text:
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Connection: My Theme for My Forties
OK. So, I'm 40 already. But I think I may still reserve the right to blog when I have a thing or two on my mind.
One thing I forgot to tell you about is something I announced at my birthday dinner back in October: my theme for my forties. That's right, this next decade of mine is going to have a theme. And it is...CONNECTION.
I started thinking about it last spring, when the word "connection" seemed to be in front of me wherever I went. At my job at a media company, we questioned who was king these days - was it content? Consumers? Or maybe it was all about connection. On Facebook, I was making new connections daily. My youngest listened to "Barbie's Diamond Castle" song "Connected" over and over. Two friends who tried online dating services seemed to be making connections that were going to go the distance (two weddings to go to this summer!) And one day, when I wandered into an old church down in the financial district, I found a piece of paper in the back of the pew - it was called a "connection card."
As human beings we seem to long to connect -- with friends, with job contacts, with pets, with a soulmate, with God. You hear about the importance of touch in human development - that babies who live in orphanages with bottles propped in the crib rails and no one to cradle them experience a host of psychological consequences. We need to connect physically - a hug, a pat on the head, a kiss -- but we long for emotional connection too.
As I enter my fifth decade, I'm craving connection. I don't know about you, but over the past decade, I've been so busy - ya'know, creating life and all, changing diapers, getting kids into school, traveling for work, buying Ikea furniture, cursing broken Ikea furniture, helping with homework, selling a home, buying a home, moving, going to dentist appointments that beget more dentist appointments (admitting that I don't floss my kids' teeth - I can barely get to my own), going to meeting after meeting, rushing to school, etc. -- that there really hasn't been a lot of time leftover for nurturing relationships.
What I really miss is the presence of female friends.
Gone are the days of the best friend that I met on my bike at the corner, and played with all day, and stayed for dinner, and begged our moms for a sleepover.
There's no girl next-door to string a tin can across the driveway and see if it really works as a telephone...eventually just talking loud enough to span the twelve feet of gravel in between.
There are no college roommates - five girls and five closets full of clothes in one house -- ready with a shoulder to cry on and a pint of ice cream or a bottle of Jim Beam, whichever the occasion warrants.
I know my friends are out there - I've recently emailed or talked on the phone with all three camps above: the play-all-day friend, the girl-next-door, the college roommates. And I've been fortunate to make new friends along the way. But still...
I feel lonely sometimes.
Everybody's still there. And more have popped up. At school. At work. In the neighborhood. And it's nice knowing they're there - but it's kind of like it's nice knowing New York City is there when you live in the suburbs and rarely make the trek in.
I want to do more than have friends, I want to be a friend. I want to enjoy wine together, bond over chaperoning kids' activities, laugh at the absurdities of life, help each other out, hang out in a house not fit for company, and generally be there in good times and bad.
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)


text:
In order to predict changing climate patterns in the coming years and decades, scientists need to understand the various interactions that take place within what is referred to as the earth system. This means understanding and predicting the interactions between atmosphere, land surface, ocean and sea ice, - known as the physical system - as well as the biogeochemical processes, such as the carbon cycle, which interact with this physical system. Today scientists can sucessfully model this system, but it entails an immense level of computing power. This is why the Department of Oceanography is partnering with UCT eResearch to use high performance computing (HPC) facilities for ocean and climate modelling. Associate Professor Marcello Vichi and scientists at Department of Oceanography will, through their NRF grants, contribute up to R400 000 a year to computational development of the central HPC facilities within eResearch.
Earth system modelling is, because of the sheer scale of the endeavour, an interdisciplinary enterprise involving atmospheric scientists, oceanographers, ocean chemists and biologists. The oceans play a crucial role in these models, explains Vichi, not only because of its role in heat storage and transport, but also because of its immense carbon storage capacity.
"To date, the oceans have been offering a very effective carbon storage service, with steadier rates than terrestrial vegetation and soil, but we are unclear on how long the oceans can keep storing carbon like this and at what level," says Vichi. In order to properly understand the carbon cycle within the earth system, oceanographers need to be able to simulate the ocean system. In order to simulate these ocean processes, a number of factors — such as salinity, temperature and currents — need to be added in to the calculation.
But of course, the seas and oceans of the world are not uniform. So, says Vichi, oceanographers run regional simulations in which they section off portions of the ocean and then break that area up into smaller sections. The size of these sections depends on the resolution of the model, he explains: usually, global ocean models have a resolution of about 25 km. "This means many points within the region and at every point data needs to be gathered and calculated," he says. It can get even smaller: if researchers are interested in reproducing the features of a particular region like the South African coast, the model can drop down to between 2 and 4 kilometres, and to capture coastal processes and interaction with coastal configurations, researchers will need a resolution of around a single kilometre.
"This translates into a high number of computer cores," explains Vichi. A computer can run these calculations in a sequential way, starting at one point and moving across the grid, but this is incredibly time consuming. You need to run it for initial conditions, through all the points to find the solution, then move forward in time to look at how the atmosphere is changing, put in the new information and run it again."
This is the where HPC, also referred to as parallel computing, plays such an important role, as it allows the researchers to run these computations concurrently.
"We need multiple core infrastructure capable of solving the same thing at the same time in a different location," he says. But the computational resources for this kind of modelling is mind boggling.
Vichi also strongly feels that access to scientific computing should not be restricted to the minority of established researchers. "Students need to be able to run and understand these processes," he explains. "When I started out in this field I was just handed some software, artisanally made by another researcher with no explanation or manual, and expected to figure it out. Today that would be impossible. The student would have to be an expert in IT and an expert in the science of oceanography."
To remedy this, Vichi is making sure his postgraduate students are provided with the tools available, in a manageable way, so they can begin working on modelling solutions. This access for postgraduate students also adds considerably to the need for computing power.
For Vichi and his team, shared facilities across the institution simply makes the most sense. "The support you get from the HPC group is very important. In this project we can set up a tailored collaboration in which our young scientists can learn to use these state-of-the-art tools while at the same time we can train an IT specialist to better understand the nuances of geophysical modelling."
He says the value of a shared system outweighs the cost, which is why he is happy to contribute a portion of research funding to building and maintaining the system, as well as the training for the system.
Story by Natalie Simon
Image provided by Dr Marcello Vichi
7 Main Road
Cape Town

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Imagining the future, GROHE products are designed to last a lifetime. Advanced engineering and elegance provide the GROHE customer with products that are investment pieces ensuring years of reliable performance. Enjoy water. Enjoy GROHE.
The Grohe Grohtherm 1/2" Thermostatic Rough-In Valve rough valve senses temperature fluctuations and automatically remixes the hot and cold water to keep your shower temperature safe, consistent and comfortable without a change in water pressure. Featuring Grohe exclusive TurboStat technology
Pioneered by Grohe over half a century ago, a thermostatic valve ensures consistent water pressure as well as safe reliable water temperatures. TurboStat technology takes the thermostatic valve to the next level, allowing it to respond to temperature and pressure fluctuations, making it up to nine times more accurate then the leading competitor. With TurboStat, the desired temperature is reached in a fraction of a second and maintained there, without hot and cold spikes, for a safer and more luxurious shower every time.
View Spec Sheet


text:
Holiday shopping for little boys can be rough, even more so when you have a pair of them under the same roof. You see, we aren't entirely big on toys and overindulgence. Surely we enjoy, both, giving and receiving gifts during the holidays especially where the good ol' Mr. Claus is concerned but, really, there are only so many toys that a child can have. In our house, having two children close in age and with many of the same interests often means that any single item will be enjoyed doubly. Our younger child kind of grows into his big brother's toys as time goes on and while it has made them appreciate new items that much more, it has actually made me a bit pickier when it comes to shopping. Toy shopping now, more so during the holiday season, has turned into a lengthy thought process as opposed to simply grabbing the hottest toy from the nearest store shelf. And, in all honesty, I am quite thankful for that. Now, of course, when the final decision ends up coinciding with the "it" toy of the season, it's a win-win all around.
That toy, this year, is none other than Monster 500.
Monster 500 is a unique line of highly collectible, wonderfully fiendish monster characters driving small and large vehicles, plus two fabulously freaky play sets. The characters marry a child's love of cars with the ghoulish and gross – the perfect combo! Each vehicle aligns with the Monster 500 app, which allows fans to bring their favorite monster characters to life in an action-packed racing game.
In short, Monster 500 is an amazing mashup of my boys' favorite things!
Toy cars – check!
Monsters – check!
Interactive play – check!
Unlimited fun – a BIG check!
Just take a look!
Recently, I had the opportunity to try out some of the Monster 500 goodies first hand and I cannot even begin to tell you how much fun they are. This collection is so much more than just another toy car. Here is a quick rundown of the sampling that we got to play with:
- Monster 500 Toxic Terror Play Set
- Monster 500 Graveyard Gauntlet Track Set
- Monster 500 Small Vehicle – Lead Food and Drac Attack
- Monster 500 Large Vehicle – Zoom Zombie
- Zoom Zombie
- Lead Foot
- Flattop Frank
- Evil Clownevil
- Crocpot
- Drac Attack
- Captain Heinous (from Uranus)
- Jerkyl & Mr. Ride
- Turbo Chainsaw Maverick
- Werewolf Blitzer
Of course, with my own little ones, bigger always seems to be better so they were both ecstatic over the single large vehicle that we received. Thankfully, during the season of giving, our oldest (having claimed the large vehicle as his own) offered up the remaining two small vehicles to his brother. After all, one large character versus two smaller characters is an even trade off, right? I suppose we'll just have to stock up on the full collection!
Get your creepy hands on the ultimate way to race Monster 500 cars! Take on toxic thrills and spills with the Toxic Terror Trap and race into the ultimate test of skull with the Graveyard Gauntlet.
The team over at Monster 500 was kind enough to send along samples of both play sets and, to put it simply, we absolutely love them! They actually remind me of some sort of creepy carnival rollercoaster ride. And, of course, the kids picked up on that. The Toxic Terror Trap takes the cake in our house. Admit it, you know you want to play with this!
As if all of that weren't enough fun, it gets even better! With many kids these days being so adamant about and accustomed to all things technology related, Monster 500 took notice of that and incorporated virtual play into their collection.
Each play set comes complete with one Monster 500 vehicle and every vehicle contains a coinciding trading card. Each of these trading cards houses a unique code that, when entered into the Monster 500 Racing App, will unlock a monster car within the game.
Join the battle for Monster 500 supremacy in this frighteningly fast racing app. Fight other monsters as you navigate the death-defying tracks to the finish. Pick up weapons, avoid toxic spills, and other creepy obstacles as you race.
Best of all, the Monster 500 Racing App is completely free! Let me say that again… it is FREE!
One thing that has always been an issue with the kids favorite toys in years passed has been the inability to take them places. As much fun as it would be to pack up all of the kids' most loved toys and take them on the road every time we head out to a restaurant, for a long car trip, or even just to Grandmom's house, it is not practical. With Monster 500, however, you can do exactly that. The play sets are perfect for your at-home play, the vehicles themselves can come and go when appropriate, and the app can truly go anywhere! What's not to love?!
You can purchase Monster 500 toys, both, online and in-stores nationwide. The Small Vehicles are available in ten character choices and sold in, both, single and 3-pack options and priced at $4.99 and $14.99 respectively. The bigger Large Vehicles are available in four great character options and are also priced at $14.99. The Graveyard Gauntlet Track Set can be purchased for $19.99 and, last but not least, the Toxic Terror Trap Play Set rounds out the bunch at $34.99.
Be sure to keep up with the Monster 500 brand by following along on social media via their Facebook and Twitter accounts. There, you can stay up to date on all of the latest news, new product releases, sale prices, special offers, and so much more!
Also, be sure to look into downloading the Monster 500 Racing App. This free app is available for iOS and Android devices.
My family and I absolutely love the crazy, ghoulish fun that is Monster 500 and I certainly hope that you, too, can join us in that fun this holiday season.
*Randi received the above products at no cost and monetary compensation in exchange for this post. All opinions stated here are hers alone.


text:
As mentioned earlier today, INXS is playing tonight at the Ogden. Wanna go? What's that? Yes, of course, we know it's a Monday. That's why we thought we'd hook you up, in case you have a case of the Mondays. I mean, what better way to start off the week than by seeing a kickass show on us, right? Exactly. We knew you'd come around. So, if you and a guest would like to be our guest, leave us a comment below, and be sure to leave your correct email address in the appropriate field (not in the body of your response), and we'll pick winners at 3 p.m.
Recommended For You
We Believe Local Journalism is Critical to the Life of a City
Engaging with our readers is essential to Westword's mission. Make a financial contribution or sign up for a newsletter, and help us keep telling Denver's stories with no paywalls.


text:
Cardiocondyla emeryi
|Cardiocondyla emeryi
|Scientific classification
|C. emeryi
|Binomial name
|Cardiocondyla emeryi
Forel, 1881
A tramp species that is common in anthropogenic habits in numerous tropical regions. Despite its large introduced range, it is an inconspicuous and little-noticed ant. Evidence suggests this species is native to Africa (Seifert, 2003), with its spread to other areas likely to have begun many hundreds of years ago.
|At a Glance
|• Polygynous • Tandem running
- 1 Identification
- 2 Distribution
- 3 Biology
- 4 Castes
- 5 Nomenclature
- 6 References
A member of the Cardiocondyla emeryi group.
Seifert (2003) provides a key to the holoarctic species of Cardiocondyla (that includes this and other tropical tramp species) and states about emeryi: "The cosmopolitan population of Cardiocondyla emeryi shows extreme polymorphism in microsculpture clearly exceeding the usual intraspecific variability known for Cardiocondyla."
Keys including this Species
- Key to Afrotropical Cardiocondyla workers
- Key to Australian Cardiocondyla Species
- Key to Cardiocondyla of Hispaniola
- Key to Holartic Cardiocondyla
- Key to US Cardiocondyla species
- Key to workers of the Socotra Archipelago, Yemen
A tramp species that is common in many tropical regions of the world.
Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Afrotropical Region: Angola, Botswana, Cameroun, Cameroun, Comoros, Gambia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Saint Helena, Saudi Arabia, Socotra Archipelago, South Africa, Sudan, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Republic of Tanzania, Yemen, Zimbabwe.
Australasian Region: Australia (type locality), New Caledonia, Norfolk Island.
Indo-Australian Region: Borneo, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Hawaii, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Guinea, Niue, Samoa, Tonga, Wallis and Futuna Islands.
Malagasy Region: Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles.
Nearctic Region: United States.
Neotropical Region: Anguilla, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Galapagos Islands, Greater Antilles, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Honduras, Lesser Antilles, Mexico, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, Turks and Caicos Islands.
Oriental Region: Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam.
Palaearctic Region: Canary Islands, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Oman, Spain, Switzerland.
Distribution based on AntMaps
Distribution based on AntWeb specimens
Check data from AntWeb
Creighton and Snelling (1974) provided natural history observations of Cardiocondyla emeryi colonies from La Feria, Texas. Creighton initially discovered foragers on a sidewalk of a cottage and, as a testament to the cryptic nature of the soil nest entrances of Cardiocondyla, was only able to locate colony's nest after months of searching. He reported "The entrance was a tiny, circular opening about one millimeter in diameter in the soil at the edge of the walk. Originally this entrance was completely concealed by a heavy overgrowth of grass." The colony was excavated and moved into an artificial nest. It was found to have numerous dealate queens. In maintaining the nest over more than a year it was found that workers readily accepted honey-dew, nectar and tissues and body fluids of other insects. Foraging and dietary observations of this captive colony and another free living nest observed for more than a year suggested the following:
"It appears that emeryi is omnivorous. It is probably predatory on small, soft-bodied insects and almost certainly scavenges the remains of larger ones. Solid food is rarely brought back to the nest and food transfer in the colony mainly involves regurgitated liquid foods."
"The foraging activities of the free colony showed a number of puzzling features. About the only clear-cut controlling factor was temperature, for foraging would not occur unless the surface temperature was 21 C or higher. Beyond this there was little to indicate what factors were involved in the foraging pattern. The foragers emerged singly from the nest entrance at widely separated intervals. Even under optimum conditions at least fifteen minutes intervened between the emergence of one worker and that of its follower. As a result, there was no concentration of foragers around the nest entrance, since the forager was well away from the nest entrance by the time the next one emerged from it. A secondary result was that no more than a dozen foragers (often less) were outside the nest at once."
Another interesting behavioral observation was the avoidance of larger and more dominant ant species (Solenopsis geminata and Pheidole dentata) when encountering C. emeryi workers. The emeryi foragers apparently produced an effective repellant pheromone as the other ant species would quickly scramble away from any encounter with these much smaller ants.
Wilson (1959) reported observing Tandem running in emeryi on two occasions in Puerto Rico. This foraging behavior was not found in the few colonies from Texas observed by Creighton (Creighton and Snelling 1974).
Heinze and Trenkle (1997) examined male polymorphism in this species. They collected ten colonies of Cardiocondyla emeryi in Bridgetown, Barbados. The nests were found under vegetation, ~ 5 cm deep in sand, and less than 30 m from the ocean. These nests were maintained in the laboratory by placing the ants in small plastic boxes with sand that they used to construct their nests. Food consisted of diluted honey and insect pieces.
These colonies produced several dozen winged (ergatoid) and wingless males over the course of a year. Ergatoid males clearly differed from workers in various characters such as more robust antennal scape, smaller eyes, and lighter coloration. Two additional males forms were also found with low frequency: gynandromorphs (half male, half queen) and ergatandromorphs (half male, half worker).
In colonies having a mixture of winged and wingless males there was typically a single ergatoid male with several winged males. Winged males showed no aggression towards one another or towards ergatoid males. Ergatoid males fought with newly eclosed ergatoid males, which was both observed directly and through finding maimed and dead individuals within a nest. Both winged and ergatoid males were observed mating with newly eclosed queens. In some cases these matings occurred in nests with both forms of males present.
Regional Notes
Espadaler (2007) - Canary Islands: This widespread tramp species was detected only at two seaside small towns, on poorly attended gardens.
Deyrup, Davis and Cover (2000) - In Florida this is a common species as far north as Bradford County. Nests are in ground in open areas, and very inconspicuous. The natural diet is hard to determine from watching individuals returning to the nest, because even dead insects are "mined" and brought back to the nest in the form of macerated tissue or fluids; this species is probably a general scavenger (Creighton and Snelling 1974). Workers are avoided by larger predatory ants such as Solenopsis geminata (Fabricius) (Creighton and Snelling 1974). Pest status: none. First published Florida record: Wheeler 1915.
Sharaf et al (2018) - Oman found in leaf litter where soil is dry.
Males may be winged or wingless (ergatoid).
More images beyond those shown in these galleries are found here.
The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's New General Catalogue, a catalogue of the world's ants.
- emeryi. Cardiocondyla emeryi Forel, 1881: 5 (w.) VIRGIN IS. André, 1881b: 69 (m.); Forel, 1904f: 422 (q.); Emery, 1909a: 26 (m. ergatoid m., not q.); Arnold, 1916: 201 (q.). Senior synonym of nereis: Wilson & Taylor, 1967: 53; of monilicornis: Baroni Urbani, 1973: 200; of mahdii, mauritia, rasalamae: Bolton, 1982: 312. See also: Smith, M.R. 1944a: 33; Kugler, J. 1984: 3; Seifert, 2003a: 276. Current subspecies: nominal plus fezzanensis.
- rasalamae. Cardiocondyla emeryi var. rasalamae Forel, 1891b: 161 (w.) MADAGASCAR. Forel, 1912k: 163 (q.). Junior synonym of emeryi: Bolton, 1982: 312.
- mahdii. Cardiocondyla emeryi subsp. mahdii Karavaiev, 1911: 8 (w.) SUDAN. Finzi, 1936: 169 (q.m.). Junior synonym of emeryi: Bolton, 1982: 312.
- monilicornis. Xenometra monilicornis Emery, 1917a: 96 (ergatoid m., not q.) VIRGIN IS. Junior synonym of emeryi: Baroni Urbani, 1973: 200.
- nereis. Cardiocondyla nuda subsp. nereis Wheeler, W.M. 1927i: 140 (w.q.) AUSTRALIA. Junior synonym of emeryi: Wilson & Taylor, 1967: 53.
- mauritia. Cardiocondyla mauritia Donisthorpe, 1946c: 776 (w.) MAURITIUS. Junior synonym of emeryi: Bolton, 1982: 312.
Seifert (2003) - Small size, CS 411. Head elongated, CL/CW 1.229. Scape short, SL/CS 0.758. Postocular index large, PoOc/CL 0.467. Eyes medium-sized, EYE 0.246. Frons very narrow, FRS/CS 0.215, frontal carinae immediately behind FRS level slightly converging and then diverging. Occipital margin more or less straight, with a suggested concavity. Whole head and mesosoma without longitudinal rugosity, except for small patches with weak carinulae mentioned below. Anterior clypeal margin with weak median concavity; central surface of clypeus in type specimens of C. emeryi with suggestions of flat foveolae, in type specimens of C. emeryi var. rasalamae with fine, interrupted fragments of carinulae and without any foveolae. Vertex in types of C. emeryi with deeply impressed, flat-bottomed foveolae of 17 - 19 µm diameter in densely-packed honey-comb arrangement; foveolae showing an inner corona (tubercle) of 8 -9 µm diameter (Fig. 58); median vertex with weak, interrupted longitudinal carinulae. Vertex in types of C. e. var. rasalamae in overall impression rather shining, structure and strength of sculpture radically different from that in types of C. emeryi (Fig. 59), showing shallow, but well-demarcated foveolae of 14 - 17 µm diameter, which occasionally possess an inner corona (tubercle); interspaces about as wide as foveolar diameter, much shining, with very fine cross-branched microcarinulae that may completely surround foveolae (= perifoveolar reticulum). Whole surface of mesosoma in types of C. emeryi with well-pronounced and dense microreticulum with meshes of 9 - 12 µm diameter; dorsal mesosoma additionally with scattered foveolae. Dorsal area of mesosoma in the types of C. emeryi var. rasalamae much less deeply sculptured than in C. emeryi types, moderately shining, with shallow foveolae similar to those on vertex; lateral area of mesosoma entirely reticulate but more delicately than in C. emeryi types. Petiole, except for the more smooth dorsal surface with well-pronounced and dense microreticulum that is weaker the C. emeryi var. rasalamae types. Postpetiole more smooth, with finer reticulum. Promesonotal dorsum showing in profile a continuous shallow convexity, not abruptly sloping into the moderately deep metanotal groove. In C. emeryi types, anterodorsal profile of propodeum convex, caudodorsal profile linear and slightly sloping downwards, spines deviating from longitudinal mesosomal axis by 40°. In C. e. var. rasalamae types, whole dorsal profile of propodeum very shallowly convex, not sloping downwards, spines less erect. Petiole node in dorsal view distinctly longer than wide; petiolar peduncle moderately long. Postpetiole in dorsal view wider than long, with shallowly concave anterior margin and evenly convex sides; postpetiolar sternite showing a conspicuous anteroventral prominence or bulge, without dents or carinae (Fig. 6). Different colour variants known: in most frequent variant whole body yellowish except for blackish gaster and terminal segment of antennal club; sometimes whole body dark or dirty brown. For morphometric data of 115 workers see Tab. 13.
Seifert (2003) - Very small size. Head elongated, CL/CW 1.180. Scape very short, SL/CS 0.731. Postocular index large, PoOc/CL 0.448. Occipital margin more or less straight. Anteromedian clypeal margin between level of frontal carinae straight to slightly concave. Frons very narrow, FRS/CS 0.216, frontal carinae in posterior part almost parallel. Vertex in the emeryi morph with deeply impressed, flat-bottomed foveolae of 16 - 17 µm diameter in densely-packed arrangement, foveolae showing an inner tubercle of 8 - 9 µm diameter; vertex sculpture in the rasalamae morph similar, but foveolar diameter a little smaller and arrangement less dense. Clypeus and narrow median stripe of anterior vertex frequently with short fragments of weak carinulae. Whole mesosoma without elements of longitudinal sculpture, except for 4 - 6 weak longitudinal carinae on lateral area of metapleuron. Whole dorsal area of mesosoma with deep, densely-packed foveolae; in the rasalamae morph foveolae less deep. Lateral area of mesosoma and petiolar peduncle reticulate. Petiole node foveolate, in dorsal view longer than wide, axis of petiolar peduncle deviating in lateral view from petiolar node axis by 45°. Spines well-developed, their axis deviating in lateral view by 18 - 30° from longitudinal mesosomal axis. Postpetiole with a strong anteroventral bulge, in dorsal view wider than long, with strongly convex sides, slightly concave anterior margin, and foveolate. Gaster tergites shining, but with very fine microreticulum. Colour bimorphism. Light form: lateral area of mesosoma, waist, and appendages yellowish; scutellum, gaster, and antennal club dark brown; remaining body parts yellowish brown. Dark form: whole body dark brown; coxae, femora, tibiae, scape, base of funiculus, and ventrolateral area of pronotum yellowish. For morphometric data of 12 gynes see Tab. 19.
Andre (1881) described a male of the synonymous C. elegans and Emery (1909) described a C. emeryi ergatoid male.
Type Material
- Cardiocondyla emeryi: Syntype, worker(s), St. Thomas Island, Virgin Islands, Musee d'Histoire Naturelle Genève.
- Cardiocondyla nuda nereis Wheeler, 1927: Syntype, 4 workers, 3 queens, Norfolk Island, Australia, Museum of Comparative Zoology.
Seifert (2003) lists the following type material that he examined:
- Cardiocondyla emeryi: 2 syntype workers labelled by Forel "Cardiocondyla Emeryi Forel Antilles St. Thomas (Forel)", MHN Genève.
- C. emeryi var. rasalamae: 2 syntype workers labelled by Forel "C. emeryi Forel v. rasalamae Forel, Antananarivo Camboúe", MHN Genève. 1 syntype worker labelled by Forel "C. emeryi Forel v. rasalamae Forel, Antananarivo (Camboúe)" and by G. Mayr "Emeryi v. rasalamae Forel, Type", NHM Wien.
- C. emeryi ssp. mahdii: 3 syntype workers labelled by Karavajev "Cardiocondyla mahdii sp.n. Karaw., Khartum 1900 W.K.", MHN Genève and NHM Basel.
- C. nuda ssp. nereis: 4 syntype workers and 3 syntype gynes labelled "Norfolk I, A.M. Lea\Wm.M. Wheeler\M.C.Z. CoType 27887\subsp. nereis Wheeler", MCZ Cambridge.
- C. mauritia: 1 type worker labelled "Mauritius 1941-45, 102, R. Mamel", "Pres. by Imp. Inst. Ent. B. M.1947-128", "Cardiocondyla mauritia H. Donisthorpe 1945 TYPE", BMNH London.
- André, E. 1881c. Catalogue raisonné des Formicides provenant du voyage en Orient de M. Abeille de Perrin et description des espèces nouvelles. Ann. Soc. Entomol. Fr. (6)(1): 53-78 (page 69, male described)
- Arnold, G. 1916. A monograph of the Formicidae of South Africa. Part II. Ponerinae, Dorylinae. Ann. S. Afr. Mus. 14: 159-270 (page 201, queen described)
- Baroni Urbani, C. 1973a. Die Gattung Xenometra, ein objektives Synonym (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Mitt. Schweiz. Entomol. Ges. 46: 199-201 (page 200, Senior synonym of monilicornis)
- Bolton, B. 1982. Afrotropical species of the myrmecine ant genera Cardiocondyla, Leptothorax, Melissotarsus, Messor and Cataulacus (Formicidae). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). Entomology, 46: 307-370 (page 312, Senior synonym of mahdii, mauritia and rasalamae)
- Borgmeier, T. 1937. Cardiocondyla emeryi Forel no Brasil, e a descoberta do macho ergatoide desta especie (Hym. Formicidae). Revista de Entomologia (Rio de Janeiro) 7:129-134.
- Collingwood, C. A., Pohl, H., Guesten, R., Wranik, W. and van Harten, A. 2004. The ants (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Socotra Archipelago. Fauna of Arabia. 20:473-495.
- Creighton, W. S.; Snelling, R. R. 1974. Notes on the behavior of three species of Cardiocondyla in the United States (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Journal of the New York Entomological Society 82:82-92.
- Della Santa, E. 1998. Cardiocondyla emeryi Forel 1881 (Hymenoptera Formicidae) au Papiliorama de Marin (Neuchâtel, Suisse). Bulletin de la Societe Neuchâteloise des Sciences Naturelles 121:137-139.
- Deyrup, M., Davis, L. & Cover, S. 2000. Exotic ants in Florida. Transactions of the American Entomological Society 126, 293-325.
- Emery, C. 1909a. Beiträge zur Monographie der Formiciden des paläarktischen Faunengebietes. (Hym.) Teil VI. Dtsch. Entomol. Z. 1909: 19-37 (page 26, male, ergatoid male described)
- Espadaler, X. 2007. The ants of El Hierro (Canary Islands). Pages 113-127 in R. R. Snelling, B. L. Fisher, and P. S. Ward, editors. Advances in ant systematics (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): homage to E. O. Wilson - 50 years of contributions. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute, Gainesville, FL. 80:690 pp.
- Fisher, B. L. 1997a. Biogeography and ecology of the ant fauna of Madagascar (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). J. Nat. Hist. 31: 269-302 (page 290, see also)
- Forel, A. 1881. Die Ameisen der Antille St. Thomas. Mitt. Münch. Entomol. Ver. 5: 1-16 (page 5, worker described)
- Forel, A. 1904g. Dimorphisme du mâle chez les fourmis et quelques autres notices myrmécologiques. Ann. Soc. Entomol. Belg. 48: 421-425 (page 422, queen described)
- Heinze, J., and S. Trenkle. 1997. Male polymorphism and gynandromorphs in the ant Cardiocondyla emeryi. Naturwissenschaften 84:129-131.
- Kugler, J. 1984 [1983]. The males of Cardiocondyla Emery (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) with the description of the winged male of Cardiocondyla wroughtoni (Forel). Isr. J. Entomol. 17: 1-21 (page 3, see also)
- Seifert, B. 2003. The ant genus Cardiocondyla (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae) - A taxonomic revision of the C. elegans, C. bulgarica, C. batessi, C. nuda, C. shuckardi, C. stambuloffi, C. wroughtoni, C. emeryi, and C. minutior species groups. Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien Ser. B. Bot. Zool. 104:203-338.
- Sharaf, M.R., Fisher, B.L., Dhafer, H.M., Polaszek, A., Aldawood, S.A. 2018. Additions to the ant fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Oman: an updated list, new records and a description of two new species. Asian Myrmecology. 9:e010004; 1-38. doi:10.20362/am.010004 10.20362/am.010004.
- Smith, J. H.; Atherton, D. O. 1944. Seed-harvesting and other ants in the tobacco-growing districts of North Queensland. Qld. J. Agric. Sci. 1(3 3: 33-61 (page 33, see also)
- Wetterer, J. 2012. Worldwide spread of Emery's sneaking ant, Cardiocondyla emeryi (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecological News, 17, 13-20.
- Wilson E.O. 1959. Communication by Tandem Running in the Ant Genus Cardiocondyla. Psyche. 66(3):29-34 1959. DOI:10.1155/1959/29093
- Wilson, E. O. Taylor, R. W. 1967b. The ants of Polynesia (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Pac. Insects Monogr. 14: 1-109 (page 53, Senior synonym of nereis)


text:
At Duttons for Buttons we pride ourselves on stocking practically everything you need for mending and sewing, from the everyday to those things you thought didn't exist any more (remember darning wools and mushrooms, leather patches and dress shields – we sell those too!).
And if we don't have it in, we can usually get it by special order. We relish a challenge!


text:
Somerset 156 for 8 (Kieswetter 55, Petersen 51, Fuller 4-32) beat Gloucestershire 138 (Marshall 54, Nannes 4-21, Waller 3-22) by 18 runs
Gloucestershire peeled off the wrappers on their new stands as the T20 masses tested the screws on the new-look Nevil Road for the first time. They would have been impressed by their remodelled surroundings but departed knowing improvement on the field is a longer-term project. Certainty in T20. In chasing 157, Gloucestershire failed to match their very credible effort with the ball and missed a chance for only a third win against Somerset at Bristol in T20.
It was a weak performance with the bat where they failed to come to terms with a wicket that did not play as true as was preferable for clean strokemaking although Michael Klinger made no excuses. There was little blasting to herald the new competition. There were plenty of catches from mistimed strokes in both innings but Gloucestershire's were less forgivable having seen the first 20 overs.
The important wicket was Klinger. He defied Gloucestershire's miserable 2013 in the shortest format to make the fifth-highest tally of runs in the tournament but here, after stepping around on the crease, drove off balance at Lewis Gregory at got a whirlwind edge to third man. Without their captain marvel there were only two other meaningful scorers. And that was despite a shoddy Somerset fielding performance where three catches went down and a run-out was missed.
With 34 to win in three overs, Dirk Nannes, on his 38th birthday, returned to see out the match. A very wide delivery had James Fuller reaching as a far as was physically possible outside off stump and he toe-ended a catch behind.
Gloucestershire failed to find a steady way into the innings whereas Somerset, having lost two of their three gun top-order players early, moved carefully past halfway with a stand of 89 between Craig Kieswetter and Alviro Petersen. Gloucestershire put together a highest stand of just 26 - for the eighth wicket.
Kieswetter threatened a big innings. He came down the track to Liam Norwell and sent a length ball high back over the long-on seats - the shortest boundary on the ground - and went dead straight two balls later for his second four. He pulled Graeme McCarter's first delivery through midwicket and struck another boundary through point to complete the Powerplay at 48 for 2.
However, at the back-end of the innings, he was happy to take singles and never found a kick which would have put Somerset into safer territory. But the second innings put his effort into perspective.
Petersen tried to force the pace more than Kieswetter. He took Norwell over extra-cover and cleverly opened the face to steer Benny Howell from off stump to fine third man. He is not known for his power but heaved Tom Smith over the longest part of the ground at deep midwicket on the Bristol College side of the ground and brought up fifty in 34 balls with a six into the fourth story of the flats at the Ashley Down End. He was named Man of the Match.
The pair revitalised Somerset after two early wickets for Fuller removed two significant threats. Fuller is a lively seamer with an ability to move the new ball. He opened with a bumper to Marcus Trescothick who hooked, was too late on the stroke, and top-edged a catch down the throat of long leg. Fuller struck with the first ball of his next over too, with a back-of-a-length delivery that nipped back on Peter Trego who walked for an inside edge behind.
He returned in the 17th over and forced James Hildreth into a misjudgement, driving a ball high into the air and straight to deep cover. Nick Compton went the same way as his captain, hurried by a hook and spooned a catch to midwicket for a duck.
Yet after pleasing work in keeping one of the most dangerous line-ups in the competition relatively quiet, Gloucestershire provided a very poor reply.
Hamish Marshall was the only player to recognise the wicket demanded some care. He only really attacked when the ball was at extremes of length. Some loose stuff from Max Waller helped his tally; consecutive long hops went for four through square leg and a half-volley was driven down the ground. But it was Waller's straight delivery which Marshall swept across, was bowled, and Gloucestershire's last hope walked off.


text:
Platform for Postmoderns, Part Three: Building Coalitions
No man is an island. No book is a solo effort. No movement is an isolated incident. Much noise has been made in recent years about "tribes." Broadcasting is out; narrowcasting is in. Affinity groups are the new mass market. Even the notion of platform, the subject of this series (see the first three entries here, here and here), functions on the underlying assumption that you can't please everyone, so you'll have to find people who are pleased when you please yourself. Or something like that. The object of the game, in book publishing and other celebrity-based industries, has been to identify a group and climb to the top of it. There's a certain type of person who considers James Franco, for example, the greatest actor of his generation. Lady Gaga has assembled millions of "little monsters" to sit at her feet. In my field, Christian publishing, there are John Piper Christians, Rick Warren Christians, Rob Bell Christians and Joel Osteen Christians, proof positive that white men aren't entirely homogenous. (Well, maybe not proof positive . . .) Such huddled masses need leaders, and these folks and their equivalents in other demographics have seen the opportunity and taken it. The problem with celebrity is that it's unsustainable. I've had recent gossipy conversations about people who have "left their platform," either by choice or under duress, and whose cultural power dissipated almost overnight as a result. "The phone stops ringing," my friends lamented on behalf of our other friends; that's what happens when a musician dares to experiment with another genre, or an actor makes one too many inaccessible films, or when an author or speaker or otherwise celebrated cultural leader ventures beyond the acceptable scope of their cultural leadership. We are past the age of tyrants, after all; we enjoy whatever platform we have by the consent of the governed. The consent of the governed, in the case of cultural celebrity, is especially fickle. And so even when we do everything right--when we play by all the rules in Michael Hyatt's book Platform--our platform can collapse underneath us. In a free market economy there's always someone, something around the corner waiting to shove us off our perch, vying to capture the imagination of our tribe. For every iPhone there's a Galaxy waiting in the wings; for every Lady Gaga a Ke$ha; for every Prayer of Jabez a Your Best Life Now. We find out quickly, tragically, that whatever love we felt from our audience was actually only lust. We thought we heard them say, "I will always love you," but in reality they had only promised "Here we are; now entertain us." Celebrity is unsustainable not only thanks to these external factors--the loss of lofty position or the abandonment of your audience--but also thanks to what celebrity costs. Platform can be all-consuming, leaving precious little emotional energy or even chronological time to devote to more homespun, mundane things like maintaining a relationship with your spouse or your kids, your parents or your siblings, your friends and neighbors. Even your vocation--the presumed touchpoint between you and your tribe--competes for your attention with your platform. You can be so busy telling other how they can change the world like you did that changing the world becomes the lowest priority on your to-do list. When platform is understood through the lens of celebrity, everybody loses. Three of the four Gospel writers report these wise words of Jesus: "What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?" In retrospect, as we watch modernity wind down, we are forced to ask also, What good is it for the world? A postmodern platform must learn some hard lessons from the unsustainability of the modernist, celebrity-based platform. These lessons are hard because they involve the ego, and our egos don't like to learn lessons. But here's the essence of it: In a postmodern world, building an isolated, individual platform is a waste of time. The logic doesn't play out. Instead of building platforms for themselves, postmoderns who have a message or a vision they want broadly disseminated should concentrate on building coalitions. A coalition is like a union. Like-minded people recognize that their common goals can be more efficiently accomplished, their voices better heard, if they speak in unison and stand together. Their common goals are discovered together rather than dictated from a single leader; their leaders are, in fact, designated from below as being particularly equipped to carry their message to the halls of power. A coalition can change things were an individual can't. Most platforms under the modern paradigm are already coalitions, to be honest. Hyatt acknowledges in his book the team that stands behind the coherence and volume of his message, from editors and designers to administrative assistants and the like. Read the acknowledgments in any book and you'll see that it takes a village to raise an individual's voice. What's been obscured in that approach to coalition building is that the various players in any platform are there voluntarily; in a free society, in a free market economy, they can always stop doing what they're doing, and go do something else. Even some of the members of these modernist villages don't realize how free they are, how much of their freedom they've surrendered to the agenda of the person they've placed on a platform. But a real coalition is communal all the way down. Each individual participant is there voluntarily and knows it; they've not only embraced a vision but contributed to it, in meaning and money and sweat equity. Therein lies the value: the platform is the thing that people have built; the message is part of the infrastructure of the medium by which it is amplified. The audience is already invested--not just enough to consume the message but to repeat it, to become ambassadors for it. The platform's viability is liberated from celebrity and grounded in a communal vision. Coalition building is how governments work; it's how unions work; it's how movements work. Coalition building is how anything with longevity works. When Jesus began his public ministry, he didn't build a website; he built relationships with twelve people whose priorities overlapped but occasionally clashed. He traveled with them, ate with them, talked about grand ideas with them. By the time of his crucifixion they recognized that they were just as vulnerable to the hostility of the state and the religious authorities as he was, so they hid in an upper room. By the time of his ascension they recognized that they were just as responsible for the propagation of Jesus' message as he was, and so they went about doing greater things than Jesus did (John 14:12) and millennia later his followers are still delivering Jesus' message to the ends of the earth. How do you build coalitions? It takes time--time to understand your own priorities and subject them meaningfully to the priorities of like-minded others, so together you can arrive at something that all involved can invest themselves in. It takes humility--a willingness to recognize that you're not the only person who cares about your subject matter, not the only source of good ideas. It takes mutuality and graciousness--a willingness to share stages and ideas and not worry so much about credit. It takes great self-awareness of both your potential and your limits, and it takes the courage to push yourself on both. The payoff is really good. You'll have a platform that not only you but people you admire and trust can stand on and deliver an important message to the world. You'll have a dedicated space that is maintained not by force of individual will but by aggregation of great people. You'll be able to dispense with all the artifice and soul-sucking loneliness that comes with a celebrity-based understanding of platform. And you'll make a lot of friends and share a lot of love. Some well-built coalitions I like and see great potential in: Red Letter Christians The Parish Collective Forge Missions Training Network The New Monasticism Missio Alliance Christian Community Development Association There are others, of course, and you're welcome to mention those you like here. But the main idea is this: You are wasting your energy and subverting your message if you go it alone. The age of celebrity is dying and needs to be allowed to die. A better future will come as people marry their messages to the messages of others, and platform becomes not a proprietary place for individuals but shared space for great ideas. Keep checking back for more thoughts on platform for postmoderns.


text:
(Click the Question to reveal the Answer)
What is Neighbors Network?
Who developed this idea?
Who are our members?
Who are the volunteers?
What kind of services are provided?
What if I need services that Volunteers can't provide?
Who are our Affinity Partners?
What is Neighbors Network's Membership fee?
Is Membership tax deductible?
If Members Volunteer, does it reduce their Membership fee?
How do I know the volunteers entering my house are trustworthy?
Are ride services included in my Neighbors Network membership?
Is in-home care included in my Neighbors Network membership?
Neighbors Network is not a healthcare provider. Instead, Members have access to the online assessment tool, www.caregivercentral.org, provided to our local community through our partner, Share the Care. This caregiver self-assessment provides the user with a personalized menu of local community service providers specifically generated by the assessment information. Information about six categories of services are available: home care, home-delivered meals, home medical equipment, care management, assisted living, and adult day care. Members can select from their list of vetted service providers, and then contract with and pay for services directly with their chosen service providers.


text: Live Events LIVE: myTalk 107.1 is LIVE at the Minnesota State Fair Hang out with myTalk107.1 hosts and other listeners as we chat LIVE, share photos and videos from our adventures at the Minnesota State Fair Thursday through Labor Day! Have something to share? Use #myTalkFair on Twitter to post your thoughts and photos directly to our feed! < Oldest1234Newest > 3rd & 7 37yd 3rd & 7 37yd B S O close close - < Oldest1234Newest > Powered by ScribbleLive Content Marketing Software Platform


text:
Different companies have different strategies to move forward when it comes to digital transformation, however, they may have the same goal: transform to a digital company and open the digital capabilities to empower adjacent industries. In a much more straightforward way: break the borders within the organization, and break the borders across industries.
- The big companies like BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) and GAFA (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon) are leading the digital transformation and taking the platform strategy to penetrate to various industries to empower the transformation, e.g. telecom, finance, retail, etc.
- Large business groups like America Movil (AM), CP Group Thailand, Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), A.S Watson Group, started digital transformation years ago aiming to unify group business across multiple business sectors, like agriculture, retail, food, finance, telecom, etc.
- Governments are also in action now. Municipal officials and city leaders worldwide are already in motion to provide digital and smart services, revolutionizing the way leaders interact with citizens, to create synergies by unifying multiple public sectors on shared technology platform, with shared data, shared citizen ID, shared processes and shared services.
But, how to transform beyond borders to make business more efficient? The fusion of new technologies and business models are fundamental to the empowerment of transformation, which are also the prerequisites for Whale Cloud to accelerate our own digital transformation so that we can better assist our customers along their journeys.
Weve walked through an exhilarating year following the strategic partnership with Alibaba Group and the rebrand from ZTEsoft. On one hand, with the rebrand from ZTEsoft to Whale Cloud, we re-envision our strategies to be a Global Leader in Digital Transformation.
Meanwhile, the capital investment from Alibaba Group has changed our company nature from traditional software vendor to a new one with internet company gene that is more agile, customer-centric and innovative. This change enables Whale Cloud to better adapt to market requirements, flexibly respond to customer changes, moreover, overturn the traditional way of doing business and extend to innovative ones like new retail, mobile payment.
Alibaba + Whale Cloud: a surprising1+1>2 reaction
The collaboration with Alibaba Group is a company-level strategic alliance that will lead huge win for both sides.
Alibaba Group is the largest e-commerce and retail company in the world, and the largest data operator managing huge amount of customer, product, finance and transactions data. The company is equipped with experience and tools to mine value from data, which can also be leveraged to help telecom operators create innovative solutions to serve customer, as well as assist more players in adjacent industries.
As the business partner of Alibaba Cloud for internationalization, Whale Cloud has extensive experience in professional services, international projects delivery and business operation. We are the perfect partner for Alibaba to expand abroad and serve people worldwide.
This collaboration has created our unique value proposition which differentiates us from other industry players: Whale Cloud business strength + Alibaba technology strength trigger a surprising1+1>2 reaction.
Strategic initiatives in the year ahead
Well, how this partnership can impact the telecom market and others? In 2019, we have taken several initiatives to accelerate the digital transformation:
- Research Institute of Digital Catalyst, focusing on the business and technology framework building from both Whale Cloud and Alibaba Group best practices, which is targeted as the universal architecture for digital transformation.
- New Retail Product Line, focusing on the enterprise business groups, retail companies, even telecom operators to transform the traditional retail business model to rebuild customer-vendor relationships using digital technologies.
- Digital Telco Maturity Map (DTMM), Whale Cloud has organized the company resources to build such maturity map aiming to be used as the guideline and principle to help telcos to fulfill the transformation goal together with us.
- We believe digital transformation is all about Efficiency Revolution, old and outdated business models will be replaced by the new ones to achieve higher efficiency. It is not about how advanced technology you will take, technonology is the cornerstone but successful business transformation is the objective to make the company much more competitive after the digital transformation. The success of tranformation is also depending on people and mindset: how much willingness you want to move out of todays comfort zone?
The transformation journey will be long and sustainable, but it will happen inevitably, which means, the transformation will start within your organization sooner or later, but better from today, from now.
— Ben Zhou, CEO, Whale Cloud International


text:
Mobile is the most important way for consumers to engage with the brands they love. Visits to the store will lead to customers downloading your app and when customers are at home, you can reach and activate them to shop online. Highstreet offers an out-of-the-box loyalty feature-set presented in a most delightful way to your customers.
ntegrating your loyalty program allows customers to have everything they need from your brand in one place: your mobile app. Offer your loyal customers an in-app loyalty card, show incentives to earn loyalty points, and reach out with special campaigns.
Customers launching the app will be invited to join your loyalty program. The onboarding screen offers space to display your program benefits.
Most brands would like to know their loyalty program members a bit better. That's why it's possible to trigger a few additional personal information fields when customers opt-in to your program like gender and day of birth.
Depending on your loyalty program you might offer customers a way to earn points or value that can be spent on benefits. The up-to-date balance is displayed below the account's avatar.
Once customers join your program, the account's section contains a loyalty card with the customer membership identification. This card can be easily swiped in view and used in-store to let customers have it scanned at the till. Nice detail: the brightness of the device's screen will increase simultaneously so that your store associates can easily scan the customer's barcode.
Vouchers are the most important part of our loyalty feature as they encourage your customers to come back for more. Reward your customers with points, discounts, or gifts. All managed by your loyalty program setup.
Value vouchers offer customers a discount on their next purchase. The rules for earning this discount are set by your loyalty program.
This type of voucher offers customers a challenge. Based on a set goal, customers can earn a certain value over-time based on their points balance. Once they reach the required amount of points, the voucher is added as a value voucher and the points balance is reset.
This voucher allows brands to surprise their customers with a free product based on defined rules. The example shown uses the customer's birthday as a reason to offer them a free gift if they purchase another product.
The best place to let customers know about active vouchers is while they are shopping. That's why we developed cart loyalty messages. Customers will see a visual message placed on top of the cart to let them know which vouchers have been applied.
Using the Highstreet Rich Notifications API, brands using Highstreet can send rich push notifications to their loyalty members. For example, when customers purchase a product in-store that triggers a value voucher they instantly get a push notification containing the voucher.
The order confirmation screen will show customers how many points or which value their purchase added to their account. As they are encouraged to redeem these rewards in their next order, there is a big chance they will become loyal customers of your brand.
Highstreet connects to any loyalty program. We integrate on API level with your existing or future program and we make sure we can show your customer's loyalty data in real-time. A few of our loyalty partners are M-wise, Spaaza, and Vemt.
After investigating your loyalty program backend, we will set up the technical documentation together with your loyalty party. As soon as the specs are finalised, we will start the implementation.
Typically, implementing your loyalty program into your Highstreet app takes 6-8 weeks. We deliver an on-brand design and once we are fully connected to your loyalty program, all data such as vouchers and purchases will be retrieved automatically.
As a cloud-based platform, Highstreet is ever evolving. We are determined to make mobile shopping an even more personalised experience than ever before. In our release schedule, we include app updates to improve mobile loyalty every two weeks.
Belgian fashion brand LolaLiza is the first brand launching their Highstreet app with our mobile loyalty feature. Download the LolaLiza app for iOS or Android.
Stationsplein 32
3511 ED Utrecht
Phone number: 030 276 9165


text:
Pianist and composer, born 1 November 1935 in Warsaw, died 26 June 1982 in Oxford.
Andrzej Czajkowski, photo by Jerzy Benedykt Dorys / www.polona.pl
Andrzej Czajkowski
Having studied the piano under Emma Altberg at the National Secondary School of Music in Lódż in 1945-8, Czajkowski continued his education under Lazare Lévy in Paris in 1948-50, first as a private student and later at the National Conservatoire, from which he graduated top of the list. After he had returned to Poland he studied the piano under Olga Iliwicka-Dąbrowska at the National Higher School of Music in Sopot, to move to Stanisław Szpinalski's piano class and Kazimierz Sikorski's composition class at the National Higher School of Music in Warsaw in 1951. In 1957 he attended for a while Nadia Boulanger's composition classes in Fontainebleau near Paris.
In 1955 Czajkowski won the 8th prize and the special prize (a Calisia piano) for the youngest Polish laureate of the 5th International Chopin Piano Competition. He then went to Brussels to study the piano under Stefan Askenazy. This helped him to win the 3rd prize at the Queen Elisabeth Piano Competition in Brussels in 1956.
Czajkowski gave concerts in Europe, the USA and New Zealand, performing with the world's best orchestras conducted by André Cluytens, Karl Böhm, Carl Maria Giulini, Paweł Klecki, Fritz Reiner, Dmitrios Mitropoulos, Colin Davis, Antal Dorati, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt and Carlo Zecchi. In the late 1950s and early 1960s he gave 500 piano recitals and was tremendously successful. His piano repertoire spanned works from Bach to the 20th century; he never played Tchaikovsky, though. He recorded music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert, Frederick Chopin, Gabriel Fauré and other composers for the radio and for labels such as EMI, RCA Victor and Pathé Marconi. In later years he began to reduce the number of concerts and focused on composing, Hans Keller becoming his composition consultant after Czajkowski had settled in London in 1960.
In 1950-8 Czajkowski was a member of the Young Composers Group of the Polish Composers' Union.
Ten etudes for piano (1949)
Sonata in G-major for piano (1949)
Suite, Prelude, Cavatina, Waltz, Lullaby for piano (1950)
Violin concerto (1950)
Concerto for flute and orchestra (1950)
Variations on the theme of Cohen for piano (1950)
Prelude and Fugue for piano (1953)
Sonata for viola and piano (1954)
Two preludes for piano (1954)
Two etudes for piano (1955)
Song for soprano and piano (1955)
Piano concerto (1956-57)
Piano sonata (1958)
Symphony (1958)
Sonata for clarinet and piano op. 1 (1959)
Two songs to lyrics by William Blake for soprano and instrumental quintet (1960)
Octet for clarinet, oboe, horn and five violins (1961)
Piano inventions op. 2(1961-62)
Concerto classico, violin concerto (1962-64)
Arioso and fugue for solo clarinet (1964-65)
Seven Shakespeare's sonnets for contralto and piano (1966)
Piano concerto no. 2 op. 4 (1966-71)
The Merchant of Venice op. 7, opera [unfinished] (1968-82)
Ariel, a cycle of three songs for mezzo-soprano and instrumental group (1969)
String quartet no. 1 ('in A') op. 3 (1969-70)
String quartet no. 2 ('in C') op. 5 (1973-75)
Trio notturno op. 6 for violin, cello and piano (1978)
Piano trio (1981)
Six dances for piano (1981)
Five miniatures for violin and piano (1981)
Author: Malgorzata Kosinska, Polish Music Information Center, Polish Composers' Union, October 2006.
A galaxy awaits...


text:
StepWatch - Visualizing Pedometer Data to Motivate Physical Activity
No respectable Health and Wellness Innovation activity would address diet management without also tackling physical activity. StepWatch was a collaboration between Frank Bentley of Motorola, Cristobal Viedma of the Mobile Services Lab of Wireless@KTH, and Peter Stephenson and Adam Bell of Humana. This group dug into the Indivo X code to enhance its flexibility and reporting functionality when dealing with vital signs. They were able to store pedometer data and execute powerful queries that supported novel visualizations of step counts. Daily step goals can be difficult to manage, so the visualizations of StepWatch provide constant feedback of progress throughout the day.
This project is an exciting example of how creative researchers working on a common platform will be able to accelerate progress. During Health and Wellness Innovation 2011, this team along with a number of other MIT Media Lab sponsors and research groups came together to discuss their approaches to storing health-related data. They were able to identify commonality in their needs and began extending Indivo X in a way that would support a broader range of research. More researchers using the same platform not only means faster progress and more collaboration, but it means new opportunities for studying correlations in data.
An extension of the personal health records system, Indivo, supports rich queries of time-series data, such as pedometer or heart-rate information. By extending Indivo's vitals document type, the system is able to support querying data from a wide range of dates, which can then be segmented in different ways, such as by hour, day of the week or month.
Furthermore, the data segments can by aggregated by summing, averaging or calculating minimums and maximums. Using this model, a watch interface (CU of the watch) can be created that allows a person to see if they are ahead of or behind their step count goals for the day.
The hour hand elongates and turns red when the user is behind their average number of steps typical for that time of day. Because the user may race to try to beat their average, the average can increase and make it harder for them to reach their daily goal. This interface is able to retrieve all the collected data in one call to the modified Indivo system to get steps segmented by hour and averaged across all days.
Another watch can show a radial progress bar of steps taken towards a goal. This means that when the user begins walking during the day, they can see the progress and determine how close they are to their goals.
These additions to Indivo are now available for others who need to store and query rich time-series data in complex ways.


text:
I am pleased to say that I will now be writing a monthly column for Tudor Life magazine, an exciting new online magazine from the brain of Claire Ridgway, author of The Fall of Anne Boleyn: A Countdown.
The magazine runs in conjunction with a members forum, the Tudor Society, and here is a word from its founders.
The Tudor Society is an exclusive membership club for all those who love Tudor history and who want to keep learning more and more. Lots of historians and authors are involved in this new society, and they are willing to give their time and knowledge to members of the Tudor Society, through magazine articles and talks. For example, this month the Tudor Society has got a talk and chat by Conor Byrne, guest articles in the magazine by Jessie Childs, Melanie V. Taylor and Robert Parry and lots of regular articles.
For the first edition of the magazine, Gareth Russell's column, Gareth on History, talked about Mary I's accusation that Elizabeth I was really the biological daughter of Mark Smeaton, and this month he'll be talking about the allure of Anna of Denmark, Mary Queen of Scots' under-rated daughter-in-law. Every month he will discuss a theory, personality, movie or historical mystery which crops up in his research, reading or talks with the public!
The aim of the Tudor Society (www.tudorsociety.com) is to enable Tudor history enthusiasts to connect with a wide range of experts and historians from the comfort of their own home. The society has launched with huge success, and there will be loads of fun and informative things added to the site and magazine each month.
Do pop over to www.tudorsociety.com if you're a Tudor fan to see if it's for you. I'm filming a talk for the society this month too about the career and reputation of Henry VIII's third wife, Queen Jane Seymour!


text:
by Joe Kirkpatrick
Recently, the City of Cleveland has announced they have a budget shortfall due to decreased sales tax collections so they are proposing a property tax increase. Two years ago, City of Cleveland voters were conned into a sales tax increase by the city school board by using that old heart tugging line "it's for our children." The city council told us at that time a sales tax increase would not only fund an $8 million science wing at Cleveland High School, but take care of other budget shortfalls as well.
Well, two years later, here they are with their hand out wanting a property tax increase. The reason? Sales tax collections have fallen during the recession. Duh! We were in a recession when they voted in a sales tax increase. At that time, we were not as effected as other parts of the country, but I, for one, was not naive enough to think we would be the only place in the nation that would not eventually be hit economically.
Below is a copy of an article I published in 2009, which contained a letter I had written which was read before the council before they voted for a sales tax referendum:
So, everyone but me wants a TAX INCREASE?
By Joe Kirkpatrick
Evidently, everyone in the city is for a tax increase but me. The proposed tax increase has been the subject of many articles in both The Cleveland Daily Banner as well as the Chattanooga Times Free Press. The city council held two council meetings concerning a proposed tax increase, and not one person was there to offer any objections. However, I did write the letter below stating my opposition, but the council still voted 6-1 to proceed with a referendum for an increase in the sales tax.
December 4, 2008
Dear City Councilmen and Mayor:
Due to my work schedule, I was unable to attend the recent council meeting where the proposed sales tax referendum was passed on the first reading.
I realize this referendum is not a vote to increase or not to increase sales taxes, but rather to have the voters decide between a sales tax increase or a property tax increase. It is my understanding no matter which tax is increased, a significant portion of the increase will go toward the construction of a multi-million dollar science wing at Cleveland High School.
Normally, in a good economy, I could agree at least somewhat with your thinking. However, I usually read three newspapers a day and the following are all titles of a few of the stories published in those papers on December 2nd, 3rd, and 4th:
1 in 6 Tennesseans now receive food stamps; UTC slices $700,000 to offset shortfall; Recession deepens, reports indicate Thomas Nelson lays off 55 staff; Volkswagen might close for three weeks due to weaker demand; Aggressive bank job cuts expected; Manufacturing index drops to 26-year low; State officials say food stamp use increased 9.5% from January to October; UT may cut athletic programs at UT-Chattanooga and UT-Martin to save money; UT orders thermostats lowered to save money; Bredesen vows no new tax; Abitibi Bowater shutting down two machines at Calhoun; Tennessee sales tax growth rate is the worst since 1961 and . . . . .
School board wants science wing started sooner.
In schools, teachers often give students a group of words or phrases. All of them will have a similar meaning with the exception of one, and the student picks out the one that doesn't match. What story line above clearly does not match all of the others?
We are in a recession, and most reputable economist's project we will continue to be in one for a minimum of eighteen months, and it could possibly last for five years or more. I, as probably you, can afford a tax increase. Unfortunately, most families you represent are not as fortunate, and have had to make cutbacks in their lives. Even worse, many have lost their job, home, car, or other possessions as well. If economic predictions are true, it will get much worse before it gets better.
I urge you to do as Governor Bredesen has done for the people of Tennessee and show a measure of good faith to the citizens you represent. You can do this by instituting measures of conservation, cut backs, and project delays before you continue to move forward with any type of tax increase at this time. Only after these measures have been implemented should a tax increase be considered. After that, if taxes must be increased, I urge you to use them to build reserves, instead of spending on new projects until our country's economy stabilizes.
Joe Kirkpatrick
An article in this past weeks Chattanooga Times Free Press, Cleveland City Manager Janice Casteel stated an increase in the sales tax is needed for budget shortfall which has been created by declining sales tax collections.
Does this mean if we vote for a sales tax increase, and in 2009, 2010 or 2011, the council decides to go ahead with the proposed science wing, we could possibly end up with both a sales and property tax increase if sales tax revenue continues to fall? As I stated in my letter above, I would rather not have a tax increase. However, I would not oppose the sales tax increase as long as the Cleveland City Council will commit to using it to build reserves, and will not use any of it to fund anything that requires spending of new capital until the current recession is over. The only exception should be the $1 million committed by the city in 2010 to move 500 jobs here for Maytag. However, in in light of the current economic climate, that could very easily fail to materialize.
If you would like to voice your opinion, either for or against, you can email the city council: email@example.com
Joe Kirkpatrick can be contacted at: firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) systems, also referred to as air ducts, can accumulate dust, dander, and other debris over time. Therefore, they should be cleaned every three to five years, depending on various circumstances. Don't rely on your air filter to be the only source of clean air, especially if it hasn't been cleaned or replaced in some time. Certain living situations can mean your air ducts should be cleaned more or less often than the average home or business. These situations include:
When should you have your air ducts cleaned?
If you or other residents are experiencing unexplained symptoms of illness, or if they are suffering from unusual allergies, the issue could lie with dirty air ducts. The cause could be as simple as dust and dander collecting in the vents, or something more serious, such as mold buildup. The professionals at West Side Carpet Cleaning have the equipment and capabilities to remove any dirt, debris, and other contaminants from your commercial or residential ductwork system.
Following the removal of any mold, dust, and debris from your forced air system, we can also provide the sanitation and decontamination of the vents. This will not only ensure all remaining mold is safely removed, it will also help to prevent any mold or bacteria from growing in the future. This step is not safe to try on your own. Leave it to the specially trained professionals at West Side Carpet Cleaning to handle any cleaners and chemicals necessary to clean your air duct system.
Benefits of air duct cleaning can include:
Your air ducts are the ideal breeding ground for mold, fungus, and bacteria. At West Side Carpet Cleaning, we will check every aspect of your forced air system to ensure it is as clean as can be. This includes cleaning the intricate parts of the system as well as checking to assure the system is properly sealed. If your home or business is in need of a professional air duct cleaning, call on the professionals at West Side Carpet Cleaning.


text:
When the time arrives to purchase a new car, you can easily be caught with the tough decision in opting for manual or automatic. Quite often this can be the deal maker or breaker! Traditionally, a manual gearbox offers simplicity, performance and a high level of efficiency when compared to an automatic, while allowing for a more of a 'drivers package'.
In recent times vehicle transmissions have undergone a huge level of innovation and improvements all round – delivering better fuel efficiency, greater performance, durability and drivability. Manual gearboxes now have more gears, the new 7-speed transmission in the 2012 Porsche 911 is meant to improve fuel-economy and reduce engine noise by means of a long seventh gear, most now have at least six cogs!
Automatics also have more gears, some production cars are now available with an 8 speed option like the new X5 BMW, all in all to help improve efficiency. The extra gears in the 8 speed transmission and efficient design generally offer more than a 10% fuel saving over older tech 5 speed versions.
Equally as advanced a new platform twin-clutch design is now available, taking all of the good characteristics from a manual transmission and combining them with automatic computer controlled gear changes and clutch operation. As complex as it sounds this technology is available in many late model Audi/VW's, some Ford models and late model Porsches to name a few.
Inside the car it's all hidden behind a standard looking automatic gear selection of P-R-N-D. To see a direct clutch gear box in action watch this video:
Another example would be the CVT (continuously variable transmission), this technology is branded by Audi as 'Multitronic'. It is claimed that the CVT gearbox compares well to a manual. Boasting features that represent a pure manual gearbox; better acceleration and better fuel economy, all whilst benefiting from a more comfortable ride of an automatic gearbox. This technology is now available from many manufacturers.
As innovative transmissions emerge, so do specific gear oils, for highly engineered systems such as the twin clutch or CVT – using the correct gear oil is imperative. Liqui-Moly offers a range of specialist gear oils, including the 'Top Tec ATF 1400' which covers the Audi CVT transmission (specification VW 052 180), and the Mercedes A-Class CVT transmission (specification MB 236.20). To find the appropriate gear oil for your vehicle see the Liqui-Moly online oil guide.


text:
I always say there are 3 factors buyers care most about when evaluating new vendors. These are:
- Where is your product line selling and how is it selling in those stores (i.e., Performance)?
- How are you supporting your sales (i.e., Marketing)?
- Are you a good vendor partner (i.e. Execution)?
So does your personality and experience factor in to my decision? Absolutely. #3 above is important. It gives me insight into whether I can trust you and your company to deliver on your promises. If you have experience in delivering on promises, most notably if you have experience working with other retailers of similar size and logistics, then I'll be more likely to award you business.
But if you don't have a long history of shipping to retailers, your personality will factor in more heavily. And I will be checking off these items in my mental checklist as you talk….
- Have you done your homework on my store? Check.
- Do you seem problem-solution oriented? Good.
- Do you understand how selling to retail works? Thank goodness.
- Are you a strong communicator? Awesome.
- Are you a "Yes" man? Not good.
- Do you understand the retailers' objectives? Great.
- Are you buttoned up and polished? Fantastic.
- Are you defensive when I give suggestions? Uh oh, danger.
- Do you take the approach of "how can we all benefit from this partnership"? Great, I like you already.
This isn't to say that a trustworthy personality will overcome a brief history of selling to retailers… it is not enough. But you'll be surprised how much control you have over your own destiny by showing up with the right mindset and personality… and how often this is ignored.
Were you guys up this morning to catch my guest interview on MSNBC's Your Business with JJ Ramberg? If not, here it is. Enjoy!


text:
On March 1, 2015, members of the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office were called to Walker South Road in Walker just after noon in reference to a home invasion.
Through an investigation that followed, LPSO detectives learned Benjamin A. Jarreau stole a 2009 Ford Fusion from Prairieville. He then committed a burglary in Prairieville and stole a .22 rifle. After, Jarreau drove to 26229 Walker South Rd in Walker. While armed with the loaded .22, Jarreau entered the residence without consent. 3 individuals were inside – 2 adults and 1 juvenile. They were held against their will for about three hours. Jarreau took the victims' phones and keys and forced them to look for money and drugs inside the residence.
After about 3 hours, the homeowner – identified as Aaron Neames - returned to the residence. (Detectives learned Jarreau and Neames are acquaintances.) At this point, Jarreau fired 3 shots inside the home. A fight broke out and Jarreau's weapon was taken from him. Jarreau exited the residence and attempted to flee in the stolen vehicle. As he was driving off, the homeowner fired in the direction of Jarreau and the stolen vehicle. Jarreau was struck by bullets in the area of his shoulder. He was transported to a local hospital for treatment.
Sheriff Jason Ard says, 'Jarreau admitted to my detectives that he stole the vehicle and the weapon. He also said he went to the Walker residence in search of money to pay off a debt.'
Benjamin A. Jarreau (DOB: 9/11/97) of 14065 Pecan Ridge Drive in Gonzales is charged with:
>Illegal Use of a Weapon
>Illegal Possession of Stolen Firearm
>Illegal Possession of a Stolen Vehicle
>Aggravated Kidnapping – 3 counts
>Armed Robbery – 3 counts
>Home Invasion
*He is currently in the Livingston Parish Detention Center. Please visit http://www.lpso.org/ and utilize our 'Inmate List' tab located at the top of the page to learn more.
The homeowner - Aaron Neames (DOB: 12/2/1990) – has also been charged:
>Attempted 2nd Degree Murder
*He is no longer in the Livingston Parish Detention Center.
Sheriff Ard says, 'This type of behavior isn't something I like to see in our parish. This type of behavior certainly won't be tolerated, either. I am thankful no one else was injured during this chain of events. It could have been really bad – not only for those involved – but for innocent lives, too.'
*This investigation is ongoing. More charges are possible.
Home | Inmate List | Deputy Tools | Employment | Search | About Us | Divisions | Community | Taxes/Sales/Fines | Contacts | Site Map
© Copyright 2020, Livingston Parish Sheriffs Office. All rights reserved.


text:
We've received your request
You will be notified by email when the transcript and captions are available. The process may take up to 5 business days. Please contact email@example.com if you have any questions about this request.
Biologist John C. Robinson, author of the book, "Birding for Everyone," discusses his own childhood inspirations and the need to get more minority and inner-city communities involved with birding and nature.