text:
I'm not my favorite characters.
Yep, I'm not. I'm baffled when people assumed that you are what you read. I know I was very vocal on how Takemoto (of Honey & Clover by Umino Chika) echoed my situation back then. Lost, confused and afraid of the unknown—future. We had similar situation but still we weren't the same. I've read several reviews, which mostly are negative reviews of the series I liked, presumed that because I liked this detestable character, I am or or inclined to like RL person (this is stated in a general way btw not personal attack but those who liked it). I find that notion really presumptuous.
I enjoyed a good, well-developed villain. Sometimes I liked the villain better than the protagonist. That being said I do not aspire to be what my favorite character is, generally speaking. When I read I'm well aware of the story being just that—a story. I know there are stories that can transcend and touch lives in more ways. And I do appreciate a good slice of life stories—ones that occasionally even led me to tears. But my appreciation has a limiter; that just because I enjoyed it does not mean I will apply it in my life. As a reader I set discretions; it is why I have books that I want to read and those I clearly will not. The real world is different from fiction world I read & watch. And believe me I read and watched A FREAKING LOT ALREADY!
I remember back when I was 12 years old. I was already watching anime as violent as Rurouni Kenshin. Even my late father commented how violent it was. But I just shrugged and continued watching. I even watched more violent series than Kenshin and I don't think my moral compass has broken because I read/watched genres like these. As I mentioned I don't like being judged of what I read & suggests baseless idea of how I'll behave based on literary piece that I consumed! That's not me!
Yes, I love to drown myself in stories but just because I liked anti-hero character like Light Yagami of Death Note doesn't mean I share the same principles. If anything else I opposed it but that doesn't mean he's not a great character. He was one of the most interesting character developments I ever had the pleasure of both reading & watching: from stellar, honorable student to someone who was obsessed with his ambitions! I appreciate characters but I don't aspire to be them! Even good, morally speaking characters—while they inspire—I am still who I am! So I really don't get these assumptions just because I liked a less unorthodox or ethically gray character.
I believe that as a reader I'm free to read anything I want. That said, we are given an ability to think; you don't just consume something and simply accept it. I, for one, am not that kind of reader, and while I read I also think of many things (as I mentioned several times before my mind is a hive of unorganized thoughts) I don't presume things are simple black and white, and neither should you. At the end of the day this is just a piece of fiction & realism of it might be just teeny tiny fraction of what real world represents. I'm firm believer that it is still up to me, the reader.
Now let's stop holding back authors on writing characters that are unconventional. And stop shaming readers who like these characters. Regardless of how similar I am with some character or how much I adore him/her, I can seriously say I'm not them.
How about you, do you also think that your favorite characters represent your personality? Do you like morally gray characters as well? Share you views with me!


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On this page you will find PRACE White Papers related to Benchmarking.
Title: Description of the initial accelerator benchmark suite
Authors: G. Hautreuxa, D. Dellisb, C. Moulinecc, A. Sunderlandc, A. Grayd, A. Proemed, V. Codreanue, A. Emersonf, B. Eguzkitzag, J. Strassburgg, M. Louhivuorih
aGENCI, bGRNET, cSTFC, dEPCC, eSURFsara, fCINECA, gBSC, hCSC
Abstract: The work produced within this task is an extension of the UEABS (Unified European Applications Benchmark Suite) for accelerators. As a first version of the extension, this document will present a full definition of a suite for accelerators. This will cover each code, presenting the code in itself as well as the test cases defined for the benchmarks and the problems that could occur during the next months.
As the UEABS, this suite aims to present results for many scientific fields that can use HPC accelerated resources. Hence, it will help the European scientific communities to make a decision in terms of infrastructures they could buy in a near future. We focus on Intel Xeon Phi coprocessors and NVidia GPU cards for benchmarking as they are the two most important accelerated resources available at the moment.
The following table lists the codes that will be presented in the next sections as well as their implementations available. It should be noted that OpenMP can be used with the Intel Xeon Phi architecture while CUDA is used for NVidia GPU cards. OpenCL is a third alternative that can be used on both architectures.
The chosen codes are all part of the UEAS suite excepted PFARM which comes from PRACE-2IP and SHOC which is a synthetic benchmark suite for accelerators.
Download paper: PDF
Title: Introducing OpenMP Tasks into the HYDRO Benchmark
Authors: Jeremie Gaidamoura, Dimitri Lecasa, Pierre-Francois Lavalleea
a IDRIS/CNRS, Campus universaire d'Orsay, rue John Von Neumann, Batiment 506, F-91403 Orsay, France
The HYDRO mini-application has been successfully used as a research vehicle in previous PRACE projects [6]. In this paper, we evaluate the benefits of the tasking model introduced in recent OpenMP standards [9]. We have developed a new version of HYDRO using the concept of OpenMP tasks and this implementation is compared to already existing and optimized OpenMP versions of HYDRO.
Download paper: PDF
Title: Performance Analysis of Alya on a Tier-0 Machine using Extrae
Authors: Jorge Rodrigueza
aBSC-CNS: Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Torre Girona, C/Jordi Girona, 31, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
Abstract: Alya [5] is a computational mechanics code capable of solving different physics. It has been extensively used in MareNostrum III (BSC's Tier-0 machine), and it has been also used as a benchmarking code in PRACE Unified European Applications Benchmark Suite. In this document, Extrae will be used to collect and analyze performance data during an Alya simulation in a petaflop environment.
As a result of the performance analysis using Extrae [2] [3], some potential improvements in Alya have shown up, and if considered, exascale scalability could be achieved.
Application Code: Alya
Download paper: PDF
Title: Profiling of Code_Saturne with HPCToolkit and TAU, and autotuning Kernels with Orio
Authors: B. Lindia*, T. Ponweiserb, P. Jovanovicc, T. Arslana
aNorwegian University of Science and Technology
bRISC Software GmbH A company of Johannes Kepler University Linz
cInstitute of Physics Belgrade
Abstract: This study has profiled the application Code Saturne, which is part of the PRACE benchmark suite. The profiling has been carried out with the tools HPCtookit and Tuning and Analysis Utilities (TAU) with the target of finding compute kernels suitable for autotuning.
Autotuning is regarded as a necessary step in achieving sustainable performance at an Exascale level as Exascale systems most likely will have a heterogeneous runtime environment. A heterogeneous runtime environment imposes a parameter space for the applications run time behavior which cannot be explored by a traditional compiler. Neither can the run time behavior be explored manually by the developer/code owner as this will be too time consuming.
The tool Orio has been used for autotuning idenitified compute kernels. Orio has been used on traditional Intel processors, Intel Xeon Phi and NVIDIA GPUs.The compute kernels have a small contribution to the overall execution time for Code Saturne. By autotuning with Orio these kernels have been improved by 3-5%.
Download paper: PDF
Title: Accelerator Aware MPI Micro-benchmarking using CUDA, OpenACC and OpenCL
Authors: Sadaf Alam, Ugo Varettoa
aSwiss National Supercomputing Centre, Lugano, Switzerland
Abstract: Recently MPI implementations have been extended to support accelerator devices, Intel Many Integrated Core (MIC) and nVidia GPU. This has been accomplished by changes to different levels of the software stacks and MPI implementations. In order to evaluate performance and scalability of accelerator aware MPI libraries, we developed portable micro-benchmarks to indentify factors that influence efficincies of primitive MPI point-to-point and collective operations. These benchmarks have been implemented in OpenACC, CUDA and OpenCL. On the Intel MIC platform, existing MPI benchmarks can be executed with appropriate mapping onto the MIC and CPU cores. Our results demonstrate that the MPI operations are highly sensitive to the memory and I/O bus configurations on the node. The current implemetation of MIC on-node communication interface exhibit additional limitations on the placement of the card and data transfers over the memory bus.
Download paper: PDF
Title: Benchmarking and Thread Scaling of the HBM Ocean Circulation Model
Authors: Mikael Rannara, Maciej Szpindlerb
aHPC2N & Department of Computing Science, Umea University
b Interdisciplinary Centre for Mathematical and Computational Modelling, University of Warsaw
Abstract: The HBM (HIROMB-BOOS Model) ocean circulation model scaling on the selected PRACE Tier-0 systems is described. The model has been ported to the BlueGene/Q architecture and tested against OpenMP and mixed OpenMP/MPI parallel performance and scaling with a given test case scenario. Benchmarking of the selected computational kernels and model procedures with a micro-benchmarking module has been proposed for further integration with the model code. Details on the micro-benchmark proposal and results of the scaling tests are described.
Download paper: PDF
Title: Delft3D Performance Benchmarking Report
Authors: J. Donnersa*, A. Mouritsb, M. Gensebergerb, B. Jagersb
aSURFsara, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
bDeltares, Delft, The Netherlands
Abstract: The Delft3D modelling suite has been ported to the PRACE Tier-0 and Tier-1 infrastructure. The portability of Delft3D was improved by removing platform-dependent options from the build system and replacing non-standard constructs from the source. Three benchmarks were used to investigate the scaling of Delft3D: (1) a large, regular domain; (2) a realistic, irregular domain with a low fill-factor; (3) a regular domain with a sediment transport module. The first benchmark clearly shows a good scalability up to a thousand cores for a suitable problem. The other benchmarks show a reasonable scalability up to about 100 cores. For test case (2) the main bottleneck is the serialized I/O. It was attempted to implement a separate I/O server by using the last MPI process only for the I/O, but this work is not yet finished. The imbalance due to the irregular domain can be reduced somewhat by using a cyclic placement of MPI tasks. Test case (3) benefits from inlining of often-called routines.
Download paper: PDF
Title: Performance analysis of parallel applications on modern multithreaded processor architectures
Authors: Maciej Cytowski, Maciej Filocha, Jakub Katarzynski, Maciej Szpindler
Interdisciplinary Centre for Mathematical and Computational Modeling (ICM), University of Warsaw, Poland
Abstract: In this whitepaper we describe the effort we have made to measure performance of applications and synthetic benchmarks with the use of different simultaneous multithreading (SMT) modes. This specific processor architecture feature is currently available in many petascale HPC systems worldwide. Both IBM Power7 processors available in Power775 (IH) and IBM Power A2 processors available in Blue Gene/Q are built upon 4-way simultaneous multithreaded cores. It should be also mentioned that multithreading is predicted to be one of the leading features of future exascale systems available by the end of next decade [1].
Download paper: PDF
Title: Selection of a Unified European Application Benchmark Suite
Authors: J. Mark Bulla*, Andrew Emersonb
aEPCC, University of Edinburgh, King's Buildings, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JZ, UK.
bCINECA, via Magnanelli 6/3, 40033 Casalecchio di Reno, Bologna, Italy
Abstract: This White Paper reports on the selection of a set of application codes taken from the existing PRACE and DEISA application benchmark suites to form a single Unified European Application Benchmark Suite (UEABS).
The selected codes are: QCD, NAMD, GROMACS, Quantum Espresso, CP2K, GPAW, Code_Saturne, ALYA, NEMO, SPECFEM3D, GENE, and GADGET.
Download paper: PDF


text:
Lost and Lonely Soul
I've been pushed aside by my own peers, bullied, picked on and tormented for no reason at all, so now I roam the streets alone, like a lost and lonely soul.
The cowardly acts and repetition of words, eventually get into my head, and it all starts to make sense for some reason. It becomes a painful reality, doubting myself, my existence, wondering what is going to become of me.
What is the meaning of life, I start thinking to myself as I take my last breaths, and a million things run through my mind, all while my life flashes before my eyes. "Why are people so cruel", I can say that I've made my fair share of bad choices and mistakes, but am I really that different.
Is there anything I could've changed or done differently, in this inevitable truth that I'm in, cause I'm like a ghost now. It's like I don't exist at all, cause even when people make eye contact they avoid me, going around me like I'm crazy, disfigured or have a contagious disease.
I look and stare into the mirror, searching from head to toes, inch by inch for any signs or defects on me. I don't see any, so I start drowning my sorrows and pain away, on anything that I can get my hands on.
Cut and frayed I've been hanging on by a thread, and it's ready to break at any moment, sadly not a single person seems to care.
Living life on the edge, I've been in and out of trouble, playing with fire and knowing that I'm going to get burnt. I can smell it in the air, it's only a matter of time, cause I feel the ground shaking, and it's caving in right under my feet.
Anxious, nervous, and depressed, I take comfort in my room, and it becomes my refuge, caged in eventually I feel like I'm going crazy.
My thoughts start to dominate me, I'm losing control of my mind, and my thinking is all out of wack. They keep telling me it's all in my head, to stop making things up, to see a doc, and take my pills, if only they knew.
The walls start closing in, a frightening feeling looms in the room, everything turns a dismal pitch black, and darkness becomes my friend.
I see the valley of death in my sight, and my worst fears are coming to a head, as the saint of death walks in my shadow. I stand alone but who knows for how long, so I've got my finger on the trigger cause I'm hearing footsteps thumping and closing in behind me.
My vision is blurry and the voice is calling out my name, I've got one foot in the door and a candle lights up the room, my name is next in line but not written in stone yet.
There is a cross hanging around my neck, I'm sending out an S.O.S. "someone, somebody please come to my rescue". The pain is to much to bear, is there anybody out there, anybody willing to save a lost and lonely soul.
Written by:
Ricardo R Gonzalez


text:
By cburrell613 on
very informative↓
By buggoff on
This is dead on…↓
By tlogroove on
This is all so true.↓
By chasey88 on
isnt she the same person that teaches the british accent ?↓
By heloise9 on
I just ended an almost seven year long relationship yesterday. Over the
past year, I started wearing my jewelry less and less, and finally, not at
all. He pulled away non-verbally in so many ways. I ended it, but this
video helps me realize he helped end things with his behavior as well.
Thanks for such an informative video.↓
By EastLaDrunkPunx on
me and my gf are inlove with eachother =] but one of her friends just keeps
trying snd trying to get with my gf, he tells her he wants her, he needs
her and idk what else, iv only met the guy once. she ses she'll never cheat
and that she loves me, but this guys pissing me off.. what should i do!!!!
(she already told him their just friends and she sees him as a friend but
he keeps trying.. should i just handle his ass?)↓
By guidopwr56 on
you need to establish your presence as the alpha fucking male. and beat the
shit outa him.↓
By thagunshow on
she wants a little attention, or else she would have stopped talking to
that guy, the probles is with your girl. She should not talk to him at all
anymore. That simple, and if the guy is the one that persist. then thats
when you come in.↓
By heloise9 on
Hi paralyzer1111. Actually, I have moved on well. I was in terrible pain
after ending it, and briefly tried again because I was in such pain. But as
soon as I decided to get back together, I instantly felt trapped again.
Despite the pain, I felt freed of this burden my relationship had become.
Our relationship had basically been over for 2 years, and we just didn't
want to go through the pain of breaking up. I would tell my friends during
the last two years that I basically felt like single.↓
By heloise9 on
If you want to try and save things, then talk to him now rather than later.
I talked to my ex; he never listened. If it already feels over, then it
probably is, and someone needs to step up and admit it. I've since moved
on, which seems like a rebound, but after a sexless relationship of two
years, I knew I was ready to date. I am far happier and realize the
intimacy my former relationship lacked. I feel like I have learned and
grown from it. The grass can be be greener, and in my case, it is.↓
By Cori McCullough on
I have to disagree. If she tells him the facts and he won't stop, ok, maybe
she should stop talking to him, but if he is cool and respects her answer,
why not be friends,..but i know what you mean, i was in a similar situation
with my boy friend,..with a few differences,… remember.. it takes two,
..I was not so lucky. I walked in on something i didnt want to walk in on.↓
By Cori McCullough on
I can so relate.↓
By Jason Wilson on
ok my gf is realy starting to scar me…..i mean that shes been talking to
this guy (on my phone no less) and the way he talks makes me sick ( the
first night they started talking him and his friend were talking about out
of the two of them which one she would fuck first) and when i heard that i
wanted to track him down and fuck him up but anyway….the reason im scared
is the more they talk the more she seems to like him and she was tallking
to him yesterday↓
By Jason Wilson on
thanks but i dont have to worry anymore because i beat the shit outta them
yesterday so it was a christmas present to…..piece if mind….and whats
more is she dont care lol↓
By Jeremy Ward on
Ive noticed this from my girlfriend 🙁 And i try to give her space whilst
letting her know my feelings. She also doesnt seem to want to talk with me
as much and Im the one trying to get the contact :(. Im so scared I love
her so much…what have I done to mess things up so badly :'(. She used to
say she loved me so much and was so sure of it :'(↓
By STINGRULES91 on
I was with my girlfriend for nearly 2 years , i fought she was the one and
last year in may we split up , which was my fault….ever since that day i
have regretted it , tried to move on , but the ppl i got with cudnt quite
fil the gap , and now i want her back more than ever and i have told her im
willing to do anything but she still cant trust me ….any advise on what
to do..i cant move on its impossible , my heart is fixed on her, shes my
By RJ N on
My boyfriend doesn't like it when I hug him, or tease him, or try to kiss
him while he's doing anything.. Sometimes he pushes me away or threatens to
hit me.. & it bothers me.. coz I like doing that, I like being touchy.↓
By 1975dze on
@jwardmagic07 Yeah, they (whichever gender is doesn't matter in this
context) make you believe that they love you so intensely, you fall in
their trap and boom all of a sudden they leave you without saying a word as
if you are a robot. They treat you like a piece of thrash don't they? What
kind of a game is this? Sorry, but my definition of love is quite
different. Please do not worry, you have done nothing wrong. Inconsistent
and confused people do not bother me anymore …↓
By Berry Lawrence on
By BunnyGoreChainSaw on
My guy wants his space 🙁 he has'nt talk to me for two days :'( he told me
he was mad at me and im to clening and stuff *sigh* I do so much for him
and im buying him a plain ticket to come an see me↓
By Esha Rohmatun on
Hi! thanks for this useful video. By the way, I notice lots of people keep
on talking about relationship course called Melterize Man's Heart (search
on google), but I'm not sure if it's good. Have you ever tried Melterize
Man's Heart? I have heard several extraordinary things about it and my
cousin finally re ignite passion and romance in her relationship using it,
but she refuses to tell me: (↓
By Haley Trevizo on
man that was pretty good! she actually helped me realize that I've been
doing a lot of those things.. just trying to figure out how to get back on
track and resolve things↓
By Sree Lakshmi on
me and my husband always used to fight for many reasons which every married
people can understand 🙂 . There was lots of misunderstanding because there
was no objective proof and all our fights were random. Accidently, I saw an
iPhone app called "HubbyTrack" by lokesh hanumappa. It is really great
because it brings some measurements which cannot be argued further. Now, My
husband is also using "wifetrack" by lokesh. Now we really make fun of each
other. Tools can? really help 🙂↓
By Actor Kris Mavericko on
Meet a guy who knew When & How to walk away from a Relationship. Here's why:
Act: RELATIONSHIPS – Why I BROKE UP and WALKED AWAY Part 1 [Actor Kris
By satya narayana on
Thanks a lot for this wonderful video!
I was fighting with my spouse every day and it was affecting my children.
my ex-friend asked me to use this "wifetrack" mobile app which helps to
record and report all behaviors of the spouse which can be discussed and
this brought in lots of factual discussions and avoided all imaginary
I am lot more happy now!↓
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.


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text:
Wow – I've hiked Arches, I've been hit by an 18-wheeler in Atoka, Oklahoma, I've ordered a steak in Lincoln, Nebraska, I've been photographed in a cowboy hat in the Badlands, I've scoured the Little Bighorn battlefield, and the Memphis pyramid and St. Louis arch are overly familiar landmarks for me, but somehow in all my travels across this country I seem to have missed Kansas City – postminimalism capitol of the world – until this week. I was down there lecturing at the conservatory at UMKC (Mikel Rouse, alumnus) and hearing the newEar ensemble play my Chicago Spiral, and most of all scoping out the place with my co-director David McIntire for next year's minimalism conference. What a clean, affluent looking city! Fountain city of America, boasting more big fountains than any world city beside Rome, and they were everywhere. I had no idea there was an art museum as impressive as the Kemper between Philadelphia and California south of Chicago. But what excited me most was the enthusiasm for minimalism and its offshoots at UMKC, and the expert grad-student/faculty crew David has assembled to get things rolling.
We've got grad student Jedd Schneider, singer and musicologist, who's written an analytical paper on M.C. Maguire's A Short History of Lounge, and whose contribution to the conference will be a paper on the operas of Michael Gordon. We've got Scott Unrein, the Harold Budd of the midwest, who keeps coming up with minimalist CDs I didn't know existed. We've got pianist Andy Lee, who's playing music by Bill Duckworth. We've got musicologist Andrew Granade, who's writing a book on how Harry Partch's hobo years, and the image of the hobo in American culture, influenced Partch's music. Most amazing of all, the UMKC conservatory has a brand-new dean, conductor Peter Witte (only three weeks on the job), who reads my blog (hi, Peter!) and who knew about this conference even before he applied for the job, and who's fully committed to it. What a cast. And David and I are such Virgil Thomson freaks (he's promised to show me the great man's grave an hour north of KC) that we joked all week about how we were going to slip a panel about Virgil onto the program.
I also met amazing electronic composer/motorcycle enthusiast Paul Rudy, whom students had raved about to me, and who shares my penchant for native American spirituality. Paul makes incredibly beautiful music from musical tones and environmental sounds of widely varying recognizability, and I've uploaded his CD-length work In lake'ch* (Mayan for "I am another yourself") to PostClassic Radio. Paul and I devoutly agreed that there's no line between art and entertainment, and that all good art is entertaining – though he holds the theory, which impressed me, that art = entertainment + ambiguity; in other words, if it's completely unambiguous, it's merely entertainment, but the more ambiguity you add in, the more the listener has to mentally participate to parse what's going on, the more it becomes art. I like it.
And so now I'm so charged up that it kills me that the conference is still a year away. We're featuring Charlemagne Palestine, Tom Johnson, my old friend Robert Carl (keynote speaker, having freshly completed a book on In C), and Mikel Rouse. I spend a lot of time feeling like my view of music is a minority within a minority within a minority, but some of my gigs out there in the heartland lately have made me think that, actually, much of America and I are right in sync, and it's only the dying Northeast that's nostalgically gazing into the past. We talked a lot all week about how, if you're a composer who made out like a bandit in the world of orchestral modernism, then of course you cling to modernism with all your might. But if you didn't really make it in that world – and a lot of those composers ended up out west in KC and other less visible places – you just shrug, move on, and stay abreast of the times. As Paul Rudy said, "We're going through a big paradigm shift, and I want to be on the front end of that shift, not the back end." Amen to that. Still, also at UMKC are orchestral star Chen Yi and high-tech composer Jim Mobberley, whom David credits with for department's incredibly open-minded aesthetic attitudes. There was also independent KC composer Brad Fowler (hi Brad!), whose music I haven't heard yet, but look forward to. Suffice it to say that for a few days I was surrounded by simpatico aesthetic allies, a situation I could never get here in the Hudson Valley. I felt more at home than I have in years. This minimalism conference is going to be an incredible trip.
*By the way, I've also been adding other new music to PostClassic Radio lately by Joseph Pehrson, Stephen Scott's Bowed Piano Ensemble, Rodney Sharman, Carl Stone, the Rara Avis Duo, Mark Hagerty, Guy Klucevsek, Cynthia Folio, James Tenney, and Bernard Gann. If you haven't listened lately, lots o' new content.


text:
LOSEC Extra Tablets 20mg 14
PM - Pharmacy Medicine
Customer Declaration: I agree to use strictly as directed and if symptoms persist or if I suffer any adverse effects, I will contact my Doctor or Pharmacist. This is a "Pharmacy Medicine". By ordering this product I acknowledge that I have read and understand the information regarding the product.
Losec is used for the relief of reflux-like symptoms – heartburn or regurgitation. Heartburn is an acidic or burning feeling, rising up from the stomach towards the throat. The pain of heartburn, which is usually associated with acid regurgitation (reflux), can be caused or made worse by eating large meals, bending over or lying flat, and by hot, alcoholic or acidic drinks such as orange juice.
Losec works by decreasing the amount of acid made by the stomach, giving relief from acid reflux symptoms. If you suffer from acid reflux more than once a week, Losec may be right for you. However, if you have reflux every day you should see your pharmacist or doctor.
Losec does not stop food being digested in the normal way.
The symptoms below are not usually signs of acid reflux:
See your pharmacist or doctor if you experience any of these symptoms.
Active Ingredients:
Use of Losec should not be prolonged except on medical advice.


text:
As seen in WSJ - Lessons from the Cognitive Front Lines: Early Adopters of IBM's Watson
By Welltok Marketing
IBM's Watson is one of the most appealing new technologies of the 21st century, and the most prominent example of the new category of "cognitive computing." It burst upon the scene with a dramatic Jeopardy! win in 2011, and has now been adopted by a variety of business and health-care organizations since then.
For several months I have been speaking with the firms and organizations that signed on to Watson deals at a relatively early stage. Since most of the earliest adopters of the technology were health-care organizations, I'll focus on that industry in this column. The organizations I interviewed include Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) and University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC), Mayo Clinic, Welltok Inc., (developer of the CaféWell Health Optimization Platform), LifeLearn (a Canada-based veterinary products and services company), and a health insurance company that chose to remain anonymous. These organizations have different official relationships with Watson (for example, MSKCC is a partner/co-developer, MDACC is a customer, and LifeLearn and Welltok are Watson ecosystem partners), but it's safe to say that all of these early adopters were partners in the sense of providing critical domain knowledge to early Watson implementations.
Watson is groundbreaking. The people I interviewed (most of whom were overseers of their organization's Watson projects) were uniformly enthusiastic about the technology - in some cases even after several years working with it. Dr. Mark Kris, the MSKCC oncologist who has led that institution's Watson project since 2012, commented that, "It's been a lot more complex, and taken a lot more time, than we had thought. But this is the way medicine is going to be practiced." Jeff Margolis, the chairman and CEO of Welltok, says about the power behind his company's "CaféWell Concierge app powered by Watson," that, "Watson learns quickly from the corpus [body of knowledge that informs its recommendations] and doesn't forget. It has spatial awareness and temporal understanding. It's an amazing technology." Dr. Steve Alberts, who is leading a Watson project at the Mayo Clinic that matches patients with clinical trials, said that, "It's amazing how much unstructured and structured knowledge Watson can pick up on."
The "Moon Shots" don't happen quickly. Several of the early Watson implementations were "moon shots" - highly ambitious and complex projects that would be difficult to accomplish using any technology. MSKCC's attempt to train Watson to know how to treat lung cancer, and MDACC's work to help improve the quality of care for cancer patients with no access to cancer specialists (starting with a solution for acute leukemia), certainly qualify for this term. MDACC actually referred to its project as a moon shot, as its goal was to build a virtual expert called MD Anderson Oncology Expert Advisor (or OEA) that is trained to not only support guideline-based and expert-recommended therapy decisions, but also share MD Anderson specialist's experience in managing a specific type of cancer patient to maximize treatment benefits and improve outcome. In other words, it aims to share both the clinical evidence as well as the "art" of cancer care.
It's not surprising that these difficult projects have taken a while to implement. MSKCC started working on its project in February of 2012, and it's still going (although IBM has already made Watson Oncology Advisor based on MSKCC's training available to hospitals in Thailand and India). In a way such projects will never be finished, as new knowledge and published content on cancer is always being published. Watson can continue to learn over time, which makes it a good technology for this purpose.
However, some organizations may quake a bit at undertaking similar moon shots. Ambition takes time. "People ask me why it takes Watson a few years to learn oncology," said Mike Rhodin, the head of IBM's Watson business unit. "But I ask them how long does it take a human to learn it? The oncology leaders we are working with have spent decades learning what they know, so a few years for Watson seems reasonable."
It's not just about the technology. In the early stages of these Watson implementations, the focus is on making the technology work. But that is only the beginning of the organizational and business changes necessary for cognitive technologies to support substantial transformation.
As Dr. Lynda Chin, who led the Watson-based project at MDACC, put it in an email:
An application like OEA cannot deliver on its intended impact of improving patient outcomes worldwide without addressing the necessary network infrastructure, security and regulatory controls, data sharing/access/use contracts, and reimbursement, not to mention the culture of medicine and clinical adoption. Only through addressing these non-technical challenges, we will be able to translate a piece of technology, like OEA, into impact. That is what separates an innovation from a transformation…that is what makes it a moon shot.
Early adopters pay an adaptation price and hope to reap some rewards. There is a price to be an early adopter of any technology, and Watson is no exception. In this case, the system has to be adapted to each new industry and knowledge domain in which it's employed. It had to learn the structures of knowledge in oncology, veterinary medicine, wellness, and so forth.
"Our researchers had an intuitive understanding of clinical trials. But when the IBM engineers were putting the knowledge into Watson, they had to ask for many clarifications and clearer wording," said Mayo Clinic's Dr. Alberts." We realized our eligibility criteria were sometimes a bit ambiguous."
Clarifying all this takes a while, of course. But the early adopters hope to reap some rewards, either monetary or reputational. Certainly it will be easier for later adopters to employ Watson in these fields.
Watson needs to be trained. A related early adopter issue is that Watson needs to be trained. Dr. Kris at MSKCC, and Dr. Chin at MDACC, said that training Watson is not unlike training a human medical student. "It's an apprenticeship form of training that takes years - there are lots of subtleties that Watson has to learn," said Dr. Kris.
At MD Anderson, Watson programmers shadowed leukemia clinicians to understand how they talk and think. In the veterinary context, James Carroll, the CEO of LifeLearn, said that, "We had to start the process with teaching Watson what a dog was." But training Watson to be a vet seems to be a bit faster than creating an artificially intelligent medical student; Mr. Carroll notes: "In about five months, we've taught Watson the approximate curriculum equivalent of a four-year veterinary medical degree. But we're not stopping there."
Again, the training costs are clearly higher for those who go first in a particular field.
The corpus can be problematic. One of Watson's most well-known capabilities involves ingesting and digesting a "corpus" - a body of textual knowledge from which it can learn to make inferences. In areas where there is a well-established body of written knowledge, this can be pretty straightforward. Some vendors of information services - LifeLearn, for example, works with Wiley and Elsevier, and Thomson Reuters is also supplying online content to Watson - are making this ingestion process much easier.
But the problem comes when the needed knowledge isn't in the corpus. Dr. Kris at MSKCC comments: "We had three drugs approved in lung cancer this year. None of them are in the literature yet. And definitions of cancer and its variations are being redefined all the time as we understand the biological characteristics of each one. The science is changing more rapidly than the published literature."
So it's not just a matter of feeding Watson some text. MSKCC and several other early adopters have had to employ human experts to create many question/answer pairs. At LifeLearn, for example, they've involved 70 veterinarians and vet technicians to create over 55,000 question/answer pairs. At MDACC, the oncology solution is designed to incorporate "expert recommendations" to address this gap between the speed knowledge advances and the time it takes to be codified into online guidelines.
Watson itself has become far more complex and capable. When these early adopters started, there was only one type of Watson - the Q&A application that won Jeopardy! But now that system is one of about 32 different "cognitive APIs" (application program interfaces) offered under the Watson banner. More are on the way.
When I asked these early adopters whether they had plans to implement additional APIs, most intended to use only a few (MDACC says they are using ten or more). A couple of organizations are particularly interested in English language dialog. MSKCC is interested in image analysis, which would be of obvious value in oncology. IBM says they make available solution architects who can help customers figure out what APIs they need. One of the first commercial Watson implementations, a treatment pre-approval application at a health insurance company, was not well suited to the Q&A application. Without some skilled architects we will probably see more mistakes in this regard.
The purpose isn't automation. None of the early Watson adopters I spoke with seemed to think that their applications would put anybody out of work. The human cancer applications at MSKCC and MDACC will advise, but not replace, oncologists.
At the Mayo Clinic, Watson will speed up the process of clinical trials matching and make clinicians and study coordinators more productive and effective at the process, but it won't eliminate their jobs. LifeLearn's Sofie will play the same role.
Dr. Kris at Memorial Sloan Kettering summed up the experience of early Watson adopters: "This is real and it's going to revolutionize cancer and other types of medical care. It's enormously complex, and we will never be finished until all cancers are cured. It's clearly going to take some time to work out. After all, it took IBM three years to beat Jeopardy! But I don't doubt at all that it will provide enormous value."
IBM's Mr. Rhodin admits that, "These cancer and health care projects are on the far end of complexity. But when we started to apply Watson to problems beyond Jeopardy!, we thought IBM could make a difference in helping to solve an important global problem, and we wouldn't do anything different today."
Thomas H. Davenport is a Distinguished Professor at Babson College, a Research Fellow at the MIT Center for Digital Business, Director of Research at the International Institute for Analytics, and a Senior Advisor to Deloitte Analytics.
Original article appeared in the Wall Street Journal on December 3, 2015.


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Dated: 28/03/2017Shri A.K. Mital,
Railway Board,
New Delhi
Dear Sir,
Sub: Procrastination of staff issues - non-fulfillment of commitments by the Railway Board - serious unrest prevailing among railway employees-intervention requested.
Federation is constrained to bring to your kind notice that the staff in almost all categories are the dissatisfied lot due to non-redressal of their genuine grievances at Railway Board's level as also non-fulfillment of commitments made in the formal meetings held with the Railway Board. The staff issues dealt in the fora of PNM, DC/JCM as well in separate meetings are continued in a stalemate position for years together without finality.
In the above context, NFIR places below the real position to impress upon the CRB that the Railway Board's failures have been causing dissatisfaction and agony among employees in general and those in safety categories in particular:
(a) Non-fulfillment of assurances/commitments:-
- Replacement of 6th CPC GP Rs. 4600 (PB-2) with GP 4800 (PB-2) for Sr. Section Engineers and other Inspectorial/Supervisory Officials in the Railways.
- Replacement of 6th CPC GP 4200/- PB-2 with GP 4600/- PB-2 for Loco Pilots (Mail/Exp).
- Stepping up of pay of Loco Inspectors inducted prior 01/01/2006 on remaining 6 1/2 Zones in Indian Railways. (Although SLPs have been dismissed by Apex Court, the Railway Board have twisted the matter and allowed stepping up of pay to the petitioners before Court, stating that the benefit allowed as" personam". (This is a clear case of blatant violation of agreement reached with Federations). NFIR's letter No. 11/95/Pt. X dated 24/01/2017 to CRB and letter dated 06/02/2017 may kindly be perused. GS/NFIR met Hon'ble MR and apprised the facts. The Hon'ble MR agreed that agreement should be honoured when Member Staff was present during discussion. The Railway Board's negative attitude has been contributing unrest among Loco Running Staff.
- Upgradation of Apex Group 'C' posts to Group 'B' (Gaz) - 3335 posts.
- Implementation of 10: 20: 20: 50 ratio for Track Maintainers in VI CPC GP 2800, 2400, 1900 and 1800 respectively (7th CPC Pay Matrix levels 5, 4, 2 & 1).
- Manning of coaches by Ticket Checking Staff - Restoration of Board's orders of 2000.
- Cadre restructuring of IT cadre staff.
- Implementation of norms for creation of posts of SSE (Signal) JE (Signal), Maintainer (Signal) etc.,
- Merger of Senior Technicians (Signal) with JE (Signal) - NFIR PNM Item No. 14/2010.
- Induction of Course Completed Act Apprentices in Safety category vacancies in GP 1800/Pay Matrix Level I
- Absorption of staff of Quasi Administrative units in Railways - Restoration of policy decision of 1973 & 1977 which was arbitrarily cancelled in the year 1997 without prior consultations with the Federations. It needs to be appreciated that quasi staff are not outsiders and IREM provisions confirm Federation's contention.
- Items pending since over five years = 22
- Items pending since over three years = 27
- Items pending sine over two years = 12
Total = 61
- Items pending since over five years = 45
- Items pending since over six years = 09
- Items pending since over seven years = 31
Total = 85
(f) MACPS issues numbering over 30 are pending with Railway Board since more than 3 years.
(g) Non-filling of vacancies (safety and other than safety categories) is causing deterioration of efficiency levels and health of existing staff who are heavily over burdened with work pressure.
NFIR therefore requests the CRB to kindly intervene for rectifying the matters to restore confidence among staff who are extremely unhappy on non-redressal of grievances and non-implementation of agreements.
Federation also conveys that further delay in sorting out the issues and implementing agreements may lead to wide spread agitation in Railways.
Yours faithfully
(Dr. M. Raghavaiah)Source: http://www.nfirindia.com
General Secretary
General Secretary


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There are varying methods and reasons for deforestation in South America; the reality is that removing trees affects the entire ecosystem and also surrounding locations. The effects of tree removal have known negative consequences and expected further devastations: to biodiversity, and soil and water quality. The landscape of the tropics is altered in order to increase economic gain, when in reality it is an unsustainable source of income and devastating to the globe.
Methods and Their Effects
There are many methods by which humans have developed to destruct the rainforest. The most commonly used methods are; slash and burn, selective logging, Clear-cut logging and, intensive agriculture, such as banana plantations. Asides from natural disasters the methods of removing forests have human-induced reasoning, usually resulting with some sort of capital gain. Though patches of forest have been cut down for different farming purposes for hundreds of years, it is not until recently that we have seen such massive destruction to the forests.
Slash-and-burn is the most widespread and ancient form of deforestation. The distinct quality of this method is the quick clearing of the forest with fire for agricultural purposes, followed by the cultivation of the land until all nutrients have been depleted. Farmers cut down trees and vegetation growing in the region, establishing the slash part of the process. Drying out the land is the next part; this usually takes place prior to the rainy season. Farmers may choose to add extra slashed fragments again after burning, to increase the fertility of the soil (Cornell).
Today slash-and-burn agriculture is mostly practiced in the tropical region. If practiced sustainably it can provide an inexpensive method of food production for a relatively overpopulated region of the earth. When executed properly slash-and-burn agriculture leaves a variety of the large trees in place that may or may not bear fruits or nuts. This imitates natural disasters and is therefore helpful for regeneration as opposed to mono-crop agriculture found in most northern countries.
Slash-and-burn, in its widespread use, is not always practiced sustainably. A lack of knowledge about the existent soil, climate and ecosystem tends to produce poor farming skills. Furthermore, if this method is not practiced properly in regions such as the Amazon forest it is popular for farmers to move to another location after exhausting one area. This is seen today where thousands of acres of forest canopy have been removed, and trees, millions of years old, are being destroyed.
Another method of deforestation is selective logging. It is considered a more sustainable means of tree removal over simple clear-cutting: here only certain targeted trees are cut down, leaving the remainder intact. The trees have to be a certain size and only a specific amount of trees are allowed to be cut down, permitting existing wildlife habitats to remain moderately stable. The assumption that regulated and controlled selective logging does not disrupt the majority of nature is offset with: "a new satellite survey of the Amazon Basin in Brazil reveals that every year unregulated selective logging of mahogany and other hardwoods destroys an area of pristine rainforest big enough to cover the state of Connecticut." These findings suggest that regulations are perhaps not being met (Shwartz).
Clear-cutting is the most vicious and devastating technique of deforestation: it is the clearing of all trees and vegetation in a specific region, to be converted to farmland or infrastructure. On occasion, there is not a specific use for the trees cut down. Clear-cutting affects the surrounding environment: it is responsible for the removal of entire forest canopies, destroying the habitat of thousands of biological diversity. Soil erosion, as seen in the Amazon, is included in the effects of clear-cutting. The Amazon soil is tightly bound by tree roots, which when removed exposes the soil to heavy rains. Soil is then carried to nearby rivers and streams causing irreparable damage to the quality of water and its aquatic life. Drinking water is also derived from the polluted waterway, for much of the surrounding population. Figure 2.2.1 (2) reveals the input of silt into the waterways, through soil erosion in the Amazon.
Finally, the method of intensive agriculture is characterized by economic pressures for increased crop yields. This method is practiced on relatively small plots of land that are highly controlled. Fertilizers, insecticides and, ploughing machinery are used in order to maintain the high efficiency. The resulting amounts of crop yielding from this extreme method usually necessitate a relatively small amount of land. Unfortunately, in order to cover the costs of the heavy machinery, fertilizers and pesticides, the farmers are encouraged to farm on larger plots.
Causes and Their Reasons
There are many reasons for humans to cut down forests; the majority are concerned with making a profit. The last several centuries have experienced a massive population growth all over the world. The demand for nearly every product on the market, and new ones, has increased exponentially. New large-scale companies, especially those driven by the government, view this as a means of gaining capital and reducing national debt. Governments therefore allow for such massive destruction of forests for agriculture, space to build infrastructure for manufacturing goods, and the straight sale of timber. All this is made accessible by the construction of roads throughout large forested areas, previously unavailable by foot. The largest and most devastating cause of deforestation in the Amazon forest is cattle ranching: between 2000 and 2005 approximately sixty percent of all deforestation resulted from it (Butler 3). The rainforest may contain some of the world's secrets in regards to medicine, but due to the years of research and funding required – with no guaranteed results – governments would prefer to utilize the forest's other resources. The rainforest is mined for its rich minerals and dams are built for hydroelectricity, both of which provide jobs for the inhabitants and boost the countries' economies.
Biodiversity Extinction
Throughout history fossil records of many animals have helped shape several scientific theories of mass extinction due to global catastrophes. Today, the pace at which humans are destroying the world's natural habitat is causing extinction at a rate comparable to that of the historic natural disasters.
The Amazon rainforest is home to some of the most diverse and rarest species on the planet. A few of these species exist only in one type of tree, not to be found anywhere else in the world (Butler 2). With this understanding, the reality of the amount of trees being removed without account of these site-specific species is devastating to rainforest biodiversity. Aside from the small insects living within the trees' canopies, there are countless land-dwelling animals that require the forest in order to survive. Though deforestation may not kill them directly, there is proof that many are endangered and extinct by the encompassing effects of tree removal.


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Oh goodness. It's so ridiculously cold outside this week. All it takes is frigid temps like these to make me hibernate and cook at home. Osso Buco is one of my tried and true winter weather meals to make on a Sunday. I start it mid-morning and let it simmer in the slow cooker, with the aroma wafting throughout the house all day long.
Make this dish for someone you want to impress. You will not be disappointed. The recipe makes 4-6 servings, depending on whether or not you have additional side dishes. I served up the leftover Osso Bucco on top of spaghetti squash for the following night's dinner. Awesome.
Veal shanks can be hard to find. I get mine from my trusted butcher shop, Clancey's Meats, in the Linden Hills neighborhood. Clancey's always seems to have what I'm looking for, the staff is pleasant and knowledgeable, and the products are sourced from local farms. It matters to me where our meat comes from.
Osso Buco
Adapted from Cooking Light Slow Cooker Cookbook, 2004
2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. black pepper
2 large veal shanks (about 2 inches thick)
1-2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 heaping cup of chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup dry white wine (I like Sauvignon Blanc)
14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1 Tbsp. fresh rosemary, chopped (plus additional sprigs for plating)
In a shallow baking dish, combine the flour and black pepper. Add the veal shanks and coat all sides of shanks with flour mixture.
In a large Dutch oven or nonstick skillet, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Brown shanks on all sides and place in a slow cooker.
Add the vegetables (carrots-garlic) to the Dutch oven and cook for approximately 5 minutes. Add the wine and scrape the browned bits from bottom of pan. Cook for 1-2 minutes.
Add the vegetable mixture to the slow cooker. Add the diced tomatoes, Kosher salt, bay leaf, freshly ground pepper, and 1 Tbsp. fresh rosemary.
Cook the Osso Buco for 6-7 hours on high heat in the slow cooker. Discard the bay leaf before plating with fresh rosemary sprigs. Osso Buco can be served on top of noodles or mashed potatoes, but popovers or crusty bread with butter are my sides of choice.


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Crass PR simply not working on Americans
Steve Watson
December 23, 2013
Barack Obama will today "enroll" in the Affordable Care Act, just hours before the new insurance deadline, and just hours after CNN released a fresh survey indicating that a record high number of Americans hate it.
NBC News White House reporter Kristen Welker reported today that before the day is out, Obama will take time out of his important 17 day vacation in Hawaii to "sign up" for the Affordable Health Care Act.
NBC's @kwelkernbc reports that by the end of the day, President Obama will have signed up for health care.
— Shawna Thomas (@ShawnaNBCNews) December 23, 2013
Thomas noted that it is not clear as to why Obama would have to enroll in the program given that the president and all White House staff are already covered through the Federal Employee's Health Benefits Program.
But it's unclear why POTUS needs to sign up through an exchange since he should be covered by the Federal Employee's Health Benefits Pgm.
— Shawna Thomas (@ShawnaNBCNews) December 23, 2013
Of course, the answer to this complex conundrum is that this is just another bullshit PR stunt from the White House in an effort to offset the vast rejection of Obamacare by Americans.
CNN reports that a CNN/ORC International survey released Monday indicates that Sixty-two percent of voters say they now oppose Obamacare, up four points from November.
An additional sixty-three percent say they believe the new law will increase the amount of money they personally pay for medical care. This "may not be a good sign for a law known as the 'Affordable Care Act.' CNN notes.
Only 16 percent believe that the new healthcare law will have any benefit for them, with 42 percent saying they will be worse off. A further 35% do not believe that they will be able to keep the same doctor under the new law.
The ACA rollout has been an unmitigated disaster for the Obama administration. Despite claiming to have enrolled half a million Americans in December, the total number of those who have signed up is nowhere near the projected figure needed to make it a financially viable program.
The shambolic handling of ACA rollout in the last three months now has insiders admitting that 2013 has been the worst year of Obama's presidency.
Steve Watson is the London based writer and editor for Alex Jones' Infowars.com, and Prisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham, and a Bachelor Of Arts Degree in Literature and Creative Writing from Nottingham Trent University.
Also, make sure to get your boost of zinc and pregnenolone today with The Real Red Pill now at 60% off!


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By Gerald P. ("Jerry") Burleson, Member of the California Bar, and Robert Kaufman, Senior Law Student, University of San Diego School of Law
The board of directors of a corporation is responsible for managing the business and affairs of the corporation. Cal.Corp.Code §300(a). While the board of directors may delegate the management of the day-to-day operations to the corporate officers, the board retains the power to make the major decisions of the corporation, such as electing or removing officers, authorizing the issuance of securities, declaring dividends, and deciding all transactions between the corporation and its directors, officers or shareholders. Id.
Director actions are generally made through resolutions adopted at board meetings or by unanimous written consent of the directors. §307(b). In order to adopt a resolution at a board meeting, the board must have a quorum, meaning that a majority of the authorized number of directors must be present. §307(a)(7). Directors may participate in a meeting by being physically present or through the use of a conference telephone or video screen, either of which allow those members to be counted toward the quorum requirement. §307(a)(6). With the exception of board decisions on the indemnification of a director for litigation costs, directors with personal or financial interests in a matter before the board can be counted in determining the presence of a quorum, even if that director is disqualified from voting on the matter in question. §317(e)(1); §310(c).
Once a quorum is present at a board meeting, the directors participating in the meeting may vote on a matter before them and usually all that is required for the adoption of an action is a simple majority of the directors present. The corporate articles may require more than a simple majority vote to pass a resolution, but any act of the board must be passed by at least a simple majority of the directors present in order to be adopted. §204(a)(5); §307(a)(8). In California, a board may continue to meet and vote on an action after one or more of the board members have departed the meeting, even if such departures reduce the number of directors present to less than a quorum, as long as a quorum was initially present at the beginning of the meeting. §307(a)(8). However, any action or resolution voted on in the absence of a quorum still requires approval by at least a majority of the initial quorum required for the meeting. Id.
In a situation where a director has a financial or personal interest in a matter before the board, the board may adopt the resolution so long as the material facts as to that director's interest in the transaction are fully disclosed to the board and the transaction is "just and reasonable" as to the corporation at the time it is authorized. §310(a)(2), (3). If a majority of the board present and approving the transaction is disinterested, then there is a presumption of fairness and the person challenging the transaction has the burden of proving either inadequate disclosure or that the transaction was not just and reasonable to the corporation. Friedman, Cal. Practice Guide: Corporations ¶ 6:223.3. An interested director can vote or participate in a transaction in which he or she has a personal or financial interest, and that director's vote will be counted if necessary for approval of the transaction. However by participating in the vote, if the transaction is later challenged, the burden shifts to the interested director or other person asserting the validity of the transaction to prove that the transaction was "just and reasonable" to the corporation at the time the resolution was passed. §310(a)(3); Sammis v. Stafford (1996) 48 CA4th 1935, 1944.
A director's decision to abstain from voting on a resolution is not the same as a director recusing himself from a matter before the board. Abstention is "the withholding of a vote," whereas recusal is the "[r]emoval of oneself as judge or policy-maker in a particular matter, esp. because of a conflict of interest." Black's Law Dictionary (8th ed. 2004). "Abstention focuses on the final decision, where recusal usually entails withdrawing from the entire proceeding." Neb. Atty.Gen.Op. No. 05007 (April 12, 2005). To abstain is to refrain from voting, meaning that an abstaining member's vote is not counted in favor of or against the action, but that member's presence can be counted towards the existence of a quorum. §310(c); Friedman, Cal. Practice Guide: Corporations ¶ 6:223.1. If a director recuses himself from participation in a particular matter, that director cannot vote on the action and should remove himself from the meeting when his transaction comes up for discussion. Kenneth B. Davis, Jr., Approval by Disinterested Directors, Journal of Corporation Law, 20 J.Corp.L. 215 (Winter 1995). In situations where a director recuses himself from a vote, that director cannot be counted for the presence of a quorum, however under California law any actions voted on after the departure of that director may still be passed as long as a majority of the initial quorum approves the action. §307(a)(8). For example, if a corporation has 7 directors and 4 are present at the meeting, if one director recuses himself and departs the meeting, the meeting can continue, but for an action to be adopted it will require 3 votes in favor, which was the majority of the initial quorum of 4 required for the meeting to be held. Id. Therefore, in California, a director's characterization of his or her decision not to vote on a resolution as -an abstention or as a recusal should not have a practical effect on the number of votes required to approve a board action.


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© GQ Images
Her vehement agreement in bed isn't necessarily validation of your skills. She could be faking it because in all likelihood you're not that good. You need to be the kind of impressive that makes it to her group chat. How much would you pay to be that good? Rs. 64 lakhs for a kilogram of the world's most exclusive aphrodisiac, Himalayan Viagra. That's roughly Rs.6430 for a gram. More than you're average gram of blow and you're going to need more than a g to get the job done.
In case you're wondering why you've never heard of it - well, when have we ever cared about anything good on this planet till it's almost gone? That's right the cure to your fading virility is rapidly disappearing. Locally known as Yarsagumba, this potent (pun intended) aphrodisiac is associated with myths both urban and historical. This unique stimulant is literally the stuff of legends. It was apparently first discovered when local herders noticed that yaks (A Himalayan beast of burden) that grazed on it suddenly felt a surge in energy.
This is what it looks like:
According to researchers it's decreased supply is due to a massive demand for it from China. Probably thanks to the Chinese runner who is said to have consumed it and broken two world records while on it.
Himalayan Viagra or Yarsagumba is technically a medley of caterpillar and fungus (not the first thing you think of as the driving force to a boosted libido). Among its many magical properties, the Chinese claim that the 'herb' can actually cure impotence. Not to mention research on the herb have substantiated many of it's amazing properties. The locals have been consuming it for quite sometime now by mixing it with tea or adding it to dishes such as 'roasted duck belly'. But that's probably until they figured out what it could fetch in the market. Economics lesson 101: sex sells.
Still not convinced that the combination of fungus and caterpillar are worth the price tag? The hunt for it alone takes about one month for the locals who pack food and supplies and stay in the highest altitudes for weeks to find it. It's only found in a very small window of time during the summers. You'll probably need some of the miracle stuff to make the climb itself so abandon such thoughts because you may not make it back. Aside from it's gross inaccessibility, the process in which it is formed is a fairly infrequent occurrence in nature.
Biologically, the Yarsagumba is only formed when a ghost moth larvae is infected by a specific type of fungus. So rare is it that there's more chances of you getting lucky and consequently infected than a ghost moth larvae. On average, it's only a few centimetres long and resembles a pencil or a small hook. Don't let the appearance fool you - the chemical combination of the herb, which includes several rare natural combinations of fatty acids is a proven concoction of sexual wonder. Apparently, size doesn't matter.
While the Chinese are clamouring for it, the Buddhists in the hills call it a sin to pluck the herb, terming it as actually 'cursed'. While the locals will make the climb for you, even getting your hands on it otherwise isn't exactly easy. One of the known sources, however, are Caterpillar Fungus Stores (Yep, they exist) that could apparently be found in Tibet's capital Lhasa:
So in case you've already made it your life-long quest to have be a sex master - this little herb might be all you need (and a partner of course).
NOW READ: When is your partner most likely to fake an orgasm?


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Thursday, April 7, 2011
The year of the rabbit in thread and cloth
Year of the rabbit mini-quilt, 13 x 13, by Cathy Baumgartner, at Baumcat
Cathy Baumgartner created this mini-quilt with free-motion quilting. We love the simplicity of the contemplative bunny. Cathy's masterful thread sketches, including her mermaid, horse, wildlife, and bee, remind us of line drawings with a pen: the stitching is so precise, you can hardly tell it is thread !
Where the blue bunnies fish, 8 x 10, by Cathy Baumgartner at Baumcat
This entire piece is only 8" x 10" (imagine machine-quilting those tiny letters!) Click to see the detail. To see Cathy's latest rabbit quilt, visit her Baumcat blog. Finally, don't miss her gorgeous Prayer-Flag Quilt; each "flag" is stitched with a line from a beautiful Celtic prayer.
Rabbit fabrics
Row 1: Hand-screen-printed rabbits on white linen, 39 cm x 39 cm, by Swedish designer Maja Bäckström on Etsy. Row 2: White Rabbit of Inaba (Japanese watercolor fabric), 100% cotton, as seen at Superbuzzy. Row 3: Brother rabbit (Brer rabbit) linen fabric, a William Morris design, at Fabrics and Papers; other colorways can be found at Historic Style.
Alice in Wonderland, by Ophelia, at Spoonflower
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll is such a classic book ! This clever border fabric brings back the vintage 1800's Tenniel illustrations, along with the text, on a blue ombre background. The border prints and toile-style patterns come in coordinating colors.
Rabbit Fabric, 8" x 8" repeat, by Olga Nikich, at Spoonflower
Russian artist Olga Nikich has created the most dramatic rabbit pair we've ever seen in fabric. The black and white bunnies nestle together in a yin-yang configuration. We think the blocks would look great as a wallhanging, and we've been playing around with this arrangement:
The quilting-weight fabric is available in fat quarters and yards at Spoonflower, where you can also see Olga Nikich's sumptuous red queen fabric. For more of her bold, graphic designs, visit Olga's website at www.olganikich.com.
Finally, if you visit Activity Village (UK), you will find many Year of the Rabbit coloring pages which can be downloaded (they're free !)
3 comments:
I really enjoy rabbit themes (especially in spring time). These quilts & fabrics are all very sweet & charming! The black & white tessellating bunnies (ying/yang) is gorgeous! How Fun!ReplyDelete
Somedays it takes me a long time to read your posts, I click on the links and before I know it, I've clicked on several more following an interesting trail, like the prayer flag quilt and then searching out a cat related item. Everything looks so precise (as you said) it must have taken a lot of practise to get it like that, so there is hope for me yet.ReplyDelete
You do a wonderful presentation on your blog, thank you for including my thread sketches!ReplyDelete
I'm fascinated by the rabbit themed fabrics you have shown here! I am off to follow all your links!
Thanks again, Cat


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Master Chief Returns With Worldwide Launch of "Halo 4" Beginning Nov. 6
Marking the return of gaming's most iconic hero, the first chapter of a brand new "Halo" saga is the year's most anticipated video game release.
REDMOND, Wash. — April 17, 2012 — The countdown has begun for the landmark entertainment event millions of fans worldwide have been anticipating for more than four years. "Halo 4," the hotly anticipated sequel to the iconic franchise that has shaped entertainment history, will launch worldwide on Nov. 6, 2012.
"Halo 4" marks the return of legendary hero Master Chief, named by Fast Company as "one of the most popular characters in gaming history1," and aims to set a new standard for blockbuster interactive entertainment with the launch. Set four years after the events in "Halo 3," Master Chief returns to confront his destiny and face an ancient evil that threatens the fate of the entire universe. Developed by 343 Industries, "Halo 4" marks a new beginning for the landmark entertainment franchise that has sold more than 40 million games worldwide and inspired multiple New York Times best-selling novels, live-action shorts, comic books, action figures and apparel.
"We are beginning a new saga with 'Halo 4' and embarking on a journey that will encompass the next decade of 'Halo' games and experiences," said Phil Spencer, corporate vice president of Microsoft Studios. "Millions of fans worldwide have been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to step back into the boots of Master Chief, and, with 'Halo 4' leading the charge, we're confident 2012 will be the most successful year in Xbox history."
"Halo 3," the biggest consumer product launch of all time when it released in 20072, concluded the original game trilogy, but left many unanswered questions around the fates of the series' beloved hero, the Master Chief, and his artificial intelligence companion, Cortana. On Nov. 6, fans will experience the next chapter of the iconic franchise. Tonight, Conan O'Brien will help celebrate this fall's launch of "Halo 4" with a special segment on "CONAN" on TBS at 11 p.m. PDT/10 p.m. CDT. Those interested should tune in and check out http://www.teamcoco.com or follow @TeamCoco on Twitter for updates and more details.
About 343 Industries
About Xbox 360
About Microsoft
1 Source: Fast Company: Why It Feels Good To Get Inside Master Chief's Helmet


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Review: Sandos Papagayo Beach Resort, Playa Blanca, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain - September 2017.
I stayed at the Sandos Papagayo Beach Resort in September 2017, this was part of a Jet2 Holidays package holiday from Leeds. 7 nights all-inclusive on a Royal Elite basis, along with return flights from Leeds Bradford Airport, 22kg hold luggage, 10kg hand luggage and return airport transfers on Lanzarote cost £890 per person. In my opinion this was a good deal.
We stayed on a Royal Elite basis, which gave us access to two exclusive bars with premium drinks (one was adult only) and an exclusive restaurant for breakfast and dinner. We were also located in an adult only area of the hotel with a guaranteed sea view, and in fact a view towards Fuerteventura. The all-inclusive was 24 hours (one bar stayed open overnight, it was self-service beer, wine and soft drinks, as well as make your own cheese toasties!).
Our room was large, clean, air-conditioned and decorated to a stylish modern specification. It came with a large king-sized bed, balcony, free to use safe (with a deposit for the key), desk / dressing table, television, sofa. The bathroom was white and bright, very clean, with bath / shower, toilet, double sink (these were too shallow) and bidet. The room had excellent and free wi-fi, with the transmitter straight outside of our balcony.
This film features views of Playa Blanca; exterior views of the hotel; reception; the lobby; the walk to C building; a detailed inspection of room C433; the sunbathing areas; views over the sea towards Fuerteventura; Papagayo Beach; mini golf; the round building; the tunnel to accommodation blocks A,B,C and D; the lifts; the numerous bars and lounges, restaurants and swimming pools (including an adult only pool); example lunch and dinner items in the restaurants; the gym; sports courts; Papagayo Arena; excerpts from the 'We Will Rock You' musical show; the free shuttle bus to Playa Blanca beach; the journey to Playa Blanca; Playa Blanca Beach; a courtesy room in H Building (H1110) and the views.
This was an excellent hotel, the bedroom was comfortable, the food was very good, and the staff were excellent. I would definitely consider staying here again, and I would also come on a Royal Elite basis.
Would you like £15 off of your next hotel booking with Booking.com? if so please click on this link to make your booking: https://www.booking.com/s/9bbbc531
This film is a Moss Travel Media production – www.mosstravel.tv
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Thank you and bon voyage!


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Guitarist Steve Turner played with singer Mark Arm in Pearl Jam predecessors Green River before the two formed grunge pioneers Mudhoney in Seattle in 1988.
Turner was born March 28, 1965, in Houston, and studied anthropology.
He named Mudhoney's debut EP, Superfuzz Bigmuff, after his favorite effects pedals. The band also included Dan Peters (drums) and Matt Lukin (bass). Its first single, "Touch Me I'm Sick," is hailed by many as the catalyst of the grunge explosion.
Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge (1991) introduced the Hammond organ into the band's sound, which was heavily based on Turner's penchant for distorted guitar noises.
My Brother the Cow (1995) featured "Generation Spokesmodel" (RealAudio excerpt) and "Into Yer Shtik."
Tomorrow Hit Today (1998) was the band's last album before Lukin quit. Earlier this year, Mudhoney issued the compilation LP March to Fuzz.
As Mudhoney ponders their future, Turner and Arm have re-engaged their side band, the Monkeywrench, who will release Electric Children next week.
Other birthdays Tuesday: Chuck Portz (Turtles), 55; John Evan (Jethro Tull), 52; and James Atkin (EMF), 33.


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Thank you to everyone who participated in our 18th annual March for Violence-Free Communities and Speak Out!
"FARMINGTON – About 30 people, some carrying signs against violence, marched south on Main Street in the 18th annual March for Violence-Free Communities.
The annual event is organized by the local Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Services is to raise awareness of sexual assault, sexual abuse and other forms of violence.
The march was followed by a speak-out at the Old South Church, which offered a chance for those participating to talk about their thoughts on issues of violence.
University of Maine at Farmington students, local residents and law enforcement officers joined in on the march."
(Source: The Daily Bulldog)


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Completely self contained. All included. Food, drink, entertainment and a place to stay. Sail bay and the California coast during the day. Stay anchored at islands and or cities around the bay for the night.
Max six for the day. Two, possibly three for the night.
The rental comes with a USCG certified master and chief.
Steven was awesome. Super cool. We were doing a photoshoot on his Catamaran and he absolutely crushed it for us!
Steven and Debra were just amazing. We could not have wished for a better day on their boat. Exceptional is the word for this couple and their boat. We watched the race and were brought to places in the bay we did not know existed. Debra baked bread, brownies and cooked a gorgeous meal for the five of us not to mention sharing their own wine that they make in their vineyard with us. It was a dream day. We cannot speak highly enough of this experience. We will most defintely be booking with them again if they will have us......Olivia, Brian, Oliver, Bruce and Harry. Thank you Chris and BoatBound for introducing them to us.


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Ok, I've been using Elastix for some time now and would say it is great, except for the whole not always wanting to take incoming calls. I have Elastix setup with my callcentric account and everything is fine, but sometimes during the day if I call my number Elastix will say that the number is invalid, but if I wait 15 to 20 minutes later and try the call again it will go through to the PBX. Yes, Elastix is registered with my sip provider and the call does goes through, but to the error message. I doesn't make sense to me. Btw, the server is hosted in a datacenter by a company called Lylix. Help would be highly appreciated!


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Regular price $79.00
This colourful diamond check design basket was handmade by the Angel Women's Collective. Each basket can take up to three days to make depending on the complexity of the pattern.
The basket is made from 100% recyclable plastic it is strong and sturdy and is suitable for market shopping, general carry bag, beach bag...a million uses!
Purchasing this basket supports the Angels to earn a regular income.
Size 34cm x17cm x 32cm
This is a handmade product, some slight variations in size may occur.


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Date: March 12 2006 Time: 1700
The witness was riding down State Road 44 when he saw a white object in the sky. He didn't know what it was at first and it then began to get closer. When it was about 200 or 300 yards away he noticed that it was a disk. The craft began moving downward at about 30 miles per hour as if it was going down a spiral staircase. He watched it for about 5 minutes. When it was about 20 feet from the ground it disappeared.
In exactly a week he saw the same object again in Rushville. This object disappeared too. At 1930 that night he saw it again in Connersville. This time it had red and blue lights on the bottom. The disk sightings plagued the witness up to May.
Every time he saw a disk in the sky the witness felt that the aliens wanted something with him. He could not sleep on the night of March 31. He looked at his clock to see that it was 2300. About five minutes later he had a sore throat. It felt like something had been stuck down his throat. He also had a really large headache. He got out of bed to take some medicine noticing that it was 530A. Out of his window he noticed a really bright blue light in the sky. It slowly moved to the left and stopped. It disappeared about 5 seconds later.
From that night on every time he closed his eyes he would see a flying saucer or an alien being with what seemed to be a headdress and some kind of dress with squares all over it. The alien looked like it had a large head with huge eyes.
On the morning of March 26 he noticed more missing time, about 2 hours. The next morning he woke up sleeping on a tissue. The tissue could only get there if he was out of bed. The morning after he noticed a fiery object right outside his window, it disappeared 3 seconds later. He claims to see "alien faces" in the clouds.
HC addendumSource: www.ufocasebook.com
Location. Rancho Cucamonga, California
Date: July 1 2006 Time: midnight-0100A
Over the past 6 months the witness, Gary L. Grimley, had felt he was being watched through the windows of his house, always catching brief glimpses from the corner of his eyes. Motion detectors would continuously go off around the house and no one would be there.
On the above date he saw bright lights outside his house and 3 types of strange beings outside his windows. He described the beings as, # 1, small, with very small feet, large head and eyes, about 4ft tall and a milky white translucent flesh tone with a very shy demeanor, # 2, very tall, 9 to 10 feet very slim, large head and eyes, 14" feet with long toes with big toe on the opposite side of the foot, milky white translucent flesh tone, demeanor unexplainable only stares at witness, # 3, 6' tall, snout for a nose, skin is red with green spots all over, fur covered squared feet, 3 claws per foot, demeanor very stern and rather frightening.
He sat frozen in his living room while the beings were tapping at his windows, the door handles were jiggling and deadbolt locks unlocking by themselves. He called 911 and reported a prowler. The police arrived 45 minutes later, but 2minutes before they arrived all went black outside and the tapping and scurrying of feet stopped.
He called his friend to take him away from the house for the night. In the morning he returned and found strange footprints, swirled markings on his concrete driveway and large amounts of "dried chemicals" all along the side of his house. Outside the windows, deep scratch marks in the cement and circular grooves on his brand new windows. He opened the garage and found a very sticky slimy residue which resembled some sort of plasma (which is currently dissolving the concrete floor). He attempted to report this to several law enforcement agencies who ignored him. He has reported subsequent visits by the humanoids.
HC addendumSource: http://www.ufoevidence.org/sightings


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What Is Blockchain and What Does It Mean for Financial Advisers?
24/08/2018 | businesses | No Comments
Technology experts are very excited, and there has been some serious investment during 2018, so if you are a financial advisor that wants to keep up, then you will need to know the basics of blockchain technology.
In cryptocurrency language, a block is a record of new transactions, and each block is added to the chain, creating a blockchain.
It is a decentralized ledger system that tracks every change made, including who made the change. There is only one version, and it exists across multiple locations. It is accessible to all network members and records details of every transaction and alteration. So it is a decentralised, digital, public, tamper-proof record of transactions. It can be added to, but the previous information can't be changed. Cryptography links the new block with all previous blocks, and any change to the earlier blocks would render all of the following data invalid.
Information on the blockchain is publicly available. It isn't reliant on a single server, so all transactions are visible to everyone instantly. No single entity can take control of the information on the blockchain.
FT Adviser talks about the huge excitement around blockchain and its potential to revolutionise parts of the investment industry.
How Is It Important to Financial Advisers?
Not everyone is ready for new technology. There will be doubt and scepticism about the longevity of cryptocurrencies and their security, but others may not want to miss out on 'the next big thing'.
Take the time to study the technology: find out about how it might impact the market and your clients. Position yourself ahead of the competition and make sure you benefit as early as possible. Look into software such as software for IFAs available through Intelliflo.
New technology is exciting, so be sure to benefit by paying close attention, looking into software for IFAs and keeping your eye out for opportunities.
Educate Yourself
– Turn to trusted sources to obtain the best information.
– Look into opportunities thoroughly so you can spot a real opportunity and avoid scams.
– Pay attention to current visionaries on the subject. You will learn from them.
– Remember that these markets are subject to boom/bust cycles, so don't rush.
– Let your clients know that you are paying attention to the market.


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By: Shannon Ralph
I recently returned from an eighteen-day vacation with my family to the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee and the Atlantic coast of North Carolina. A wonderful time was had by all, and I have numerous stories to share from that trip. However, before I get to that, I wanted to share a little story about something to which I am fairly certain you can all relate. Something we all have encountered, regardless of our sweet, winning little personalities. No matter how much love we put out into the world—no matter how much good karma we try to rack up—we all inevitably end up with at least one person who just rubs us entirely the wrong way. Someone whose mere existence on this Earth drives us nuts. Someone we would happily avoid for the rest of our natural born lives. Yes, I too have a person like that in my life. A previous co-worker. My arch-nemesis.
I've always wanted to write a blog where I had to change the names to protect the innocent. In this case, my nemesis is far from an innocent, but for the sake of my own catty pleasure, I will change her name for anonymity purposes, regardless. Let's just call her Prissy Flutterbutt.
Prissy and I worked together several years ago and, while we were quite civil to one another, she represents everything that is vile to me in this world. Okay, that sounds a bit extreme, doesn't it? Borderline maniacal, huh? Sorry. She gets under my skin. She is one of these people who obviously has insecurities, so must make herself feel better by tearing others down. You know the type, right? She considers herself more intelligent than most of the human population, despite ever-mounting evidence to the contrary. She cuts people down in this smarmy, snarky, perfect English, I'm-better-than-you-because-see-how-witty-I-am (though I would argue that there is a distinct difference between wittiness and cruelty) sort of way. I am sure she is a perfectly pleasant human being outside of work. Okay, I am not "sure." Actually, I suspect the opposite is true, but I am trying my best to be nice here. She has friends (I think) who I am sure adore her. Just because I am not one of those people does not mean that Prissy does not deserve the respect owed to all humanity. That being said, Prissy bugs the living shit out of me.
We have not worked together in a good six years or so. Apart from a twin pregnancy, raging hormones, and morning sickness that lasted all day, she was the primary reason I quit my previous job. For the most part, when I quit the place of employment we shared, I was rid of her. For the most part. We do, however, live in the same general area of Minneapolis, so we will occasionally run into one another, much to my chagrin. The day we came home from our trip was one such occasion.
We returned home after eighteen days away to find that we had absolutely no food in the house. Because we were going to be gone for so long, we either ate or threw out anything that would spoil before we left. All that remained for us when we returned from the trip were a few Ritz crackers, three exceedingly black bananas we forgot to toss, and some stale tortilla chips. Try as I might, I could not make a dinner for my family out of those meager findings. I am not even sure Martha Stewart would be up to the task.
The kids were hungry and the following day was the fourth of July, so we knew stores would be closed. Against our collective wills, Sophie and I donned our flip-flops one last time and schlepped out to our local Super Target. Those of you who know me understand that Target is my nirvana. My oasis of calm in a crazy world. On that particular day, however, I looked like crap. The air conditioning was out at my house when we arrived home from vacation, and it was 100 degrees in the shade in Minneapolis. I was exhausted. I had driven for four days straight to get home from North Carolina (6 hours a day for four days). I had stayed in four different hotels and a condo and my brother's back bedroom over the eighteen days we were away. I had slept in a total of seven different beds. All I wanted in this world was to get in and out of Target as quickly as possible, and get home to sleep in my own bed.
Of course, fate has a way laughing at all of our desires, doesn't it? It ended up that I needed more at Target than I initially thought. Target was packed. Sophie had to pee not once, but twice. By the time I finally got to the dairy section—the last section of the store that I would be visiting on that particular day—I was just ready to get out. And who passed right by me as I was arguing with Sophie about our family's need for blue Go-gurt? That's right. Prissy Flutterbutt. I held my breath and kept on walking. She didn't see me, right? Wrong.
"Shannon Ralph!" I cringed and turned around. "Well, hello there, Shannon."
"Hi, Prissy Flutterbutt."
"How are you doing? How long has it been?"
"A loooong time." Thank you God for that, at least.
We chatted casually. She was, of course, completely put together. Dressed in a nice suit, obviously having just come from work, she did not appear to have aged a day. I looked down at myself. I was dressed in shabby capris and a tacky wrinkled t-shirt. I think it even said "Coors Light" on it. Classy, huh? My hair was wild and frizzy after two weeks' of saltwater and chlorine. My gray hairs were particularly prominent as they curled defiantly around my face. I was sweating after traipsing around Target for almost an hour. The black hairs that had erupted on my legs in the five days since I had last shaved were glaringly noticeable in the overhead flourescent lighting. I was a good thirty pounds heavier than I was when I left my previous job. In short, I looked like absolute hell. I wanted to shout, "I look good when I go to work, too!" But I am afraid that would have confirmed her suspicions about my mental stability. I made a point of telling my arch-nemesis that I had just returned from the beach, as if that would keep her from snarkily judging my appearance.
Then I looked down at my daughter. Sophie's hair was dirty. Despite daily washings, it was difficult to get the saltwater and chlorine out of her fine dishwater-blonde hair. Her bangs hung in her eyes. She was wearing mismatched clothing because every outfit she owned was still packed away in our luggage. She was climbing on the cart like a monkey at the same time she was holding up her leg at a completely un-lady-like angle to show me a slash of dirt and/or grease that she acquired from God only knows where. Prissy looked down at her and said, "What a pretty little girl." I know what she wanted to say was "Doesn't your mommy bathe you, you poor little urchin?" Of course, Sophie was not fazed at all by the compliment. She simply gave Prissy one of her typical anti-social sneers. That's my girl!
We chatted for excruciatingly longer than I would have liked. How are you doing? Are you still working at the same place? How is your daughter? She knew where I was working, which annoyed me to no end for some reason. The fact that she knows anything about me inexplicably irritates me.
And then she said, "So…you're at United, huh? How do you like it? You know, you just hear horror stories about that place."
"No, I like it."
Obviously, Prissy was surprised to hear that I did not have any "horror stories" to report about my current position. For a moment, she appeared to be speechless—a condition I had never seen in my nemesis. I had refused to become an accomplice in her snarkiness.
There was a point in time when I equated "playful" jabs and hurtful sarcasm with intelligence and wit. There was a time when I even looked up to my nemesis as a model of the strong, independent, intelligent woman. Those days are long gone. We need a little more kindness in this world. Self-deprecating wit is worth more than biting sarcasm as far as I am concerned. And a greater indicator of intelligence, if you ask me. Eventually, Prissy simply responded, "Well, I guess it makes a difference who you work with."
I smiled politely (no easy task) and we said our goodbyes without a single word about keeping in touch. I have no doubt she will be reporting to the powers that be that poor Shannon has completely let herself go. And perhaps I have. Then again, maybe I haven't let myself go so much as I am just letting myself be. Be the person I lost track of for a while, but has always been under the surface. As I approach forty years old, I am finding myself more comfortable in my own skin. More confident in my choices. More content with my life. Less willing to allow people into my life who bring me down.
As I walked away with my scrappy, dirty little daughter in tow (blue Go-gurt in hand), I thought, Amen, sister. It makes all the difference in the world who you work with.


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In today's article, we'll take a look at some tips on Renting a Raleigh home that you should consider when renting your next home in Raleigh. As property values plummeted over the latter part of the 2000's, many people began to turn to renting. There are plenty of reasons to rent as opposed to purchasing a home, including maintenance costs, […]
Tag Archives | renting-a-local-house
Tips on Renting A Raleigh Home
By georges50 on July 19, 2016 in rent-to-own
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In this collection:
- 10 Frozen theme digital paper files
- 300 DPI high resolution
- JPEG format
- 12 inches wide by 12 inches tall
Collection Preview:
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