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The Bachelorette star Jillian Harris has denied speculation that she has split from fiancé Ed Swiderski.
Tabloid reports had suggested that the reality couple were close to separating following allegations that Swiderski cheated on Harris with two of his ex-girlfriends.
Speaking to OK, she said: "[It] claimed Ed and I broke up, when in fact we have not even come close… I really want out of the spotlight so bad. I hate it so much."
The show's host Chris Harrison has also dismissed the rumours, telling Entertainment Tonight that the couple were "stressed out with all the publicity".
"They kind of thought they were done and could live their lives," he explained. "Now they have had this jump up on them.
"It is tough, but they are still together, they are still engaged. That has not changed. Someone reported she dumped him in Las Vegas. That is not true."
Harris and Swiderski are reportedly planning to move to Chicago next month.


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subset: commoncrawl


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We are located in the downtown of Glenview Village. The restaurant is a modern Thai showcases street-slide eaterise from Thailand with relaxed atmosphere and trendy style of the decor that make it a perfect place to meet and chat over the meal.
The chef and the owner. Jeff, uses his over 10 years experiences to blend Thai cooking technique with local ingredients.


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I am just starting to catch up from the week that was Online Information 2007 and will be creating a few blogs from my notes.
First of all was the keynote speech 'Web 2.0 in action:free culture and community on the move', from Jimmy Wales of the Wiki Foundation on Tuesday 4 December
Wikipedia is a registered charity which cost $1 million in 2007 and forecasted to cost $2-3 million in 2008 which is amazing considering it is now the 8th most popular website in the world. Even in Iran it is the 14 most popular.
It has expanded to over two million articles in English, but has over six million in total. It has 14,000 articles in Hindi. But when you consider that there are 280 million Hindi speakers, it still has a long way to go.
Jimmy said that Wikipedia will remain true to encyclopaedia base and not include articles which you would not expect to find in a general purpose publication.
Minority interests are covered through the development of Wikis such as the Muppet Wiki with 15,000 articles and Wookieepedia (yes, Star Wars is the topic here).
For me the big story is the development of Search Wiki – an open source search engine will all decisions in the public domain. Fast Company Magazine in the U.S. described it as "Google's worst nightmare"


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Someone I love dearly is a friend on Facebook, but I have to admit that I sometimes lose sleep and appetite over the way he lives his life, the choices he's made, the agenda he proclaims, and what he posts.
In response to a post he made recently, which suggests that unconditional love means "accepting who he is" without question (which in his mind means celebrating his lifestyle, his choices, everything he believes, and so on) I responded accordingly:
"Unconditional love is some things and it is not other things. By definition it means we are loved regardless of what we do, say, think, and believe. It means we are loved whether we love God back or we neglect God and focus only on ourselves. What it does not mean is that love is only love if we accept as true what another says, does, and believes."
The response was frustrating, but unsurprising. I'm going to dissect it piece by piece.
"My innate disagreement with your definition of unconditional love is that it is conditional."
OK. Got that? This is why argument is futile. Take something, turn it upside down, establish that as a premise, and all arguments flow from there. The issue is that the premise here is poppycock. It completely renders all subsequent arguments absurd. And yet, this is his mindset. How can unconditional love mean anything other than the fact that I (or God, or anyone) will love you no matter what. You may be right, you may be wrong, you may be wonderful, you may be obnoxious… but I love you anyway.
"…that stems from our idea of what the idea of "God" means."
God is not an idea. God is real. It is true that we develop our own ideas of what the reality of God is. So I kinda sorta maybe get what he's saying here. But I think he falls short of admitting the reality of an actual God, and I think he has succumbed to the idea of "God" actually being equivalent to "the idea of God."
"In my eyes, as the very experience of God (which is love) in action, every single one of us are all true in what we say, do, and believe."
This sounds wonderful. It's also nonsense. It is pure relativism and it is amazing to me that anyone in his or her right mind can actually believe this. The entire concept of all of us being all true in everything logically collapses on itself the moment I say I disagree with his statement. If I disagree with him, then it means I don't believe that we are all true in what we say, do, and believe. Which either means I'm right about that or I'm wrong. but according to him, I can't be wrong, so I might be right. But then that makes him wrong. It's an unwinnable position of paradox that is utterly simple to dismantle using lessons learned on Day One of logic class.
"That is what makes unconditional love – which really is a redundant term, if you break it down, because love cannot be conditional – so important."
I'm not exactly sure what everyone being all true has to do with love being unconditional, but I will grant that real love is probably redundant with unconditional love. I still think the term has explanatory merit.
"It allows all things to exist as they are."
I really don't get this line. All things exist as they are regardless of whether I love you or hate you. But whatever.
"It allows us to recognize the God essence of the perfection in what one another says, does, and believes, understanding that on the level of truth in which that being exists, it is perfect, it is "right," and it is good."
So, do you understand that? Yeah… me neither. He does like to get all flowery with the language, and it is a Facebook response, so it probably was just a flowage of thought and words. But, I think I can boil it down simply to the following: Everyone has the essence of God, which makes us perfect, which makes us right in everything. Which, of course, is utter nonsense. But how do you go about convincing someone that they epitomize the perfection of God that they are wrong? This is one problem with relativism – it defies all logic, but once embraced, there is no logical offense against it.
"Whether or not what another says, does, and believes rings true for another God essence makes no difference as to its "rightness," because God does not evaluate itself based on the polarities of "right" and "wrong," as love automatically transcends both polarities in the act of being expressed to a place where all beings' choices are beautiful and perfect for them."
Sigh. It's actually amazing to me, but in a sad way. There is no acknowledgment here of an actual God. Everything is an idea of God, a God essence. The statement that "God does not evaluate itself" is actually true, but he is not talking about the being of God judging Himself. He is talking about us all being God, which means we can't judge each other, because we are all God and we can't judge God. I'll be honest, this actually makes me a bit queasy when I really think about it.
"By loving unconditionally, we allow all perspectives to exist and evolve into their highest form. Mandates of "right" and "wrong" pervert this allowance by judging what is good and bad, inducing guilt and fear, which is not God, which is not love. Judgment, or condition, only indicates a lack of God in the being who is judging, not the one being judged."
And here we go. There is no right or wrong. To judge anything at all induces guilt and fear. And what does that mean? It means that if you judge any thing at all – not a judgment of the soul or of a person's salvation, but even anything they do or say – anything at all – then you are NOT God.
This is insane.
You may wonder how I responded. I didn't. First of all, this person is family. It's a peacekeeping response by me to not respond. Second of all, I know with certainty that he believes my view on things to be archaic. He will not listen to me. My job at this point is to pray that someone comes into his life that will help him realize this erroneous and dangerous path that he's on. He receives so much support from others when he posts that I am worried it won't happen, but with God all things are possible.
Now, why did I mention that relativism is nothing new?
It's because I am pretty sure he thinks that what he believes about God – or the God essence, or idea, or whatever the hell he believes – is a progressive idea. It's an evolution of thought. It's an evolution into self-divinity.
This is the oldest heresy. It's vanity and pride, and it's the very first sin. Satan tempted Adam and Eve by appealing to the very idea that by eating the fruit they will have the knowledge of God. They bought into it and ate the apple, or apricot, or pear, or pomegranate or whatever that forbidden fruit happened to be.
So the flowery language and appearance of deep thought aside, relativism is more ancient and archaic than Catholicism is.
So,all you Relativists, put that in your pipe and smoke it.


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Hunter Lewis
September 2, 2013
The president gave a speech on August 22 in Buffalo outlining his proposal to "reform" the student loan program. He acknowledged that the program has some problems, but assured the audience they are easily fixed. Just take the principles behind Obamacare and apply them to education. The president personally "guaranteed" that his proposals would make college more affordable.
Here's the plan. The government will rate colleges based on fees (the lower the better) and graduation rates (the higher the better) and student success in finding a job. Then student loan funds will be allocated to schools according to the rating. Students will also be guided to the best-rated schools via government web sites. And schools will get more funding if they set up demonstration projects to reduce costs. This will all encourage more "competition" among schools. Yes, you heard that right: more government control of colleges will increase market "competition."
We don't have a 2,000 page bill in Congress yet, but it's all quite familiar: government will take even tighter control of higher education just as it has taken even tighter control of medicine, and use Obamacare as its operating manual. Of course, Obamacare not only rated medical insurance policies; it mandated what would be in them at what prices, which in effect put government in charge of defining what healthcare is. Presumably, the government rating of schools will in due course also lead to mandates and the government defining what higher education is. Obamacare also set up government sites where people would be steered to buy government approved policies, and set up demonstration projects, even though the history of government-inspired healthcare demonstration projects has been dismal.
There is a lot more in common between Obamacare and Obamaschool than these superficial characteristics. Obamacare came into being because of a crisis in medical care. As usual, that crisis had been caused by earlier government interventions in medicine, especially price controls. At present, Medicare price controls about 7,500 medical procedures. Because payment varies by location and practitioner (e.g., doctors employed by hospitals get paid more than other doctors), it has been estimated that Medicare price-controls six billion medical transactions at any one time. As government has come to dominate medicine and price-control it, prices have inevitably risen at a rate that threatens to bankrupt the economy. Obamacare has doubled down on the price controls, mandating allowed price increases under Medicare and installing a price control board. All of this will no doubt lead to the kind of legislation recently passed in Massachusetts where any "material" change in a medical practice, in either prices or services, must be approved by the state.
Obamaschool is coming into being for similar reasons. In this case, the government set up a student loan program which was ostensibly designed to subsidize students. But whenever government subsidizes demand without increasing supply, prices inevitably rise, and this was no exception.
As President Obama pointed out, "Over the past three decades, the average tuition [and fees] at a public four-year college has gone up by more than 250 percent. 250 percent. Now a typical family's income has gone up 16 percent. That's a big gap." Yes it is.
In reality, both the 250 percent and the pitiful 16 percent have been caused by government policies, especially price manipulations and controls. The 250 percent increase in fees (mitigated somewhat by increases in student aid) has specifically been driven by government's mistake in flooding schools with student loan money. That money did not help students; it enabled schools to keep raising fees. What students mostly got out of the loan program was an early initiation into massive debt. If leaving school with heavy debts is not exactly slavery, it certainly represents some kind of indentured servitude.
Obama was more than a bit mendacious about this debt burden. He took credit for keeping student interest rates down. He even said that "government shouldn't see student loans as a way to make money; it should be a way to help students." But the reality is that his administration is currently borrowing money at negligible interest rates and then relending it to students at much higher rates. The difference is booked elsewhere in the federal budget under "deficit reduction." If that isn't a clear case of using student loans as a way to make money, then what is?
(Article continues on next page.)
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I've only just registered for VAT, can I claim back old VAT?
I've only just registered for VAT, can I claim back old VAT?
The short answer is "it depends".
Have you read the general rules in the pre trade expenses article already? Do that first, then continue with this article.
Yes, you can claim for the VAT on goods (and in limited circumstances on services too) provided they:
- were purchased within the three years preceding the date of your VAT registration
- are still in the possession of the business on the date of your VAT registration
- are actually used in the course of the business; and
- satisfy the business prime motive test
Note that three years preceding the date of your VAT registration is only the same as three years preceding the date of the business if you were VAT registered from day one. There's a subtle difference for businesses which waited a few months or years before registering!
Click here to see the full size chart
You should have an original VAT receipt if possible, or at least (a) some evidence (bank statement or credit card statement) showing the purchase date and the purchase price, and (b) some degree of conviction that the original purchase price included UK VAT, in order to (c) support the amount of VAT being reclaimed. HMRC can disallow any claim where the supporting records are deemed insufficient.
Given the restrictions of this rule, and for the benefit of anybody who is going to start a business and is going to VAT register, then do the VAT registration first before incurring big costs on "services" like web developers or designers. That's often the only way you can reclaim the VAT on those services!
If you need to do a claim for pre trade VAT head back now to the pre trade expenses article.


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Hotel Phillips Kansas City, Curio Collection by Hilton
Hotel Phillips Kansas City, Curio Collection by Hilton is an iconic hotel with an illustrious past. Originally established in 1931, this Kansas City hotel was once the tallest building in town, standing 20 stories high and boasting 400 guestrooms. It was the first hotel to have radios in each room. In the Glennon Hotel, which stood in the original site of Hotel Phillips, a famous gentleman ran the haberdashery on the ground floor: one Harry S. Truman.
An art lover's paradise, Hotel Phillips offers beauty around every corner. Original Art Deco features include elaborate bronze and nickel metalwork, lustrous walnut paneling, and stylish light fixtures. Back then, as now, gazing over the lobby is a gilded 11-foot sculpture of the Goddess of Dawn, known as the mother of the stars. And plenty of stars have certainly glided past the gleaming marble walls over the decades, from John Barrymore through current-day celebrities such as LeBron James and Paul McCartney.
Today, the hotel offers 216 elegant, modern guestrooms, while maintaining much of the historic charm and original Art Deco features which make it a true gem in the heart of downtown. The hotel hosts weekly performances by jazz musicians, and also has an artist-in-residence program in which the works of a chosen artist is displayed throughout the hotel. Those who seek adventure can look for the speakeasy with a hidden entrance in the lower level. Entry is granted with a password.
Hotel Phillips was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The hotel was voted "Best Hotel in Kansas City" by KC Magazine in 2014 and 2015, and also voted "Best Hotel in Kansas City" by The Pitch in 2014. Hotel Phillips was also awarded the "Arts Impact Award" by ArtsKC.
Hotel Phillips Kansas City, a member of Historic Hotels Worldwide since 2016, dates back to 1931.
The hotel still has a few "trunk rooms." These are the original sized rooms when the hotel was built in 1931, when occupants were mostly business men who would come to stay and only needed a bed and space for their trunk.
Original Property Opened: 1931
Historic Hotels Worldwide toll-free reservations number +1 866 670 3764
106 West 12th Street
Kansas City, Missouri 64105
|Check-in time: 4:00 p.m.
Check-out time: 11:00 a.m.
Hotel Amenities & Policies
Accessible Rooms: Accessible rooms are available. Please notify request at time of booking.
Adjoining Rooms: The hotel has connecting/adjoining rooms, which are subject to availability and can be requested by contacting the hotel using the number on the booking confirmation.
Age Requirements: Guests are required to be 21 years or older with photo identification to reserve a room and check-in.
Cribs and Pack-in-Plays: Available upon request; complimentary.
Early Check-In/Late Check-Out: Available based on availability. Late check out fee $50.
Parking: Valet parking: $24.00 for overnight (In/Out privileges); $12 for short-term.
Payment: All forms of payment are accepted. Payment is required at time of booking. Visa, Mastercard, Amex, and Discover are accepted.
Pet Policy: Service animals allowed: Yes. Pets allowed: No.
Rollaways: Available upon request; $20 per night.
Smoking Policy: Non-smoking property. $250 charge if evidence of smoking in room.
The above list may not be comprehensive and information is subject to change without notice. Fees and deposits may not include tax. Taxes, fees, deposits, and policies are subject to change without notice.
Image Credit: ©Rashad Ashurov/Shutterstock
The Great Depression, 1929 ~ 1938
Hotel Phillips Kansas City, Curio Collection by Hilton is an iconic hotel with an illustrious past. Originally established in 1931, this Kansas City hotel was once the tallest building in town, standing 20 stories high and boasting 400 guestrooms. It was the first hotel to have radios in each room.
Learn more about the History of Hotel Phillips Kansas City, Curio Collection by Hilton .


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FORMER Billericay Town owner Glenn Tamplin is set to takeover a new club, Echosport can exclusively reveal.
Tamplin walked away from the National League South side in September.
But, having not achieved his goal of reaching the Football League with Town, Tamplin is itching to get back into the game.
Sources tell Echosport that Chelmsford City are the favourites for Tamplin to takeover and he will be in attendance at their National League South clash with Dorking Wanderers tomorrow.
"Due to the fact I couldn't fulfil my ambitions at Billericay Town and get them into the Football League, I am currently in talks with numerous clubs," said Tamplin.
"I am gutted that I couldn't guide Billericay into the Football League but I had to leave the club because some of the negative comments aimed at me and family members by the minority of Billericay fans was hard to swallow but, nevertheless, it still came from Billericay fans.
"Even after being hurt by my own fans, I still paid more than £150,000 to pay players to leave the club and walk away from their contracts without taking action against the club.
"I handed the club over to local businessmen without there being any debts against players or problems with the players that the club could not afford to pay themselves.
"I'm already missing football and want to get involved in football again. I will be going to watch a football club tomorrow.
"I've spoken to the new business owners at Billericay and they want to carry the club forward themselves.
"They want to move forward without me, which I fully understand.
"I have walked away having invested more than £2million because I now know it's in very good hands and will be sustainable for the future as always promised."


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read more
Meet the 'world's hottest nurse'
Meet the world's hottest nurse — Instagram star Lauren Drain.
The 31-year-old started her career in healthcare aged 16 and has been a cardiac registered nurse for more than eight years.
She has worked in various different roles during her accomplished career including intensive care units as well acting as a charge nurse in operating theatres.Mistake you are making after exercise
Lauren, from Florida, has a strong passion for health, wellness and quality of life. She believes an active lifestyle is key to long lasting health.
She said: "After eight years in professional healthcare, I have never seen a natural athlete stuck in a terrible health crisis.
"There's a reason for that: fit, active lifestyles reduce the risk of disease and promote overall wellness."What's with all the public sex?
After years of helping patients in hospitals, Lauren realised it was having a detrimental effect on her on wellbeing.
She felt overworked, overstressed, overweight, fatigued and extremely unhappy so she decided to take control of her life and get her priorities straight.
She said: "I wanted to be a healthy, fit, strong, confident woman, actively preventing disease instead of treating everything with pills and medication.UK surgeon wrote initials on livers
"I wanted to change my life for the better and I wanted to help others before they lost control of their health too."The ultra-fit beauty never set out to become a "fitness model".
She said: "I let the winter and holiday seasons get the best of me. I was unhappy with what I saw in the mirror and I felt even worse, so I decided to make a change for the better."
She embarked on a paleo challenge, which involves eating a caveman style diet and produced motivating results leading her to research entering competition shows.You need to stop charging your phone overnight
After YouTubing to find out about the scene she bit the bullet and signed up for her first bikini show where she placed 9th out of 30 competitors.
This spiked her interest and gave her the thirst to go for her professional card.
She hired a coach, entered more and more shows, and finally got the top spot in an amateur show, giving the opportunity to compete for money in professional body building, fitness and aesthetic shows.The reason why older people should be having more sex
She has since opened up her private Instagram account and now has over 3.6 million followers to whom she shares inspirational images of her stunning figure and workout routines, as well as the odd sexy picture of her self in tiny lingerie and bikinis.
She is a keen traveller and adventure girl and her pictures are often shot against glamorous backdrops around the world.
Lauren now has her own fitness website where she helps others reach their true potential with her own personal blends of diet and exercise routines.Sugar 'has same effect on the brain as cocaine'
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381 Man Tries to Catch a Suicide Jumper and got Seriously Injured
google translation Fulya B. (32), who lived on the 3rd floor of the apartment had psychological problems and had a nervous breakdown and threw herself down a window. Ibrahim Turkeli artisans who saw the woman threw himself down, wanted to catch the young woman. Ibrahim Turkeli said "At that moment could be bad things, my back, my neck could also be broken. https://haberglobal.com.tr/gundem/intihar-eden-kadini-havada
By: elnino (3074.30)
Tags: suicide, jump, catch, wtf
Location: Istandbul
Views: 145397 Replies: 272 Score: 381
link without replies:


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Ok dokey! Here is our very first hair tutorial. We're branching out people!
Is it a single? No! Is it a double?? NO! Is it a triple French braid??!! YES!!! It is! This hair tutorial involves three French braids to create a rather different, yet lovely hair style.
I know what you're thinking, "HELP! I don't even know how to French braid… it sounds so… complicated." Well yes, that's what I also used to think, but you know what, one day, I finally decided to learn how, after experimenting for a while. Seriously girls, just look up a video, it's not that hard, all you do, is plait and just add in a bit more to each section as you move down the head. At least, that's how I do it, correct me if I'm wrong. 🙂
In this tutorial, I will not be showing you how to French braid, but rather, how to combine those skills into making a very pretty, yet unusual hair style. I did actually 'invent' this one, however, as a rather kind friend pointed out, I may have 'invented' it along with a load of other people in the world who had the same 'original' idea… Anyway, it consists of three French braids brought together at the back, tucked under, and pinned. I'll skip the description and show you step-by-step.
Enjoy! Feedback is welcome (even embraced) and suggestions for other hair styles you'd like to see on here will also be considered, as I rather enjoyed doing this and would be happy to do it again! (The steps correspond with the photo above them).
1. Take a section of hair from the top of your head with a comb.
2. Start French braiding it down the centre, taking a little bit more each time and adding it to your three sections. (This part is just like a normal French braid).
3. Continue right down to the base of your head, and once there is no more hair left to add, just finish off with a normal braid. Tie it off with a hair tie.
4. On the left side, do exactly the same and take a section of hiar.
5. Just like the top braid, divide it into three sections.
6. And start French braiding down the side until you have finally used all of the hair on that side in a French braid. Tie with a hair tie.
7. Now, on the right side, do exactly the same thing. French braid the whole way down.
8. Take both the side braids, and cross them underneath the top braid.
9. Bring all the ends together, remove hair ties, and replace with one tie holding all three ends.
10. Tuck under. It's as easy as that, you may have to try it a few times, but just tuck under, and stick several pins in to secure.
11. You are finished! Even though this is relatively simple, it looks rather complex. I am not at all experienced with hair styles, but if you can just master the art of more or less French braiding, then the world of hair styling just opens right up!
Try tying a scarf around your head to add a little fashion to your look.
Tying a knot in the scarf and placing it on top isn't such a bad idea either.
And there we have it, the final look!
A very big thank you to Ambley, my good friend, who patiently sat, while I snapped pics, stuck pins into her hair, and constantly said, "No, a little to the right… hmm, actually maybe to the left." You endured a lot, but made a beautiful model!
Hair stylist – Esther
Photographer(s) – Matthew (that talented brother of mine) & Esther
Model – Ambley


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|House Martell Knight work-in-progress, a closeup of a 'sand snake' atop the helm
Having watched House Martell come to prominence in Season Four of Game of Thrones, I was largely influenced by the costumes of Prince Oberyn Martell and his paramour Ellaria Sand. Because Prince Oberyn's entourage was decked mostly in yellow, it made me doubt my initial choice of an orange colour scheme. But closer inspection of everything House Martell in the Game of Thrones HBO series revealed an interplay between yellow, orange and every hue in between. Hence I made a slight adjustment to my original choice by making the orange lighter to mimic the colours on TV.
|My version of a Martell knight has a colour scheme dominated by orange, yellow and green
|Getting smooth blends was much easier for green than orange
|Side view (right) of the House Martell Knight
|Apart from the 'sand snake', I achieved fairly smooth blends on the helm banner and lance
Getting a smooth transition for the orange hues was difficult which made blending work on the greens of the 'sand snake' seem almost too easy in comparison. For both colours, I made use of Vallejo Model Color (VMC) acrylic paints as I find them relatively easier to blend smoothly. I love the amount of green as well as orange/red/yellow hues available from the VMC line. That and its consistency allows me to make half tones of half tones for that extra smooth transition between hues.
|Back of the Martell Knight had the darkest orange hues
|A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!
|Side view (left) of the House Martell Knight
|A blue wash was applied to the knight's armour for that 'extra' shine
A piece not shown above was the knight's shield. Thus far it just lacks the House Martell heraldry which is a red sun pierced by a golden spear. I have yet to create a design simple enough to be painted freehand on the miniature. That should be the final step prior to completing the paint job.
|Shield with the House Martell heraldry/symbol yet to be painted on it
In addition, I reworked the House Martell warhorse so that it now looks much brighter. Extreme highlights are now a pure yellow instead of the previous light orange. Inclusion of the red sun/golden spear heraldry may yet change the dynamics of the overall colour scheme ... time will tell.
|House Martell Warhorse sans heraldry work-in-progress
|Warhorse had its overall scheme brightened up a notch towards yellowish orange
Time off from this piece has gotten me excited about it again. Hopefully it will spur me on to figure out how to paint the heraldry freehand. You might be wondering what has happened to the red dragon in my previous post. Well similarly as I'm wont to do, projects tend to be left to gestate for a while before I return to finish them. I find that this allows me to spot mistakes I may otherwise have missed as well as view the miniature from a newer perspective. The latter could cause an adjustment to the colour scheme; the point being moving from project to project keeps things fresh. And having a fresh approach can sometimes make or break the miniature painting project we have spent an eternity on.


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Jordan and Zac Stenmark were doing their ag economics degree on AFL (Australian Football League) Scholarships at The University of Sydney, while also training with the AFL Club, Greater Western Sydney, and working in a café, when a friend suggested they should give modelling a go.
Launching their careers with a 60-page international editorial with the prestigous L'Officiel Hommes Paris, the boys were soon flown to London for a private meeting with Tom Ford, and made their international runway debut when they exclusively opened and closed the prestigious Calvin Klein Spring 2013 show during Milan Fashion Week.
Perhaps best known for their athleticism, down-to-earth attitude, and strong work ethic, Jordan and Zac have a chameleon-like ability to channel both commercial and high-fashion styles. They've had the esteemed pleasure of sitting for Bruce Webber, Terry Richardson, and working with Carine Roitfield.
Credits include campaigns for Abercrombie & Fitch, Ralph Lauren, and Calvin Klein, in addition to editorial features in the international editions of GQ, Vanity Fair, L'Officiel Hommes, Vogue Hommes Japan, Hercules, and The Financial Time's How To Spend It luxury magazine, on the cover of GQ with Kylie Minogue and the twins appeared in a David Jones Summer television commercial, and the brand's Autumn/Winter launch parade, both alongside supermodel Miranda Kerr.


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Global Showbiz Briefs: Silvio Berlusconi Expelled From Italian Parliament; Turkey's D-Smart Inks TV Deal For MGM Fare; More
Silvio Berlusconi Expelled From Italian Parliament
Italy's senate on Wednesday expelled former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from his parliamentary seat over his August conviction for tax fraud. This will be the first time the Mediaset chief will not hold an elected office in about 20 years. The New York Times notes that without the protections afforded to lawmakers, Berlusconi is now more vulnerable in other legal cases against him. Reuters quoted Berlusconi as saying to his Forza Italia party, "We are here on a bitter day, a day of mourning for democracy."
MGM International TV Distribution Inks Deal With Turkey's D-Smart
Turkish digital platform D-Smart, a subsidiary of Dogan TV Holding, has inked a multi-year first pay deal with MGM International Television Distribution. The exclusive deal gives D-Smart access to new releases and library titles. The package will include the Hobbit trilogy, Carrie, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Four Weddings And A Funeral and the Pink Panther movies, among others. In addition to linear distribution, D-Smart will also offer the films via SVOD through its digital service, D-Smart Blu. (more…)


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So I have been playing around with this for about a week testing different settings and mods, and hopefully I can shed some light on this for other users--but I am also posting as a request to hopefully get some issues resolved.
It seems that for users of older versions of Android (5+) on less new tablets/phones one of the old apk files is working best of all while the newer versions cause MW to crash upon loading exterior cells. I have tested this with my unrooted tablet which is some generic tablet at Android version 5.1, and the 3-25 version works best overall while all the newer versions cause it to crash as soon as the character steps outside whatsoever.
The newer versions allow us to use the ingame keyboard, which allows usage of the console, and also the joystick/mouse controls are far better--and I was hoping maybe we could get some sort of patch for the 3-25 apk which would include these specific functionalities. As far as I can tell everything else ingame is working great for the most part apart from the infrequent crash from using too many spells or using resource heavy mods.
The old 3-25 version has been working so good that I have basically been testing all sorts of mods to see what works well after modifying settings as per some other users recommendations here.
I guess the only other request I can think of is any further optimization ideas, like codes/mods for remove fog/weather and spell effects would be really helpful for us playing on older tablets.
As far as the configuration settings in the openMW cfg files there doesn't seem to be too much we can change in order to squeeze out better performance. Changing the FPS levels or view distance doesn't seem to have any effect, but I still leave view distance down slightly from max. And for new users we have to modify the configuration files in
The other cfg file that is settings-default.cfg cannot be edited
I edited my settings.cfg a bit to make future modifications more intuitive, and basically have left anisotropy at 0 and have turned preloading cells off, nothing else seems to make a big difference besides the actual data files for MW.
Code: Select all
# Near clipping plane (>0.0, e.g. 0.01 to 18.0).
near clip = 1
# Cull objects that occupy less than 'small feature culling pixel size' on the screen. (true)
small feature culling = true
# 2
small feature culling pixel size = 16
# Maximum visible distance (e.g. 2000.0 to 6666.0). Caution: this setting
# can dramatically affect performance, see documentation for details.(6666.0)
viewing distance = 6167.62
# Camera field of view in degrees (e.g. 30.0 to 110.0).
# Does not affect the player's hands in the first person camera.
field of view = 55.0
# Field of view for first person meshes (i.e. the player's hands)
# Best to leave this at the default since vanilla assets are not complete enough to adapt to high FoV's. Too low FoV would clip the hands off screen.
first person field of view = 55.0
# Adjacent exterior cells loaded (>0). Caution: this setting can
# dramatically affect performance, see documentation for details.
exterior cell load distance = 1
# Preload cells in a background thread. All settings starting with 'preload' have no effect unless this is enabled.(false)
preload enabled = false
# The number of threads to be used for preloading operations.
preload num threads = 1
# Preload adjacent cells when moving close to an exterior cell border.(true)
preload exterior grid = false
# Preload possible fast travel destinations.
preload fast travel = false
# Preload the locations that doors lead to. (true)
preload doors = false
# Preloading distance threshold
preload distance = 1000
# Controls whether or not the nodes/collision shapes are pre-"instanced" (i.e. cloned) when a cell is preloaded.
# Enabling this option slightly reduces the time it takes to transition into a preloaded cell, but also results in higher memory usage
# proportional to the number of cells that are preloaded.(true)
preload instances = false
# The minimum amount of cells in the preload cache before unused cells start to get thrown out (see "preload cell expiry delay").
# This value should be lower or equal to 'preload cell cache max'.(12)
preload cell cache min = 7
# The maximum amount of cells in the preload cache. A too high value could cause you to run out of memory.
# You may need to reduce this setting when running lots of mods or high-res texture replacers.(20)
preload cell cache max = 7
# How long to keep preloaded cells in cache after they're no longer referenced/required (in seconds)
preload cell expiry delay = 5
# The predicted position of the player N seconds in the future will be used for preloading cells and distant terrain
prediction time = 1
# How long to keep models/textures/collision shapes in cache after they're no longer referenced/required (in seconds)
cache expiry delay = 5
# Affects the time to be set aside each frame for graphics preloading operations (60)
target framerate = 60
# The count of pointers, that will be saved for a faster search by object ID.
pointers cache size = 40
resolution x=1920
resolution y=1128
camera sensitivity = 0.4
toggle sneak = true
always run = false
# Scales GUI window and widget size. (<1.0 is smaller, >1.0 is larger).(1)
scaling factor=2
# Transparency of GUI windows (0.0 to 1.0, transparent to opaque).
menu transparency = 0.84
# Time until tool tip appears when hovering over an object (0.0 is
# instantly, 1.0 is the maximum delay of about 1.5 seconds).
tooltip delay = 0.0
# Stretch menus, load screens, etc. to the window aspect ratio.
stretch menu background = true
# Subtitles for NPC spoken dialog and some sound effects.
subtitles = true
# Red flash visually showing player damage.
hit fader = true
# Werewolf overlay border around screen or window.
werewolf overlay = true
# Color for tool tips and crosshair when owned by an NPC (R G B A).
color background owned = 0.15 0.0 0.0 1.0
color crosshair owned = 1.0 0.15 0.15 1.0
# Controls whether Arrow keys, Movement keys, Tab/Shift-Tab and Spacebar/Enter/Activate may be used to navigate GUI buttons.
keyboard navigation = true
# Displays the crosshair or reticle when not in GUI mode.
crosshair = true
# Color crosshair and tool tip when object is owned by an NPC. (O is
# no color, 1 is tool tip only, 2 is crosshair only, and 3 is both).
show owned = 0
# Show damage bonus of arrow and bolts.
show projectile damage = true
# Show additional melee weapon info: reach and attack speed
show melee info = true
# Show success probability in self-enchant dialog
show enchant chance = true
# Always use the best mode of attack: e.g. chop, slash or thrust.
best attack = false
# Difficulty. Expressed as damage dealt and received. (e.g. -100 to 100).
difficulty = 0
# Replicate how reflected "absorb attribute" spells do not have any effect in Morrowind engine. The caster absorbs the attribute from themselves.
classic reflect absorb attribute behavior = true
# Show duration of magic effect and lights in the spells window.
show effect duration = true
# Prevents merchants from equipping items that are sold to them.
prevent merchant equipping = true
# Make enchanted weaponry without Magical flag bypass normal weapons resistance
enchanted weapons are magical = true
# Makes player followers and escorters start combat with enemies who have started combat with them
# or the player. Otherwise they wait for the enemies or the player to do an attack first.
followers attack on sight = false
# Can loot non-fighting actors during death animation
can loot during death animation = true
# Let the game use more complex and slower bounding capsule for actors. Disabling forces a simple bounding box.
allow capsule shape = true
# Anisotropy reduces distortion in textures at low angles (e.g. 0 to 16).(4)
anisotropy = 0
# File format for screenshots. (jpg, png, tga, and possibly more).
screenshot format = png
# Texture magnification filter type. (nearest or linear).
texture mag filter = nearest
# Texture minification filter type. (nearest or linear).
texture min filter = nearest
# Texture mipmap type. (none, nearest, or linear).
texture mipmap = nearest
A lot of addons or mods to the game can overwhelm the resources, so I thought I would post some of the better ones I have found after lots of testing.
These can be found mostly at nexusmods.com or mw.modhistory.com is also good
Accurate Attack
Better Bodies ZW (the original has an exe but there is a different version that installs easily=nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/42395)
Chargen Revamp (for alternative start, good for trouble shooting)
Natural Healing
Real Sign Posts
Maxed Out Attribute modifiers
Morrowind Optimization Patch (Must have for FPS boost/stability)
Wizardly Wardrobe V2(gives nice items for flying, run speed, good for troubleshooting and fun(it's on modhistory))
*Edit* finally found a good weather modification mod, this one makes the world eternally sunny and is working great so far...
Eternally Sunny Weather (http://mw.modhistory.com/download--995)
So there are a variety of mods that aren't resource intensive which can make the game really enjoyable. I tried many others which proved to be too unstable for enjoyable play, so I am still on the hunt for any other optimization ideas from you guys if you find any.
A list of good command line modifiers for the apk would be really helpful, and anything for reducing magic effects or weather would make the game a lot easier to play enjoyably. And of course a patch for the 3-25 apk to add the similar functionality(joystick/mouse/keyboard) of the newer versions would make it playable overall whereas now it's cumbersome after so long.
I just want to point out again that none of this would be possible if not for the folks at openMW.org and you guys deserve all of our appreciation for the great work you guys do. Honestly, if this game was working really well on Android it would be the best game on Android without any doubt compared to all the crappy apps that are p2p--and that is thanks to you guys. I hope to support the project in the future in any way I can, but for now I am stuck without the usage of my computer, so have been doing it all from my unrooted tablet which is pretty impressive after all...


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Got a table soccer torunament in the near future? Want to improve your skills? You can prepare yourself or practise with the World Champions! Individual workshops and training programs are available for you.


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By Christine Aschwanden
Originally published August 19, 2015
If you follow the headlines, your confidence in science may have taken a hit lately.
Peer review? More like self-review. An investigation in November uncovered a scam in which researchers were rubber-stamping their own work, circumventing peer review at five high-profile publishers.
Scientific journals? Not exactly a badge of legitimacy, given that the International Journal of Advanced Computer Technology recently accepted for publication a paper titled "Get Me Off Your Fucking Mailing List," whose text was nothing more than those seven words, repeated over and over for 10 pages. Two other journals allowed an engineer posing as Maggie Simpson and Edna Krabappel to publish a paper, "Fuzzy, Homogeneous Configurations."
The entire article is here.


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News Release
Public Safety
Transportation and Infrastructure
New 511 twitter feed launched ahead of winter storm18 January 2019
FREDERICTON (GNB) – The Department of Public Safety's New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization issued the following advisory today:
Environment Canada is forecasting that a low-pressure system from the southwest will track across the Maritimes as a large winter storm Sunday night, Jan. 20, and into Monday Jan. 21.
Environment Canada's Special Weather statement says that all indications show a major snowfall event for areas north of the track of the low and significant amounts of snow, rain and an extended period of freezing rain near the track of the low. The precipitation will be accompanied by very strong east to northeast winds.
Current indications suggest that the storm will track through the Bay of Fundy Sunday evening and then into the Gulf of St. Lawrence overnight. This track could give widespread snowfall amounts of 20-60 cm. Rainfall amounts of 10-30 mm are possible over extreme southern regions of the province. An extended period of freezing rain is also possible for areas in southern New Brunswick. It should be noted that even a slight shift in its forecast track will have a major effect on the type and amount of precipitation received.
Residents should prepare for the possibility that the storm could cause power outages.
As the storm is expected to have an impact on the travelling public, the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure will be testing a new feature of NB 511 over the weekend. This Twitter feed is designed to push important transportation notifications to New Brunswickers through automatically generated tweets. The feed, which will not be interactive at this time, will generate the following notifications:
- Travel not recommended.
- Road closures.
- Roads open to emergency and service vehicles only.
- Ferry notifications.
Residents are encouraged to follow the NB 511 Twitter @brunswick511.
Motorists should avoid driving on snow-covered roads and check New Brunswick 511 before travelling
Carbon monoxide safety measures
Snow accumulation may increase the risks of carbon monoxide poisoning related to fuel heating systems. Residents should ensure they have a working carbon monoxide (CO) alarm in their homes. This is the first line of defence against this colorless, odorless, tasteless gas formed by the incomplete burning of natural gas, gasoline, kerosene, oil, propane or wood.
Never run generators or cook with an open flame inside a home or a garage as these activities also create carbon monoxide.
72 hour preparedness
New Brunswickers are reminded to have everything they need for at least 72 hours following a storm. This includes preparing an emergency kit for home and car; knowing what to do during power outages; and knowing how to stay safe during an emergency.
An emergency kit should include food, water, batteries, a flashlight, a battery-powered radio, first-aid supplies, cash in small bills in case ATMs are unavailable due to a power outage, and any special items such as prescriptions, infant formula and equipment for people with disabilities.
An emergency preparedness guide is available online. To prepare for an outage, visit the NB Power website.
For further updates you may follow the Emergency Measure Organization on Twitter and Facebook, or by visiting the 24/7 emergency updates webpage. For storm-related social media messages, search #nbstorm.18-01-19


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In early 2019 we will be moving Pie Lady & Son to 125 Main St. (next to the Riverspace municipal parking lot) in downtown Nyack.
We will remain open, at our current location on 9W, through Thanksgiving and the rest of 2018.
The future of the property where we are currently located is unclear and beyond our control. In order to ensure that we can continue making our pies available to you uninterrupted we need to be proactive in taking this next step for our business.
We are very grateful to the property owners here, the Village of Upper Nyack and everyone else who has worked with us to create a retail home for our family pie shop for the past eight years. Most of all, we are grateful to you, our loyal customers. You have supported us with your business, your friendship and your encouragement going all the way back to the Pie Lady's first days in business here in Nyack almost 25 years ago.
We can't wait to share our new space with you!
FAQ's About the Move
Q: Where is the new location specifically?
A: The address is 125 Main St. Next door to the Riverspace municipal parking lot. It is on the right if you are headed toward the river on Main St. between Franklin St. and Broadway.
Q: What is the parking situation?
A: Luckily, it is located right next to a large municipal parking lot. Parking in the lot & on Main St. is free before 11am & the meters give a "Free first 15 minutes" the rest of the time.
Q: Will you have more seating?
A: Yes! We will have double the seating capacity of our current location.
Q: Will the new place be wheelchair accessible?
A: Yes!
Q: Will your hours change?
A: To start, we are going to keep our hours the same: Mon-Sat 7a-7p Sun 8a-6p.
Q: Will you be offering more items at the new place?
A: Yes. We will be expanding our offerings in the new space. We are still making some of those decisions and we'll make announcements about them once we get closer to opening.
Q: What date will you move specifically?
A: Exact opening dates are hard to guarantee this far in advance, but we are targeting early January 2019.
Q: Will you still be at your current location for Thanksgiving & Christmas?
A: Yes! We will be open at our current location through the holidays as normal. Nothing will change this year.
Q: Will you be closed for a period of time while you move?
A: Yes, we expect about 2 weeks of down time in January during the transition.
Q: Will your 9W location remain open after the move?
A: No. This new location will be our only location once it is open.
…If you have any further questions that are not covered here please reach out to us via email and we'll get right back to you.


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Monday through Friday
8:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
1703 North Beauregard St.
Alexandria, VA 22311-1714
Complete Customer Service Details
February 2014 | Volume 71 | Number 5
Building School Morale
Pages 24-29
James Harvey
If we truly want to improve our schools, let's stop blaming the teachers.
Enrollment in teacher preparation programs has gone down in recent years (Gordon, 2011; Kilbride, 2012; Sobota & Coulter, 2013)—and it's hardly surprising. Consider the devastating layoffs amidst the Great Recession, the deteriorating working conditions as teacher salaries have stagnated and class sizes have grown, a regimen of reforms that threatens educators with sanctions under No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, pressures to impose poorly conceived pay-for-performance measures on teachers, and public shaming of teachers by public officials and newspapers on both the East and West coasts. By September 2013, enrollment in California teacher preparation programs had dropped 24 percent from the previous year'and 66 percent below enrollments a decade earlier (Commission on Teacher Credentialing, 2013; Freedberg, 2013).
In a devastating aside on the California report, a commentator wrote, "In a normative economic sense, becoming a California public school teacher is beneath the dignity of anyone who has an alternative" (Freedberg, 2013).
Not surprisingly, surveys indicate that teacher satisfaction has declined dramatically in the last five years, on some measures to the lowest level in the last 25 years (Harris Interactive, 2013). A decade of belt-tightening and unprecedented levels of teacher and union bashing from pundits, philanthropists, and all sides of the political spectrum have finally come home to roost.
y first hint that things were going south with the reform movement came from a retiring superintendent. She noted that she had entered teaching shortly after A Nation at Risk appeared in 1983 and lamented, "My profession has been under assault throughout my career." As the reductive approach to teaching and learning embedded in the Bush administration's No Child Left Behind and the Obama administration's Race to the Top came to the fore and the slash-and-burn tactics of celebrity school leaders like Michelle Rhee won plaudits from national media, it became clear that the self-confidence of the best of the profession was shaken while morale throughout the teaching ranks verged on shattered.
Anecdotes may not be data, but as a way of knowing, they are often hard to beat. And old-school insights from high school English classes'such as the "telling detail" 'still have something to teach us. Many of those details document the appalling decline in civility that has greeted U.S. teachers as the quality of the debate about schooling has fallen to new lows.
In 2012, one confident young woman who held National Board certification'which documented her command of both challenging content and the knowledge and skills required to create appropriate learning experiences'told me of mornings sitting in tears in the school parking lot as the stress within the building turned the profession she loved into a frustrating obstacle course. She has since left K–12 education.
An assistant principal in the South, a talented young black man, affirmed that many mornings he came across teachers outside the school who were so distressed that he found substitutes for their morning classes while he helped them pull themselves together. His "telling moment" arrived when his wife declared that she was tired of sending his suits to the dry cleaners to rid them of the smell of the tear gas employed liberally at the school when the police needed to break up particularly ugly gang fights. "Assessment and the Common Core don't address these gang issues," he commented soberly. Subsequently, he left that school to become an administrator elsewhere.
Public "telling details" also document the derision that educators, teachers, and the unions that represent them routinely receive from many of today's reformers:
In the midst of these telling details, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has played a troubling role. Early in 2010, he declared, "I think the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans was Hurricane Katrina" (Anderson, 2010). Although within 48 hours he apologized for this unconscionable remark (Maxwell, 2010), the cat was out of the bag. In an unforced error, he had expressed in public a view that reformers have not hesitated to express to me in private.
Within a month, the secretary took sides in the Rhode Island controversy. He "applauded" the school firings, arguing, "When schools continue to struggle, we have a collective obligation to take action" (Montopoli, 2010). President Barack Obama added fuel to the fire: "If a school continues to fail its students year after year after year, if it doesn't show signs of improvement, then there's got to be a sense of accountability" (Greenhouse & Dillon, 2010). Within weeks, the union and the administration in Central Falls worked out a bargained solution to the impasse, but the whole incident played out in educators' minds as a case of the most senior education and political leaders in the United States using teachers as scapegoats for education failures that were actually grounded in larger social shortcomings.
Still later, Secretary Duncan found himself again on the defensive after initially endorsing the release of teacher data by the Los Angeles Times. "What is there to hide?" he asked in an interview the day after the Times released the data (Felch & Song, 2010). By 2012, however, in the middle of an election campaign, his views had evolved. Newspapers should not publish teacher ratings, he told Education Week, because "we're at a time when morale is at a record low …. We need to be strengthening teachers, and elevating them, and supporting them" (Sawchuk, 2012). Left unspoken was any sense that the secretary of education or the president of the United States had contributed to what Duncan acknowledged to be "record low" levels of teacher morale.
Indeed, Duncan's change of heart on the publication of teacher ratings mirrored a condemnation of the practice issued by philanthropist Bill Gates, a fairly consistent critic of school performance. Writing in the New York Times, Gates argued that releasing teacher ratings to the public was "a big mistake" (Gates, 2012). In no other line of work, he said, is employee performance publicly reported. He noted that at Microsoft, "we … would never have thought about using employee evaluations to embarrass people, much less publish them in a newspaper."
While calling for more effective evaluation systems, Gates (2012) concluded, "The surest way to weaken [the effort to improve teaching through evaluation] is to twist it into a capricious exercise in public shaming. Let's focus on creating a personnel system that truly helps teachers improve."
Recent surveys document that anecdotes about teacher stress and alienation increasingly describe the norm'and not the exception'in U.S. schools. According to the MetLife Survey of the American Teacher(Harris Interactive, 2013),
Teachers might also be understandably upset that two kissing cousins in education policy'performance-based pay and value-added measurement'are high on reformers' agendas, although there's almost no research support for either practice and considerable opposition among the scientists, psychometricians, and statisticians who presumably would develop, implement, and monitor these proposals.
The measurement and analytical challenges involved with these proposals are formidable, according to analyses from the RAND Corporation (Marsh et al., 2011); Educational Testing Service (Braun, 2005); and the National Research Council. The latter lists a range of problems: measurement error; the difficulty of attributing student growth to individual teachers; the possibility that teachers might teach to the test; and the need for equal interval scales that permit consistent ranking of schools, teachers, and value-added progress (so that a 10-point improvement from 50 to 60 equals a 10-point improvement from 85 to 95, a much more difficult gain to achieve) (Braun, Chudowsky, & Koenig, 2010). There's also the difficulty associated with vertically linking tests from grade to grade to compare growth; the challenge of precision in the face of small sample sizes, leading to year-to-year fluctuations in estimates of teacher effects; and issues of data quality. According to the National Research Council, such problems bedevil the effort to measure value-added progress or to provide rewards for outstanding performance.
On cue, as if to provide a real-world example of the futility of trying to tie teacher pay to performance or effort, a study from Vanderbilt University indicated that even bonuses as high as $15,000 annually were ineffective in improving teacher performance (Springer et al., 2010). In passing, it should be noted that the very idea of performance-based pay is an insult to the profession, implying that financial carrots must be dangled in front of teachers to make sure they work hard enough.
In the 2013 Angoff Memorial Lecture sponsored by the Educational Testing Service, Edward H. Haertel, Jacks Family Professor of Education Emeritus at Stanford, turned a critical, scholarly eye on value-added measure ment (Haertel, 2013). His review of the literature concluded that teachers account for about 10 percent of the variance in test score gains in a single year, with out-of-school factors accounting for 60 percent. Citing a quip from Stanford University's Linda Darling-Hammond, "You can't fire your way to Finland!" Haertel pointed out that statistical models designed to estimate teachers' value-added scores have to "separate a weak signal [10 percent] from much noise and possible distortion" [the 90 percent made up of a range of both in-school and out-of-school factors] (p. 5).
In a carefully constructed argument, Haertel poured cold water on the much-vaunted claim that the best teachers can improve student performance by 50 percent over five years. Measure ment error makes it im possible to accurately identify the best and worst teachers, he noted. The effects of good (or bad) teaching fade out over five years. And, as a practical matter, it's impossible to assign the top-performing teachers to the lowest-performing students or replace the current teaching force with nothing but top performers. The concept is more satisfactory in theory than it could ever be in practice.
Moreover, Haertel argued, the technical dimensions of assessments mean that a value-added approach to teacher assessment translates into bias against those teachers who work with the lowest-performing or the highest-performing classes. Presumably, then, it works against the very teachers whom policymakers want in classrooms with low-performing students.
Although value-added measures (VAM) might in carefully controlled circumstances be valuable as private signals to teachers, Haertel roundly condemned the idea that they should be used to make personnel decisions about teachers:
My first conclusion should come as no surprise: Teacher VAM scores should emphatically not be included as a substantial factor with a fixed weight in consequential teacher personnel decisions. The information they provide is simply not good enough to use in that way. It is not just that the information is noisy. Much more serious is the fact that the scores may be systematically biased for some teachers and against others. … No statistical manipulation can assure fair comparisons of teachers working in very different schools, with very different students, under very different conditions. (pp. 23–24)
Yet, despite resting on a scientific foundation of sand, the concepts of performance-based pay and value-added assessment are central to the policy prescriptions of reformers like Michelle Rhee, Arne Duncan, and Jeb Bush; groups like Chiefs for Change, the Foundation for Excellence in Education, and Rhee's StudentsFirst; and the foundations that support such groups, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, and the Walton Family Foundation.
In the 1960s, MIT's Douglas McGregor developed a typology for describing management's perceptions of employee motivation that has stood the test of time (McGregor, 1960). Theory X managers considered workers to be lazy and inclined to avoid work if they possibly could. Managing such shiftless employees required measurement, hierarchy, and control. Theory Y managers, on the other hand, considered workers to be self-motivated and inclined to seek out challenges and respond to them. Managing self-motivated employees required encouraging their creativity.
Although neither theory was entirely satisfactory, the dichotomy seemed to describe something very real in management–labor relations. William Ouchi (1981) later developed Theory Z as an appendage to McGregor's formulation. Building on W. Edwards Deming's famous 14 principles of productivity and highly successful Japanese manufacturing practices, Ouchi argued for developing employee loyalty to the enterprise by providing stable employment while encouraging high productivity through enhanced employee morale, creativity, and job satisfaction.
What's striking about the school reform discussion of the 21st century is how solidly it's grounded in the management outlook of Theory X, an outlook that was discredited and largely rejected in the corporate world nearly 50 years ago.
Belt tightening and teacher bashing have had debilitating consequences for both the attractiveness of the profession for high school graduates and the health and well-being of U.S. schools and prospects for U.S. competitive ness. It's high time pundits, philanthropists, and policymakers moved beyond the blame game and engaged in a more productive approach to improving our schools.
They might begin with a consensus-building exercise to examine the proposition that although there are clearly problems in many U.S. schools, the enterprise as a whole is not a failure. They might consider the possibility that adopting policies and rhetoric that threaten to drive some of the best and the brightest out of K–12 education is a prescription for education disaster. And they might want to pay more than lip service to the need to bring research to bear on policy by actually paying attention to what researchers have to say about their policies.
They could also consider how corporate management practices have become more enlightened over the years and incorporate those findings into education policy. Finally, they might bring teacher leaders, union officials, policymakers, and philanthropists together around an agenda aimed at identifying both the strengths and weaknesses of U.S. education with the goal of supporting the former and addressing the latter.
It's reported that the Irish poet William Butler Yeats once said, "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." For too long, education policy debates in the United States have been about job training, market forces, and filling buckets. It's about time the discussion reclaimed the true mission of education in a democracy: lighting fires of the mind that support and defend the values of a free society.
Anderson, N. (2010, January 30). Education secretary calls Katrina good for New Orleans schools. Washington Post.
Braun, H. I. (2005). Using student progress to evaluate teachers. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.
Braun, H., Chudowsky, N., & Koenig, J. (Eds.). (2010). Getting value out of value-added. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Brill, S. (2009, August 31). The rubber room. The New Yorker.
Commission on Teacher Credentialing. (2013, September). Annual report card on California teacher preparation programs for the academic year 2011–2012 as required by Title II of the Higher Education Act. Sacramento, CA: Author. Retrieved from www.ctc.ca.gov/commission/agendas/2013-09/2013-09-4G.pdf
Felch, J., & Song, J. (2010, August 16). U.S. schools chief endorses release of teacher data. Los Angeles Times.
Fleisher, B. (2012, June 6). City, UFT in talks to replace arbitrators. Wall Street Journal.
Freedberg, L. (2013, September 24). Enrollment in teacher preparation programs plummets. Edsource.
Gates, B. (2012, February, 22). Shame is not the solution. New York Times.
Gonen, Y. (2012, February 24). NYC makes internal ratings of 18,000 public school teachers available. New York Post.
Gordon, L. (2011, April 3). Today's teacher layoffs threaten tomorrow's college classrooms. Los Angeles Times.
Greenhouse, S., & Dillon, S. (2010, March 6). School's shake-up is embraced by the president. New York Times.
Haertel, E. H. (2013, March 22). Reliability and validity of inferences about teachers based on student test scores. William H. Angoff Memorial Lecture Series. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.
Harris Interactive. (2013, February). The MetLife survey of the American teacher: Challenges for school leadership. New York: MetLife.
Hoag, C. (2010, September, 28). Rigoberto Ruelas' suicide raises questions about LA Times teacher rankings. Huffington Post.
Kilbride, K. (2012, March 25). Where are the teachers?South Bend Tribune.
Marsh, J. A. (2011). What New York City's experiment with schoolwide performance bonuses tells us about pay for performance. Santa Monica, CA: RAND.
Maxwell, L. (2010, February 2). Duncan apologizes for Katrina remarks [blog post]. Politics K–12 at Education Week.
McGregor, F. (1960). The human side of enterprise. New York: McGraw Hill.
Montopoli, B. (2010, February 24). Obama official applauds Rhode Island teacher firings. CBSNews.com.
Ouchi, W. (1981). Theory Z. New York: Avon Books.
Sawchuk, S. (2012, March 23). Arne Duncan: Newspapers shouldn't publish teacher ratings [blog post]. Education Week Teacher Beat.
Sobota, L., & Coulter, P. (2013, April 7). ISU sees drop in incoming students seeking teaching degree. Pantagraph.
Song, J. (2010, August 30). Teachers blast L.A. Times for releasing effectiveness rankings. Los Angeles Times.
Springer, M. G., Hamilton, L., McCaffrey, D. F., Ballou, D., Le, V., Pepper, M., et al. (2010). Teacher pay for performance: Experimental evidence from the project on incentives in teaching. Nashville, TN: Peabody College, Vanderbilt University.
Strauss, V. (2013, September 8). How one great teacher was wronged by a flawed evaluation system [blog post]. The Answer Sheet at The Washington Post.
Winerip, M. (2011, August, 21). Eager for spotlight, but not if it is on a testing scandal. New York Times.
James Harvey is executive director of the National Superintendents Roundtable and is coauthor, with Nelda Cambron-McCabe, Luvern Cunningham, and Robert Loft, of The Superintendent's Fieldbook (Corwin, 2013).
February 2014Building School Morale
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Fue un placer visitar su pais. No imagina lo que le agradecí su visita al Hotel, por dos veces además y sus consejos apoyados en esa magnífica documentación informática que me mostró....José Miguel Samaniego
Three Peruvian archaeological sites -Machu Picchu (Cusco), Chan Chan (La Libertad) and Caral (Lima)- have been named among the top eight lost cities in the world, Peru's export and tourism promotion board Promperu has announced.more »
Cusco is relatively cool. The average annual temperature fluctuates between 10.3 2° C to 13 2° C (between 50.54 2° and 52.34 2° Fahrenheit). There is some uniformity in temperature between summer and winter. Normally it is cold at night and during the early hours of the morning significantly increases the temperature until midday. On sunny days the temperature reaches 20 2° C.
Cusco is influenced by macro-climate of masses of air from South Eastern jungle, Highlands, and even the distant region of Patagonia. Winds coming from the Peruvian -Bolivian Highlands are rather cold and dry, as those who come from the distant region of Patagonia, entering by the South Eastern and generally supose greater scale climatic events.
On the other hand, local winds generated in its valleys and Plains have function to distribute heat and humidity of the day. The winds of the southern forest imply huge masses of air loaded with humidity, which are driven by the trade winds from the East.
The elevation facing Cusco and its proximity to the Equator generate a variety of climates distinguish two well-defined seasons:
They correspond to areas of lowland jungle to the North, in the Lower Urubamba, to the East of the Department, at the entrance of the Pillcopata and Araza valleys.
Precipitation: more than 1,000 mm. a year
So in Cusco temperatures will be:
Warm and dry climates, occur in the low yungas appearing, in the form of guns in the Apurimac river basin Center and Department.
Precipitation: less than 500 mm. A year
So in Cusco temperatures will be:
Climates of the valleys inter-Andean that dominate the Cusco Central territory, where the difference in humidity is marked by the location on the slope. I.e., its proximity to the East implies more humidity, while proximity to the West implies more dryness. Temperate climate zones are of vital importance to the settlement of populations.
So in Cusco temperatures will be:
Occur mainly in the Highlands of the valleys in the highlands and in the regions surrounding glaciers; in areas that are above the 3,800 meters above sea level
So in Cusco temperatures will be:
In the lower section of the Qosqo Valley there is an average annual humidity of 64 %.
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FOR THE BAKERS OUT THERE....Just a note on the Frosting & Cake... We only used the first batch of Frosting for her cake and it was PLENTY for our liking. Tasted so good too! Second day leftovers I recommend setting out of the fridge for a bit before ya eat it so the frosting softens up. Also, I had made the cake itself a week in advance and froze the individual layers wrapped in cling wrap and freezer bags, then set out to thaw before icing. Worked like a charm! The frosting I made the morning of the party.
So a very happy 3 yr old had the party of her dreams centered around "you can make that cake mommy!"


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|Pharmacokinetics of lidocaine and bupivacaine and stable isotope labelled analogues: a study in healthy volunteers.
MedLine Citation:
|PMID: 3342287 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE
|The pharmacokinetics of lidocaine and bupivacaine and tri-deuteromethyl-labelled lidocaine and bupivacaine were investigated in healthy volunteers. The deuterium-labelled and the unlabelled form of the drug to be investigated were simultaneously infused in 10 min. Plasma concentrations were determined using a combination of capillary gas chromatography and mass fragmentography. Bi-exponential functions were fitted to the plasma concentration-time data. The mean distribution and elimination half-lives were 8.4 +/- 5.9 min and 96 +/- 26 min for lidocaine, 9.2 +/- 7.0 min and 98 +/- 27 min for deuterium-labelled lidocaine, 15.3 +/- 9.9 min and 111 +/- 32 min for bupivacaine, and 15.2 +/- 10.9 min and 109 +/- 31 min for deuterium-labelled bupivacaine, respectively. The mean volumes of the central compartment and mean steady state volumes of distribution were: lidocaine 37 +/- 151 and 97 +/- 201, deuterium-labelled lidocaine 39 +/- 161 and 98 +/- 181, bupivacaine 27 +/- 111 and 66 +/- 231 and deuterium-labelled bupivacaine 28 +/- 121, and 65 +/- 221, respectively. The respective mean plasma clearances were 0.88 +/- 0.181 min-1, 0.87 +/- 0.181 min-1, 0.61 +/- 0.151 min-1, and 0.62 +/- 0.171 min-1. The results of the study indicate that substitution of a deuterated methyl group does not alter the pharmacokinetics of lidocaine and bupivacaine in healthy subjects.
|A G Burm; A G de Boer; J W van Kleef; N P Vermeulen; L G de Leede; J Spierdijk; D D Breimer
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Publication Detail:
|Type: Clinical Trial; Controlled Clinical Trial; Journal Article
Journal Detail:
|Title: Biopharmaceutics & drug disposition Volume: 9 ISSN: 0142-2782 ISO Abbreviation: Biopharm Drug Dispos Publication Date: 1988 Jan-Feb
Date Detail:
|Created Date: 1988-04-06 Completed Date: 1988-04-06 Revised Date: 2004-11-17
Medline Journal Info:
|Nlm Unique ID: 7911226 Medline TA: Biopharm Drug Dispos Country: ENGLAND
Other Details:
|Languages: eng Pagination: 85-95 Citation Subset: IM
|Department of Anaesthesiology, University Hospital, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Export Citation:
|APA/MLA Format Download EndNote Download BibTex
|MeSH Terms
Bupivacaine / blood, pharmacokinetics*
Lidocaine / blood, pharmacokinetics*
Metabolic Clearance Rate
Reg. No./Substance:
|137-58-6/Lidocaine; 2180-92-9/Bupivacaine; 7782-39-0/Deuterium
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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We popped over to Crosby Breach to see 'Another Place' by Anthony Gormley.
For those who've not heard of this, 'Another Place' is 100 life sized cast iron male figures. They are visible on the beach and in the shallow water. They are said to be an exact replica of Gormley, even downstairs ahem, if you catch my drift.
Gormley was responsible for the Angel of the North in Gateshead in 1998 and has a extensive list of works.
The Iron men stretch from Seaforth docks right up to Formby point and it took a good hour or so to walk from one end to the other. Apparently at special times in the year the men are dressed by the locals in football kits, Father Christmas outfits or bathing costumes.


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It's summer time and if you are growing vegetables in your garden then I'm sure you probably have a few zucchini plants. I love zucchini whether it is fried rolled in cornmeal with okra, potatoes and onions or served sliced julienne style in salads. This recipe sounds yummy and I snagged it off Facebook. Don't… Continue reading Recipe Tuesday
Month: July 2013
Guest Author Monday
Join me in welcoming our guest author -- Nicole McCaffrey When I was little, one of my favorite summer activities was helping my grandmother tend the family graves. We'd plant flowers, pull weeds and talk about who it was we were looking after—her mother, her grandmother, her great grandmother, and share what stories she remembered… Continue reading Guest Author Monday
Sunday Sundaes
Today is Vacation Bible School Commencement during the Sunday School hour. The kids in the younger classes learned songs during the week to sing. It is a blessing to listen to them and watch the youngest of the classes perform. They seem to be the largest group and yet they don't really sing. They might… Continue reading Sunday Sundaes
Play Date Saturday
Today wasn't a play date. I had errands, laundry, and household chores to do. Plus I was dealing with a migraine of a different nature. It wasn't like the ones I had had before. But at least it didn't come with the hot flashes like it did last night. And I was able to eat… Continue reading Play Date Saturday
Random Thoughts Friday
TGIF!!!! Looking forward to the weekend. What are your plans? It's Friday and It's Throwback to the 80s. Listening to Aerosmith, Billy Idol, The Police, B52s, Hall and Oats to name a few of the artists on my playlist. Alexia Haynes is moving up the bestseller list over at Amazon with her New Adult Too… Continue reading Random Thoughts Friday
What are You Reading Thursday
This week has been a return to work week. It has taken almost all week to get back in the swing of things after being away on vacation. I really haven't had time to do everything I want to, and that includes reading any of the many books I brought back with me from conference.… Continue reading What are You Reading Thursday
Rumor Has It Wednesday
Bunhead fans are sad today. The dramedy has been cancelled after one season. Gilmore Girls it wasn't. The Prince has a name! No, it isn't Prince as some wanted. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have decided to name their son Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge. It's raining again in Tennessee.


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The Farmhouse "stable"
Quantity in Basket:
Code: 40005
Price: $54.00
Measures 4" wide by 12" long. Main building has two swinging single doors on the front. Right side has exterior stairs that lead to a second story where there is functional door. Left side has large double doors for maybe a smithy or tack room. Removable roof too.
This item cannot be shipped outside of the US.


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Google is the dominant force in many countries World Wide. In the UK Yahoo and Bing might have thought they still had a chance but that dream now seems to have shattered if we look at the numbers released by Experian Hitwise.
Experian Hitwise shows us that Google Sites now account for almost 92% of all searches conducted in the UK in February 2012. That means Google has grown again, almost a percentage, whereas Bing and Yahoo saw a decline.
Microsoft sites, so that is more than just Bing, it is all off Microsoft sites in the UK, saw a decrease of 0.48%, Yahoo did slightly better but still saw a decrease of 0.39%.
James Murray, Market Research Analyst at Experian Hitwise says:
"There was a continuing growth trend in visits to search engines in February 2012, as people relied on search to navigate their way around the Internet. Compared to February 2011 we saw an additional 174 million visits to search engines in February 2012, an impressive 8.7 per cent growth year-on-year. Understanding how people are interacting with search engines, which keywords they are using and how successful those searches are, is becoming more critical than ever for companies to successfully market their brand online."
Experian Hitwise also released the infographic below which gives a nice insight into the UK Search World. I say 'Google'…


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For as long as music has existed, artists have lived from performing. The advent of packaged music (radio, TV, disk, tape or CD) has changed little to this, as the new medium has been more about promoting the artist than making money for the artist, with few exceptions. The ones making money from sales are the record companies, and the appearance on file-sharing is challenging their business model while not affecting the artist's way of living. In fact, the latter appreciate the zero marginal cost promotion. But the record companies want to survive.
Ralf Dewenter, Justus Haucap and Tobias Wenzel study the interaction of record and ticket sales under the assumption that both benefit from each other. Clearly, the impact of file sharing is ambiguous: it may increase record sales if people discover an artist through file-sharing and attend a show. But some potential sales are lost when a very close substitute is available for free. The solution for the record companies to to take over the management of concerts as well. Whether the artists want to go along with that is another question.
Monday, August 22, 2011
File sharing and the structure of the music market
Posted by Economic Logician at 7:14 AM
Labels: Cultural Economics, free goods
1 comment:
Another, earlier paper on broadly similar lines:
Amit Gayer & Oz Shy (2006) "Publishers, Artists, and Copyright Enforcement", Information Economics and policy Vol 18.
- August 24, 2011 at 5:24 AM
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Course Registration
Apprentice Interpreter - English June 18-19Course List
Apprentice Interpreter - English
Price: $350.00 + gst / Member Price: $0.00 + gst
Course Details
Date: June 18/19, 2018
Times: Day 1 - 8:30 am - 5:30 pm, Day 2 - 8:30 am - 5:00 pm, Test from 6 - 7 pm You must receive 70% or more on all 5 sections of the test to become accredited
Location: Fusebox, 201B-1205 Bow Valley Trail, Canmore
Cost: $350 plus GST
***Once you pay in full you will receive two emails - one with the course agenda and pre-reading document and one with the course digital manual. If you do not receive these emails, please check your junk mail folder and/or email us at firstname.lastname@example.com.
If you would prefer a paper manual you can arrange to pick one up a the IGA office.
- There is a good deal of reading to do prior to day 1 so make sure to pay early. This reading will be emailed to you and will help you pass this test - Check your Junk Mail Folder if you do not get it right away!
**If you plan to work as a hiking guide you will also need to take our group management course. With both courses, you will become certified by us as an apprentice hiking guide.