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France is famous for its laidback lifestyle with hot sunny days, relaxing by the pool, dining alfresco and more importantly a place where families are truly welcomed.
This is what we aim for here at Domaine de Peyrecaty, a place where parents can relax & unwind, whilst the children have fun in a safe and happy environment.
"The perfect family holiday"
John, Lorraine & Sam, Isobel and Grace
Stress-free family holidays
We cater only to families and we love it! And so do most of our families as on average they holiday here 5 times and 85% of guests are returnees or booked via a recommendation. We don't advertise in lots of places as we like it families have confidence in us to book direct.
Exclusive, safe & relaxing
With 8-9 families a week we're small enough to know everyone but we're large enough for families to socialise together, if they want too.
Everything in one location
To make it easy for families to play, relax & socialise all our properties & facilities are together in one place here at Peyrecaty.
Activities for Kids
Here are some activities we do for little ones so parents can relax with a drink at the bar.
- Sunday – Home-made cakes
- Monday – Drawing & colouring
- Tuesday – Family Pizza and BBQ
- Thursday – Dressing up
- Friday – Film night
Something for Parents
- Saturday – Warm welcome to you
- Sunday – Complimentary Kir Royale
- Tuesday – Pizza & BBQ
- Thursday – Canoeing July & August
Pool temperature
Kids hate cold water so we've installed a state-of-the-art heater to ensure the pool stays a perfect 28˚everyday.
Useful Info
- All small photos go to a larger picture
- Every photo has been taken by us or our guests (thank you guests x)
- Wi-Fi is free
- Mobile phone reception is excellent
- We continually reinvest in our properties & facilities year-on-year
- We live here so we're around if you need us, if you don't we'll stay in the background


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Revitalize the brand of AWO – Upper Bavaria with a fresh new look for the child and adolescent sectors (day nurseries, play schools, family centers) and develop a more targeted brand and communications strategy to raise AWO's brand recognition, acceptance, and visibility among the target audience.
AWO – Upper Bavaria became a pro bono customer in August 2008. In December 2008, AWO approached us with a complex task: Creating a "younger," more modern brand image for AWO's activities in the child and adolescent segments.
At the same time, AWO started broadening their activities in these segments, based on their expansion of childcare offerings. Communication materials created in line with AWO's new brand positioning supported AWO's high-level efforts, e.g. negotiations with external business partners (municipalities, parents, etc.), and internal communications. Keeping in mind all these factors and communication channels, we had to present the AWO BV OBB brand in the child and youth care segments accordingly.
The new strategy was implemented in a wide range of internal and external communication materials for AWO – Upper Bavaria.
The Framework Concept for Children's Day Care Facilities image brochure was officially introduced at an expert symposium on AWO's children's day care facilities April 2009. It was embraced with great enthusiasm by the staff.
The new image brochure helped AWO win new sponsorship contracts.
We created an AWO mailing campaign for World Children's Day in September, which AWO used to present itself to communities in Upper Bavaria. While conceptualizing the new brand strategy, we conducted additional interviews and workshops with AWO's upper management and employees in youth services. These interviews represented the new strategy's starting point and were supplemented by extensive analysis of target demographics and AWO's competition in this segment.
The first public implementation of the "new look" for AWO – Upper Bavaria's youth offering came with the release of the revamped brochure Framework Concept for Children's Day Care Facilities. This image brochure was reworked editorially as well as graphically to match the new brand strategy. Threeview then created a mailing to accompany AWO's new brochure, used to apply for sponsorship of facilities across Upper Bavaria.
Targeted marketing and communications materials and dialog marketing measures
"I was impressed by how quickly Threeview responded to our request and was able to bring these results within such a tight schedule"
Project: AWO Rebranding
Industry: Civic & Social Organization
Expertise: Brand Development, Web Development, Storytelling

subset: commoncrawl


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|Country Of origin:
Founded in 1996 by bassist Vilo Gutray and brothers Igor, Roman, and Ivan Timko, No Name began their run as a four-piece songwriting outfit from a set of students in the Kosice Conservatory. After a small-scale start with festival performances, the group entered and won a contest of original Slovak pop music, catapulting No Name as representatives of the nation at the regional Bratislavka Lyra festival and gaining recognition in the process. Despite their sudden success, or due to it perhaps, No Name became a frequent target of critics due to their seemingly easy ride to the top, built on pop and cover songs. In response to this criticism, the band went into hiding and redeveloped its sound (also adding keyboardist Zoli Sallai), returning in 2000 with Pockam Zi Na Zazrak and winning the praise of critics as well as all major categories (Best Song, Best Album, Best Band, Best Production) in the Slovakian equivalent of the Grammys. The band soon branched into the nearby Czech Republic to great acclaim, adding brother Dusan Timko on second guitar and beginning a massive touring push. The album Cim To Je gave a nod to their newfound Czech success, recorded in Prague and with most release events in the Czech Republic as well. In 2007, the group released V Rovnovahe, returning to the charts in both countries. ~ Adam Greenberg~ Rovi


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Scientists have developed a quick and accurate hearing screening that can be taken over a telephone, and for the month of May, the test is free. To take the test, call 1-866-223-7575 and follow the directions. The process takes about 10 minutes.
The National Hearing Test, which regularly costs $8, was developed by researchers with Communication Disorders Technology, Inc.; Indiana University and VU Medical Center of Amsterdam with a government grant.
The goal is to provide tens of millions of hearing-impaired adults in the U.S. with a valid test that is convenient and affordable. If hearing loss is caught early, steps can be taken to keep it from worsening, experts say.
Using a telephone plugged into a wall-mounted jack (not a cell phone), callers listen to a series of three-digit numbers with noise in the background. When the caller enters the numbers correctly, the next set is presented at a more difficult level to hear. Those who fail are advised to seek a full evaluation with an audiologist.
To learn more, go to nationalhearingtest.org.


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SLAC Launches PPA Scientific Computing Applications Department
Last Thursday, nearly two dozen new members of the Particle Physics and Astrophysics Scientific Computing Applications department gathered in Building 84 to celebrate the launch of their new department.
"SLAC has very strong scientific computing capabilities," said David MacFarlane, director of SLAC's Particle Physics and Astrophysics directorate. "By merging the HEP computing applications capabilities within PPA and those that were administratively housed in the computing division, we have created a professional center that will enhance our ability to support both anticipated new HEP projects and eventually photon science experiments with their upcoming data management tasks."
Previously, much of the scientific computing expertise in PPA was spread across many groups, including the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, the BaBar collaboration, GEANT4 and ATLAS. The new department brings scientific computing experts together in one department, where they can share ideas and provide leadership and support for projects that require complex data analysis applications.
"SLAC has quite a lot of talent on various large projects; the idea of the PPA Scientific Computing Applications department is to consolidate this expertise," said PPA Scientific Computing Applications department head Richard Dubois. "As SLAC replaces its large PPA projects with many smaller ones, the department will proactively approach the smaller projects and reuse a lot of the existing expertise and technology. That way we're not reinventing the wheel each time. The department also provides a communications path to the Computing Division and scientific computing efforts in other science directorates."
Although the new department will focus on PPA projects, it won't be limited to PPA applications. For example, Dubois said it is likely that the department can help with detector simulation for the Linac Coherent Light Source, building on experience from the generic linear collider detector R&D work. "We're always looking for more opportunities to collaborate, not just within PPA but also within all of SLAC—and beyond," said Technical Coordinator Tony Johnson. "We hope people working on existing projects or thinking about new experiments will come talk to us. And we hope they will come early in their projects, so we can bring our expertise to their project early on."
Dubois said this is an area he looks forward to expanding at the lab. "It can be very useful for those running new projects to hear that there are scientific computing potholes you can step into, this is how other experiments have avoided doing that, and this is the standard practice in the field. After discussing that, we can move on and consider the project's special needs."
Members of the new department are currently spread out in offices across the lab; in the coming months, as SLAC reorganizes office space, the department will begin to co-locate.
"As we start this new department, we also want to make sure that we don't break anything," said deputy department head Anders Borgland. "So we're taking it one step at a time."
—Kelen Tuttle


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Book this 7 night Europe River Cruise Holiday for a totally different experience of Europe. Hop onboard an Avalon River Cruise vessel and embark on an adventure of a different kind. Visit and explore some of the best hidden jewels of Europe as you cruise along the Rhine River.
Each day springs a new destination and a new experience – canal cruise in Amsterdam, Guided walks in Cologne and guided sightseeing tours in Koblenz, Mainz, Strasbourg. Cruise through the Rhine Gorge, past legendary sights and landmarks of Rhineland; visit Siegfried's Mechanical Musical Instrument Museum in Rüdesheim and explore the Heidelberg Castle with a guide!
Accommodations in an outside Stateroom onboard the cruise vessel, welcome and farewell dinners with sparkling wine, daily breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner – all combine to make your Europe River Cruise more as hassle-free as you would expect.
Day to Day Itinerary:
Your 7 Nights Europe River Cruise Holiday begins with your arrival in Amsterdam. Guests arriving early in the morning have the option of signing up for an excursion to Zaanse Schans to marvel at its traditional houses and Dutch craft workshops.
In the afternoon, head to the port to board the vessel that will be your home for the duration of your Europe River Cruise. Meet the crew at an evening welcome reception and enjoy a Welcome Dinner before retiring for the night at your respective cabins.
Dinner is included in the package cost for today.
Guests must be on board ship by 5:00pm.
Overnight on board the cruise vessel.
We will be staying docked at Amsterdam for this day. After breakfast, set out to explore Amsterdam by canal boat; cruise through the elegant grachten lined with stately homes dating back to Amsterdam's "Golden Age."
You are at leisure in the afternoon to pursue activities of your own interest; you can enjoy an optional biking tour (weather permitting), continue to explore Amsterdam or simply return to the cruise vessel for some rest and relaxation.
Return in time to the cruise vessel, for now, we will set sail from Amsterdam towards our next stop on this Europe River Cruise – Germany.
Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner are included in the package cost for today.
Overnight on board the cruise vessel.
When you wake up today, you will find yourself well on your way to Cologne; the vessel is scheduled to arrive at the port in the afternoon. Until then, breakfast and enjoy the leisure time watching the sights sail past.
Once at Cologne, set out to explore this grand city that straddles both sides of the river. Guests can choose between two shore excursions – a Guided Walking Tour of Cologne or a Jewish Heritage Walk. Be sure to try a Kölsch pale lager, locally brewed in Cologne for over a hundred years!
Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner are included in the package cost for today.
Overnight on board the cruise vessel.
Wake up to a new day and a new city – Koblenz, the cultural and business center of the Middle Rhine region in Germany. After breakfast, alight from the cruise vessel and embark on a Guided Walking Tour of Koblenz. Later, return to the cruise vessel and set sail once more; this time, we sail past a dramatic shoreline, one that is dotted with ancient castles, the legendary rock of the Lorelei and many more landmarks.
On arrival at Rüdesheim, dock-in and set out to visit Siegfried's Mechanical Musical Instrument Museum to see and hear a large collection of self-playing calliopes and music boxes from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. Enjoy a Special Treat before returning to your ship for dinner.
Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner are included in the package cost for today.
Overnight on board the cruise vessel.
As dawn breaks, wake up and get ready to explore another new city of Europe. The cruise vessel docks at Mainz today. Enjoy a Guided Walking Tour of Mainz Old Town and visit the Carnival Fountain, a fountain with over 200 figurines on it. Later, we visit the captivating Gutenberg Museu, a museum dedicated to the father of modern printing in Europe – Johannes Gutenberg.
After a stop for lunch, we proceed to Heidelberg, home to the oldest university in Germany. Enjoy a Guided Sightseeing Tour of Heidelberg; attractions that we visit include the Heidelberg Castle Ruins and the Great Vat (Huge Wine Vat) within the castle. At nearly 23 feet high and 28 feet wide, the cask holds over 58,000 gallons of wine and has a dance floor built on top of it!
Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner are included in the package cost for today.
Overnight on board the cruise vessel.
Today, our Europe river cruise wakes us in France, in a delightful city on the borders of France and Germany, to be exact. The city is Strasbourg, which blends to its advantage the culture of both countries and is renowned for its lovely architecture.
Embark on a Guided Sightseeing Tour of Strasbourg and visit important landmarks such as the monumental red-sandstone Gothic Cathedral with its ancient murals, stained-glass windows, and fascinating astronomical clock. We will also explore the La Petite France district, one of the most scenic parts of Strasbourg, renowned for its quaint half-timber architecture, inviting bistros and a waterfront promenade.
After the completion of the guided sightseeing tour of Strasbourg, return to the cruise vessel. Alternatively, one can sign-up for an optional excursion into the Alsace wine country . After dinner, enjoy a Woodcarving demonstration onboard.
Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner are included in the package cost for today.
Overnight on board the cruise vessel.
Wake to the gentle motion of the cruise vessel, freshen up and breakfast. Today, we are back in Germany, at Breisach, a small town located at the foot of the Kaiserstuhl Mountain, quite close to the famous Black Forest region of Germany.
Shore excursions for this day are optional; available excursions include a visit to a local woodcarver's workshop and a visit to the open-air Museum of Vogtsbauernhof.
Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner are included in the package cost for today.
Overnight on board the cruise vessel.
Today is the last day of your Europe river cruise; your cruise ends with breakfast and arrival in Basel, Switzerland.
Only Breakfast is included in the package cost for today.
Flights booked for onward journey or back home should not have a departure time prior to 11:00 AM.
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property description
Beautiful 4 bed, 3 bath, 2 story home perfectly located on a quiet, private cul-de-sac in Andalusia at Mirasol Country Club. Spacious Dorado model - light and airy. Master bedroom and study downstairs, large loft upstairs for extra living space. Relax on the private tropical patio with pool and views of the peaceful lake and lush signature Mirasol landscape. Kitchen has granite countertops. Tiled first floor living area, new carpet and freshly painted. Complete hurricane shutters and 2 car garage. Just minutes to first class shopping, restaurants and the Palm Beach Airport. *****Highly desired Sports Membership.*******


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1: JANUARY In January we explored the Children's Museum of Oak Ridge which became one of our favorites!
2: FEBRUARY was dedicated to selling Girl Scout cookies!!!
3: MARCH Happy Birthday 14th birthday Marc!!!!!
4: APRIL We had fun with scouting and Cleo joined a new troop. Marc went to an Asking Alexandria concert with some friends. The Perkins came to town and we had a BBQ with everyone! We also took a trip to Memphis and met Pops, Lenny, and Beth.
6: MAY Tigerlily had her Daisy Investiture and last day of school pool party. We took our first trip to Hannibal since we'd moved and Til had a dance recital!
8: JUNE We spent the night on the Smokie's Baseball Field with Til's girl scout troop, and then went camping in the Smoky's to see the lightning bugs. We also went to Parrot Mountain and Tony, Cleo, Medwin, and Angie went to the Father-Daughter dance.
10: JULY We spent a week in Terre Haute, IN to camp with the cousins. Pops and Doug also came down. Then we took Dixie with us for a trip to Chicago!!!
12: AUGUST Cleo and Marc took a plane to Florida and stayed there with Vanessa, James, and Dixie to finish their summer break. Then it was back to school! Marc's first year in high school, Cleo's Junior year, and Tigerlily's first grade year.
14: SEPTEMBER The first time we went to the Tennessee Valley Fair. Cleo, Marc, and Til loved to ride the rides!
15: OCTOBER Tigerlily had her 7th birthday at the Little Ponderosa Zoo, Trudie and Elwood stopped by to visit, Cleo got her first job at Life Down on the Farm Cornmaze, our Girl Scout troop made a scarecrow for Harvest Park, and Til had plenty of costumes for Halloween!
17: NOVEMBER We celebrated Cleo's 17th birthday party at Ober Gatlinburg and we went to Atlanta, GA to visit family and had delicious food for Thanksgiving
18: DECEMBER We had plenty of treats and tons of presents for Christmas! Marc got an electric piano, Til got her own bed, and Cleo got her own car!


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Ishvaku is enjoying his vacation at home and is immersed in Ashwatthama, the warrior from the Indian myth Mahabharata told by his mother every night. Lord Krishna curses Ashwatthama to meander the world for eternity for his thirst for revenge against the Pandava clan. But Ishvakus happiness does not last long. His mother is killed by bandits who attack the village and he is then sent to his mothers seemingly-timeless hometown in Chambal Valley, where three states meet: Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh.
Away from his father and with his mother dead, Ishvaku spends time alone. The sacred cow visits the town and foretells Ishvaku that wisdom and tragedy are about to come at the same time.
Singular Screens
The film programme for SIFA 2018, curated by the Asian Film Archive, features an international selection of exceptional new works celebrating independent voices across the world. From the adversity of fictive or real-life icons to the positions of the marginalised, the constellation of films hopes to respond to the general sentiment of the festival programming with ideas revolving around the notion of resistance and the experience of the individual.
Continuing the trend from past SIFA film programmes, this individualism can also be experienced and translated on screen through the singular visions embodied by the filmmakers. Valuing the ingenious and the risk-taking in cinema, Singular Screens hopes not only to be diverse in representation but bold in putting together its palette of cinematic adventures. Whether as illustrations of resilience, peculiarity or the extraordinary, the films and their characters will continue to project imagined futures and aspire for alternate possibilities amid larger circumstances.


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Podcast topics and timestamps:
3:45: How did perkz at AD carry happen?
12:40: What do you think will make a successful LEC?
29:02: What's the next step for the Counter-Strike team?
32:55: Why commit so hard to French CS?
38:05: What are the effects of having an inconsistent team on your brand?
42:35: How do you feel about your decision to get into R6?
45:30: Do you think there's an esports market correction coming?
Carlos "ocelote" Rodriguez is perhaps the most outspoken owner in esports. His team, G2 Esports, has, over the past few years, become one of the biggest in the industry, with successful teams in several major games.
But 2018 brought some surprises for the org. Their League of Legends team made a shocking roster move, while their French CS:GO squad had an uncharacteristically inconsistent year. Ocelote sat down with theScore esports Podcast to discuss those two teams, along with the future of the esports market and the growth of Rainbow Six Siege.
Find theScore esports podcast on iTunes.
G2 signing Fnatic's former mid-laner, Rasmus "Caps" Winther, was perhaps the most surprising move of the LoL offseason, particularly because it meant G2's own star mid-laner Luka "Perkz" Perkovic was making the move to the bot lane as the team's new AD carry.
But ocelote says it wasn't some sort of knee-jerk decision, and Perkz had been considering playing ADC for quite some time.
"We always toyed with the idea," he told theScore esports. "I had a podcast with Perkz and I asked him if he would ever play AD carry just randomly. And he said 'yeah I could see myself playing ADC.' We did have conversations about that. And at the end of the day you want to have the best possible team every year, so we agreed that this would only happen if an opportunity like this one arose.
"When we realized that Caps was potentially an opportunity for us, we saw everyone was trying to get Caps, and at some point we went 'why don't we get Caps?' Which is like the most unexpected thing, we thought really outside the box here, and I think it will pay off, hopefully. I can't be happier actually about the actual team we have."
ocelote noted that this is an extreme risk, going so far as to say the team will either finish in first or last place.
"I guess you can call this a super team, and super teams have historically failed miserably, in a lot of different games. But is this team a super team because of the mechanical skill of the players? Or is it a super-team because the players are just good all-around players? That's a question I'd like to make to people."
But while hopes are high for G2's LoL team, their CS:GO roster is in another place entirely. The team had an extremely poor showing in 2018, but ocelote said going forward, his personal expectations for the team are high. He and G2's management are fully calling the shots on the roster, something that, surprisingly, hasn't happened before.
"For the first time, we have control over the team, with which French teams, has historically been impossible," he said.
ocelote noted that some players, particularly those in the French scene, have developed relationships with each other over the years, and generally speaking, CS:GO players tend to take that into account when they form a roster.
"Players are great at playing and understanding how to win, but players are not great at salvaging a situation when things are going downhill," he said. "Players are not always great. Because players are always emotionally attached and tunnel-visioned into the game, and they develop friendships with other players. I'm just explaining an example. What happens when you have a friendship with another player, your tunnel-vision to your job, you may not realize that this player is the problem.
"And even if you realize that this player is a problem," he continued, "you don't have the pedigree to make a change there. There are players that can. But more often than not, you will find players make unreasonable decisions, or lack-thereof thanks to being too tunnel-visioned or having emotional attachment to other players."
ocelote also pointed out that this means he can finally extend possible new signings past the limited French talent pool, which would be a first for some of the best players from the notoriously insular region.
"I couldn't make an international team because I didn't have control of the team," he said. "But if I see an opportunity right now to make an international team, which means better access to talent by default while the players are mentally on board with it, why wouldn't we do that?"
Daniel Rosen is a news editor for theScore esports. You can follow him on Twitter.


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Dried plums may not sound like a super food, but recent research has shown that consuming this probiotic dried fruit could lower your risk of colon cancer. Also known as prunes, dried plums are not the most popular food. However, after looking at this research, you may want to include more in your diet.
Dried Plums Encourage Retention of Microbiota
The study in question was conducted by Dr. Nancy Turner from Texas A&M. She is a research professor in the nutrition and food science department. The heart of the research was that consuming dried plums helps to promote the retention of microbiota, also referred to as gut bacteria, which is found in the colon.
The presence of this healthy gut bacteria can lower the risk of colon cancer by fighting cancerous cells and preventing the growth of tumors. Microbiota is just one of more than a trillion types of bacteria found in the intestinal tract and only a little over 400 individual species of bacteria have been identified.
When disruptions of the microbiota occur, intestinal inflammation can recur. This recurrent inflammation can increase the risk of colon cancer.
Dried Plums Contain Phenolic Compounds
As part of the study, Dr. Turner examined the phenolic compounds found in dried plums. These compounds have a have a variety of health effects. They can act as antioxidants and neutralize free radicals. Free radicals are known to cause damage to DNA and increase the risk of cancer cells developing.
The study looked at the effects of phenolic compounds on rats. The rats were divided into two groups. One group was provided with a diet containing dried plums while the other group had a controlled diet without dried plums.
Both diets included the same total calorie count and macronutrient composition, to ensure that the only difference between the diets was the inclusion of dried plums. The researchers then examined the intestinal contents and tissues of the colon.
Dried Plums Increased Healthy Gut Bacteria
By examining the intestinal contents of the rats, the research team made two discoveries. First, they noticed that the rats with the dried plum diet had an increase in healthy gut bacteria and a decrease in unhealthy gut bacteria. The rats on the controlled diet experienced an opposite effect.
The rats on the dried plum diet also had a reduced occurrence of aberrant crypts when compared to the rats on the controlled diet. These aberrant crypts are often a strong indicator of an increased risk of cancer development.
By establishing more microbiota in the distal colon, researchers believe the rats that ate dried plums were less likely to develop colon cancer.
Final Thoughts on Dried Plums
The basic conclusion to the research conducted by Dr. Turner is that consuming dried plums can promote the retention of healthy microbiota. This is associated with a greatly reduced risk of developing colon cancer.
She is quick to note that further research is needed, to fully explore the impact of eating dried plums, but this another exciting development in anti-cancer research.


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179a Tottenham Court Road
179a Tottenham Court Road
Dolores believes in the osteopathic principle that the body has the ability to heal itself with the foundation to optimum health lying within removing the barriers to healing. Dolores' specialist areas include:
Dolores has experience working in a clinical environment and at sporting events even volunteering as a Sports Massage Therapist for Arthritis Research UK at the Virgin London Marathon.
In Dolores' spare time she enjoys living an active life and attends regular Pilates, Body Pump and Pedal X classes, furthering her interest in optimum body conditioning, endurance and core strengthening.
Dolores completed a four-year full time Degree course at the British College of Osteopathic Medicine (BCOM) graduating with a Masters in Osteopathy, Diploma in Osteopathy and a Diploma in Naturopathy.
The rigorous training Dolores undertook has led to the development of exceptional hands on manual therapy skills along with an extensive knowledge of anatomy and physiology. Dolores assesses human structures biomechanically which helps decipher the primary cause of pain or dysfunction.
£45 for 1 hour consultation
£30 for 30 minute treatment
If you have been diagnosed with or suspect you may have a pre-existing medical condition you should consult your GP for advice, diagnosis and treatment and always inform your health professional before starting any alternative or additional therapies, treatments or making any major changes in your diet or exercise programme.
|Home visits:
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BabyDamUSA first was a European model for a few years until they decided to expand to the USA this year! Of course with USA designs the BabyDam was not suitable for US households versus European households. Our metric system is totally different from any other countries. BabyDam is made from eco-friendly, unique, patent products that have been saving people money, energy, water and of course time! BabyDam is also BPA safe!
We got to test out the BabyDam and it is a real life saver! Its unique form fits in USA bathtubs that are 21″-26.5″ wide. Any other size and it won't work for the US models if the bathtub is smaller the European models would work for tubs less than 22″. BabyDam is made from a hard plastic material that is bendable and so far not breakable! It is super easy to install and take off! The BabyDam comes with handles that help make installing easier! An added bonus that I love is that BabyDam was unique enough to add some small rigidity pull handles that make for an easy un-suction dam! Just pull right up on one side and the suction comes right off! Now the BabyDam MUST be installed prior to filling up the bath tub or it won't work as suction cups can't suction to water of course. The BabyDam is a neutral gray/white color that will look stylish in any bath tub it is applied too!
My next favorite part of the BabyDam is that if you have more than one kiddo you can create a separate space for more kids to have their own shared tub! I can't wait to try that! The BabyDam can make the bathtub as small as you like or as big as you like, you can't go wrong! Sold separately is a newborn insert that we did not get to test out this time around, but there is no real information about it. It seems like such a great idea that I hope they will bring more information about it soon! BabyDam can also be stored in your shower by applying the suction cups to the wall and it will stick! (I have yet to try that out too.) I always have problems with suction cups but so far the BabyDam has not caused me any frustration! I am frustration free!! I wish they made this sooner and saved me some sanity!
I highly recommend the BabyDamUSA to parents to add to their baby registry list! Such a unique baby bath product and I want to share that with the world!! BabyDam can be purchased on their website and Amazon but they have a deal on their website that the BabyDam is only $44.99 and for a limited time they will throw in bath ducks! Because come on what kid does not love ducks! You can follow BabyDam on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter!


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The death of Margaret Thatcher, who was prime minister of the United Kingdom for the entire 1980s, marks not just the passing of a decade, but of an idea whose heyday was in that decade: modern conservatism.
Here in the U.S., Republicans controlled the White House from 1981 to 1993. In Illinois, Republican Jim Thompson was governor for every day of the '80s, and his party held the state senate as well. It's hard to believe now, but conservatism was a pretty hip ideology back then: Ronald Reagan beat Walter Mondale by 20 points among 18-29 year olds.
Those voters are still loyal to the Republican Party, but now they're 47-58 year olds. And Republicans have persisted in running campaigns as though Reagan's conservative principles, and his coalition of religious conservatives, rural whites, and urban white ethnics can still win an election. It barely worked for George W. Bush, and it didn't work at all for John McCain or Mitt Romney. Romney's voters were 91.5 percent white. As one of his campaign advisers admitted, "This is the last time anyone will try this." During the third presidential debate, President Obama mocked Romney for claiming Russia was the biggest geopolitical threat facing the United States.
"The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back," Obama said, mocking not only Romney, but his entire party.
Anti-communism was a big winner for the Republicans in the 1980s, and the party lost its dominance when it lost that issue, and along with it the ability to tar Democrats as unpatriotic and weak on defense. But out of nostalgia or stubbornness, the party has clung to a number of other positions far less popular now than they were then: opposition to abortion, opposition to gay marriage, trickle-down economics. Republicans have also clung to the notion that their party can be rescued by "the next Reagan," even though the times that made the first Reagan possible took place over a generation ago.
Speaking of generations, today's 18-29 year olds are just as devoted to Obama as their parents were to Reagan: he won 58 percent of their votes last year.
The next time you meet a conservative, ask if he still wears parachute pants, drinks wine coolers and listens to Ratt, and look behind his head for a little bleached-blond tail.


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The St. Cuthbert Gospel: Looking Pretty Good At 1,300
Submitted by Bibliofuture on April 20, 2012 - 10:52am
How much would you pay for a very rare book?
The British Library in London has just paid about $14 million to purchase Europe's oldest intact book, known as the St. Cuthbert Gospel. It's a copy of the Gospel of St. John, thought to have been produced in northeastern England sometime during the seventh century.


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Major Tim to ground control - happy birthday to my amazing wife
Major Tim Peake sent a birthday message to his wife from space on Chris Evans's Radio 2 breakfast show.
Peake described his wife, Rebecca, as the "most amazing person I know" and said she "is an incredible mum to our two boys, I love her to bits."
He ended telling Evans: "S he listens to your show so she'll be thrilled to hear this."
The British astronaut answered questions from Radio 2 listeners from aboard the International Space Station (ISS) during the show.
"Sometimes it feels pretty normal until you look out the window and you're reminded of what a unique situation it is and how bizarre it is to be up here watching the earth go by, and it goes by so quickly. We're doing 17 and a half thousand miles per hour," he told Evans.
One listener, Adam from Swindon, wanted to know what space smelt like, and said he would "like it to smell a bit like Swindon", which made Major Peake chuckle before explaining they only get to "smell space" when people come in from a space walk.
"We open up the airlock, we kind of all jump in and get the first smell of space and really, it almost smells like a metallic, burnt smell," he said. "I actually think it's off-gassing or ionisation from the excessive heat that comes from the sun when you're out on a space walk."
Asked by a listener named Jackie if he was now the "king of the power nap" he said he wished he could manage a power nap but was being kept busy.
"But I do sleep pretty well, I'm tired by the end of the day," he said.
Major Peake also revealed that Sunday was his day off, normally spent by "chilling" and watching movies, having meals with the rest of the crew and making phone calls to friends and family back on earth.
When quizzed about what he was going to miss the most when he came back to earth he said it would definitely be weightlessness.
"Because it is just so much fun being able to throw yourself around in all orientations, there's no up or down and you can move around pretty quickly and pretty efficiently," he said.
The quirkiest question came from a listener named Adam who asked: "With gravity not around, is there potential for the ageing process to be put on hold and if so, how are your wrinkles doing?"
Major Peake responded saying: "You know wrinkles, varicose veins, space is great for that kind of thing, it gets rid of them all, but actually in terms of the ageing process, we accelerate unfortunately, so we're probably ageing by quite a few years by being up here just for six months."
The 43-year-old from Chichester, West Sussex is the first British astronaut to carry out a space walk and is a few weeks into his six-month mission aboard the ISS, during which he will be carrying out experiments and research.
PA Media


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Holiday Shipping: Order with Two Day by 12pm EST on 12/20 or with Next Day by 12pm EST on 12/23 for delivery by 12/24.
From cozy cashmere sweaters to premium Italian denim, Luxury meets leisure in relaxed, easy pieces designed for off-duty days.
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text:
October 6, 2010 at 5:09 pm #1485
I have followed the documentation provided:
1. created posts with images of the correct dimensions.
2. assigned categories to the posts.
3. have enabled image resizing and can confirm GD is installed.
4. under levitation options the levitation slider is configured to use posts from the category.
however images are not displayed. looking at the source of the page reveals that no src url is being entered into the HTML.
Can you help?October 6, 2010 at 5:11 pm #35377
to be more specific, please see http://www.tecsupporthosting.com as an example of the problem.December 2, 2010 at 11:02 am #35378
Hi, any chance you could take a look at this issue please? I've followed the documentation to the letter without any success.
thanksDecember 3, 2010 at 11:32 am #35379
send me your login details to: (Email address hidden if logged out) – I'll look into it.December 7, 2010 at 10:31 pm #35380
Hi dude, login details sent to you earlier today. thanks!December 8, 2010 at 9:17 am #35381December 22, 2010 at 5:37 am #35382
I am having the same problem
Could you help? I am in a hurry to get this thing workingDecember 22, 2010 at 10:26 am #35383
you need to set the image path under "Levitation Options Panel" – located in your post/page editor under the text editor. You'll find a field called "Image for Slider/Portfolio Full Size" – just enter the image path there.September 9, 2012 at 4:11 pm #35384
Same issue… My images are showing up but the slider is not moving. I put "dummy" images in there. It will "slide" while in the Big Image Slider but not the Levitation Slider. Any thoughts?? Love the theme otherwise. The client specifically chose this them because of this slider and I want to deliver the product as requested….
Thanks for any help you can offer!
CBSeptember 9, 2012 at 10:12 pm #35385
Same issue I'm having cristmg, along with Cufon titles missing in IE9.September 10, 2012 at 12:47 pm #35386
I green flagged the other post since it was really about IE9. But I'll tag along in this thread since I'm having the same issue with the levitation slider.September 12, 2012 at 4:35 pm #35387
Hi cristmg,
Can we take a look at your site live?
Also make sure you have updated your theme to the most recent version available. You can download the theme from your Downloads on Themeforest and install it the same way you first installed the theme. Since this is a year old post, it may have already been fixed with an update (if its a bug or issue with the theme).
DevinOctober 2, 2012 at 4:01 am #35388
I just downloaded the theme 3 weeks ago, I'm sure that the updates were included in the download.October 3, 2012 at 4:46 pm #35389
Great! Can we take a look at your site live then? Without more details or being able to take a look a the issue live I'm not sure there is much we can do.
Also, is this Levitation HTML or WordPress?
The topic 'Levitation Slider images not being displayed.' is closed to new replies.


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I am in the process of house hunting, so I thought I'd show you some interior inspirations I find along the way.
(Source : Pinterest)
One can dream aye?
Along with this it is also my 21st next week.. ahhh! I still have many plans to make.
I will keep you updated and you should see some more posts soon.


text:
If you are not absolutely satisfied with your purchase, for any reason, let me know.I will promptly replace the item or give you a refund of its purchase price. It's that simple. How to Return an Item:
If you have found another item on our site that you would prefer over the one originally ordered, please return the original item and place a separate order for the new item. We will notify you via e-mail when the return has been processed.
If you have questions about your return, please contact us . Be sure to include the information in your packing slip in your correspondence.


text:
RTE axes repeat showing of the IFTA awards
RTE axed its plan to repeat the IFTAs awards ceremony after it was widely criticised.
The broadcaster pulled the plug on the planned second screening for last Sunday afternoon.
A spokesperson confirmed that the show won't be shown again on RTE.
Ratings for the awards plummeted by 200,000 compared to last year's show. It received an audience of just 382,000.
The broadcaster received 21 telephone calls and 50 emails complaining about the shoddy production values, clunky cutaways and over-written script.
But the broadcaster insisted that the decision was made to cut the repeat show because "it overran by 15 minutes" and it was hard to fit into the Sunday noon schedule.
Last year, IFTA received their highest-ever figures for the ceremony; an average of 591,800 people tuned in, with figures peaking at the 1.25 million mark.
Among the reasons blamed by IFTA for the poor sound quality were the acoustics in the main ballroom of the Double Tree by Hilton Hotel.
Some guests themselves took to Twitter to complain about the delay waiting for their meal. Publisher and presenter Norah Casey pointed out the lack of food for guests, saying: "OK if they don't feed people soon, I fear for Jamie Dornan. Lots of hungry gals here."
Online Editors


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Article by:
PH Rathkjen, Senior Global Technical Manager PRRS, Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health, Germany
A landmark anniversary in pig health occurs next year. In 2017, it will be 30 years since the first pigs in the United States suffered a previously unknown disease that we now call the porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome or PRRS.
After the arrival of PRRS as a clinical entity in US pigs in 1987, a similar syndrome emerged in Europe by 1990 and Asian countries started to see outbreaks about a year later. By 1995 the disease was generally considered to be endemic throughout pig-producing territories on three continents.
The past three decades have brought a series of milestones or key moments in the development of our knowledge about what causes the disease and how to control it. The battle against PRRS continues and it remains probably the most economically damaging pig disease at world level. The coming anniversary prompts us to reflect on those milestones and what we have learned regarding PRRS control strategies both in individual herds and in zones or regions.
1: Profiling the virus
The first milestone had already arrived in 1991, when separate studies by Dutch and US researchers identified the cause as a virus. Comparisons revealed that the European and North American isolates were genetically distinct. Later, it became common to refer to the European version as Type 1 and the North American genotype as Type 2.
While causing similar clinical symptoms, the genomes of these two genotypes diverged by 40%. Investigators learned too, that a greater genetic diversity existed within the Type 1 classification than in Type 2.
As a single-stranded RNA virus of the Arteri family, PRRSV can change its form constantly through mutation and recombination. What started 30 years ago as a relatively simple classification of two basic types now recognises a genetic diversity of forms that grows bigger every day.
Moreover, both genotypes are found internationally and not just in the continents where they were first identified. Type 2 also circulates predominantly in Asia and has been detected in European countries. A single sub-type of Type 1 has occurred in five countries outside Europe.
2: Tracking the genetics
Genotyping of porcine viruses has become invaluable in tracking changes in the PRRS evolution over time. The tests have shown that although some herds have a stable resident infection, in many other instances there is an ever-changing viral population in which newcomer forms of PRRSV establish themselves and become dominant or rapidly disappear.
Studies comparing early and late isolates have suggested a rate of divergence averaging as much as 0.5% per year.
Because of the variability the veterinarian may submit samples of virus from a farm for genetic identification (sequencing), which determines the gene sequences encoding a variable region of the specific viruses. Results from sequencing can help to answer major questions such as whether a PRRS-positive herd is under attack from a new variant and how an infection has moved through the production system. But sequencing cannot be used to determine which vaccine is more appropriate in each herd.
3: Developing protection
The outstanding milestone in PRRS control must be that vaccination quickly became available once the virus was characterised and the first modified live virus vaccine to be produced and approved --- Ingelvac PRRS MLV --- has continued to protect over 20 years later, despite the ever-changing nature of the PRRSV challenge.
This pioneering vaccine uses a modification of a live Type 2 seed virus to mimic the way in which a wild-virus infection triggers the pig's immune responses, but without causing disease. Over the years it has reliably provided effective protection against Type 2 wild infections wherever it is applied.
The vaccine was introduced in the USA in 1994 and is today marketed in 19 countries of Asia, Europe and North America. Since 2000 the main extension of the PRRS vaccines range has been the debut of products directed against the European Type 1 virus.
4: Protecting the whole herd
A shift in vaccination targets occurred around the mid-2000s. Before then the main application of vaccines was against reproductive losses in the breeding herd. But the realisation grew that it was not enough to control PRRS only in sows.
A whole-herd approach was needed, extending protection also to weaned and growing pigs.
Clinical signs in growing pigs may be less evident than in sows. With experience, however, came recognition that growing-finishing contains many more pigs and these harbour more virus that they can spread, so it represents a large reservoir of potential infection.
Giving a modified live virus vaccine to pigs at weaning was demonstrated to directly improve growth performance and also indirectly influence against possible transmission by reducing the shedding of virus.
5: Persisting threat
Another reason for recommending whole-herd vaccination is to avoid the formation of sub-populations of pigs that differ in their immune status. Where such sub-populations exist, they offer PRRSV a route to long-term survival in the herd by passing from infected carriers to susceptible pigs.
From 30 years of PRRS we have learned that the virus can persist for long periods, mainly in pigs' lymph nodes and tonsils, and that this poses a constant threat of transmission to unprotected animals or herds. The major problem confronting attempts at control is that carrier pigs are not easily detected.
Transmission by carrier pigs is one of the main explanations for the fact that infected herds rarely rid themselves of PRRSV without some form of intervention, particularly in large farms. The virus tends to circulate indefinitely in a breeding herd once it has become infected. Clinical outbreaks of PRRS then reappear periodically as the infection reaches a susceptible sub-population of gilts or sows.
6: Loading, closing and exposing
A major milestone has been the success of production systems in beating the circulation/re-infection cycle and therefore controlling PRRS by applying a procedure commonly called load, control and expose. Loading means that the herd brings in as many gilts as it can accommodate in order to meet breeding targets. Once loaded, it is closed temporarily to the entry of all new pigs.
As practised especially by American veterinarians, herd closure is followed by the deliberate exposure of the resident animals to PRRSV in order to increase the level of immunity across the pig population on the site. This exposure can be done in various ways, but the most widely used is by the mass vaccination of the animals using a modified live virus vaccine.
Possibly the most referenced of all veterinary research publications on PRRS in recent years has been an account from the USA of an extensive trial on 61 farms to investigate load-close-expose procedures for stabilising the PRRSV status of the breeding herd. Vaccination was compared with exposing the breeding herd using serum containing live virus.
Two metrics were used to assess the outcome of these exposure techniques. The first was the time until the herd had stabilised after an outbreak, defined as weaning PRRSV-negative weaned pigs in at least three consecutive months. As an alternative, the study also looked at the time that elapsed before a herd returned to its baseline level of productivity after experiencing an outbreak.
Achieving stability took 26 weeks on average with serum exposure and 33 weeks with vaccination, both methods showing large farm-to-farm variations. Only half of all farms were stabilised by 210 days and several others needed considerably longer, which is worth noting when planning the introduction of PRRSV-negative gilts into a previously infected herd.
But with the measurement of time to return to baseline, the study found that vaccinated herds recovered more quickly than those exposed by live-virus inoculation. The difference was marked --- just 12 weeks on average after receiving the modified live virus vaccine compared with 20 weeks after serum exposure. The gap in time was calculated to represent a gain through vaccination worth 1,443 pigs extra produced for every 1,000 sows.
7: Improving diagnosis
Diagnostic methods for PRRS control have undoubtedly improved over the years. At the start the Elisa assay for antibodies was usually the only option to test pigs. While widely available and rapid, Elisa is limited: it demonstrates exposure and not the actual presence of virus, the immune response varies from pig to pig and antibody counts do not always relate to the virulence of the isolate.
Also, a recent milestone has been the realisation that detecting antibodies through an Elisa assay after wild-virus infection does not correlate with protection. One of the special features of PRRSV is its ability to induce an unusual immune response in the pig and so evade the normal defence mechanisms. Infection leads to antibody production, but the antibodies generated 7-14 days post-infection play no protective role. Neutralizing antibodies are not induced until at least 21 days after infection and with some viral strains even these are not produced in significant quantities.
It indicates a demand for another form of test that can determine neutralizing antibodies and cellular immunity. The commercialisation of new tests currently under development may be the next milestone.
Direct viral detection is likely to be a better choice for a full diagnosis in persistently infected herds and that means the test method known as PCR. More expensive yet highly sensitive, it can detect PRRSV in a range of tissues. In addition to a conventional use on blood samples it has therefore been applied increasingly to oral fluids. In the USA, the use of oral fluid analysis has risen more than 10-fold since 2010 due to the easier sampling it involves.
A combination of these diagnostic tests may be used to determine a herd's status to PRRSV regarding exposure or the active circulation of virus in breeding animals. Typically this might start with testing sample groups of weaned pigs by PCR and adding a monthly Elisa check on sows. As a further refinement, some herds include a few Elisa checks in late finishing to verify a flow or check if groups of pigs had been exposed to the virus.
A combination of these diagnostic tests may be used to determine a herd's status to PRRSV regarding exposure or the active circulation of virus in breeding animals.
8: Analysing control options
The development of knowledge on PRRS has presented a range of choices for actions to control the disease. A systematic approach to options analysis developed over the past 10 years by Boehringer Ingelheim's technical team marks a further milestone by putting structure into the decision-making process.
Called the PRRS 5-Step Process, it begins with the necessity that goals must be agreed. Someone in an area of low pig density may even want to eliminate the virus, in other circumstances the aim could be to minimize the risk of transmission or to reduce the economic impact of infection felt by the farm.
With the target identified, Step 2 considers the information from diagnostics about the current status of the production chain. Step 3 talks about understanding current constraints such as from farm layout or location. Step 4 assesses the possible solutions to prevent infection, maximize immunity and reduce exposure. Finally, Step 5 implements the chosen path and monitors the outcomes.
Fundamental principles underpin the whole process. Firstly, that every farm is different and all control measures must be customized. Secondly, that control is not just a matter of vaccine application, there has to be a properly targeted vaccination programme backed by good biosecurity and diligent management.
9: Mapping epidemiological data
First in the USA and now in Europe, veterinarians fighting PRRS are finding internet assistance in locating disease data for their own area and nationally or globally. It comes from a web-based system developed at the University of California-Davis, USA, as the Disease Bioportal.
This portal offers layers of information on PRRS outbreaks locally and in regions, both for geographic location and for details such as the viral strains involved. Its value in describing epidemics and how they are spreading is particularly clear for those who want to try controlling the disease across multiple herds in a defined area.
10: Working together
Big improvements have been achieved in managing PRRS over the past 30 years, but the journey continues as global challenges remain massive. Co-ordinated herd control ensuring the full protection of all pigs in the population, including growing pigs, still is not widespread. On the other hand, the appeal of area control is increasing as pig farms and their advisers realise that PRRS is not something you can fight on your own.
Unless your farm is in a zone of low pig densiity, one of the main lessons from 30 years of PRRS is that you will have a hard time keeping out the infection without working with your neighbours and sharing information with them. It is a milestone moment whenever herd operators co-operate to fight the disease, because that is most definitely the way forward for long-term PRRS control.


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MUGAS reaches out to key scientists and pharmaceutical companies to set up review and analysis projects.
Laboratory experiments, theoretical research, teaching and tutoring, peer reviewing and writing scientific publications… scientific experts have a full and rewarding agenda. But what if they feel that research efforts in their field of expertise are fragmented, overlapping and underachieving? MUGAS offers them an independent platform to create cooperation, enhance data sharing and to detect and mend knowledge gaps. In this sense, MUGAS is a unique tool to make society profit from top-level scientific research.
Pharmaceutical companies too can turn to MUGAS with any question that requires an independent review and analysis of existing scientific research. They may, for example, wish to resolve scientific controversies surrounding specific medical products or to explore the scientific field in support of developing novel medicines, drugs or vaccines. MUGAS has installed the procedures, protocols and tools that are necessary to warrant an independent, high-level review and analysis.
- to resolve scientific controversies that confuse the scientific and public health debate
- to obtain a comprehensive view on the existing scientific research data in a specific field, including the actions needed to improve current knowledge
- to resolve possible misconceptions about the effectiveness of drugs and vaccines through an independent review and analysis of pooled effectiveness data
- to pave the way for the development of new medical products by pooling the existing data from different research groups and channeling research efforts to mend knowledge gaps
- to obtain an overall analysis of existing data and conclusions in a specific field
- to bring benefit to society by enhancing public health policy


text:
Is there a way to pass more data into a callback function in jQuery?
I have two functions and I want the callback to the
function clicked() {
var myDiv = $("#my-div");
// ERROR: Says data not defined
$.post("someurl.php",someData,doSomething(data, myDiv),"json");
// ERROR: Would pass in myDiv as curData (wrong)
$.post("someurl.php",someData,doSomething(data, myDiv),"json");
function doSomething(curData, curDiv) {
The solution is the binding of variables through closure.
I haven't used the .post function in jQuery, but a quick scan of the documentation suggests the call back should be a function pointer accepting the following:
function callBack(data, textStatus, jqXHR) {};
Therefore I think the solution is as follows:
var doSomething = function(extraStuff) {
return function(data, textStatus, jqXHR) {
// do something with extraStuff
var clicked = function() {
var extraStuff = {
myParam1: 'foo',
myParam2: 'bar'
}; // an object / whatever extra params you wish to pass.
$.post("someurl.php", someData, doSomething(extraStuff), "json");
What is happening?
In the last line,
doSomething(extraStuff) is invoked and the result of that invocation is a function pointer.
extraStuff is passed as an argument to
doSomething it is within scope of the
doSomething function.
extraStuff is referenced in the returned anonymous inner function of
doSomething it is bound by closure to the outer function's
extraStuff argument. This is true even after
doSomething has returned.
I haven't tested the above, but I've written very similar code in the last 24 hours and it works as I've described.
You can of course pass multiple variables instead of a single 'extraStuff' object depending on your personal preference/coding standards.


text:
It's been a heady few months. The updates to iWork '09 and iLife '09 have, for the most part, been as impressive and inspiring as we've come to expect from Apple (s aapl). I upgraded both suites the very second I could. I can't tell you how much I love these products.
Except…iWeb '09. (Liam looks to the ceiling, gathers his thoughts…tries not to get agitated.)
If you didn't already know, iWeb is a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) website authoring tool. It's an end-to-end solution that makes it supremely easy to create a complete, sort-of-professional-looking website from scratch. Only, I have some issues with it. Where to begin…
I should begin by explaining something: I'm not a "lite" user. I've been developing websites and web applications for over a decade, and I've become accustomed to the power and flexibility offered by the like of Adobe (s adbe) Dreamweaver and (yes) Microsoft (s msft) Expression Web. (Although, given the choice, I'd rather use Visual Studio 2008.) So I understand — I really do understand — that iWeb is not supposed to be competition for those other solutions. iWeb isn't really for me. Nor does it try to be. It's supposed to be something very simple, very easy to use. It's supposed to be intuitive and accessible. It's supposed to provide a seamless experience for anyone with even the tiniest bit of creative vision. And you know what — it does all the things it's supposed to do. It just doesn't do enough.
So, before I get agitated again, let's take a look at the new release and feel thankful for what it does do.
The interface hasn't change much, save for the introduction of a vertical panel along the right-hand side of the window, called the Media Browser. This gives easy one-click access to Audio, Photos and Movies on your Mac. Nothing the Media Inspector didn't do before, except for the final tab – Widgets.
Widgets make it quick and easy to add rich-media to web pages.
While the Gallery pages iWeb creates always have allowed users to hook-in to their .Mac or MobileMe galleries, this widget makes it possible to add a single, self-contained gallery-link to a page without the need to use iWeb's more cumbersome "My Albums" section to your site. What you get is similar to the Events view in iPhoto; a square panel that shows thumbnails of photos in your chosen MobileMe Gallery. When you pass your mouse over the panel, you get different thumbnails of the photos that lie within. Clicking will open a new page that loads the original MobileMe gallery.
Exactly what you'd expect. You paste a link to a chosen YouTube video into a popup dialogue box. It embeds the video on your page.
I really like this Widget. It doesn't move the earth, it does precisely what you'd expect, but it takes the hassle out of coding these things by hand. Drag this Widget onto your page and you are presented with a sheet asking for the address you want to display. You can set zoom level, and choose which user-controls are available (such as zoom controls or the Google Maps search bar).
Precisely what proportion of typical home-users are Google AdSense customers is an interesting question. I would hazard a guess it's really not so many. In which case, this seems like a tip of the hat at providing something useful to more advanced users. Except I cannot see iWeb being used as a tool-of-choice by sufficiently advanced users (and by that, I'm referring to anyone who wants to create a truly decent, individual website — but more on that later).
You could have done this before using PhotoBooth. Only now it's built-in to iWeb. This widget starts you iSight camera and allows you to take a photo for instant-inclusion in your web page.
Precisely the same as the iSight Photo option above. Only with movies.
I could see this being popular with websites announcing upcoming weddings and birthdays. In short — completely pointless and not exactly something the websphere was crying-out for. Still, it's something new. Enjoy selecting your birthdate for next year and watching it automagically work out the number of seconds between now and then. And count them down. (meh)
Finally! A truly useful widget that was not previously easily-done. Except there is a catch — it doesn't create an RSS feed from content in your page; it imports a feed from outside your site. If that's what you want to do, this is a nice and simple way of making that happen.
Ironically, this is the most powerful widget of the lot. It allows you to construct your own HTML and generate pretty much anything you want. Of course, Apple expects you to be doing nothing more advanced than adding someone else's banner, visitor tracking button or analytics script. If you want to embed anything more fancy than that – why on earth are you using iWeb?
Nothing to See Here…Move Along…
After the initial excitement with Widgets fades, you'll realize there's nothing else of any real added-value in this version of iWeb. There are only two new themes — "Leaf Print" and "Fine Line" — that would have been impressive in 1997. Today they look rubbish. Oh sure, they're tidy and simple. But they're not particularly exciting or fresh. Apple must know this — after all, they're never gonna publish websites using those themes, so I don't know why they imagine it's alright to foist them upon the rest of us.
There I go being a power user again. I'm sure Aunty Mavis would just love Leaf Print (rolls eyes).
Going to Press
The publishing options have been expanded somewhat. As well as the option to publish to MobileMe, you can also publish directly to a third party hosting service of your choice using the FTP connectivity new to iWeb '09. The process is simple.
Once you've entered and successfully tested your FTP login details, it's business as usual.
I Do Facebook, Too!
Since iPhoto '09 so nicely integrates with Facebook, it seems the iWeb developers felt they had to do something — anything — to get in on the action. Sounds interesting…what could they possibly do, though?
Imagine it — by hooking-in iWeb to a Facebook account, the possibilities are endless! You could scrape your Facebook Wall updates into your personal website, link your Facebook/iPhoto galleries with your iWeb site so changes in one propagate automagically to the others, synchronize your iWeb blog with Facebook's Notes, synchronize your Applications to publish their updates to your iWeb site, synchronize your Facebook Status Updates with your iWeb home page…actually, the more you think about it, the more exciting it becomes! The possibilities just go on and on.
Unfortunately, it seems iWeb's developers weren't thinking about any of these possibilities, because the Facebook integration we get in this upgrade amounts to nothing more than the following line, published to your Facebook Wall, whenever you make changes to your website.
And here start the problems I find in iWeb '09…
Crazy URLs
A perennial complaint (really — Google it — you'll find a lot of people complaining about this for years now). Whether you publish to MobileMe or your own web server, iWeb still insists on creating bonkers-crazy long URLs. And there's just no excuse for this, there really isn't. For example, my personal website is http://www.liamcassidy.co.uk and my iWeb website was originally named "liamcassidy.co.uk".
The effect this had on the final published site was a URL to a home page that looked like this:
I've since changed the site name to something shorter, but it's still utterly ridiculous that iWeb doesn't provide the option — just the option — to override this crazy URL structure/naming convention. Apple, I have a humble suggestion for you — not everyone wants to publish to MobileMe. Let your customers decide what's best for them, and don't make them suffer this laziness! A simple toggle in the Preferences ought to disable this kind of silliness so anyone more competent than Aunty Mavis will feel less embarrassed by the addresses iWeb spits out. This sort of thing is entirely avoidable. It's simply shocking Apple hasn't done anything about it.
Obsolete Themes
No one with any kind of appreciation for contemporary design, or accessibility concerns, is going to use the pre-built Themes that ship with iWeb. A very tiny select few look beautiful — but they're still lacking. iWeb '08 shipped with some nice new themes but, unfortunately, they dated quickly. The stingy two new additions in iWeb '09 are laughable.
Nasty Markup
OK, this is something only more experienced web developers will care about so I won't bang-on about it too much. It's worth mentioning because 1) other WYSIWYG editors manage far cleaner code, and 2) there's nothing semantic about this markup. There aren't even any helpful comments to guide the curious. The CSS markup is packed-to-bursting with redundant markup (example: "border-top: 0px", "border-right: 0px", "border-bottom: 0px"…you get the idea.)
Painful Publishing
It takes forever to publish pages. Whether you use MobileMe or your own FTP address, publishing a simple 6-page site can take five or more minutes. This is ridiculous, given that any other (free) FTP software can get your files published in much, much less time. Not the "…within moments…" promised by the happy voiceover in the iWeb tour video. Oh no.
The fastest way to publish your site is to not publish it at all — by selecting the confusingly-titled "Publish to Local Folder" option. This dumps all the relevant web pages and assets into a folder of your choosing on your hard drive. This takes seconds, but then it's up to you to get those files to a server somewhere.
As a sidenote, this may be the best way to overcome the problem with the crazy long-URL's. Publish the site to a local folder, then use another FTP solution to upload the files to your own web server. You'll have to mess around with links here and there to make sure the whole site works as planned, but at least you won't have to deal with six-mile-long web addresses.
Punishing Publishing
Oh yes, and just a final word on publishing. If you don't use MobileMe as your hosting platform, you can forget about your blog's comments working properly. And kiss goodbye to your blog's Search functionality. That's gonna go, too. Seems Apple really wants you to use MobileMe.
Tough Love
It might sound like I'm bashing iWeb, but if I am, it's only in the way a pushy parent might berate an under-achieving child for not doing as well as they could. iWeb could be, and should be, a far more powerful and impressive tool than it is today. I was expecting some interesting and exciting things with this upgrade — as it turns out, what I got wasn't worth the wait.
I know Apple is not trying to compete with other more professional web authoring solutions, but that doesn't excuse sheer laziness when it comes to upgrading this software. iWeb has the potential to be a killer-application. Seriously — plenty of professional web developers would be happy to use it if only it didn't suck so bad. And, in truth, there aren't so many fixes required, either.
Obviously, the Themes are a joke. Where Apple could shine here is build an iWeb Themes gallery, much the same as the Web Apps gallery that countless iPhone owners (myself included) practically lived-in until native applications could be installed on that device. Apple already features third-party developer software on its own website — why not showcase the best iWeb themes, too? Or, better still — why not create some really breathtaking themes worthy of that lugubrious (and indelible) credit, "Made on a Mac"?
As well as vastly-improved themes, add a long-needed fix to the crazy URL issue, CSS editing and the ability to fine-tune the (cleaner, semantic) HTML markup, and you have a web creation tool that is still simple and intuitive, yet doesn't try to compete with the big-kids already dominating the playground. If that means releasing a standalone "iWeb Pro" package that does for my websites what iWorks does for my documents, I'd gladly pony-up the cash.
In the end, "simple and easy" doesn't have to mean "crude and clunky." Apple proved that with Pages and Numbers in iWork. The updates to iPhoto and iMovie (evolutionary and revolutionary, respectively) are nothing short of breathtaking. In this company of Kings, though, iWeb is an embarrassing, backward cousin.


text: Seed Co is committed to enhancing the productivity of farmers. This is primarily achieved through the provision of quality seed of the best food crop varieties suited to each agro-ecological environment of Zimbabwe. However, the right crop variety and certified seed are only two parts of the farmer's strategy to be productive and profitable. Good Agronomic Practices (GAPs) plays a crucial role in achieving high and economically sustainable yields. A productive farmer has to combine variety choice, the environment with GAPs to be successful. This manual provides some basic information that will help farmers produce maize, soyabean, groundnuts, sorghum, cowpea and wheat efficiently, profitably and sustainably.


text:
Friday, July 30, 2010
9th Annual Lebowski Fest at the Executive Spare & Strike - 7/16/10 to 7/17/10
9th Annual Lebowski Fest
Featuring The Felice Brothers and The Seedy Seeds
Executive Spare & Strike Lawn
7/16/10 to 7/17/10
So me and a couple of my goofball friends loaded into the car and drove to Louisville for the 9th annual Lebowski Fest, celebrating all things "The Big Lebowski". It was bands, games, movie viewings, bowling, and what-have-you.For a slightly more detailed, photo-heavy review of this trip, just look at this here entry from the "Photo Journal" section of this magnificent website.
On the first night, after my partners-in-crime had preloaded for the event with so many White Russians that they each ingested a half-gallon of half and half (would that mean they each had a "quarter and quarter"?), we strolled over to the event and watched a little live music. I forget who the first band was because I was too busy looking at the merch table and marveling over the fact that there were actually good looking girls at the event, but they were some rootsy/folky affair that neither impressed or irritated me. There was probably a banjo involved, or at least there should have been.
But then the headliners of the Fest, The Felice Brothers, came out and entertained the masses with their American rock that is pretty damn reminiscent of when the Band and Bob Dylan joined forces. Their records are decidedly mellow affairs for the most part, but live they're a raucous group that sacrifice a little bit of musicality for the sake of an upbeat, engaging gig. If you held me to gun point I'd probably claim to like the records better, but it was still a damn fine performance. And without a doubt it easily topped any other show I've seen in the "number of times a washboard is used as an instrument" category. No jug blowing though, which is obviously disappointing. When the Felice Brothers finished playing they climbed on top of their RV parked near the stage and joined the crowd in watching "The Big Lebowski" in the open air. I don't have any proof but I'm betting that's one of the best possible endings to any live performance.
The following day's festivities were held in the afternoon under a glaring sun, and combined with the hangovers from too much liquored-up dairy the previous night...well, we didn't last long. There was some local fat rapper called the Kentucky Prophet doing his thing when we got there, and as much as I love a fat rapper ("Disorderlies" is one of my favorite films after all) he wasn't doing it for me. But the band after him, The Seedy Seeds, were pretty damn enjoyable. I didn't know dick about them, but apparently they were from nearby Cincinnati and had sort of a folk-electronica vibe. The three piece had pre-recorded beats accompanied by a really talented drummer playing along with them, and the other two playing some combination of guitar and banjo. I liked it - they had the boy/girl combo vocals kinda like Rainer Maria or Mates of State...but not shitty music like those bands. The group also got bonus points for dressing in costumes for the fest as "Strangers in the Alps", a reference to the sanitized version of the film where the phrase "This is what it's like to fuck a stranger in the ass" is changed to "This is what it's like to find a stranger in the Alps". Brilliant really, and a great weekend.
Posted by JT at 1:40 PM No comments: Links to this post
Labels: 2010, Executive Spare and Strike Lawn, Felice Brothers, Lebowski Fest, Louisville, Seedy Seeds
Superchunk / Ryan Gustaffson at the Cat's Cradle - 5/21/2010
with Ryan Gustaffson
Cat's Cradle
SUPERCHUNK! Let the record show that this band was, is and continues to be one the awesomest awesomers of all time. These are indisputable facts, folks.
But first, there was an opener - Ryan Gustafson. I remember back in the day every Superchunk opener was another Merge artist, but now they're tapping the resources of the local hot-shit loose-knit gathering of musicians and bands known as the Drughorse Collective. Not to be confused the pretty awesome metal band from the Bay Area Drunk Horse. All I know is I wouldn't want to be around a drugged horse or a drunk horse, as those fuckers are scary enough sober. And I'm rambling, so this review is going as expected.
As for what Mr. Gustafson sounds like - well, not unlike many of the other Drughorse acts, they walk a fine line between power pop and folky alt-country croonings. The best of his upbeat songs reminded me a lot of Sloan, and the mellower tracks I couldn't place a comparison, but was quite good. I liked the pop songs the most, but with his fantastic voice he could "sing the phonebook" as they say and it would make for a good performance.
It was an interesting show for local kings of the scene, Superchunk...apparently the set list was made up almost entirely of requests (from the Merge staff I think, and maybe some other randoms), which resulted in a show that was heaven for super fans like me but much less exciting for the people I knew there who had never seen the Chunk before.
Requests from a band by long time fans usually means one thing - lots of old songs. They basically played the entire "On the Mouth" album - "I Guess I Remembered It Wrong", "Precision Auto", "For Tension", "From the Curve"...hell, they even played "On the Mouth" which was the b-side of the "Mower" single (and could also be found on "Incidental Music", the second of their singles comps). Some other noteworthy tracks that night were "Sidewalk", which the band claimed had only been played live once, and a couple of new songs, one ("Digging for Something") which features John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats on backing vocals, and luckily he was at the show to provide them in person. And also dance around the stage like a spazz, which delighted everyone in attendance to no end.
At the end of the set and during the encores they hit some of their highlights, "slack Motherfucker" and "Hyper Enough" and "Water Wings"...the sort of songs that get all us old folks pogoing around like we did back in the early nineties. And let it be known the crowd was quite ancient - these days I'm that creepy old dude that I used to make fun of in my early twenties, but I was feeling pretty young and spry with this group. But young, old, ugly or bold, I'll suffer any indignation or categorization to see the glory of Superchunk live.
Posted by JT at 1:35 PM No comments: Links to this post
Labels: 2010, Carrboro, Cat's Cradle, Ryan Gustaffson, Superchunk
Mount Moriah at Tir Na Nog - 5/20/2010
Mount Moriah
Tir Na Nog
I was told I really needed to see Mount Moriah, so I got off my duff and made it happen. I'd heard Heather McEntyre sing with her other band Bellefea - good voice, interesting music, but I didn't get too overly excited about the act. But Mount Moriah is an altogether different beast - beautiful, country-tinged folk with amazing vocals, impressive musicianship and hooks for days. An instant contender for one of my new favorite local bands. Her voice reminds me quite a bit of Shannon Wright, but the songs are of a much higher quality. Quarterstick records should sign this band post haste, assuming they are still around, which I doubt is accurate and I'm too lazy to do the research myself. Hell, while I'm signing them to defunct labels let's but them on Jesus Christ and Teenbeat too. The bottom line is this band needs to be seen or heard or ideally, seen and heard.
Posted by JT at 1:33 PM No comments: Links to this post
Labels: 2010, Mount Moriah, Raleigh, Tir Na Nog
Thursday, July 1, 2010
The Rosebuds at the Beaufort Music Festival - 5/8/2010
The Rosebuds
Beaufort Music Festival
So yeah, it wasn't long until I got to see The Rosebuds again...two days in fact. The old lady and I decided it might be fun to take a little road trip, see part of the coast we'd never been to before - Beaufort. I used to live in Wilmington and I've been to the Outer Banks a couple of times, but this middle portion of the state's seaside has always escaped me. We spent some time driving the back roads, hitting the depressing towns of Goldsboro and Kinston en route and grabbing lunch in the town known as the birthplace of Pepsi, New Bern. New Bern was mostly not depressing, for the record.
We got into Beaufort early and the festival was already going on, some reggae cover band playing...yup, Bob Marley! Least they could do is throw some Desmond Dekker or Skatalites in their mix. We wandered around town looking at all the old houses, and there are a shit ton of old houses. We're talking we-weren't-even-a-country-yet old. After a tasty dinner, we strolled back to the festival site just a few minutes before the Rosebuds were to take the stage.
Their set list was pretty typical of most of their shows, but the setting was obviously quite different from any other gig. Million dollar yachts and smaller sail boats surrounded the outdoor stage, and wide selection of humanity from small kids to the elder set, working class stiffs to the idle rich (hence the million dollar yachts). And let's not leave out the salty sea men, leathery and wobbly legged, most likely from a combination of cheap liquor and not being accustom to dry land.
The band did their best to connect with a crowd mostly not familiar with their sound, and for the most part they succeeded. There was a crowd of surly pre-teens standing near us that started out cracking wise and by the end of the show they were on stage dancing during "Bow to the Middle" and asking Kelly Rosebud for her autograph after the show ended. It was a great night that could only have been better if the band had dressed in "yacht rock" costumes.
(see more photos of the Rosebuds and this trip to Beaufort here)
Posted by JT at 9:23 AM No comments: Links to this post
Labels: 2010, Beaufort, Beaufort Music Festival, Rosebuds
The Rosebuds / Schooner at Tir Na Nog - 5/6/2010
The Rosebuds
with Schooner
Tir Na Nog
It was a bit of a last minute show at Tir Na Nog as the local leaders of sing-a-long pop, The Rosebuds, decided to play a free gig. I suppose it was to serve as a warm-up for their impending appearance at the Beaufort Music Festival (which I attended, for the record...and I know you're keeping detailed notes so I want your record to be as accurate as possible).
But first: Schooner! Otherwise known as the opening band. They were their typical catchy and enjoyable selves, belting out their pleasant blend of timeless pop crossed with shoegaze. They have a new EP out on Cytunes, and a number of the songs they played this night was from that release. OK, I'm kinda making an assumption there cause I didn't recognize the new songs, and I haven't heard the new EP, so I put two and two together cause I got them kind of top notch deductive skills. I would imagine the bulk of local Rosebuds fans (most of the crowd) already are familiar with the song stylings of Schooner, but hopefully they won over some new fans cause they surely deserve to be more beloved.
The Rosebuds had been meaning to play one of these free local showcases for a while, and on this pleasant spring evening it finally went down. The band has an ever-changing line-up, but this was one that I've seen a number of times these last few years - Brad from Megafaun on bass, and Rob Lackey on drums. I love it when they have a bassist with the band, maybe it's because I (crappily) play bass myself, but music just doesn't sound complete without the low end...as I've always said, you might never notice the bassist is there, but you'll definitely notice when he isn't. I've said a lot of really stupid things about music too, so let's call it a wash.
Anyways, the band played a great set, performing all the crowd favorites both old and new. The nice thing about a local crowd is not only do they know all the songs, but they give the group a lot of love and feedback in the form of dancing, cheering and for the Rosebuds especially, singing along. I'm often irritated by crowd sing-a-longs, but it really works for these guys because they have very specific parts of their songs that beg for group participation.
A great night out, and here's to hoping I don't have to wait long until I get to see the Rosebuds perform again...
Posted by JT at 9:18 AM No comments: Links to this post
Labels: 2010, Raleigh, Rosebuds, Schooner, Tir Na Nog
Future Islands / Lonnie Walker / Lower Dens / Whatever Brains at the Berkeley Cafe - 5/4/2010
Future Islands
with Lonnie Walker, Lower Dens and Whatever Brains
Berkeley Cafe
I couldn't tell you the last time I lasted through a four band night...probably Mergefest. And like those nights, you withstood the discomfort of being fat, old and uncomfortable because the bands were so goddamn awesome.
Right when I walked in Whatever Brains started playing. I wasn't sure if they were going to be there, as they were listed on the bill, and then they were removed, but luckily that information was incorrect. As I've stated before, they remind me a lot of the Fall, if the Fall had a fairly normal singer and not crazy-ass Mark E. Smith. I was watching them with my man Ivan and he seems to think they have a Gang Green thing going on, but I don't really see it. But he's actually a musician so maybe you should take his word for it over mine. It was a short set, but good. They manage to sound tight and unhinged at the same time, a great trait in a band.
I was kinda freaked out the entire time Baltimore's Lower Dens played - the singer was the spitting image of the cute nerdy girl from "Real Genius" and I couldn't concentrate on the music as much as I should have. Val Kilmer was nowhere to be seen though, so at least we had that going for us. My best approximation of their sound is "what if Siouxsie & the Banshees became a krautrock band?" And then there was that one song that sounded exactly like Love & Rockets. They were definitely one of those bands that I was really neither here nor there about for the first few songs, but they really grew on me and I was loving it by the end of their set.
The non-organ version of Lonnie Walker was next on the slate. It was great as always, but I'm really missing how that organ softened out their sound in all the right places. The set was very Lonnie Walker-y, catchy and excitable and the crowd ate it up. I see them so often it would be really easy to take them for granted, but they are still one of the best bands going in the Triangle.
Finally, the headliners Future Islands came on. Have I mentioned that their newest record "In Evening Air" is easily the best record of 2010? Well, it is, and I love it so much I don't see that changing before the end of the year. It is brilliant from start to finish, and my only gripe is the run time is way too short. then again, you always want to leave them wanting more I guess.
Despite the fact that Future Islands play here all the time, I'd somehow never managed to see them perform...as great as their record is the live show is even better. Shut off the house lights, place a few spots on the ground shining up at the band, and let the party commence. It was easily the most dancing I've ever seen at a show, and the best time I've had the Berkeley Cafe since watching SCW wrestling there in the mid-nineties. People were throwing glow sticks all around the crowd, the band released some balloons, and it turned into a rave for the indie rock set. If Joy Division were reincarnated as a dance band, this would be it, only they sound like they got Al Johnson from U.S. Maple to do the singing and maybe have some inclinations to sound like Erasure from time to time. In other words, completely awesome through and through.
I left covered in sweat from dancing too much, ears ringing from a lack of earplugs, and a huge smile on my face that didn't leave for days. Upon exit saw a dude sprawled out on the sidewalk - not sure if he was attacked by another person or a gravity/booze combo. I'm going to pretend he was floored by the amazing show that just happened to his face, and his legs couldn't take any more.
(photo ganked online from somewhere other than my camera)
Posted by JT at 9:11 AM No comments: Links to this post
Labels: 2010, Berkeley Cafe, Future Islands, Lonnie Walker, Lower Dens, Raleigh, Whatever Brains
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text:
Another old-fashioned ETBS hang-out in which we get together with some Creative Commons-licensed music from Speedsound complements of Jamendo.
We also take Mikogo for a spin and take turns sharing desktops during a "global show and tell." Thanks to all who attended, and those in the chatroom:
This week we're joined by Brad Hicks and 15 pre-service teachers from Western Australia in a discussion about the educational use of the technology. Cathy Evanoff, Jo McLeay, Cheryl Oakes, Art Gelwicks, Dave Cormier, Jeff Lebow, and Vance Stevens all check in to say hello and contribute to the conversation.
Here are the links contributed during the show:
Tweets about "edtechtalk"
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