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With the globalized world going into partial or complete lock down over the Covid-19 pandemic, startups in the travel sector are facing a huge stress test and immediate disruption to business as usual as public health concern spirals and entire populations are encouraged or even forced not to travel.
The traditional travel hub of Europe has emerged as a secondary hotspot for the virus, after SARS-CoV-2 first emerged in China late last year.
Italy, France and Spain have all reported thousands of cases apiece, with the latter declaring a state of high alert today. Earlier this week Italy -- the hardest hit EU country so far -- imposed nationwide travel restrictions, with confirmed cases passing 12,000 as of yesterday. Several other EU countries have also implemented varying quarantine measures. More lockdowns are expected in the coming weeks.
In a further development, US President Trump sent shockwaves through EU institutions earlier this week by unilaterally announcing a 30-day ban on travel from most countries in the bloc.
Today the European Commission came out with its own response -- laying out a $37BN package of measures intended to mitigate the socio-economic impact of Covid-19, including bringing forward €1BN out of the EU budget to act as a guarantee to the European Investment Fund to encourage banks to lend to SMEs in affected sectors.
"This is expected to mobilise €8BN of working capital financing and support at least 100,000 small and medium-sized businesses and small mid-cap companies in the EU," the Commission said, suggesting banks will be in a position to act on the liquidity injection from April 2020.
Of course travel startups with investor capital in the bank aren't waiting around to react to the coronavirus crisis. They're already ripping up 2020 roadmaps and thinking again -- swapping out marketing plans and doubling down on product and engineering, according to three businesses we spoke to.
We asked three European travel startups how they're being impacted by the coronavirus crisis and what steps they're taking to manage a demand crunch combined with ongoing -- and potentially long term -- uncertainty in the sector.
Berlin-based GetYourGuide, which has built a marketplace selling sightseeing tours and other travel experiences, and last year bagged a $484M Series E round; Omio, another Berlin-based startup that's built a multi-modal travel aggregator and booking platform, backed by nearly $300M to-date; and Barcelona-based TravelPerk, a fast-growing business travel booking platform that's pulled in more than $130M in VC funding as it shakes up a legacy space.
'Demand is dropping off a cliff'
All three told us they've seen a major drop in bookings combined with a rise in customer service demand as people with existing travel plans seek to get in touch to cancel or reschedule trips.
As of this week GetYourGuide said bookings for new experiences are down nearly 50% globally vs its demand forecasts for the past two weeks. While customer service enquiries have tripled in the past two weeks, and its global cancellation rate has ticked up by 20%.
Those that are still planning trips are doing so closer to home or with less advanced notice than normal -- with bookings made within three days of the start time up 15%.
"It's the biggest nuclear winter I've ever seen in online travel," co-founder and CEO Johannes Reck told TechCrunch. "Everyone goes and prepares for Easter break and that is not at all happening. All of the European countries seem to be in lockdown.
"None of our Italian customers are booking, the German customers have degraded rapidly. France and Spain have recently followed. The UK has been more stable but seems to follow the same course now. And the US since [Trump announced the travel ban] as well... The US travel ban is now sealing it. So this will be a year of extreme turbulence of the travel market."
For Omio it's a similar story -- with bookings over the last two weeks down between 30-40% overall across all markets, according to founder and CEO Naren Shaam, and a big spike in demand for customer service as worried customers look to cancel trips.
"The whole company is actually stepping in to help customer service because we've seen a spike in cancellations," he said. "In general the impact is heavy. Demand is dropping off a cliff but it's not as bad as we thought — but it is definitely heavy."
It's seeing similar changes in booking behavior. "Advanced booking has come down drastically," he noted. "But we see a spike in short term last minute trips when people feel comfortable on the region -- so that's gone up a lot."
TravelPerk told us it's currently dealing with a drop in business globally of around 50%. Though co-founder and CEO Avi Meir is braced for further drops if more of the West goes into lockdown forcing more companies to scrap business trips.
"You would expect that it dropped to zero but right now people are still travelling," he told us. "Everybody who can avoid traveling right now probably should and does but you have many people who just critically have to keep travelling -- so we see around 50% drop right now."
"Regionally of course as expected APACS has been the most affected in terms of our volumes — Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and China down north of 95%. 100% depending on which day you're looking and what country you're looking at," he added. "China is actually starting to open up a little bit but at the peak we looked at 100% — nothing was being booked in terms of destination.
"In terms of the more core markets for us, Italy is 84% down right now... You also see significant impact in Belgium, Netherlands, Holland, Sweden.
"France, Spain and UK are down year-on-year but not significantly yet. In the Western part of the continent and the UK people are still traveling relatively more than other countries."
Demand for TravelPerk's customer support has also never been so busy, he also said.
"We actually are switching some of our sales team to customer support in the coming weeks just to support the volume of tickets," he noted. "We're very proud that our metrics are not declining -- meaning specifically service level; how fast we solve cases; our 'C-sats', customer satisfaction. The metrics we really care about. Are people happy and are we solving their cases fast?
"We're keeping them although, so far, the past weeks have been the busiest in customer support since we started the company via number of tickets."
TravelPerk has also seen radical changes to the usual booking window. "Most of the trips we see right now is somebody booking for tomorrow or for two days from now because they for know they can travel or have certainty they can travel," said Meir. "Which is unusual compared to normal times. In normal times people book 20-21 days ahead on average. So you have a huge decrease in the booking window."
While of its flagship products is actually seeing high demand in the current crisis situation, per Meir -- given it's designed to offer resilience against unforeseen changes to plans.
"We have this product, FlexiPerk, which allows the users to cancel or change for any reason and if they do they get at least 90% of the money back. FlexiPerk has been really, really on fire over the past few weeks — both in terms of users, those who are already on FlexiPerk and also new sign-ups which is actually driving a lot of our growth in terms of signs ups.
"It gives people the certainty -- or it reduces the uncertainty -- about the mid- term or long term future. So if you are planning a trip in September or in October it's reasonable to expect to be able to travel but you don't really know. And FlexiPerk really plugs this gap because it allows you to book now for September knowing that if you have to change your plans you can do so without losing the money."
"Right now most of the airlines have changed their cancelation policies so we are able to get full refunds in many cases," he added.
All three European businesses said the changes in demand had hit extremely rapidly.
"Up until maybe 2-3 weeks ago we were still growing," Meir told us. "Because most of our travellers -- or at least the headquarters of the travellers -- are concentrated in Europe and North America so the impact was kind of delayed."
"Since we're more a global business we already started noticing Chinese outbound dropping -- because we have an office in China — it hit us already around January, February. So we already saw that in our Chinese outbound dropping by 90+%," added Omio's Shaam.
GetYourGuide's Reck said it was also forewarned of the looming crunch via their Asian business.
"We had already seen a significant decline in our Asian business," he told us. "That was still so small and the overall growth in Europe and the US was so strong that it was negligible at that point in time -- but it gave us a glimpse."
Two of its investors, Japan-based Softbank and Singapore-based Temasek, also put GetYourGuide on early "red alert" over the novel coronavirus because other portfolio companies were suffering heavy impacts.
"We had two weeks to prepare which I guess put us ahead of the curve for most other US and European companies," said Reck. "Then when corona hit, at the end of February, we've seen a very rapid decline and now the current global travel demand is roughly 60% down from where it should be at this point in time so we are massively depressed."
The change is more marked for being set against "a tremendous start to the year" before the virus hit Europe -- Reck dubs it "the best time in history of the company" -- with January and February seeing it close to doubling business.
Rerouting resources in a travel crunch
So how are the three founders coping with a sudden revenue crunch combined with spiralling global uncertainty falling over their sector?
All three described being relatively well cushioned -- on account of recent financing.
"We are in an incredible position because we've raised this massive round last year and we haven't spent a lot of it," said GetYourGuide's Reck. "We've been very frugal with it. In the early months after the fund raise SoftBank was very angry with us that we were so disciplined and we weren't investing more in growth. Now they're, I think, very, very happy — the new role model for the portfolio.
"The good news is that as we come from a position of strength and we will survive and prevail for sure. That's the positive news."
With plenty of capital still in the bank the team has been able to quickly redirect resources on servicing near-term customer needs during the travel crunch.
"The way we're seeing this internally is with every major crisis comes major opportunity. At this point in time we believe there's incredible opportunity to make a real different for our customers, our suppliers and our ecosystem broadly," Reck added. "For instance, for customers we have pushed immediately after we saw the news coming full flexibility on bookings and cancelations.
"Customers can now cancel all of the experiences 24 hours in advance, no questions asked, for a refund. If you go under 24 hours you actually get a gift coupon so you can rebook of the full value in the future. And if you're affected by a lockdown you will get the full amount back no questions asked."
"We've been doing mass cancellations for Italy. We're just doing it for France. We're doing it for the US because of the travel ban now. We refund our customers fully, no questions asked," he added.
Reck also said it's doing what it can to support suppliers who will also clearly be struggling from the same demand crunch.
"Wherever there's an opening where we see demand popping up again we make sure it gets as quickly as possible to our suppliers," he told us, saying its doubling down on its GetYourGuide Originals in-house short tours product. "We want to be a good partner. We don't go in now and start to negotiate on commission rates or anything like that."
Another area it's spending on right now is localization -- in order that it can support suppliers by being able to cater to demand cropping up off the beaten track.
"We're translating our offering into more languages," he noted. "We're making sure the offering itself has better terms for the customers in terms of cancelation policies and we're educating the suppliers around that — and that will ultimately drive their bookings. So we are doing quite a bit in order to make sure that they survive and that they get the revenue through our platform that they deserve."
Zooming out, Reck told us he's taking "a really long term view" on travel.
"The travel landscape through this crisis will inevitably change," he predicted. "When the corona crisis is over online travel will look very different and just survival is going to be an incredible competitive advantage vs the rest. We believe that a lot of players will go bust. And we see that already as we speak so over the next couple of days you'll see major layoffs, you'll see restructurings, you'll see people scramble."
"That's what we always said when we raised the SoftBank round. Ironically I never knew that long term view would actually mean that we freeze down for a year... but if you look at online travel over the course of history and you look at the big dips -- like 9/11 was a massive dip and the following recession; the financial crisis was a massive dip -- you see overall travel is a long term trend. And I think if you look at a ten year timespan even this corona crisis will just be a small dip in a growth curve.
"So I'm very long on travel over a longer period of time. And that's where we're doubling down. So we're rather taking the opportunity now to really focus on product and engineering — and that's something really liberating to me. Of not really having a 2020 budget anymore.
"The conversion gains on the margin won't matter. So we can really double down on significantly improving the product for our customer and that means giving a better search and discovery experience, more personalized, curating more GetYourGuide Originals with our suppliers... So that when we come out of this crisis we come out with a better technology product and a much better supply base."
"I think, as I said, just surviving will be a competitive advantage. Surviving with a better product and better supply will be magic -- and that's really what we're betting on."
Omio, meanwhile, is also in a position to look beyond the current crisis in demand.
"We are lucky to be well funded and have raised a lot of capital," said Shaam. "We're lucky to have very long term investors when you think of Kinnevik and Temasek -- both of them.... almost like a mutual fund so basically long term capital."
Nonetheless, the business has responded to plunging demand by trimming variable costs -- while also viewing the demand crunch as an opportunity to rechannel investment into the core product.
"We're cutting all variable costs, managing the costs better, taking precautions -- using the crisis as an opportunity... fixing all the systems we could never invest in in scale because every month there's a metric to meet. And really then rearchitecting for scalability," he told us.
"Because the main thing is if you think of travel, human inherent desire to travel is never going to go down. Right now what we're doing is bottling that in for 3-4 months but you've got to open the lid at some point — I hope -- and when that comes out the demand will grow even faster. And we want to be ready for that. So we're using this, call it, crisis as an opportunity to really build scalability. All the underlying architecture, campaign structures, whatever data flows were not perfect before, product messaging etc.
"The cash position of course is something we have an eye on, as stewards of capital, but it's more so that we're also using this as an opportunity to really think long term and how we actually benefit."
Duty of care
As a crisis response, Shaam said Omio has put together three internal task forces to respond to immediate challenges -- one focused on supporting its customers; another on its own employees; and a third concentrating on business stability and figuring out where to invest and where to pull back during unusual times.
On the customer support side Omio's suppliers define cancellation policies so there's only so much it can do but Shaam said it's been putting out messaging to help users -- creating a spreadsheet of cancellation policies listing companies that give refunds and those that don't, and publishing updates on things like cancelled flights.
On the employee support side there's a mix of well-being and practical issues being tackled.
"How can we protect safety regulations? Trigger points. We have clear guidelines... today we triggered that we work from home for 15 days," he said. "How to protect mental health so nobody goes crazy sitting at home all day? Connectivity, all of that stuff. What if you have school shut down -- how do you balance children at home alone with working at the same time? All of this stuff.
"There's a lot of practical questions that come up — like the design team need to take their chunky monitors home so they can actually design. All of these things are being tackled by that task force."
"As a startup you can actually bring these together very quickly," Shaam added. "Today we had a small team -- that team is now quite large, 10+ people going at all three workstreams. So let's see how we survive.
"Again, there's a lot of uncertainty but I feel that the best thing I can do is bring stability, bring confidence into the organization."
TravelPerk's Meir said the business is also most focused on responding to immediate challenges and needs -- including keeping up with the demand it's seeing.
Even though bookings are down new sign ups are up, he told us.
"The focus right now as an organization is really on the day by day — we need to make sure we keep providing the service," he said. "We keep actually selling and a lot of companies are signing up. Sign ups are actually dramatically up. People are signing up they're just obviously not travelling so we have a lot of short term priorities that are extremely important.
"Maybe if we hadn't raised a C round last year — $100+ million — we would be in a different situation but right now we are fortunate to be in this position so we have to focus on short term priorities without knowing where it's going to end."
The company is also using a moment of plunging sales to direct attention on product. And is hiring more engineers to be able to accelerate product dev -- including to build crisis response features.
"I'm sure we're not unique in the tech world but we're actually investing more in the product. So we keep hiring -- we actually increased our hiring plan for product and engineering. And so far we're not reducing our burn let's say but we're shifting that towards really what matters for our customers.
"We're already ahead of the curve in product but this is a really good opportunity to keep pushing on our strengths and another one we're doing is adjusting the business and the business model as well."
Meir gave the example of a premium concierge service which it's just decided to provide for free for all its users for the next three months. "Although it's going to increase dramatically our costs in customer care it's the right thing to do for our customers," he said of that particular coronavirus triggered business adjustment.
"You'll see some really cool stuff coming out," he added. "The product team, together with the commercial team is changing roadmaps. In a way we threw the roadmap of 2020 to the bin and we started working on a weekly basis."
Another example he gave is a new feature it's launched in partnership with medical and travel security company, International SoS, to help companies not only track where in the world their employees are but ensure they have the medical or other crisis expertise support available should the worst happen off-site.
"It's the best company in the world for duty of care," said Meir. "It's one of those topics that in normal times people don't really like to think about it -- but this is probably the highest request we were getting in the past 2-3 weeks from customers."
"We went from idea to releasing it in less than 5 days of work," he added. "So again reducing the risk, reducing the uncertainty piece. This is a thing that we're going to do more and more as this situation evolves. If we have a request for a feature like 'duty of care' -- which makes tonnes of sense right now -- we're going to shift the roadmap and do more of these kind of things."
"This is a moment to be decisive and adaptable but also courageous and to invest in what makes TravelPerk stronger this year, next year and ten years," he added. "This doesn't change — we have great investors. We have a good cash position, great team. So we should keep hiring, we should keep investing in the product, we should keep investing in our service — so my biggest worry is that we [don't] act out of panic or out of confusion -- and that's something we should be aware of and not do. But I'm happy to say that that's not the case."
As part of its own pro-active crisis response, TravelPerk has this week switched to 100% remote working -- a radical change for Meir, who has deliberately required presence from his staff up to now for workplace culture reasons.
"We don't do remote work. It's something that's one of these trendy things that we decided not to do yet for various reasons. We just think our culture is much stronger when people are physically in the same space and we switched from nobody does remote work to 100% remote," he told us.
"We thought that the government -- especially in Spain where most of our team is -- is not reacting fast enough and aggressively enough [to Covid-19]. This is really unfair for the elderly and those who have previous health conditions...So we decided to take action... And I was just amazed how fast we transitioned from a company that doesn't do remote to full on remote."
GetYourGuide has also gone fully remote. "We did that on Monday," said Reck. "Everyone called me crazy and now on Friday everyone wants to have our best practices playbook."
"The health and safety of our employees and most importantly of the community around us [is our biggest concern]," he added. "We are in constant contact with everyone -- to make sure people feel safe.
"They are now at home, they follow the news all the time. There's huge psychological pressure -- the travel market's going down, the stock market's going down -- so for me by biggest role is to keep that strong engagement and morale and that people don't feel threatened by the situation around them."
As it happens, Reck is a biochemist by education -- so likely one of relatively few founders in the travel space with hands-on lab experience of viruses. He's also braced for the longest 'nuclear winter' of business disruption of the three startups we spoke to.
"What we know about this virus is there is no immunity in the population — meaning that this will continue to spread," he said. "Every potential person is a host. And it's very infectious and it seems to stick around quite a bit. And it puts a lot of stress on public health systems. So I personally anticipate there will be a very long lockdown in a lot of countries. And there will be only a very slow recovery. If you'd ask me we might see some reopening of the travel landscape in summer but I think that will be far diminished from a typical season. We'll only see a full recovery towards May, June, July 2021. I don't think it will be earlier than that."
"It will get worse," he added. "We know now it's very likely there will be a lockdown [across the West]. My biggest wish for the next couple of weeks will be that employees continue to be healthy, safe and continue to be able to work and contribute like they've done."
Omio's Shaam is expecting at least several months of disruption to business as usual -- pointing to the lack of a swift and coordinated response from governments to implement quarantine measures.
"We need a system-wide [response] like China or Singapore has done beautifully to really prevent it and I don't believe that's going to happen so we're bracing for 3-4 months impact," he told us.
"I just went out last night in Berlin with my wife for dinner and the restaurants are full, it's crowded, the subways are full — full! Like not even 20% lower. Completely full. We had to make a reservation to get a table etc. So unless governments, in a very coordinated way, shut down borders for a period of 4-6 weeks so everybody goes into isolation in one go and everybody comes out — it's going to drip feed for a long time because people are acting in different points of time on their own means."
On the question of whether there will be a lasting impact on the travel market as the pandemic undoes global supply chains and routines, Shaam said again that's likely to depend on how co-ordinated or otherwise the response is.
"There's a lot of fixed costs part of travel. So I think the answer to that largely depends on how co-ordinated and how quickly we can contain. If we all actually manage to come back in 3-4 months I think we're in a good place because it'll bounce back quite strongly. If it's drip feeding, and it takes the wind out for a very long time, then there will be a different situation but I hope not."
In the meanwhile, with so many businesses getting au fait with virtual meetings and videoconferencing tools, the coronavirus crisis could also have a long term impact on demand for business travel -- if lots of companies realize quite how much can be done remotely.
On this element of the crisis, TravelPerk's Meir isn't concerned.
"It's an interesting theory," he said, deferring from hazarding a guess on whether it will come to pass or not. "It doesn't really matter for us as a company. Because companies spend $1.6TR a year on business travel. And it's a market that is growing. Before this crisis predicted growth of 6 or 7% in 2020 -- which is huge compared to the size of the market. So even if we're talking about 10-20%, let's say, at the edges this doesn't change the picture. You still will have a tonne of business travel when we come back out of it."
"If we zoom out a bit from this situation -- there is a trend for more sustainable approach to travel," Meir added. "So if so many things can turn into a Zoom call I don't think it's a bad idea for the planet. And we will do well. We're not worried about a scenario like this."
Here TravelPerk isn't worried because the startup has another product for that: GreenPerk -- a carbon offset offering it launched earlier this month. It's been developed in partnership with non-profit Atmosfair, which works on decarbonization via UN-endorsed carbon mitigation projects.
"Many companies asked us to help them offset and reduce the impact that their travel generates and we thought that just reporting on what harm you do is not good enough. We wanted actually to make a difference," said Meir. "One of the projects that we chose is efficient cooking stoves in Rwanda."
GreenPerk uses an algorithm to calculate the carbon footprint of a given trip and then applies a per booking fee proportional to the pollution created -- with the fee going to fund the carbon offset project.
GreenPerk is an opt in product -- and Meir says it's already had "amazing traction", with more than 50 companies already signed up and using it.
"It's unfair for us -- people who live in very comfortable counties -- to ask people in Rwanda to stop cooking their food but if we can help them transition to efficient and also faster ways of cooking then we should definitely do that… so the project funds efficient cooking stoves to replace the polluting ones."
"If the world after this crisis looks like we are conscious about how we travel -- when we do travel we try not to have an impact -- and if, sometimes, making Zoom calls are better than face to face I think it's not a bad scenario for the world. And we as a travel company will adapt like we always have," he added. "It's more interesting to look at the long term implication -- rather than 'is it good for our quarter or not'."


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Paul Gilbert' Mr.Big and Racer X guitarist, is ready to be on the road in support of "Behold Electric Guitar" this May and June.
His new album will be released on May 17th on
cd/vinyl and digital.
Paul Gilbert's newest album features 12 new original songs, all with Paul's most expressive, and inspired guitar playing to date.
"Behold Electric Guitar" was produced by legendary producer and engineer John Cuniberti (Joe Satriani) and features Roland Guerin on bass, Asher Fulero on keyboards and Bill Ray, Reinhardt Melz and Brian Foxworth on drums.
Although the album is mostly instrumental, Paul starts writing each song by writing the lyrics, and then transform those lyrics to melodies on the guitar. Paul's unused lyrics not only gave him a creative spark for the music but also yielded some interesting song titles. "Sir You Need to Calm Down", "I Own a Building", "Let That Battery Die", and "A Snake Just Bit My Toe" can certainly pique the curiosity of the listener.
The exception to Paul's instrumental guitar theme is his poem, "A Herd of Turtles", Paul opted for his best Liverpudlian accent to recite his poem of hope, and inserted some ferocious funk riffs for musical contrast in between.
Paul Gilbert Returns To Music Theories Recordings With New Album
"Behold Electric Guitar"
First 250 Orders Include An Autographed Postcard!
Pre-order "Behold Electric Guitar"
1. Havin' It
2. I Own a Building
3. Everywhere That Mary Went
4. Love Is the Saddest Thing
5. Sir, You Need to Calm Down
6. Let That Battery Die
7. Blues for Rabbit
8. Every Snare Drum
9. A Snake Just Bit My Toe
10. I Love My Lawnmower
11. A Herd of Turtles
12. Things Can Walk to You
Paul Gilbert - "Havin' It" Official Music Video

subset: commoncrawl


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Case Study: Rolling Out a Revamped New Hire Program into Financial Centers
Jessica Howell
Posted: December 2, 2018
How do you take an existing 18-week mortgage loan officer curriculum and revamp it to create an innovative new hire program for financial centers that's streamlined, enjoyable, and results in 100% passing scores on workshop assessments on the first attempt? Read on and download the complete case study to find out how our Innovators designed, developed, and deployed this successful new hire training while exceeding our client's expectations.
Partners in Innovation
A multinational Fortune 500 investment bank and financial services company based in the southeastern U.S. sought to introduce a new mortgage role into their financial centers.
The consumer lending consultant position would serve as an entry point for new hires to begin their mortgage careers with the company and play a key role in starting client mortgage conversations.
Thank you for all you are doing – creative new design, detailed analysis all while working with a crazy number of SMEs, personalities and topics. You are appreciated!" – Learning Consultant
Opportunities We Overcame Together
The Opportunity
Discover the needs, challenges (or as we like to call them — opportunities), and details of how we collaborated for a successful partnership
This new consumer lending consultant position was designed to help existing loan officers handle the initial mortgage application process with the client and then refer them to a mortgage loan officer.
The decision to create and implement a new mortgage position nationwide posed a challenge, as the client had an existing 18-week mortgage loan officer curriculum but no formalized structure in place for this new role. As new hires without previous mortgage expertise, students had to learn not only about the financial products and how to handle different types of mortgages, but also the technical infrastructure, which included many different computer systems and software programs.
The lack of an organized curriculum for this new mortgage role and the length of the original course led to gaps in employee skill sets from financial center to financial center, generating confusion around the function of the new role and causing disharmony between the mortgage sales and operations business.
Our Game Plan
The ttcInnovations dream team filled up their coffee cups and came ready for the challenge!
We worked with the internal learning team, underwriting subject matter experts (SMEs), and business executives to determine what new topics needed to be included and the job requirements of this new role, then matched those job requirements to the tasks these new mortgage employees would complete on the job.
Our business executives were concerned about how much time employees would spend completing the course, as other new hire programs in the mortgage department take as long as 18 weeks in some cases. We worked to streamline the onboarding process while still providing a solid foundation for the new hire to be successful and productive immediately.
I spent the week observing the Consumer Lending Consultant Workshop and the first thing I have to say is…WOW!!!! This new program is absolutely amazing! The interaction through the labs, the brevity through the games and activities, and last but certainly not least, the foundational learning has such a clear and obvious impact. – VP, New Hire Learning Proficiency Coach
Meet Our Team
Meet the talented team who collaborated with our clients to #UnlockInnovation!
Want to tap into our talent? Request an Innovator on Demand today!
New Hire Training in Action
Take an exclusive look behind the curtain at our custom new hire training, including the project timeline from start to finish, details on the quality-assured deliverables we created, impressive learner results, and rave reviews that speak for themselves — like this one!
In a class of 12 new hire LCs, they ALL passed their workshop assessment on the first try! This is unheard of in the new hire workshop world and the joy was palpable. – VP, New Hire Learning Proficiency Coach
Click here to view the full case study!
Is your organization looking to partner with a trusted training vendor with over 17 years of experience in the financial sector? Contact Debbie Wooldridge today to learn more about our custom learning solutions!
About the Author
Jessica is a full-time marketer, life-long storyteller, and constant learner with a passion for marrying strategy with aesthetics. Throughout her career, Jessica has coached hundreds of small businesses on building purpose-driven brands online. She has spoken on stages across the country including Social Media Marketing World, Yellow Co., and San Diego Ad Club – just to name a few, where she has shared her powerhouse marketing mindset and techniques. She joined the ttcInnovations family full-time in 2017 where she now combines her expertise in digital marketing, her impressive background in teaching, and her knowledge as well as a passion for adult learning. Fueled by coffee, she lives in San Diego with her husband and their two pint-sized golden retrievers.


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Lionel Messi's spectacular solo goal against Getafe in the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey in the 2006/07 season has been voted as the best ever in Barcelona's history.
The strike beat 63 other goals to bag the award in a competition that started at the end of December 2018 and saw more than half a million votes cast in the past three months.
Three goals from the Argentine and one from Sergi Roberto qualified for the final stage last week after 60 eliminatory rounds.
Barcelona fans have voted Lionel Messi's amazing solo goal against Getafe in 2007 as the best goal in the club's history.— B/R Football (@brfootball) March 28, 2019
Messi goals made up the whole top three ✨ pic.twitter.com/8TE4mg4LRz
Out of the four goals, Messi's against Getafe received 45% of the total votes cast, beating another Copa del Ray goal in the Copa final against Athletic Club (28%) and another in beautiful goal in the Champions League against Real Madrid.
Sergi Roberto's strike against Paris Saint-Germain came fourth with 11% of the votes in which fans from more than 160 countries took part.
⬇ Predict 6 EPL football scores with Futaa6 and you could win the $10,000 Jackpot, best of all it's completely free to play every week in the Futaa Android App Download it now to play!


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Submit your comments, advice, well wishes, or sarcastic snickers and we'll feature them on our website!
Simply type your message below and click the ADD MY COMMENTS button when finished.
— Kathleen Spain
"Congratulations!! You crazy kids are so deserving of each other and the happiness that you've found. Your ceremony and celebration was absolutely beautiful and lit! Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your special day and to witness what true love looks like."
— Octavia "Tavi"
"May the Lord bless you everyday. May you have love, peace and, joy for eternity."
— Lawanda Flake/REDD FLAMMES
"May your happiness be never ending."
— Toni Bonita
"May Heaven continue to bombard you with love, health and favor for many, many years to come."
— Stephanie "At1withme" Carter
"I'm so happy for you. You deserve nothing but the best. 🤩"
— Phette
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— One Single Rose 🌹
"May your lives together enrich each other in loving ways that increase your joy every day."
— Christina Dixon
"Sylvia and Todd, we wish you both the best Union. It's terrific to see two, beautiful and stellar families blend-together as one. May you both always be simpatico and may your love and devotion, continue to grow on your journey through life together."
— Artist, Photographer & Reverend M. 🦊
"May your future together be full of too many blessings to count."
— Shiree McCarver
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— Cinquetta Allen Jefferson
"Congrats you two, turning into one. Continued love"
— Darlena
"Congratulations May you have many years of continued happiness"
— Debraha Watson
"Congratulations Sylvia and Todd! from Alabama with love."
— Barbara Byrd
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— Donald Levin
"May God bless you and keep your union healthy and strong."
— Judine Slaughter
"Congratulations! I pray you live a long and healthy life loving one another!"
— Annetta
"Hello you two Lovebirds! Unfortunately I have a schedule conflict and won't be able to attend... I was sooo looking forward to see you getting married! Next time! Just kidding ;-) ALL THE BEST!"
— Anna (the Dance Scene)
"Sending love and great wishes for continued happiness, respect and joy."
— Jada Pearl/Nicola
"Congratulations and cheers to FOREVER!"
— Keena
"I can't believe Todd has an awesome weird who loves and appreciates him so much. Xoxo"
— Sylvia (the bride)
"Wow! I can't believe Sylvia has an awesome web developer husband that built this website for her. He must really love her."
— Todd (the groom)


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Born appx. March 30, 2019, +/- about a week.
They will be spayed/neutered when old enough. (If adopted before they are old enough to be spayed, then they need to be brought back to our partnering vet, Riverside in Redwood Falls. The adoption fee covers their spay and rabies shot at that time.) They will also have age appropriate vaccines as a part of their adoption fee. They have received dewormings, been treated topically with a flea/ear mite preventative (Revolution), tested negative for feline leukemia, had a negative fecal float to test for internal parasites, and have had a medicated/antifungal bath.
If you are interested in adopting, please call the shelter at 507-644-3853, or else stop in during open hours, no appointment necessary, and meet them: M-F 2-6 and Sat 10-Noon. Even if you aren't looking to adopt, you are welcome to come play with the kitties and help socialize them!
***Adopted!*** Rue. Female/spayed, domestic shorthair, brown tabby and white.
***Adopted!*** Blossom. Female, domestic shorthair, black.
Adopted! Petal. Female/spayed, domestic shorthair, brown tabby.
Adopted! Posey. Female, domestic shorthair, black.


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Leading Midlands law firm Higgs & Sons has once again teamed up with industrial services specialist ERIKS to help youngsters in the Black Country get fit and learn about healthy attitudes to eating and living.
The two companies took part in the Business in the Community's (BITC) Give and Gain day on 20 May 2016.
Melita Bown, a solicitor in Higgs & Sons family team, led the law firm's efforts, which involved a day of fun and sport at Tipton Sports Centre. Youngsters from schools across the Black Country took part in a range of activities run by businesses in the region.
Speaking about the event, Melita commented: "This was the fourth year Higgs & Sons has been involved in Give and Gain and each year it gets bigger and better.
"It was a fantastic experience working with these youngsters, who were all really keen to get involved.
More than 120 children from various schools took part in Give and Gain day where Higgs & Sons and ERIKS organised activities including Dodgeball and an assault course. The activities were chosen because they could be easily modified to include children of all abilities and to accommodate children with additional needs.
Melita concludes: "Give and Gain helps children to start thinking about leading more active lifestyles, eating a balanced diet and sowing the seeds for a healthier future.
"Higgs & Sons has been proud to support the initiative since 2012."
Caption L-R: Nick Ashford, Melita Bown, Dale Phillips, Joe Cowles, Zoe Butler, Vicky Potter, Natalie Marsden and Suzanne Knight.


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Do we go to heaven or hell immediately after we die? Then why were the sins in the Old Testament judged only in the generation which Jesus came to?
Here are some very perplexing verses….
Matthew 23:33-37
"You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers.
Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.
And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing."
If the sins of the Old Testament were only visited on the Jews in AD70, what about ours since we are all born after AD70?
Will there wrath upon us now? Or has the wrath of God be satisfied?
Here is a verse to think about.
Revelation 15:1
I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God's wrath is completed.
You do know Revelation is in the past right?


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Free Click & Collect
Free returns
Free UK Delivery over £40
3 year guarantee
This pause is necessary so we can ensure those colleagues who choose to carry on working are able to do so as safely as possible and in line with all Government guidelines. We continue to make what we believe to be the best decisions possible on a daily basis to keep all our colleagues safe whilst providing the best service we can to our customers.
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Thank you for your continued support.
Product number: 26115
View all SmartStore
Even in the most organised homes, storage is often in short supply. Whatever you stash inside, this extra-large SmartStore 47 Litre Tidy Tub will keep its contents in plain sight, so it'll be easy to locate the thing you need, when you need it.
Versatile storage
Chosen for its durability and useful large capacity, this clear, lidded storage box will provide the solution to a multitude of storage dilemmas: keeping out-of-season clothes and bedding clean and protected; organising and storing sports kit in a garage; tidying toys, or even packing things away in the loft that you don't use very often but can't bear to part with. It'll help clear away all your clutter and make things so much easier to find.
Tough clip closures
Keeping the lids in place until you want to see inside, the reliable clip-close locks are ultra-easy to open and shut.
Solidly made
Made from durable polypropylene, it's sturdy and robust with reinforced corners and being able to withstand temperatures from -40 to +100°C, it won't come to harm if used in a loft, cellar, garage, or greenhouse.
Food safe
Unusually for storage boxes of this size a SmartStore box is certified food-safe, and it's dishwasher safe for easy cleaning too.
With extra-strong recessed lids that won't bow under a bit of weight, they're easy to stack if you buy more than one of the same size and they nest inside each other when empty too.
BPA free. Contents not included.
10-year manufacturer's guarantee.
About the SmartStore range
60 x 40 x 31cm H (including handles). 47 litre.
* Some delivery services may not be available in your area, the delivery page will display the available delivery services during checkout.
We want you to enjoy shopping at Lakeland with complete confidence, which is why every single product you buy from us comes with a 3 year guarantee – just bring along your receipt or emailed order confirmation as proof of purchase. Plus all returns are free.
To do this, it would be really helpful if you could call one of our friendly Customer Services Advisors on 015394 88100 first, as there are occasions when it may not be necessary for you to be inconvenienced by sending a product back to us.
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Sunday, Oct 14, 4:25 p.m.
TV: CBS (WVLT, Channel 8)
Radio: 104.5 FM
2. A tight end sighting. The Titans' tight ends have been missing in action since Delanie Walker's injury. In fact, tight ends have not even caught a pass the last two games. While Luke Stocker and Jonnu Smith aren't expected to fill Walker's production level, they should be able to contribute something. Anything.
3. Which Mariota will be at QB? Will the Titans see more of the poised and confident Marcus Mariota who led the Titans to an overtime win against the Eagles, or will it be more like the Mariota who last Sunday was getting bottled up by the Bills defense? Whether the Titans win this game will likely depend on how well Mariota is able to play.
Titans cornerbacks vs. Ravens receivers. Joe Flacco is enjoying a rejuvenation this year, and part of it is the weapons he has at receiver. Michael Crabtree, John Brown and Willie Snead could provide a good challenge for the Titans cornerbacks Malcolm Butler, Adoree' Jackson and Logan Ryan.
Titans RB Derrick Henry vs. Ravens LB C.J. Mosley. A battle of a couple of former Alabama stars. Henry got going a little bit with 56 yards on 11 carries against the Bills. The Ravens are traditionally tough to run, but the Titans have to find some ways to get Henry going between the tackles to loosen up the Baltimore defense.
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- Details
- Parent Category: ShopArchives
- Published: Saturday, 04 March 2017 13:58
- Written by Ben Tasker
A racoon looking straight into the camera lens
Regrettably, due to the changes the European Union are making to the Place of Supply elements of VAT regulations (effective 1st Jan 2015), all Digital downloads have been withdrawn from sale with effect from 31 December 2014
If there is an item that you want, please Contact Me to arrange a manual transaction
A racoon looking straight into the camera lens
A seagull flying below a beautiful blue sky
4 Subwoofers installed in a diamond configuration, backlit by a neon blue light.
The moon at it's fullest. Taken using a basic consumer telescope the pitted surface of our moon is clearly visible including the fallout surrounding larger craters.
There are small, bright points of light visible in some places. These are due to asteroid and debris impacts creating glass which then reflects the suns light.


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Importers have recently been faced with many seldom used or new and unprecedented trade remedy actions, including Section 201 (solar cells and panels), Section 232 (steel and aluminum), Section 301 (China), and now International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) (Mexico) actions, all of which involve not only substantial duty costs but also continued administrative expenses for compliance. Added to the more common antidumping and countervailing duty cases, these actions have required significant resources to learn about, plan for, and implement responses to each remedy.
Importers are not alone in this – U. S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), despite lacking any authority for making the new policies, faces much of the burden of implementing them. For many of these actions CBP has had to make the changes required with only a few days – or even just a few hours – notice. Many involve large scale changes in ACE and other systems. CBP has provided information about these changes through the Cargo System Messaging Service (CSMS) and new and updated pages on the CBP website, as well as through various outreach activities.
CBP has advised that it has 162 new quotas (primarily Section 232 steel) to manage. Although product exclusion requests are decided by the Commerce Department (Section 232) or the USTR (Section 301), CBP has reviewed over 78,000 exclusion requests, primarily to determine if they would be enforceable. CBP has collected over $24 billion in additional duties due to these trade actions. The increased duty liability for importers has resulted in entry bond insufficiency notices rising from about 56 per month to over 1,000 per month.
This additional workload has come during a time when a government shutdown idled a substantial portion of CBP's workforce for several weeks, followed by the shift of over 700 CBP officers from multiple airports and seaports to the Southern Border to assist with immigrant apprehensions. A major support in handling this additional workload has been increasing automation, expanding the activities handled in ACE – not just import entry filing, but also drawback, communications with importers and brokers, and the use of analytics applied to all the data now available. For example, the new ACE reports on Section 232 and Section 301 entries not only allow importers to view their activities, they also provide information for Customs to use in implementation and enforcement.
Importers should understand that CBP's implementation of trade remedies has an impact on them in addition to the increased duties and quota limits and preparation of more complex entries. High duty rates and quantitative limitations can be an invitation to try to avoid or evade them, and CBP sees this as a major enforcement risk. Greater scrutiny not only in the form of full Focused Assessment audits, but also Quick Response Audits on specific issues, and audit surveys to determine if further action is required can be expected. An increase in the number of Requests for Information related to these new areas has already begun. Compliance Notification Letters – essentially advance warnings of possibly inquiry, with the added liability that a prior notification may impose –are likely for importers with significant volumes of imports covered by the trade remedies.
Importers should be aware of CBP's enforcement stance and make extra efforts to ensure – and document – compliance with all the new (and often changing!) requirements. With the increased number of trade actions, the high risk levels, and the large number of imports involved, CBP may not have the time to provide warnings and compliance advice and could proceed to formal enforcement actions more quickly than in the past. Importer beware – and be aware.
Steven W. Baker
AIIS Customs Committee Chair


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Merritt Island, FL 32952 Merritt Island Rate and review
The boat ramp and a natural launch area provide access for boaters, rowers and paddlers into Sykes Creek leading to the Barge Canal or Banana River. Fishing is popular from the shoreline and fishing dock. An exercise trail, softball fields, basketball, tennis and racquetball courts invite fitness and active play.
The Community Center features ongoing activities, a gymnasium, a small kitchen and meeting rooms. Another meeting room and a banquet sized kitchen are located at the event pavilion. Additional facilities that make this park attractive for group gatherings and community events include the Karen S. Rood Community Building (with kitchen and meeting room) located at the park entrance, the Doyle I. Carlton Pavilion (with banquet kitchen and meeting room), 3 small pavilions, a playground, benches, restrooms, and drinking fountains.
Upcoming Events
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Situated in a wildlife sanctuary, the park caters to both active and passive recreational enthusiasts.
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Musstafa Musstafa and Youns Al Salem are two of 600 Syrian refugees residing at the Ritsona refugee camp in Greece, having fled violence and persecution in their home countries. This Christmas, Musstafa and Al Salem decided to spread their own brand of holiday cheer to the Greek locals by handing out red roses to them, along with a note of gratitude for their help and generosity in Greek and English — all while dressed in full Santa garb.
"For a long time we have wanted to thank the Greek locals for their help since the beginning of the current refugee crisis," they wrote in a video documenting their Christmas deed. "After the election of [Donald] Trump as president, we strongly felt like we wanted to do our part to combat fascism as well. Christmas felt like the perfect opportunity to do both."
Musstafa and Al Salem also returned to the camp to give out candy, sing, and play games with them. Katrin Collison, a volunteer at the camp who has known Musstafa and Al Salem since March, told A Plus, "They are constantly working to make the camp a better place."
The refugee crisis has sparked a wave of xenophobia across Europe as governments struggle to deal with the influx of people desperate to enter their borders. Some 57,000 refugees, more than half of them women and children, are currently stranded in Greece in their bid to cross over to western Europe.
Though Greece has set up temporary housing for those stuck in limbo within its borders, many of them are inadequate and fall short of basic humanitarian standards. But with the help of individual volunteers and donations from across the world, non-governmental organizations have been able to procure food, water, and hygiene supplies and the like for refugee camps.
Cover image via Istvan Csak / Shutterstock.com.


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juniper add-on // a little peek at the juniper kit - love the cool colors + chipboard in this one!
We want everyone who visits Studio Calico to leave feeling inspired, so we're giving out this FREE digital art print. Just enter your email to join our email list and we'll direct you to your download.


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10 Critical Sales Tax Questions That Foreign E-Commerce Sellers Must Ask
Foreign Amazon sellers must address these critical sales tax questions below. Obtaining the best answers for your situation is a must for your U.S. e-commerce success. You also must know the proper sequence of steps to take for sales tax compliance. Here are our 10 Critical Sales Tax Questions for you to ask as a foreign e-commerce seller:
There is a big difference between what sellers are doing, and what is required. Consequently, results may be painful.
2. Are Federal U.S. Taxes Required to be Paid by Foreign E-Commerce Sellers in the U.S.?
IRS Tax Treaties with other countries are key components in getting to the right answer.
3. Is an EIN/Tax ID via the IRS Required to Collect and Remit U.S. Sales Tax?
Before you ring the bell with the IRS, you must understand why and when this is required.
4. What are the Best Options if Behind with U.S. Sales Tax?
Many options may get you in serious trouble. However, only a few options are the right choice.
5. Why is a U.S. Virtual Address Recommended Before You Apply for U.S. Sales Tax Permits?
This is one of the biggest frustrations that every seller with a foreign address will experience. Fortunately, this can be avoided.
6. Will a Foreign Entity Selling need to Qualify or Register in States Before or After Registering for a Sales Tax Permit?
This process is much more complicated than sales tax nexus.
7. Are State Tax Returns Required in Addition to Sales Tax Returns?
This may trigger unnecessary state audits down the road.
8. Is a U.S. Bank Account Recommended for Remitting Sales Tax?
This will cost you a fortune if not set up properly.
9. How Long Does it take to Apply for Sales Tax Permits as a Foreign E-Commerce Seller?
This will be very expensive if you don't get your timing right.
10. Will I be able to use a Remitting Software Company to Remit Sales Tax at the Lowest Rate to File State Returns? Will this crush your budget for compliance?
Not likely. Your costs will go from $20 per return to $50 or $100 per return if you are not structured properly in the U.S.


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I have tried and tried to make green chile without any luck. I tasted a good one once, she gave me her recipe, but do you think it turned out the same as hers?!?! Heck no.
I have my tortillas ready to eat it out of the pot....Wanna share a great recipe with me? Not too hot though.
Thanks in advance!!
Last Edited on: 9/1/07 1:53 AM ET - Total times edited: 1
Fresh roasted green chiles - mild, medium or hot. (I buy them at the farmer's market...usually one sandwich baggie FULL is about enough for my crock pot.)
1 or 2 11 oz cans diced tomatoes (or use fresh)
1 or 2 onions
2 c chicken or veggie stock
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 lb pork stew meat (optional)
salt & pepper to taste
Peel and dice green chiles. Put in crock pot. Add tomatoes, onions, stock, garlic and stew meat. Add salt & pepper to taste. Add water almost up to top of veggies. Cover and cook all day on low setting.
If you like it thicker, you can add 2 teaspoons of cornstarch mixed with 1/4 water during the last half hour of cooking.
My crock pot is the middle sized...not the "dipper", not the huge one, but the average one in between! :-) This is a nice simple recipe and it never lasts long around my house. Lots of room for variation to taste, too. I was trying to stretch a batch once, and added potatoes. It was surprisingly good! I tried canned chiles once and it just wasn't the same.
Thanks Cathy!! I'm gonna try this one out...especially since you are a neighbor of sorts.
You are welcome!! Good luck. I've got a batch in the crock pot right now and it is smelling heavenly!! Perfect for a wonderfully chilly day like today. :-)
I'm just up the road in Broomfield....I'll be right down with some tortillas...lol


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Lime Tree Dropping Leaves
My beautiful lime tree (4 years old), full of blossoms, is dropping its leaves. We looked for information on the net and identified excess watering as the problem. Please advise on what is the remedial action to follow. What chance, if any, that the tree will survive?
Certified GKH Gardening Expert
As long as the stems are still alive and you resume proper watering, the leaves should grow back fine.
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US commander advises government on declaring Somalia a no-fly zone
Sunday July 31 2011
President Museveni has proposed a no-fly zone over Somalia to limit the inflow of weapons into that country. How come the USA was quick to respond to a no-fly zone in Libya but has ignored a similar call over Somalia.
The situation in Somalia and indeed across the region is especially very critical right now because of the drought which is causing a very difficult humanitarian crisis. Someone described this as 'the worse humanitarian crisis on the planet today' with at least 11 million people affected by the drought.
There is a need for the delivery of humanitarian assistance in all its forms, food, shelter, medical supply etc. And it's good to see UN, AU and others coming across the board. For the USA government side, we have contributed financially to the number of organisations that can deliver humanitarian assistance and, I think, that is probably the right approach.
With regard to the establishment of a no-fly zone over Somalia, my personal view is that there could be some utility in having such an effort but I note two particular concerns; first, to me it should be addressed by the African Union and UN and I believe President Museveni is trying to have those kinds of discussion with AU and UN, that is the appropriate way to do that.
If there is an agreement by the UN and AU to support such an activity, I am confident that the international community will support it. That does not necessarily mean that the US need to be engaged in that activity, others have the capability to do that. But we should also be realistic; no fly-zone can have some effects but does not completely stop the war and can be very expensive, especially in an area as large as Somalia. There is a lot to be done and in my view that big work has to be done by the AU and the UN.
Some people have argued that US's strategy on Somalia has so far been counterproductive. That while the UPDF and Burundi forces have been scoring military gains, there has been no any political progress because of serious contradictions within the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the complex Clan-based leadership system in Somalia. Do you think it's time for a new strategy that would accommodate moderate Islamists and set a stage for peace talks to end the war?
It's clear that the TFG is not yet a strong government but they are a government and I don't think that there is much of an alternative to the TFG. I believe it's in the best interest of all in the international community to do whatever is possible to make the TFG become effective and exercise its role in the leadership of the Somali people.
Ultimately, it should be the decision of the Somali people to decide what form of government they should have. Al-shabaab wants to impose their form of governance on the Somali people. The TFG position is that the people of Somalia should decide how they should be governed. To be clear, this is going to be a difficult struggle. I don't think it's the role of the USA to dictate what kind of government should be in Somalia but I think the international community has spoken clearly that it should be a government decided by the Somali people.
We have a meaningful relationship with the TFG and with local authorities in Puntaland and Somaliland. There is a sense, particularly in the USA that the whole of Somalia is in trouble but we in the AFRICOM know that that is not the case. The turmoil is in those areas where governance is not strong and where Al-shabaab has been able to exert their influence and take over the government.
Recently the US offered drone assistance to UPDF and Burundi military to use against Al-shabaab. These drones are infamous for killing civilians in Afghanistan. Are you not putting innocent lives in Somalia at risk?
It should be very clear. What the US Congress approved was a package of small hand-held, remotely operated system for tactical use. They will not be operated by us; they will be operated by Ugandan forces. These are not armed systems. They have small cameras and they are able to see places where soldiers cannot go. It's a very useful system but it will not be operated by us. We will provide training to Ugandan military to operate them in Somalia.
After the passage of counter LRA legislation by the US Congress, the US has been helping UPDF with intelligence information regarding the whereabouts of Joseph Kony. How far have you gone with the hunt for Kony?
It's not going as well as we hope it should be. There are some small successes but there are also some setbacks. So we have a lot of work yet to do in this regard. As you know, this is a hunt for one man with a small number of his followers in a very extensive geographic area. So it's kind of tough.
It requires very precise information which can be provided by people from his area of operation or from his camp. Ugandans, the Congolese and others may be able to capture him, though the process may be longer than we may want. The US is committed to this because of the horrific atrocities Kony and his groups have committed.
I am encouraged by the commitment of Uganda and Congo to end this. The US role is to be supportive to the three primary countries involved in this and will facilitate the sharing of information by the parties. The USA will not have a leading role on the ground. Uganda, DRC, CAR and South Sudan have recognised that USA will support them to do this.
We have been training a battalion in Eastern Congo for this. It's a very important mission for us. But we see the US doing a supporting role than a leading role. In my personal view, Kony cannot be brought to justice faster enough.
If anybody had a doubt that there is a real evil in our world, all they have to do is to look at what Joseph Kony has done and they will find out that evil exists in the name of Joseph Kony. The most important thing is that Kony has to be stopped. The preferred way to do this is to capture him and bring him to justice. There are those who would say that he should be killed. In my view he should be captured and be brought to justice but, if in the pursuit of that he is killed, I am not one who would shed many tears.
What is the AFRICOM doing to change the altitude of African leaders who run their military like personal ventures?
One of the principles under which AFRICOM operates is that we would like to help African nations to develop armed forces that are not only capable and competent but that are also subordinate to legitimate civilian control. That's the army that see themselves and are seen by people as servant of the nations. We see that in many places in Africa but not all.
In some places there is almost the sense of privileges in some armed people. They use their power of being in the military to oppress the people other than operating in support of the people. These are the things we hope to encourage throughout our interaction with these armed forces across the continent.
Many do adopt these values and abide by them but I would say the most powerful example and the most powerful influence cannot be provided by the US Military but by African militaries and the insistence of the African people themselves that their military conduct itself through the rule of law and see themselves as the protectors of the people.
The US is very proud to support the AU mission in Somalia, especially Uganda and Burundi troops who are operating inside Somalia to provide stability and security, and protect the Somali people against this extremist group who are operating in Somalia.
As you know, we have been providing training and assistance for a few years now to Uganda and Burundian troops who are deployed in Mogadishu. Recently our Congress in US approved funding to continue that programme and to add on some capabilities which previously have not been in existence.
Without getting into lots of details, the significant change has been the provision of small unmanned aerial systems which we think will be significant to Ugandans and Burundi troops. We are glad to partner with Uganda and Burundi in what we believe is a significant AU mission in Somalia.
The Uganda Human Right Commission, a government Human right watchdog and the Human Rights Watch have constantly released reports which put Ugandan military among the top human rights abusers. And this is the same institution that US military has been giving huge assistance, isn't this a contradiction of US values?
I don't think that it's a contradiction, what we see in Ugandan military are forces that are capable and competent and are increasingly becoming so through their experience in peace mission in Somalia and against Kony. I would agree with those who say that the Ugandan military, particularly in the junior ranks has some areas where they can improve, especially in support of the rule of law and in support of Ugandan people. There is a lot to be done in that area. It's always a bit of a balance for us.
Even in the US military, we occasionally have people who violate the rule of law. Who perform terrible crimes, this happens inside any large organisation. But that is not to say that the whole organisation condones such activities. But I think the UPDF leadership under Gen. Aronda [Nyakairima], is moving in the correct direction to try to modify the behaviours of the soldiers of UPDF in such a way that they are truly servants of the people. But there is still a lot to be done.
During the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia, the military allowed protests to take place while in Uganda; the military was deployed in full scare to quell peaceful protestors. As AFRICOM, are you not concerned that in Uganda the military is being used against the people who are legitimately demanding for their rights?
I think that in Tunisia and Egypt, the fact that their military had had long engagements with the US and militaries in other countries contributed to how they behaved. In Egypt and Tunisia, most of them found a right balance. It's a very difficult thing because the military purpose should be to defend the nation, to ensure stability and security.
In Tunisia and Egypt to a small degree there was a small group of people who wanted to turn protests into violent demonstrations but in both cases, the security forces were able to deal with those small violent demonstrations while simultaneously allowing peaceful protests to take place.
It's the most difficult balance for security forces; be the military or the police. It's a very fine line and a difficult thing that we ask our brothers in the military to do. One thing that we do in the US military is that we give them a variety of training and options so that the security forces have options other than do nothing or shoot.
If you do nothing, then the violent demonstrations can take over, if you shoot too quickly, then what started as a peaceful demonstration can turn violent. So training in crowd control and use of non-lethal weapons should be the best methods. In Egypt and Tunisia, I think for the most part, as a distance observer, the military responded with the right balance. It's a good example for Ugandan military to learn how to respond to such situations.
After the July 11 bomb attacks in Uganda, the US sent its intelligence officers to help Uganda security agencies with the investigations but up to now FBI is yet to release its finding as regards who masterminded the bombing. Most Ugandans have been eagerly waiting for the FBI report. When should we expect this report?
I don't think it's for us to say. This is an attack that was conducted by the Al-shabaab against Uganda. We were asked for some support. We have some officials who are good at this type of efforts. To me, I think that it will be inappropriate to say what happened inside Uganda.
It's one of the extreme that the Al-shabaab would go to influence those whose decisions they don't like. They came to attack innocent people in Uganda. It's a lesson for us in the international community that we cannot allow the Al-shabaab become a ruling force in Somalia because if that was the case, more and more of this type of attack would occur.
Recently South Sudan became the world's newest state, what has been the level of engagement between US and South Sudan, especially given the fact that it's still having border dispute with the north?
I had a great opportunity to attend the independent ceremony in Juba. It was wonderful. It was an absolutely joyous ceremony. Speeches were too long but it was wonderful and to see many South Sudan residents estimated to be 100,000 attending the ceremony.
It was really a magical moment for me to be there at the birth of a nation. But I will tell you I had an opportunity to meet with the Commander of South Sudanese Army. I joked with him that this is a great ceremony but now the real work begins. I think the South Sudanese people from President [Salva] Kiir understand that this is the case. They recognise that there is a tremendous amount of work that is now required. And it will require the priority of international community and especially of the South Sudan neighbours, one of which is Uganda.
I believe Uganda has been very supportive of South Sudan and will remain so. I received that confidence from many government officials in Kampala during my visit. But, we should not estimate the challenge, it's a new country, they have to form all the institutions of governance and this will not be an easy task to be accomplished in the next years. As you are aware, the infrastructure in South Sudan is not developed. There are no good roads, airports, power and water. All these require attention.
There is no adequate security, especially the police and the military. Most of our engagements will be with SPLM to help them build the institution of defence. The Ethiopians have already been giving them training. We will work with the SPLM leadership to find ways for the areas of common interest in which the United States African Command can be able to assist them.


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Since July 2014, the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) has been erecting a shore power system at the Altona Cruise Center. After the implementation of the first pile on 23 July, the topping-out ceremony was celebrated on 7 November. The European Union supports the green building project with 3.5 million euro. Total construction cost will amount to approximately ten million. The land shore system is scheduled to start operations in summer 2015. It will then feed the moored cruise vessels with electricity from renewable sources.
Milestone of the smart port strategy
Cruise ships moored in ports usually turn off their propulsion systems, but use additional diesel engine to provide the ships with the required energy during their port time. With the new land shore systems, cruise vessels will be able to nearly turn off all engines while berthed at Altona. This, emissions of air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides and particulate matter, as well as carbon dioxide will be significantly reduced. In addition, also the noise emissions will be lowered. The construction of the onshore power plant in Altona is one of the key objectives of the smartPort energy project. Initiated by HPAin 2012 in collaboration with the Ministry of Urban Development and Environment (BSU) and the Ministry of Economics, Transport and Innovation, its main goal ist the energetic realignment of the Port of Hamburg.
Pioneering green shipping
"The topping-out ceremony of the onshore power plant is yet another milestone for the development of Hamburg as one of the most attractive and most environmentally friendly cruise locations in Europe. With the implementation of a fixed land power plant of this size, the Port of Hamburg port is taking a leading role in Europe, while simultaneously gaining hands-on experiences in the operation of power barges. Through such innovative ideas and proekct, the Port of Hamburg, and, in particular, its booming cruise industry, take an important step towards a more sustainable future in shipping", said Frank Horch, Minister of Economic Affairs, Transport, and Innovation, at the topping-out ceremony attend also by Jens Meier, CEO of HPA, and Michael West Hagemann, CEO of Siemens# Hamburg branch and chairman of the industry association Hamburg.
source and further details:
Senate Chancellery, www.hamburg.de
Hamburg Port Authority, www.hamburg-port-authority.de
Hamburg is a popular destination for cruise ships from all over the world. The clip features the construction of the onshore power plant at the Altona Cruise Center.


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Alaska Broadcasters
Assn - Goldie Award
2014 and 2017
Storytelling Awards
Honors Recipient
Pete Wins Gold!
Diary of a Forest Ranger wins a "Goldie!" The Alaska Broadcasters Assn announced that Pete's solo performance won Best Entertainment Program (TV Division 2) for the broadcast of his live performance of Diary of a Forest Ranger! The audio of his live performance is available as a CD!
Just Released
Thirty Days at Bandelier
On Thirty Days: "I thoroughly enjoyed your stories. There's a wonderful balance of educational information and humor, all told in a style that makes you want to listen again and again."
David Halpern, writer/photographer (listen to clips below!)
Mack Lake Fire
An audio peek at Pete Griffin!
Tarantula (Thirty Days...) - Pete00:00 / 00:00
Yarrow (Thirty Days...) - Pete00:00 / 00:00
Abert's Squirrel (Thirty Days...) - Pete00:00 / 00:00


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Are Online Colleges Approaching Regular Colleges in Quality and Value?
Are online colleges improving the quality of education they provide? Are more of their students completing four years of study and graduating? And are online colleges becoming fully viable options for students who, due to factors such as having children or being employed, want to complete all their coursework online? Read more


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"Tarkin's Top Shelf" is LIVE from Star Wars Celebration Podcast Stage! Join your hosts Mark and Becca as they take to the Star Wars Celebration Podcast Stage and take you on a literary journey across the stars in a galaxy far, far away. This discussion covers every parsec of story possibilities from the books, on-screen, and everything in-between. Joining them on this bookish adventure are their honorary guest hosts: Devon Meyers from Kanata's Castle and Ryder Waldron from Idiot's Array Podcast.
Solo: A Star Wars Story
Star Wars: Last Shot
Star Wars: Queen's Shadow
Star Wars: Pirate's Price
Star Wars: Aftermath


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Originally given out as a physical pre-order bonus for the Japanese Detective Pikachu release in 2016, Detective Pikachu: Episode 0 - Eevee's Case is a short book that acts as a prequel chapter to the events in the main game.
Available for a limited time only, an English language (and other European languages) eBook version is now available from the Apple iBooks Store, Rakuten Kobo eBook store, and the Amazon Kindle Store for free. If you're wanting to check it out for yourself, remember that the book will only be available from today until 15th May.
We suspect a fair few of you will be receiving your copies of the game today, so this might be a nice little starter before you dig in to your adventure. If you want even more to read about the game - and learn whether or not it might be for you in the process - you can also check out our Detective Pikachu review.
Will you be giving this a read?
[source gonintendo.com, via amazon.co.uk]


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How Tahoe Measures Housing
A lack of affordable housing limits the ability of people to live close to work and can reduce the availability of qualified workers for local businesses. In response to high housing prices, local workers may be forced to choose between living outside the region and facing long commutes or paying more for housing than they can for housing. Commuting to and from the Lake Tahoe Region also increases greenhouse gas emissions and impacts quality of life.
Second Homeownership
This indicator measures the percentage of housing units in the Lake Tahoe Region that are in seasonal, recreational or occupational use, as opposed to in permanent occupancy by owners or renters. The US Census Bureau defines these units as vacant units used or intended for use only in certain seasons or for weekends or other occasional use throughout the year. Seasonal units include those used for summer or winter sports or recreation, such as beach cottages and hunting cabins. Interval ownership units, sometimes called shared-ownership or time-sharing condominiums, also are included.
Median House Prices
Median house prices provide an idea of the price of real estate in a certain area, and how prices have changed over time. Median house prices are used by real estate agents, buyers and sellers to inform home pricing and buying decisions, including potential buyers weighing the trade-offs of living outside of and commuting to jobs in the Lake Tahoe Region.
What is Tahoe Doing to Improve Housing
The Sustainable Communities Program is not currently reporting any action or leading indicators to improve housing.
Learn More/Get Involved
Data on this indicators is reported via the US Census and individual realtors in the Tahoe region.


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Services -Vaccinations
Dog, and Cat Vaccination Recommendations
Vaccinations to prevent infectious diseases are as important for pets as they are for children! Some of the deadly diseases that commonly plagued dogs and cats in the past are rarely seen today, except in unvaccinated or under vaccinated animals, simply because vaccination programs used by veterinarians are extremely effective.
What vaccines should dogs receive?
Dogs should begin their initial puppy vaccination series at 6-8 weeks of age. These vaccines give immune responses in healthy pets to canine distemper, adenovirus, parainfluenza, and parvovirus and are given once monthly until the puppy is approximately 4 months old. A minimum of two vaccinations are necessary for all previously unvaccinated dogs.
Rabies vaccination is given at 12-16 weeks of age. If a dog has never had a rabies vaccination before it must be given a second vaccination within one year, and every 3 years thereafter in our province.
Bordetella vaccine protects against some forms of tracheobronchitis or canine kennel cough. It is strongly advised if your dog is visits boarding facilities while you are on vacation or away, or is in dog shows, or is in any way exposed to many other dogs, and it helps prevent this frequently diagnosed disease. New information indicates that this vaccine should be given once yearly for good protection for your pet.
What vaccines should cats receive?
Cats should begin their initial kitten vaccination series at 6-8 weeks of age. These vaccines give immune response in healthy pets to feline panleukopenia (distemper), rhinotracheitis, calicivirus, and chlamydia and are given once monthly until the kitten is approximately 4 months old. All cats that have never been vaccinated need a minimum of two vaccinations.
Rabies vaccination is given at 12-16 weeks of age. If a cat has never had a rabies vaccination before it must be given a second vaccination within one year, and then every 3 years thereafter in our province
Feline leukemia vaccine is initially given to kittens (who will be going outside) 12 weeks of age or older. A second vaccination is given approximately one month later. All outdoor cats need a minimum of two vaccinations initially, followed by a yearly booster. Cats that are allowed outside at any time can be tested annually for Feline Leukemia and Feline Immunodeficiency Virus. (This is a virus totally unrelated to the virus that causes Human Immunodeficiency Syndrome. There is NO evidence to indicate humans can be infected by this virus, so DO NOT worry about this aspect of the disease.)


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At the start of the month, we wrote about BMW's plans to roll out a plug-in hybrid option for every core model in its lineup. This isn't a rumor, it's confirmed by both statement and action. The automaker has announced it will be increasing production capacity at its plant in Dingolfing, adding two lines to the facility that makes electric motors and battery packs for BMW i models and eDrive hybrids.
So that's going according to plan, but what if it's only just the beginning?
Last week, a new theory surfaced, one with far more drastic implications to the auto market. Baron Funds is a globally-recognized investment group that prides itself on its "long-term, research driven" investments in companies dedicated to growth. In their quarterly report from September, they describe a visit by two of their research analysts to a number of BMW facilities. Here's the relevant excerpt:
"One more thing. While many car companies doubt electric cars will ultimately represent a large portion of new car sales, BMW is not one of those companies. Two of our research analysts recently visited BMW's headquarters in Munich, as well as its electric vehicle and carbon fiber assembly plants in Leipzig, Germany, and its battery pack assembly plant and research facility in Dingolfing, Germany. The BMW financial team believes a revolution in drive train is underway. We believe that BMW will likely phase out internal combustion engines over the next 10 years!"
Well then. That's a bold assessment to say the least, and yet organizations like Baron Funds don't persist by making outlandish guesses.
Still, the claim raises a number of questions. For one, we want to look at expectations for Germany fleet fuel economy over the next several years. According to the Global Fuel Economy Initiative, car manufacturers within the European Union have agreed to meet a standard of 57.6 mpg by 2020. That's ambitious compared to American standards, which is aiming for 54.5 mpg by 2025. At home, BMW is facing heightened pressure to increase efficiency, which certainly explains the new dedication to hybrid vehicles. Could BMW really be so ambitious as to eliminate the need for the offending gallons entirely, though?
Surely we have to consider the enthusiasts in this situation. There must be a subset of people who love BMW for their driftastic M powered sports cars, and while the i8 makes an excellent case for hybrid performance cars, to do away with gasoline-powered cars entirely seems farfetched. Speaking of the i8, there are rumors that BMW i is working on a 500 horsepower model that's only gas-powered, what some are calling the i8 S. If that car were fully realized, would it be so limited as to live and die within the span of a decade?
We're only asking these questions because we see it as our duty. What we certainly aren't saying is that BMW couldn't pull it off. With the kinds of innovative minds at work there, no task is insurmountable. The whole explosion in a can thing has probably had its hundred years in the sun, and it may very well be time to move on. It will be interesting to see if BMW can produce an alternative that captures the same driving spirit.
Tell us your thoughts. Do you think it's realistic for BMW to phase out internal combustion engines in ten years? Is it a goal they should be trying to achieve?
Leith BMW is happy to be your preferred BMW dealer in the Raleigh area.
This story originally appeared on Jalopnik.


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Jacques' Journals
Jacques Lyser is one of the Le Croix Betas and is responsible for the running of the Invarnash property. He is also the bodyguard for Laylah Le Croix.
He is often considered the top Beta and the other Betas watch his every move. He has known his Alpha, Henry Le Croix, since they were children.
He often acts as a surrogate father and disciplinarian to Laylah. He only wants what's best for her and that includes keeping Alpha Donil Silentshadow away from his young charge.
Jacques Lyser made his first appearance in the Werelove universe in "Dusk Conspiracy."
Status: ONGOING
There are two ways to read the journals
- Here on the website: Read the Journals
- Using the Wattpad app (mobile) or visiting the Wattpad website: