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The Atrium Hotels are a collection of three luxury hotels in Rhodes, Greece. Placed harmonically around Rhodes, the hotels offer three great points to explore the island with each hotel providing its own unique style. Atrium Palace is an oasis of luxury. Atrium Platinum is a city hotel with a resort charm. Atrium Prestige is the ultimate luxury escape. With an experience of over 20 years, our guests are surely in destined for a unique holiday experience.
Visitors to Rhodes, Greece who wish to be accommodated in a high-class 5 star luxury hotel with fine services and exclusive amenities are welcomed in the quality awarded Atrium Palace Thalasso Spa Resort & Villas in Kalathos Bay, Lindos.
The linked buildings of this luxury hotel resort have stunning views of Kalathos Bay. Sparkling blue pools and cascading waterfalls create a truly exotic and tropical oasis. The exquisite palm gardens of this hotel resort envelop guests with their wonderful colours and fragrances carried by the caress of the sea breeze.
This nice location of luxury, romance, affluent accommodation, Thalasso Spa wellness, Thematic Restaurants, privacy and tailor made services is the beginning. Rhodes Island is your next cosmopolitan destination and the Atrium Palace your selection amongst resorts.
Stunning Greek architecture with divine azure views, captivating scenery, fabulous accommodations and an impressive AnaNeosis Thalasso Spa offer a luxury holiday experience in Rhodes created and captured in your mind forever. A fusion of design, decor and innovation along with the legacy of Greek hospitality deliver treasured holiday moments.
The Atrium Prestige luxury 5 start hotel offers spectacular Mediterranean sea views from all three descending levels. Ambience and remarkable decor compliment beloved moments. Endless time of relaxation at the heart of Lachania Beach in the most refined of atmospheres. Set along the stunning beach stretch; sea, sun & silence are guaranteed.
Atrium Platinum Luxury Resort Hotel & Spa encapsulates the essence of premium beachfront living in its charmingly appointed interior and exterior spaces inviting world travellers to indulge in a heaven of leisure, wellness and hospitality excellence.
From the outstanding setting on the beach of Ixia Bay, the exquisite décor and plentiful dining, entertainment and event planning solutions, the Atrium Platinum Resort in Rhodes is rightfully considered a world-class hotel offering a wide range of exclusive once-in-a-lifetime experiences to share with your beloved family and friends as well as your significant other.
Offering a multitude of accommodation options in Rhodes, the Atrium Platinum Luxury Resort Hotel & Spa lures guests into a realm of relaxation, rejuvenation and indulgence.
The Atrium Hotels offer a unique holiday experience that is matched by few. A great range of luxury facilities, amenities and services are provided to our guests, on top of the comfortable and spacious rooms.
Naturally nestled in a pristine cove of Ixia Bay, on the slope below the Acropolis of Rhodes, the Atrium Platinum luxury hotel in Rhodes island in Greece combines the cosmopolitan atmosphere of a 5-star city hotel with the unrivaled charm of a seafront resort. Visit the Website : www.atriumplatinum.gr
Situated in the tranquil bay of Kalathos Village, close to the picturesque village of Lindos, Rhodes this architecturally innovative 5 star luxury hotel combines luxury with its delightful blend of classical Greek and Italian styles. Visit the Website : www.atrium.gr
Directly by the sea front, on the south-east coast of Rhodes Island within the unspoilt landscape of Lachania, right on Lachania beach and close to Prasonisi where the Mediterranean and Aegean seas meet, stands The Atrium Prestige Thalasso Spa Resort & Villas. Visit the Website : www.atriumprestige.gr


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Dentists barely used computers when John Cranham graduated from dental school in 1988. More than two decades later, of course, computers have revolutionized dentistry and allowed dentists to digitally store everything from appointment books to patient files and turn their offices paperless. Advances such as digital radiography, digital photography, chairside CAD/CAM and computerized cone beam tomography (CBCT) make a dentist's job easier while allowing him to see more patients, which in turn maximizes the investment he makes in upgrading the machinery.
Summary: Digital revolution a profitable and productive one for dentists
Posted On: Wednesday, November 9th 2011 by Sidekick Magazine Staff

subset: commoncrawl


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In addition to website design and development, FireSpike LLC builds full custom software applications online.
One example of online software built by FireSpike is the media buying software we developed for MediaLink Software. It is a full suite of ad buying tools, including broadcast television, cable, radio, publications, outdoor, specialty, and online advertising.
Currently in beta is MediaLink's Outdoor Media Buying System, which allows outdoor media companies to better manage their process and inventory.
Last, but certainly not least, FireSpike LLC developed the GunnyTracker project tracking system, perfect for small businesses wanting to track projects, tasks, time, and resources. What started as an internal solution for FireSpike is now available as an online resource for small businesses everywhere.


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If you are looking for a way to provide your home or your business with a higher level of safety and security, you might consider purchasing wireless security cameras and using them throughout your property.
Although many people think of wireless security cameras as something only used by businesses to monitor parking lots or watch for shoplifters and other criminals in their stores, the reality is that there are plenty of reasons to install wireless security cameras in your home as well.
In fact, with the help of hidden camera videos, you can…
-Catch a burglar in action so you can more effectively prosecute him or her for the crime
-Catch a vandal on film so you can take the necessary legal action
-Catch a babysitter or other caregiver who is mistreating your child or other homebound adult
-Catch a teenager who is disobeying established rules at home
-With the help of home security cameras, you can also monitor a spouse who you suspect of being unfaithful
Of course, you will need to check your local laws to make certain you are not violating any rules when you use hidden home security cameras to monitor the activities of people.
But, for the most part, as long as you are filming people while they are in your home, you shouldn't have to worry about facing any kind of legal problems for filming others without their prior consent. In fact, many people have used hidden camera videos to prosecute nannies or to get the court to rule in their favor when going through a divorce. Click here Eye Spy Supply for more details.
When purchasing wireless security cameras, it is important to consider your main reason for purchasing the camera.
If you want to use it to record hidden camera videos, for example, you will need to make certain the cameras you purchase are small enough to be hidden. In addition, you will need the cameras to be wireless so you can place them anywhere in your home that you like.
If you are not trying to be secretive with your home security cameras, on the other hand, size may not be quite so important. Similarly, if you are going to use your cameras outdoors, you may need to purchase those that are motion activated or those that can record clearly during the darkness of night.


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$35.70 $59.50
As low as $35.70
Ask A Style Expert: Chat Now - or - 877 443-1951
Researched tested and stamped with our team riders' solid approval the 20 inch Stoney Mod boardshort pushes boundaries with a resilient 4-way stretch recycled fabric and DWR Teflon for a lightweight feel that dries in a flash. Stretch mesh inseam gusset promotes water flow-through and increased breathability. Stitchless stretch seams prevent rashes and chaffing. And you can surf assured knowing that no chaffing is coming your way thanks to our zipperless Cinch Fly Technology. Additional details include an engineered print and laser cut side pockets with waterproof zippers.
- 40% recycled polyester / 48% polyester / 12% elastane 4-way stretch
- Laser-cut side pockets with waterproof zippers
- 4-way stretch recycled fabric
Write Your Own Review


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The Ultimate Guide to Information Products Profits
We are undoubtedly living in the age of the internet. It is a connected world where people are ever more dependent on the internet for finding information, making purchases and living their everyday lives. But today's world is more than just the age of the internet. It is the age …Read More


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Forums › Community › PASSWORD LOST
This topic contains 34 replies, has 3 voices, and was last updated by Prabhukumar R 3 months, 3 weeks ago.
Hello Yasser,
Please read https://www.axcrypt.net/support/faq/#forgot-password .
Where can I download AxcryptBruteForce? I don't see any link for that.
Thank you
Hello Abu,
You can download the most recent version from https://account.axcrypt.net/Download/AxBruteForce.exe and read of how to use it at https://www.axcrypt.net/axcrypt-brute-force/ . Please note that we cannot provide support beyond this.
Hi there. I lost my password and now I only remember half of it. I am trying AxCrypt Bruteforce and it doesn't work.
Can you help me?
I am using the trial version of Axcrypt and I am not registered.
Hello Kaloyan,
AxCrypt will allow the users to decrypt the encrypted file with the original password which is used for encryption.
Please note: AxCrypt is file encryption with no backdoor, that means AxCrypt do not store user's account password, anywhere. Nobody can decrypt the encrypted files without the file password used in the file encryption. This is the way AxCrypt app was designed.
Unfortunately, if you do not know the password for an AxCrypt-encrypted file you cannot open it, even if you can sign in to the account. This is by design, it's just this situation that AxCrypt is made for and it works like this even if you actually are the original owner of the file.
If you know some part of the password, then you can download and use the most recent version of AxBruteForce from https://account.axcrypt.net/Download/AxBruteForce.exe , to decrypt the files.
If you do not remember the password to your account, you can always reset it. This is not a way to recover encrypted files! It's only to allow you to sign in to the AxCrypt app and web. The new password will be used to encrypt new files. Go to https://account.axcrypt.net/Home/PasswordReset to do this, or you can also go there from AxCrypt with File | Options | Password Reset.
For more info about Password Reset: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6whtjSb3pc and https://www.axcrypt.net/blog/password-reset-axcrypt/ .
If the above does not help,please provide more information about the issue and write a mail to email@example.com .
Name (required):
Mail (will not be published) (required):
Notify me of follow-up replies via email
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Discussing Ukrainian music with Oleh Saciuk
Studs Terkel discussing Ukranian music with Oleh Saciuk. Includes instrumental music excerpts.
Showing 1 - 8 of 8 results
Studs Terkel discussing Ukranian music with Oleh Saciuk. Includes instrumental music excerpts.
Studs Terkel and Billy Taylor discuss the book "Jazz Piano: History and Development". They discuss jazz musicians and the history of jazz music. Includes excerpts of drums, piano, and orchestra playing in the background.
Discussing bicentennial time and interviewing Otto Friedrich. Otto Friedrich discusses his "Time" magazine piece, his writing, and American history. Includes songs "Yankee Doodle Dandy," "Free America" by Joseph Warren, a German song, an 18th century Boston Tea Party song, and a 18th century British soldier song.
Werner Burkhardt, German music journalist, critic, and translator, discusses his life and work with Studs. Mr Burkhardt speaks about his life during the time of Adolph Hitler, the Hitler Youth, and World War II. They end the interview talking about Jazz in Munich, a recording of "My Man" by Billie Holiday closes the interview.
Discussing Victor Jara and Chilean music and politics with Nery Barrientos and Paul Gootenberg.
A discussion with sociologist and anthropologist St. Clair Drake at the time of his receiving an honorary award from Roosevelt University on the themes of his convocation address. A fascinating deep-dive into race relations from the Revolution to the Bicentennial, touching on the contradictions, crises and struggles that led to Black institutions and liberation. Studs plays several excerpts from previous programs with St.
Interviewing Holly Arntzen, a folk singer and songwriter of political and social protest songs.
Tribute to Chicago painter and piano player Eddie Balchowsky.


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Product Description
The Glacier Express is an international sightseeing train, one of the icons for Switzerland which is familiar to many people in the world. Running through the Swiss Alps from Zermatt to St. Moritz over two separate railways, it travels slowly, making the journey in a luxurious 8 hours so that the passengers can fully enjoy the magnificent Alpine landscape from the train's panoramic viewing windows.This release will represent the train in its post-2006 appearance, with the new large-windowed "premium coaches". It is scaled at 1/150 scale in order to ride on N gauge track, as the prototypical train is a narrow gauge train.Includes: – GE4/4-III locomotive #644 – Panorama 1st Class Coach A #Ap1314 – Panorama 2nd Class Coach #Bp2535 – Smooth rolling Kato trucks with all wheel electrical pickup. – Directional headlights on the Ge4/4-III locomotive (10-1145 only). – The Ge4/4-III can pull the train up a maximum 5% incline.
N Scale
Ages: 8+
Kato P/N: 10-1145
Frequently Bought Together
This item: Alps Glacier Express (Basic 3-Car Set) (Model Train)$67.27


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Globalising opinions and counter currents: The Internet Story
A lot has been spoken about the role that the Internet has played in altering the way today the world functions and the society behaves.
Of all the fabulous and grand changes that the Internet is being claimed to have brought in, one fundamental, a subtle but consequential change it has certainly brought in is that it has converted the virtual connected space into one humongous discussion room!
No issue is local any longer. The sensibilities of people have been globalised. No flaw in society can be allowed to prevail with exceptions of local constraints, or at least the aspirations of people are no longer localised to their regional limitations.
In terms of opinions a true global benchmark has been set via the Internet.
A simple personal example of the writer, to discern this graduation brought out by the Internet could elucidate this claim of globalisation.
In India, racism is not a big peril, although it does show up occasionally, but not as pronounced as in some of the 'developed' western countries. This might be due to another fact that we are plagued with further more vicious discriminations instilled in out society, like casteism. This being the case, I am not all that conscious, rather was not all that conscious of the discriminations on the skin-color lines.
Indian cinema is not an enlightening experience, and the Tamil movies I watch are for a voluntary digression from rationality. So in this trend of pursuing my digression when I watched a Tamil movie Enthiran (starring the 'phenomenal' Rajnikanth), I was apart from being voluntarily defeating my rationale was to end up getting a couple of lessons on my sensibilities.
Most of our movies are male chauvinistic, with little or no importance to other genders. I was already in disgruntle about this, I happened to read a review of the movie on a website based from the USA, where an American journalist had critiqued the movie on certain different lines, which weren't within my dimensions.
In the movie, the protagonist turns to be the antagonist, and there is an immediate change in the makeup of the actor playing both roles and the complexion turns darker! This transition, that the protagonist was fairer in complexion and the antagonist is darker was yelling out racism, and in our conditions and because of my limited cognizance had not been offended by it. Not about being offended, but not had been able to point that as a flaw.
This whole thing might seem silly, but now our sensibilities are growing international, and globalisation of opinions has to be taken into account. This is what the Internet is able to do. Not just about racism, the notion of gender, democracy, freedom, sharing, whistle blowing and many more fundamental ideas of the society are being globalised, and it steadily is collapsing the regional boundaries of opinion and absorbing a wider geography into the realms of a single virtual platform.
Another crucial example is the notion of democracy – in the Internet itself and in countries with Internet playing a role.
India – the largest democracy today is undoubtedly being a victim of oligarchic regime and a pseudo democracy is what is being projected as the reality. With the instances like the Tahrir Square in Egyptian revolution, what Egypt now is trying to install is a nascent democracy and it has its own problems. Iran which is an Islamic republic, a quasi theocracy is a system where people live amidst constant suppression and submission to their governments. Does this mean that India can be complacent about the system here, when compared to other countries? Or do we strengthen ourselves systemically and set example to others?
As citizens, we needn't any longer live within the limitations of the system here. We could very well discuss and debate issues with no boundaries, whatsoever, and thanks to the Internet.
Julian Assange in his recent writings has expressed that the Internet is no longer only a technical haven, it has acquired the trait of being a political discussion room. He says, "They(people) are being educated, as a result of the internet, about how the world really works in terms of economic flows and political flows and hypocrisy, and they are also being given a power to express their opinions to a potentially very large audience, billions of people."
Globalisation of opinions is a direct effect of the Internet, and the 21st century will witness many more instances like the WikiLeaks, Tahrir square, Anna Hazare campaign, struggles against censorship all facilitated by the Internet.
The struggle WikiLeaks is fighting is in a way epitome to all the subsequent struggles people have to wage in order to guarantee freedom of expression and hence a democratic voice to the people.
A true people's democracy today is not feasible without sustaining Internet democracy.
India now seems to tread into the path of Internet censorship, after a tangible track record of censorship in arts and literature. The Google transparency report ranks India 5th for shooting out requests for pulling out content which the Government felt was offensive.
The Intermediaries bill and the regressive amendments made to it are standing proofs to manifest the deterioration of the freedom of expression in India. A move such as this would cripple dissemination of information and disable the political discussion room that the Internet presenting itself to be.
Freedom of expression in the Internet if not guaranteed now, will lead us back into time and the pseudo democracy will in effect turn into an abysmal oligarchy.


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Reilly Smith, Aleksander Barkov and Aaron Ekblad all scored in the second period to lead the Florida Panthers to a 5-1 victory over the New York Islanders on Tuesday night.
Vincent Trochek and Jonathan Huberdeau added goals in the third period, and Roberto Luongo finished with 33 saves for the Panthers. Florida beat New York for the second time this season, along with a shootout win at home on Nov. 23.
Brock Nelson had his 10th goal of the season for the Islanders, who snapped a five game home winning streak and a 10-game stretch overall without a loss in regulation (8-0-2). Jaroslav Halak had 12 saves.
Copyright AP - Associated Press


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A new study by the Institute for College Access & Success (another higher-ed organization I had never heard of) says that federal financial aid should be revamped. Pell grants should be made a permanent line item in the federal budget, the maximum award should be doubled to $11,270, and they should be called Pell Scholarships.
Now, why the name change? You might think that it is because the federal government will include some merit component to qualify for the aid. But apparently not. According to the Chronicle for Higher Education article, the purpose is "to show that all students are expected to succeed."


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About Lindsay McKenna Limited
Lindsay McKenna Limited was born out of sheer frustration at the absence in the market place of a practical pragmatic approach to how to get projects selected, prioritised and delivered, which truly fuses the people and technical aspects.
Browse further to find out more about Lindsay McKenna Limited.
What we do
From senior decision makers to inexperienced team members, we aim to put the people, passion and pragmatism back into how changes are managed and teams work.
Enjoy our monthly letter featuring tips, information on latest products and a calander of events, keeping you up to date on what we are doing and how we can help you.
Our Story
You've read the short version, now see where we work and find out more about where Lindsay got her inspiration, how we got started, where we are now and our plans for the future.
See us in Action
Renowned for our key note presentations, find out how you can see us delivering inspired talks on change management and high performance teamworking.
Let us come to you
We focus on in-house workshops. This enables us to deal directly with your issues and concerns there and ensuring the best transition back into the workplace.
Working with international companies across five continents we are experienced at working in a multi-cultural environment across a broad range of industries.
Workshop Testimonials
Don't take our word for it. Read what some of clients say about our workshops after taking what they have learned back into the workplace and seen how it works for them.
Guidebook Testimonials
The support material is not designed to gather dust on the shelves. Full of worked examples, tips and tools, they are your secret weapon to success.
Our promise to you
To find out just how far we will go to help you as an individual and your business, read our promises to you. These are not empty words, we mean every single clause.


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Silicon Valley, CA: Sundar Pichai, chief executive of tech giant Google, has joined the escalating battle between the FBI and Apple over iPhone encryption. Describing the letter published by Apple's Tim Cook as "important," Pichai says that a judge's order forcing Apple to assist the FBI in gaining access to the data on a terrorist's iPhone "could be a troubling precedent." Seeing as Google oversees the Android operating system, Pichai is a crucial voice in this debate; Android also offers encryption to safeguard personal data.
"We build secure products to keep your information safe and we give law enforcement access to data based on valid legal orders," Pichai tweeted moments ago. "But that's wholly different than requiring companies to enable hacking of customer devices and data." Pichai seems to side squarely with Cook. "Forcing companies to enable hacking could compromise users' privacy." Google's CEO said he's "looking forward to a thoughtful and open discussion on this important issue."
That echoes the words of Cook, who in his letter wrote "This moment calls for public discussion, and we want our customers and people around the country to understand what is at stake." At this point it seems like not a matter of if, but when other influential tech CEOs like Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft's Satya Nadella will weigh in on the matter.
Pichai was recently given a king's ransom in stocks by the company. The Indian American, who was named to his post in August as part of a corporate restructuring when Google became a subsidiary of Alphabet, a new company run by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin was granted 273,328 Class C shares by Google Feb. 3. The shares amount to roughly $199 million.
Pichai, who joined Google in 2004, is generally known as a soft-spoken but highly effective manager. After leading efforts to build the company's Chrome browser and related products, Pichai was given responsibility in 2013 for Google's Android mobile operating system — a crucial role as the company was seeing much of its Internet business shift to mobile devices. The stock award by Google catapults Pichai to one of the highest paid CEOs. According to Equilar, the highest paid CEO of 2014 was David Zaslav of Discovery Communications.


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PORK SHOULDER BLADE STEAK discount
This product is no longer available at retailer Farmer's Pick as a part of discount flyer registered by Kupino.ca.
For an overview of the current flyers of retailer Farmer's Pick go to site ....
Similar products in current flyers.
London Drugs flyer - Luxury Event
Farmer's Pick flyer
London Drugs flyer
The Big Carrot Community Market flyer
Ambrosia Natural Foods flyer
Walmart flyer special
Lady York Foods flyer
London Drugs flyer - Toy Savings Event
Longo's flyer - Boxgrove Pharmacy
Co-op flyer
IGA flyer
Sobeys flyer
FreshCo flyer
Metro flyer
Zehrs flyer
Safeway flyer
Longo's flyer - Stouffville
Walmart flyer special - Toy Shop
London Drugs flyer - Appliance Savings Event
Giant Tiger flyer
Cataldi Fresh Market flyer
Produce Depot flyer
Safeway flyer
Walmart flyer special - Toy book
Longo's flyer - Yorkmills
Metro flyer - Holiday Drink Booklet
Longo's flyer - Markham Pharmacy
Walmart flyer
London Drugs flyer - Everything you need for the Holidays
Longo's flyer - Ajax


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Desert Oasis & The Land of Milk and Honey Gift Set
Jerusalem soap sets are the perfect gift for holidays, birthdays, bridal showers, Mother's Day, and just about any gift giving occasion. If you are looking for a special gift with meaning, give the gift of handcrafted soaps from Israel.
This gift set includes:
- 1 - Desert Oasis Soap - full of cooling local aloe & cucumber and polishing poppy seeds for a full sensory experience.
Ingredients: Olive Oil, Coconut Oil- Palm Oil, Grapeseed Oil, Aloe, Lye, Rainwater (collected and purified), Skin-Safe Fragrance, Essential Oils, Mineral Colorants, Poppyseeds, Salt-, Honey, Cucumber, Cilantro
- 1 - The Land of Milk and Honey Soap -made with local goat's milk and sweet medjoul dates. Highly recommended for mothers & babies.
Ingredients: Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Grapeseed Oil, Lye, Rainwater (local, purified), Skin-Safe Scent, Salt, Date Honey, Goat's Milk, Medjoul Dates
- 1 - exfoliating bath sponge
Each gift set is packaged on a sturdy palm leaf tray.
*Soap is handcrafted in Israel
**Gift Sets may vary


text: Anime in Japan Archive A day Yokohama have been occupied by Pikachu. (This event has been expired) As you might imagine, we […] Read More If you want to buy Japanese text book… If you want to study Japanese, Where do you get a textb […] Read More Cute vending machine have appeared! Anpanman vending machine. Do you know avobe pictures character Anpanman? We' […] Read More A human size shin-godzilla has come in front of you! Godzilla is the most famous monster in Japan, not to me […] Read More Too many crane games in Japanese Game Center –Shinjuku- I know now that avobe picture's types of crane game is […] Read More "YOKOSO! EIGAKAN!" You can see the Japanese animation movie without dubbing! One of the contents with popularity or high demand has […] Read More TV Character shops in Tokyo Station – Tokyo Character Street – Tokyo Character Street has TV Character shops in Tokyo […] Read More Fun and unique attractions of "JUMP" characters – J WORLD TOKYO – J WORLD TOKYO is the amusement park in Ikebukuro – a d […] Read More The female otaku's town – Otome Road – Otome Road (乙女ロード) is a nickname for a street in Ikebuk […] Read More The used Anime and idol item shops in Akihabara There is The Building"AKIBA Culture's ZONE( […] Read More


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Facebook is a showcase of great UI design. And as it has become a major part of our lives, it has also raised the bar for web development, pushing developers to meet higher expectations.
This however has a good side – it challenges web developers and designers to better themselves and constantly improve their work.
In this tutorial, we are going to learn from the best, and create a facebook-like sign up form. So go ahead to start learning!
Filed under: Web Designing, Web Development | Tagged: web developer bhubaneswar, Web Developer designer in Bhubaneswar, website designing auckland, website designing bhubaneswar, website designing new zealand | 1 Comment »


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The Town of Claremont is the local government authority for the beautiful, leafy, riverside suburbs of Claremont and Swanbourne 9kms from the city centre.
The Nyungar Aboriginal peoples knew Claremont as a place of plentiful spring water, good fishing and abundant waterfowl. The British felt almost at home - its gently undulating landscape mirrored in the clear waters of the Swan River. In 1830, John Butler, recently arrived from Liverpool, speculated on its commercial qualities. It was at Freshwater Bay, halfway between Perth and Fremantle, that he set up his inn, attracting travellers on the road connecting the two anchor communities of the Swan River Colony. From these humble beginnings Claremont quickly established itself into one of the most well recognised suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, whilst maintaining its village atmosphere.
More information on Claremont history can be gained from accessing the Heritage page.
As part of the Town of Claremont Strategic Community Plan "We are an open and accountable local government that encourages community involvement and strives to keep its community well informed."
An important tool to assist us in achieving this goal is our regular newsletter; "Town Talk". This publication is placed in the Post and Western Suburbs Weekly newspapers once a month. A quarterly, hard copy edition is to all Town of Claremont households and businesses.
Click here to view the August edition of the Town Talk newsletter.
View the special 2019-20 Budget Edition of our Town Talk newsletter.
For past editions, please refer to our Forms and Publications page.


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We also deploy and support System Center components and suites for customers.
Our experience with System Center enables us to offer a range of specialist support services, which includes design, deployment and configuration. We can also configure the complementary System Center products to integrate together, as highlighted below:
SCOM runs as a set of services for monitoring the entire IT infrastructure, including applications, services, network devices, server hardware and clients. Management packs, comprising of sets of rules and monitors, are available for pretty much every Microsoft application, with 3rd parties providing monitors for their own products - from hardware manufacturers (such as Dell and Cisco) to software vendors (such as Lotus and Oracle). Each management pack can raise alerts to operators, through email, SIP and SMS, and to other applications. Acting on those alerts enables IT to optimise the infrastructure and stamp on any issues before they become problems.
SCOM relies on SQL, strategic deployment on the network and tight integration with the Operating System (OS) and Active Directory (AD). A good SCOM implementation saves IT time and money - a bad one floods the system with alerts and makes it unusable. Our experience with SCOM will ensure a good implementation!
SCOM Complements the following System Center products:
SCDPM enables disk, tape and cloud based protection in an easy to use, fully automated system. It protects a variety of workloads, including:
Short term backups (multiple daily snapshots) are stored on disk for fast backup and recovery, with copies going to tape or Azure cloud for long term retention and off-site storage. It's a system we've used ourselves since 2007, with multiple happy customers too.
We'll install and configure the hardware for DPM, including the automated tape library if required, and then setup the required protection groups and schedules. Once set up, we'll provide training in how to restore the various workloads, and some of the troubleshooting needed for common issues - such as a data source being unavailable. We can also provide Azure cloud storage for the long-term, encrypted backup of data to the cloud, which provides a cost-effective alternative to tape, without breaching retention/off site requirements.
DPM doesn't actually need any other System Center products to work better - it can raise alerts on it's own, however SCOM will interpret these alerts to SLA's much better. What it does do is make every other workload it protects much easier to recover.
Virtual Machine Manager provides configuration, deployment and monitoring capabilities for Hyper-V, VMware and other virtualisation platforms. We use it exclusively for Hyper-V, where it runs both our production and development environments. One of the key features of
SCVMM is the ability to automate the requesting, deployment and placement of new virtual machines. This "self service" feature is particularly useful in development and hosting environments where machines are needed on demand. Our experience with VMM in this demanding capacity makes us ideal for deploying VMM in your environment.
SCVMM Complements the following system center products:
This product works well with both Operations Manager and Configuration Manager. Designed as a helpdesk and automation solution (complete with end-user portal) this application is aware of multi-tier services, enabling issues with a particular component to be seen as an impact on all the services and users it affects. Requiring deep integration with the environment, lots of configuration and customisation, this is definitely one to deploy with an expert.
SCSM Complements the following System Center products:
SCCM (sometimes known as Config Manager or its official abbreviation, ConfigMgr) is widest encompassing of all the System Center products. A number of different features have been added to SCCM over the years. It now includes:
Having a good SCCM implementation means you can automate nearly every aspect of managing IT. Getting a good SCCM is a long process though, requiring a lot of trial and effort, particularly with OS and software deployment. Using Fuse as an SCCM support service, we can provide you with training, materials tips and shortcuts that will save you a lot time and money in the long run.
Running SCCM in native mode (essential for supporting internet based clients) also requires the implementation of an
Enterprise PKI, another area we're experienced in, and can help you with.
Recently, we have also been involved with integrating SCCM with Azure, for cloud-based distribution points, and the new client management gateway feature. Having these features enabled ensures your on premise infrastructure is not overly exposed to internet based devices.
Our deployment service for System Center is aimed at customer wishing to deploy components within their own environments, but don't have the time or existing skills in-house to do so. We offer:
For more details, please
contact us


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Hello, Welcome to my website. My name is
I am a Rocket Designer.
Experience is the rocket that propels mankind to new heights.
I Design experiences.
I fuse ideas with the physical world.
I have a day job working as a UX/Visual Designer for a nonprofit organization. My full-time job takes up most of my time. However, I do take on freelance work and would be interested in exploring ways that I could help your brand connect with its audience.
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How healthy is your brand? I can help you find what might be missing in order to help your organization connect with target audience.
I can help create strong visual content that will help communicate intended messages and connect with your audiences in visually relevant ways.
According to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® personality test, I have a INFJ type personality.
I have a wonderfully beautiful wife and an adorably cute 2 year old girl that is always getting into trouble.
I love to ride my bike. I love most of the bicycle genres, but in particular, mountain biking and bikepacking.
Movies: Serenity, X-Men 2, and Moonrise Kingdom TV: Sherlock, Futurama, and Destination Truth
I love Johnny Cash, Pearl Jam, REM, Tom Waits, Fleet Foxes, Tom Petty, Bjork and Arcade Fire. Best play list ever!
Im a big fan of Mexican. I also love sea food and Sushi. But you cant beat a well made pizza any day.
Editorial/UX Designer: Research and Development, UX Design, UI Elements, Layout, Web Typography, Content Organization and conceptualization, and Adobe DPS publishing
Editorial Designer: Layout, Typography, Commissioning Art, Illustration Conceptualization, Photo Retouching, Social Media Strategy and Prepress file Prep
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Design Intern: Created Print Ads, Posters, Postcards, Pamphlets, and Logos
Graphic Designer: Designed Symposium and Celebration Campaign
Geological Field Technician Crew Chief: Supervision and Organization of Mineral Exploration Field Crews in Utah and Nevada
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Communication
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Home / Analysis / Brokers vs insurers: how the war of words erupted
17 September 2018
When it comes to internecine disagreements, the insurance industry is usually pretty placid. Differences of opinion among the various industry tribes are rare, which made the breakout of hostilities between insurers and brokers over the past week unusual, to say the least.
The first shot was fired last Monday when insuranceNEWS.com.au reported on a speech to be given by National Insurance Brokers Association (NIBA) CEO Dallas Booth at the upcoming Australian Insurance Law Association (AILA) national conference, in which he will accuse insurers of mismanaging claims.
Such comments from disgruntled brokers are not all that unusual, but when they're made by the CEO of the broker's representative group they can't be ignored. Nor can the timing.
Perhaps Mr Booth didn't know excerpts from a speech he won't be delivering until October 31 in Perth would be handed to insuranceNEWS.com.au in advance of the conference, because what has really got insurers peeved is the fact that his comments were published a week before the industry is grilled by the royal commission into financial services misbehaviour. That's this week.
Senior sources from the insurers' side of the fence have been harshly critical of Mr Booth's comments, labelling them "an unpleasant surprise" and suggesting brokers might be better off keeping their heads down in the current environment.
In the AILA media release given to insuranceNEWS.com.au, Mr Booth says he will talk on a range of issues, including "turmoil" within insurance companies as they look to reduce costs, and an increasing reluctance to pay claims.
"I get regular complaints of claims not being paid for no apparent reason and an inability to get reasons, which reflects on the entire industry," he says, before reminding insurers that they have a duty to "honour the promise" because "that's what the concept of trust is all about".
Fighting words, but who is he specifically referring to? The insurers are unhappy that by not naming names, Mr Booth's comments have tarred them all with the same brush.
But then again, had he named the company, or more likely companies, that brokers believe are performing badly, he would only have created bigger headlines and even more insurer irritation.
Having poked the bear, Mr Booth has now been supported by some powerful figures in Insurance Brokers Network of Australia Chairman Gary Gribbin and AIMS GM Glenn Schultz.
In an email from Europe, Mr Gribbin tells insuranceNEWS.com.au "it is undoubtedly the case" that insurers are "palpably mismanaging claims".
"Dallas is simply reflecting the sentiment of the vast majority of the general insurance broking community," he says.
"There is a clear pattern of spurious, very technical denial (i.e. a lack of willingness to admit claims) on top of which their administration of claims is nowadays abysmal.
"Lack of experience, an absence of expertise, (seemingly) no understanding of the [Insurance] Contracts Act in relation to utmost good faith.
"The claims position is the worst I have seen… so dire is the environment."
Mr Gribbin does name an individual insurance company, but they'll be happy about it. He says Chubb – which won last year's Mansfield Award for Claims Excellence and was a finalist in this year's award – sets the standard.
"[Chubb] remains the market leader in terms of attitude to, and management of, claims," he says.
Mr Schultz says Mr Booth's comments "are very representative of what the broking industry is encountering".
"Insurers are tightening expenses and taking a much harder look at claims," he told insuranceNEWS.com.au. "This is a time of change in the industry and there is a reduction in the skill level of claims people."
He says insurers increasingly want to cash-settle claims, which is often not appropriate for the client.
Mr Schultz accepts the vast majority of claims are still being paid without difficulty, but the change in insurers' approach on a small percentage of claims risks "tarnishing the industry".
The insurers' own peak organisation, the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA), has declined to discuss the allegations, but the tone from its official spokesman reveals a degree of irritation that this issue should have been raised at this sensitive time.
"The Insurance Council will consider any concerns that NIBA raises with it," Campbell Fuller said. "No issues of this nature have been formally identified."
So there. But senior managers within insurance companies have been a bit more forthcoming, telling insuranceNEWS.com.au Mr Booth's published comments have caused huge concern. They take particular issue with the fact that all companies are being caught up in the criticism.
"This scattergun approach seeks to tar the whole industry and could exacerbate unfounded stereotypes," one source said.
"When that sort of commentary comes from within the industry it is very disappointing. [Brokers] are people with a responsibility to enhance the community perception of insurance, not undermine it.
"These comments are a really unpleasant surprise and could not have come at a worse time."
And while brokers haven't been identified by the royal commission as a prime target, one senior manager suggested that now might be a good time for them to keep their heads down.
"We hear the words 'fees for no service' a lot," he said. "They need to be really careful. I would have thought in the current environment brokers' representatives shouldn't be throwing mud at their partners in this business.
"People who live in glasshouses shouldn't throw stones."


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General Question
Is hookah THAT bad for you? Healthier than a cig?
Asked by musicman997 (105) June 5th, 2009
I love hookah. I'm Indian so it's a part of my culture. I own several, and smoke about 2 bowls (45 minutes each) a week. I obviously know the basics, in that smoking anything is bad for you. But is it really that bad? Shisha, tobacco used for hookah, contains no nicotine, no rat poison, or whatever the hell else are in ciggs these days. Should I stop?
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Subgroup/Subculture Project Reference: The Toolkit for Cross-Cultural Collaboration has some information about communication styles of various cultural groups that live in the U.S., including African Americans, Native Americans, Anglo or European Americans, Asian Americans, and Hispanic Americans. If appropriate, you can use some of this information for developing your presentations about a subgroup or subculture.
Archive for March, 2004
Posted by thuicc on March 25, 2004
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on 108014817307490598
Posted by thuicc on March 21, 2004
Based on districtly distinction of "insiders" and "outsiders," we are in trouble. I am scared about chaos here in TW. Taiwan people cannot do anything calmly…..It seems that we'll never have peaceful future whatever who is the president. By the way, should I go back to Taichung? It's in great turmoil last night, till today, perhaps tomorrow……Will we have tomorrow???
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on 107984452961355061
Posted by thuicc on March 11, 2004
1. In page 62,the author mentions hedging strategies and the author says that one of the characteristics of hedging strategies is to make many reference to the virutes and skills of the superior before giving criticism, are essential to fulfilling the job and, concurrently, to protecting the face of those who are criticized. But I am curious why this can protect the face of those who are criticized? Is the reason because peopel haveo some surperior reference and they have information to base on their criticism, they criticism is reliable? Besides, I am confused how to distinguish "criticize" and "gossip", can you defind the two words to me?
2. In page 63, the author says that in business negotiations, any proposal-counterproposal style of negotiating is avoided. I don't know the reason. Becasue I think peopel should discuss thier business directly and think of a best one, they have to offter their own proposal directly.
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on 107900343884238369
Posted by thuicc on March 3, 2004
Hello, everyone. I am Jessie. Here is my question.
Do you think "the Americans' nonverbal communication habit" is related to individualism? Explain.
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on 107831817413106272


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Stainless steel gas fryer with two baskets
for fast food chips chicken nugget
1,Easy to operate programmable of 10 different cook cycles for quick and easy preparation of various menu items,as well as automation,energy-saving,filltration and cookmanagement features.
2Buildin filter systembuildin filtration system filters andreturns hot oil in less than four minutes with no extra pumps or pans and no handling of hot oil,provides quick,easy and safe cooking oil filtration.
3,Proven round cooking well desing-Engineered for more uniform heat distribution,durability and efficiency,no cold spots or corners.
4,High-efficiency heat exchange system-high efficiency heat exchange system produces among the lowest average exhaust gas temperatures in the industry,so it get fast recovery and energy savings.
5,Fast and productive-cooks up to 6 pieces of fresh chicken per load in under 10 minutes.
Additional Features
1,Stainless steel cabinet for easy-cleaning and long life.
2,Heavy-duty stainless steel
3,Larger 6-head capacity fry pot.
4,Cast aluminum alloy lid is strong but light for easy landling.
5,Color-keyed locking spindle engages pressure seal.
6,Patented lid-lock system keeps lid locked until pressure.
7,Raised edge on deck reduces spills.
8,Channel under lid helps direct condensation away from pot when lid is open.
9,4 heavy duty casters,2 locking.
Name: Gas open fryer(With oil filtering system)
Model: ZFG-800F-01
Control panel: Computer Operated
Specified voltage: 220V/50Hz
Power: 0.3KW/h
Temperature range: 0-300℃
Capacity: 2*25L
Overall size: 890*900*1230mm
Net weight: 140kg
Material: 304 stainless steel
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Model: ZFG-800G-01
Control panel: Computer Operated
Specified voltage: 220V/50Hz
Power: 0.3KW/h
Temperature range:0-300℃
Capacity: 25L
Overall size: 900*450*1680mm
Net weight: 85kg
Material: 304 stainless steel
Basket size: 336*165*152mm
Model: ZFG-800H
Control panel: Computer Operated
Specified voltage: 380V/50Hz
Power: 24 kw/h
Temperature range:0-300℃
Capacity: 50L
Overall size: 900*900*1680mm
Net weight: 160kg
Material: 304 stainless steel
Basket size: 336*165*152mm
Name: Gas pressure fryer(with oil pump)
Model: ZF-800D-01
Control panel: computer operated
Specified voltage:220v/50hz
Working pressure:0.08pa
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Overall size:980*485*1210mm
Packing dimensions:1030*530*1330mm
Net weight:140kg
Material:304 stainless steel
Basket size:340*260*215mm
Stainless steel gas fryer with two baskets for fast food chips chicken nugget have thermostatic temperature control in the temperature range. A safety thermostat and drainage tap to make it easier to clean the machine.Gas fryer:Cast iron burners.Automatic burner ignition by means of an electromagnetic valve,with pilot light and thermocouple.
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Copyright © 2017 - 2019Shandong Leader Machinery All Rights Reserved


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I no longer wait for my husband to roll over and fall asleep before silently crying myself to sleep for hours, I no longer wake up in the mornings thinking it has all just been a bad dream and I'm going to find that I am still pregnant with a healthy baby. I am no longer a prisoner in my own home afraid to leave the house, afraid to look at people, afraid to talk to them, afraid to answer the phone or open the front door to the postman. I am no longer unable to eat, to make decisions, to function, to laugh, smile, talk about my daughter, to see pregnant women or newborn babies.
I can go to work everyday with a smile on my face, I can serve my customers, manage my staff and make business plans. I can hold normal conversations without wanting to scream 'how can you talk about such stupid things when my child is dead.' I can laugh and joke like I used to.
I can do my crafting, walk my dog, clean my house, sleep alone when my husband works away, focus on something on the TV or a book I am reading, do the food shop alone, I can do all the 'normal things' that I used to do before I was even pregnant. In fact if you didn't know me or spot the hand and footprint necklace I wear everyday you would never even know that I had given birth to my beautiful little girl and then watched her die in her daddy's arms; that's how fine I am.
Sometimes even I believe this. But when I am alone with my thoughts and I dare to scratch below the surface of how I am feeling, I know that I am anything but fine. Fine is the last thing I am feeling. I am wearing fine like a mask to protect me. Like if I don't I will fall back down in those depths of hell and never get back out again.
If I am fine then why do I not dream at night, why do I touch my belly every morning when I wake, why do I have a desire to warn pregnant women of the dangers, why do I look at people who have newborns and wonder if they have ever had a miscarriage, interrupted a pregnancy, still birth or neonatal death. If I am fine why do I need my job so much like a pillar of strength, stability, self worth and routine but why do I hate it so much. I see no point to it anymore I am putting money in someone else's pocket just to go home to an empty, silent house every night. A house once so filled with hopes and dreams now an empty shell, the silence so deafening, that room with all the baby things. If I am fine why when I craft can I not use pink wool anymore, why am I afraid to use it is it because I know it will make me cry. Why can I not write in my pregnancy journal, it still says that I am 18 weeks my last post was about how nervous and excited I was for the 20 week scan. Why can I not bring myself to write what happened during that scan, the news, the research, the decision, the birth, the after math. If I am fine why can I not bring myself to order my daughters' headstone. Is it because I know it will make this real? Seeing my baby's name on a headstone there really is no denying it. If I am fine why do I look at my body in the mirror everyday and hate who I have become, how big I am, never have I been this big. But why do I not want to do anything about it? Is it because this is how pregnancy has shaped me and I don't want to lose that, like it might be another part of my daughter that I have lost? The stomach, the thick glossy pregnancy hair, large breasts; I hate it but I need it. Why do I hide these thoughts and feelings. From myself, my husband, my family, my friends, my councillor, my colleagues and even other people who have lost babies. Why can I not just be honest.
When you ask me how I am why can I not just look you in the eyes and say 'actually I am really sad, guilty, angry, lost I have no words to describe the pain that I feel.'
Is it because you have told me that I have to stop being sad now, I can always have another, it was for the best, at least she won't live a half life in pain. Is it because you think I am insane, you move me to another workplace, demote me, take half my pay from me, tell me I am ill, that I need to get over this. You counsel me, you're meant to help me, but I know that you're paid by my company and that I cannot truly trust you. Is it because you just don't understand and telling you the truth has already cost me too much.
You see your question of 'how are you' has damaged me even more, has made me become a liar, forced me to push my feelings aside and cost me my job. So how can you expect me to answer in any other way? This is the only way to protect myself so I will put my mask back on and tomorrow if you ask me 'how are you' my answer will be as always with a smile on my face 'I'm fine.'


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May 27, 2017
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Boat Trips in Tromsø, the Tromsø region - 2 matches
Fjord Cruise & Culture Heritage – Arctic Expedition
8 Dec 2019 - 12 Apr 2020
Area: Tromsø Map
Occasion: 9:00
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Class 1
Section Questions
Overview of Remedies and Alternatives to Court
Please click the link on the left to listen to the first class. At the end of each week, questions will be posted in "Weekly Questions" doc on the left. These questions will be compiled each week, so go to the current week and answer the appropriate questions.
The first questions are to be submitted to your instructor in writing, by email. In coming weeks, written responses to questions are due no later than the 14th day following the posting of the audio for that section.
Please label your e-mail by entitling your responses "Week 1 Responses" in the subject line of your e-mail. Do this each week for your Week 2, 3, 4…Responses. This will better ensure that you will get credit for submitting the responses. Late responses will not be accepted.
Lawyer Turns Peacemaker (Reuben, The Lawyer Turns Peacemaker, 82 A.B.A. J. (August 1996))
Class 2
Massachusetts School of Law's mission is to provide an academically rigorous affordable legal education emphasizing ethics, advocacy, leadership, and professional skills. MSLAW provides an accessible and affordable legal education to tomorrow's leaders in law, business, and technology who seek to contribute to their communities as advocates, lawyers, and leaders. Lawyers have substantial influence in our society and MSLAW prepares its graduates to use that power to help their clients and obtain the societal advancement that a law degree has traditionally provided.
To accomplish its mission, Massachusetts School of Law brings together a diverse group of scholars, judges, expert practitioners and other professionals to provide individuals from all backgrounds a rigorous, professionally advantageous, affordable legal education so that they can improve their lives and better serve their communities.
The Massachusetts School of Law does not discriminate against any person on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital or parental status, disability, source of income, or status as a Vietnam-era or disabled veteran admission to, access to, treatment in, or employment in its programs and activities.


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The playwright Arthur Miller remarked that Protestantism was a large factor in preventing social revolution in the US during and after the 1930s Great Depression. The doctrine of Sola Fide had its hand in the origins of modern science, philosophy and psychopathology. "Average" because it's what Willy Loman could not say of himself, "Protestant" because it's the root of most of what I feel interested to write about, well or badly.
Wednesday, 24 July 2013
Husserl (1859-1938) and Popper (1902-1992)
Husserl's last work was "The crisis in the European sciences and transcendental phenomenology", based on lectures he gave in Prague in 1935. I notice a part headed "the verificational character of natural science's fundamental hypothesis." In 1934 Karl Popper's second, and most famous, work was published in Vienna, called "Logik der Forschung" ("the logic of scientific discovery"). In this book, Popper expounds his disagreement with the Vienna Circle in their attempts to render philosophy scientific and free of metaphysics, and simultaneously proposes a criterion for the demarcation between science and non-science, on the basis that conjecture and refutation, and not induction and verification, characterise science. Both these thinkers were responding to a contemporary crisis in the sciences. Popper gave a Kantian metaphysical underpinning to a philosophy of science, where the positivists sought to banish metaphysics from philosophy. I am sure someone has made a link between these two thinkers with their shared concern with science and it's relation to the humanities, and the ramifications of Godel's theorem and Einstein's theory of special and general relativity, which placed the observer in the world?
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Each year, the International Conference on Residency Education (ICRE) strives to incorporate the most innovative, cutting-edge, and practical workshops and sessions into its programming – and we'd love for you to join our 2016 lineup!
If you have a bright idea or unique perspective on a medical education topic related to one (or more) of our 15 Learning Tracks, be sure to mark these important submission deadlines on your calendar:
- *NOW OPEN* Call for conference workshops: January 29, 2016
- Call for conference abstracts: March 4, 2016
- Call for Residency Education Awards nominations: April 1, 2016
Taking place in beautiful Niagara Falls, Canada, September 29 – October 1, ICRE 2016 will revolve around the theme Advancing Quality: Aligning Residency Education and Patient Care.
Visit the ICRE website to find out more about the 2016 program and submission process.


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Samsung Electronics will invest about 10 trillion won (US$8.7 billion) in Hwaseong Campus in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea to build a new line to produce memory DRAMs. By coping with the soaring demand, the company will maintain the world's number one position in the memory semiconductor sector. As a result, 18nm or more advanced DRAMs will be produced from the new line in Hwaseong in about two years.
According to the semiconductor industry on March 14, Samsung Electronics is currently working on an initial task after assembling a taskforce team for the expansion of new DRAM lines at idle sites in its Hwaseong plant.
Samsung Electronics plans to produce NAND flash exclusively at the plants in Xian of China, Pyeongtaek and partially in Hwaseong, and roll out DRAMs in most of current and new lines at the Hwaseong plant. System semiconductors (system LSI) will be produced in its plants in Giheung of Korea, Austin of the US and Hwaseong of Korea (part of the plant).
"Considering the construction period of about two years, the speed of company's research and development (R&D) and the yield rate of process conversion, it is not clear whether products from the new line at Hwaseong pant will be 18nm DRAMs, which are mass produced currently, or more advanced products," a Samsung official explained.
In fact, the semiconductor market is changing rapidly every month, and the choice of products to be manufactured is often determined at the completion of a plant. A good example is Line 17 of the Hwaseong plant which was intended to produce system semiconductors in the first place but is currently manufacturing memory semiconductors. Samsung Electronics recently decided to produce NAND flash at the Pyeongtaek plant which will be put into operation in June of this year only after the construction of the factory is completed.
Samsung Electronics decided to build a new DRAM line in order to generate maximum profit in response to soaring demand.
"The profit margin of Samsung DRAMs towers over the middle of 40%," said a representative of Samsung Electronics. "Even though their prices eclipse those of other companies' products, demand is exceeding supply now as their quality stand out." In the global DRAM market, Samsung Electronics enjoyed a dominant position while recording a share of 48.0% last year.
As its technological supremacy strategy paid off based on its technological prowess, Samsung Electronics' DS (device and semiconductor) Division exceeded 6 trillion won (US$5.2 billion), a record high, in operating profit in the fourth quarter of last year. Samsung Electronics' annual operating profit of 2017 is expected to exceed 50 trillion won (US$4.3 billion) and its DS Division is expected to post 25 to 30 trillion won (US$21 billion to US$26 billion), more than the half of the total according to industry sources.


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From the mailbox:
"Something I was thinking about your opinion on. Given that the future of comics is Original Graphic Novels, do you think that the freelancer - especially the freelance writer - has a chance? Will he exist just to service the Corporate IP (Marvel, DC, DH, and I guess Boom!) while the independent creator writes, draws, and self-publishes their personal work? Or do you think that collaboration will still exist even after technology allows one person to do it all?"
The first rule of modern culture: never underestimate corporatism. Like most American media, comics exist in a confusion of misinterpretation of their past, and cherished assumptions that don't necessarily reflect reality. There's a presumption in the question, for instance, that freelancer equates to numen, a controlling creative spirit. In fact, that was a very late development in comics, and more and more seems to be little more than a passing aberration, at least in areas of the field where money actually changes hands. This is the essential paradox of the comics business - of all "creative" mass media (comics still fall under that rubric, at least tangentially) - and source of much annoyance, finger-pointing and puffery in the field: it's very hard to earn a living producing comics unless you're willing to bend yourself to corporate control. Yet bending to corporate control (regardless of the company size; there isn't a significant spiritual difference between a one-person publishing outfit and Time-Warner, as both make decisions ostensibly based on anticipated profit, in cash, in reputation, or some other "reward" that benefit the publisher) is widely considered to be desecrating the holy cause of art - or, at least, those struggling to produce comics and meeting with little commercial success can still assure themselves they haven't "sold out" - but here's the dirty little secret of comics freelancing:
Comics freelancing is about craft, not art, and always has been.
A lot of our traditions emerged out of newspaper strip culture, where many artists (and writers) commonly spent early if not entire careers forging the style of whoever created whatever comic strip they'd been hired to work on. That's how you generally broke into newspaper strips, as an assistant on an existing strip, and most daily laborers dreamed of the big payoff, when they could sell their own strips for newspaper syndications. A few pulled it off, enough to keep The Big Dream going (Al Capp worked for Ham Fisher on JOE PALOOKA, Frank Frazetta worked with Al Capp on LI'L ABNER, etc.), but most spent their lives as hired hands until moving on to something else. SUPERMAN may have started as a newspaper strip Seigel & Shuster were unable to sell to a syndicate, but once it hit comics it was a pretty short hop to them hiring on crews to produce the material. Because freelancing wasn't about Art, in the sense of creative expression, but about commercial art, producing material to publisher/editor specification. Will Eisner may have been the poster boy for "creative control" with THE SPIRIT, but his first high-profile work was the first actionable knockoff of Superman - done to publisher specification.
In fact, while interviews with Golden and Silver Age talent almost always ramble on about "creativity" (frequently in the "we were massively creative, not like these kids today who just copy everything" vein) the word may only be understood within very narrow parameters: parameters set by the publishers. Creativity in a Batman story is measured not in terms of genuine creativity but as imaginative within the claustrophobic confines of possibility allowed by the history and nature of the strip, as well as the personal preferences of the editor - and, in the case of Batman, the corporate license holder. Not that this is unreasonable of a publisher, and I use Batman as an example because the material is well known enough for most people to recognize, since almost any work done in American comics from 1939-1978 (at least) fits just as well. Freelancers in the very early days of comics had the advantage of being done for publishers who were too new to the medium to know what they wanted, and it was pretty clear from the start that obvious knockoffs of popular comic strips wouldn't gain much traction, but once publishers started figuring that out (i.e., getting sales reports, and seeing what sold for other publishers) that was that.
And that's pretty much been the standard for the business ever since. For a brief time, comics were alienated from old audiences and old distributions paths, what had sold wasn't selling so well anymore, publishers were looking for any hook, and what passed for fandom (AKA the only market vocal enough to qualify as free market research), emboldened by a growing sense among talent that they should be getting a bigger part of the pie, started up this whole Art thing. Again, it was a basic confusion of terms: drawing ("art") is a, arguably the, pivotal component of comics, but the nature of comics makes art difficult to seriously judge in terms of Art. We really judge it on the basis of levels of craft. Which isn't to say comics have never produced genuine works of art, only that we tend to define Art in comics by rather liberal criteria intended less to validate works of art and more to validate the tastes of the self-proclaimed judges. Almost everyone in comics wants to believe they're creating works of art, even when they're officially denouncing the whole concept of "Art" as well as "flavors of the month," clinging to youthful obsessions and instead labeling themselves entertainers, but the urge to proclaim comics Art (let alone genre-izing art comics) has as much, possibly more, to do with justifying and elevating the customer as the talent.
We're now seeing signs that the industry is largely moving in the direction of the Original Graphic Novel. Except at the highest rungs of the corporate comics world (Marvel) the comic book, especially those split into arcs for reconstitution into trade paperback collection, is becoming increasingly commercially unviable. There may be nothing wrong with the standard comics format, but unless it can recover an audience large enough to support it economically it hasn't much of a future. That said, there are scales of economy that make it more viable, but ironically those scales are small enough they can't be made to work on the standard corporate model.
The corporate model of media - comics, film, TV, doesn't matter - isn't built around creativity. We tend to think of the basic practical unit of any sort of mass media fiction as the story, but from the corporate perspective the basic practical unit is the franchise. Corporate media is all about the franchise. Period. Not that it was ever really anything else at that level, but there's no longer even much of a pretense that the freelancer's job is to be creative. The freelancer's job is to produce to order. There's still some chance the order will be carte blanche, but more and more the system in corporate comics is taking on more the aspect of the animation studio or the TV series, with "staff meetings," and a creative hierarchy with a corporate representative handing creative decisions down to freelancers whose charge is to realize them to corporate specifications.
But this isn't the only model out there, mainly because it's all about franchises now. The Original Graphic Novel has lured book publishers into the field, and they, by and large, don't have franchises. There's still a longstanding if wavering tradition among publishers to consider authors their franchises, but since the '70s they've still preferred that their franchise authors bring their own franchises to the game. For now, book publishers, looking for market cred, have emphasized The Artist (writers and artists inclusive) as Franchise, and more "serious" material that distinguishes them from the commercial taint of corporate comics, but it's really only a matter of time before franchises become an issue on their level too. We're already seeing it to some extent. Smaller comics publishers in the standard comics market are also largely free from immediate concerns about franchises, largely because they don't have any. (It remains that voids tend to make publishers more susceptible to the charms of individual creativity.) I've yet to meet a publisher of any size who doesn't want a franchise, whether they control it or not.
The problem of a creator-owned franchise is that sooner or later virtually every creator wants to earn a living from their work - you can chalk this up to greed if you're feeling ungenerous, but mainly making money doing what you love, to the point where you can do it exclusively and live reasonably well, is a great dream for most people - and most smaller publishers, mostly for reasons having little to do with them and more to do with the system they're stuck with, ultimately have trouble meeting those expectations. There's also an ego element; if there's a general perception that a talented creator is deserving of a larger audience, eventually they'll go looking for that larger audience. There are those who steadfastly pursue their creative vision regardless of other opportunities and produce singular definitive works, like Dave Sim, and perhaps they can be singled out as "true" creators, but they're few and far between. There will always be "independent creators" out there, but how long any of them can survive in that role depends on shifting circumstances and their reservoirs of tenacity.
But, given the current state of the market, it's a misreading to think "independent creators" and "corporate freelancers" are exclusive of each other. They might be, often are, the same person(s). On a talent level, it's pretty stupid to write off any opportunities; the object of the game is to stay alive long enough to see your own creative vision through, and though it does occasionally happen it's juvenile to believe all doors will be flung open before you as a matter of course. Even if you really are a creative genius. Maybe especially. Again, in mass media, it isn't the totally original work that qualifies as "creative genius," it's the work that puts an original spin on a tried and trusted existing concept. Like, say, thinly disguised fundamentalist Mormons as vampires. The tarted up familiar is what the corporate mind thinks it can sell, because whatever "edge" dolls it up it's familiar, which is to say comforting, ground underneath. Furthermore, the notion that the Original Graphic Novel (in general) equals creative expression and unique vision is still mainly a dream that only a relative few are eager to make reality. Whether publishers or audiences of any volume share this dream on anything more than a moment-to-moment basis is open to question. While book publishers may still embrace the novel as personal expression, they're also certainly no strangers to franchises in the same sense as other media, and already "graphic novels" adapted existing fiction as well as movies and TV shows are popping up in their repertoire; it's not much of a jump to original franchise characters and concepts carried over a series of Original Graphic Novels. (As we've learned, particularly with terms hijacked by marketing, phrases can be made to mean almost anything the seller wants them to mean, if the sell is good enough.) The "original graphic novel" may yet end up being just another extension of existing franchise practice, the way Marvel ran a string of "original graphic novels" in the late '80s that were often little more than extended issues of MARVEL TEAM-UP and at the same level of sophistication and were a major contributor toward killing the first wave graphic novel movement. Whether the "Art" original graphic novel - the singular vision, which itself may be little more than a sentimental throwback to 19th century preconceptions - is the true destiny of comics or a brief mutation incapable of sustaining itself depends on popular spending patterns.
A lot of what happens with the future of comics depends on conditions comics have no real control over. While right now it's hard to see anything other than a state of stolid entropy gripping the business, any number of things could shift. The outcome of current tribulations afflicting the big bookstore chains may determine the financial viability of the original graphic novel, at least those not involving the superheroes and horror stories the direct market embraces. There's no question that many comic companies of all sizes are increasingly tying, or trying to tie, their fortunes to Hollywood, who's recent taste for comics as source material shows no signs of abatement, but shifting perceptions of what Hollywood is looking for might affect what publishers seek. Likewise, buyer tastes periodically shift despite the best efforts of any corporate entity to keep things predictable. Any potential trigger seems currently elusive, but it's always possible a popular demand for creator-controlled material will re-emerge. Comics have always been slow to adjust to market shifts - the business tends to be reactive rather than progressive and protective of its past, a trait it shares with the general corporate mindset - but even corporate comics make moves to shore up their bottom line when absolutely necessary. New technologies like Internet comics and phone comics have also created new options, but, again, until the money is there in something more than symbolic amounts anyone with the talent to earn money in other venues will end up elsewhere.
At any rate, the overall situation for the freelancer isn't likely to change much more than cosmetically, with everyone making their decisions on the basis of what they really want. Those who wish to write or draw comics and want to be assured money doing it will gravitate to corporate comics, as will those whose creative vision corresponds with what corporate comics want. If someone's more interested in producing original concepts that strongly bear the stamp of their personality, there will always be avenues for that as well, even if the talent has to forge a new way themselves. Some will continue to adjust their visions to fall better into line with perceived publisher needs, whether they're eager to be published by DC or Fantagraphics. And publishers will continue to occasionally go in surprising directions. Whether the comic book stays the standard format or original graphic novels or something else becomes the standard is a bit irrelevant, because there will still only be a finite amount of material published and a more finite subset of that will be profitable, and what's profitable or not is really going to determine what the freelancer's options are and the breadth of opportunity.
I also don't see the level of collaboration shifting to any noticeable degree. While "corporate" comic tend to prefer collaborate comics, partly as a means to speed production and partly (and usually vainly) to dissuade talent from viewing itself as "author" of the work, collaboration has become a staple of comics because it's practical. Comics involve a lot of disparate skills, and not everyone is good at everything. That's no reason to not work in comics if you want to, despite the cult that insists the only comics that can really lay a claim to Art are the ones produced by a single entity pursuing a single vision. (The flip side that has been embraced by any number of crappy talents is that if you produce a comic all on your own, it's automatically Art. Once you settle for shallow reasoning, it's easy to jump to other shallow conclusions.) I don't see any reason technology will significantly change this. The best technology in the world can't help a person who doesn't know how to write produce a coherent script, and short of a massive comprehensive computer swipe file with customizing software I can't think of anything besides a camera and some willing models that could circumvent an ability to draw. Even proper lettering and coloring can't really be auto-mechanized. These are all things that can only be employed properly by a working intelligence.
On an even more basic level, many writer-artists don't fill both functions at the same time. Writing while you're drawing, especially where space is limited and with comics it almost always is, is a very bad idea minus a genius aptitude for it; most writer-artists I know write first, whether as a script or as breakdowns, and draw from the result. This is still division of labor, though both tasks are done by the same person. It doesn't even necessarily follow that the "shared vision" of the two aspects will amount to anything; in fact, a clash of visions can produce surprising, sometimes exciting results. In the end, either can produce crap, either can produce Art. The road you take to get there is irrelevant, as is how many hands are involved. What matters is the result, not the process. I'm inclined toward Raymond Chandler's dictum: There is no such thing as bad art. There is only art, and precious little of it.
1000 reviews in 1000 days (days 115-121):
From Del Rey Books:
THE DRESDEN FILES: STORM FRONT VOL. 1, THE GATHERING STORM by Jim Butcher, Mark Powers, Adrian Syaf & Rick Ketcham($22.95; hardcover)
While I know they're quite popular, I'm not a fan of Butcher's novels starring wizard/private eye Harry Dresden in a hardboiled Chicago steeped in magic and monsters; it's too similar to gobs of other wizard private eye concepts from the Philip Lovecraft stories to Steve Niles' Cal MacDonald. And I'm flat out repelled by the concept of a $23 book that's only the first chapter of a continued story. Within those parameters, this one - with Harry trying to solve twin occult murders while the head of the wizard's council wants him executed for breaking their laws and other enemies periodically attack him - is better than the last I read, with Powers setting things up at a pleasant pace while Syaf & Ketcham produce pretty good art. Still, these things should be run in comics form until there's a whole story to collect; the material, especially fragmented, is just too mundane to merit the cost.
From IDW Publishing:
FROM THE ASHES #1 by Bob Fingerman ($3.99; comic book)
Apparently for some people nuclear apocalypse isn't disaster on a grand scale, it's personal liberation. Fingerman presents it as a personal memoir for future generations (?) as he and his wife wander the rubble of New York City, gloating over the loss of everything they hate about modern society (like most New Yorkers, the phrase "live and let live" doesn't seem to be in their vocabulary), recalling various scenarios from end-of-the-world movies, and looking for toilet paper, while observing the quick degeneration of the human race. (Or, at least, the New York version of it.) Fingerman's work is always good, but FROM THE ASHES is strangely... sedate. It's like THE ROAD on valium, or a MAD magazine gag on silly putty, where tomorrow's breakfast is far less important than the smoker downstairs not being able to light up anymore. I like it okay, but I wish it gave me something to like more.
From Pantheon Books:
ASTERIOS POLYP by David Mazzuchelli ($29.95; hardcover)
Despite the popularity of the term, there aren't many projects I'd call a genuine graphic novel. This one is. In telling the story of an architecture professor whose house burns down, Mazzuchelli, who has become quite an excellent cartoonist, really departs on an exercise in philosophy and worldbuilding, as his simple, evocative drawings are as articulate as his writing. It's a fascinating, winding trek through 50 year old Polyp's past, viewpoints, and post-fire nervous breakdown/mid-life crisis with very funny moments like a discussion of abstraction, art and function that seems to be a subtle parody of Steve Ditko's AVENGING WORLD. It's really quite a wonderful, rich book, beautifully designed, inventively drawn and filled with great characters and interesting ideas, even if the ending's just a bit too steeped in irony. Read it.
From Image Comics:
LILLIM #1 by Shaun Lapacek, Ian Keiser & Matrix ($2.99)
Ah, more gods. Turns out Loki, analogued here with the Greek Prometheus, is the good guy, the rest of the Norse pantheon are violent, narrow-minded dullards, and Ragnarok ended with a thud. Somehow Loki ends up in the modern world, face to face with (of course) the spitting image of his lost love, and... well, nothing, really. This runs up against the problem most mythology-based comics, including, maybe especially, Marvel's THOR, does: ancient pantheons just don't correlate that well to the modern world, and nobody, not Neil Gaiman, not Jack Kirby, not Grant Morrison, has managed to make god pantheons any different from any other superhero group. Plus the manga detective version of Loki is a lot more interesting, though this version's more interesting than Marvel's transsexual villain version. Maybe it's time for comics to give Norse gods a rest.
From Fantagraphics:
TALES DESIGNED TO THRIZZLE, VOL. 1 by Michael Kupperman ($24.99; hardcover)
I might say Kupperman is one of the greatest satirists of our time, if I could figure out what he's satirizing. The basic facts: this collects the four issues of the TALES DESIGNED TO THRIZZLE magazine Fantagraphics published over the years, featuring dozens of short pieces done on a chaotic array of subjects in so many styles much of it comes across as found art, and almost all of it's hilarious. Any attempt to summarize to summarize things like "Mentally Ill Gangster Comics" or "Crime Is Pushing The Limits" would miss the point completely. Except to say this is media culture put through the grinder. Top-notch.
From TwoMorrows Publishing:
BACK ISSUE #34 ed. Michael Eury ($6.95; magazine)
Speaking of "Art comics," this issue fondly recalls the first irruption of poisenal expression into mainstream comics in the early '70s, as Roy Thomas and Gil Kane first conceived Marvel's Warlock as the company's first overt Christ surrogate (Stan Lee had previously pushed The Silver Surfer for that role but wouldn't go whole hog) and Jim Starlin later reconceived him as a tour guide into The Cosmic: the superhero as neo-Gnosticm, acid-drenched allegory. WARLOCK may also be read as a guide to the limits of individual vision in the face of franchise demands - even a loving plot summary unfairly makes the series sound like the result of brain damage - but Starlin pushed the limits pretty far, given the time. The rest of the issue covers other science fictionized superhero comics of the '70s & '80s - Jim Shooter's Legion of Super-Heroes and New Universe, Dick Giordano on CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, MARVELMAN, etc. - and the issue's as entertaining as most BACK ISSUEs, but this one turns out to be oddly instructive as well.
From Marvel Comics:
DARK REIGN: HAWKEYE #2 by Andy Diggle, Tom Raney & Scott Hanna ($3.99; comic book)
I've read nothing but complaints about how awful this series is, but in all its singleminded focus on a "hero" opportunistically reveling in the unrepentant sociopath he really is, it's really pretty exhilarating. If you haven't followed Avengers peregrinations, the group has been replaced by a bunch of rebranded supervillains, with psychotic hitman Bullseye, of DAREDEVIL fame being put in Hawkeye's old costume. It's no more stupid than any other superhero concept, and watching head sociopath Norman Osborn stoop to the outright fascism that things like The Patriot Act make possible to cover up Bullseye/Hawkeye's mess works too. It's clear Diggle and Raney are having a kick tossing aside all social convention for this, and it's great that they feel no compulsion to make Bullseye out to be anything more than dumb as dirt. I have a feeling this is exactly the sort of superhero action a lot of people secretly prefer: sheer high-spirited aggression with no redeeming value. And I'm not being sarcastic.
Notes from under the floorboards:
Recently caught Canadian TV show THE LISTENER, set to debut as a summer series on NBC in a couple of weeks. I guess the producers must know their market, because TV networks all over the world have been rushing to sign the show on, but it's a botch from the word go. The almost startlingly nondescript Craig Olejnik starts as a man born with - you guessed it, superpowers - the ability to read people's minds. Apparently he spent his youth as a bitter outsider, despite a twinkling smile and varsity good looks, until some researcher taught him to "shut out the voices," but now realizes he can help people, and uses his telepathy to butt into their lives. It takes maybe thirty seconds of imagination to generate half a dozen interesting takes on the real world ramifications of mindreading, but the best the show's creator and producers can concoct is a tired retread of 30 year old private eye show tropes.
Speaking of tired, maybe it's time to put SMALLVILLE (CW) out of its misery. Where season 7 was remarkably good, all things considered, season 8 was a train wreck of lost and aborted storylines, story illogic, and throwing half-ideas against the wall to see what crashes on contact, then using those. The season finale, which found its "shocks" in killing "the one character" you'd never expect to die (besides Clark and Lois), was the big climax to the battle royale they've been teasing all five SUPERMAN fans with all year: Clark vs. Doomsday! You know: the unstoppable, indestructible alien juggernaut, the rampaging killing machine beast, who killed Superman waaaaaaay back in the '90s, when people were still gullible enough to think the "Death Of Superman" issue would one day be worth enough to put their kids through college (so they bought ten). In the comics, the battle lasted several issues. In the show... barely a minute. (Apparently, the Doomsday SFX ate up most of their budget, so they filled in with lots of angsty chatter, with a member of the Legion Of Super-Heroes dropping in to spew ominously, and Green Arrow being revealed as Lex Luthor's murderer - a running storyline earlier in the season had Luthor subordinate Tess Mercer desperately trying to track down the whereabouts of her lost boss after the Fortress Of Solitude caved in on him during last season's finale, until one episode it suddenly turned out she'd been in contact with him all along; that's the sort of season it was - and no other hero seems to think that was an especially bad move, except Clark. Who does nothing.) Two minutes for the battle to end all battles. Do Clark and Doomsday replicate the comics and beat each other to death? No, Clark dumps the unstoppable, indestructible monster into a pile of explosives and blows him up. There's nothing left to work with there...
My favorite line of the season, which I've been quoting endlessly, in voice, since it aired, was courtesy of James Callis as a cross between Charles Manson and the Unabomber in the season finale of NUMB3RS (CBS). Imagine it in a great Callis Ozarks-by-way-of-Royal-Shakespeare-Company hillbilly drawl: "Theh dodd fer thuh messuge." Priceless. Someone give Callis his own show.
A couple interesting scientific developments lately: inconclusive evidence has turned up suggesting our Cro-Magnon ancestors not only wiped out Neanderthals, they ate them, a new 47 million year old fossil find buttresses the development of humans via evolution by appearing to be the missing link between lemurs and primates, and scientists may have found the mechanism for forming RNA in primordial soup. If the experiment can be replicated by other labs and doesn't turn out to be a cold fusion or perpetual motion deal, it means the astronomical odds of life developing from inanimate matter - a key talking point for Creationists - aren't all that astronomical after all...
Congratulations to Steve Fagan, the first - the only - to spot last week's Comics Cover Challenge theme was "decades." (Each cover comes from a different decade between the 1940s and now.) Steve, who handles distribution for independent films, wishes to point your attention to his own website, Sky Island Films, which could come in very handy if you've got an indie film you want seen. Check it out.
For those who came in late, almost every week I run a Comics Cover Challenge: the covers of seven seemingly unrelated comics (thanks to The Grand Comic Book Database for the covers) from throughout comics history are spread, usually not in any particular order, down the column. But a secret theme - it could be a word, a design element, an artist... anything, really - binds them together, and the first one to e-mail me with the correct solution can promote the website of their choice, subject to my approval. IMPORTANT NEW RULE: PLEASE INCLUDE WITH YOUR GUESS THE WEBSITE YOU'D LIKE TO PROMOTE IF YOU WIN. As in most weeks, there's a secret clue cleverly hidden somewhere in the column, but in the immortal words of Jimmy Cliff, you must try, try and try, and you'll succeed at last. Good luck.
Those wishing to comment should leave messages on the Permanent Damage Message Board. You can also e-mail me but the chances of a reply are next to nil these days, given my workload, though I do read all my e-mail as long as it's not trying to sell me something. IMPORTANT: Because a lot of people apparently list it in their e-address books, this account has gotten a slew of virus-laden messages lately. They're no real threat but dealing with them eats up time I don't really have, to the extent I can no longer accept unsolicited e-mail with attachments. If you want to send something via attachment (say, art samples) ask me first. If I say okay, then send. Unsolicited e-mail with attachments will be wiped from the server without being read.
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I'm reviewing comics sent to me - I may not like them but certainly I'll mention them - at Steven Grant c/o Permanent Damage, 2657 Windmill Pkwy #194, Henderson NV 89074, so send 'em if you want 'em mentioned, since I can't review them unless I see them. Some people have been sending press releases and cover proofs and things like that, which I enjoy getting, but I really can't do anything with them, sorry. Full comics only, though they can be photocopies rather than the published version. Make sure you include contact information for readers who want to order your book.