text:
If you're interested in becoming a foster parent, our Meet & Greet Events are great opportunities to ask our knowledgeable staff any and all of your questions. There are no bad questions! Whether you are ready to become a foster parent, a Fostering Connections family, a respite care provider, or still considering if the time is right for you, enjoy this informal, friendly setting and get to know our staff. We look forward to meeting you!
See our calendar and RSVP to our next Meet and Greet Event.
If you are unable to attend this event, please take a look at our upcoming events and trainings and find the next Meet & Greet occurring near you. Or if you are ready to get started now, fill out the inquiry form and a member of our staff will contact you right away.


text:
web 2.0
Log in
Share Collection of Inspirational Famous Quotes Mothers Day Quotes Quotes On Life Optimistic Quotes Life quotes Short Quotes
<< But whatever you do
Men stumble over pebbles, never over mountains >>
God's Child
| Posted: 29. March 2011 12:23 |
As I faced my Maker at last judgement,
I knelt before the Lord along with the other souls . Before each of us laid our lives, like the squares of a quilt.
An angel sat before each of us sewing our quilt squares together into a tapestry that is our life.
But as my angel took each piece of cloth off the pile, I noticed how ragged and empty each of my squares was. They were filled with giant holes.
Each square was labeled with a part of my life that had been difficult, the challenges and temptations I was faced with in everyday life.
I saw hardships that I endured, which were the largest holes of all. I glanced around me. Nobody else had such squares. Other than a tiny hole here and there, the other tapestries were filled with rich color and all the bright hues of worldly fortune.
I gazed upon my own life and was disheartened. My angel was sewing the ragged pieces of cloth together, threadbare and empty like binding air.
Finally the time came when each life was to be displayed, held up to the light, the scrutiny of the truth ...The others rose, each in turn, holding up their tapestries.
So filled their lives had been. My angel looked upon me, and nodded for me to rise. My gaze dropped to the ground in shame. I hadn't had all the earthly fortunes.
I had love in my life, and laughter. But there had also been trials of illness and death, and false accusations that took from me my world as I knew it. I had to start over many times.
I often struggled with the temptation to quit, only to somehow muster the strength to pick up and begin again. I had spent many lonely nights on my knees in prayer, asking for help and guidance in my life.
I had often been held up to ridicule, which I endured painfully: each time offering it up to the Father in hopes that I would not melt within my skin beneath the judgemental gaze of those who unfairly judged me. And now, I had to face the truth. My life was what it was, and I had to accept it for what it had been...I rose and slowly lifted the combined squares of my life to the light. An awe-filled gasp filled the air.
I gazed around at the others who stared at me with eyes opened wide. Then I looked upon the tapestry before me.
Light flooded the many holes, creating an image, The Face of Christ. Then our Lord stood before me, with love and warmth in his eyes.
He said: "Every time you gave over your life to me, it became my life, my hardships, and my struggles. Each point of light in your life is when you stepped aside and let me shine thru, until there was more of me than there was of you."
Lovely Thoughts for Lovely People Just Like You
Thanks For Believing In Life and Me........
Kick it!
DZone it!
Comments (0)
Post RSS
comments powered by Disqus.
blog comments powered by
Amazon.in Widgets
Subscribe in a reader
Include comments in search
Skytrain, Walking, Inter-Terminal - Singapore Changi Airport
Enchanted Garden - Changi Airport
Sunflower Garden - Changi Airport
Build A Better Gut To Live Healthy
Top Quotes that will Change your life by Steve Jobs
Spice Garden Goa – Spice Plantation & Farm in India Goa
The Irony Of Life
Happy Easter Quotes Easter Quotations
The Chahal Foundation
Happy Friendship Day Quotes Quotations And Sayings
Myth vs Reality of Organ Donation
4th OF July Happy Independence Day
Fourth Of July Independence Day 4th of July Famous Quotes
Fathers Day Gift Ideas
Fathers Day Quotes Pictures And Poems
Memorial Day Quotes
Good Friday Quotes And Sayings
International Women's Day Quotes and Small Quotations About Women's Day
I Love You Too..............
Republic Day India
Follow this blog
Amazing Inspirational Optimistic Short Quotes
Feedjit Live Blog Stats

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Monticello - Seven people were charged Tuesday at an apartment where police said crack cocaine was sold.
Around 10:45 p.m., police entered Apt. 18 at Monticello Garden Apartments on Moon Manor Road, finding cocaine, packaged for sale, and drug paraphernalia.
George Saulsberry, 50, who resided at the apartment, and Floyd Spruill, 42, of Monticello, were charged with felonies for criminal possession of controlled substance and several misdemeanors, police said. Both men are on parole for prior drug convictions.
Amelia Miller, 28, of Monticello, was accused of throwing crack pipes out the window and was charged with a felony for tampering with evidence.
The three were taken to the Sullivan County Jail, with Saulsberry and Spruill on no bail and Miller on $1,000 bail. Four others were charged with misdemeanors for possession and loitering.
All will appear in Village Court on Dec. 7.
Seven face drug charges in Monticello apartment raid
Monticello - Seven people were charged Tuesday at an apartment where police said crack cocaine was sold.


text:
Check out our new site at www.nsADHD.com 🙂 http://thechronicleherald.ca/community/halifax/1245137-coping-thriving-with-adhd
ADDvocacy ADHD & Life Skills Coaching Ltd was featured in Jobpostings.ca magazine
STARTING UP WITH NO LIMITS: ENTREPRENEURS WITH DISABILITIES Posted by Megan Santos on: Thu, 25th September 2014 0 Comments GET FREE JOB ALERTS. REGISTER TODAY! KEITH GELHORN OWNER ADDVOCACY LIFE SKILLS AND COACHING A career that started in skilled trades quickly changed when the British Columbia-based company that Keith Gelhorn was working for cut its staff… Read more »
#nsADHD Community Information Session on ADHD
The Nova Scotia ADHD Action Group (Formerly the Youth and Adult ADHD Support Group) are hosting a FREE Community Information Session on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder on October 15th from 6:30 to 8:30pm at NSCC (Akerley Campus) in the Cafeteria. 6:00 – 6:30 – Exhibitors set up 6:30 – 7:00 – Networking and visit booths 7:00 – 7:05 – Nova Scotia ADHD… Read more »
Nova Scotia ADHD Action Group – Community Information Session on ADHD
ADDvocacy – 2014 FINAL ADHD AWARENESS WEEK POSTER (3)


text:
VERSUS MODE ADDED! Natural Disasters contest winner! In this co-op and surv... More >
April 2013
This is an amazing campaign. Very original and well thought out. The effects were spectacular and timing and the cinematography was top notch, amazed you were able to do this with the Source Engine...
Part 2 NEEDED TOO. Make sure "PART 1 of 2" and "PART 2 of 2" are together ins... More >
October 2012
An English version would be nice. :)
Kalashnikov RPK light machine gun for the M60. Hand clips through the drum on... More >
May 2012
Great replacement, just make the custom sound work :)
Survivors crashed their bus in an utility pole of a dark forest while fleeing... More >
This is one of the most well thought out and lengthy campaigns I've ever played. It's a perfect blend of the gameplay enhancements of L4D2 with the superior atmosphere of L4D1. Perfect!
A port of the L4D1 map Light House,with l4d2 items and guns. Full credit to v... More >
Right on the money, I was fearing that you would use the L4D2 survivors for this one.
Death Aboard 2 is the convertion to L4D2 of the popular Death Aboard campaign... More >
Okay, great campaign but for pete's sake, come to the realization that the ONLY thing that was good about L4D2 was the gameplay addons. Geez man, come to the realization that the survivors and atmo...
Great campaign and great design, but from here on out, I'm taking off 10% for every campaign that uses the L4D2 survivors or the L4D2 atmosphere. Don't use any atmospheric elements from L4D2, espec...
Version 3 RELEASED! Survivors are stranded in Transsylvania. Go through the f... More >
Great atmosphere that is hindered by corny horror attributes and L4D2 survivors. I would suggest making a version with the L4D1 survivors.
Four new survivors must make their way through an infected city to escape the... More >
All in all, this map has tremendously good design and variety. The levels are beautifully crafted and it keeps you begging for more. My only issue is that I think the level would've been much bette...


text:
This is a personal, non-sponsored post by a member of BuzzFeed's ad content team.
Throughout history sex has become somewhat of a Taboo topic, something not to be discussed at the dinner table. Do you remember the first time you had the "sex talk" with mom and dad? awkward, right? So, in the past when you couldn't approach the parentals with a sexual question, why not call into 80 year old self-proclaimed sexpert Sue Johanson? It's just like calling grandma!


text:
Morgan Stanley Zeroes In on a Manager's Communications Style in Exit Notice
A Morgan Stanley filing with state securities regulators about the abrupt departure last month of a former complex manager suggests that managers have to be more careful than ever about their behavior, but leaves many questions about particulars.
Richard Frick, a 21-year securities industry veteran who had been with the wirehouse since 2011 and was overseeing its Philadelphia advisors, left on May 2 as part of a "mutually agreed resignation stemming from employee's manner of communications," according to a U-5 separation agreement reviewed by AdvisorHub.
The notice to regulators that firms are required to file to explain "separations" by registered persons said the issues did not relate to sales and trading but otherwise provided no details about the communications issues. The wording of such notices are carefully negotiated by firm legal departments and employment lawyers representing advisors since it can determine compensation and future job opportunities.
Frick, who started his career at Salomon Smith Barney in 1995 before embarking in 1999 to Prudential Securities and its successor firm Wells Fargo Advisors, could not be reached for comment. He has not registered with a new firm, according to BrokerCheck.
Several employment lawyers who represent brokers said the Frick "manner of communications" language is unusual phraseology and likely reflects the heightened scrutiny of managers and brokers by companies sensitive to potential human resources issues.
"That's a cutting-edge disclosure," said Rogge Dunn, an employment lawyer in Dallas, Texas, who said he was not familiar with Frick's case but is seeing firms demanding more collaborative relationships between managers and field employees and messages and "sensitive" communication.
Every case is unique and fact-dependent, of course, but at least one other wirehouse employee who sources said was dismissed last month over a sensitive human-resources issue has found a new job.
Brett R. Henderson, a $600,000 producer at a UBS Wealth Management Americas branch in Beverly Hills, abruptly left the firm last month after nine years at the wirehouse and four earlier years at Merrill Lynch.
Though his BrokerCheck history records him as still at UBS, he has launched Henderson Wealth Management, a registered investment advisory firm in Manhattan Beach that is affiliated with Resources Investment Advisors, an RIA rollup firm.
Reached on his cellphone, Henderson declined to comment on his departure and his new firm.
Resources Investment, based in Overland Park, Kansas, has $10.4 billion in assets under management, $8.4 billion of which are managed on a discretionary basis, according to its ADV filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission in March.


text:
|Posted by Pedro.Eurovisionontop on February 4, 2018 at 4:00 PM
Die Entscheidungsshow was once again the format of the swiss national final to find the song for this year.
The six songs where a mix of different styles. But one of the weak editions of the last years.
After the vote of an international jury and the televoting the Band Zibbz won the ticket to Lisbon and will performe the song "Stones".
Last year Switzerland missed the ticket to the grand final, like in Stockholm the year before.
Maybe this year Stones will help Switzerland to return to the grand final and repeat a better result on the score board.
Categories: Eurovision 2018, Switzerland, Special Report
Oops, you forgot something.
The words you entered did not match the given text. Please try again.


text:
Yeo International
Quick Navigation
Have you ever wondered what are superfoods?
In simple terms, they refer to nutritionally-dense food items that are mainly plant-based like fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans, legumes, herbs and spices.
These items are called super foods because they contain a lot of vitamins, minerals and nutrients which are good for our overall health and well-being. (1)
Therefore, including some of them in our juicing routine would greatly boost the nutrient value of our juices.
Here is a list of superfoods that can be added to your juices or even your dishes for various purposes.
I will discuss about the diverse benefits of having these food items as part of your juices.
Besides adding them to your juices, you can also consume them as part of your diet.
P:S – I have grouped them into various categories so that you can refer to them more easily.
Published on 17 July 2017


text:
Last Friday (February 10, 2017), a message appeared on the website of Bulgaria's Central Electoral Commission (CEC), announcing Decision № 4272-NS which determines the technical requirements for the hardware and the software of the system for the electronic voting machine in the parliamentary elections on March 26, 2017.
However, the specifications are secret and were not published!
Later in the evening, another decision to launch a public procurement procedure for providing/leasing 12,500 voting machines was also published. The CEC estimates that the rent for each device will cost from 1,000 to 1,200 levs without VAT.
Therefore, the question why the technical requirements for the machines are not public becomes a 15 million-levs-question, without VAT.
This is a modest amount, compared to the 128 million US dollars allocated at the eleventh hour from the Venezuelan budget for machine voting in the referendum "for or against Chavez remaining president" in 2004. However, the parallel is valid, even more so because the same company might turn out to be the winning bidder in the Bulgarian tender.
According to information obtained by Bivol, the requirements in the secret annex suspiciously match device SAES-3377 of the company Smartmatic. The CEC previously rented voting machines from the same company for the experimental machine voting in 2014. Another 500 machines were leased from Smartmatic for the formal machine voting in the presidential election last year. Another source, however, claims that efforts were made not to favor the same company again … if it is not the only candidate.
Meanwhile, Capital daily published information that the CEC had discussed replacing the machines with touchscreen laptops and printers. A large computer company had even begun to explore the supply and transport of 13,000 laptops from China. However, any provider, including Smartmatic, will be facing logistical problems as the deadlines are extremely tight.
Who is the provider of the voting machines?
Smartmatic is one of the leaders in the business of machine and electronic voting. However, the company's glory is contradictory. Founded by Venezuelans, it was originally registered in Delaware in the United States, and subsequently re-registered in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. According to secret cables by US diplomats in Caracas, leaked through Wikileaks, its owners are wealthy Venezuelans linked to the Bolivarian government of Hugo Chavez and hidden behind a web of offshore companies.
In 2014, Smartmatic became part of the SGO. Lord Mark Malloch Brown, who is close to George Soros and is a board member of "Open Society", became representative of Smartmatic. This caused speculation that the billionaire has bought the company but Smartmatic categorically denied any involvement of Soros in its capital.
Smartmatic has also delivered machines for elections in the United States, where, in 2006, it was investigated for connections with the Venezuelan government, according to the New York Times. This happened after Smartmatic acquired in 2005 the US company Sequoia Voting Systems, supplying voting machines in 17 US states and Washington DC. Ultimately, Smartmatic sold its shares in Sequoia, but doubts that its licensed software is still used in American elections remain.
It is remarkable that from the numerous elections, in which the company has participated, only in Venezuela there were no complaints about problems with the voting machines. They are also the most successful elections in financial terms for Smartmatic – 128 million US dollars for the 2004 referendum in which Venezuelans had to decide whether Hugo Chavez should remain President. The contract was speedily awarded by the pro-presidential Venezuelan electoral commission. Chavez won the referendum. The opposition then blamed Smartmatic for its loss over detected dubious two-way communication with a central server before printing the records.
The Smartmatic voting machines are distributed in Bulgaria by the company "Ciela Norma". It is associated with lawyer Ivan Todorov, who, according to Momchil Mondeshki in the Yaneva Gate recordings, "often visits Delyan" and has arranged arbitration proceedings in favor of the infamous oligarch. Todorov, himself, categorically denied any connection with Delyan Peevski.
Textbook machine performance
For the Bulgarian elections, an online connection of voting machines with a central server that records the cast machine votes is not provided. All devices are offline. At least the "Venezuelan" option for manipulations is eliminated.
Instead of sending sensitive information over the Internet, the voting devices will simply print at the end of Election Day a protocol with the total number of votes and possibly their distribution by parties.
A significant problem is that the Smartmatic machines are like "black box" and nobody in Bulgaria knows how they work. In previous elections, the CEC has given one day to the expert committee to examine one of the machines before sending all of them to the voting polls.
This is most likely to happen now as well. One out of 12,500 machines will be checked. Since the software is owned by the company and is not an open source, this inspection is purely pro forma.
The discussed option of using laptops and printers is even riskier since there will be no physical possibility to check whether the Chinese laptops meet the security criteria. It is enough to remember the Chinese smart irons that were secretly connecting to the Internet and sending out spam and viruses.
But if you are concerned that the equipment can be manipulated by some secret codes to produce the required results, do not worry. In the Bulgarian conditions, there is even no need for hackers. Things are much simpler.
For the presidential election, the CEC distributed a number of voting machines for training. These devices print ballots and protocols with results that are visually identical to the ones produced by the machines used in the real vote, but the latter ballots and protocols are not protected with a micro-code.
In this situation, it would not be rocket science to click the needed votes on the training machines and replace the protocols. One will only need to know how many people have voted with machines in a certain voting poll.
Such manipulation can be limited if the results protocol of each voting machine is printed with an audit trail with the time of submission of each vote. This extra feature was not provided for the presidential elections and it is unclear whether it is included in the secret technical requirements of the CEC.
In the last elections, more than 200,000 people cast their ballot on a voting machine, and it is expected that in the elections in March they will reach one million. This raises serious concerns about the safety of the machine vote. At the very least, we need an independent external audit of the voting devices, as already requested by the new political party "Yes, Bulgaria". However, the mystery surrounding the CEC's technical annex is a bad sign that things will go in the opposite direction.
If you find this article useful, support our work with a small donation.
Pay a Bivol Tax!
We will highly appreciate if you decide to support us with monthly donations keeping the option Make this donation monthly.
Извършвайки плащане Вие се съгласявате с Общите условия, които предварително сте прочели тук.
Биволъ не записва и не съхранява номера на Вашата банкова карта. Плащанията се обработват през системата Stripe. Даренията за Биволъ с банкови карти се управляват от френската неправителствена организация Data for Reporters Journalists and Investigations - DRJI.
This post is also available in: Bulgarian


text:
Community Learning Center
Community Learning Center
5647 Broad Street
Greendale, WI 53129
(Maps and Directions)
The Multipurpose Building which houses the Health Department, Historical Society, Park & Recreation Department and the Public Library was recently transformed into a new umbrella entity called the Community Learning Center (CLC). The CLC brings together all of the component organizations to strengthen our Village through relationship building, emerging cost efficiencies, greater public service, and enhanced educational opportunities. By housing the components under one roof, the CLC builds individual capacity and enhances existing systems throughout Greendale.


text:
Bringing People Together
Views: 2498
WTF?!?! If anyone can find a source for this I would be grateful if they could post it here asap.
(Thanks Gareth.)
Trying to dig around for something official - if I find it, will let you know
If I'm doing my Pollyanna routine, looking for the silver lining around the half full glass then I would say that while a fortnight disruption will be an enormous pain in the tuckus, if it means that we finally get rid of the trains cancelled owing to flooding at Fulwell then it may be a spot of long term gain for short term pain
Matt D said:
WTF?!?! If anyone can find a source for this I would be grateful if they could post it here asap.
(Thanks Gareth.)
I absolutely agree (even if this renders my commute non-viable). If this is the price for flood-proofing mild-downpour-proofing the Fulwell tunnel then sign me up.
I asked the SWT twitter account, and they just pointed to the current maintenance schedule (which currently only goes out to May) and say the information will be posted there when released.
Wow. That'll be fun.
You'd have thought that SWT would get the official announcement of something like this out much further advance than the notifications of "normal" short-term/weekend engineering works. Perhaps there'll be posters at the station soon.
Clearly all stations beyond the Fulwell Tunnel will be affected so that's a lot of commuters/schoolchildren etc. It is a bit strange that they didn't pick two weeks during the school holidays, rather than overlapping the start of the holiday period.
Time for a prayer in any or all denominations. No roadworks please during this closure. No TW or other utilities digging up the roads in and around HAMPTON Please please please. Do you know of any planned Gareth??
Deep joy...
well lets hope they finish on time as the bike race is on the 31st July, so no buses, no trains cars can't get anywhere it will be a nightmare!!!
Twitter user @Jaymin96 posted this picture of the Shepperton line between Fulwell Station and the Wellington Road bridge this morning. These repairs can't come soon enough.
South West Trains have posted some pictures of the Fulwell tunnel works to their Twitter account.
Just travel on the train as I have done a couple of times this week and you will see all the men working, tubes everywhere, and I mean big ones, also they are reinforcing the banks so they do not collapse. It was from Shepperton to Fulwell so lets hope that it will solve the problem once all the diggers and men have gone. Never seen so many people working. The only problem is at the moment is that trains are being cancelled (as was the one before mine today) or running late as they were today, only 5 mins, but still made me late and on Tuesday for a hospital appointment was 15 mins late, but at least the trains are back. Asked at the station today whether the strike will involve us next week and was told no, thank goodness as back to Kingston Hospital next Tuesday. Fingers crossed that they are not running too late


text:
Italian singer Adriano Celentano's "Prisencolinensinainciusol" hit the #1 pop song spot on the Italian charts in 1972. The lyrics consist of gibberish designed to sound like English. My brain tries to extract meaning from the nonsense words even though it knows there's nothing there. It's also a great song!
Italian singer Adriano Celentano wrote the song to mimic the way he thought American English sounded. "Ever since I started singing, I was very influenced by American music and everything Americans did," said Celentano during a 2012 interview with All Things Considered. "I thought that I would write a song which would only have as its theme the inability to communicate. And to do this, I had to write a song where the lyrics didn't mean anything."
Related: How English sounds to non-English speakers


text:
five photos that represent this year
6 comments:
I have so missed your blog while I've been away. Being a mama is the best!! I had Josie in February and it's been the best year ever! <3ReplyDeleteReplies
awe, thank you so much and same to you! however, i am proud of you and completely agree with your break!! best year ever and josie is SO cute. you made my day and welcome back. xoDelete
This is so great! What a beautiful year it has been <3ReplyDeleteReplies
it really has been! thank you so much - xoDelete
I would love to hear more about how you have simplified your life & home (if that's something you feel like sharing, of course!). And okay, is it just me or are those onesies so hard to figure out how to snap back up?! haha!ReplyDeleteReplies
so sorry I never wrote back to this... I hope to share soon! LOTS of donations this year and LOVE the book, The Magic Art of Tidying Up!! Onesies get easier... right? So happy for you all... I love baby Crew. And can't believe you named him that... that was totally our name until I heard of the name Parks - so I love it. So much. xoDelete


text:
Another Fun way to add HEALTH to your day!
HEALTHY Armstrong introduces fun activity sheets with healthy snack ideas for the whole family! All HEALTHY Snack sheets were created by Mrs. Luann Fee, Food Service Director of the Armstrong School District and her dietetic interns from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Edible Tic-Tac-Toe
Homemade Pretzles
Carrot Patches
Balls of Energy
Banana Pops
Jell-o Pizza
Fruit and Yogurt Parfait
Mexicali Popcorn
Apple Yogurt Dip
Cats Eyes PB and Banana
Vegetable Wagon
Chipotle Veggie Dip
Another great way to add a little fun to your health, is to visit our local farmers market's or local farms for the freshest produce around! Check out our list below:


text:
Teacher Notes
Part A: Bat story
Watch the following story about Bat and find out how he felt to be left out. Bat story is a folk story that is told in many places around the world. In this video the story is told by Donna Jacobs Sife.
As you can imagine all the creatures – animals, birds, insects and reptiles – heard about Bat and the parties he could not go to. They all had lots to say about it.
Choose a creature that you would like to be. Imagine that you heard about Bat. What might your thoughts be? Your task is to draw a picture of the creature you have chosen to be. Then to write a speech next to the drawing giving your opinion about what happened.


text:
Ever since we have started to write this travel blog, we travel to Germany every year. Before that, I did not even imagine, how diverse Germany really is. It is perfect for all kind of travel styles – from adventerous, romantic to family oriented explorations.
If you'll be traveling to Germany with kids, check out this one week long roadtrip, where everyone will be able to find their own point of interests.
One week roadtrip around Germany
Day 1: Munich airport – Chiemsee (95 km)
If you'll be flying into Germany and landing at the Munich airport, rent a car and start your day at the Chiemsee lake near by.
Chiemsee is a great family destination, where you can join cycling around the lake to a boat trip on one of the three small islandes in the middle of it. The most visited island is the Herreninsel, where people visit the castle of king Ludwik II of Bavaria. A little less visited is the Fraueninsel, where the Benedictine convent stands.
You can read more about Chiemse and what to do there here.
If you are full of energy and eager to explore more, a nice town just 30 kilometers from Chiemsee, is the medieval town Wasserburg.
Accommodation recommondation: We stayed at the Ferienhof Moyer – a really beautiful and locally organised farm, where you can get bed and breakfast. The breakfast is completely local and except from cheeses, everything comes from the Moyer farm. The kids will also love the fact, they can take a look at their stables and run around after cats, chickens…
Day 2: Chiemsee – Märchenwald Park – Schaftlarn monastery – Augsburg (215 km)
If you are traveling with kids, you just cannot continue your day without a stop at the Märchenwald Park, where fary-tales are home. Even if you'll be traveling during summer, the park is surrounded by forest, what makes it great to escape the summer heat. You can also upgrade your day with a visit to the Schaftlarn monastery – to make everything a bit more active, rent a bike – the cycling paths are great.
End your day in Augsburg and treat yourself with a local beer Riegele.
Accommodation recommondation: Hotel Am Alten Park Augsburg stands in the old convent, just few steps away from the famous Riegele brewery. The hotel is around 15 minutes by foot to the old city center.
Day 3: Augsburg
You can easily spend one full day in Augsburg – exploring the city, visiting the ZOO, a walk around the whitewater canal, stopping at the Fuggerei – the world's oldest social housing complex. Read more about Augsburg and its tourist attractions here.
Accommodation recommodation: Hotel Am Alten Park Augsburg
Day 4: Augsburg – Legoland – Gutenzell (125 km)
Who has not heard for Legoland, right? If you and your kids are or were keen on legos, you will love it here and that's a promise. Most attractions in Legoland are for olderer kids, but there are few things for toddlers as well.
Accommodation recommondation: Hotel Klosterhof Gutenzell is a family run hotel in a formal monastery. The rooms are modern, but equiped with traditional materials, which are alergy free. The location of the hotel is in the middle of a small village, surrounded by pastures, what makes everything even more attractive for families.
Day 5: Gutenzell – Ravensburger Spieleland – Lindau am Bodensee (95 km)
Germany is full of theme parks and today you are visiting another one – Ravensburger. Kids will love it and their attractions offer something for toddlers and for older kids as well. Close your day at Bodensee in a town Lindau, which is great for walks, cycling, swimming or boating. Check out the best things you can do in Lindau here.
Accommodation recommondation: Hostel das Mietwerk – even though you are traveling with kids, you can also find family rooms in this organically based hostel. Location of the hostel is great, at the bus stop, which can take you to the Lindau island – the old town of Lindau. You can also reach the old town by bike. More about Lindau here.
*If you have one extra day to spend, you won't be sorry to spend it here in Lindau.
Day 6: Lindau – Sky Walk Allgäu in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (165 km)
The road to Garmisch-Partenkirchen is pretty curvy, so a stop in between will not be to bad. Our pick is the small town of Allgäu and its Sky Walk.
You will reach Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the afternoon, which you can spend in the Garmisch town, which is mostly know for the winter-ski jumps, but honestly, a walk along its famous street is worth the time – admirering its painted houses and oompah-oompah bands.
Accommodation recommondation: Familien Hotel Leiners is for sure the best choice when traveling with kids. They don't offer just babysitting for babies, toddlers and older kids, they also have all kind of activities for them (kids pool, inner playground, outdoor playing area, special kids menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner). All the rooms are equiped with baby/kids essentials like changing table, bottle heater, the dinning room has very good offer of powder milk and baby food. Kids can get drinks 24 hours a day and also indoor playing area is open 24 hours per day, just in case your little traveller cannot sleep. Not only kids will love the Familien Hotel Leiners, but you will too.
Day 7: Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Before leaving Garmisch-Partenkirchen and checking out from the room, make a trip to the amazing Partnach gorge. You can also reach it with horse-carriage, which kids will enjoy for sure. And Partnach gorge itself is stunning as well. Check out more information about it, including photos, here.
After checking out from the hotel, you can return back to the airport and take your flight home or you can explore some more of Germany – if you are lack of ideas, check them out here.


text:
|The Beautiful Mixed--Tiffany Tilmon
It's the question so many "mixed" people are asked-- "What are you?" Growing up in a military community-- I was always in a melting pot of ethnicities. Most of my schoolmates were "mixed." A dear friend of mine -- Tiffany Tilmon--agreed to share her story about growing up as a mixed woman- who could pass for white.
1)What is your ethnicity? I am black and white
2) When asked "Hey, what are you?" It is usually because someone already has a "feeling" I am mixed. I usually tell them half black and half white. It is what I consider myself when it comes to race.
3) Being that I am so pale when considering biracial people, I do feel like at times my skin color can make it difficult to fit in. Particularly when I was growing up. It was well known that I was mixed. Many of the black kids wouldn't hang out with me because I wasn't black enough. The white kids knew I was black, and therefore wouldn't hang with me. Hispanics weren't a group I hung with or tried to, so I have no reference there. I found myself hanging with the half Asian/half white kids. I was comfortable there. As an adult, I find most often it isn't my skin color that depicts whether I fit in or not, it really falls down on my own personality.
|Tiffany's Parents
4)Do you feel racism still exists?? As a teacher, I am exposed to learned behaviors in children, that comes from their parents. I believe racism is one of those behaviors. Do I feel like it is as big a problem as it has been, no. Do I feel I could move to Jasper, Texas (where the black boy was drug behind a truck) with my children...no, for fear of what they would do to my kids if they found out they are multiracial, their mother is biracial, or that my father is black. As a white looking woman, people tend to say things that they wouldn't normally if they knew I was black. It is very obvious that racism exists. Many people just try to hide it.
|Tiffany & Her Dad
5)Do you ever "pass" as white? I pass for white 90% of the time. It is usually someone who is biracial or has a family member with biracial children who recognizes that I am mixed.
When I was younger, I had a need to prove who I was. I would carry a picture of my father around with me in my wallet. I felt that telling people I was black should have gotten me some sort of prize. I was so proud of my family and I wanted everyone to know it. My hair not looking mixed, my skin only looking slightly darker in the summer, my freckles, and not "acting" black made it hard for people to believe me. I remember arguing with kids about being black. It took a long time for me to realize that whether I was believed or not, I was a Tilmon, not a color. Although my color was a part of me, is a part of me, it does not define me.


text:
Snow, sleet, rain and wind: Chicago and it's suburbs saw it all on Tuesday and winter weather moved through the area.
By about 6:30 p.m., the weather service was reporting many areas had been hit with 5 inches or more of snow, including: 6.4 inches in Elk Grove Village; 5.9 inches in Roselle; 5.5 inches in Lake Bluff; and 5 inches in Wheaton and Woodstock.
By a little before 5:30 p.m., the weather service was reporting these snowfall accumulations: 6.4 inches in Northbrook; 5.2 inches in Streamwrood; and 4.5 inches in Winnetka.
Areas south of the city were seeing mostly lower accumulations, such as 4 inches in Park Forest and 2.5 inches in Peotone.
By around 7:30p.m., 854 flights have been canceled at O'Hare International Airport, while 484 had been delayed, according to FlightStats, which gathers data from airports and airlines. At Midway International Airport, 171 flights have been canceled, while 73 were delayed.
On the roads, spinouts have been reported on interstates 90, 94 and 55, according to the Illinois State Police.
The Illinois State Police Chicago District has instituted its emergency snow plan. In an accident where there are no injuries and the cars are driveable, the drivers should exchange information at a safe place and file accident reports with the state police within 10 days.
Chicago's Streets and Sanitation Department has deployed its entire fleet of 284 plows. Drivers will plow the main roads, such as Lake Shore Drive, through the evening rush hour. As the snow begins to taper off, the plows will clear residential roads, said department spokeswoman Anne Sheahan.
– The Chicago Tribune reporting


text:
Just Jaimee
Digital Scrapbooking : Pocket Scrapbooking : Hybrid Scrapbooking
Jump into summer with a kit that captures the season's vibrancy and glee! Reed's elements will make you want to reach out and touch every delightful detail. You have big plans this summer, and Reed is up to the task! This element pack is filled with the boundless energy of summer, so open it up and get scrappin'! This pack includes 125+ vibrant elements: 2 borders, 2 heart brads, 1 trio epoxy flowers, 1 trio epoxy stars, 2 circle buntings, 3 confetti scatters, 2 cork butterflies, 1 cutout butterfly, 1 set of blank wordstrips, 1 ephemera hangtag, 2 epoxy bowties, 6 fabric flowers, 4 frames, 2 doodled tags, 2 paint splatters, 4 paperclips, 2 curled ribbons, 2 speech bubbles, 3 stapled sequins, 1 sticker high-rise buildings, 2 stickers of painted circles, 2 stickers of trio trees, 2 stitched circles, 3 stitched rows, 3 tabs, 2 hanging tabs, 11 arrow tags, 11 horizontal tags, 7 horizontal heart tags, 1 piece tape, 2 tangled threads, 4 shadowed titles, 6 veneer accents, 25 wordart tags
Subscribe today for the latests tips, tutorials, products, exclusive discounts and the occassional freebie.


text:
My favorite part of Tracy's post/my talk:
: : :
Elder Don Hallstrom, who is a member of the Presidency of the Seventy, was the visiting general authority that day and we were taught the difference between being active in the Church and being active in the Gospel. I loved this talk! Elder Hallstrom said, "We can be perfectly active in the Church, fulfilling our callings and completing the tasks assigned to us, and not be active in the Gospel of Jesus Christ."
That really caught my attention! But isn't it the truth!
In some ways, each of us have created our own "modern-day Law of Moses," with lists of things to do and not to do, places to go and not to go, foods to eat and not to eat, things we tell ourselves are OK to do on the Sabbath and things we must not do on the Sabbath, and endless minutia to fill up our days . . . and we can do all that without ever thinking of our Savior and His redemptive power. We can serve and clean and call and check off all the things on our "Good Christian" list without ever involving our hearts or striving to serve as He would serve. We can go visiting teaching and take a meal in to someone who is struggling or substitute in Primary without ever engaging our minds and hearts to connect on an individually-personal, spiritual place with our Lord and Savior. We can live months and years without ever, once, actually using the Atonement in our lives.
I know — because I have done it.
It is perfectly possible to serve in the Church without ever communing with God.
It is perfectly possible to know all the answers about how to be a Christian without actually giving your soul to Him, without trusting Him to guide your life, without submitting to Him.
But, doing it that way, living that way, doesn't compare to the fullness of joy we feel when we are actively seeking Him, actively loving Him, actively serving Him, and actively obeying Him.
: : :
[Whole lot of deep thought and processing going on!]
Isn't this the most stunning, amazing, and thought-provoking bunch of words!


text:
West Virginia now offers several forms of legal gambling to its citizens and visitors, including casino gambling, pari-mutuel wagering on horse and greyhound races, and the state lottery.
WV online gambling sites
West Virginia sports betting underway
In March 2018, state lawmakers passed the WV Sports Lottery Wagering Act, legalizing sports betting in the state. This law was passed pending a decision from the US Supreme Court or Congress allowing states to legally offer sports betting.
That decision was announced on May 14, 2018, with SCOTUS finding PASPA unconstitutional, clearing the way for West Virginia to begin offering legal sports betting.
Under provisions in the act, sports betting in the state is regulated by the West Virginia Lottery Commission and takes place at sportsbooks inside existing casinos.
In early August, the West Virginia Lottery Commission posted official sports regulations. Days later, it granted its first official sports betting licenses.
Penn National got the first sports betting license in the state. The company operates Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races. Penn was first to market in the state. The casino began taking bets in August 2018.
The second permit went to FanDuel Sportsbook. The company already has a book at The Meadowlands in New Jersey. Thanks to a recent partnership, FanDuel Sportsbook began taking sports bets at The Casino Club at The Greenbrier in September 2018.
Two of the state's other casinos, Mardi Gras Casino and Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack, also launched their sportsbooks in 2018. Both are owned by gaming operator Delaware North. They also launched the first-ever legal sports betting app in the state, calling it BetLucky.
However, due to an ongoing dispute with its service provider, Delaware North has indefinitely suspended sports betting at both retail locations and the app. At this point, it appears unlikely that service to the app will return.
That said, online wagering in West Virginia was resuscitated when FanDuel rolled out a betting app in August 2019. To boot, DraftKings Sportsbook entered the market mere days later. In January 2020, the state's third online sportsbook, BetMGM, went online.
Other forms of West Virginia gambling
West Virginia has had pari-mutuel wagering on horse and greyhound races since The Charles Town Races first opened in December 1933. The West Virginia Racing Commission in Charleston oversees both the greyhound and horse racing industries.
The West Virginia Lottery was established in 1984 through a voter referendum and is run by the state government. It offers games including Hot Lotto, Powerball, Mega Millions, and scratch tickets.
The West Virginia Lottery is regulated by the West Virginia Lottery Commission, which also regulates slot machines, or Video Lottery Terminals (VLTs), at various locations across the state, including five casino gambling facilities.
The casinos feature VLTs that are regular video gaming devices regulated by the West Virginia Lottery Commission. The VLT's must be set return a minimum of 80 percent to a maximum of 95 percent of all wagers. Games include slots, Blackjack, Keno, and video poker.
The state first authorized the operation of slots at racetracks in 1994 and that same year, Mountaineer Casino Racetrack & Resort became the first racetrack in the United States to install slot machines and become a racino.
The state also allows bars and restaurants that serve alcohol to have up to five VLTs. Fraternal organizations may install up to 10 VLTs. The VLTs at bars, restaurants, and fraternal organizations are the same ones used at casino gambling facilities in the state.
All West Virginia casinos now offer table games in accordance with local referendums authorizing the installation of the games as far back as 2007.
Table games available include:
- Blackjack
- Craps
- Roulette
- Three Card Poker
- Poker
- Pai Gow Poker
- Four Card Poker
- Caribbean Stud Poker
- Mini-Baccarat
- Spanish 21
- Mississippi Stud
- Big 6 Wheel
Latest West Virginia legal gambling news
Virginia Sports Betting Finally Crosses Legal Finish LineAfter several delays, sports betting in Virginia has been legalized. The industry could launch this year but a timeline has not officially been established. Read More
PlayUSA Rewind: Tennessee, Virginia Sports Betting Inching Closer To RealityThe latest US gambling news includes Tennessee and Virginia moving forward with legal betting plans and DraftKings partnering with virtual sports provider Inspired. Read More
FanDuel Sportsbook Brings Back West Virginia Online Sports BettingWest Virginia online sports betting had some rocky beginnings. Now six months after it was halted, sportsbook powerhouse FanDuel has gotten it up and running again. Read More
West Virginia legal gambling background
West Virginia has had legal gambling since 1933 when The Charles Town Races first opened with pari-mutuel wagering on horse races.
The West Virginia Lottery was established by a statewide voter referendum in 1984.
A decade later, in 1994, another a statewide voter referendum authorized the installation of Video Lottery Terminals at racetracks across the state. The VLTS include slots, video poker, Keno, and Blackjack games.
In 2001, the West Virginia legislature passed the Limited Video Lottery Act. This allowed a limited number of VLTs in bars, restaurants that serve alcohol, and fraternal organizations.
In 2007, the first county referendums authorizing table games at racetracks with VLTs was passed. The counties housing all five casino gambling facilities in the state have since passed referendums authorizing table games at the facilities.
In March 2018, the state passed the WV Sports Lottery Wagering Act, legalizing sports betting. SCOTUS rendered its decision on PASPA on May 14, 2018. With PASPA officially unconstitutional, West Virginia may begin offering sports wagering.
Land-based slots and table game options
|Number of Slots/Table games
|Distance from Charleston
|Distance from Huntington
|The Casino Club at The Greenbrier
|White Sulphur Springs, WV
|119 miles
|172 miles
|Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races
|Ranson, WV
|321 miles
|372 miles
|Mountaineer Casino Racetrack & Resort
|New Cumberland, WV
|218 miles
|239 miles
|Mardi Gras West Virginia Casino Resort
|Cross Lanes, WV
|12.5 miles
|42 miles
|Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack
|Wheeling, WV
|197 miles
|205 miles
Online gambling options
There are no online casinos in West Virginia at this time. However, that will soon change.
West Virginia passed the West Virginia Lottery Interactive Wagering Act on March 27, 2019. The law allows the five casinos in the state to develop and operate online casino and poker apps.
The law directs officials to create regulations sometime in 2020. So, next year seems a reasonable timeframe for when the first online gambling sites in the Mountain State should begin to pop up.
West Virginia social casino site options
West Virginians can play on the most popular social casino sites in the US. Double Down Casino, Big Fish, and Slotomania all offer apps allowing free play on Facebook or mobile devices. These apps offer players the action of a casino with no actual, money risked or gained.
Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races owner Penn National Gaming has offered free play-money slot-style social casino games through its HollywoodCasino.com website and play4funnetwork.com site since 2015. The games are intended for use only by those 21 or older for amusement purposes only. No actual money or anything of value can be won.
West Virginia operator profiles
The Casino Club at The Greenbrier
Casino gaming, including slots and table games, was first permitted at The Greenbrier Hotel in White Sulphur Springs through a local option referendum in November 2008. A temporary casino named The Tavern Casino opened on October 1, 2009. The permanent casino, The Casino Club at The Greenbrier opened on July 2, 2010.
State regulations permit only guests of the Greenbrier to visit the casino. However, guests may include persons taking a tour of the property or dining at the resort.
The casino now features 320 slots and 37 table games.
Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races
Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races is a race track and casino just outside Charles Town. It is owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties and operated by Penn National Gaming. It features a six-furlong thoroughbred horse racing track. The casino has 2,500 slots and 75 table games.
Table games were permitted by a local referendum in 2009.
The facility changed its name from Charles Town Races & Slots to Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races in 2010.
Mountaineer Casino Racetrack & Resort
Mountaineer Casino Racetrack & Resort is a thoroughbred racetrack and casino just outside New Cumberland. Eldorado Resorts owns and operates the facility. In 1994 it became the first racetrack in the United States to install slot machines and become a racino.
It now boasts 1,525 slots and 36 table games.
Mardi Gras West Virginia Casino Resort
Mardi Gras Casino and Resort is a casino just off the Cross Lanes exit on I-64.
In addition to slots and table games, the facility hosts live greyhound racing and betting on off-track greyhound and horse racing.
Previously known as Tri-State Racetrack and Gaming Center, it has had casino gambling since 2007. The casino has a poker room, 1,000 slots, and 30 table games.
Delaware North bought the property in March 2018. It owns the state's other greyhound racing track at Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack.
Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack
Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack is a casino and greyhound racetrack located on Wheeling Island in the Ohio River.
Delaware North owns the property. It features 1,100 slots, 30 table games, poker, live greyhound racing, and off-track betting on greyhound and horse racing.
State legal environment
|Notes & Restrictions
|Land-Based Gambling
|Racinos, casinos, VLTs at licensed establishments, state lottery, pari-mutuel wagering, sports betting (pending)
|Online Gambling
|18 and up
|Charitable or House-Based Gambling
|Licensing through state lottery
|Minimum Gambling Age
|18 for lottery, 21 for VLTs and casino gaming


text:
SAN JUAN COUNTY, Utah — The juniper mesas and sunset-red canyons in this corner of southern Utah are so remote that even the governor says he has probably only seen them from the window of a plane. They are a paradise for hikers and campers, a revered retreat where generations of American Indian tribes have hunted, gathered ceremonial herbs and carved their stories onto the sandstone walls.
Today, the land known as Bears Ears — named for twin buttes that jut out over the horizon — has become something else altogether: a battleground in the fight over how much power Washington exerts over federally controlled Western landscapes.
At a moment when much of President Obama's environmental agenda has been blocked by Congress and stalled in the courts, the president still has the power under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to create national monuments on federal lands with the stroke of a pen. A coalition of tribes, with support from conservation groups, is pushing for a new monument here in the red-rock deserts, arguing it would protect 1.9 million acres of culturally significant land from new mining and drilling and become a final major act of conservation for the administration.
But this is Utah, where lawmakers are so angry with federal land policies that in 2012 they passed a law demanding that Washington hand over 31 million acres managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service to the state. The federal government — the landlord of 65 percent of Utah's land — has not complied, so Utah is now considering a quixotic $14 million lawsuit to force a transfer.
Conservative lawmakers across the state have lined up to oppose any new monument. Ranchers, county commissioners, business groups and even some local tribal members object to it as a land grab that would add crippling restrictions on animal grazing, oil and gas drilling and road-building in a rural county that never saw its share of Utah's economic growth. Unemployment here is 8.4 percent, more than double the state average.
"We've chosen to live here knowing we're never going to get rich," said Bruce Adams, a San Juan county commissioner and fifth-generation rancher whose cattle largely graze on federal allotments. "We chose to live here because we love the land, we love the country."
To create a new monument out of Bears Ears "would be almost un-American," Mr. Adams said. Val Dalton, a rancher who grazes cattle almost exclusively on federal land, said new federal protections "would put us out of business."
But for the coalition of tribes and nature advocates seeking preservation, a new national monument here would preserve a stretch of mountains, mesas and canyons six times the size of Los Angeles. It could also create a new model for how public lands are managed: The tribal coalition of Navajos, Zunis, Hopis, Utes and Ute Mountain Utes wants to jointly manage the land with the government.
"You can't talk about who we are as a people without talking about the land," said Eric Descheenie, a chairman of the intertribal coalition leading the effort. "The same kind of love that we have for relatives is no different than the love we have for the land. Our traditional people know and understand these lands as living, breathing beings."
A monument at Bear Ears was always going to be a fight, but the armed occupation of a federal wildlife sanctuary in rural Oregon this year has added a raw edge to the debate. Ranchers and conservative land activists here opposed the takeover of the Malheur sanctuary, but sympathized with the grievances over grazing lands and federal rules that lay at the heart of the siege.
When Gov. Gary Herbert, a Republican, visited the White House this winter, he hand-delivered a note urging Mr. Obama not to proclaim a new monument in Bears Ears. He cited the "heated and antagonistic" dispute over public lands, and said any presidential proclamation could poison the debate for decades.
Indeed, Utahns are still mistrustful over the fact that nearly 20 years ago, President Bill Clinton created the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument here, Mr. Herbert said in a telephone interview.
"This is just going to add kerosene onto the fire," he said. "It's not a smart thing to do."
Last month, at the urging of Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, Mr. Obama designated three national monuments in Southern California, covering 1.8 million acres. By contrast, Utah's Republican representatives in Salt Lake City and in Washington overwhelmingly oppose Mr. Obama acting on his own: Instead, they are pushing a broader bill that would conserve some stretches of land while allowing energy development in other parcels.
"Not all Western lands are Yellowstone," said Representative Rob Bishop, who, with his fellow Utah Republican congressman, Jason Chaffetz, has been cobbling together a huge public-lands bill that would draw a new map for wilderness, roads, energy development and recreation across 18 million federal acres in eastern Utah.
"There needs to be some kind of trade-off," Mr. Bishop said. "This administration is trying to stop all kinds of economic and mining development."
His proposal would conserve about four times as much land as it envisions for energy development. It would also preserve about 1.2 million acres of the Bears Ears as a "national conservation area." Environmental groups have largely denounced the plan, saying it would lead to more roads and traffic in the back country and open eastern Utah to tar-sands extraction and new oil drilling. Tribal groups pushing for a monument say they would have a far weaker voice in how the area was managed.
Opinions are as split as opposite sides of a canyon in the tiny towns like Aneth, White Mesa and Montezuma Creek, where nodding pump jacks draw up oil, packs of wild horses dart across the roads, and occasional cars of tourists pull over to snap photos.
Harrison Johnson said his Diné ancestors (more commonly called Navajos) hunted and lived in the Bears Ears region long before Utah was Utah. People still go there to hunt elk or deer, gather wood for fence posts and herbs for ceremonies. And he said he wanted no more federal oversight of the land. "The protection's already there for us," Mr. Johnson said. "We don't just go in there and tear up things. We know how to take care of the land."
But Malcolm Lehi, a Ute Mountain Ute tribal council member, said it was time for tribes to have a more equal footing in caring for the West's pristine places. On a recent hike past the rock-art carvings and old dwellings, it was so still that he could hear a bird's wings beating as it whooshed past him.
"It stopped me in my tracks," Mr. Lehi said. "The past has never left us. It is present to this day, and I heard the past come back alive."


text:
Tickets On Sale for Big Gigantic's Feb 15 Show at The Rave
Presale tickets are currently on sale.
Winter 2014 heats up this February as BIG GIGANTIC will set off on their "The Night Is Young" national headlining tour in support of their upcoming album, THE NIGHT IS YOUNG. The tour will be stopping locally in MILWAUKEE on SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15 at THE RAVE with support from Manic Focus. Presale tickets are currently on sale via http://tsis.electrostub.com/TheNightisYoungTour with general tickets on sale starting this Saturday, December 21 at 10am. Those that purchase a presale ticket for any tour date will receive a download of the new album 24 hours before its official release date.
During the tour, fans will be privy to a blazing set from the Boulder, CO-based duo's Dominic Lalli (saxophone/producer) and Jeremy Salken (drums) featuring material from The Night is Young (outFebruary 2014) as well as from their previous album Nocturnal along with live renditions of their remixes like the current favorite of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' "Can't Hold Us."
The first official single from The Night is Young, "Touch The Sky," made its debut last week and has already received a tremendous response in the blogosphere (see below). The electro-leaning dance track drizzled with jazzy sax tones and live drums can be heard here: https://soundcloud.com/biggigantic/touch-the-sky. The album will also feature the previously released track, "Love Letters" featuringSabina Sciubba, her first vocal performance since her former group Brazilian Girls disbanded (listen here: https://soundcloud.com/biggigantic/love-letters-feat-sabina).
A sampling of the feedback "Touch The Sky" has been receiving:
"Featuring a signature vocal chop from the midtempo pair, the live drum work and saxophone melodies clash beautifully with rough yet spacey synths. Holding back, the live instrumental work gives way to heavier electronic-focused energy as the song comes to a close. However, Dom and Jeremy step in to display their incredible musicianship as the instrumental work is once again isolated to bring the listener to an electrojazz abyss through the final minute of the song."
–Eric Zwilling, DANCING ASTRONAUT (12/11/13)
"It blends some raging electro and trap stylings fused with that funky jazzy unique edge from Big G, saxophone and all. The unique vocal sampling that Dom has really perfected always stands out as a favorite part throughout most Big G productions."
– Nick Guarino, THIS SONG IS SICK (12/11/13)
"'Touch The Sky' is the explosive new single from Big Gigantic. The genre-blending track teeters toward the electro side but features an ample amount of bass and just a dash of hardstyle with a jazzy sax tones to get you grooving."
–Laryssa Loza, VIBE.COM (12/16/13)
"Dominic Lalli comes correct once again with a sax filled blaster set to shoot you 'sky high.' Live, this track is certainly going to be a show-stopper, with drummer Jeremy Salken laying his sticks on the skins. Keep an eye out for the act's next album sometime in the new year, and until then, leave this on repeat until the joint burns out."
–Britt Chester, WESTWORD (12/16/13)
"The single sounds noticeably different than their usual mix, fusing piercing trap elements with spacier feel in addition to the beloved segments of Dominic Lalli sax and booming dubstep bass slams. Could this be our new holiday electro-anthem?"
– Alex Faubel, 303 MAGAZINE (12/10/13)
"Big Gigantic is back for the Holiday season with some sexy sax music to rage out to."
–Dave, EARGRUB (12/10/13)
"If this one's a look at what's to come, then we're on for a full-length packed with genre-bending jams. From big room bass drops to jazzy sax interludes, there's no shortage of surprises, especially the double time hardstyle breakdown around three minutes."
–Cam MacNeil, EARMILK (12/10/13)
"'Touch The Sky' is a fireball of a track, mixing saxophone with dubstep and even adding a bit of trap. The record is an absolute smash, and is a great first offering from the upcoming album, due out February 2014."
–Kwaku Farrar, JOONBUG(12/10/13)
""Touch the Sky" is heavy, hard-hitting, and hype–ready to blow the roof off…"
– Anand Harsh, THE UNTZ (12/10/13)
"A massive tune would be an understatement as the high-flying duo incorporate huge 808 trap sounds and futuristic dub synths, accompanied by the sexily inserted sax sounds, of course. One may think it might be horrific to mix trap and jazz-fueled tunes, but this honestly a love child between them. On its way to becoming a classic already, you need to check this out ASAP."
–Saurabh Hope, THE BANGIN BEATS (12/11/13)
About BIG GIGANTIC:
Formed in 2008, saxophonist/producer Dominic Lalli (classically trained with a master's degree in jazz from the Manhattan School of Music) and drummer Jeremy Salken interpret traditional DJ-based music with live instruments and have successfully created an innovative, distinct sound that's all their own. Their transcendent live shows are a showcase of brilliant improvisation and a tightly-knit bond between Salkenand Lalli, who breathlessly alternates between keys, sax and laptop, building a futuristic wall of sound that keeps the crowd on its feet. The duo leaves no genre off-limits as they channel everything from funk and dubstep to house and hip-hop. Their latest album, NOCTURNAL, was released in early 2012 via their own label Big Gigantic Records as a free download on their website www.biggigantic.net and has received over 750,000 downloads to date. BIG GIGANTIC have spent the last two years on various sold-out headlining tours across the country and received rave reviews from their many festival appearances that have included Lollapalooza, Ultra Music Festival, Hangout, Austin City Limits, Governors Ball, Bonnaroo, Electric Forest and Outside Lands among many others.
Bari Lieberman
Tour Press Director // MSO PR
14724 Ventura Blvd, Suite 500
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
818-380-0400 x222
818-337-0370 (fax)
www.msopr.com // www.raisethequestion.com
Follow us:
Facebook // Twitter
Mentioned in This Press Release
Recent Press Releases by Press Release
Wisconsin Residents File Federal Lawsuit to Require State To Hold A Partial Revote of Wisconsin' Controversial April 7 Presidential Primary and Spring ElectionApr 13th, 2020 by Press Release
Lawsuit Follows Legislature's Failure to Halt April 7 Election Despite COVID-19 Dangers to Voters


text:
- New Zealand Studies: A Guide to Bibliographic Resources (1985), by Jim Traue
- Issue 36 (Winter 2008) of the Sport Literary Magazine
- New Zealand's First Refugees (2004), by the the Polish Children's Reunion Committee
- Pioneering Reminiscences of Old Wairoa (1936), by T. Lambert
- The Material Culture of the Cook Islands (Aitutaki) (1927), by Te Rangi Hiroa (Sir Peter Buck)
- Samoan Material Culture (1930), by Te Rangi Hiroa (Sir Peter Buck)
- The Coming of the Maori (1949), by Te Rangi Hiroa (Sir Peter Buck)
- Maori and Polynesian: Their Origin, History and Culture (1907), by J. Macmillan Brown
- With the Lost Legion in New Zealand (1911), by G. Hamilton-Browne
- Arts and Crafts of the Cook Islands (1944), by Te Rangi Hiroa (Sir Peter Buck)
- The Genealogy of the Kings of Rarotonga and Mangaia as illustrating the colonisation of that island and the Hervey Group (1889), by William Wyatt Gill
- The Conquest of Mount Cook and Other Climbs (1915), by Freda du Faur
- The Trials of Eric Mareo (2002), by Charles Ferrall and Rebecca Ellis
- Forest Vines to Snow Tussocks: The Story of New Zealand Plants (1988), by John Dawson
- The Laws of England, Compiled and translated into the Māori language (1858), by Francis Dart Fenton
- Geology of the Provinces of Canterbury and Westland, New Zealand (1879), by Julius Von Haast
- A Great Coloniser : The Rev. Dr. Thomas Burns, Pioneer Minister of Otago and Nephew of the Poet (1929), by Ernest Northcroft Merrington
- Reflections: Sketches on the Wanganui River, by Wilhelm Dittmer
Jim Traue's New Zealand Studies: A Guide to Bibliographic Resources is a great initial resource for researchers wondering where to begin their search amongst the holdings of the various New Zealand collecting institutions.
New Zealand's First Refugees, by the the Polish Children's Reunion Committee, features the stories of the 734 Polish children, many orphans, who were offered sanctuary in New Zealand by the New Zealand Government in 1944.
The various texts by Te Rangi Hiroa (Sir Peter Buck) offer valuable resources for those researching Polynesian ethnograpy and culture.
The Conquest of Mount Cook and Other Climbs, by Freda du Faur, is the account of the first woman to climb Mount Cook.
Where possible digital editions have been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license.
We also apologise to recent visitors to the site for the slow response time of our server, however we are pleased to report that the response time is now faster than ever!


text:
Immigration Illusions Part Two: Rector and Richwine Rediscover Budget Deficits
A recent paper by Robert Rector and Jason Richwine ("The Fiscal Cost of Unlawful Immigrants and Amnesty to the U.S. Taxpayer") went to a lot of unnecessary trouble to estimate that governments at all levels spent $54.5 billion more on services and benefits to households headed by unlawful immigrants (which includes children and spouses who are citizens) than was collected in taxes from them in 2010.
It is hardly shocking to learn that federal, state, and local governments spent more on unlawful immigrants than they received in taxes, since governments spent more on nearly everyone than they received in taxes. That is what happens when governments run big budget deficits.
Spending by federal state and local governments exceeded revenues by $1,342.6 billion in 2010—a conspicuously grander figure than the mere $54.5 billion Rector and Richwine attribute to unlawful immigration.
For researchers to discover that unlawful immigrants, like most of us, did not pay enough taxes in 2010 to cover government spending was remarkably unenlightening. The paper is even less informative about the future, because (1) it ignores the fact that the Senate bill's reduced restrictions on legal immigration would reduce the incentive for future illegal immigration, and (2) it ignores economic effects of a larger labor force in raising long‐run economic growth.


text:
Not too long ago the venerable Dr. Jay wrote a post called, "Better to Stay Silent than to Write Crap" and when I read it I thought that I disagreed, so I commented:
I know that you are the authority when it comes to the Yoga Cynic Sutra... But I think this latest one is just crap! I think it's better to just write, and sort out the crap later.
Those with low self esteem would never write if they believed that crap! And writers are sometimes not the best judges of their own crap. Stephen King's wife pulled 'Carrie' out of the trash! So there.
And since I've decided to break my blog silence, I apparently feel obligated to joyfully spew a bunch of crap right here!
From the crapper,
So I thought that I disagreed because I had taken the 'Yoga Cynic Sutra' literally... *My bad...* ...because I totally agree when it comes to publishing on my blog!
It's become a "thing" because of the writing challenge I'm doing. I wrote in a different way today. I dug into a personal shame, and honestly I know some people might find it interesting, but it's just kind of an outpouring of my mind, and I don't want to bother anybody with this right now. I wrote over 800 words without consideration of an audience. I just wrote to hear my thoughts on the subject at hand.
So I do think it's cool to write whether its crap or not, but I just think that we should think before we post. I don't want to bore you (or worse)... And I hope that you might consider my eyes and mind if you're blogging, too. If I get the sense that it's just words, I'll stop reading. But I guess nobody can read everything, anyway. So I won't feel bad.
Yeah, and I practiced yoga--another part of the challenge... And I breathed air, drank, ate, went to the bathroom, and took a shower, too. He.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone


text:
A woman who lied about being raped in a Michigan college parking lot was sentenced to 45 days in jail.
Mary Zolkowski, 21, pleaded guilty to falsely reporting a felony in March. Zolkowski said she told her mother she had been raped in February by a stranger in the parking lot of Delta College southwest of Bay City, Michigan. She said her mother called the campus, and then Zolkowski completed a report.
Delta College police were unable to verify her story, and Zolkowski later admitted it was false.
"I was assaulted previously, not at Delta's campus," Zolkowski said in March, MLive reports. "And because I was ashamed of circumstances of that, when my mother called, I vented through Delta, which was very wrong of me. I should have been truthful from the very beginning, and I used Delta."
In March, Zolkowski reportedly admitted to making up the alleged rape, telling the judge: "I called Delta College and falsely reported the rape on their campus. My mother made the initial call and I took the phone and continued to report."
The woman told her mother she had been raped in a back parking lot but never named any suspects. She said she was "assaulted previously, not at Delta's campus," and "was ashamed of the circumstances of that."
Zolkowski initially gave contradicting accounts of what she claimed happened at the school.
She reportedly told police she was walking to her car when a man grabbed her from behind and raped her without a condom while holding her face and throat, and said she only saw the man's hands and that he fled in a car before she could see his face.
Zolkowski refused a physical exam after the alleged incident, the news outlet reported in August 2017.
When investigators met with her a second time, Zolkowski reportedly said the suspect was an acquaintance and she had been raped at an apartment.
The student at the time apologized for her confusion, adding she didn't want to press charges. In a third interview with police, Zolkowski reportedly changed her story again — telling police she wanted to tell the suspect to stop during sex, but it ended before she was able to do so.
Zolkowski, who pleaded guilty to making a false report of a felony, faced up to four years in prison and a $2,000 fine.


text:
I want to express the privilege that I have each time I read a 'Story of HOPE.'
It always starts the same way. . . I have to wipe my eyes in order to read through the inevitable tears that spring forth after seeing another story of loss. Knowing that another family has experienced the death of a baby rips my heart out. But, as I read each story, my emotions swell and my faith in humanity is repaired bit by bit. It is nothing short of inspiring to see an example of HOPE that comes in the wake of despair. Thank you for being so bold and confident as you share your stories!
Pregnancy is supposed to be a time of new hope. Yet, as we all know, it can quickly turn into our worst nightmare. No parent ever anticipates the death of a child ~ yet many of you are making beautiful things grow from your pain. You cultivate and nurture, you survive and look for an opportunity to memorialize your child. The world needs to know that it is possible to live again after death.
Won't you consider sharing your story with us?
If you have a Story of HOPE to share, please submit it here. Stories are posted on a weekly basis every Thursday. Please remember to include a photo, blog link, or your story of loss (if submitted on Faces).
If you have any questions, please contact Stephanie.


text: There's something for everyone in this bright and inspiring collection of home sewing projects! Whether you're moving into a new home, redecorating an old house, or just updating a room, you'll find quick and easy projects here to make your living space simply beautiful. Designed to let you give your dwelling a speedy fabric makeover, this book offers inspirational ideas for every room. Transform the heart of your home with bright kitchen accessories, or create the perfect table linen setting. Create a bold boudoir with bright bedroom designs, make tactile toys for the nursery, or revamp your home office with a functional organizer. And don't neglect the deck, with lovely al fresco accessories and more. 101 Home Sewing Projects is guaranteed to stir up your creativity with clear step-by-step instructions and gorgeous color photography.


text:
For more information contact Nadia Lefroy on 0438 938 660 today!
Extras across the board
Fini Developments are renowned for developing apartments with the extras and The Lane is no different.
Created as four clusters of apartments, around a central courtyard, The Lane offers spacious living and premium finishings but at a fraction of the cost.
Located in the hub of the Cannington redevelopment, The Lane is close to the retail precinct but also offers a true sense of privacy.
Just a stroll to the train station and 11kms from Perth CBD, The Lane offers true potential for the long term.
click here for
Google Map view
close to fantastic services and facilities
- Westfield Carousel
- Hoyts Cinemas
- The Craftsman Bar + Brasserie
- East Cannington Square
- Mills Park
- Canning River bike and nature trails
- Greyhounds WA
- Cannington Leisureplex
- Beckenham Primary School
- Gibb Street Primary School
- Sevenoaks Senior College
- St Norbert Catholic College
- Eight childcare facilities
- Beckenham Train Station
- Perth Hills (13km/15min)
- Victoria Park Cafe Strip (10km/15min)
- Curtin University (7.5km/10min)
- CBD (17.5km/20min)
Canning City Centre is set to achieve over $400 million in investment in the next 10 years
Canning City Centre will offer vibrant living on a train line just 11kms from the City
Watch the Cannington redevelopment video here
the design
Distinctly designed, The Lane offers a level of design, unmatched in the area.
With only 13 apartments per cluster, (54 apartments in total) The Lane offers privacy and a boutique setting which is unique.
With views across to the CBD and hills, The Lane is a serene setting on par with a private estate.
The expansive windows create a wonderful setting with natural light and cross ventilation.
Secure parking and intercom access further adds to the sense of safety and security.
If you are looking for distinctive design which will withstand the test of time, The Lane is the perfect match.
on your doorstep
A wide selection of specialty stores and retail outlets can be found just around the corner at Westfield Carousel. The largest shopping centre in Perth, Westfield Carousel boasts over 295 shops, including leading fashion retailers, supermarkets, cafes and quality department stores.
The centre also includes a state-of-the-art Hoyts cinema, with 14 movie theatres and three luxury La Premiere suites (for those special occasions). If you're feeling hungry pop into Dome for coffee and cake, visit the Craftsman Bar+Brasserie or grab a bite to eat from one of the many excellent restaurants.
great lifestyle
There is so much to do in the local area. Enjoy a bike ride or stroll along the nature trails beside the Canning River, meet friends for a BBQ on the riverbank or take in all the excitement of the Greyhounds.
There are a number of lovely parks and reserves situated close to The Lane, including Mills Park (featuring a children's playground, bowling club, skate park, cricket ground and tennis club). Or head over to the nearby Cannington Leisureplex for a wide range of entertainment and facilities, including a library, sports centre, swimming pools and water slides.
The lifestyle you have always dreamed about is now within reach at The Lane.
plans & specifications
Take a look at the floor plans and specifications in the links below to find the right apartment to suit your needs, then contact us today to register your interest.
View site plan and specifications


text:
Josh started out trying to build a "GitHub for music." When that idea didn't pan out, he still wanted to do something with Web Audio and WebRTC. So he started building Zencastr, which gives podcasters the ability to record "double-ender" interviews in the browser.
What's the name of your business or product?
Zencastr helps podcasters easily record both sides of an interview, with studio quality.
When did you start working on it?
"Initially I was trying to build a GitHub for music, called Soundkeep. I pitched the idea at Techstars. One of the mentors mentioned that podcasters have a problem with recording "double-enders" in Skype. It was November, 2014."
"In a way, I got lucky. I was in the right place at the right time."
What did your journey to profitability look like? What were your biggest struggles?
"I didn't launch until May, 2015. I had no waiting list. Sent out the link to a few friends. Nobody knew, nobody really cared. Early feedback was really rough. Nobody was really using it initially, so I went on Twitter and started searching for people swearing at Skype and I would tweet to them."
@jsnell Saw your post on podcast recording. Try @zencastr. It's the easiest way to record a double-ender.
— Joshontheweb (@joshontheweb) July 16, 2015
"July 12, 2015 someone put it on Product Hunt, and that took me from 200 to 1,000 users. Since then, I've grown to 33,000 registered users.
"It wasn't until November, 2016, that I took it out of beta, and started charging people for it. I ran a free beta forever. It's tough, people don't care if your software works 86% of the time."
"The only reason I officially launched when I did was because I got pressured into doing a TechCrunh post. The article ended up being terrible; I'm never working with them again. TechCrunch readers aren't really my target market. They didn't do very good research. They used my old artwork. Product Hunt had a bigger impact for me."
"So, after I launched officially, I started getting people signing up for paid accounts. The first month, I think I did $12,000 in monthly revenue. I had been building up for a long time, I had something like 10,000 registered users. About 600 of those got paying customers."
How did you choose a price?
"I asked a podcaster I knew how much he'd pay, and he said '$20 / month' so that's what I used for a price."
Is there a certain type of person that buys Zencastr?
"One thing I've learned is that there are different categories of users. You have the 'brand new' podcasters, and they want to say something. You have folks who have been podcasting since day 1, and have a $20,000 studio at home."
"In terms of business mindedness, there are college kids who just want to talk about League of Legends. That's why I keep the free plan. Then I have business users, who have a side-business or a side-product, and the podcast is a funnel for their business."
So, most of the folks paying for Zencastr are people with a business or a product, and they're using their podcast as a marketing channel. These are business people, it's another way to communicate their customers.
"More and more, a podcast is just another facet of your marketing strategy. You're going to need a blog, a podcast, and social media. It's a box to check. You have to make it easy for those folks, because it's not their whole life. It's business users who only have 45 minutes of time."
How much profit does your business currently generate?
"Currently, we have 33,000 users, and about 1,700 paying customers. That's about $33,000 in MRR."
What did you learn? What advice would you give aspiring SaaS folks?
"I really underestimated how much time support requests would take. There were definitely weeks that went by where I was just answering customer support, and not making progress on the product. Now I have customer support reps that help me."
"Podcasters churn a lot. It takes a lot of work to keep a podcast going."
"Justin Jackson did some marketing consulting with me. He gave me a lot of advice that I haven't had time to implement yet! There are lots of actions I could take that would definitely increase sales."
"It's really hard to hire for something you haven't personally done yourself. I have to dig in and learn the activity myself, and then I can hire."
How are you planning on improving your business this year?
- New features, new products.
- My revenue goals: $1 million ARR (I'd need help for that).
- I want to be able to buy first class travel tickets.
- I love greenfield product development: I want to make Zencastr a one stop shop.
What do you think aspiring product people get wrong about building profitable products?
- Don't do "information gathering" for too long!
- Get started: put something out. "Even heading in the wrong direction will give you more progress than reading a bunch of books about what you should do."
- Twitter gives you incredible access to people. Find people complaining!
Listen to the full interview here:
Get more case studies like this!
Get my newsletter ?
? Startup stories, lessons, and tips.
? Sent on Saturday mornings.
☕ Read it while you drink your coffee.
Looks like you're already on my mailing list!
Have you checked out my Black Friday sale?


text:
One of the most amazing about the internet, is the ability to connect with people from all over the world. After just a few short years, I was blown away to learn the Creep Machine is visited by people from over 130 countries around the world. Quite an amazing feat by someone who at one time knew nothing about websites, and how to gain a wider audience. The power of the internet was that someone, like myself, was able to start a website and share what inspired me, in this case art. I try to keep politics away from this site, as they are often depressing to no end, and I like the idea that the Creep can be a place to enjoy art and share the creations of others. Every year some politician creates a bill that threatens the freedom of the internet, the most recent one is something I feel I needed to share.
This week the SOPA or Stop Online Piracy Act is making its way around and could very well be passed. The intention of this bill is to curb the amount of online piracy that is going on. I personally believe this specific issue would entail coming up with new ideas of how to share digital information, and even consider that many forms of entertainment are simply too expensive, and the the temptation is too high to resist sometimes. It's only recently that may labels have begun to reduce the price of cd's, even though the price of the technology has gone down considerably. With SOPA, any site that features copy-written material could be shut down. Now I am all for the idea of protecting the copyright of art, music, and film, however this includes sites like Youtube in which a group of youngsters uses a famous song to dance to, or an up and coming artist covers a famous song. Even closer to home, what if a big name artist or gallery decides they don't like an art blog sharing images from a recent exhibition. There is no conclusive proof that things could go this way, but the threat is real enough that companies like Google, Microsoft, and even Wikipedia are fighting it. Wikipedia is even considering a blackout that would shut the site down for a day or so (source), and considering the site gets more than 2.7 billion views per month it's a big message.
When recordable tapes came along the music industry cried the sky was falling down, it didn't. It also didn't come crashing down when recordable cd's or the mp3 player and mp3's as whole came around. Piracy will always be there, but it can be curbed. The more important question is if this is the right way to do it. If you think this is the wrong way to go about it, and that the way we see and view the internet is being threatened, make your voice known. Boing-Boing recently posted some more information on the bill with some ways you can help, and there is even a dedicated forum over at Reddit.com that will give you more information and steps to take (here). Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian even posted a video talking about how Reddit, a site that gets more than 30 million unique visitors per month, could never have been created with SOPA in place (here).
New ideas and solutions will bring us forward. As Albert Einstein once said "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."
Photo illustration by Aurich Lawson


text:
VAT Calculator
Use this online VAT calculator to easily calculate the price of an item or service with VAT included.
What is VAT? VAT rates and calculation.
VAT stands for "Value-Added Tax", which is intended to be a tax on the added value to a starting good or service, or a state of nature, and is determined as a percentage of the end price when paid by an end consumer. This is ensured through a somewhat complicated scheme in which each person or company adding value to a product is reimbursed for the tax, until it ends up being paid for by the end consumer (which can also be a judicial person). VAT is one of the primary sources for budget funds in many countries. As it is a tax on consumption, shared proportionally by all who consume, it is deemed unfair to people in a poorer economic situation by people who believe in equality of outcome.
The formula for calculating VAT prices used in this VAT calculator is easy, as it is just percent increase over the base price, so it is:
Price with VAT = Base Price x VAT (%)
Where it gets tricky is in the consistency of application of the tax in different countries that use it. VAT is mostly prevalent in Europe (and thus the EU), but it is adopted by other countries as well, even though in some places the name might be different.
For example, in some countries VAT is applied universally at the same rate, with rates commonly between 15% and 25%. There might certain industries or categories of products or services, which are excluded from VAT, for example educational services and institutions, books and schoolbooks, basic foods and/or drinks, transportation and so on. In some cases, it is an industry considered on some, usually arbitrary basis, to be key for the functioning of the whole economy, e.g. tourism in countries where it contributes a significant percentage of GDP. In many countries there are different VAT levels for different sets of products and services. For example, the official VAT rate might be 20%, but VAT for books might be 5% while VAT for travel and accommodation services might be 10%. This is why having a VAT calculator handy can be quite useful.
Is it a VAT-inclusive price?
In many countries, e.g. in the EU, merchants and service providers are obliged to post the VAT-inclusive price on the product offer, be it in a physical or online store. Some merchants will put the base price AND the VAT price, while others will list just the VAT-inclusive price. This will likely also be noted next to the price, with an asterisk next to it, in the footer of each page, or, in some cases, in the terms and conditions. If in doubt: always ask. The merchant in many cases is obliged to tell you the final price you need to pay.
Where it gets more complicated is when both the provider and the consumer are VAT-registered entities. In this case, it is very common to exchange price information with VAT excluded, since the consumer entity will get reimbursed for the VAT tax, usually at the end of the month, so they only care about the base price. Still, cash flow might be an issue for larger purchases, so the VAT price should always be considered. Our calculator is especially useful in such cases.
VAT calculation example
Here is a simple calculation example. Say you know the VAT price for the product you are buying is 20%, and you know the base price is $50. The price including VAT will be $50 + $50 x 20% = $50 + $50 x 20 / 100 = $50 + $10 = $60. The VAT is $10.
Cite this calculator & page
If you'd like to cite this online calculator resource and information as provided on the page, you can use the following citation:
Georgiev G.Z., "VAT Calculator", [online] Available at: https://www.gigacalculator.com/calculators/vat-calculator.php URL [Accessed Date: 29 May, 2020].


text:
Thank you for your email about fracking and weaker rules for the measurement of earthquakes. The safe development of shale gas will be good for jobs, good for our energy security, and help the UK to decarbonise its economy. I believe that we need a diverse energy mix, and that shale gas can play a part in that. There is a very low risk that shale gas extraction could cause any noticeable tremor at the surface. Operators must now use all available geological information to assess the location of faults before wells are drilled and monitor seismic activity before during and after operations.
The Oil & Gas Authority regulates on-site micro seismicity using a traffic light system. If activity passes a very low, precautionary threshold, it is immediately paused. This threshold, a 'red light' in the traffic light system, is set at 0.5 on the Richter scale, equivalent to less ground movement than you would feel from a passing car. For context, according to the British Geological Survey, we have on average 166 naturally occurring events of magnitude 2.9 or below each year in the UK, most of which go unnoticed. Despite reports, I am assured that there are no plans to review the traffic light system.
The UK has world leading environmental regulations and with these safeguards in place, I think it is right that we explore and make use of shale gas and oil. The opportunity to extract this energy, as well as to secure jobs and investment, cannot be ignored.


text:
Yes, it feels sort of silly to blog about blogging, but that aside, have you looked at your blog(s) lately? By now, blogging is not a new medium, but it isn't any less critical than it was before—for building traffic, boosting audience engagement and driving revenue. It might be time to give it a fresh look and decide if you're using it to its best potential. Let's look at 7 qualities of successful blogs.
1) Great Content. It's the backbone of what you do and it's no different for your blogs than your articles and other content. It needs to:
- Be helpful; teach
- Be relevant and targeted to your audience; address their specific needs
- Demonstrate your expertise
- Have a consistent voice
- Provide a unique angle
- Incorporate knowledge from industry leaders
- Be brief (300-600 words)
2) Build Relationships. Blogs are about dialogue. They are about community. They are your cooler talk that engages readers and they can be informal, even opinionated. How do they succeed? By:
- Demonstrating trust and credibility
- Avoiding jargon and corporate speak
- Involving guest bloggers and key influencers
- Sharing other people's content
- Appearing on social platforms with a thoughtful intro or teaser
- Encouraging and rewarding loyalty
- Being easily shareable
3) Consistent. This one is simple. Post regularly and at regular times. If you can't commit the time to it, you may just achieve the opposite of your intentions.
4) Searchable and Related. If your blog isn't easily found, it isn't doing you much good. It's important to:
- Leverage keywords (without stuffing)
- Use taxonomy tagging to relate it to other content on your site
- Make it searchable within your site
- Use it as Search Engine fodder, using kewords related to your news content
5) Visually Enticing. You know that multimedia, particularly video, is more important than ever. We are visual creatures who tend to engage more quickly and deeply with visual content. Spice it up:
- Use bigger, more vivid images
- Try to use original images and video when you can
- Create text overlays
- Experiment with infographics
- Design your text for busy, online readers: bold headings, bullets, callouts, etc.
6) Data Driven. You've got the data, use it to:
- Target posts to a specific niche of reader
- Share with those who have shared similar content
- Send relevant posts in specific email blasts
- Develop blog series' that meet the needs of a very specific niche of your audience
7) Email Incorporated. Your blogs should be tied to your email marketing and newsletter efforts. Not only does this help you to get specific posts to specific members of your audience, it also supports a more personal connection with your subscribers and gives you the opportunity to milk older content—resurfacing it when the time is right!
Now that you've been reminded of what a successful blog looks like, take some time this week to make sure you're leveraging it to its greatest potential.


text:
What Now Bears?
By Duru
November 9, 2004
Ever since the market made calamitous bottoms in July and October of 2002 and March of 2003, the bears have been licking their chops in anticipation of some kind of mother of all crashes. They have been looking for a grand finale to validate their opinions on various forms of fundamental rot and malaise in the American (and global) economy and financial markets. The bubble days of the late 90s generated a sense of disdain and disbelief that blossomed into some sense of entitlement…that the market owes the bears a big pop and crash in magnitude equal to the size of the bubble itself. One final grim vindication.
Instead, the market spent most of 2003 in strong rally mode and rarely looked back. It spent much of 2004 in various downtrends but never really broke. NOW, with the various indices looking to break-out once more, they are actually "threatening" to resume 2003's rally. If such a thing were to occur, it would nearly dismantle a good number of bear theories out there. In particular, the Fall of 2003, and certainly the Fall of 2004, was supposed to expose all our underlying weaknesses, especially in technology (note the semiconductor stocks are a definite and continued source of weakness). Perhaps we have successfully accumulated sufficient debt to borrow more time. Perhaps the bears are still right just wrong in timing (as is so often the case!). I cannot tell. What I do know is that as long as skepticism prowls around this move, I do not want to challenge the oncoming train!
I am particularly motivated to write this because DELL has now made 4-year highs. I think there is no better symbol of bear frustration than DELL. I earlier described it as the great promise of tech in direct contrast to the stink INTEL has been causing. This is a stock that has survived the post-bubble world well. It is now selling at the same price it was at right before the final big collapse in late 2000. While EBAY is one of the few technology stocks actually making all-time highs, DELL is noteworthy because it is a hardware company and sells the kinds of commodity-like gear that is supposed to be in great surplus. If the price action of a stock means anything, and usually it does, you would do well to think twice about any skepticism you have about this market.
Now, mind you, I am not throwing caution to the wind. There is plenty to worry about out there, and I know my faithful readers will quickly call me out on many bear theories to which I have happily subscribed over the years. The bears can currently cling to the coattails of the tumbling dollar and keep buying gold (one of my personal favorites) as the rest of the world votes exactly opposite America on the prospects of another four years of Bushies. But there is a time and place for everything, and for now, we would all do well to consider the possibilities and give them their hard-earned respect!
As always, be careful out there!
ÓDrDuru, 2004


text:
We use cookies, you cannot eat them. Cookies help us provide you with a better experience. For more information on our use of cookies or to change your cookie settings, read our terms & conditions and privacy policy.
There is beauty in simplicity. Sport the BrewDog shield in style with this super soft lightweight t-shirt.
The light grey fleck base is complimented with a large textured screen printed logo in burgundy. The small woven hem tab carries a hidden message 'Fiercely Independent Forever Craft' reinforcing BrewDog's mission. Perfect summer styling for everyone.
Fabric & Care: 50% Polyester, 25% Cotton and 25% Rayon. Follow the wash and care instructions on the garment label.


text:
Beauty World Bus Interchange is a future Integrated Transport Hub (ITH) located at Beauty World, currently under planning. It is located at the junction of Jalan Jurong Kechil and Upper Bukit Timah Road. Rail connections are offered via Beauty World MRT Station along the Downtown Line.
Plans for the interchange were first mooted as part of the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA)'s 2019 Draft Masterplan.