text:
Hey there Zen Seekers!!
With Phase 3 of the Kung Pow Quahog Event in full swing I thought it was time we looked at a new foe that's joined the battle, the Sensei.
In this post I will go over the Basics of the Battles to help you out, so take a peek below and see if this resolves your questions/issues.
For the Main Event Post, go HERE
You'll find a post that will be updated each Phase to include our Foes and who can fight them HERE.
Sensei will appear when you start The Most Mojo in the Dojo Pt: 1. Tapping Go will bring up the Sensei information box.
First, you will need to collect Fight Contracts as they are needed each fight costs 1 fight contract.
Fight Contracts (Rare): Get from Squatty Tiger Secret Dragon Lair OR Jerome Sponsor Fighters OR Bonnie Bet on Fights OR Dojo Peter Give Kumite a Try OR Meg Fight For Popularity OR Seamus Be A Training Dummy OR Mr Tea's Tea House
If you do NOT have the amount of Fight Contracts required, you will see "NEED MORE FIGHT CONTRACTS" on the Battle screen no matter what Character(s) you select.
Once you have a Fight Contract, then "FIGHT" will appear once you select your Character.
Just tap on a nerd then tap on the + sign on the Main Battle Screen. You will see two + signs and this means you can use up to two character per battle.
Tap on the Fighter you want to use for the current Battle and a check mark will appear on them. If you want just one, that is fine. Then tap on "GO" to take you back to Battle Screen. (If you see a lock on the Character, you do not have them available)
Also remember a character cannot battle whilst busy doing another task. They can however do tasks between battles or whilst healing.
The Characters you can use will depend on WHO you have purchased or unlocked.
Samurai Quagmire: Health 4, Attack Power 6, Critical Hit Chance 20
Yogi Fighter Brian: Health 4, Attack Power 6, Critical Hit Chance 25
Billy Banks: Health 4, Attack Power 6, Critical Hit Chance 20
Health – The amount of damage you can take before you're knocked out.
Attack Power – The standard damage you can do to your opponents health during an attack.
Critical Hit Chance– The higher the number the higher the odds of you doing a critical hit to your opponent. These are random, basically look at it like a lucky strike where you do more damage than your standard. These work on chance, you have no control over them, so really don't think about it too much. Just know that it means you can knockout an opponent with one hit, but on the downside they can also do the same to you.
Now their Health and/or Attack Power it takes to defeat foes may change as the Event progresses, as we may see new villains to battle, as of know I am not sure on this… but we will have to see what happens as the Event progresses.
You can fight with only one, and this post will be based around only using Samurai Quagmire as that's the only fighter I have unlocked just now.
But be aware whereas you ONLY NEED ONE CHARACTER TO BATTLE you will need to attack more than once to win unless you hit it lucky with a critical hit to the Sensei. As I said I'm currently just fighting away with just Samurai Quagmire and progressing okay.
Now that you have the Basics, let's look at a fight so you can see how things go down.
Look around your town for all the available Sensei. In my game, I had up to 2 wandering my sidewalk.
Tap on a nerd and you will see the Battle Screen, here you will see….
- How much Damage can they Inflict on your Character (fist) – 3
- How much Damage will it take to Defeat them (health bar) – 15
- How much Damage you can inflict on them (fist) – 6
- How much Damage it will take to defeat you (health bar) – 4
- The chance of a Critical Hit on them
- The amount of Fight Contracts you need to fight – 1
- The rewards you will get for defeating the Sensei
So if you use Samurai Quagmire on his own, you have pretty low odds as he can only inflict 6 Damage with each Attack and it will take 15 damage to defeat the Sensei. However the Sensei can only inflict 3 damage with each Attack, so unless he gets lucky with a Critical hit he won't defeat you with one punch. But basically you're attack power,p of 6 is less than half that of the Sensei's health, 15, so you would need a very lucky critical hit to defeat him in one attack, you're more likely to reduce his health to 9 then come back and attack him again and again. But remember each attack costs just 1 Fight Contract, which is helpful.
The odds are pretty much the same for using Yogi Fighter Brian alone or Billy Banks alone as they have the same health and attack power as Samurai Quagmire. Where your odds will improve is if you use a combo of 2 or 3 fighters, if you have them available. A combo of 2 fighters can do a combined damage of 12, so you'll need to do only 2 attacks but if you're lucky enough to have 3 fighters that's a combined damage of 18 and you can defeat him in one attack.
Now once the fight begins you can only sit back and watch how it progresses, you can't control anything. You may see your Samurai Quagmire land a critical hit on the Sensei and knockout him out straight away, or you may hit him and reduce his health by 6, or you may miss him altogether. And the same goes for the Sensei, he may deal you a critical hit and knock you out, or he may hit you and reduce your health by 3 points, and then again he may miss you completely. Watching the fight you will see what happens, but as I say you can do nothing to influence the way it goes.
If you do a critical hit you will have cleared the Sensei and you can just collect your rewards. If you miss him or just reduce his health you can attack again if you have a Fight Contract available by tapping the Fight Again button.
Basically you need to keep attacking the same Sensei until his health hits 0. If you leave the battle screen rather than choosing Fight Again make sure you select the Sensei that needs further attack, you can check their health bar to ensure its the one you already inflicted damage on, you will know this as it will show a reduction in its health bar.
If you win the battle you'll see this screen. Collect you rewards. (Be aware the rewards you get will depend on whether Kung Pow Chicken is showing in the fight arena, Expired Vouchers won't drop until he's there).
If you are hit and your health is reduced to 1/4 you can go on and fight again, however if you are knocked out and lose all your health then you need to heal your fighter.
Each time your Character goes into Battle, they will take Damage. Once their health hits 0 in order to be able to use them again they must heal from that back to their full Capacity. Please note your fighter will not start to heal if he's only lost health, he must be at 0 health.
There are a few ways to Heal your Character. First tap on any Sensei and then go to the Character Select Screen (tap on +). Here you will see your Character has taken Damage and "HEAL" is showing over them.
If you are knocked out, lose all your health points, you will automatically start to heal, you will see the time to heal your Samurai Quagmire freemium is 3hrs, (3hrs is the standard time to restore all 4 health fighters to full health).
But if you don't want to wait 3 hours, below the timer there is a button to allow you to heal them immediately either using premium revive potions bought from the store or if you have no revive potions, you will get a message telling you the clam cost to heal your fighter instantly.
This will depend on where you are in the game but here is a general idea of Payouts.
24 Black Belts (Always)
10 Chopsticks (Always)
2X Expired Vouchers (Always)
You'll earn 20 Chopsticks for rounds where you don't defeat the Sensei.
- Collect Fight Contracts
- Find a Sensei
- Pick a Character that will cause the most Damage and win the Battle
- Collect Reward
There you have it, the overall idea of the Sensei Battles.
How are you doing in the Battles? Does this help you more? Any other tips you would offer fellow Players? Any more questions on the Battles not covered? Let us know.
~ Russian Tigger


text:
I have a couple of cards today using stamps from Designs by Ryn. It's hard to believe that I've been designing for Ryn for over a year. The time has flown and I've enjoyed every minute 'working' with her stamps. Her designs are all hand drawn, the stamps are high quality and deeply etched for crisp images.
Designs by Ryn stamps used on above card: Betta, Starfish Set & Sea Bubbles Set
To create the background I started by spraying Turquoise & Blue Dylusions Inks along with Sunshine Glimmer Mist along with water. I tipped the page and let the inks run & then I covered the background with another piece of watercolour paper which I used for the 2nd card below. After it was dry, I stamped the medium & small Star Fish from the set with Iced Spruce & Salty Ocean Distress Inks. I stamped the smaller piece from Sea Bubble set with Salty Ocean around the border as well.
I stamped Betta Fish with Black Stazon Ink over the background. I removed most of the spray inks from the fish by adding water, blotting off and then coloured with my Tombows. I stamped 3 of the medium sized starfish on watercolour paper with black Stazon Ink, coloured with Tombows, cut out and attached as shown. Voice of the Sea C5053 is from Impression Obsession.
And below is pink version of Betta along with other images by Ryn.
Designs by Ryn stamps used on above card: Betta, Sea Bubbles Set, Coral set & School of Fish Set
The background is the watercolour paper used to blot the background above. I sprayed a little Purple Glimmer Mist over it. I over-stamped with the medium Coral with Salty Ocean & Mowed Lawn DI, Sea Bubbles with Concord DI & School of Fish with black Stazon ink. Betta was stamped on watercolour paper with Black Stazon ink, coloured with my Tombows and then cut out to attach.
Hello A3579 is from Impression Obsession.
If you have a chance, please drop by Miranda's and Eileen's Blogs, both with lots of inspiration, who are also on Ryn's Design Team. Also Ryn's Facebook page is full of ideas using her stamps.
Thanks for your visit and have a great day !

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Get Auto Financing With Any Credit
We match borrowers with any credit history to lenders.
- Bad Credit
- No Credit
- Past Bankruptcy
- Save Money With Pre-Approval
Get Started
Collins Motor Co
3651 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, California, 92104
You are in good hands anytime you visit Collins Motor Co. We can help you in selecting the right vehicle that meets your needs. When you drive away from our dealership, your car and payment will have surpassed your expectations. Our knowledgeable sales representatives are here to get you the perfect vehicle. We have grown to be San Diego's most recognized spot for used cars of any type. Our huge collection of cars is fantastic for picking the perfect vehicle for you. Here at Collins Motor Co at 3651 El Cajon Blvd, San Diego, California 92104, we would like to demonstrate our commitment to customer care and competitive prices. Make sure you check out Collins Motor Co of San Diego at 3651 El Cajon Blvd, San Diego, California 92104 next time you are looking for a used car.


text:
Heres my save that will help you get half way there achievement plus a few more!

Just complete the remaining activities on the map and it will unlock!

Also if you go to challenges and select shaundi sidequest after you go talk to her on the ship(keep talking to her) you will also get 'the two shaundis'

Other achievements will pop instantly! If you test it can you tell me all achievements it popped for you? Thanks and enjoy
Saints Row 4 "Half Way There" and a few more achievemnts! 04/06/2016
Saints Row 4 "Half Way There" and a few more achievemnts!


text:
Jean Borbridge
Jean Borbridge is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts Honours at the University of Manitoba. Her practice primarily focuses on photography and painting. Her interest in documentary photography began when she took a semester off of school to live and volunteer in Monrovia, Liberia in 2016. Her work often depicts spaces that carry identity, history, and memory that live within and beyond their boundaries. Her fascination in photography has grown from her practice as a painter, as she is drawn to spaces that are layered both physically and conceptually. In her series, The Poetics of Liberia Monrovia, she documented abandoned former colonial buildings that still remain guarded long after their desertion. Her series acts as a reminder of the history of colonialism, war and the current political climate of the region. Her work has been shown at the Winnipeg Art Gallery and most recently a site-specific installation at the national historic site, The Forks, in conjunction with LandMarks2017.
(University of Manitoba)
Benoît Brousseau
Benoît Brousseau was born in Outaouais and has lived in Montreal since 1997. He is currently completing a BFA in Visual and Media Arts at the Université du Québec à Montréal. Although he works primarily with photography and video, his work often takes the form of installations which integrate other mediums such as sound and text. Experimenting with various techniques, surfaces and photographic materials from one project to the next is integral to Brousseau's practice. His work often explores themes like the effect of time on identity, death, physical and psychological pain, the search for identity, and the memory of places, people and things. The various existential traces he examines form the conceptual basis of each series.
He has recently exhibited locally at Cégep du Vieux Montréal, at UQAM's CDEx gallery, at Place des Arts, and as part of Montreal's 375th birthday. As a finalist of the inter-university photography contest, one of his images will be part of a travelling exhibition in 2017-2018.
(Université du Québec à Montréal)
Sarah Hernandez
Sarah Hernandez, born in Toronto, Ontario, is currently working towards completing her final year of undergraduate studies in Studio Art at the University of Guelph. She was raised in a family that has culturally influenced her upbringing. Spirituality and superstition have large roles in her everyday life since childhood. She has been raised to believe in ghosts, mediums, rituals involving the spirits of the afterlife, the mythical santeros of Caracas, prayer, apparitions, the meaning of nightmares and the power of dreams. She uses photography to project these beliefs into snippets of time, integrating them into the world and capturing such beliefs, grabbing a hold of the essence of an other-worldly place. Ultimately Sarah's work is a contemporary reflection of cross-culturalism that is non-conventional and represents a cultural metamorphosis of beliefs from childhood to present day.
(University of Guelph)
Maisha Marshall-Ende
Maisha Marshall-Ende is an Ethiopian-Canadian photographer and videographer. She is entering her fourth year at the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD) University in Toronto. Her work explores black culture in contemporary society, focusing on black women. She draws inspiration from her own life, noticing the daily challenges and experiences unique to women of colour. Her understanding of race has been shaped by growing up in Ethiopia. In her experience, black Canadians that have grown up within a racially-charged and subtly oppressive system can become almost numb to it. As she moved to Canada as an adult, she already had expectations about how a black woman should be able to operate in the world. Thus, the sudden changes around her were a shock to the system. Now she uses her artwork as a tool to better understand racism and as a platform to ensure that it is addressed.
(OCAD University)
Maria Merheb
Maria Merheb, born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1997, emigrated with her family to Ottawa in 2013. She is currently completing a BFA in photography at the University of Ottawa. Her practice consists of both discovery and exploration in a specific moment in time. We could think of her work as a psycho-geography, which suspends time and place. Her subtle use of added colour and montaged elements bring the viewer into the rich experience and mental landscape of a new Canadian who has a great deal to say to all of us. She is also the recipient of the 2017 Louise Perry Scholarship.
(University of Ottawa)
Brigitte Patenaude
Brigitte Patenaude, born in Ottawa, Ontario in 1991, is a photo-based artist working with elements of sculpture, installation, and performance. She is currently completing her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography at Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Fascinated with objects and their ability to reference place and memory, Patenaude creates still lifes that draw on formal qualities of line, colour, and form. By highlighting low-grade and often neglected everyday objects and materials, her still lifes subvert the traditions of its genre. The human presence in Patenaude's material-driven imagery calls up the tense yet playful interaction between the animate and the inanimate. Conventions are questioned as the objects are stripped of their perfunctory use value. A parallel to human emotion is made. Patenaude sees objects, and the way we choose to interact with them, as a way into larger ideas around purpose, adapting, and belonging.
(Emily Carr University of Art + Design)
Huimei (Olivia) Qiu
Huimei Qiu, born in Shenzhen, China, is currently pursuing her Bachelor's degree in Visual Art with a minor in commerce at the University of British Columbia. Through her work, she experiments with a wide range of art mediums, focusing on film and digital photography. She is involved in the UBC Film Society and as a crew member, she collaborated and helped produce a short, independent film: There's Room For One More. Her latest work combines mixed media to juxtapose real, personal spaces with the projected, online material. This ties into global socio-economic issues and events, and by using space, both personal and artificial created, she raises awareness of privileged and unprivileged lifestyles. In her piece, photography was used as tool to zoom in the reality of the world beyond our computer screens.
(University of British Columbia)
Anna Semenoff
Anna Semenoff studies sculpture at the Alberta College of Art and Design; her material practice is primarily comprised of video and light based installation. Her work is motivated behind concepts derived from the field of Phenomenology – a theoretical framework pertaining to structures and mechanics of experience, recognizing systems of being. Video projection is employed as a medium, curated to function in tandem with its corporeal surroundings. Visual imagery is implemented as a vehicle of representation – an apparatus; the internal mechanism occupied within a larger framework, as a fabricated template, an offer to consider ways of seeing. The art becomes a secondary source: a lense of responsibility placed in the hands of the spectator, prompting awareness to expose the pre-existing climate. Simultaneously manipulating, and depending on mimicry, the arranged networks of isolated engagements will echo as the product of the individual.
(Alberta College of Art and Design)
Angeline Simon
Angeline Simon was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1993, and is currently completing the BFA Art Studio program at the University of Lethbridge. Her work has been presented in both public and private institutions, including a group exhibition at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery in Lethbridge. Presented with the opportunity of a dark room, analogue photography became a central role in her practice as she primarily works with medium format. Engaging with notions of psychological space, her interest lies in creating work that manipulates perception and explores relationships between subject and environment. As a descendant of European and Asian ancestry, her work also focuses on constructing narratives that are influenced by these different cultures.
(University of Lethbridge)
Simon Solis
Simon Solis was born in Chile and raised in Toronto. He is completing his degree in the Department of Visual Art and Art History at York University. His photographic work examines museological practices of curatorial narratives and cultural preservation. Over the past year Simon has interned as a photographer at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection through the Mobilizing Inuit Cultural Heritage program and has contributed written work to the Family Camera Network exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum. These experiences inform his photographic investigations into themes of heritage, power, and identity within the constructs of art. By reinterpreting notions of the institutionalized art object, he explores concepts of cultural inheritance and isolation, authenticity and reproduction, and presence and absence. Solis references archival systems and the photographic techniques implemented within them to investigate the interweaving relationship between museum, object, and spectator.
(York University)
Audrey Yip
Audrey Yip currently studies Art and Art History at the University of Toronto, Mississauga and Sheridan College. She specializes in photography and sound art. Her work investigates notions of physical, visual, mental and audible space and the elements that function to produce the atmospheres or moods that accompany them. After years of intensive dance training throughout elementary and high school, her sensory response to music became the instinctive motive to creating perceptible experiences rather that flat art objects for her viewers and listeners. By intermingling multiple media and pushing them to their ontological limits she discovered that they could, together, compose an experience that could stimulate more than one sense.
(University of Toronto)
Kyle Zurevinski
Kyle Zurevinski is a twenty-two year-old visual artist from Saskatoon, SK currently completing his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Saskatchewan. He specializes in photography and new media and has expanded his understanding of traditional photography uses and methods into more abstract and conceptual realms, which are often in combination with older or uncommon forms of technology such as instant film. His work focuses on viewing subjects in a way that often isolates certain features and puts others into the spotlight. His passion and practice in photography has been focused on using shape and abstraction as a tool to provoke emotion and thought through the image as a whole. His latest series "still space" has recently been exhibited at the University of Saskatchewan's own "Gordon Snelgrove Gallery" as his first solo exhibition. These images show a progression of his practice and properly depict his current artistic process.
(University of Saskatchewan)


text:
3 days / 3 nights packaged and hosted experience, available only in conjunction with Wild Heart of Italy package.
If you're flying Etihad Airways or Virgin Australia, Abu Dhabi is an AMAZING place to pause and recharge. We will whisk you from Abu Dhabi airport after your 14-hour flight, straight to the five-star Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi beach resort on the pristine and beautiful natural Saadiyat Island – the 'Island of Happiness' – it is just 15 minutes from the airport and we guarantee it will bring a smile to your face!
For the 9-16 September 2018 tour, we would recommend departing Sydney on Monday 3 September – depending on the flight you take, you will either arrive in Abu Dhabi at around 11pm that night or 6am the next morning. We will have your room secured and available for you to check-in on arrival either way.
For the 12-19 May 2019 tour, depart Sydney on Monday 6 May.
Rest and relax and rejuvenate at the Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi pool and private beach, arrange a massage, read a book, catch up on sleep!
Abu Dhabi is situated on an archipelago of islands, and an ideal way to get acquainted with this Arabian capital is from the sea. We will be taking you on a 2.5 hour sunset sightseeing tour of Abu Dhabi by catamaran – there is seriously no better way to see this gorgeous city! On our return to the Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi you may join us for pre-dinner cocktails on the Beach House Rooftop, and either choose to return to your room to rest and relax and order in-room dining, or dine at any of the hotel's great restaurants.
Our day is dedicated to immersing you in the signature art, architecture, culture and cuisine of Abu Dhabi, starting with a visit to the recently opened Louvre Abu Dhabi museum on Saadiyat Island. Ten years in the making, the museum was designed by renowned French architect, Jean Nouvel and is a masterpiece in itself. The museum has been designed to facilitate cross-cultural dialogue between the civilisations of the East and the West, acting as a bridge to connect humanity to our common past and shared future.
We can easily return to our beach resort when everyone is ready, as it is located on the same island as the Louvre Abu Dhabi museum. You may wish to rest and relax, take some lunch by the beach and soak up the sunshine. We will venture back onto the main island of Abu Dhabi city in the evening, for a mesmerising 20-minute sunset tour of Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.
For dinner we will take you to a world-class Emirati restaurant so you can sample the local cuisine and culture. The restaurant is part of the impressive 5-star Emirates Palace Abu Dhabi hotel complex, originally built for a conference of regional Sheikhs and diplomats and it is a venue that truly has to be seen to be believed – absolutely luxurious and quite ethereal.
Depart Abu Dhabi to Rome – direct flight on Etihad Airways leaves 8.45am and arrives Rome 13.05pm.
3 nights five-star beach resort accommodation, breakfast included (this allows for immediate check-in should you arrive late at night or very early in the morning); 3 days hosted experience, with pick up from Abu Dhabi airport; a 2.5 hour catamaran sightseeing tour; entrance to Louvre Abu Dhabi museum; tour of Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque; Emirati dinner (non-alcoholic beverages included); all transfers and transport, and return transfer to airport.
Please note : additional meals, room service, laundry and beverage choices are at guest's discretion and own expense.
*special introductory price
A 25% DEPOSIT IS REQUIRED FOR ALL ADD-ON OPTIONS TO SECURE THE BOOKING. The remaining amount will be added to your total package payable, with an initial 50% payment due 6 months prior to the tour (minus reservation fees and deposits), and remaining payable in full 2 months prior to departure.
This is a very cosmopolitan city, and at the beach resort and on our boat tour you are welcome to dress as you wish. However as a mark of respect for Emirati culture, in public spaces such as the Grand Mosque and Louvre Abu Dhabi museum it is usual for ladies to cover their shoulders and knees. Think pashmere wraps, long floaty skirts or light pants! Alcohol is served at all licensed hotel bars and restaurants within hotel complexes, but is not available for consumption in public places.
The weather in September is still warm and averages 33 degrees Celsius. We have designed our itinerary activities for morning or evening, to avoid the heat of the day. May can also be warm with an average of 31 degrees Celsius.
Feel free to CONTACT US for more details or questions regarding our Abu Dhabi add-on package.
Rest and relax for the day at our five-star beach resort, followed by a sunset sightseeing tour of Abu Dhabi by catamaran. Free evening.
Visit to Louvre Abu Dhabi museum on Saadiyat Island, followed by a free afternoon. Sunset tour of Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and dinner at a world-class Emirati restaurant to sample the local cuisine.
Depart for Rome.
*Itinerary subject to change to allow for flexibility
AUD$1,987* per person (based on twinshare).
*special introductory price.
A 25% non-refundable deposit is required on booking to secure each of our Package Add-Ons.
The remaining balance will be added to your overall Wild Heart of Italy package and invoiced accordingly.


text: Loading... Compare Quick view Detail View Black High Gloss Glitter + Sparkle Vinyl Upholstery Fabric By The Yard 30 Yards In Stock MSRP: Now: As low as $16.18 Was: This sparkling vinyl fabric has a jet black background covered with fine silver glitter and a soft, glossy finish. It has a tough polyester backing and is easy to clean, perfect for the tabletop! It would make gorgeous paneling, stool or bench covering,... MSRP: Now: As low as $16.18 Was: Choose Options Compare Quick view


text:
About Us - History
Formed in 1986, the Concert Promoters Association has worked to represent and promote the interests of its members and to provide a forum for discussion of issues of concern.
A dispute over the Performing Rights Society's proposed trebling of their fees for live popular music concerts prompted promoters to band together and take action. The matter went before the Copyright Tribunal and resulted in a resounding success for the CPA in 1988. The CPA has since lent support to the Association of British Concert Promoters, which represents promoters of classical music, in their dispute with PRS concerning the rate for live classical music. The matter was referred to the Copyright Tribunal but was settled out of court in December 2003. The 'LC' tariff is now 4.8% (or 4.3% if paid within 28 days) while 'LP' remains at 3%. We will now wait to see what implications this will have for the live popular tariff.
Since the inception of the Association, various individual members of the Association have worked tirelessly to achieve benefits for all promoters. Lengthy consultation with the Health and Safety Executive resulted in the 1993 publication of a workable successor to the GLC Pop Code in the form of the Guide to Health, Safety and Welfare at Pop Concerts and Other Outdoor Events. Further consultation took place on the revised document published in October 1999. The HSE will look at revising the Guide to Health, Safety and Welfare at Concerts and Outdoor Events again in the near future. They will ask promoters for input on what needs changing. The CPA was also involved in a consultation process on the Institute of Structural Engineers' guidance document on temporary demountable structures.
Ensuring that concertgoers have the opportunity of seeing their favourite artists at reasonable ticket prices has always been a primary concern of the CPA and members have fought to maintain booking fees charged by ticket agents at acceptable levels. Following years of lobbying by a working group, including representatives from the CPA, who wished to see the Government introduce legislation to protect consumers from ticket touts, the DTI's Price Indications (Resale of Tickets) Regulations were introduced in February 1995. While these regulations did not go as far as concert promoters would have liked, it was felt that they are a step in the right direction. Close monitoring of the situation continues. An issue arose from the Committee of Advertising Practice's requirements that where ticket prices are advertised, all additional charges such as booking fees and transaction fees must also be advertised. As booking charges are not standardised, the trend is now for ticket prices not to be included in advertising, leading to concerns that it is becoming open season for ticket touts and unscrupulous operators. Meetings held with the CAP have resulted in them agreeing that ticket prices can be included in advertisements as long as it is specified how a ticket can be bought at face value. Their consumer guidance note will be re-written in due course.
Various individual CPA members were interviewed as part of the investigation into ticket agents by the Office of Fair Trading. The report published in January 2005 gave the primary market a clean bill of health. The secondary market, however, was highlighted as a major problem and strategies are currently being devised to tackle what we have dubbed E-touting. When in place, a major public awareness campaign will be mounted. This remains ongoing.
The CPA lent wholehearted support to the National Union of Students, an avenue along which many of our members have entered the profession, when the Government proposed to introduce legislation which would alter the funding of the NUS, thereby threatening to severely affect this valuable breeding ground of both musical and entrepreneurial talents. It was felt that our active lobbying had influenced the decision not to proceed with the legislation.
The Association lobbied the Radio Authority for an 'indie' FM station in order to create opportunities for new acts to be heard on air. As a result, Xfm was initially awarded a temporary licence and now has a full licence. Xfm has since been absorbed into mainstream radio. The Music Industry Forum was made aware of promoters' concerns that the Radio Authority grants too many licences to stations with very similar format.
The CPA was involved in preparing information published in 1996 by British Invisibles on overseas earnings of the music industry. The Association also worked with the National Music Council and contributed to the follow-up report 'A Sound Performance' published in 1999. A further report, 'Counting the Notes' was published on-line in November 2002.
Regular meetings with the National Arenas Association are held to discuss relevant issues such as ticketing procedures, insurance and health and safety. A joint campaign resulted in crowd surfing being stamped out at indoor venues. Plans are now being devised to eliminate the increasing practice of beer throwing at concerts in a similar way. The implications of the Disability Discrimination Act, the Private Security Industry Act 2001 and the Licensing Act 2003 have featured on the joint agenda.
Meetings of the Music Users' Council and Music Users' Council of Europe are attended in order to keep abreast of developments here and across the rest of Europe regarding collection societies and copyright issues. MUCE have been instrumental in affecting important changes to the Copyright Directive. An initial meeting with the Managers' Forum to discuss matters of mutual concern proved enlightening and will be followed up. The CPA holds membership of the National Music Council who are considering moves to merge with the Music Business Forum in order to provide one music industry voice to the Government.
Discussions were held with Work Permits UK (formerly the Overseas Labour Service of the Department for Education and Employment) concerning the application procedure for work permits for visiting artistes. Welcome signs of improvement resulted. Work Permits UK is now linked with the Home Office Immigration Department and has extended powers. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, Work Permits UK have been enabled to charge for the consideration of work permit applications. From April 1st, 2003 a charge of £95.00 per application was levied, however a miscalculation was discovered and the cost has been increased to £153 per application. At present a consultation process is under way to look at a points-based application procedure whereby individual touring personnel would be required to apply in person at their local British Consulate to complete entry clearance in order to obtain a visa to work in the UK. A submission was made by the CPA pointing out the impracticality and expense of such a system for touring musical artistes and crew. Several meetings with the Home Office have been attended and a CPA member has been invited to join the Department of Culture Media and Sport Task Force to assist in fine tuning the details of the application process. Promoters, agents and other employers of visiting artists will become sponsors who will be given a rating by the Home Office and will take on responsibility for making sure the artists do not contravene the terms under which visas are issued and leave the country at the end of touring engagements.
New HSE legislation which came into effect in April 2001 made health and safety issues a major priority. The introduction of the corporate manslaughter legislation will mean that all promoters must constantly reassess possible safety risks at their events. Crowd management has also been a priority issue in the wake of Roskilde. Incidents in the U.S.A. in 2002 have again highlighted the importance of this issue.
The escalating charges for Police at outdoor events was the subject of an initial meeting at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport with a member of staff from the Home Office Police Resources Unit. The Home Office subsequently put the CPA in touch with the Association of Chief Police Officers and a proposal was submitted for a CPA delegation to work with an Officer from ACPO's Public Order Sub-Committee to draft a version of ACPO's Public Safety Policy which will have relevance to licensed entertainment events. In the light of the implications on outdoor events of the Private Security Industry Act 2001, ACPO have encouraged the Home Office to reinstate their Event Safety Working Group. The CPA were been invited to participate in this initiative. The first meeting was held in June 2005.
The implications for promoters of the recently passed Licensing Act 2003 are continuing to be ascertained. From November 2005 the Premises Licence will be introduced for venues and charges for temporary Public Entertainment Licences will be increased substantially. The Live Music Forum was set up by the Government to monitor the impact of the new Licensing Act on the music industry. The CPA has met with LMF Chairman Feargal Sharkey to discuss this and other areas of concern affecting promoters.
The Private Security Act 2001 will have far reaching implications for promoters. The concert/event industry was not taken into account when this was first looked at. There will be cost implications as security staff require training and must become licensed. With higher rates being offered to licensed doormen than to event stewards, it remains to be seen how this will impact on festivals from 2005 when the legislation is implemented. The CPA has met with the UK Crowd Management Association. Deep concern was expressed that the training for licensed door supervisors was not relevant to event crowd management and that accreditation was so slow in being processed that insufficient licensed staff would be available for the 2005 outdoor event season. The CPA's approach to the Home Office received a mixed response. While a more relevant Event Steward accreditation is being implemented, it was hinted that sports grounds may be made exempt from the legislation, which will have an adverse affect on music events.
A very current issue is ticket touting. Lobbying efforts have been stepped up in the wake of the Minister for Culture's announcement that legislation will be sought to make it illegal to tout tickets for the 2012 Olympics. The CPA has joined forces with sporting bodies and other music industry Associations to highlight the growing problems being caused by on-line touts. An initial summit was held at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport on 10th November 2005 followed by a second meeting in April 2006. A further meeting will take place in July 2006.
Membership of the Concert Promoters Association is available to established active promoters of concerts, concert tours and events/festivals by contemporary musical artists. At present we have 43 members and 14 associate members.
The membership procedure is as follows:
- A prospective member must be proposed and seconded by existing members of the Association.
- The prospective member must provide contact details and a brief history of their company's promoting activities, which will then be circulated to all Association members, asking them to raise any objections they may have within 30 days.
- Providing there are no objections, membership will be confirmed at the next Executive Committee meeting.
- Annual subscription fees of £500 plus VAT for full members and £350 plus VAT for associate members are payable.
- Any member whose company goes into receivership or who brings the Association into disrepute faces automatic removal from the membership list.
Please direct enquiries to Carole Smith, CPA Secretary.


text:
You have probably already heard Tom Daley's secret to success. When he took to the diving board for his final dive, it was far more than just the culmination of years of hard work and training. It was a moment he had dreamed of since he was nine years old. The eighteen year old 10-meter diver showed a drawing he had done in a diary of himself competing, written under the headings "My ambition" and "My Diving Medals".
Eve-olution has been teaching visualisation techniques since 2001. In the early days some people dismissed it as pop psychology but now science confirms that we are literally programming our minds with our thoughts. In other words thoughts become things.
Do you know where you will you be in the next five years? What have you achieved in the last five years? Have you experienced boredom or frustration recently? Does it often feel like you are trying so hard but nothing is working? Does it sometimes seem like your boss or society wants you to be out there "doing, doing, doing" when what you really need is time out to think about and plan your future?
Will you choose today what you want to have in your life or will you settle or worse drift? Is your life great but not great enough? Would you like to know how people have become CEOs of large corporations or started and grown their own businesses using eve-olutions proprietary techniques?
If you are ready to take your life and career to the next level then we have an amazing oppoortunity for you. Google are sponsoring Tracey's next seminar on the 29th and 30th of November at their incredible state of the art new offices at St Giles Square.
What this means is that we have been able to slash the cost of attending by over fifty percent – yes, that's right. For the first time the cost of this world renowned transformational event is £497 instead of £1250. You can read more about it and reserve a space on Tracey's personal site here http://tracey-carr.co.uk/seminars/
If you are ready for some clear, honest and deep work that will allow you to uncover the real you, then come. If you want to take the time to stop and uncover the forces that drive you, then come. If you are ready to own your deepest desires then we will give you the plan and the strategy that wil get you there. Guaranteed!
Make a commitment today about the next 5 years of your life. Places will go on a first come first served basis. Almost all major organisations have supported this seminar in the past decade and you can find out how to build a business case here: http://tracey-carr.co.uk/seminars/
We hope to see you there!
P.S. True wealth is measured by how many times you can say you have had a truly fulfilling day!


text:
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Come annual leave time, on Christmas eve, the car keys were thrown onto the sideboard and there they stayed until around February 1st.
I've never got out of the habit and therefore I have no sympathy for these brainless idiots, whinging and moaning about traffic jams.
What the hell do they expect? Maybe they could try getting out of bed a bit earlier - say 0400.
However, there is always a silver lining.
Auckland is a great place to live, once all the dozy pricks who live here go somewhere else with their thousand decibel boom boxes to tailgate, overtake on bends, cut off the other bloke, honk their fucking horns, run red lights and give everyone else the finger.
11 comments:
- PM of NZ said...
They bring it on themselves Adolf. Never a thought about route planning for things like traffic.
Took the dragon-in-law out for a Sunday drive and spot of post Xmas lunch yesterday. Gotta keep those brownie points up.
At least the continuous stream of lemmings heading north from Welllytown to Taupo via Sanson/Ohakea/Bulls on SH1 were moving relatively freely. When we came back mid arvo Marton-Fielding and again crossed SH1, the stream to Taupo was still evident. Poor souls going on summer hols with all their mates.
The buggers cannot complain if they all decide to fit on our crap roads at the same time.
At least those from Jafaland will vote for new roads!
- December 28, 2010 at 7:52 AM
- The Gantt Guy said...
But they don't PM. They proved a couple of months ago that they don't *want* new roads. What they want is for all of the other lemmings on the road to get the fuck out of their cars and go ride the train. It's the only possible explanation for the lemmings of jafaland choosing a conman and fraudster as their mayor.
- December 28, 2010 at 8:20 AM
- Lou Taylor said...
In a real country we would have got stuck in and built proper roads throughout the country, rather than piss billions of dollars down the social welfare urinal. We don't have enough income to do both.
- December 28, 2010 at 8:35 AM
- PM of NZ said...
"What they want is for all of the other lemmings on the road to get the fuck out of their cars and go ride the train"
GG, I suppose that really is why each Jafa lemming purchased a toll ticket. Only to find the the 'Holiday Highway' was really a fast track highway to hell.
Unfortunately Len hasn't promised the parallel 'Holiday Train' to date. Yet.
And in a couple of weeks, they'll do it all over again in reverse, ready for peak hour traffic and work the following day.
- December 28, 2010 at 9:08 AM
- The Gantt Guy said...
Yup. To both Lou and PM. Now, where's my dictionary? I need to look up the definition of "insanity" again. Something about doing the same thing over and over...
- December 28, 2010 at 9:17 AM
Now this old bugger left from just outside ChCh at 05 00 on the 24th after setting up on the evening of the 23rd and drove south to a POP (park over property under the control of the NZMCA) on the Nth Bank of the Rangatata to renew the annual challenge with the Salmon.
Sitting here with a milk truck and trailer tanker every 2 or three minutes and the lemmings heading for the southern lakes on SH 1 it makes for compelling viewing. We are just far enough from the road to watch and not hear. Today it is raining persistantly having started with gentle rain just after dark last night and that has postponed what seemed like a clearing of the river following very heavy rain in the alps for several days at and prior to Xmas.
The plan is to head back to Nth Canty on about the 30th and hole up somewhere quiet for New Year then head for a Salmon river again.
Adolph you nail it, a bit of forethought, good timing (ie early start) and good route selection makes travel at busy times a breeze.
- December 28, 2010 at 11:30 AM
You fucking outlanders think you have all the answers. I drove through the tunnel yesterday morning at about 10 am and it was free flowing. Fuck knows when the Herald turned up to take that pic they published, was it from last year?
Why is a two and a half lane wide tunnel only configured for one lane? That's the far more pertinent fucking question.
- December 28, 2010 at 4:07 PM
- Libertyscott said...
People elsewhere in the world change trip times and routes when they know there is congestion like this. In fact if NZTA supplied information more cleverly to motorists this could be ameliorated.
This road is rarely congested at most other times, there is hardly a need to expand this just for this. However, the route north of here to Wellsford should be upgraded over time, although it could be left to the private sector if done smartly.
- December 29, 2010 at 12:23 AM
- Adolf Fiinkensein said...
Someone suggested 90,000 km per year is a hell of a lot of time behind the wheel. This long before the days of mobile phones so the time largely was wasted.
It was actually around thirty hours per week which accounted for the fact that many days started at 0500 or finished at 2100. It was not at all unusual to drive for four hours before the first appointment of the day.
- December 29, 2010 at 6:56 AM
The silly season is my favourite time of year in Auckland. The streets are all but deserted and one can holiday and enjoy one of the world's most beautiful cities without the traffic and crowds. The only downside is that half the restaurants are closed.
- December 29, 2010 at 7:12 PM
- Barnsley Bill said...
We left Auck in the range rover @ 06.30 on the 26th and were at the manor by 09.45. The extra 20 minutes was due to various weaklings needing pit stops.
The only holiday congestion I have seen was due to the rain yesterday which brought hundreds of refugees in from the camp sites to Keri. I had to stare at one Particularly revolting twat for three minutes yesterday until he got the message and vacated my table at the cafe.
- December 29, 2010 at 9:30 PM


text:
Antique Pinstripe Cufflinks
Regal Pinstripes
The warmth of antique gold and regally engraved pinstripes. The elegant shape of the cufflinks is highlighted with finely detailed borders and beaded and denticulate edges. Created by Taylor & Co. in 14kt gold, circa 1920.
The backs of the cufflinks are well crafted as the fronts. Note the thickness of the edges and the sturdy cross pieces that secure these links on the cuff. These cufflinks were crafted to survive the next 100 years as beautifully as they have survived the past 100.
The cross bars are stamped with a gold purity mark ("14K") split by the maker's mark of Taylor & Company (the "T" between the "14" and "K"). The top of the "T" is partially obscured by the curvature of the cross bar. Taylor & Company was based in Newark, New Jersey and created fine cufflinks and other jewels from the late 1800s to the early 1930s.
Name: Regal Pinstripes
|Estate Jewelry Cufflink Gallery Facebook Page
If you have any questions, suggestions or comments, I can be reached at
978 525-8951 or email@example.com.


text:
Document Type
Doctor of Philosophy
Date of Defense
Graduate Advisor
Cynthia Dupureur, PhD
Wesley R. Harris, Ph.D
Keith J. Stine, Ph.D
Wendy M. Olivas, Ph.D
Metal ions like Ca2+, Mn2+, Tb3+, Eu3+ etc., can bind at the active site and have varying effects on the enzymatic activity. In a crystal structure with DNA, two Ca2+ ions were bound to the active site of each PvuII monomer, and the metals share the ligands. Ca2+ ions promote DNA binding and not cleavage in many nucleases. We explored the role of Mg2+ and Ca2+ binding at the metal binding sites of PvuII to elucidate the role of each metal site. We monitored the cleavage kinetics of PvuII in presence of mixed metals. The cleavage kinetics data for Ca2+ and Mg2+ set were modeled using parameters from previous studies on PvuII. Our global analysis on single turnover cleavage kinetics datasets show best fit to a model in which mixed metal species are formed and active. The cleavage rate constants for the mixed metal species ranged from 0.01-0.08 sec-1, which is similar to the rate when only one metal is bound. From earlier work in our lab, Tb3+ was shown to have a tight (2 µM) binding site and a weak binding site in PvuII. The difference in affinity allows one site to be filled with Tb3+ and the other with another metal. Indirect Tb3+ luminescence spectroscopy of the Tb3+ bound to enzyme in presence of other metals indicates that Ca2+ and Mn2+ displace Tb3+ from the enzyme. This was observed by the decrease in the luminescence intensity of E-Tb3+ complex with the addition of Ca2+/Mn2+ ions. Under similar conditions, the addition of Mg2+ ions to the E-Tb3+ complex results in an increase in the signal observed. This indicates the formation of the mixed species E-Tb3+-Mg2+. No enzymatic activity was detected for the enzyme with the addition of Mg2+ to the E-Tb3+ complex, whereas with the addition of Mn2+ ions there was detectable activity. The observed activity with Mn2+ ion was due to the displacement of Tb3+ ions from the active site, forming the active EMn2+Mn2+ species. Although the E-Mg2+-Tb3+ species is catalytically inactive, it does bind the DNA as confirmed by fluorescence anisotropy using nonhydrolyzable phosphoramidate DNA.
OCLC Number
Recommended Citation
Prasannan, Charulata Bhaskaran, "Modulation of Restriction Enzyme PvuII Activity by Metal ion Cofactors" (2009). Dissertations. 497.


text:
Image of a photograph depicting the best preserved scroll found at Qumran, the Great Isaiah Scroll. Image online, courtesy the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
...these ancient scrolls are
treasure in earthen vessels.
Kenneth Hanson
The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Untold Story
Page 13 (paperback edition)
The Dead Sea is the lowest body of water on the planet. It averages 1,000 feet deep. Nothing grows or lives in its salty water. Trying to swim in it, a person bobs like a cork. Trying to wade in it, a person could slip on the salty glaze that covers its shore. It is like nowhere else on earth.
Supplied by the Jordan River, plus other smaller streams and springs, the Dead Sea has no exit point and is located in Israel and Jordan. It is near the famous archeological sites of Masada and Qumran.
In 1947, while looking for a lost goat, young Bedouins found some ancient scrolls in the caves of Qumran. Unknown to those young shepherds, they had found the oldest-known surviving manuscripts of the Hebrew Scriptures. One thousand years older than any other surviving Scripture manuscripts, the Qumran scrolls were a magnificent find.
But ... why were they hidden in desolate caves near the Dead Sea?


text:
Screening and Field Piloting for EOR Project Development
Course Description
This course will emphasize critical considerations during enhanced oil recovery (EOR) screening and pilot design. Discussions will include monitoring and surveillance, and EOR project implementation. Appropriate case studies and exercises will be used to illustrate various concepts.
Learning Objectives:
- Screen reservoirs for gas, thermal, and chemical EOR
- Develop conceptual EOR schemes for the reservoir
- Identify major risks in EOR implementation and plans for mitigation
- Evaluate objective, need for a pilot and its desired features
- Specify reservoir surveillance and monitoring plans
- Collect and interpret data on critical aspects of pilot performance
- Identify implications of pilot performance deviations from the expected
- Establish workflows to manage remaining performance related uncertainties
Upon completion of this course, participants should have an understanding of:
- Conceptualizing EOR schemes (gas injection, thermal recovery, and chemical flooding)
- Risks and risk mitigation in EOR
- Screening reservoirs for gas, thermal and chemical EOR
- Reservoir surveillance and monitoring
Learning Level
Course Length
1 or 2 Days
Why Attend
This course will provide participants the opportunity to review and learn the most up-to-date information available about EOR technologies and strategies practiced today.
Who Attends
Engineers, geologists, managers, and planning personnel involved in EOR project development. This is an intermediate level course. Prior exposure to EOR would be highly desirable.
1.6 CEUs (Continuing Education Units) are awarded for this 2-day course.
Cancellation Policy
All cancellations must be received no later than 14 days prior to the course start date. Cancellations made after the 14 day window will not be refunded. Refunds will not be given due to no show situations.
Training sessions attached to SPE conferences and workshops follow the cancellation policies stated on the event information page. Please check that page for specific cancellation information.
SPE reserves the right to cancel or re-schedule courses at will. Notification of changes will be made as quickly as possible; please keep this in mind when arranging travel, as SPE is not responsible for any fees charged for cancelling or changing travel arrangements.
We reserve the right to substitute course instructors as necessary.
Full regional cancellation policies can be found at the Cancellation Policy page within the SPE Training Course Catalog.
Ashok K. Singhal, an expert in EOR technologies and horizontal well applications, is a principal consultant with Premier Reservoir Engineering Services, where he provides consulting and training in EOR. He has more than 35 years of worldwide oil and gas experience in heavy oil and tar sand reservoir engineering, horizontal well technology, CO2 flooding, thermal EOR, and waterflood projects. He has lectured on EOR, horizontal well applications and other topics around the world.
Singhal is an engineering alumnus of Indian School of Mines and the University of Alberta, Edmonton.
He earned his PhD in petroleum engineering from the University of California and later taught chemical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology and petroleum engineering at the University of Alberta.


text:
Free Easy spells - free to use
Magick is something we have inside. Some possess a greater gift than others. Use these free easy spells with caution.
Find a place to be alone. This place should be comfortably lit and free of smoke and fumes (this includes incense and essential oils). Place two chairs (one comfortable enough to relax in) facing each other. Sit in the relaxing chair. Take two slow, deep breaths and allow your eyes to fall naturally on the other chair. Now instruct your central 'self' (or your higher self, subconsious mind, or whatever you use for non-consious workings) to form an image of the pain in that chair. REMEMBER TO BREATHE! As the image starts to appear, concentrate on making it as detailed as possible without letting your consious mind interfeare. Once the image is complete, note its appearance and then allow the remainder of your discomforts to flow into it (without otherwise empowering it or lending it your energy or essence). REMEMBER TO BREATHE while doing this. When the transfer is substantially complete, take two deep, relaxing breaths, stand up, and walk away (leaving the image in its chair). After an hour or so, the image will dissipate, making it safe to move the chair. After you have successfully done this two or three times, you can start streamlining it and customizing it to suit your own tastes. If the effectiveness starts to fade, return to this method for a few times. This spell can be used for a variety of discomforts, but it can also mask medical symptoms. In case of chronic or prolonged problems, CONSULT A DOCTOR IMMEDIATELY! After all, there are few enough of us as it is!
This spells helps double any denomination of cash paper money that you have.
First find some almost new cash paper money, in the largest denomination possible. The twenty, or fifty dollar bill is good.
Place this in a white envelope, and lick, and seal it. Fold the envelope, and say once, every day, for about seven days:
Occult powers to me shall bring, The way to double this sum. Hear me, thou cherubim which sing, Quickly, and softly come...
Hold the envelope up, and pretend that it has become heavier.
Keep the envelope in your bedroom. After you receive more money, open the envelope, and either spend, or deposit the money that was in the envelope.
This spell helps bring money to meet existing needs. You need to be precise as to how much money you need, and for what reason you want it for. This is what to focus on.
At the start of your day, print, type, or typeset with your computer, how much money you need, and what you want it for. Draw a line around that statement.
I need $500 to pay the bills or I want $1,000 to buy a new or used car.
Fold the paper in half, and in half again, and carry it with you during the day, for at least 12 hours. Reread the paper, several times, during the day.
When the night comes, go into your bedroom, or ritual room, and light a new white candle.
Open the paper you have been carrying, and reread the message that you wrote, one more time.
Say these words, three times:
From beyond this candle light, The powers that rule over money come, To bring to me this needed sum, Aided by a cosmic name, Because I burn this sacred flame...
Tear up the paper, and discard it in a wastebasket. Repeat, each night, for seven days, or until the money comes.
This spell is very powerful, and effective, when you correctly follow the instructions.
If it is meant to be, you will get your money.
Holiday in Thailand? You can spend an amazing time with outcall girls in Phuket. Welcome! | Holen Sie heute Ihre Karneval Maske


text:
A big debate has been unleashed about crime statistics on attacks on farms and which database should be considered the correct one.
TAU SA would like to put it on record that we depend on open sources as well as our members who report cases to keep our statistics on farm attacks / murders as accurate as possible. Reported cases are only added to the database after they have been verified with a case number and we work strictly according to the definition of a farm attack as described by the SAPS National Rural Safety Strategy of 2011. Of course it can be expected that the statistics of the SAPS ought to be higher because official sources are used. However, that is not the case regarding farm murders as clearly shown by the following verified figures for the past 6 years:
Mr Henry Geldenhuys, Deputy President of TAU SA and Chairman of TAU SA's National Committee for Rural Safety, expressed his concern that, despite the fact that farmers have made a lot of effort over the past to see to their own safety and the safety of farm workers, there is still a rising tendency of farm attacks and murders.
Farmers had to become better equipped to look after themselves because the state does not fulfill their responsibility in this regard.
According to Mr Geldenhuys, the focus should not be shifted from the real problem, namely that every murder on a farm is one murder too many. We keep ourselves busy with how statistics are gathered and updated instead of focusing on the crime itself.
TAU SA's letter to the minister of police requesting an opportunity for cross-checking statistics as well as discussion regarding the formation of a specialist unit to investigate farm murders is still unanswered.
Statement issued by Mr Henry Geldenhuys, Deputy President TAU SA, 4 June 2018


text:
"I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into Paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. Though if I wish to boast, I shall not be a fool, for I shall be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. And to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I besought the Lord about this, that it should leave me; but he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:2-10)
St. John Chrysostom writes about the Apostle:
"For this Paul, who stripped down to his flesh, renouncing his body, and almost naked, encircled the whole world with his soul, having exiled from his mind every passion. And imitating the apathea of the bodiless powers, and living on earth as if in heaven, and standing with the cherubim above, and taking part in their mystical song, he easily bore everything – enduring, as if he were in another's body, imprisonment, chains, arrests, scourgings, threats of death, stonings, dunkings, and every other kind of punishment."
(Letters to Saint Olympia, p. 78)


text:
Participants: Jon, Amy, Nadine, Gili, Francis
Game night was moved to Sunday owing to the holidays. Amy is a friend who stopped by for the first time. She had played Ticket to Ride and likes board games in general. I taught her how to play Settlers of Catan, but we didn't get a chance to play it.
No Thanks
Jon 27, Gili 28, Amy 41, Nadine 48
Gili 11, Jon 39, Nadine 49, Amy 60ish
First plays for Amy. We played this as both opener and closer for the evening.
Jon+, Nadine, Gili, Amy, Francis
First plays for Francis and Amy. Nadine suggested this for five players. I picked a medium game with 4 requirements chosen from 6 options. The game played over 6 rounds. On the first round I took 2 factions with baby cards, yet I still kept one of them the entire game and I often had 2 factions during the game. One would have thought that this would be more difficult with 5 players.
One of the features of this game, like some others (such as Cities and Knights of Catan) is that you have to focus on achieving the victory conditions and not spend too much time fiddling around with the mechanics. It's not an elegant game, and some of the victory conditions are far harder to achieve than others, or they require fighting the board as opposed to fighting opponents. I picked the easiest path, somehow.
Amy and Francis both did well, although none of the other players had achieved more than 2 of the conditions. Nadine was the first with a permanent favor, with Gili getting hers near the game's end. Only Amy got a Tribune, I believe.


text:
Educators can work together to bring health and wellness programs to schools for your students. Teachers, guidance counselors, parent coordinators, paraprofessionals, aides, and other support staff can work together to support the implementation of programs across the school. Programs like health foods, social-emotional learning curriculums, and brain breaks can improve learning for students but also support positive school climates for educators.
Click on the materials below to find programs that may benefit your classroom and school, and positive strategies for talking to your principal and district leaders.


text:
2013 Philadelphia Rising Star Pastry Chef Peter Scarola of R2L
50 South 16th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19102
Peter Scarola didn't waste any time answering his professional calling. In high school he worked part time as a baker's assistant at The Hearth Baker in suburban Lansdale, Pennsylvania. After graduation, he attended Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island. He stuck around the city for a few jobs before landing at Keswick Hall in Charlottesville, Virginia. A launching pad for fine-dining chefs, Scarola left Keswick to work pastry posts for Rosewood Hotels in Puerto Rico and the Grenadines.
Scarola then hit the big leagues of modern American pastry, crafting sweets in Chicago under Thierry Tristch for four years at Everest and staging at Charlie Trotter's. Eventually, Scarola decided to move back home but to push himself no less as pastry chef at Lacroix at The Rittenhouse Hotel. In 2006, he transitioned into a job at The Inn at St. Peter's Village before teaming up with Chef Daniel Stern at now-shuttered Rae.In 2010, when Stern opened opulent R2L on the 37th floor of Two Liberty Place, he again chose Scarola to lead his pastry department. At R2L, Scarola's French training and bold American approach to flavor are the foundations of the most exciting and robust pastry program in the city. He and his team of pastry cooks make everything from mignardises and elegant pre-desserts to chocolate chip cookies and scones—even the house-made breads that first inspired his career in the kitchen.
I Support: Philabundancewww.philabundance.org
Interview with 2013 Philadelphia Rising Star Pastry Chef Peter Scarola
Caroline Hatchett: What inspired you to pursue cooking professionally?
Peter Scarola: In high school, I worked at bakery part-time, a bread bakery. It was what I wanted to do, and I thought I could make a career out of it. I went to Johnson & Wales in Rhode Island. I worked in Providence at a few restaurants, then in Charlottesville, Virginia, at Keswick Hall. I left to work with Rosewood Hotel, then went to open a hotel in Puerto Rico, then in the Grenadines. I moved to Chicago and worked at Everest for four years.
CH: Would you recommend culinary school to aspiring chefs?
PS: There are a lot of benefits. It's not mandatory or necessary for everyone. For me, it helped me to understand the different possibilities in the industry and all the routes you can take in pastry. It's not for everyone. It doesn't matter where you go, as long as you pay attention and you take it seriously. It's part of the maturing process.
CH: Tell me about the Philly pastry community and how it evolved.
PS: Robert Bennet was the pastry chef at Le Bec-Fin. He's one of the leaders in Philly pastry, at least when I was starting out. He's very talented. He left and opened Miel Patisserie. It was a pastry chef's dream—the best equipment, ingredients, and space. Many chefs worked for Robert.
CH: What's your philosophy on food and dining?
PS: I like to respect the tradition of pastry, the traditional techniques and methods. Also, I explore the more modern methods that seem to be popping up every day. The interesting part of that, with new techniques, is that not everything works in every restaurant. I like flavor. That's something [Daniel] Stern has taught me. I'm constantly tasting things. There's no settling, just making things better and developing layers of flavor.
CH: What's the toughest challenge you have had to overcome?
PS: My balance of life and work. I have a family, two daughters and a wife. My boss is flexible. I don't have to miss every ballet recital.
CH: Where do you see yourself in five years?PS: I see myself working with this company. Hopefully we'll be growing and opening new restaurants in the near future. It's more challenging to have your business and balance. Until the girls get older, this is where I'll be.


text:
##xp_cmdshell_proxy_account## credential could not be created
February 22, 2017 Leave a comment
Problem: When trying to create a xp_cmdshell proxy account in SQL Server 2014 using the sp_xp_cmdshell_proxy_account procedure, you may get an error.
sp_xp_cmdshell_proxy_account 'Domain\DomainUser', 'password'
Msg 15137, Level 16, State 1, Procedure sp_xp_cmdshell_proxy_account, Line 1
An error occurred during the execution of sp_xp_cmdshell_proxy_account. Possible reasons: the provided account was invalid or the '##xp_cmdshell_proxy_account##' credential could not be created. Error code: '5'.
There are several explanations for the error but in my case it was down to UAC permissions. If you launch SQL Enterprise Manager as an Administrator the command runs. If you don't run as administrator internally the API call to LsaOpenPolicy fails.
However, there is also a workaround command that works regardless of being logged into SSMS as an administrator:
create credential ##xp_cmdshell_proxy_account## with identity = 'Domain\DomainUser', secret = 'password'


text:
Castrol high performance oils for every engine!2017-10-10 16:43:02 by Riku
We just got a decent amount of Castroil oils in our shop!
Castrol makes one of the most popular oils in Finland and why not - price ratiot meets for sure in Castrol oils. Most popular oils are especially Magnatec and Edge series, which we always keep in stock due to large demand in 1 and 4 liter cans.
Castrol oil range cover also many other fluids like transmission oils, hyraulic oils and even DOT4 brake fluid. We recommend to use RVS products with Castrol, with these two your engine will be in best shape as possbile and of course for as long as possible.
»» Castrol Edge motor oils
»» Castrol Magnatec motor oils
»» Castrol other cemicals
»» RVS products


text:
I usually love a nude lip, but I get more daring with my lipstick color choices when colder temperatures arrive. This fall and winter, I'm loving berry and plum lipstick shades. They are hard to resist while I am out browsing the aisles of Target, any drugstore, or department store. It seems as though beautiful rich shades of lip color are everywhere I turn! I'm sharing (and reviewing) my favorite festive lipstick shades for the holiday season!
Festive lipstick shades are the perfect toppers to any holiday look!
Fall and winter holidays beg for darker, spicier colors. Our home décor, candles, clothing, and nail polish are all a little darker and richer throughout the winter months, and our makeup should be, too! If your outfits become a little more festive during the holiday season, your look will be incomplete without a bolder lip color. 'Tis the season!
Favorite Festive Lipstick Shade: Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Sassy Mauve
This color is the most muted of this bunch, but it is still quite darker than what I would wear in the spring and summer. If you don't like too much color at all, but you want to add a little festivity to your makeup look, this one is for you!
I can't say enough good about this one:
- so creamy that I do not need any balm underneath
- glides on easily
Favorite Festive Lipstick Shade: Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Plum Baby
I couldn't decide between this shimmery shade and the mauve color I showed you above, so I ended up buying both. They are inexpensive, and since the lusters of each are very different, I thought my double purchases was justifiable! Plus, this plum shade is a little more on the festive side. Which one do you prefer?
Favorite Festive Lipstick Shade: Clinique Pop Lip Color + Primer in Passion Pop
This is a shocking red and a festive lipstick shade if I ever saw one. I received it for free with Sephora VIB points along with some other Clinique goodies, and I thought there was no way I would ever wear it. Once I put it on, this shocking pop of color shocked me…in a good way. I loved it so much that I began taking selfies right after I applied it for the first time. Ha! I then wore it to the grocery store! It made me feel super girly and special on an ordinary day.
What besides the color do I like?
- literally glides on- the easiest red lip I have ever applied
- stays on forever and ever
- feels super smooth and creamy
Favorite Festive Lipstick Shade: e.l.f. Jumbo Lip Gloss Stick in Sangria Starters
This shade is ultra simple and no fuss. Since it is sheer, you can slap it on your lips in a jiffy. This lipstick shade has brown undertones, and I feel like it is a great complement to any skin tone. It's a really pretty shade and festive enough for a daytime holiday gathering.
Here are some details:
- sheer but pigmented enough for impact
- somewhat dry and not glossy, even though it's a gloss stick- felt like I had to reapply a lot.
- extra affordable at $2.29- I'm interested in trying some other shades!
- long-lasting color that needs refreshing more often than the other lipsticks in the post
Favorite Festive Lipstick Shade: NYX Intense Butter Gloss in Spice Cake
NYX Intense Butter Gloss in Spice Cake <- on sale at Ulta for $3.59!
I mean…can we just?! Look at this color! It is truly intense, and it is truly amazing. The texture is like paint! But it never dries!
What else do I love about it?
- not sticky at all
- lasts forever- I even drank out of a water bottle, and even though you could see some color on my water bottle, you couldn't tell any was missing from my lips because…
- It's super pigmented!
- not drying
- color-lasting effects of a matte
That's what's up in beauty today. What do you think of my favorite festive lipstick shades? Which shade is your favorite? What are your go-to festive lipstick shades for the holiday season? Please comment and let me know!


text:
Nowadays, with so much critical information saved on our computer systems, we've learned to backup data regularly — including our email inboxes, our Word documents, our photos, and entire folders of old work.
It's typically a ton of data. And, since we usually backup and save our data on auto-pilot, we might not realize just how much has been re-copied and re-saved, time and time again.
Unfortunately, over time, our data storage becomes unnecessarily burdened with redundant copies of data — this could cost your company money, as data requirements become larger, or time, as processing time becomes slower.
This is where data deduplication comes in.
What is data deduplication?
Data deduplication is the process of eliminating redundant copies of data and reducing processing time for a software system. Every time you backup your software system, you're copying and storing large data sets. After a while, this requires an unmanageably large amount of data storage. Data deduplication optimizes your data storage by ensuring only one unique instance of data is copied and stored.
Andrew Le, an IT Helpdesk Technician at HubSpot, further explains the importance of data deduplication for a business looking to grow — "[Data deduplication] really improves scaling and efficiency when pulling data from one source. If you have lots of the same data in different spaces, your entire system can be slowed down."
To ensure you're optimizing your data backup storage, we've cultivated a list of the best data deduplication software you can use to minimize unnecessary data copies, today.
Data Deduplication Software
1. HubSpot's Deduplication Feature
If you use HubSpot's CRM to manage your contacts, you'll be impressed to find out you can also use HubSpot's machine learning-powered deduplication feature to keep your contact database clean. HubSpot contacts can be deduplicated by a usertoken set with a cookie in their web browser or email address — additionally, contacts, companies, deals, and tickets can be deduplicated using a unique object ID.
2. Barracuda Backup Deduplication
With a 9.1 user rating out of 10 on TrustRadius, Barracuda Backup is a good option, offering a robust, secure, fully-integrated data deduplication solution. Their tool can help your business reduce bandwidth requirements and backup costs. Additionally, Barracuda is a good option if your business needs to protect multiple sites, since its cloud storage technology helps distributed networks stay protected.
3. Avamar
Avamar, a solution from Dell EMC, provides variable-length deduplication, which reduces backup time by only storing unique daily changes while simultaneously maintaining daily backups. Avamar is an efficient, secure option and is particularly useful for virtual environments, remote offices, and enterprise applications.
4. HPE StoreOnce
HPE StoreOnce, a solution from Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, offers disk-based backup, deduplication, and secure long-term data storage. Their deduplication software is equipped for virtual backup machines in small remote offices, and equally capable of handling high-performance dedicated applications for larger businesses. Ultimately, this is an impressive tool to help you keep your data secure and efficient as you scale-up.
5. Exagrid EX Series
Exagrid implements a highly efficient approach to data deduplicaton that allows six times the backup performance, and up to 20 times the restore and VM boot performance. With Exagrid, you can backup your data straight onto a disk without inline deduplication processing, enabling a shorter backup window.
Original source: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/data-deduplication


text:
We can't help but wonder if Harvey's even seen "Butter."
Harvey Weinstein unveiled the upcoming political satire "Butter" at the Toronto Film Festival Monday night, but before the curtain rose, he sent Olivia Wilde out on stage to make a special announcement, inviting Rep. Michele Bachmann to the film's premiere later this year, reported 24 Frames:
"I know Michele will already be in Iowa for the caucus, so we can save some money on airfare and travel. I would of course be more than happy to fly in the other leading members of the 'tea party' movement to make an entire day of it. We could take some math classes in the morning to help balance the budget, brush up on the Constitution in the afternoon, play some ping-pong and then maybe some verbal ping-pong on gay rights and women's rights (especially the right to choose).
U.S. & World
"But at night we can all go hand-in-hand to the premiere of 'Butter,' a fun and important film where we'll share some popcorn and laughs. These are the kind of bipartisan efforts that make America great. I look forward to hearing from Michele and I'm particularly looking forward to those classes on the Constitution. All my best, Harvey."
We love Harvey, but he's a notorious promoter, taking every opportunity to make as big a fuss as he can to get his films extra press, so we kind of hate ourselves for paying attention to this outburst, but we find it odd, nay, disingenuous for him to bait/mock Bachmann by inviting her to a film that is a satirical take on the race for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.
"Butter" tells the story of a young black girl (played by Yara Shahidi) who discovers she has a gift for carving butter, and finds herself in a showdown for the championship with a woman (played by Jennifer Garner) whose husband (played by Ty Burrell) is the former title holder.
"When you start to peel away the layers of the movie, you realize that there's a lot of political metaphor to the movie," director Jim Field Smith recently explained to EW. "Bill Clinton was this much-loved president, who maybe was not so discreet with his sexual love, and Hillary stood in the shadows very quietly supporting him. After his two terms were up, there was a sense of Hillary saying, 'My turn now.'
"And then, the year she runs for president, Barack Obama, this young upstart, comes along, and there's a sense of Hillary being like, 'Really?' That was very much the metaphor that (screenwriter) Jason Micallef was aiming for when he wrote the script originally. Obviously, there's some fairly unsubtle links to the fact that the movie is set in Iowa."
"Butter" comes out Oct. 21, and we're stoked for it, even if it makes fun of jackasses and not elephants.


text:
Here's something I did for the wonderful folks at badspock.blogspot.com/
NOTE: This site is currently not being updated. Will I ever start it back up? Who knows. For my new stuff click here. —Jay
buy now
Had the pleasure of hanging out with some sensational heads and helping make a music video this past weekend. More info at psrecords.net


text:
Job Description
Exclusive to Blue Skies: This well-established business selling home and garden products through UK, Europe and USA are currently seeking a Product Activation Manager. With strong investment and huge growth potential, this is an exciting time to join the business.
The Role: This is a fantastic opportunity for a Product Activation Manager/POS Manager with experience of working in Retail/FMCG/ Consumer Durables and who is looking for a new challenge that will allow autonomy and development. Supporting the wider team, you will be responsible for working closely with your retail customers and working cross-functionally with category, NPD, sales, supply chain etc. to lead the execution of all in-store visual merchandising through the development of POS materials from ideation to completion.
Key responsibilities:
- Conceptualise and develop customer planograms
- Develop point of sale (POS) materials; ownership of entire process and project management
- Market research; feed customer and market research into NPD teams
- Work closely with sales, category teams and supply chain to ensure that all visual merchandising materials are delivered on time and to budget
The Candidate: You must be a confident, personable individual who can build relationships quickly and show gravitas. A strong project manager, you will have worked either in-house in a similar role or within a POS company or agency where you have had to develop and deliver POS concepts.
As well as the salary of circa £40,000 the benefits which accompany the role are as follows; 26 days holiday + BH, bonus, pension, and excellent development opportunity
This Product Activation Manager/ POS Manager role is commutable from Falmouth, Truro, Redruth, St Ives
This Product Activation Manager role would also suit a POS Manager,
Product Activation Manager, Redruth, circa £40,000


text:
Been away, returning soon.
I know it has been some time since I posted anything. The reasons are numerous and all combine together to make it so at the moment I am swamped with work. So, I shall return to my usual bloggin self, posting my opinions, news findings, and other stuff by the beginning of next week. So until then, keep surfing.


text:
Convicted felon Dinesh D'Souza is living high off the right wing crazy train, and folks, you can definitely tell he has a book to sell.
D'Souza shouted at his webcam: "The common thread between ISIS and what's going on in Ferguson is you have these people who basically believe that to correct perceived injustice, it's perfectly okay to inflict all types of new injustices. Behead guys who had nothing to do with it. Go and loot shops from business owners who were not part of the original problem whatsoever. And all of this is then licensed by the left and licensed, to some degree, by the media."
Amazing stuff there, huh. Ferguson protesters are just as bad as ISIS, because of course black people behead good white cops daily or something. Oh, and it's all Obama's fault.
"You have Obama, you have Holder, and you have Al Sharpton," — the liberal Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, when you think about it — "now, can a cop, acting under the exigencies of his job, expect justice in those three guys who are deciding the outcome? I mean, It seems really clear that they are fostering an atmosphere in Ferguson that basically goes, 'Let's declare this guy is probably guilty, and let's see what we can do to put him up against the wall.' The idea that he would get impartial justice is becoming highly questionable."
The fact that Michael Brown was shot dead by a cop doesn't even register with D'Souza. Not even human, just something preventing Office Darren Wilson from getting "impartial justice". Damn that ni-CLANG! for jumping in front of those bullets, right?
If you thought George Zimmerman was the ultimate right wing victimization poster boy, you've not seen anything yet.


text:
If your little one has kindergarten or preschool coming up soon and will be using a nap mat, it's definitely time to start thinking about making a cute cover for it! Kelly Hodge from Simply Tutu is here to show us two different versions in her super easy tutorial. You can use all one fabric for a quick sew, or you can choose the fancy version using coordinating fabrics and extra embellishments. Either way, your little one will be delighted with his/her Mommy-made nap mat! We're ready to get started, so here's Kelly:
Kindergarten Nap Mat Cover Tutorial
Suggested Fabrics- Fleece, woven cotton, flannel, and cuddle dot
Supplies Needed:
Main fabric -1 3/8 yd
Coordinating fabric- 1/3 yd
19 inches of 1" wide velcro
Scissors/Rotary Cutter
Cutting Mat
Optional- buttons, snaps, and decorative trims
Cutting Charts (L xW):
Simple Version
Panels (cut 2)- 20.5 x 48
Velcro - 19 in
Fancy Version
Front Head Panel (cut 1) 20.5 x11
Front Body Panel (cut 1) -20.5 x 37.5
Back Panel (cut 1)- 20.5 x 48
Velcro - 19 in
Step one: Cut all fabric according to the cutting chart. You will have a pile similar to this:
~~ If you are making the simple cover skip to Step Five. ~~
Step two: Now is the time you will want to embellish the Head Panel for the Fancy Version of the nap mat. You may choose to use an embroidery design (like shown) or use a coordinating fabric for contrast.
Step three: Lay the top panel right side up and place head panel on top of it, right side down. Make sure your design or embroidery is facing upside down so it will lay correctly when opened. Pin and serge/stitch the top panel and head panel together.
Step four: Open and top stitch the panel 1/8" from the seam.
Step five: Pin the top panel and bottom panel with right sides together. Serge/stitch the two long edges and the top edge.
Step six: We will now be hemming the bottom opening. Serge all around the opening and then fold up one inch. Pin and stitch into place. If you do not have a serger you can traditional hem by folding 1/4 inch, then folding 1 inch and stitching into place.
Step seven: Pin one side of the velcro strip to the inside of the top panel and the other side of the velcro to the outside hem of the bottom panel. Stitch into place. You can also use decorative buttons or snaps during this step instead of velcro to add a little flair.
Step eight: Insert your Nap Mat into the wonderful new cover you just made! Congrats you made a custom cover in just eight simple steps!
Wasn't that fun? I want to make a bunch now and I don't even have a kindergartner this year! We really appreciate Kelly for sharing this tutorial with us. Please go show her some love on her page! And when you get your first nap mat cover made, we would love to see a photo of the finished product in our patterns group.
Let's Create! ~ Kristen
You Can Find Kelly here:
IG: @simplytutullc


text:
Ansell Lighting Is Now An Official Member Of The EMDA
Ansell Lighting is now an official member of the Electrical Manufacturers and Distributors Association of Ireland (EMDA).
The EMDA is a trade association established in 1986 as a representative body of the manufacturers and distributors of electrical equipment in the Republic of Ireland.
We are delighted to have become a member of the EMDA and we look forward to working with them in the future.Return to News & Events


text:
Cold Spring Harbor, NY – A team of researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has identified a leukemia-specific stretch of DNA called an enhancer element that enables cancerous blood cells to proliferate in Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), a devastating cancer that is incurable in 70% of patients. Just as important, the findings offer a mechanistic insight into how a new class of promising drugs – one version of which is already in human clinical trials – appears to halt the growth of cancer cells so effectively.
The research, appearing today in Genes & Development and led by CSHL Assistant Professor Chris Vakoc, centers on the way a cancer-promoting gene is controlled. When this oncogene, called Myc, is robustly expressed, it instructs cells to manufacture proteins that contribute to the uncontrolled growth that is cancer's hallmark. The Myc oncogene is also implicated in many other cancer types, adding to the significance of the new finding.
Vakoc's team discovered an enhancer element that controls the Myc oncogene specifically in leukemia cells. Unlike many other DNA-based gene regulators, this string of DNA "letters" is nowhere near the Myc gene it regulates. In fact, it's far away, and in order to affect the Myc gene, some other element – unknown, prior to these experiments — has to bring the enhancer in proximity to the gene. In their experiments, the team found a protein complex, called SWI/SNF, that links the enhancer element and the Myc gene it activates.
"The enhancer elements we discovered are 1.7 million DNA bases away from their target gene, Myc," says Vakoc. "But we were able to show that this long stretch of the genome is bent and looped in the cell nucleus in such a way that the remote enhancer segment literally touches the distant segment harboring the cancer gene. Our results suggest that this regulatory conformation fuels the uncontrolled growth of cancer cells and may explain why the Myc gene is so uniquely sensitive to targeting with a new class of drugs being developed for leukemia." The Vakoc lab in 2011 discovered a novel therapeutic strategy to shut off Myc in cancer, an approach now being tested in phase 1 clinical trials.
Vakoc and Junwei Shi, a graduate student in the Vakoc lab and lead author on the new paper, identified the SWI/SNF protein complex in an experiment that searched for proteins that stop AML disease progression while still allowing healthy cells to grow normally. In collaboration with Professor Richard Young from the Whitehead Institute, they worked to determine where in the genome SWI/SNF attaches to DNA. That's when they discovered its binding to the enhancer element located 1.7 million bases away from the Myc gene.
Intriguingly, this enhancer occupies a spot in the genome that Vakoc's team found was most often abnormally duplicated in AML cells. "We usually look for duplicated genes in cancer," Vakoc says. "But this is the first time we've ever seen DNA for an enhancer, rather than for a gene, being a common duplication in a cancer type."
In mechanical terms, how does SWI/SNF exert control over Myc? Vakoc collaborated with CSHL Professor David Spector to determine how the DNA at the Myc gene is folded and organized within the nucleus. Surprisingly, when the SWI/SNF complex binds to the enhancer, it reorganizes DNA in the nucleus so that this region comes in contact with Myc, enabling it to regulate Myc expression.
This happens only in leukemia, meaning the enhancer is unique. The work thus identifies an important mechanism that enables leukemia to proliferate. This in turn explains how leukemia drugs that have recently been discovered exert their beneficial effect. One notable example is a drug called JQ1 that Vakoc identified in 2011 as an inhibitor of a cancer-promoting protein called Brd4, which plays a pivotal role in the AML disease process. JQ1 likely blocks the interaction between Brd4 and the same enhancer element identified in the newly published research. This then sets off changes in the cell nucleus that prevent Myc expression.
"SWI/SNF is a drug target that we are now actively pursuing, but this study goes far beyond this result, providing fundamental insight into how cancer cells exert control over genes," Vakoc says. "By enabling us to understand the mechanism behind effective anti-leukemia drugs, our findings should allow us to design better therapeutics that will overcome drug resistance and be as safe as possible."
This work was supported by Starr Cancer Consortium, Edward P. Evans Foundation, the Martin Sass Foundation, the F.M. Kirby Foundation, Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, the Laurie Strauss Foundation, the V Foundation, the Burroughs-Wellcome Fund, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory National Cancer Institute Cancer Center Support grant, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Specialized Center of Research (SCOR) grant, and National Institutes of Health grants from NCI and NIGMS.
"Role of SWI/SNF in acute leukemia maintenance and enhancer-mediated Myc regulation" appears online ahead of print in Genes & Development on November 26, 2013. The authors are: Junwei Shi, Warren Whyte, Cinthya Zepeda-Mendoza, Joseph Milazzo, Chen Shen, Melanie Eckersley-Maslin, Jae-Seok Roe, Jessica Minder, Fatih Mercan, Eric Wang, Amy Campbell, Shinpei Kawaoka, Sarah Shareef, Zhu Zhu, Jude Kendall, Matthias Muhar, Christian Haslinger, Ming Yu, Robert Roeder, Michael Wigler, Gerd Blobel, Johannes Zuber, David Spector, Richard Young, and Christopher Vakoc. The paper can be obtained online at: http://genesdev.cshlp.org.
About Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Founded in 1890, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has shaped contemporary biomedical research and education with programs in cancer, neuroscience, plant biology and quantitative biology. CSHL is ranked number one in the world by Thomson Reuters for the impact of its research in molecular biology and genetics. The Laboratory has been home to eight Nobel Prize winners. Today, CSHL's multidisciplinary scientific community is more than 600 researchers and technicians strong and its Meetings & Courses program hosts more than 12,000 scientists from around the world each year to its Long Island campus and its China center. For more information, visit www.cshl.edu.
Written by: Jaclyn Jansen, Science Writer | [email protected] | 516-367-6822


text:
Using computers generates a large quantity of data, text analysis software can help to dig into and make sense of text based data. I decided to use text analysis software to look for themes in restaurant reviews, the aim was to find out how and why restaurants used digital marketing, I hoped to find out if there was a link between user generated content (reviews etc) and the message they wanted to share through their branding.
I used various tools and methods including text analysis software, I found that this software can help to make sense of a great deal of text but it requires setup time and a knowledge of the software if you want to get the most out of it. I only used basic functionality but this still took time, taking reviews from the website, feeding them into the software, calibrating the settings to ensure usable analysis.
In future I would learn more about language or work with a person that understands language because some of the settings assume a knowledge of this area, and use some technical terms in the various settings.
as you can see from the pictures, the output is graphical and connections are clear to see.
Click to view larger image