opposed to hours. This redesign also eliminated the need of a full time resource to daily clean up this data.
Researched and Applied SAP OSS Notes, worked messages with SAP to create a new Note to fix an Archive Link document issue
Primary SAP On Call Support for over 1,000 jobs – Made several
performance process improvement suggestions related to the wait time between
jobs and changing job names in the Control-M job scheduling software to
uppercase. The simple uppercase suggestion made it easy to search and find jobs
in SAP.
2004 – 2005 ConAgra Foods Omaha, NE
ERP Analyst for ConAgra Foods
- Experience/Exposure to CRM, SCM, DP, TPM, SEM & BW
R/3 Upgrade 4.6C to 5.0 development work – also researched and presented to the ABAP Development staff some new useful features found in the ABAP Debugging Tool
Created a Function Module which could be called to create new customers on the fly from Direct Store Delivery (DSD) interface file
SQVI and ABAP Query creation, conversion and support
Post Go Live support team member to quickly resolve cut over and Master Data issues
Team demonstration of how to use Microsoft Access for file manipulation to assist in Data Conversions
Production Break Fix and On Call Support
2003 – 2004 Data Resource Technologies Inc. Omaha, NE
Consultant for ConAgra Foods
Rewrote a Freight Payment and Accruals Interface to BW
Built a Pricing Outbound Interface SAP R/3 4.6C SD module
Assisted with the Customer Master Data conversion
- SAPScript and SmartForm work on a Schedule B and an International Order form
2002 – Present Pearson Business Solutions
Owner/ Developer / Consultant
Formed Pearson Business Solutions, a computer application consulting
1996 – 2002 Nebraska Public Power District Columbus, NE
Senior Systems Analyst – ABAP Developer
Project team member for the implementation of SAP R/3 4.6B including the Human Resources (HR), Financial Accounting (FI), Controlling (CO), Plant Maintenance (PM), Materials Management (MM), and Work Management modules
Built a 401K interface for the SAP HR module and American Express
Designed and implemented the corporate interfaces between SAP HR and the corporate insurance and deferred compensation programs
Created ABAP data conversion programs to load Functional Locations, Equipment, Maintenance Plans, Orders from fossil and nuclear power plant
applications to SAP
Developed a corporate 125C Flex Benefits application (Access/Oracle)
Created an Industrial Sites and Buildings searchable database via the Internet using Microsoft Visual InterDev
Started SAP training in 1998 as a developer for the SAP implementation team
1989 – 1996 Nebraska Public Power District Columbus, NE
Business Analyst / Programmer Analyst
Data Modeling and Administration for Oracle client/server development
Facilitated Reengineering Sessions for Business Process Modeling
- Built a Contract Labor Tracking system using Mainframe FOCUS for nuclear
power plant
Military Experience
1983 – 1989 Nebraska Army National Guard Norfolk, NE
E-5 Sergeant (SGT) 1st Battalion, 134th Infantry
- Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) Track Commander & Squad Leader
1995 – 1998 University of Nebraska at Kearney Kearney, NE
Master of Business Administration
1984 – 1989 Kearney State College Kearney, NE
BS Computer Science BS Business Administration
SAP Training
- SAP NetWeaver XI Bootcamp, Orlando, 2007
PLM115 Basic Data for Process Manufacturing 4.7, 2006
BC095 Business Integration Technology (4.6C), 2002
BC425 ABAP Workbench Modifications & Enhancements, 2000
BC410 Transaction Processing, 99
BC405 List Processing, SAP, 99
BC460 SAPScript, SAP, 99
BC420 Interfaces for Data Transfer SAP, 99
BC400 ABAP Workbench, SAP, 99
BC 430 ABAP Dictionary, SAP, 99
SAP50 Basis Technology, SAP, 98
SAP21 Service Industries, SAP, 98
SAP TechEd 2000
Microsoft & Other Training
- CranBerry Basic and CranBerry Advanced Training, BackOffice, 2006 Data Staging Warehouse, BackOffice, 2006
Java Programming Language, Maryville Technologies, 2006
2524 Developing XML Web Services MS ASP.NET, 1Staff, 2002
2073 Programming a Microsoft SQL Server
2000 Database, 1Staff, 2002
2310 Develop MS ASP.NET Web App VisualStudio.NET, AmeriTeach, 2002
Internet Boot Camp, Solutech, 97
AIX Basics, MSI, 98
Advisor DEVCON Access, VB, Office & Internet Conference, 96 & 97
Data Modeling, Knowledgeware, 93
FOCUS Top Gun School, IBI, 91
Primary Leadership Development Course, Ashland Military Academy, 87


text:
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We give you advice and support for your travel and stay al Médica Sur
Toll free: 800.501.0101
Canada / USA: 1877.213.6659
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Toll free from USA and Canada:
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Director: Misael Uribe Ramos, M.D.
Manager: Mariana Fernández Del Castillo Frías, M.D.


text:
Terms for organisations booking tickets via a service agent
1. Corporate Loyalty Programme Membership
1.1 To qualify for membership of the Corporate Loyalty Programme, companies (organisations) must have an annual spend on air travel with Aeroflot PJSC of at least 1 723 USD. Failure to meet this condition within one year of joining the Programme will result in the disabling of the Organisation's profile and the cancellation of all bonus points awarded.
1.2 When tickets are issued in a service agent's booking system, the service agent specifies the Organisation's Programme Member ID Code and credits to its balance bonus points at a rate of 2% to 3% of the published fare of the flights used, in accordance with the following table (points are only awarded for flights operated by Aeroflot PJSC in each fare group):
|Total cost of
used flights
in the current period, USD
|Number of points awarded
(% of the rate)
|1 to 5 747
|2 %
|5 748 to 28 730
|2.5 %
|28 731 to 86 183
|3 %
1.3 When the total cost of tickets used has reached 1 723 USD, the Organisation can use the points to pay all or part of the base fare by booking a ticket in the Programme member area at www.aeroflot.com. When paying for tickets, one point is equivalent to one dollar US.
1.4 When issuing a ticket for an employee of the Organisation who is a member of Aeroflot Bonus, the Agent also specifies its individual Aeroflot Bonus Card number to accumulate bonus miles.
2. Payment and Refund Terms
2.1 The Organisation pays for air travel and gets its tickets refunded or re-issued via its service agent. Award ticket refunding and re-booking is performed via the Aeroflot PJSC Call Centre.
3. Joining the Programme
3.1 Organisations wishing to join the Corporate Loyalty Programme and book tickets through their service agent should fill in an application form[*] (the form can be filled on behalf of the Organisation by the service agent).
3.2 Aeroflot PJSC reviews the application within 10 business days and, if approved, sends an E-mail to the address specified by the applicant containing the Corporate Loyalty Programme Terms of Support with Service Rendered by a Service Agent.
3.3 On agreeing with the Terms, the Organisation emails the signed Terms to Aeroflot PJSC (scanned copy to the E-mail address: firstname.lastname@example.com; email@example.com).
3.4 Upon receiving the scanned copy of the Terms, Aeroflot PJSC within three days assigns the Organisation a Programme Member ID Code and emails the Organisation the Corporate Loyalty Programme user manual for booking air travel online on the Aeroflot PJSC website.
3.5 The Organisation passes the Progam Member ID Code to its service agent who in turn must specify it in the Ticket Tour Code field when booking air travel for the Organisation's employees.
3.6. The Organisation's ID Code must be entered correctly at the time of booking a ticket, using the format ITXXXXXXXX, where IT are capital Latin letters, and XXXXXXXX is a 8-digit Programme Member number. If an invalid ID number is specified in the Ticket Tour Code field, no bonus points will be awarded for such booked and used ticket.
[*] Aeroflot PJSC reserves the right to reject an application without specifying the reasons.
"Business Travel Card" fare product
Specially for our loyal passengers, we are offering a convenient fare product – the Business Travel Card. Currently, you can use it for the following destinations: Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod, St Petersburg, Kazan, Samara, Volgograd, Nizhnekamsk, Perm, Ufa, Krasnodar, Sochi, Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Omsk, Novosibirsk and Rostov-on-Don; St Petersburg to Krasnodar and Kaliningrad.


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International student pleads guilty to fatal pedestrian hit and run in Edmonton
An international student, who fled after fatally striking an Edmonton father of two in a marked crosswalk and then sold his car to a wrecker and returned to India, took responsibility Wednesday.
Sahil Arora, 23, pleaded guilty in provincial court to failing to remain at the scene of an accident where death was involved.
According to an agreed statement of facts, Arora was delivering pizzas in the Riverbend area about 9:30 p.m. on Oct. 5, 2014, while in Canada on a work permit and student visa.
Crown prosecutor Domina Hussain told court Arora was driving his 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer north on Rabbit Hill Road when he struck Paramjeet Sidhu, 46, as the victim was halfway into a marked crosswalk at the intersection with Hodgson Boulevard.
Court heard witnesses described Sidhu rolling up the hood of Arora's Lancer onto the windshield and then landing on the street when Arora swerved and sped away into oncoming traffic.
Hussain said Sidhu, a married father of two sons, suffered a broken leg, an injured hip and a serious head injury. He was taken to hospital in critical condition and died 18 days later.
Court heard police initially had no information about who the driver was other than a description of the car, but were told two days later about a Mitsubishi Lancer seen on the Whitemud with its windshield smashed and provided a licence plate number.
Hussain said the plate was connected to Arora, but when police went to his address, it appeared abandoned and they had no way of contacting him. Eventually, they were able to speak with him, but had insufficient evidence to make an arrest.
Court heard police later learned that Arora had sold the Lancer to an auto wrecker for $150. They found pizza receipts in the car which resulted in them finding out that Arora had been delivering pizzas in Riverbend on the night of the collision. His seized cellphone records also put him in the area at the time.
Police also used the phone records to locate a friend of Arora's who told them Arora had said another friend of his had used his car and hit someone. The friend later told police Arora was now admitting he was responsible for the collision and claiming he was scared and did not know what to do.
Hussain said police were then able to contact Arora in India and he agreed to return to Canada to deal with the charges.
Sidhu's wife and her father were in court and the judge spoke to the grieving widow about filing victim impact statements.
Shortly after the collision, Gurpreet Sidhu and her sons had stood at the crosswalk and made an emotional public plea for the driver to come forward. At the time, she said her husband had gone for a walk. She also said the family had moved to Edmonton from India in 2010 and both she and her husband had been physicians there.
A pre-sentence report was ordered on Arora and a sentencing hearing was scheduled for Jan. 26.


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Nervous Patients
If the mere thought of dental treatment makes you anxious, you're not the only one. Thousands (if not millions) of people avoid the dentist because they have a phobia about needles, worry about pain, or had a negative experience at some point in their lives. While these fears are understandable, they can also put your oral health at risk.
At Quality Dental Practice we understand how worried you must be, and will go the extra mile to make your dental treatments as comfortable and stress-free as possible. We will:
- Thoroughly explain each treatment so you know what to expect
- Encourage you to ask all the questions you need
- Take a friendly and compassionate approach the entire time
If you suffer from a high degree of dental phobia, we have sedation options to make your treatment more comfortable. They include:
- Inhalation sedation delivered through a nosepiece
- Oral medication
- Intravenous sedation
Both options will relax you enough to take the stress out of your procedure.
Don't let dental phobia prevent you from having the regular check-ups and treatments needed to keep your teeth and gums healthy. At Quality Dental Care we are committed to your dental health and emotional well-being and will do what it takes to make your experience low-stress and positive.


text:
- Mend, alter, refashion 10 Going to Town Dresses. This is #4.
- Made from Pre-retirements garments that do not fit Retirement lifestyle.
- Good for lunch with friends, errands, shopping, part-time contract work.
- Unfitted, Cool, Comfortable. Texas August is 100+.
- Is worn in place of a sun-dress.
- Is also for Gingham Refashion Runway Sew-Along.
Going to Town Dress
in place of a sundress
|Green gingham.
Greens are better match than photo shows.
|TNT Casual Dress.
*Skirt: Started as a Refashion in 1980s from my mothers UFO.
*Blue Chambray: Self made curtains. They were lined!
*Green Gingham: Fabric stash.
After: Going to Town Dress. Worn in place of summer sun-dresses.
* Skirt: Add gingham section in new skirt. Keep original hem.
*Top: Cut from chambray curtains. Face inside of neck with gingham bias.
|Skirt Stash
for Casual and House Dresses.
What I Learned: Gingham:
*In Southern US, says summer.
*Is cool. It breathes due to the waffle weave in some fabrics.
|Before: 1980's Skirt from the stash.
Refashioned from Mothers UFO.
|On My Mind:
These boxers made from worn sheets:


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6 Things to do in Johor Bahru to Stretch Your Dollar
Ran out of things to do during the weekend in Singapore? Or perhaps, you desperately need a day of indulgence but can't bear the guilt that comes with a three-hour spa session. The Malaysian Ringgit has tumbled and crossed the psychological level of 3 against the Singapore dollar. Well, there's no better time than now to make a consumerist trip up to Johor Bahru.
Here's how you can enjoy a day in JB and stretch that dollar for all its worth.
#1 Shopping
Singaporeans have been crossing the border to shop, and purchases have been getting increasingly bigger. Like, a house. But even if you have no plans for a piece of property, you can still check out some of JB's newer malls and stock up on daily necessities and add a few more pieces to the wardrobe.
KSL Mall
This is a rather large mall with 500 retail outlets. Get your mobile accessories here, or head to Tesco hypermarket if you need to replenish your family and your extended family's groceries.
City Square
This is a long-time favourite for locals and Singaporeans who can hardly wait to splash their newly exchanged ringgit at the nearest mall. It does have a good retail mix, hair and beauty salons, and a movie theatre where you can remind yourself of the days where you watched movies on the big screen.
Jalan Dhoby
If you think you are too hipster and cool and vintage to be shopping in JB, think again. Close to Citi Square is a street that could make you make you stray from Haji Lane. The street has cafes and boutiques to revive your Instagram account with. You can find TGND, a quirky vintage store, and Roost café, a rustic and charming spot to pause and pat yourself on the back for a productive day.
Johor Premium Outlet
Those who've been outlet shopping in the U.S may be underwhelmed by the selection here. But if you're not going to the other side of the world, then this option on the other side of the causeway is worth checking out. You can find brands such as Burberry, Armani, and Salvatore Ferragamo. Discounts range between 25-65%.
#2 Massage and Hair services
JB has a good number of choices offering quality massages, hair, and beauty services.
Popular massage centres worth checking out include Soul Asia, Kaki Kaki, and Bangkok Spa. An hour-long Thai massage at Soul Asia and Bangkok Spa costs just RM 53 (SGD 18), which is about less than half of what it would cost in an average heartland massage centre in Singapore!
JB is also a great choice if you need an image makeover. You can get a hair cut, colour, treatment for less than half the damage, even at reputable salons (e.g. Elite, The Line)
#3 Food
Apart from shopping, one thing that will never fail to draw Singaporeans across the causeway is the food. Beyond the street food that you may naturally gravitate towards, JB also has some good Asian restaurants. Check out its Korean restaurants, such as Jeju Korea BBQ Restaurant. And, if you want to wind down the evening in style, head to The Skybar of Traders Hotel for drinks with a great view.
Check if your cashback or dining credit card applies for transactions overseas too. The ANZ Optimum World Mastercard, for example, gives you up to 5% even on overseas dining and shopping transactions.
#4 Dental Services
Dental services don't come cheap in Singapore. For those who are considering getting dental services that aren't covered by your company insurance (e.g. braces, whitening), and don't want to be in a long waiting list at government clinics, doing it in Johor Bahru may really save you some significant costs.
You may not find services at half the price, but knocking off hundred of dollars is still good savings.
#5 Lego Land
Take the kids (and yourself) to Lego Land as a more wallet-friendly alternative to Universal Studios. Lego Land combines a themed part, water park, and even a hotel. There are more than 70 hands-on rides, slides, shows and attractions. It's not all kiddy rides though, some attractions are actually not too shabby even for adults.
#6 The Little Big Club
The Little Big Club is a kid's dream comes true. Five popular characters including Barney, Bob the Builder, and Angelina Ballerina come tougher in a themed attraction. There are interactive activities to get your little ones entertained for hours.
The Sanrio Hello Kitty Town is also the first outside of Japan, and is a dreamland for fans. There are even Hello Kitty themed drinks and pastries here.
With these many things to do, there's no better time than now to cross the border for a weekend of highly affordable fun.
Discover more lifehacks and financial tips to optimise the value of your money. Keep your money intelligent with iMoney Singapore!


text:
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The Mezco One 12 Collective Thor Ragnarok figure captures both the character's physique and richly detailed costume from Marvel Studios film Thor Ragnarok.
In addition to swords, shield, and mace, he features a helmet with film accurate rotating "wings".
Because Thor is the god of thunder he comes complete with a removable lighting effect to replicate the F/X from the upcoming blockbuster.
In Marvel Studios' Thor: Ragnarok, Thor is imprisoned on the other side of the universe without his mighty hammer and finds himself in a race against time to get back to Asgard to stop Ragnarok – the destruction of his homeworld and the end of Asgardian civilization – at the hands of an all-powerful new threat, the ruthless Hela. But first he must survive a deadly gladiatorial contest that pits him against his former ally and fellow Avenger – the Incredible Hulk!
Make Sure to Check-Out the Awesome Unboxing Video Below!
Mezco One 12 Collective Ragnarok Thor Unboxing
Each One:12 Collective Ragnarok Thor figure is packaged in a collector friendly box, designed with collectors in mind there are no twist ties for easy in and out of package display.
© 2005 - 2019 4ColorHeroes. All rights reserved.


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Dear Family and Friends,
Hope all is well. Happy Mother's day to the mothers reading this. Today was a fantastic day. I woke up early, but not too early (sometimes I get very aggressive about waking up early and didn't want to go crazy today) to set out on a journey to the Cliffs of Moher and then Limerick.
After a nice breakfast, I left the hotel at around quarter to 8 and arrived at the Cliffs of Moher just after 10. The drive was fabulous. The car is fun to drive and there were winding roads and beautiful scenery along the way. There were no big freeways on this leg.
There are main thoroughfares, and every so often you slow down because there's a town. At one point, a storm came through and it poured, then got sunny again. The cliffs were awesome as you can see from the pictures. The jumping pic is real!
After spending an hour and a half walking around the cliffs, I drove to Limerick, to visit the headquarters of Limerick poetry because i love it. I had a nice lunch of fish and chips and cider, and walked around towards the "Limerick Writer's Center" but when I got there saw nothing.
I went to the Frank McCourt museum nearby (the Author of Angela's Ashes). I saw Frank McCourt speak at my high school many years ago and read the book around that time. I'll need to revisit the book because I was undoubtedly too young to understand everything. The museum is within Frank's old school.
In the museum I met the owner and founder, Una, an artist who knew Frank McCourt. I let her know that I had actually come to Limerick to learn more about poetry and rhymes! She recited some Limericks she knew, and I recited some of my own and she liked them!
And then she called up the head of the Limerick Writers Association and I was able to speak with him a bit about Limericks. 🙂 I asked his advice, what's the most important thing to think about if you are writing one… ssoooooo cool. He said that for a good limerick most important parts are the rhyme scheme, the wordplay, topicality, and funniness. Mostly, it has to be funny. By inductive reasoning, I believe Irish people value humour quite a bit. BTW that tent below in Limerick looks like a mini Khan Shatyr (the big tent in Astana).
Then I chilled with this woman for a while and she took me on a tour of the museum. We ended up having a long discussion about languages and cultural terms, then politics, then religious extremism. I explained the American Electoral College, and why Hasidim wear those curls around their face.
Una taught me more things about Irish culture, so between last night and today, wow. The word Flahulach, "flaw-ho-loch" is describes someone who throws around money, maybe buys everyone a drink at the bar! "Tight" means "mean" or stingy, not a spender.
She also said that people in Ireland use Gaelic words in everyday speech. like if they want milk at the store, the Gaelic word for Milk might come out. That guy is flahulach! It's kind of like the way we may use Yiddish words in every speech "stop kvetching."
That was all very special. then I drove another 2.5 hours back to Sligo, did some admin/housekeeping things, and had a nice dinner of beet soup (wonder if it will make everything a beautiful purple like those Trader Joes chips 🙂 : ) and chicken and vegetables. Tomorrow will be a day of work!
Here is one Limerick I wrote about Auchentoshan distillery. A Distillery called Auchentoshan / Has a great staff and marvelous potion / This Lowland supplier / Amended my tire / And set a fun Tuesday in Motion! Its not that funny, so I'll do better to enter one into any limerick contests.
Love, Anniee


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One of the most mysterious structures in the Middle East is easy to miss. The prehistoric stone monument went unnoticed for centuries in a bare expanse of field on the Golan Heights. After Israel captured the territory from Syria in a 1967 war, archaeologists studying an aerial survey spotted a pattern of stone circles not visible from the ground. Subsequent excavations revealed it was one of the oldest and largest structures in the region.
Known as Rujm el-Hiri in Arabic, meaning the 'stone heap of the wild cat', the complex has five concentric circles, the largest more than 500 feet (152 m) wide, and a massive burial chamber in the middle. Its Hebrew name Gilgal Refaim, or 'wheel of giants', refers to an ancient race of giants mentioned in the Bible.
The monument is up to 5,000 years old, according to most estimates, and is made of piles of thousands of smaller basalt rocks that together weigh over 40,000 tons. "It's an enigmatic site. We have bits of information, but not the whole picture," said Uri Berger, an expert on megalithic tombs with the Israel Antiquities Authority. No one knows who built it, Berger said. Some think it might have been a nomadic civilization that settled the area, but it would have required a tremendous support network that itinerants might not have had. There could be an astrological significance. On the shortest and longest days of the year the sunrise lines up with openings in the rocks, he said.
Shards of pottery and flint tools were found in various excavations to help date the site, Berger said. Scholars generally agree that construction started as early as 3,500 BCE and other parts may have been added to over the next two thousand years. The complex is in an area now used for training by Israel's military, but visitors can explore the walls and crawl into the 20-foot-long burial chamber on weekends and holidays.
Edited from Reuter, Yahoo! News (11 November 2015)
[1 image]


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Two mugs in a bath tub
Mugs? What's that?
So began my first day in New Jersey. Travelling with Ms. Papaya meant that bathing her in a shower was useless . What she needed was a good old fashioned bucket and mug.
But in our well furnished serviced apartment there wasn't one in sight . We set off for the nearest Target to look for a bucket/pail which we found in a jiffy. It was the mug that caused a problem.
My friend C who was taking us around the area and helping us find our feet, assured me that there are no mugs in America. She should know, I figured having lived there for over thirty years now. But I needed something to pour the water as I couldn't continue using the silver glass meant for drinking water as I had done for baby's first bath.
So we looked around and scoured the whole, huge shop and found something called mug jugs or jug mugs? And in typical American fashion , we couldn't buy just one but had to buy two!
That's how baby now has two pink mugs to bathe with . One for her bath and the other for her duckie.
While I know only Indians have bucket baths, I wonder how Americans pour out water without mug.


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Enjoy your holiday right in the middle of nature!
Waking up to the sound of singing birds in the morning, the fresh smell of green leaves and some beautiful walking and cycling routes in the area: the promising ingredients of a holiday in the forest.
Doesn't that sound fantastic? So make sure you look for a campsite in one of the Netherlands' forests! Ardoer can offer various different family campsites in the forests and some near National Parks.
Campsites in the woods - Drenthe
Drenthe, HoogersmildeLooking for a beautiful campsite in Drenthe? Campsite Reeënwissel can be found on the border between Drenthe and Friesland, directly at the National Park Drents Friese Wold. The campsite is located near the villages of Appelscha, Diever and Dwingeloo. You can enjoy plenty of tranquillity and nature here outside of the school holidays. There are plenty of activities like horse-riding, mountain biking and Active Games during the school holidays.
Diana Heide
Drenthe, AmenHoliday Park Diana Heide. Holiday Park Diana Heide enjoys a beautiful location along the edge of the National Park Drentsche Aa. The spacious campsite with a sandy beach and fishing pond can offer pitches either in the forest or on the open field. You can also enjoy some lovely peace and quiet in a hikers' hut or chalet along the edge of the park.
Campsites in the woods - Overijssel
Overijssel, VollenhoveA fantastic family campsite in Vollenhove. Holiday Park 't Akkertien is located along the edge of Vollenhove (N.W. Overijssel) in a beautiful and water-rich nature area, which is fantastic for fishing, cycling, walking and sailing. The campsite can offer touristy pitches, campervan pitches, a beautiful chalet park, luxury group accommodation and a unique helicopter, all beautifully located within our hilly site. The campsite also offers free WiFi.
Overijssel, HoltenWelcome to Campsite Holterberg in Holten! Ideally located on the southern slopes of the Holterberg, Campsite Holterberg offers unprecedented possibilities for walkers, cyclists and mountain bikers. Families with children can go on all sorts of adventures on the border of Sallan and Twente, but it goes without saying you can stay on the campsite too, perhaps to have fun or to blissfully do absolutely nothing at all.
Overijssel, HardenbergExperience an unforgettable family holiday in Vechtdal in Overijssel. You will have an excellent time at our 5 star holiday park, with challenging play combinations and interactive playing fields. The entertainment team will organise a varied programme, which will naturally also devote attention to the young ones. In addition, you can also fully enjoy the swimming pools and catering facilities.
Overijssel, TubbergenAn area where life is green and the people are hospitable. Recreation Park 'n Kaps is the perfect starting point for discovering Twente. Our friendly recreation park, consisting of a campsite and bungalow park, is located right in the middle of one of the most beautiful areas of Overijssel. Come, experience and enjoy!
Overijssel, Nijverdal
Campsites in the woods - Gelderland (Veluwe)
Gelderland, Ermelo
Gelderland, LierenDe Bosgraaf offers you everything you need, like a large, heated pool with a 30 meters long water slide, a heated children's bath, 2 saunas and a large sportsfield with play sets. In the high season there is a kidsclub with an animation program for all ages. You can also find a supermarket with fresh bread, an eatery/bar, billiards and a delicious snack counter at De Bosgraaf.
Gelderland, Voorthuizen
Gelderland, Laag-SoerenThe Jutberg Holiday Village is: fantastic swimming in the indoor swimming pool, scrambling and climbing in the playground, going out and about with the Jutbergranger and experiencing some great adventures with the recreation team. But you naturally also have the option of doing many kilometres of bike rides, adventurous mountain biking across the Veluwezoom, visiting Hanseatic towns like Doesburg, Zutphen and Bronckhorst, or enjoying a good old shop in Dieren, Arnhem or Apeldoorn.
Gelderland, EmstA very well organised and child-friendly family campsite on the Veluwe in Gelderland. Make sure you visit Campsite Zandhegge in Ernst for a friendly atmosphere, relaxation, tranquillity and fun entertainment. Children will have a great time in one of the playgrounds, the outdoor swimming pool and our fun indoor playground. The campsite is the ideal starting point for some great bike rides and walks. Two dogs are permitted per pitch.
Gelderland, GarderenWelcome! Campsite Hertshoorn is a stylish, park-like and child-friendly campsite on the Veluwe, near the cosy village of Garderen, right in the middle of the forest. Children will have an excellent time here with the recreation team, the unique indoor playground (170 m2 game attic) and the multitude of playgrounds. And we have a separate programme for the 12+ teenagers!
Campsites in the woods - Brabant and Limburg
Ullingse Bergen
Noord-Brabant, Sint AnthonisCome and listen to the silence ... Campsite Ullingse Bergen is the perfect holiday spot for people who would like to enjoy their well-earned rest. Stay on large, green pitches with all the space you'll need for privacy, but with the cosiness which forms part of camping. Not interested in a major recreation programme? We only organise 1 to 2 activities per day during the holiday periods, so you can decide exactly what your daily programme should look like.
Heldense Bossen
Limburg, HeldenCome and enjoy the bronze-green oak! Campsite Heldense Bossen in the Limburg town of Helden is the ideal children's campsite during the school holidays, as a result of the many facilities and exciting entertainment. The extensive walking and cycling options from the campsite and the beautiful location right in the middle of the forest means our campsite is also ultimately suitable for active people who like to come and visit us for some peace and quiet outside of the school holidays.


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Best Time to Visit Singapore
Singapore is a must see city on your excursions through South East Asia. The bustling port city sports a vibrant nightlife scene, great sightseeing opportunities and some amazing cuisine influenced from cultures around the world who have settled here. When planning your trip to Singapore, it is important to take note of just when the right time to visit is. Sure, the city is a great place to come through any time of year. But for the best experience possible you may want to consider coming during the times where the city is most alive and there are many activities to enjoy.
When Should You Travel to Singapore?
July- August - This is the time of year that is the slowest for tourism in Singapore and thus cheaper rates may be available for budget minded travelers. While the city may not be as busy, remember that Singapore is one of the most densely populated cities in the world and will remain vibrant throughout the entire year. These off peak months are great for travelers looking to enjoy lower traffic around the attractions and easier availability of hotel rooms throughout the city.
The Chinese Lunar New Year - This is a great time to be in Singapore as the city celebrates the New Year. The Chingay parade is a site to see and a great travel experience for those looking for a unique offering. Keep in mind that many shops will close for up to 3 days around the time of the New Year and corresponding weekend so plan ahead. The Holiday takes place on either January or February depending on the Moon's cycle.
Planning around the Monsoon Months - From November through January Singapore see's it largest accumulation of rainfall. While many locals rejoice in the lower temperatures that this creates, for travelers trying to get out and see the sites, the massive downpours can be a bit inconvenient. Planning your trip around this period is a good idea for those who plan to be out and around the city for a large amount of time.
June-September - This period is where temperatures are at their peak. Travelers will be able to get around easier as rainfall is at is lowest accumulation of the year during this period, however the temperatures and humidity will likely wear down travelers attempting to trek around the city all day. If you plan on coming during these months and seeing the sights, be sure to plan ahead and bring enough water and plan some time to rest. Also be aware that while rain is more infrequent during this period, scattered showers are quite common, so keep this fact in mind


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Reminders About the Childcare Service
Don't Forget!
- Call 514-695-8529 ext. 205 or e-mail email@example.com if you do not need childcare today. When you call or e-mail, please let us know your name, the time your child would be in childcare, your child's name and the reason for the cancellation.
- You may only bring the children you have registered for childcare. We cannot accommodate occasional drop-ins and non-registered siblings.
- Do not bring school-aged children to the Centre on PED Days or other school holidays unless you have signed up for our Occasional Childcare Service. You may not bring your school-aged children to your class or leave them unattended outside the class.
- Label any food or drink you bring to Childcare with your child's last name. Suggested snacks: baked "fishy" crackers or any other type of plain crackers and cut-up fruit (but no grapes please!)
- No nuts please! Remember that snack products with nuts are prohibited.
- Arrive on time and leave promptly. Please do not arrive any earlier than 10 minutes before your class is scheduled to begin. As soon as your class ends, please pick up your child.
- Shoes please! All children of walking age should have a pair of shoes to wear in Childcare.
- If your child is feeling sick, do not bring him/her to the Centre. Do not bring a child with a fever, rash, cough or cold to the Centre.
- Let us know if your child comes down with an infectious disease. We do our best to inform our members of infectious diseases.
- Keep us informed of your child's medical information. Let us know if your child has a medical condition, including allergies.
- Do not bring toys from home.
- You must remain in the building while your child is in a course or childcare.


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A Watts man went on trial for a second time Monday in the murders of five women, including three counted among the 18 Southside Slayer serial killings.
A mistrial was declared in August at Louis Craine's first trial after a clerk inadvertently gave deliberating jurors portions of a witness statement they were not supposed to see.
In an opening statement Monday in Compton Superior Court, Deputy Dist. Atty. John Watson told jurors that the evidence will prove that Craine, 33, is guilty of five murders from November, 1984, until May, 1987. Craine's lawyer will give his opening statement after Watson rests his case.
The so-called Southside Slayer serial killings claimed the lives of 18 women, primarily prostitutes in predominantly black neighborhoods in South Los Angeles, from the fall of 1983 until May, 1987.
Police believe the 18 slayings were carried out by more than one person.


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Dinners were served in the basement. Ambassadors, generals with many stars, senior White House officials and closely read columnists — all would walk past the yellowing kitchen, which looked as if it hadn't been updated since the Ford administration, and down a narrow flight of stairs into the dimly lighted dining room. Guests were arrayed around the table according to rank, with the most important ones squeezed in the center. Although the Old World meals could be quite elaborate — venison paté, duck in bitter orange — they were prepared and served entirely by the host, a stickler for protocol named Albrecht Muth.
Muth liked to refer to his Georgetown row house, which technically belonged to his wife, the journalist Viola Drath, as the Albrechtory. Guests at their dinners included Anne Patterson, Obama's ambassador to
The couple's cachet had nothing to do with wealth, however. They lived frugally, mostly off Drath's first husband's pension. Nor was it based on their résumés. He once started a small NGO; she wrote articles for a German financial daily. What they possessed was an exquisite understanding of the anxieties of the city's elite — and an awareness of the power of eccentricity in a city that has little of it. Drath was 44 years older than her husband, a disparity in age that was accentuated further when he referred to her as "madam."
Albrecht Muth had his own rich lore. According to one tale, he once planted a bug in
On Aug. 12 last year, Muth called 911 and reported that he returned from his morning walk to find his wife splayed on their bathroom floor. A 91-year-old tumbling in a bathroom is hardly uncommon, so detectives didn't initially investigate her death. It took the medical examiner to point out, a day later, that her scalp was bruised, her thumbnail torn and the cartilage in her neck fractured. She had been strangled and bludgeoned to death.
Drath's murder seized the front page of The
When Muth first asked her out in 1982, Drath had been married for nearly 40 years. He was a teenage intern for a lesser-known Republican senator; she was a veteran journalist in her 60s. Muth flattered her by describing his devotion to her column, which he said he started reading in his "youth."
The schnitzel joint he picked was said to be
Because Drath only hesitantly revealed her inner life, the editing of the manuscript required that Livingston prod her with uncomfortable questions. In one of her introspective moments, Drath admitted that while she didn't consider Muth particularly handsome, she found his appearance appealing. His family fled East Germany, just as hers had, and there was something about his Teutonic face and blue-gray eyes that reminded her of home. She was also attracted to his lust for power, which she knew could be channeled into professional success. "At first, she was dazzled by his potential," Livingston told me.
Once upon a time, she was nearly as ambitious. After
On her trips, she befriended
Yet for all her status and success, Drath remained deeply dependent on her husband. When the Colonel found out that he had cancer in the 1980s, she panicked about the prospect of widowhood. Her friend, the political theorist Gary Ulmen, came to stay with her following her husband's death and discovered the extent of her helplessness. One morning, she turned to Ulmen and asked, "Do you know how to make breakfast?"
Following their schnitzel dinner, Muth largely disappeared from Drath's life. But just months after the Colonel's death in 1986, he began calling on her almost daily. They would drink tea and stay up arguing about politics; evenings usually ended with Muth sitting down to play at her baby grand piano. About three years into his courtship, he donned a tuxedo, carried a bottle of Champagne and proposed marriage. That she chose Muti, as she called him, shocked her friends and family. She had other suitors who were age-appropriate and respectable, but as she told Ulmen: "They are old and boring. Muti is young and interesting."
He was also eager and pliant. Eleanor Clift remembers that "he was something like her intern." Every morning, he raced to read the papers and then brief her on the news. He assumed the domestic responsibilities that the Colonel once performed, only with great formality. When visitors dropped by, Muth would serve them tea, take an exaggerated bow and quietly exit the room. "It looked like his next stop was Maxim's," Drath's friend George Schwab, the head of a foreign-policy think tank, told me.
Drath hadn't intended to marry a butler. Her memoir details their campaign to land him a high-ranking job. They cultivated Vladimir Petrovsky, a jowly old Soviet diplomat who ran the United Nations office in
Ulmen was a touch too dismissive. Muth could be hopelessly awkward — incapable of small talk, prone to clicking his heels — but he could also display remarkable social intelligence. Betty Gookin, a longtime friend of Drath's, once gave him a tour of her house in the horse country of
In 1999, Muth formed what he called the Eminent Persons Group. His vision for the group was as grandiose as its name — he would bring together a collection of prestigious international thinkers to advise the U.N. secretary general. Among others, Muth enlisted the Pakistani
The triumph of the E.P.G. didn't just gratify Muth's ego; it was also an act of revenge. His mother had dabbled in politics, working her way up the Christian Democratic Party. But Muth's father, a doctor in the German Army, died weeks after his birth. For the sake of her family, Muth's mother turned down opportunities to ascend even higher. According to Livingston, Muth felt that decision had punished him, denying him the perks and privileges that flow to powerful families. Writing to Drath's grandson, he described the joys of breaching the elite, "where life is great, because it's fun." People of power, he went on, "fire at a different level of the human condition."
To attract eminences to his group, Muth began by ordering thick stationery that he adorned with a crest of his own design. He signed the letters with an impressive title — Count Albi — which Muth claimed a distant relative who had suffered a debilitating fall from an Indian elephant passed down to him. And he operated according to some key principles that Drath described in her memoir. To score a big-name dinner guest or a favor from a V.I.P. in Washington, there was no point messing around with official channels or wasting time with midlevel functionaries. Underlings fear for their careers and are more likely to examine new acquaintances for potential peril. But there's an unexpected naïveté among the truly powerful; they assume that anyone who has arrived at their desk has survived the scrutiny of handlers.
Michel Rocard received one of Muth's first invitations. "I had never heard of him," the former prime minister told me. But Rocard liked the group's mission, and his political career needed new purpose. With Rocard on the masthead as chairman, Muth had no trouble recruiting other V.I.P.'s. When Peggy Mason, the former Canadian ambassador to the U.N., received her invitation, she quickly accepted: "Of course," she told me, "I figured if these other eminent people were already in. . . ."
In 2005, Muth sent a flattering e-mail to Arun Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma, who runs a center promoting nonviolence in
Muth, in other words, perfected the methodology for his social
Before long, however, some of Muth's colleagues at the E.P.G. began to catch on. "He came to a reception in a full morning suit, looking like a German aristocrat out of the 1800s," Peggy Mason recalls. "People got a little nervous and started digging around." His talk about having served in the French Foreign Legion seemed particularly absurd. By the fall of 2001, Soros stopped financing the group and Rocard resigned. "I no longer wish to work with Albrecht Gero Muth," Rocard wrote, citing "the brutality of his working method" and his polarizing personality. "Some obscurities of his past irritate some of our interlocutors more than ourselves, and this also has its price."
From their first date, Viola and Albrecht enjoyed provoking one another. At night, they would lie in their separate beds, arguing in German. But every so often, their disagreements would escalate. In 1992, Muth was convicted of beating Drath, the beginning of a rap sheet that hardly reflects the many lesser occasions of abuse. Once when they were staying at
Where Drath nursed deep feelings and wrote passionately about her love for him, Muth was in the relationship for something else. He described their marriage as transactional, an example of a Washington coupling where husband and wife merge in order to aggregate their talents and social capital. When a local television reporter named Kris Van Cleave asked Muth how his marriage overcame so many obstacles, Muth replied, "Why does Secretary Clinton remain with President Clinton?"
Perhaps Drath should have suspected that he was gay earlier — he was actively having affairs with men. But once she came to terms with Muth's sexual orientation, he did little to disguise it. He even briefly moved in with a boyfriend in 2002. "He was the boy, she was the wife," Muth explained in an e-mail he sent to friends. "You have the one for one set of reasons, the other another, the lives were fully integrated." They were so integrated that the boyfriend suffered the same abuse as the wife. When Muth threatened to kill him, he obtained a restraining order.
In May 2006, Drath was eating dinner on her couch while Muth sat on the other side of the room, drunk. Your daughter isn't a lawyer, he blared to his wife, she's a saleswoman. (In fact, she is a judge in
Several months later, the dateline on Albrecht Muth's e-mails began to read "Villa Zarathustra,
His dispatches were long and filled with jargon. He repeatedly apologized to his correspondents for his fatigue: "I am, to be blunt, somewhat a wreck. The eye is blurry. And I have this tremor in the left arm and hand."
The focus of his efforts was the insurgent Moqtada al Sadr, whom he referred to either as Mookie or with the honorific Hojatoleslam. He said that he had implanted himself as an aide in Sadr's camp so that he could act as a double agent: while he advised Sadr, he would try to steer him and his
Mookie was a vivid character in Muth's telling. He described Sadr's ill-fitting dentures, which caused the cleric to speak with a slight lisp. When Sadr worked himself into a rage, he would remove his false teeth — "an inclination I always discourage," Muth wrote. While the Americans harped on Sadr's role in murdering soldiers, Muth portrayed him as "somewhat dimwitted" and sentimental. One morning, Muth wrote, he awoke in Sadr's compound to the sounds of a Prussian cavalry march blasting from the speakers on the minaret — which Muth interpreted as a loving tribute. From a terrace, he watched as "the honor guard performed, in near perfection, the exercises of Frederick the Great I taught them. The goose steps emanating straight at the waist."
Muth's e-mails reached the in-boxes of the State Department and
In his missives Muth assumed the persona of a world-weary freelance operator, comparing himself with
While Muth wrote about reconciling Iraqi factions, he achieved another feat — reconciliation with his wife. "She had a blind spot," Kathryn Livingston says. "He was her weakness, her obsession, her addiction." Just as Drath finished her memoir of their relationship (working title: "A Thoroughly Muddled Marriage"), Drath called Livingston to tell her, "I'm going to need a new ending."
Muth began forwarding his correspondence with Drath, hoping to demonstrate their return to normalcy. In the fall of 2007, he described his preparations for returning home and asked permission to bring along the Iraqi man who tended to him in Sadr City. "Having the comfort of a manservant, 24/7, is the one luxury this aging militiaman can afford himself," he pleaded. "He'll be paid for by the Mahdi Army."
The manservant never materialized in Washington, and the note of gratitude he supposedly received from
There's a long history of fabulists who have ascended Washington's social pyramid. There was the lobbyist Edward von Kloberg III (the "von" was an affectation, as was the title of baron he used and the silk-lined capes he wore), whose motto was "Shame is for sissies." Starting in the 1980s, he specialized in representing autocrats like
Washington's susceptibility to fakery explains how Muth could continue living his Iraq fantasy. Although there is no evidence — no photos, no sightings — that he ever set foot in Iraq, when he returned to Georgetown, he began walking its streets in an olive uniform and a red beret. "I saw him in uniform at the
This would have been ridiculous, except that he increasingly spent time in the company of bona fide Iraqi generals. Baghdad's military attaché included him in public gatherings. When Gen. Nasir Abadi, the vice chief of staff of the Iraqi Joint Forces, came to town, he attended a lavish dinner, which Muth hosted in his full regalia. "They were treating [Muth] as if he held some kind of significant rank," George Schwab remembers.
Several Washington wise men treated him with the same respect. Thomas Pickering, who served in nearly every diplomatically knotty post in the State Department, responded to one of Muth's Baghdad dispatches: "Thank you for your fascinating reports. They are most welcome." When Muth asked him to contribute a quote to his
Three years ago, Pickering redeemed the favor Muth owed him for the blurb. His friend W. Robert Pearson, the former ambassador to
One of Muth's miracles was an event he orchestrated called Iraq Liberation Day — and because Muth loved nothing more than a good acronym, he gave it the full name of National Observance of Iraq Liberation Day, or NOLID. On a brisk April day in 2010, Iraqi and American brass, joined by mothers of fallen soldiers, gathered at Arlington National Cemetery for speeches and the laying of wreaths. The pictures from that celebration show Muth in his customary role — off to the side, ensuring that the wreaths were laid just so.
Qubad Talabani, the son of the Iraqi president and the Kurds' official representative in Washington, delivered the keynote address. At the end of his speech, he announced that the next year's celebration would take place in Kurdistan. When Talabani extended the invitation, an impromptu gesture of generosity, he had little reason to anticipate the intensity of Muth's reaction. A wave of memos arrived in his office, and Muth quickly scheduled a meeting. When Muth came dressed in uniform, Talabani couldn't resist asking about his biography. "He starts telling me stories about how his uncle was the deputy chairman of the East German intelligence and through that they supported the Iraqi security services and helped build Saddam Hussein's intelligence network."
This narrative was horribly calibrated. Hussein, after all, had waged a genocidal campaign against the Kurds. As Talabani stared uncomfortably at his aides, Muth described how he wanted to invite the enemies of the
The Iraq Embassy initially considered Muth harmless. He organized lovely parties for visiting dignitaries. It was touching that Muth admired the Iraqi Army enough to wear its uniform (or rather, what appeared to be a hybrid of Iraqi and Jordanian secondhand components). But the embassy caught wind that Muth had gone to the Pentagon, dressed in his uniform, handing out invitations to Iraq Liberation Day. A party costume was one thing, carrying this charade into the inner sanctum of the U.S. military was quite another. The embassy strongly urged its employees to avoid dealing with Muth and asked the
In September 2010, the State Department received an anonymous fax containing a diplomatic dispatch that a mole had sent to the editors of
When the agents later arranged to see Drath, she insisted that they meet anywhere but her house. She arrived at a restaurant wearing dark glasses, which she didn't remove until asked by the agents. Although Drath claimed that her black eye resulted from a collision with a banister, she also told the agents that she feared for her safety. Could they deport her husband? "She was terribly worried about his anti-Americanism and his vitriol," George Schwab remembers. "She told me, 'If something happens, you will know who perpetrated the deed.' "
During her years with Muth, Drath's social world slowly contracted. Guests flooded her home in response to Muth's invitations, but she lost touch with old friends. "I have a terrible conscience about the fact that we stopped seeing her," says Richard Gookin, the former associate chief of protocol at the State Department. "We didn't invite her over, because we feared that he would come along." Muth's embarrassments were mounting. The pastor at her church barred him from the building. The German Embassy axed him from its guest list, for fear of his drunken behavior, and curtailed its dealings with her.
Muth no longer left the house much, except to smoke his dime-store cigars. During the day, he lounged on the couch, writing memos on his laptop and collecting details that might help him maintain a credible front. At night, he often drained a bottle of
Even though she was usually only a room away, Muth sent lengthy, nasty notes to her via e-mail. He dismissed her professional accomplishments as "fluff," and he gave himself full credit for all the late-career accolades she received. One note boasted about his "cunning," which he illustrated with an old story: "George Soros, who financed E.P.G., also told [the French ambassador] that I'm 'the type of man who would have closed the oven door behind him at Auschwitz.' He meant it as a compliment, he told the ambassador. I pleaded guilty as charged."
One afternoon last summer, Muth arranged a date with a Pakistani man he met on
The next morning — the same morning Muth called 911 to report his wife's death — Muth's friend wrote him an e-mail saying that they couldn't meet again if Muth was "going to be that drunk." Muth replied that he had no memory of the evening.
When homicide detectives met with Muth the next day, they asked about the scratches on his forehead — a query, the detectives noted, that left him visibly shaken and caused him to suddenly recall that he had slammed his head into his kitchen door. Muth also claimed that he never touched his wife's corpse. But when the detectives told him that they had uncovered traces of his DNA on her body, he admitted that he touched her hand.
Later, in an interview room at the department's homicide branch, a detective asked Muth how intruders could have entered his home. He replied, "It's your job to investigate, not mine." And what about the age difference with your wife? It was "a marriage of convenience," Muth shot back.
The detectives told Muth that they were taking a break and surreptitiously watched him from the other side of the wall. He rubbed his face and muttered to himself. A few minutes later, a detective returned to the room and handed him a cup of coffee. "It doesn't look good," Muth blurted.
It took the police four more days to collect the evidence to arrest Muth. During that period, they forbade him from entering his home, now a crime scene, so he slept in a Georgetown park wearing a perfectly tailored houndstooth blazer. Muth never had much money — he received an $1,800 monthly allowance from Viola — but he dressed as if he had means. When he stood before a judge in a preliminary hearing, he wore his orange jumpsuit with an upturned collar, an unlikely touch of
During his first appearance in court, he complained that corrections officers wanted him to wear underwear: "[I] am a serving officer in the Iraqi Special Forces," he said. "We don't wear underwear." During his second appearance, last November, he announced that he would serve as his own attorney and that he would begin "an unlimited fast," which he vaguely justified as an imperative of his faith.
Muth had only recently become Catholic. Antonin Scalia, he claimed, had sponsored his conversion, a perfect Washington detail — and one that a
When doctors pleaded with him to eat, Muth told them that he was following orders from the Archangel Gabriel. They needn't worry about his ability to survive, he said. He later compared himself to a camel and then to Jesus. By early February, the Department of Corrections transferred him to the United Medical Center, which had greater capacity to deal with his extreme dehydration and starvation, although doctors now regarded his condition as "extremely grave."
Then, just as it seemed the government would have to forcibly feed him, he resumed eating. The next day, according to court testimony, his doctor, a squat, balding man named Nader Marzban, paid him a 6 a.m. visit. As Marzban entered the room, Muth bellowed, "I want to jump up and shake you, because I'm not sure you're real." The doctor calmed Muth with a touch of his hand. "You know me," he said. As Muth became less frantic, he told Marzban that he was a general in the Iraqi Army, recruited by the prime minister to help build a dictatorship.
The psychiatrists who studied Muth for months wavered in their opinion of their subject. Some evidence suggested mental illness; other signs hinted that he might be feigning his condition. At the end of April, the doctors concluded that while Muth might eventually recover his mental health, he was for the time being unfit for trial.
Marzban had difficulty talking about his patient in such cold terms. When he described Muth, his voice carried both the anxiety and compassion he felt for his patient. In the hospital, he pleaded with Muth to restrain his self-destructive impulses, and he pressed him to mount a more serious defense in court, even if professional ethics should have probably dictated that Marzban steer clear of discussing the case.
"If they convict you, you're going to be in jail for years," he pleaded.
"God will take care of that," Muth replied. "I don't need to worry about it."Continue reading the main story


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As part of Queen's University Belfast's (QUB) School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, ECIT undertakes much more ambitious, real-world, "mission and team orientated" research than is usual in a more conventional university educational environment.
Queen's University is among the top universities in the UK in both research and teaching. As a result, the School currently attracts staff and students from over 70 countries worldwide. QUB is one of the most exceptional universities in the UK; it is a member of the Russell Group, a select band of the top 20 research intensive academic institutions, which includes universities such as Oxford and Cambridge. As the 9th oldest university in the UK, Queen's is rich with heritage. The University's proud academic tradition stretches back over 160 years and today Queen's influence far transcends its geographical location.
An important role of ECIT is to work with companies, share longer-term industrial and technology road-maps and to engage in "over-the-horizon" research in selected areas demonstrating strong market potential that are aligned with its internationally leading expertise.
You can find out more about our education programmes here:


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Jason Aldine Williams (born February 28, 1977 in Macon, Georgia) is an American country music singer, known professionally as Jason Aldean.
Aldean's first single, "Hicktown," was released in early 2005. It served as the lead-off to his debut album "Jason Aldean," and reached a peak of #10 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. The album also produced his first #1 country hit in "Why," as well as the #4 peaking "Amarillo Sky" which earned a 2006 ACM nomination for song of the year and video of the year. Aldean earned the title of Top New Male Vocalist at the 2006 Academy of Country Music Awards. "Jason Aldean" was certified platinum by the RIAA in 2007.
Aldean spent most of January 2007 in the studio with producer Michael Knox to finish his second album, "Relentless" which was released in May 2007. "Relentless" has been certified gold by the RIAA.
Aldean released a single titled "She's Country" in December 2008. It was the first single from his third album "Wide Open" which was released in April 2009. The single peaked at #1 on the Hot Country Songs chart. His seventh consecutive Top 40 hit on the country charts, it is also his first Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart, peaking at #29. The next single, "Big Green Tractor," became Aldean's third #1 country hit. "Wide Open" debuted at #2 on the Top Country Albums chart. "The Truth" became the album's third consecutive #1 country hit in January 2010.
Aldean released a new single in August 2010, "My Kinda Party," which became Aldean's tenth Top 10 country hit, peaking at #2. The second single was "Don't You Wanna Stay," a duet with pop singer Kelly Clarkson, which became Aldean's fifth #1 hit on the Hot Country Songs chart.
The album, "My Kinda Party," peaked at #2 on the U.S. Billboard 200 Albums chart, and #1 on the Top Country Albums chart.
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Up next for Denver: Based on the wild card games the Broncos would likely prefer to face anyone but the Colts who beat them behind in Indianapolis two months ago. The Broncos swept the Chiefs this season, and split with the Chargers. If the Bengals win the Broncos cannot face Cincinnati since they are the third seed in the playoffs. The interesting matchup for Denver could be San Diego. The Broncos lost at home to the Chargers two weeks ago behind a big defensive performance for the Chargers. San Diego did the best job of slowing down the Broncos offense of any team Denver faced this season. If San Diego can manage to defeat the Bengals they'll travel to Denver. If Cincinnati beats the Chargers the Broncos are guaranteed to play either the Colts or Chiefs. By: Chris Cabrera
Tag Archives: Cinncinnati Bengals
Chargers Pull Off Miracle Against Chiefs
The Chargers pull the upset behind a solid performance by Philip Rivers. The Chargers quarterback and running back Ryan Mathews lead a ball control offense that keeps the ball out of the hands of Bengals star receiver AJ Green. 24-23 Bengals.
Learn about the Chargers new stadium in Inglewood California.
2012-2013 preview for Oakland Raiders
The Oakland Raiders will be a different organization beginning with the 2012 NFL season. With the passing of legendary Raider icon Al Davis, the unwavering face of the Oakland franchise since 1963, the 2012 Raiders must now fashion a new identity beyond what Al Davis had formed. The first step of that new identity began when the Raiders traded for quarterback Carson Palmer from the Cincinnati Bengals during the middle of the season last year. The Raiders ended up with a record of 8-8, resulting in a three way tie for first place among the Denver Broncos and the San Diego Chargers, barely missing the playoffs due to tie breakers. With a tragic and tumultuous season behind them, what will the brand new Raiders look like in 2012 and beyond?
With a new beginning supporting them, the Oakland Raiders hired new general manager Reggie McKenzie during this past offseason and in return, McKenzie hired on Dennis Allen to fill the head coaching void left over by Hue Jackson. Also, new offensive coordinator Gregg Knapp has begun to implement a new offense to help supplement both Carson Palmer and Darren McFadden.
Carson Palmer was in an intense deadlock between himself and the Cincinnati Bengals around this same time last year with Palmer demanding to be traded or else he was going to "retire" from football. About half way through the season, Raiders quarterback Jason Campbell went down with a season ending injury and the Raiders made the trade for Palmer. With an entire offseason and a new offensive coordinator, Palmer looks to regain his prolific passing and playmaking ability. Palmer will have some promising young wide outs in Denarius Moore and Jacoby Ford. Both these wide receivers will look to take over the passing game in the wake of departed Louis Murphy and Kevin Boss. Darren McFadden was on pace to lead the league in rushing until he was injured and sidelined for the remainder of the season. Both McFadden and Palmer essentially have not played a regular NFL game together. With the mix of both McFadden and Palmer healthy and on the same page, the 2012 Raiders offense should be leaps and bounds better than last year.
Oakland's defense on the other hand is something that needs to be improved. The Raiders lost defensive players Kamerion Wimbley, Lito Sheppard, Stanford Routt, Jarvis Moss, Trevor Scott, John Henderson, Quentin Groves, and Darryl Blackstock this offseason. In response to this mass exodus of defensive players, the Raiders used four of its six draft picks selecting defensive players, none of them looking like an immediate impact player. Oakland did lock up All Pro safety Tyvon Branch to a multi-year deal securing the safety position for awhile. However, the remaining secondary looks to be a prime target for opposing offensive air attacks. Linebacker, Rolando McClain looks to take over the defense but off the field issues could ruin that notion. The one bright spot on the Raiders defense is its defensive line, anchored by defensive tackles Richard Seymour and Tommy Kelly.
The Raiders have gone through a transformation moving from a solid organization knowing exactly who they are and where they come from however a new chapter has begun with the passing of legendary icon Al Davis. With so many changes to the franchise and roster, it is hard to tell where the Raiders will end up when the 2012 season concludes. They play in the AFC's weakest division but the San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos have also made significant improvements this offseason however they have done it with fewer turnovers within their respective organizations. The Kansas City Chiefs have a solid team but were plagued with injuries last season. With so many variables and changes to the Raiders, the outlook for this season may not be as bright as the other three teams in its division when all is said and done.


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A California company announced Wednesday a recall of organic spinach sold across the country, including in Oregon, over fears of E. coli contamination.
Taylor Farms Retail, Inc., located in Salinas, said it is pulling baby spinach sold under the following labels: Central Market, Full Circle, Marketside, Simple Truth and Taylor Farms . The products were sold in states from Alaska to Tennessee to Pennsylvania. Only the Simple Truth brand was distributed in Oregon.
The company's short news release on the Food and Drug Administration website did not say what strain of E. coli was involved in the recall. E. coli O157:H7 is one of the deadliest foodborne pathogens, which can cause kidney failure and death. It also did not say where it was detected.
Packaged greens have sparked numerous outbreaks and recalls in recent years. When greens are mixed in the factory any contamination can spread.
Taylor Farms advised consumers with questions to call 855-293-9811.


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Page 10 of 11
The 20th and 21st Centuries- Rise of Fundamentalism, Evangelicalism, and Progressiveism
Albert Einstein - Before moving to religious movements of the last century, no discussion of science and religion would be complete without at least mentioning Albert Einstein (1879-1955). Einstein was born of Jewish parents, but was never a practicing Jew during his lifetime. Throughout his life Einstein believed in God, but not a god who intercedes into the daily physics of the universe. Einstein's great contribution was, of course, his ideas on relativity. These notions have had tremendous impact on the understanding of basic physics, and in fact upset many of the tenets set down by Newton. Einstein never liked quantum mechanics, yet his early work set the stage for the development of this branch of physics. At the quantum level strange random events occur, and "communication" takes place instantaneously across large distances. To the lay person, the quantum world remains shrouded in mystery. His work powerfully drove home the inadequacy of ancient religious understandings of science, and it forced religious believers to examine even more deeply their own god theology and their reconciliation between modern science and religion.
The Rise of Fundamentalism - In the 19th century there were two significant movements in Christianity that would be played out in the coming centuries - conservatism and liberalism. Liberalism in particular adopted many of the ideas from the philosophy of the times, and rejected the more orthodox teachings of Christianity. Finally, in the 20th century some Christians had had enough. They set out to formalize what it meant to be a Christian. Fundamentalism was born in the 1920s. Theologians at the conservative Princeton Theological Seminary played a role in this movement with their writings. In 1909, Lyman Steward, a businessman and Christian philanthropist, wrote a 12-volume series called The Fundamentals. This series of books became the foundation for the fundamentalist movement in the United States. Fundamentalists belong to all the major Christian denominations, and fundamentalism exists in all of the major religions today (especially troubling is the current Islamic fundamentalism and its beliefs regarding the lack of sanctity of human life). The fundamentalist belief often assumes the Bible is inerrant; hence, the fundamentalist cosmology follows that of the Iron and Bronze age understanding of the Bible. For example, fundamentalists may believe that the earth was formed as recently as 4,000 years ago. Evolution is rejected out of hand. The experimentation with stem cells is also another point of departure between many fundamentalists and scientists. There are many points of disagreement withscientific findings.
Evangelicalism is often confused with fundamentalism, although the two movements share some common characteristics. Evangelicalism is often characterized by Biblical inerrancy, and this causes conflicts between evangelicals and modern science.
Progressive Christianity is a relative new movement that can be considered to be a branch off of liberal Christianity of the 19th century. Progressive Christians have a metaphorical understanding of the Bible, and attempt to reconcile modern science with their Christian beliefs.
The Argument Over the Creation - Conservative and fundamentalist Christians reject the evolutionary and "big bang" stories of the history of the planet, and insist on adhering to the Biblical stories of the creation (there are two of them) in Genesis. "Creationism" is a word that has been coined to describe the process whereby God created the universe in 7 days. Scientists were content to let religious believers have the right to believe in creationism until they began in intercede in the schools and change the way science was taught to children. Scientists became alarmed and felt that this jeopardized the scientific future and competitiveness of the U.S. in the world economy. Thus, there have been bitter, vocal outbreaks between the two camps over the creation story. "Intelligent design" is another way to suggest that God interceded into the evolutionary process by laying out the design of life found in nature. Scientists reject this theory as well, and consider it a threat to an enlightened, modern understanding of biology, cosmology, and the other natural sciences. This battle still rages in the United States.
Video Clips
Dr. Joerg Rieger,
Our Fall of 2012 Lecture Speaker
Dr. Joerg Rieger on Anselm of Canterbury
Dr. Joerg Rieger, Perkins School of Theology, on Progressive Christianity
Rev. Robin Meyers,
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Oklahoma Minister Claims Jesus Is Not God
Robin Meyers on the Christian Right
Bishop John Shelby Spong,
Our Fall 2011 Lecture Speaker
Beyond Theism -- John Shelby Spong
The Call of Jesus -- John Shelby Spong
Michael Dowd and Connie Barlow
Our Spring 2013 Lecture Speakers
Michael Dowd - "Darwin Day Celebration" 2011, Omaha
Fred Plummer
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Product News Wednesday, June 5, 2019: Valve & Automation (Pty) Ltd
During the last year Arca has upgraded its production in Tönisvorst with two new iNTEGREX processing machines. The 5-axis-machining centre Mazak INTEGREX i-400 – SmoothX 1500U, as well as the Mazak QUICK TURN 250MY SmoothG 1000U have been set up in the machine hall and successfully been put into operation. In January the planing for the new processing island, on which already the Mazak INTEGREX e-670 II has been started. The trio of new machines are designed in such a way, that the machines can support each other in a wide range of processing options and ensure shorter processing and lead times, as well as optimized process workflows.
Equipment that previously would have been produced on several machines, can now be completed on only one machine. Six employees were sent to Mazak for training and have put their skills to practical use in operating the machines.
The CAD/CAM connectivity as well as the complete infrastructure are implemented in a way that the new machining philosophy is reflected optimally in our processes from modelling up to the finished workpiece. With the new processing machines ARCA has taken its digitalisation to the next level. To learn more go to https://valve.co.za/products/brand/arca/
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I've never been so proud to have been conceived on the land mass commonly known as Canada. According to the CBC Canadians are the fourth in the race to bring about climate change. Only Saudia Arabia, Kazakhstan and Australia are doing more. But I'm sure with Fearless Leader showing us the way and if we all pull together as a team I won't have to shovel in no time and we'll finally be able to discover that allusive northwest passage. So don't forget to warm up your car a good long time before you get in, it's the little things that count and add up to fun in the sun. It's all a big illusion to think we can fix it now so if we are all going to hell in a thermal heatwave we might as well enjoy the ride.
The Calgary police are investigating the comments of Tom Flanagan, who said that Julian Assange should be assassinated.
Suicide bombers killed fifty people in Pakistan attending a meeting to create a militia to fight the Taliban.
Enough news its all bad, off hand this is the only song a could think of that mentions snow that doesn't include elves,rain dear and such.
Can't have Little Feat with out Lowell and it's the perfect hot coco after shovelling song.
Some kind of Metaphor I think.
The lyrics or an abridged section I was going to put the whole song but I forgot how many lines there are so throw a stone to find a link.
"Throwing Stones"
Words by John Perry Barlow; music by Bob Weir
Picture a bright blue ball, just spinning, spinnin free,
Dizzy with eternity.
Paint it with a skin of sky,
Brush in some clouds and sea,
Call it home for you and me.
A peaceful place or so it looks from space,
A closer look reveals the human race.
Full of hope, full of grace
Is the human face,
But afraid we may lay our home to waste....
Commissars and pin-stripe bosses
Roll the dice.
Any way they fall,
Guess who gets to pay the price.
Money green or proletarian gray,
Selling guns 'stead of food today.
So the kids they dance
And shake their bones,
And the politicians throwin' stones,
Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down.
Ashes, ashes, all fall down.
Heartless powers try to tell us
What to think.
If the spirit's sleeping,
Then the flesh is ink
History's page will thus be carved in stone.
And we are here, and we are on our own....
Good News Canada Fourth Best At Bringing About Climate Change
by Clifton Hanger / Tuesday, December 7, 2010 / Posted in Canada, Climate Change, Grateful Dead


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From the moment she received her Miss USA crown, Rima Fakih has been embroiled in controversies.
She initially grabbed headlines in 2010 when she became one of the only, if not the first, Arab American and Muslim to win the Miss USA crown. Hailing from Michigan since 2003, Fakih is a Lebanese immigrant who moved here when she was a baby and celebrates both Muslim and Christian faiths.
But despite the feel-good nature of her 2010 win, Fakih got caught up in scandal after scandal -- including a new one just last night.
TMZ reports that the beauty queen was arrested in Highland Park, Michigan on Saturday for suspicion of drunk driving. Fakih tried to deny the incident initially, tweeting on Saturday, "Let's clear things up now.... I'm NOT in Michigan and I'm NOT in jail! Wrong Fakih."
But Doraid Elder, her attorney, told the Detroit Free Press, "Unfortunately she was." The tweet has since disappeared and Elder commented that Fakih is "very saddened and very apologetic for the situation that she is in right now."
We should say so, given the trouble she's gotten in before. Just the day after winning the Miss USA title, Rima was exposed as a former pole dancer by radio show MojoInTheMorning.com, which posted photos of the pageant winner participating in the "Stripper 101" contest at a Detroit gentlemen's club three years earlier. She later came under fire for some late-night partying, which doesn't seem like a big deal to us but had some critics wagging their fingers.
Now she's actually gotten into trouble with the law. But her lawyer tells the Detroit Free Press that the arrest was based merely on "allegations." Further investigation by the Highland Park police will happen tomorrow.
In the meantime, take a look at the pure, unblemished moment in time when Rima Fakih won her Miss USA crown.


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London overtakes New York as Norway's wealth fund top unlisted real estate destination
OSLO, March 13 (Reuters) - London has overtaken New York as the top destination for the Norwegian wealth fund's unlisted real estate investments, a fund report showed on Tuesday.
The $1 trillion fund is focusing on investing in ten locations, which it considers to be global cities that are expected to grow in terms of numbers, employment and trade.
London, New York and Paris accounted for 22.8 percent, 21.5 percent and 19.1 percent of the fund's unlisted property investments in 2017.
In 2016, New York was first, followed by London and Paris, accounting for 19.2 percent, 17 percent and 13.1 percent, of these investments respectively.
The fund's unlisted real estate investments corresponded to 2.6 percent of overal assets at end-2017. Its target is to invest up to 7 percent of its value in such properties over time.
The fund is a co-owner of London's Regent Street and properties on the Champs-Elysees in Paris and Hudson Square in New York. It funnels the revenues from Norway's oil and gas production, investing in stocks, bonds and real estate.
The fund made its first unlisted real estate investment in Asia, in Tokyo in December, and has eyed investing in Singapore, although it has yet to make a purchase in the city-state.
The fund invested 15 billion Norwegian crowns ($1.94 billion) in unlisted real estate in 2017, taking its total holdings to 219 billion crowns.
($1 = 7.7513 Norwegian crowns) (Reporting by Gwladys Fouche, editing by Terje Solsvik)
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A valuable differentiator for retail centers: With the power to drive repeat business.
In today's highly competitive environment, owners/developers of retail shopping centers are continually searching for brand-differentiating opportunities to attract shoppers. With Park Assist®, advanced parking guidance technology is an economical way to elevate the guest experience, heighten brand image across a portfolio of properties, and capture powerful data to measure and maximize retail activity.
An invaluable window into parking behaviors:
For better usage, planning and maintenance.
The ease in which parkers can find a space upon arrival, and find their vehicles upon return, is just the first advantage of the camera based Park Assist smart-sensor system for parking guidance.
Empowered by our integrated License Plate Recognition (LPR) technology, the multifaceted Park Assist platform tracks a wealth of data – across multiple sites – on unique vehicle visits, parking usage patterns, evolving visit-frequency trends and more. Through the core business intelligence of our proprietary Park Assist Software Suite™, facility managers can access a diverse set of interactive and incisive reports to increase efficiency, streamline expenses, aid marketing/promotional efforts, and improve decision-making across the board.
The ability to reward customer loyalty.
While guarding against parking abuse.
Since every vehicle that parks in a Park Assist monitored facility is identified through LPR, the core system keeps track of exactly who's using your garage, how often and when. This enables our Park Alerts™ software extension to automatically recognize and reward repeat visitors – for instance, by granting them access to VIP parking areas reserved for loyal customers.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Park Alerts can be also used to detect and monitor parking abuse. Automated notifications can help prevent non-customers from a nearby transit station from continually accessing your free parking. They can also quickly detect known threat vehicles, to enable quick response by security teams.
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'Kate Plus 8' Looks Like A 10! Here's How To Get Her Rockin' Bikini Body!
Two celebrity trainers reveal how Kate Gosselin got her fantastic abs and svelte new shape!
Kate Gosselin's bodyguard, Steve Neild, isn't the only thing she brought along on her Mexican vacation! The 35-year-old mom of eight showed off her red-hot bikini bod Sept. 13 – and we are totally envious of her figure! So now, of course, we're going to get it thanks to two celebrity trainers, who tell HollywoodLife.com how to get slimmed down and toned up in time to say, 'Ole!"
"Judging by her symmetrical lines, she most likely does interval training where she mixes high intensity sprints on an elliptical or versa climber," Andrew FitzGerald, co-founder and performance Specialist for E3Sports, tells HollywoodLife.com, adding that Kate is also combining her hard-core cardio "with full body strength training emphasizing core strength as well full body movements with external resistance."
And yeah, we know Kate's had some work done – but that isn't all she's doing to retain her slimline look. "A tummy tuck can help with a flat stomach," FitzGerald says, "but a program design focusing on work capacity (cardiovascular fitness), compound exercises mixing upper and lower body parts, and regeneration work such as stretching or foam rolling can eliminate unwanted cellulite on the legs and but and create an overall toned appearance quickly!"
Still, looking good isn't all about exercise, so don't expect to see Kate tossing back the tequila during her Mexican romp. "She's either a naturally thin person, or she's on a pretty good eating program," Howie Skora, the senior fitness manager of Gold's Gym in Venice, Calif. tells us. "[Kate's] face looks good – it doesn't look like she's drinking alcohol." Skora explains that calories from excessive drinking show up in the face first, and drinking "makes it harder to build muscle because you can't process sugar properly."
Kate is totally killing it with her complete body makeover. If she isn't dating her bodyguard, she should have a new man in no time!
Don't trust us? The experts agree. As FitzGerald says, "Kate Plus 8? Looks like a 10 to me!"
–Russ Weakland and Anna Dimond
- EXCLUSIVE! Read About Kate Gosselin's 7 Trips With Her Bodyguard & How She Lied to Jon!
- 'Teen Mom' Amber is The New Kate Gosselin – She Treats Fiance Gary As Badly As Kate Treats Jon!
- We Wanna Know: Kate Gosselin, Why Are You On a Solo Vacation With Your Bodyguard Right After Dissing Jon?
- Bonnie Says: Kate Gosselin: Dissing Jon on Reigs & Kelly was Selfish AND Hurtful to Your Kids!


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CoMeD Membership Drive
The Coalition for Mercury-free Drugs (CoMeD) is a 501(C)(3) not-for-profit group. We are dedicated to reducing the mercury-exposure risks, for the unborn, infants, children, adolescents and adults, from all mercury-containing medical products to which they are, or may be, exposed. We support and, when we can, assist the efforts of all those who share any part of our mission, vision, or values.
Our mission is to reduce the level of mercury in all drugs, and end the knowing addition of mercury, in any form, to vaccines and other drugs.
We seek a world in which no mercury-based ingredient is knowingly added to any medicine, and the ingredients used in medicines have the lowest levels of mercury that the best practical technologies afford.
This page last updated April 2017.


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I skimmed the 1000+ articles from Joel on Software this month.
I want to recover things I should learn when I was in university.
Two years after graduation, and I am doing some web development, but really naive in software development.
Following is the list of books mentioned from Joel.
Obviously, he has a big concentration on Windows technology, Software Design and Management.
I mostly used Java and JavaScript now.
I try to finish books except on Windows programming, may do this later if have opportunity.
Hanging list:
A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction
C# Programming Language (Nov 2014)
Compliers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools
Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction
Critical Chain (Project Management Method:Theory of Constraints 19-Feb-2014) Dreaming in Code(2015-3-13 software is hard to complete) Design of Everyday Things (April-2014) Designing Web Usability (March-2014) Founders at Work (March-2015)
Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
Helplessness: On Depression, Development, and Death
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams
Rapid Development: Taming Wild Software Schedules
Speed Up Your Site
(I read Website Optimization: speed, search engine and conversion rate secrets instead. It is about SEO marketing (not my concern) and web performance speed up. For the later one, I prefer reading at Best Practices for Speeding Up Your Web Site. 26-Dec-2013)
The Non-Designer's Design Book
(Easy to read. Never think about design before coming to write a web app which needs a nice UI. 31-Dec-2013)
The Mythical Man-Month (Software Planning/Design/Management 18-Feb-2014) User Interface Design for Programmers (26 March 2015)
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Clear list:
About Face: The Essentials of User Interface Design
(Software Interaction Design, examples of MS vs Apple products)
A Random Walk Down Wall Street(Efficient Market Hypothesis, stocking trading is really really hard to profit consistently. Read some years ago.)
(For non-engineering reading, like an intro to principle of electronics and logic design, I skimmed.)
Don't Make Me Think
(UI design, read some months ago)
Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering
(Getting to know the process of software engineering)
How Would You Move Mount Fuji?
(Puzzles in company interview, especially Microsoft)
The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master(Advices of software engineering practice and management)
Plus: More Management Books…