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|Location: Hampshire, England
|Salary: Up to £52000 per annum
|Sector: Defence
|Type: Permanent
|Contact: Jodie Stevens
Systems Engineer
Principal Systems Engineer needed for an organisation based in Hampshire who are looking to employ an experienced Systems Engineer who is looking to design, develop and support manufacturing in-service support of radar products. They will be involved in designing efficient sub-systems for radar products, making them affordable and enhancing the capability and availability.
The successful Systems Engineer will want to work for this client not just because it's a great opportunity but also because they will give you a wealth of benefits including:
* Salary: £52,000
* Competitive Pension Plan
* Enhanced Annual Leave
* Company Contributed Share Incentive Plan
* Cycle2work Scheme
* Career Progression
What the role entails:
Some of the main duties of the Systems Engineer will include:
* Leading and carrying out design aspects of radar systems, to include overall radar performance prediction, design of waveforms, selection of various signal processing techniques, modelling, clutter cancellation techniques, radar management and estimate of radar loss
* Modelling radar performance including resource management, target flight kinematics and environmental considerations/impacts
* Being able to trade off principal radar parameters in order to understand design constraints and limitations
* Understanding and decomposing user requirements to sub-system levels of requirements
* Developing integration, test, evaluation and acceptance plans and agreeing these with the customer; as well as providing the technical leadership during the realisation of these plans
* Assessing radar system performance against requirements
* Evaluating radar performance
* Specifying and managing interfaces with external systems and subsystems
* Underwriting and estimating bids, within authorised value levels, to ensure that they capture all requirements, customer obligations and acceptance criteria, achievable solutions with acceptable levels of technical risk and conformance with company and product policies and standards
* Supporting the development of individuals and teams to enhance skills and competencies, such that technical capability is maintained
What you need to be the successful Systems Engineer:
In order to be the successful Systems Engineer and have a chance to gain such an exciting opportunity you will ideally need to have the following:
* Engineering Degree or equivalent in a relevant Engineering or Science subject
* Systems engineering experience
* Experience of advanced signal processing techniques
* Experience of working with radar (or similar system) design
Must be eligible for Security Clearance
This really is a fantastic opportunity for a Systems Engineer to progress their career. If you are interested please apply as soon as possible as this position will be filled quickly so don't miss out!
This advert was posted by Gold Group - one of the UK's leading niche recruitment consultancies. We span a variety of specialist industries and are the recruitment company to help you find your next career opportunity. We pride ourselves on our commitment to candidates and stick to our ethos of finding the right role for the right person. Visit our website or get in touch today to discuss this role, find out what else we've got or just for a chat about the state of your industry. Services advertised by Gold Group are those of an Agency and/or an Employment Business. Please be aware that we receive a high volume of applications for every role advertised and regularly receive applications from candidates who exceed the job credentials. We will only contact you within the next 14 days if you are selected for interview. A copy of our privacy policy can be found here: https://www.goldgroup.co.uk/about-us/privacy-policy. Gold Group is an equal opportunity & diversity employer. A copy of our equal opportunity & diversity policy can be found here: https://www.goldgroup.co.uk/about-us/equality-and-diversity-policy


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Sometimes in Louisiana, one arrest leads to another and then another after that. When police get evidence of drug crimes, they often try to trace the distribution channels of the drug and make as many arrests as they can. Soon a whole group can face drug charges, including possession with intent to distribute, which can carry stiff penalties.
Louisiana man charged with credit card fraud
Credit card fraud and other forms of identity theft are serious problems in Louisiana, and both state and federal laws call for tough punishments for those convicted of these crimes. As with other white-collar crimes, people accused of identity theft may be surprised at how much trouble they are in.
Baton Rouge man sentenced in felony child pornography case
The Internet makes it easy to share photos. And it makes it easy to get into serious trouble for sharing the wrong kind of photos. Louisiana and federal laws make it a felony to distribute online child pornography, and the penalties can be severe.
Louisiana man in alleged bribery probe released pending trial
Louisiana residents, who have been charged with a crime, know that the time between being accused and actually standing trial can be a very frightening and confusing period. The judicial system is supposed to presume all those facing criminal charges are innocent until proven guilty, and, yet, accused people often find their freedoms strictly limited before any jury has heard evidence against them.

subset: commoncrawl


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Part of creating good SEO is having a blog on your website, and part of having a blog on your website is having great content on that blog. This is where SEO writers come into play. Writers of course don't have to be focused on SEO (that can be your job), but most writers who offer guest articles to a blog know a thing or two about the process. They know what it means to use keywords naturally, they know how important link-ability is, and they know how to analyze a website and decide if it's quality in the eyes of Google.
To make a long story short, writers know a thing or two about creating a blog that appeals to great online writers. You have your classic tips—ask for pitches first, never make too many edits, have a "guest post" tab, etc.—but writers can offer you a few tips that are less well-known.
From a Writer: A Few Unique Thoughts for Websites Accepting Guest Articles
Understanding the ins and outs of your business means understanding your audience. When it comes to accepting guest articles on your website, the potential writers are essentially your audience. You can offer them a great backlink, but that's no long something special anymore (every company has caught on to why that's important).
You want to create a great place for your contributors, and that means listening to their observations. Below are some of the things that writers notice when it comes time to guest post on a website:
- There is nothing worse than writing for a site that doesn't allow you to subscribe to comments.
Subscribing to comments on a post that you've written is great because you don't have to keep checking back to see if someone commented. It shows up right in your inbox, and you can be sure to you're replying to everything, even months later. It's good for the website, the writer, and those commenting, so it's worth the little bit of extra time it takes to make it happen.
- Telling a writer about other sites that you own is like hitting the jackpot.
If you own more than one website, mention that to writers that ask to contribute to your site. In many cases, the writer will be able to contribute to that site as well, so it's a win-win situation.
- Telling a writer you are not going to accept an article is much better than just ignoring the issue.
It seems that sometimes editors don't think that writers want their inboxes full of "no thank you," so it's better to avoid sending an email altogether. This is certainly not the case. Even if you want to be very short with a writer, it's better to get something than nothing at all. This will help the writer stop wondering what's going on with a particular article and get them out of limbo.
- If you don't have an actual email address on your contact page, a writer might move to a new site.
There are absolutely pros to not putting a physical email address on your contact page (spammers, for one), but in some cases this isn't ideal for writers. Many writers like to write articles first and then try and send the article to a website. Websites are often more responsive when this happens because they know that you're serious. You don't have to sit there and wait to maybe get a response from a random contact page that you filled out (and therefore have no record of in your inbox). It's just not ideal.
So what's the moral of the story for small businesses? If you want to accept guest articles on your blog, keeping these things in mind will give you a better chance of creating a good relationship with your writers. This doesn't mean that you have to make your guest posting process easy, but just be aware of some of the things that will help writers be more successful (and ultimately help you become more successful).
Are you an online writer who has a few tips for small businesses looking to accept guest posts? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Photo Credit: writetodone.com


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Belgian police have imposed a news blackout after Nicholas Mockford, 60, was shot as he left an Italian restaurant in Neder-over-Heembeek, a suburb of the capital.
The executive was shot three times, once as he lay on the ground, after leaving the Da Marcello restaurant in Rue de Beyseghem at around 10pm on Oct 14.
His wife, Mary, was left beaten and covered in blood. Mr Mockford died on the way to hospital. One officer admitted that the killing was a "very strange" case and had been passed on to federal investigators.
ExxonMobil said they had no indication the death was related to Mr Mockford's work.
Belgian police are understood to be focusing their inquiries on the theory that Mr Mockford was killed after an attempted mugging.
A witness, who asked to remain anonymous because she fears reprisals, saw two men fleeing the crime scene and said she had spoken to Mrs Mockford.
"The two men tried to grab her handbag, asking for money and the couple's car," she said.
Relatives, however, remain sceptical. One family member said: "We have been given the impression by police that it is a mugging gone wrong, but I am not convinced that is the case."
Witnesses said they saw the couple walk across the street to their car, a silver Lexus 4x4, before shots were fired.
The attack was said to have happened very quickly and Mrs Mockford was left cradling her husband in the street, shouting for help.
According to reports, two men were seen running away carrying a motorcycle helmet.
Initially police said they were not excluding any possibilities, including a carjacking, but Mr Mockford's car was not stolen.
The Belgian prosecutor's office said last night that there was a "judicial instruction" from Martine Quintin, the investigating judge, that meant they could give no "explanation" and no detail about the killing.
"This is usual in such a serious murder investigation," a spokesman said.
Mr Mockford had worked for the company since the 1970s, and was the head of marketing for interim technologies for ExxonMobil Chemicals, Europe, promoting new types of greener fuel.
He was a keen sailor and was the skipper of an Exxon team who won first prize in a race in the Channel last year aboard their yacht Musette.
He was also interested in motor cycling. Mr Mockford had been married to his second wife, who is Belgian, for 15 years, and
had three grown-up children from his first marriage, all of whom live in Britain.
He was brought up in Leicestershire and had last lived in this country in Chichester, but had been abroad for some years, mostly in Belgium and Singapore.
One family member told The Daily Telegraph he believed Mr Mockford had been killed in a professional hit.
The relation, who asked not to be named, said: "We are all confused about what has happened. Nick was a genuinely lovely, clean-cut, mild mannered, family man.
"I don't think he would put up a fight or argue with someone trying to steal his company car.
"He was shot so calmly and so quickly, it smacks horribly of a professional hit, but we can't fathom why. He isn't the type to cave in to blackmail and it just doesn't compute."
A spokesman for ExxonMobil said: "We are shocked by the tragic death of one of our employees on Sunday, October 14 in Brussels.
"Mr Mockford was a department manager at our office close to Brussels, but we have no indication that the incident was work-related."
"Our thoughts are with his family, friends and colleagues and we are supporting them as best we can at this very difficult time."
The relation said Mrs Mockford was recovering from the ordeal and had not been badly hurt. "He was always very tight-lipped about what he did, even when sitting around with the family," the relation added.


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I have not thought good of you
in secret I have cursed your name and called you darkness
laid blame at your feet as an insolent child throws down a broken thing for having disappointed them with being fragile
given your motives meaning without consideration
comforted wounds I allowed to form without want of understanding
denied any possible truth mingled in your own hurt for fear it would be true should I consider the slightest piece of them
I have spoken ill of you in anger
letting the cracks in my own visage give me excuse to cast venom into the universe at your expense though you never heard them all, I know, you heard them
justified rage without seeing the other side clearly
avoided conflict for the distaste of conflict only to realize in conflict lay the opportunity for peace
And I cannot call myself a citizen of light, if I give no room for it. I cannot call to happiness, if I give no fight for the things that deserve it. And perhaps most importantly, I cannot expect you to see me, as I want to see myself, if I give you no other visage to look upon.
For all this,
I apologize.


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Every single recording I have played through this new Naim NDX has surprised me with just how much it has to offer, and I haven't been disappointed once by the musical experience. The NDX is the most exciting thing I have encountered in audio for a very long time and – even if it were on those grounds alone – that ensures it is worthy of absolute, unqualified recommendation.
[EXPAND read more]
I slotted it into a system using Naim Supernait/HiCap amplification and my usual PMC OB1 speakers, and after only a short period of set-up, which involved configuring the analogue and digital output selections, selecting the automation for the Supernait – very simple, by the way – and connecting the Naim NDX to my home network, all was ready.
Looking back through my calendar, I note that the launch of the NDX was held on September 1 last year at Naim HQ in Salisbury, and the "within weeks" promise for samples gradually stretched into months – I finally got the review unit in March. Was the wait worthwhile? Absolutely: the Naim NDX sounds quite unlike any other streaming client I have yet heard.
In very simple terms, it doesn't give away any clue that the music being played is delivered from a computer hard drive, over a network and out through the player: fed with files at CD quality, it is more than a match for almost any CD player on the market, while stepping up to high-resolution downloads such as those from Naim's own label, Linn Records or the likes of 2L sees the NDX showing the best of CD a clean pair of heels.
There's a magnificent sense of body, of three-dimensionality, to music played via the Naim NDX: orchestral percussion has both slam and weight; strings and woodwind are handled with the most delicious sense of the instruments' character, and the rasp of a brass section is nothing short of gorgeous.
The ridiculous thing is, I found myself consistently listening at a higher volume than usual, drinking in the levels of detail available and enjoying the stress-free sound on offer. There are no crushed dynamics, no sense of character being imposed on the music, but rather just sheer enjoyment.
I'm going to stick my neck out here and say the Naim NDX is the best digital music player I've had through my system in my many years of reviewing – and just as I started typing this sentence the drums, brass and skittering strings of Elgar's seventh Enigma Variation came pouring out of the speakers and raised it even further in my estimation.
Indeed, I can't remember when I had quite so much fun reviewing an audio component, to the extent that I've been supplementing the classical diet with (whisper it) some high-resolution rock recordings and finding the NDX every bit as impressive.
Every single recording I have played through this new Naim NDX has surprised me with just how much it has to offer, and I haven't been disappointed once by the musical experience. The NDX is the most exciting thing I have encountered in audio for a very long time and – even if it were on those grounds alone – that ensures it is worthy of absolute, unqualified recommendation.
This truly versatile machine provides network music replay, internet radio, digital iPod/iPhone connectivity and USB playback straight out of the box. Its integral DAC is available to external sources – CD players, set-top boxes and the like – through three S/PDIF inputs. There is also an optional module for any buyer who wants to include FM/DAB radio.
An industry visitor sat and auditioned a few rips on the Naim NDX and admitted: that although he had "never understood all that pace, rhythm and timing stuff" it now made perfect sense. In essence, he walked into the room as a hard-core hi-fi nut, but left as a toe-tapping music lover, with a far more fulfilling appreciation of what makes music so captivating when it is sympathetically reproduced.
The NDX is certainly sympathetic and is so right across the board: it seems completely musically agnostic, even to the point of relishing high-quality examples of the country genre; the likes of Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris and Caitlin Rose.
A major appeal of the NDX is that it manages to combine the traditional Naim temporal fluency, with the cosmetic depth and richness that one normally associates with predominantly American high-end equipment. We were surprised to find ourselves concentrating on the timbral qualities of instruments and voices while listening. It effortlessly brings out the single-coil pick-up sting of a raw Telecaster guitar, while being equally effusive about the complex harmonic texture of rosin-coated bows on violins and cello in a string quartet and vividly contrasts the differing tonalities of modern and ancient horns in orchestral ensembles.
Despite the straightforwardness with which the Naim NDX reveals all these fine distinctions and nuances, there is never any impression of the sound being at all disjointed or chromium-plated, a problem that befalls much hi-fi equipment in its attempts to convey detail.
The NDX manages to sound natural and unforced at all times and this makes it easy to listen to music that could never be described as 'easy listening'.
Helping it in this respect is a very well-balanced frequency response with an explicit, but controlled performance, particularly at the extremes of the spectrum. The Telecaster 'sting' is truly apparent, but never offensive or grating; it simply has the realistic incisive tone and resonance of a cranked Tele' over-driving a small valve amplifier head. Meanwhile the bottom end displays quite awe-inspiring power through the Naim DAC, which is itself no shrinking violet in this respect. This pays dividends with bass lines like that on Money for all on the David Sylvian album Sleepwalkers and less overtly so on works such as José Carreras'Misa Criolla, where it creates a truly atmospheric and dramatic impression of the recording space.
Its portrayal of vocal harmonies is sublime. The voices of Caitlin Rose and backing singer, Rayland Baxter gel magically on Shanghai Cigarettes and add a genuine frisson to the song. And that, after all, is what great hi-fi is about: delivering emotional buzzes that make you feel rewarded. The NDX manages that none-too-easy task with alacrity. In truth, it is vividly revealing of the quality and character of voices, which readily enhances its portrayal of all vocal music. It is a genuinely expressive piece of machinery that not only articulates the words a singer uses, but also communicates the emotions behind them. It is an amazingly plausible and persuasive audio player with all manner of vocal music. It makes listening an experience filled with soul.
The Naim NDX is a network audio player with the potential to transform music in the home. It can play UPnP audio streams, internet radio, iPod or iPhone audio, and files stored on USB memory hardware. Three high resolution S/PDIF digital inputs complete its versatility.
NDX is however more than just a versatile network audio player. It embodies Naim's unrivalled digital audio experience and knowhow to provide music reproduction quality equivalent to the best-in-class CDX2 CD player and HDX hard disk player . It makes music with vitality and clarity, rhythm and warmth. Naim NDX defines a new class of high-end audio source equipment and brings to it genuine audiophile performance.
[EXPAND read more]
Streaming Versatility
Connected to an analogue or digital preamplifier input, NDX unlocks the potential of network audio. Its network connection can be either wireless or wired, and NDX can stream audio files, including iTunes libraries, stored on a computer or on network storage, via UPnP. It can play all common, and some not so common, audio file and stream formats at up to 32bit/192kHz resolution: WMA, MP3, MMS, AAC, Apple Lossless, WAV, FLAC, AIFF and Ogg Vorbis. NDX also recognises M3U and PLS playlists formats and supports gap-less playback on all lossless formats.
NDX can play literally thousands of internet radio stations and an optional FM/DAB tuner module, that integrates seamlessly with the NDX control interface, is also available. NDX can play iPod or iPhone music via its front panel USB socket and, via the same socket, it can play audio files stored on USB memory sticks and drives. NDX is fully Apple Authenticated enabling playback of iPod/iPhone-stored digital media, bypassing the iPod/iPhone internal DAC for optimised performance.
Three independently selectable digital inputs enable S/PDIF audio signals from CD players, computers and other digital audio sources at up to 32bit/192kHz resolution to be handled by the NDX. Each digital input comprises a different connection socket option; optical TosLink, coaxial phono and coaxial BNC, to provide yet greater versatility and optimised sound quality.
Choice of control
Versatility and audio quality is worth nothing without an intuitive user interface and the NDX has three. It can be operated from its front panel buttons, from its remote control handset or using the Naim n-Stream app for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. The app also allows input and volume control of Naim preamplifiers and DAC.In each case, NDX control is simple, intuitive and satisfying.
Connected to a world of music
Connect an NDX to your existing audio system, and the world of network audio opens for discovery. It's a world of high resolution audio downloads, UPnP streaming, and the vast resource of internet radio. But thanks to Naim technology, it's a world of very high quality reproduction also, where music doesn't simply play in the background but lives, breathes and communicates.[/EXPAND]
To read the full review of the Naim NDX in Gramophone by Andrew Everard click here
To read the full review of the Naim NDX in Tech Radar by Malcolm Stewart click here


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Provincetown Opens New LGBTQ Welcome Center1 min read
Provincetown has a new welcome and resource center for the LGBTQ community. The Shack, launched by The Provincetown Business Guild, is a community space for those visiting or living in Provincetown that are LGBTQ and allies of the community.
It showcases the significant contributions made by Provincetown's LGBTQ community to the arts and cultural fabric of Provincetown through programs, events, workshops and exhibitions.
"We are thrilled to be opening the LGBTQ Welcome and Resource Center in Provincetown," said Michael Kelley, Chair of Board of Directors of the Provincetown Business Guild. "The Shack will become the place to find out what's happening in the local LGBTQ community, discover our historical impact and engage in cultural and educational events. We think it will add to our unique identity as the premier US travel destination choice for the LGBTQ community."
The Shack's first exhibition, "40 Years of Carnival," is a visual, pictorial and facilitated guide through the history of one of the biggest LGBTQ events in the US, Provincetown Carnival, that has taken place every August since 1978.
The Shack was designed by Ken Fulk, nationally renowned designer of interiors, experiences and over-the-top parties from San Francisco to Miami.


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As a fan of David Frum, and of Mitt Romney, and of Olive Garden analogies, I'm primed to endorse this defense of Romney's flip-flopping:
I sometimes imagine that Romney approaches politics in the same spirit that the CEO of Darden Restaurants approaches cuisine. Darden owns Olive Garden, Longhorn steakhouses, and Red Lobster among other chains. Now suppose that Darden's data show a decline in demand for mid-priced steak restaurants and a rising response to Italian family dining. Suppose they convert some of their Longhorn outlets to Olive Gardens. Is that "flip-flopping"? Or is that giving people what they want for their money?
Likewise, the "pro-choice" concept met public demand so long as Romney Inc. was a Boston-based senatorship and governorship-seeking enterprise. But now Romney Inc. is expanding to a national brand, with important new growth opportunities in Iowa and South Carolina. A new concept is accordingly required to serve these new markets. Again: this is not flip-flopping. It is customer service.
Ezra Klein points out some problems with this line of thought. But I think the real issue here has to do with character. The executives of Darden Restaurants are basically trying to make money. And so are the owners of the firm. And that's fine. Most of us aren't so distressed by the idea that the firm is, on some level, a soulless money-making machine. But on this view, Romney is . . . what? A soulless power-seeking machine?
To a large extent our political system is already biased toward promoting power-crazed sociopaths into positions of authority. The public's aversion to people who appear to have this quality to a greater extent than other high-profile politicians seems very understandable to me. Meanwhile, at the end of the day Ross Douthat is right to say that this still leaves you necessarily puzzled by the question of what a Romney Administration would actually do. Is it so crazy for political activists and pundits to be curious about this?


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Shop Joielle
Those bright Summer bridesmaid dresses you're dying to see your ladies in? Shop Joielle's got 'em. In addition to their already impressive list of designers: Alfred Sung, Lela Rose, and others, they've recently expanded by three, adding Watters, Wtoo and Joanna August! From the upscale and formal to the fun and flirty cocktail dress, you'll see chiffon, lace, and plenty of pretty re-wearable pieces. Plus, you get a 10% discount for parties of 4 or more. There's your reason to add a cute dress for your rehearsal dinner. So many to choose from – just take a look at these fun colors and styles!
To ease the stress of shopping online, Shop Joielle will also send fabric swatches to help you out when picking colors. Super helpful! Our favorite feature of their new dresses has got to be the design construction. They include true wrap styles and elastic waistbands – um, which we all know is 1) incredible for bridesmaids that are pregnant, and 2) saves you big bucks in alterations!
Shop Joielle is offering two sweet promotions, just for you:
Receive $10 towards any Watters, Wtoo and Joanna August swatch purchase when you use the code: SWATCH or get 10% off any Watters or Wtoo dress purchase when you use the code: 100LAYER. Both promotions are valid until May 20th.
Photography: Erich Chen Photography + Brandon Kidd Photography (orange bridal party)
Social Love
bridal girl on Apr 30, 2012
Cool bridesmaids dresses. Love them!
Calie Rose on Apr 30, 2012
Love the bright colors! That bridal bouquet is gorgeous!
Credit Scores Government on Jun 21, 2013
I'm still learning from you, while I'm trying to achieve my goals. I certainly enjoy reading all that is posted on your blog.Keep the aarticles coming. I enjoyed it!


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This joint paper development workshop (PDW) of EGOS, OS, and OMT, seeks to provide developmental opportunities for late stage PhD students and early career scholars who are based in the Central and Eastern Europe and do research in the field of organizational and management studies. The PDW aims to help participants develop their academic writing. It also seeks to increase participants' awareness of the requirements, expectations, and procedures involved in the review processes at peer-reviewed academic journals through presentations and firsthand discussion with the editors of OS, JEEMS, and JMS.
In particular, we aim to support participants to develop their papers into conference papers to be submitted to the EGOS Colloquium in Copenhagen, July 6-8, 2017 or to the OMT Division of the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management in Atlanta (Georgia), August 4-8, 2017. In addition, the best papers developed out of the workshop will have the opportunity to be considered for publication in the JEEMS, which "aims to promote the development, advancement and dissemination of knowledge about management issues in Central and East European countries".
The workshop is free of charge. Food and accommodation will be provided to all selected participants. A limited number of travel grants will be offered depending on needs and funds' availability. Please indicate in your application if you would like to be considered for travel funding.
To be considered for the PDW, please submit a brief motivation letter explaining why you think you are a good candidate for the workshop, how you fit into overall aim and format of the planned PDW, in terms of stage of career and research. In your submission, please also include an extended abstract (of about 2.000 words) of a paper, which you would like to develop during the workshop. The abstract should include an explanation as to the purpose of the paper, the theoretical background and, for empirical papers, the methodological approach.
The deadline for the submission of applications has been extended to August 31st, 2016. Please, send your application to Loreta Tauginiene (email@example.com).
Submitters will be informed whether they have been accepted for participation in the PDW by September 15th, 2016.


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Blouse – J. Crew Outlet (similar)| Necklace – JF&A Trade Show (similar) | Belt – Target | Jeans – The Limited (similar)| Shoes – Anne Klein
Ever notice how guys have it so easy on casual Friday at the office? Jeans and a nice button up shirt and they're good to go! I decided to borrow from the boys and do the same. Jeans and a button up shirt. Add some fun accessories to glam it up a bit and I'm ready to take on my casual Friday nemesis in style.
This top has been in my closet for years and years. Every now and then I think about getting rid of it but then I decide not to. Wearing it tucked into jeans is new for me but I think I like it!
Thanks again to Molly for playing photographer for me this week! Not only did I get to hang out with her but she also showed me a new part of Chicago that I'd never been to. If you live in Chicago and haven't wandered down Prairie Avenue or visited the oldest house in Chicago I suggest you do.


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What is the seating capacity of the venue?
The Winslow room is approximately 3,500 sq ft and can host up to 200 with a dance floor. The Train Shed is approximately 2,600 sq ft and can accommodate 100 without a dance floor.
Can you host both the wedding ceremony and reception?
Yes, the Winslow can host the wedding ceremony in either the main Winslow room or the Train Shed depending on the number of guests.
Do you offer peak and off-peak pricing?
No, our rates vary depending on the day of the week. Holidays and Ravens game day bookings are subject to a rate increase.
Do you offer a non-profit or military discount?
Yes, a discount of 10% is applied to all valid 501 3(c) organizations and active military personnel. Proof of documentation is required for the discount to be applied.
What is the rental duration?
An event rental is eight (8) hours and includes three (3) hours for set-up; the four (4) hours for the event and one (1) hour for clean-up. Additional hours may be arranged for a fee. All events must end by midnight; however clean-up may extend past midnight. New Year's Eve events may extend the event time until 1:00 am.
Is there a bridal suite available on-site?
There is a bridal suite that is available one hour prior to the start of your event time. It is recommended that brides arrive with finished hair and make-up and use the bridal suite for last minute adjustments and staging for the ceremony.
May I take photographs prior to my event?
Photography may be taken on-site one hour prior to the event start time on the exterior grounds and on the roof top desk for the bridal party and immediate family only. Guests will not be permitted inside the Winslow while event set-up is taking place. Photography on the roof top deck must be pre-arranged and is subject to an additional fee.
Do you allow an outside caterer or Kosher catering?
We have exclusive on-site caterers. Kosher catering is permitted with an additional fee. Please contact the Winslow for more information.
May I bring my own alcohol?
No, the Winslow does not allow for outside alcohol. Bar service must be arranged through catering.
May I have my wedding rehearsal on-site?
Wedding ceremony rehearsals are not included with the facility rental. An additional fee will apply to host a one-hour rehearsal. Rehearsals are scheduled based not the availability of the venue and are not always guaranteed.
Do you require liability insurance?
Yes, liability insurance coverage is required for your event in the amount of $1,000,000. Typically this coverage can be acquired through a waiver provided by your homeowners insurance or by visiting www.wedsafe.com Please label WinParker, LLC as additionally insured on the document.
What is the deposit amount and when is it due?
A non-refundable deposit of 50% of the overall invoice is due with your signed contract. Dates are held for one week after the contract has been sent out. If the signed contract and deposit are not returned within the week timeframe the date will be released. Currently, we are only accepting checks.
Does the Winslow provide a wedding coordinator?
We do not provide wedding coordination services. On the day of your event, a Venue Manager will be present to ensure that the facility is in good shape and that systems are running properly. In addition, a Catering Manager will be present to manage the cocktail hour and reception. You are welcome to hire an outside planner to assist with full preparation or day-of coordination. All planners must be present for the duration of set-up, the event itself and load out. A final check-in with the Venue Manager is required prior to departure.
Are there any limits on event decor?
Event decor is allowed. All plans for decorations must be submitted for review one (1) month prior to the event. The Winslow Room has the right to revise decorative plans at any time. Candles must be enclosed in hurricane glass containers with the flame below the glass. Hanging candles and candles placed on the floor must be battery-operated. A list of prohibited items will be attached to your contract.
When can I schedule my event rentals and deliveries?
Event items may be delivered during the three (3) hour-set-up time. Rental equipment will not be accepted until the day of the event and should be removed from the premises immediately following the event. Exceptions will be made on a case-by-case basis. The Winslow is not responsible for missing or damaged equipment.
Does the venue have air conditioning and heat?
Yes, the venue is an air-conditioned and heated space. During the summer months the room temperature is set at 68 degrees and in the winter the temperature is set at 72 degrees. Please plan accordingly with your guests.
Can I have my dog in the wedding?
Animals are not permitted inside the building.
Is there parking at the venue?
Yes, parking is available for up to 200 cars on the Winslow lot. Parking is shared with the office tenants of the building and is not guaranteed during weekday or stadium events. User assumes parking at own risk.
We'd love to hear from you!
333 West Ostend Street
Baltimore, MD, 21230


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Born on the streets of India, a tiny stray puppy had to figure out from day one how to survive.
Somehow, he fended for himself for his first three months.
But when the puppy got drenched in tar at a construction site, his life was truly at risk.
A stray, it seemed the little puppy would have no one in the world to care for him.
It took four baths of vegetable oil to finally break down the hardening tar that could have slowly suffocated and killed the little dog.
Four patient rescuers gently removed the tar while keeping the puppy calm.
Then baths of soap and water soothed his skin and cleaned his fur.
Thanks to the patient rescuers, this little dog has a whole life ahead of him.
And he can't thank them enough.
To help Animal Aid Unlimited come to the rescue of animals in need, click here.


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Welcome to Zucca
"Our goal is to serve the freshest and finest Italian food, and good quality wines, at a reasonable price, with the highest degree of service with real passion"
Zucca café & Restaurant
15-17 Grindlay Street
Edinburgh EH3 9AX
0131 221 9323


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Keep checking BNN for the breaking news updates, and discuss it on the forums or in the Bulbagarden Discord server.Want to write an article? Go ahead! Have an opinion to share? An idea for a new column? Contact us!
Category:Articles with press releases
From Bulbanews, your community Pokémon newspaper.
Pages in category "Articles with press releases"
The following 35 pages are in this category, out of 35 total.
- Pikachu Yellow New 3DS XL to be released in North America
- Draft:Pokémon Anime goes on hiatus due to COVID-19
- Pokémon Art Academy North American release date announced
- Pokémon Center to open in Singapore
- Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky to be released on Wii U Virtual Console in Europe
- Pokémon officially reveals BREAKpoint
- Pokémon plans for Gamescom 2014 revealed
- Pokémon Rumble U European & North American release dates confirmed
- Pokémon-themed charity event to begin today
- Pokémon-themed New 3DS bundle, 2DS bundles, cover plates to be released
- Pokémon: Symphonic Evolutions to be performed in United Arab Emirates


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We camped right next to the river. Was very peaceful and had a great view. There's also plenty to do there if you go during crystal digging season.
CLICK HERE for full video on this location including camping accommodations and dig site information
Finding a campground which also offers unique activities is something I truly enjoy. While many might have hiking or lake activities, finding something which is a bit outside of the box is a little more of a rare find, especially in certain areas of the country. Living next to Oklahoma and exploring it most of my life, I always thought that Oklahoma's camping was just an extension of Texas, very similar in nature, climate and vegetation. That was until I discovered the Great Salt Plains State Park in northern Oklahoma.
Removed from much of popular civilization the campground is pretty well off the beaten path. Neighboring the small community of Jet, you will drive for miles and miles seeing only farmland with an occasional silo marking a town in this section of Oklahoma. Then out of nowhere the farms transition into a white glaze which is unmatched by the lands around. It almost looks as though snow is laying in the distance, but snow it is not…. It is salt!
Campground Review:
Pulling into the Great Salt Plains State Park there are a variety of options for accommodation you will want to explore. Offering cabins at a reasonable$99 a night, unimproved camping for$14 and RV camping from$22-$25 per night the price point is right on target for most campers. But one thing to note is that the campgrounds themselves are not directly on the Salt Plains, instead these are located closely to the waterways of the location, giving a much cooler and more shaded place to enjoy your time away from home.
With a variety of camping options also comes a variety of vantage points, with some campsites in the more improved locations highlighting the shoreline of the Arkansas River while others overlook the lake from beyond the spillway. I was very pleased with the views available and the variety of options for anglers, boaters and campers alike. This did not feel strictly like a lake campground like so many of the camps do in this region.
The office of the grounds does close rather early at 4 p.m. so it made catching staff a bit harder as there didn't seem to be anyone actively patrolling the park, with the exception of the dig site for the salt plains…(yes, I said dig site… but we will get to that in a moment). With that being said and also limited cell service, you really need to make sure you are prepared before coming to this remote location.
Of the many camping loops, the one closest to the campground office seemed the least interesting to me personally. There was limited tree coverage, spaces were closely packed together and the restroom was only a port a potty, which in the Oklahoma sun can become a little less than desirable to visit. This portion of the park seemed to be designed mostly for RVs.
Another one which slightly was confusing to me was the official primitive site campground. There is a small community of homes which border the lake on this side and a small stretch of campground separates the homes from the shoreline itself. This seemed a bit uncomfortable for me camping solo to be basically right in someones backyard. This site had beautiful tall trees, great site spacing and the view was amazing so it was a bit unfortunate that this site was so close to everyone's backyard.
The most appealing sites to me were those along the river which had amazing views and some of the most improved restrooms at the park. These were capable of accommodating both tents and RVs and had connections and amenities which would far surpass other campsites. Here you could find running water, flush toilets and showers in addition to a playground for the kiddos, fish cleaning stations and trash services. A small outdoor chapel/ampitheater was available in this area as well which would be ideal for a group camp.
Sites in this area are the highest of the park ranging between $22 and$25 but they are equipped with picnic tables, fire rings, grills, lantern hooks and easy to pull in and out areas. You can literally walk to the water and be in the river playing or fishing in seconds from any site in this location.
But now to the points of interest of this park…. The Salt Plains!
The unique ecosystem of this area is one to come out and see. There are several observation points in which you can view the birds and other wildlife which call this area home. But one of the things which makes it differ so much from other habitats are the Selenite crystals which can be found as a result of the salt and water table in this area. Birds are drawn to these and often you will find small nests housing eggs lined in crystals. It is unique to say the least.
But if you are not a bird watcher, there is still something for you…. Digging for Crystals! Yep, you can get hands on and dig into the plains around 2 feet down and find that the water will start flooding into the hole you created. From here you simply need to splash water along the sides of your new dig and expose your jewels to take harvest. Sound to good to be true? Well it is not! It really is that easy!!
And unlike the locations across the country which tell you to not take the sands, dirt, rocks or formations with you, you can take everything you find home with you!!
It is a great activity which can leave you busy for minutes, hours or even days and something which is fun for the entire family. On my trip we started early on an August morning and dug for approximately 3 hours. We brought our own sifters, a few jugs of water for cleaning off our finds and a shovel which seemed to be all we needed to find more than our fair share of crystals.
Crystals come in many shapes and sizes but the most coveted are large clusters or hourglass crystals. The crystals are mineral rich and appear to have a chocolate brown to redish tone based on the contents found in the soil which create them. And the unique thing about them and why we are allowed to take what we find home, is they are constantly regenerating.
Dig site is closed from October to April for migration of wildlife so you will want to plan a trip during the peak months to assure you will be able to dig. Don't worry about crowds it isn't terrible even on the most busy of days and there are plenty of crystals to be found.
- Come early if you need park assistance. Offices close at 4 p.m. however you can check into sites through the honor box system.
- Make sure to cruise Highway 11 when in the area and check out the Artesian Well which offers motorists a cool drink of water along the way which is fresh and delicious. Bring your jugs and fill them up if you would like.
- Cabin rentals must be booked in advance as there are limited numbers available.
Product Review:
For this trip knowing that the shade would be limited on the Great Salt Plains I made sure to pack the Banner& Oak Scout Hat in Charcoal Grey. This hat is designed as a summer hat with a snapback and breathable meshing to allow heat to escape and wind to come through.
I wanted something which would provide a bit more shade for my face than simply wearing a bandana to pull my hair back and this was a great fit for doing just that.
The hat itself is easy to size and while it is a men's hat it easily could be sized down to fit my head and still feel comfortable yet secure. It did not appear bunched in the back like some men's hats can when worn by women, I personally have a relatively small head so this is a huge deal to me.
The charcoal color did not attract as much heat as I thought it might and I felt comfortable even being out for 3 hours diggings and 2 hours exploring the day before.
The design of the hat is a must for anyone who, like myself, loves tent camping as the patch is a tent with a unique design and a great way to express yourself even in the most simplistic of ways.
I think a lot of people neglect to realize that they can wear a basic camping or exploring outfit and then completely change the vibe with the addition of the right hat. From the design and color to the way you wear your hat, all of these things are expressive of your own unique personality. I will definitely be adding this hat to my stack of hats I take on lengthy road trips, it has great feel to it, the brim was shaped well and mesh back makes it perfect for warm to hot climates.
- Don't be afraid to explore different styles from Banner& Oak. There are several styles which are available to both men and women which can be great for taking your camping look to the next level.
- Never forget a hat, this is not only fashion but function as it provides a shade for your face and also can greatly aid in your internal temperature control. During winter months especially this is important as you lost the vast majority of your body heat through your head.
This state park is really cool. There is a huge salt plain where you can dig for crystals. Bring your own shovel and start digging. After a foot or two the hole will begin to fill with water. You then use the water to wash away the dirt and reveal the crystals. They are very easy to find. It's a great activity for kids. But there is no shade and it can get hot and windy so bring water and sunscreen. Crystal digging is only available from April 1 to October 15 due to the area being a migration stop for whooping cranes. We camped at the river road campsite. It was a pretty good campsite next to the river. Has a playground and the bathroom was pretty clean. Make it a point to walk up the stairs to the top of the dam. There is a great view of the lake.
The Great Salt Plains is great place to go for an adventure. You could spend hours just digging up the crystals on the salt plains. I would absolutely recommend everyone to spend the weekend here just relaxing and having a ton of fun. The RV Camp sites were very clean and the cleaning staff that were there when we went were very friendly.
Never busy or loud when I've been there. Wish there were fish in the lake. Nice little swim beach. Perfect place to get away from the big city and see the sky.
The campground was underused when I camped there, with electric, water and typical amenities including a great hot shower, I'd go out of my way to camp here again. The GPS map had the checkin at the w4ong end of the Park, but otherwise I had no problems. I got one of many open spaces with a view of Steed Lake and plenary of room for any size RV. Fires were allowed which is a prime requirement when I camp. There was a wild storm the night I arrived, making for an indescribly sublime sunrise. Don't miss this campground.
Not much shade,but the view is spectacular
We were looking for a park that had plenty of amenities for the whole family to enjoy. Typically, our camping/hiking trips are just for my wife and dogs with intentions of long rigorous hikes. However, this weekend we needed a place to take an inexperienced party.
Besides having to navigate around bridge construction on highway 38, this was an excellent trip. We started the day by heading straight to the visitors center, nature trail, and auto tour.
The nature trail was perfect for my 3-year-old niece to walk. Occasional benches, mowed and manicured paths, and designated lookouts were excellent for everyone in our party. The auto tour was literally a one way driveable trail through the park flanked with scenic views making nature accessible for those unable walk long distances or rough terrain.
Next we drove to the salenite crystal digging areas. There are designated sections of the park where patrons can dig for salt crystals. There is no charge, and the scenery is like nothing else in Oklahoma. Bring a shovel, dig about a foot down and sift through the sand to find crystals of different shapes and size. Note, your car will likely get salty, so make sure to wash it off quickly afterward to avoid any erosion.
We camped near the spillway on the south side of the lake. The spillway offered a really cool view and has stairs that lead right to the waters edge. Campsites were tidy, mowed, and well maintained.


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All, patches have landed in Mozilla and WebKit that add support for winding rules and isPointInStroke. The syntax for winding rules can be found here: http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-whatwg-archive/2013Jan/0102.html Syntax for isPointInStroke ia here: http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-whatwg-archive/2012Nov/0148.html Can these API's be added to the spec? RikReceived on Wednesday, 30 January 2013 18:00:30 UTC
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Wednesday, 22 January 2020 16:59:52 UTC


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The Bangkok Declaration provides for the following institutional mechanisms:
• Annual Ministerial Meetings, to be hosted by the Member States on the basis of alphabetical rotation.
• Senior Officials Committee, to meet on a regular basis as and when required.
• BIMSTEC Working Group, the lower tier of the BIMSTEC process comprising Ambassadors/Representatives from Member States to carry on the work in between Annual Ministerial Meetings.
• Specialized Task Forces and other mechanisms as deemed necessary by the Senior Officials to be coordinated by Member States, as appropriate.
BIMSTEC meets regularly at different levels. Each type of Meeting is tasked with unique responsibilities, but is closely interrelated to one another (BIMSTEC Orgnizational Chart). The Country holding the Chairmanship of BIMSTEC is responsible for the conduct of regular meetings, including the BIMSTEC Summit, Ministerial Meeting, Senior Officials' Meeting and BIMSTEC Working Group Meeting. The main working mechanism of BIMSTEC is categorized as follows:
Policy-Making Bodies
1. BIMSTEC Summit
This is the highest policy making body in the BIMSTEC process. As per the decision of the 6th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting held in Thailand on 8th February 2004, the Summit should be held every two years, as possible. The First Summit Meeting of the Heads of the BIMSTEC Countries was held in Bangkok, Thailand on 31 July 2004. The Second Summit was held on 13 November 2008 in New Delhi. The Third Summit was held in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar on 4 March 2014. The Fourth Summit was held in Kathmandu, Nepal on 30-31 August 2018.
2. Ministerial Meetings
Ministerial Meetings cover the area of foreign affairs (MM) and the area of trade and economic affairs (TEMM). While the Foreign Ministerial Meeting acts as prime mover determining the overall policy, as well as recommendations for the Leaders' Summit, Trade and Economic Ministerial Meeting monitors the progress in the Trade and Investment Sector as well as FTA policy.
Foreign Ministerial Meetings (MM)
It is the second apex forum of BIMSTEC next to the Summit Meeting of BIMSTEC, and the second highest policy-making body attended by the External/Foreign Ministers of Member States. The Ministerial Meeting is preceded by the Senior Official's Meeting and is represented by the Senior Official's (Foreign Secretaries) of the Member States. A representative of Ministry of Trade/Commerce is also inducted in the delegation.
• First Ministerial Meeting – 06 June 1997, Bangkok, Thailand
• Special Ministerial Meeting – 22 December 1997, Bangkok, Thailand
• Second Ministerial Meeting – 19 December 1998, Dhaka, Bangladesh
• Third Ministerial Meeting – 6 July 2000, New Delhi, India
• Fourth Ministerial Meeting – 21 December 2001, Yangon, Myanmar
• Fifth Ministerial Meeting – 20 December 2002, Colombo, Sri Lanka
• Sixth Ministerial Meeting – 8 February 2004, Phuket, Thailand
• Seventh Ministerial Meeting – 30 July 2004, Bangkok, Thailand
• Eighth Ministerial Meeting – 18-19 December 2005, Dhaka, Bangladesh
• Ninth Ministerial Meeting – 9 August 2006, New Delhi, India
• Tenth Ministerial Meeting – 29 August 2008, New Delhi, India
• Eleventh Ministerial Meeting – 12 November 2008, New Delhi, India
• Twelfth Ministerial Meeting – 11 December 2009, Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar
• Thirteenth Ministerial Meeting – 22 January 2011, Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar
• Fourteenth Ministerial Meeting – 3 March 2014, Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar
• Fifteenth Ministerial Meeting – 11 August 2017, Kathmandu, Nepal
• Sixteenth Ministerial Meeting – 29 August 2018, Kathmandu, Nepal
Trade/Economic Ministerial Meetings (TEMM)
The TEMM consists of the Trade/Economic Ministers of the Member States, assisted by the Senior Trade/Economic Officials Meeting that provides inputs to the Ministerial Meeting. Trade/Economic Ministers Meetings are mandated to follow up and accelerate the implementation of economic activities. To date, five TEMMs have taken place:
• First Meeting of BIMSTEC TEMM – 07 August 1998, Bangkok, Thailand
• Second Meeting of BIMSTEC TEMM – 27 April 2000 in New Delhi, India
• Third Meeting of BIMSTEC TEMM – 15 February 2001, Yangon, Myanmar
• Fourth Meeting of BIMSTEC TEMM – 7 March 2003, Colombo, Sri Lanka
• Fifth Meeting of BIMSTEC TEMM – 7 February 2004, Phuket, Thailand
• Sixth Meeting of BIMSTEC TEMM – upcoming, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Operational Bodies
The Senior Officials' Meeting is divided into the area of foreign affairs (SOM) and the area of trade and economic affairs (STEOM). Permanent secretaries of the foreign affairs and that of trade and economic affairs will be the delegations to their respective forum.
Senior Officials' Meetings (SOM)
The Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) precedes the Ministerial Meeting and is represented by the Senior Officials of the Foreign Ministries of the Member States at the Foreign Secretary Level. A representative from the Ministry of Commerce /Trade is also inducted in the delegation. The SOM helps the Ministerial Meeting in monitoring and providing overall direction to the BIMSTEC activities. It is therefore the most important policy level organ of the BIMSTEC Grouping reporting ultimately to the Ministerial organ. To date, 16 regular SOMs have been held
• First SOM – 4-5 June 1997, Bangkok, Thailand
• Special SOM – 19-20 December 1997, Bangkok, Thailand
• Second SOM – 17-18 December 1998, Dhaka, Bangladesh
• Third SOM – 4-5 July 2000, New Delhi, India
• Fourth SOM – 19-20 Dec 2001,Yangon, Myanmar
• Fifth SOM – 18-19 December 2002, Colombo, Sri Lanka
• Sixth SOM – 17-19 September 2003, Bangkok, Thailand
• Seventh SOM – 6 February 2004, Phuket, Thailand
• Eighth SOM – 30 July 2004, Bangkok, Thailand
• Ninth SOM – 31 May-01 June 2005, Dhaka, Bangladesh
• Tenth SOM – 18 December 2005, Dhaka, Bangladesh
• Eleventh SOM – 8 August 2006, New Delhi, India
• Twelfth SOM – 28 August 2008, New Delhi, India
• Thirteenth SOM – 11 November 2008, New Delhi, India
• Fourteenth SOM – 10 December 2009, Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar
• Fifteenth SOM – 21 January 2011, Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar
• Sixteenth SOM – 2 March 2014, Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar
• Seventeenth SOM – 7 February 2017, Kathmandu, Nepal
• Eighteenth SOM – 10 August 2017, Kathmandu, Nepal
• Nineteenth SOM – 28 August 2018, Kathmandu, Nepal
Senior Trade/Economic Officials' Meetings (STEOM)
The Senior Trade/Economic Officials Meeting (STEOM) is an operational body comprising Senior Officials of the Trade/Commerce Ministry of the Member States and representative from Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This meeting precedes the Ministerial Meeting and reports to the TEMM. To date, the Senior Trade/Economic Officials of BIMSTEC countries have met four times.
• First STEOM – 26 April 2000, New Delhi, India
• Second STEOM – 14 February 2001, Yangon, Myanmar
• Third STEOM – 6 March 2003, Colombo, Sri Lanka
• Fourth STEOM – 2004, Bangkok, Thailand
• Fifth STEOM – 2008, Bangladesh
Business Forum and Economic Forum
Two forums under the STEOM allow active participation of the private sector. In the Business Forum, private sector representatives from the BIMSTEC Member States meet and discuss various issues. Results from the Business Forum will be forwarded to Economic Forum where the private sector have an opportunity to discuss freely with representatives from the public sector from Member States. The Economic Forum will then report outcomes of its meetings to the STEOM. The last Forum was held in New Delhi.
Coordinating Body
The Chairman of the BWG rotates along with the Chairmanship of the BIMSTEC. The BWG reports to the Senior Officials Meeting (SOM). The Meeting is held about monthly to review the progress of and ensure coordination among different activities. BWG Meetings are being held in the BIMSTEC Secretariat, Dhaka chaired by Nepal.
Expert Group Meeting
The Lead Countries of the 13 priority sectors of cooperation and 15 sub-sectors are to host expert group meetings of their responsible sectors regularly and report the result to the BIMSTEC Working Group in Bangkok (BWG) via respective Embassies to Thailand. The result will then be further reported to the SOM.


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If you are looking to create a cinematic experience when watching a film or if you need a projector to beam a PowerPoint presentation onto a wall at work, it is vitally important to select the best portable projector. It is only fairly recently that such devices have been put on sale, owing to the dramatic improvement in the technology to make the projectors portable. So, which models should you consider? Here are our recommendations:
Vivitek Qumi Q6
This is a fantastic looking projector, which also reflects the quality of its functionality. It weighs under 0.5kg, so it is easy to carry around from location to location. When you unbox it, you will be pleasantly surprised as to how slim it is. It's just 34mm in height. The projector is able to work with a wide variety of devices, from smart phones to tablets. It can even project content that is on a conventional USB flash drive. You can also store up to 2.5GB worth of content on the device, which you can then project on demand. It has wifi functionality, so you are able to share data direct from your Android or iOs device and beam it using the projector.
The ZTE SPRO2 is another fantastic projector that gets top marks from our review team. It is quite an advanced projector, so this benefits the professional user. It comes with a High Definition touch screen, which allows you to easily control the projector without fiddling around with it using a remote control. It comes with a high capacity battery, which lasts many hours. The 6300mAh battery ensures you will always have enough battery to last, which is rechargeable. We found that the images and videos were able to be projected clearly and with excellent definition. The color was especially radiant, and so you shouldn't worry about any washed out color when using this projector. This is in part due to the High resolution 1280*720 pixels. If you need a power source to charge your other devices, you can connect your phone for example to the projector. This makes it multi-functional.
Customers have praised the ZTE for its portability and functionality. It is quite rare to find a device that is able to be carried around, yet provide a stable and reliable projection. Customers of the ZTE in the past have bought it for playing movies and projecting these movies onto their living room wall, and the comments suggest many of these customers have been simply blown away by the quality of the projector.
If you would like to find out more about portable projectors, check out www.portable.technology.


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I find it hard to resist a book with a minaret on the cover. Throw in a snake, fonts with clawed feet and other hints of the arabesque, and the book is guaranteed a rent-free existence on my bookshelf for the rest of its days. Musharraf Farooqi's Hoshruba, a translation of Tilism-e Hoshruba, the mid-nineteenth century Urdu epic fantasy by Muhammad Husain Jah (d. 1899), offers all these inducements and more. It has sorcerers, beautiful women, demons, kettle-drummers, paradisiacal gardens, beautiful women, lovers, wars, poem fights, beautiful women, magical devices, daring escapes, bazaar scenes, beautiful women, and of course, the promise of sequels with more of these very things. Twenty-three more volumes in fact, if the Urdu Project has its way.
The tale's origin story deserves a volume all its own. In the city of Lucknow in northern India, in the 1840s, a group of oral storytellers led by Mir Ahmad Ali spun a tale, Tilism-e Hoshruba, that eventually got transcribed, edited, and quarreled over by a series of writers, most notably Muhammad Husain Jah and Ahmad Husain Qamar, and which more than a century and a half later grabbed hold of a gifted translator and author by the name of Musharraf Farooqi and instructed him to speak of the tilism of Hoshruba.
Hoshruba is a magic realm. Though "tilism" is an Urdu word that originally meant "magic artifact," after the Tilism-e Hoshruba, tilism became a generic term for "magical realm." This transmutation of meanings is one of the work's more remarkable achievements. I have a feeling the word is about to be borrowed by the English language.
The plot is complicated, but not complex. Afrasiyab, Lord of the Sorcerers and Emperor of Hoshruba, has given sanctuary to the false and vain God Lord Laqa, "an eighty-five foot tall pitch-black giant" with a head that resembles the "ruins of a palace dome" and limbs the size of "giant tree branches." Lord Laqa's mortal enemy is Amir Hamza, commander-in-chief of the True Believers. But the tale is not really about Laqa and Amir Hamza. Rather, it is about Afrasiyab and his nemesis Amar Ayyar, a trickster and a close friend of Amir Hamza. Amar Ayyar chips away at Afrasiyab's power, killing his sorcerers, subverting his confidantes, stealing his property, humiliating him in public, and trapping him in painful choices. This pattern of matching heroes with villains of equal status is repeated at lower levels, so that taken as a whole, the innumerable fights, betrayals, robberies, insults, and dilemmas acquire a certain fractal quality.
The nature of the quest is also remarkable. In most Western fantasy quests, the sources of magic are left intact. But in the Tilism-e Hoshruba, the long-term goal is not to destroy a particular manifestation of magic, but to destroy the source of magic itself.
But what is the source of magic? The Iranian scholar Seyed-Gohrab argued that Persia was "the ancient fountainhead of magic and wonders in Western literature." As he points out, the word "magic" is derived from "magi," the term for a Zoroastrian priest. Since Urdu evolved in part from Farsi, a quest to destroy magic in an epic Urdu fantasy could be seen as one of those Freudian facts crying out for a couch and a goatee. But as Farooqi makes clear in his introduction, Hoshruba is very much in Hindustan. The tilak-adorned, skull-necklace wearing, saffron-clad sorcerers of Hoshruba with their amulets and sacrificial fire rituals resemble Tantric sadhus more than Persian magi (pages 72, 310). There are references to the practice of sati in Hoshruba (p. 318); the women wear saris (p. 72); and at one point, Amar Ayyar even disguises himself as a Brahmin (p. 141). However, I do not think the storytellers meant to imply that Hoshruba was a prototypical kingdom of the Hindus. The images would suggest a familiar "wrongness" to their largely Muslim audiences, but they have a jihadi appeal for Hindus too (for example, the sorcerers use lard in their oblations, something quite unthinkable for a Hindu). The animus against magic has a different motivation.
In an inversion of Clarke's dictum, magic in Hoshruba is sometimes indistinguishable from advanced technology. For example, Afrasiyab employs a magic claw to pick people up and transfer them from point A to point B; it is not unlike the ship-snatching Claw of Archimedes that was supposedly the bane of the Roman navy during the Second Punic War (214 BC). In Hoshruba, sorcery is as compulsively ubiquitous as electricity. Magic allows the tilism to be a place where books can foretell events, a place where death is rare enough to provoke declamations by heavenly voices, and a place where creating things ex nihilo is the norm, not the exception. When Amar Ayyar is captured and tied to a tree in the garden, it is not enough. The garden must also be isolated by a magic cordon, as if Hoshruba has no faith in mundane fabrication. Of course, Amar Ayyar is able to escape, as he always can, because Hoshruba's magic has no protection against his bag of tricks, just as Nature's mysteries have no protection against human curiosity.
Indeed, the theme of Tilisim-e Hoshruba concerns what the sociologist Max Weber described as the "disenchantment of the world" (1904). Weber was referring to the cultural consequences of the Protestant ethic, but Islam's rigorous monotheism and commitment to the good life, in both senses of the word, seems to have had a similar effect. In this epic, getting rid of magic is a good thing. The true believers have no regrets whatsoever. What the true believers believe is that there's no need for sorcery. If technology is indistinguishable from magic, at least in the ambitions it affords, then what need for magic? What happens to the sorcerers in Hoshruba is not very different from what happened to sirens, sailing ships, and swordfights.
Of course, a story this vast hunts many hares. Unfortunately, notwithstanding Muhammad Jah's protestation that the narrative has been written "with an eye to brevity" (p. 389), brevity is not one of those hares. Good guys are repeatedly trapped (never the good women), good guys repeatedly rescue other good guys, bad but beautiful women convert to Islam and are saved, and as per usual, the ugly ones rarely catch a break. That's especially true of sorcerers. About the time the umpteenth sorcerer got dispatched, I was reminded of Kurt Vonnegut's comment that reading a long novel is "like being married forever to somebody nobody else knows about or cares about." Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the plot is how the good guys simply can't wait to return to Hoshruba.
I can sympathize. For one thing, Hoshruba has gardens, music, books, and uncensored women. For another, it has Emperor Afrasiyab, lord of the sorcerers. As Farooqi remarks in his introduction, he is easily "the most interesting and complex character." True, most of the other characters are just plot ciphers, so it's not much of a contest. But Afrasiyab could hold his own even in comparison with other great villains of epic fantasy. He has a deep faith in words; Afrasiyab consults books for the right action and his response to personnel problems leans more towards inspirational epistles than beheadings. He is sensibly cautious of his wife, the formidable Heyrat, and cautiously sensible about his wife's sister, Bahar. He may be in love with Bahar, but it's in a classy, ghazal-and-terraced-gardens kind of way. When he weeps, he sheds genuine roly-poly tears, not the fake oily ones minor villains like to affect. Afrasiyab is going to lose, and he knows he's going to lose because the books tell him he's going to lose—and yet.
Fantasies become epics, I think, when their villains acquire this state of grace. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings falls short in this regard because its chief villain is an abstraction, not a living breathing person. In contrast, the Ramayana is an epic because its great villain, Ravana, has enough personality to fill ten people. Here too, despite all its narrative flaws, Tilism-e Hoshruba is that scarce thing, a genuine epic.
Actually, Farooqi makes an even stronger claim. The book's cover declares it to be "the world's first magical fantasy epic." This is an astonishing claim, even a bizarre one. What about the eleventh-century Irish epic, The Tain? It's mostly prose, has good guys and bad guys, plenty of magic, is tediously long, and has enough declamations to please a tribe full of Yeats. Or what about Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur (1485)? Or what about the seventh-century Sanskrit text Brhatkathaslokasamgraha ("King of the Sorcerers") by Budhasvamin? True, it's in verse. But so what? Everything in Sanskrit is in verse. If length is the issue (the back cover describes the Tilism-e Hoshruba as "the world's first and longest magical fantasy"), then clearly the tenth-century Tibetan epic King Gesar is champ; it is estimated to have over one million verses, enough to fill one hundred and twenty-odd volumes. But if stories are disqualified because they are cast in verse, or because they are not long enough, or because they were/are believed by some to be factual accounts, or because their structure resembles a net rather than a fishing line, then yes, the Tilisim-e Hoshruba may be the world's first magical fantasy epic.
In 1992, famed Urdu writer and national treasure Qurrutulain Hyder had made an analogous claim about Hasan Shah's Nashtar (circa 1800 C.E.), a work she'd translated from Urdu into English. She claimed that Nashtar was the first novel in any Indian language. The fact that she'd translated an Urdu adaptation (circa 1890 C.E.) of Shah's Persian work was a minor detail, as was the existence of Pingali Surana's seventeenth-century Telugu work, Kalpurnadayamu.
What explains this need to privilege works in this manner? Perhaps it's because Urdu, like my mother tongue Malayalam, is a relatively recent Indian language, not more than three hundred or four hundred years old. In a land where languages abound, a little attitude can't hurt. Or perhaps it's because when you highlight a language, you also highlight the neglected contributions of a people. In a famous essay discussing the situation of the Urdu writer in India, C. N. Naim remarked: " . . . writing in Urdu in India is now definitely a political act. It may not empower you much, but it still lets you assert the fact of your existence."
Actually, I think the Tilism-e Hoshruba is indeed privileged, but not in the way Farooqi imagines it. It is not the first magical epic fantasy. It is the last of its kind, composed in the shadow of a new tilism, the British Empire's mercantilism, and all that it entailed. Tilism-e Hoshruba is the last of the great transcriptions of an oral narrative epic. Throughout the tale, it is possible to discern in the text, in the dim background, reified from our deep memory perhaps, the presence of a daastangoi—an oral storyteller—pausing, elaborating, grimacing, shifting voices . . . To modern sensibilities, the daastangoi's plot is tedious, the quests dubious, the heroes flat and perhaps even a little insane. But only to modern sensibilities. By himself, a daastangoi is only the sound of one hand clapping; an audience is required to complete that sound. And the sad truth is that the daastangoi's audience has mostly disappeared. The humid night, the cramped circle of friends and relatives, the gurgle of the hookah, the cousin who is always late, the whispered catch-up questions, the delighted laughs, the still-listening kids fast asleep in their parents' arms . . . that world has long disappeared. And with it has disappeared the Hoshruba as Mir Ahmad Ali and his friends told it, the Hoshruba as Muhammad Husain Jah wrote it, and the Hoshruba as the publisher Naval Kishore wished it read.
What we have here in Farooqi's Hoshruba is something very different. Borges credits Chesterton with the insight that FitzGerald's Rubaiyat was "both an elusive melody and an enduring inscription." So too with this book. What eludes us is a forgotten piece of our tessellated selves, and Farooqi's magnificent effort to retrieve it will endure.
And who can tell how things will turn out when the telling is still incomplete. Mahmood Farooqi, Himanshu Tyagi, Dan Husain and others have committed themselves to reviving the art of the daastangoi. The audiences are returning. Hoshruba may rise yet again, ready to re-enchant the world.
I'm glad to have this book adorn my shelves. It deserves a place on yours, too.
Anil Menon worked for about nine years in software R&D worrying about things like secure distributed databases and evolutionary computation. Then he shifted to a different kind of fiction. His stories can be found in magazines such as Albedo One, Chiaroscuro, Interzone, Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, New Genre, Strange Horizons, and anthologies such as TEL: Stories, Shockwave, and From The Trenches. He was nominated for the 2006 Carl Brandon Society's Parallax Prize and the 2007 Million Writers Award. His YA novel The Beast With Nine Billion Feet (Zubaan) is scheduled to appear in Fall 2009.
This book looks fascinating. Great review. I'm sold.
Great review. I loved Farooqi's version of the Hamzanama and I've been looking forward to reading this.
Jeffrey, Aishwarya: Thanks for the thumbs-up. And cool blog, Aishwarya. Liked your reviews too.
Was searching online to see if the book was out yet, and came across this review. Really well written; I appreciate the end message in particular.
Dear Anil Menon,
A fascinating and insightful review.
I agree with you, that the origin of Hoshruba is in itself a story worth telling.
Thanks for providing a greater context where you challenge the notion that this is the first and longest fantasy...I would like to now also read Bhratkhatashlokasamgraha.
I bought Hoshruba a couple of months ago, and am now labouring through it: I find the situations repetitive with incremental changes between one and at the next; the characters flat and the story line predictable. And like you, I think of the daastani story teller narrating the story and how he would have infused the tale with much more richness than is visible on the page. However, I do want to get to the end so that I can have a wholistic view of the book, when I judge it and add it to my repertoire of reading.
Your review has ignited hope in me again...and I will pursue the book with renewed vigour.
@Dee: Thanks. Glad you found the review useful. Some narrative forms really love repetition. Take 1st person video games. All that really happens is the same event over and over -- see varmint, blast varmint-- but for a lot of people that's more than enough. A similar situation seems to hold for TV soaps. Odd stuff.
Well, I am at page 312- 3/4ths of the way through the book, and I respectfully disagree with you on 2 points. Or perhaps it is better to say I have a different POV?
Repetition for rhetoric and effect works fine...but not if it disconnects the reader. In video games it is the very act of doing something that gives the actor some sense of satisfaction. I know, because I play jewel quest fairly repetitively on my computer every day...and here the act of winning the game is what gets me to return.
You are right about repetitive story lines in TV soaps. I have no idea why- and therefore can't bear them...
My second is the blasphemy about LOTR! Ha! I think what Tolkien managed extraordinarily well is to make the journey in itself so hazardous that it becomes a surrogate for the villain. In addition, there are many substitute villains: Saruman, the ringwraiths, Grima Wormtongue. They keep the reader riveted and the story moving relentlessly forward without stalling.
In contrast- Afrasiyab is (as you said) the most developed of characters, but often reduced to a caricature.
Afrasiyab and his team are no match for the true believers..not because they couldn't have been, but because the story doesn't let them be: and this I believe, is the heart of the problem...the book fails to rise to potential...and gosh, if it had, it would have been a soaring achievement.
So while I admire and appreciate the genesis of Hoshruba...the story in itself- not so much.
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Friday, July 5, 2013
A Winter day
It was one of these days today where I woke up and saw the sun rays getting through the dark clouds of the night. After some rainy weeks, this week has been pretty good with blue skys and lots of sun so I went for an early run. Running through streets, where I saw cafes opening up and getting ready for the day, I ran further towards the Botanic Gardens which is one of my favourite runs, along the water, to the Opera House and back, saying hi to my own shade ...it was such a good way to start the day.
We both came home earlier, sat on the couch talking about the day, reading and after a while moved into the kitchen to prepare the pasta w/ yogurt, peas and chilly from the Jerusalem cookbook. I saw that Molly wrote about it recently as well (recipe). It was delicious and a perfect Friday evening meal. While doing the dishes we were singing loudly to this song and....now the tea kettle is whislting....Have a great weekend, Maria
Posted by Anonymous at Friday, July 05, 2013
6 comments :
- found and sewn said...
Love your description of your day, sounds beautiful!
- July 05, 2013 10:10 PM
- Trixi said...
Ein wunderschönes Bild! Ich mag diese Momentaufnahme eines Freitag Abends. Unser liegt noch vor uns, diese Zeitverschiebung ist immer wieder faszinierend :)
- July 05, 2013 10:50 PM
- Jess P said...
Sounds like a perfect morning!
- July 06, 2013 3:40 AM
- hiki said...
Winter is so hard to imagine for me now but it sounds like a really nice morning :) Oh and your Print Shop looks fab!!! xx
- July 06, 2013 2:54 PM
- Danni.L said...
So lovely, simple and content :)
I'm now following your blog properly - each post is sent to my email. With love, me. X
- July 08, 2013 11:21 PM
- querido diário said...
i love all the blue in this photo,along with the white rose.
Closing my eyes, i can actually listen to Ryan singing*
- July 11, 2013 7:55 AM
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Many of us have gone through the storms of life, but God can, and does, turn it around. Just ask Destin�s Dee Chernicky.
�At one time in my life I remember having nothing but poverty, pain and heartache,� Chernicky told The Log. �Now I�m blessed to be a blessing. I�m on the other side of the storm and I want to be the light that shines in the lives for others to make their way. I am humbled to be where I am, considering where I�ve been.�
Chernicky, a wife, mother, author and business entrepreneur, is a graduate of Victory Bible Institute in Tulsa, Okla., founder of One Heart One Voice Ministries, and the host of the Shine On Women�s and Teen�s Conference. She has been a licensed and ordained minister since 2009 through Destiny Worship Center in Miramar Beach, and also serves on the Advisory Board of Christian Women in Media and Sharing Hands Network.
After doing ministry work for more than 20 years, Chernicky began the Dee Chernicky Ministries in 2009 �to restore, refresh and empower others so that they will accomplish their dreams and the desired destiny of a joyful and blessed life.�
That ministry will now host a new monthly community outreach, One Heart One Voice Women, which will meet every month from 10 a.m. to noon at The Palms of Destin, 4201 Indian Bayou Trail in Destin. The first meeting will be Aug. 22, with doors opening at 9:30 a.m. and free childcare provided with online reservation. All services are free, with an offering to be taken.
�There will be live worship along with local and national guest speakers coming to teach God�s Word each month,� Chernicky said. �I will speak at our first meeting and lay the foundation for the vision and mission that God has given me for His women. I believe the women of God are hungry and want to grow deeper in the things of God. And for that reason, we have been raised up for such a time as this.�
The vision of this outreach is to �see the hearts of women grow and become wholly devoted and passionate followers of our Lord Jesus Christ,� she said. �� for all women of God to walk in the plans and purposes that He foreknew and predestined as He chose those to become like his Son.� (Romans 8:29)
Through worship and anointed guest speakers, the ministry will fulfill its mission to build strong lives on the solid foundation of God�s Holy Word. (Matthew 7:24)
�We believe we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus,� Chernicky said. �And it�s because of that Word, found in Acts 15:11, that we seek to unify the body of Christ by inviting all faiths to attend this monthly outreach.�
One Heart One Voice Women is open to all women of all denominations, non denominations and those who are currently not connected to a local church. For more information, visit www.ohovwomen.org.


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