text:
Hotel Marana
Sardatur Holiday Ratings
We believe that customers booking a Sardatur holiday are looking for that personal attention and individual service, which only a truly independent, specialist company can offer. We are passionate about Italy, and our sole aim is to provide our customers with quality holidays, backed by solid experience and the highest level of customer care. We truly are the Italian specialists, with Italian directors who have over 30 years' experience in selling holidays to Italy and a sales team also with many years of experience and a passion for selling Italy.
Sardatur Holidays comprises a large range of accommodation, from simple residences to luxury hotels. The official ratings are based on certain facilities or services being available and they do not take into account the size of the bedrooms or public rooms, nor the preferred décor pf the owner, which may be at odds with your taste. Hotels in the same category, even in the same resort, can vary considerably in character, ambience, service and facilities and may not offer the same staffing levels and facilities, or be as well maintained. it must be bourne in mind that cost is a good indication of standards, particulary when comparing hotels in the same star rating.
As well as the hotel's official star rating, we have also given our own special rating, based on our personal opinion. This rating should be taken into consideration, especially when comparing hotels of the same official star rating. By all means browse our website to get an idea of what we offer. However, if like many of our repeat customers, you would like the reassurance of speaking to someone with first hand knowledge of a particular property or area, then do call us. Together we will find the perfect holiday.
Italy's finest hotels; where guests can enjoy a highly attentive service in luxurious surroundings. Our luxury collection is the ideal choice for that special celebration, honeymoon or even a wedding.
Our Select category includes hotels which we believe offer good standards of service, accommodation and facilities, and which are situated in excellent locations.
Mid range properties, offering a good level of service and comfort for their price.
A collection of reasonably priced hotels, which offer a simple but decent standard of accommodation and represent excellent value for money.
Our Villaggio selection are family resorts, which we believe offer a good standard of accommodation and a good range of facilities to keep the entire family occupied during the holidays. These are friendly and easy-going resorts, providing very informal service and representing good value for money. These resorts have a high proportion occupancy of International clientele.
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Sardinia > Golfo di Marinella | More hotels in this area
Prices From
£835 per person (2 adults) and from £2550 per family
Price includes: 7 nights accommodation with buffet breakfast, return flights and local transfers - (family 2ad + 1 ch under 12 years)
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About the hotel
Hotel Marana is located in the enchanting Gulf of Marinella, only 6km from the centre of Porto Rotondo and a short 20min drive from Olbia Airport.
Recently built, this comfortable 4-star hotel sits amidst verdant Mediterranean vegetation and is only 200m from the idyllic Marinella Beach.
The 63 guest-rooms, over three floors, are arranged around a central courtyard and its fountain.
The restaurant serves a rich buffet breakfast and a la carte dinner menu focusing on Mediterranean flavours and local specialties.
The bar by the pool is open throughout the day for light snacks and refreshments.
The Marinella Beach and its fine white sand is just a short stroll away, easily accessed via a private pathway surrounded by Mediterranean vegetation. On the beach, guests can find sunbeds and umbrellas free of charge. Alternatively, guests can enjoy a relaxing day of sunbathing by the hotel's swimming pool.
Hotel Marana is within easy reach of the many hotspots around Costa Smeralda: Porto Rotondo, the fashionable Porto Cervo and its high end designer shops, the Maddalena Islands to name just a few.
The team at Hotel Marana is always on hand to advise and help organise activities and excursions.
- Categories:
Superior room: equipped with a comfortable king size bed. Private terrace or balcony with table and chairs. Ensuite bathroom with shower and local marble finish from Orosei. The unique furnishings give life to an exclusive and cosy environment. Some rooms have a sea view (on request only). Possibility to add a cot.
Junior Suites: spacious rooms offering comfortable king size bed and a sitting area with a sofa (suitable for a third person). Ensuite bathroom with shower and local marble finish from Orosei. Private furnished terrace presenting views of the lush gardens or the Gulf of Marinella (on request only). Possibility to add a cot.
Three Suites – Executive, Deluxe and Presidential – are available on request.
- Room Facilities:
The 63 guest-rooms and suites are spread over three floors and offer all modern amenities for a most comfortable stay: hair dryer, towel warmer, air-conditioning, Digital TV, safe, minibar, telephone, and free wi-fi.


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Building a Custom Collection in Swift
Have you ever used a Collection, Sequence, or Slice when working with Swift collection types such as Dictionary or Array? In this tutorial, learn how you can implement your own custom collection types in Swift!
But what if they don't provide everything you need for your application right out of the box?
One common solution is to use an
Array or
Dictionary with a bunch of business logic to keep your data organized. This can be problematic as it's often unintuitive and hard to maintain.
That's where creating your own collection type becomes relevant. In this article, you'll create a custom collection using Swift's powerful collection protocols.
In the end, you'll have a useful custom collection data type with all the functionality of a Swift provided collection.
Getting Started
In this tutorial, you're going to be building a multiset (bag) from scratch.
A bag is like a set in that it stores objects with no repeated values. In a set, duplicate object are ignored. A bag, on the other hand, keeps a running count for each object.
A great example of where this would come in handy is a shopping list. You'd want a list of unique grocery items with an associated quantity for each. Rather than adding duplicate item instances, you'd expect to increment the existing item's quantity.
Before jumping into the collection protocols, you'll first create the basic implementation of a
First, create a new playground: in Xcode, select File\New\Playground… and name the playground Bag. You can select either platform since this tutorial is platform-agnostic and only focuses on the Swift language.
Click Next, choose a convenient location to save the playground and click Create.
Next, replace the contents of the playground with an empty implementation of a bag:
struct Bag<Element: Hashable> {
Bag is a generic structure that requires an element type that is
Hashable. Requiring
Hashable elements allows you to compare and only store unique values at O(1) time complexity. This means that no matter the size of its contents,
Bag will perform at constant speeds. You used a
struct to enforce value semantics as found with Swift's standard collections.
Next, add the following properties to
// 1
fileprivate var contents: [Element: Int] = [:]
// 2
var uniqueCount: Int {
return contents.count
// 3
var totalCount: Int {
return contents.values.reduce(0) { $0 + $1 }
These are the basic properties needed for a bag. Here's what each does:
- You're using a
Dictionaryas the internal data structure. This works great for a bag because it enforces unique keys which you'll use to store elements. The dictionary value for each element is its count. It's marked as
fileprivateto hide the inner workings of
bagfrom the outside world.
uniqueCountreturns the number of unique items, ignoring their individual quantities. For example, a bag of 4 oranges and 2 apples would return a
uniqueCountof 2.
totalCountreturns the total number of items in the bag. In the same example as before,
totalCountwould return 6.
Now you'll need some methods to edit the contents of
Bag. Add the following method below the properties you just added:
// 1
mutating func add(_ member: Element, occurrences: Int = 1) {
// 2
precondition(occurrences > 0, "Can only add a positive number of occurrences")
// 3
if let currentCount = contents[member] {
contents[member] = currentCount + occurrences
} else {
contents[member] = occurrences
Here's what this does:
add(_:occurrences:)provides a way to add elements to the bag. It takes two parameters: the generic type
Elementand an optional number of occurrences. The
mutatingkeyword is used to let variables be modified in a
enum. These methods will not be available if the instance is defined as a constant
letrather than
precondition(_:_:)takes a Boolean value as its first parameter. If
false, execution of the program will stop and the
Stringfrom the second parameter will be output in the Debug area. You'll use preconditions a number of times in this tutorial to ensure
Bagis used in its intended way. You'll also use it as a sanity check to make sure things work as expected as you add functionality.
- This checks if the element already exists in the bag. If it does, increment the count, if not, create a new element.
On the flip side, you'll need a way to remove elements from
Bag. Add the following method just below
mutating func remove(_ member: Element, occurrences: Int = 1) {
// 1
guard let currentCount = contents[member], currentCount >= occurrences else {
preconditionFailure("Removed non-existent elements")
// 2
precondition(occurrences > 0, "Can only remove a positive number of occurrences")
// 3
if currentCount > occurrences {
contents[member] = currentCount - occurrences
} else {
contents.removeValue(forKey: member)
remove(_:occurrences:) takes the same parameters as
add(_:occurrences:) and does the opposite with them. Here's how it works:
- First it checks that the element exists and that it has at least the number of occurrences as being removed.
- Next it makes sure that the number of occurrences to remove is greater than 0.
- Finally, it checks if the element exists and decrements the count. If the count drops to zero, it removes the element entirely.
At this point
Bag doesn't do much; its contents aren't even accessible once added. You also lose the useful higher-order methods available on
But all is not lost. You've started the process of separating all this wrapper code into it's own object. That's one step in the right direction of keeping your code clean!
But wait, there's more! Swift provides all the tools you need to make
Bag into a legitimate collection.
To do this you'll need to look at what makes an object a collection in Swift.
What's a Custom Collection?
To understand what a Swift
Collection is, you first need to look at its protocol inheritance hierarchy.
Sequence protocol represents a type that provides sequential, iterated access to its elements. You can think of a sequence as a list of items that let you step over each element one at a time.
Iteration is a simple concept, but this ability provides huge functionality to your object. It allows you to perform a variety of powerful operations like:
map(_:): Returns an array of results after transforming each element in the sequence using the provided closure.
filter(_:): Returns an array of elements that satisfy the provided closure predicate.
reduce(_:_:): Returns a single value by combining each element in the sequence using the provided closure.
sorted(by:): Returns an array of the elements in the sequence sorted based on the provided closure predicate.
This barely scratches the surface. To see all methods available from
Sequence, take a look at the Sequence docs.
One caveat to
Sequence is that it makes no requirement for conforming types to be destructive or not. This means that after iteration, there's no guarantee that future iterations will start from the beginning.
Thats a huge issue if you plan on iterating over your data more than once. To enforce nondestructive iteration, your object needs to conform to the
Collection protocol.
Collection inherits from
Sequence and
Indexable. The main difference is that a collection is a sequence you can traverse multiple times and access by index.
You'll get many methods and properties for free by conforming to
Collection. Some examples are:
isEmpty: Returns a boolean indicating if the collection is empty or not.
first: Returns the first element in the collection.
count: Returns the number of elements in the collection.
There are many more available based on the type of elements in the collection. If you'd like a sneak peek for yourself, check out the Collection docs.
Before implementing these protocols, there are some easy improvements you can make to
Textual Representation
Bag objects expose little information through
print(_:) or the results sidebar.
Add the following code to the end of the playground to see for yourself:
var shoppingCart = Bag<String>()
shoppingCart.add("Orange", occurrences: 2)
This creates a new
Bag object with a few pieces of fruit. If you look at the playground debugger, you'll see the object type without any of its contents.
You can fix this using a single protocol provided by the Swift standard library. Add the following just after the closing brace of
Bag above
extension Bag: CustomStringConvertible {
var description: String {
return String(describing: contents)
Conforming to
CustomStringConvertible requires that you implement a single property named
description. This property returns the textual representation of the specific instance.
This is where you would put any logic needed to create a string representing your data. Because
Dictionary conforms to
CustomStringConvertible, you simply reuse the value of
description from
Take a look at the previously useless debug information for
Awesome! Now as you add functionality to
Bag, you'll be able to verify its contents.
While you're writing code in a playground, you can verify a result you expect by calling
precondition(_:_:). Doing so incrementally will also keep you from accidentally breaking functionality that was previously working. You can use this tool just as you would with unit tests — it would be a great idea to incorporate this into your every day coding!
Add the following just after the last call to
remove(_:occurrences:) at the end of the playground:
precondition("\(shoppingCart)" == "\(shoppingCart.contents)", "Expected bag description to match its contents description")
This will result in an error if the description of
shoppingCart diverges from
Next up for creating powerful collection types that feel native is initialization.
It's pretty annoying that you have to add each element one at a time. One common expectation is to be able to initialize collection types with other collections.
Here's how you might expect to create a
Bag. Add the following code to the end of the playground:
let dataArray = ["Banana", "Orange", "Banana"]
let dataDictionary = ["Banana": 2, "Orange": 1]
let dataSet: Set = ["Banana", "Orange", "Banana"]
var arrayBag = Bag(dataArray)
precondition(arrayBag.contents == dataDictionary, "Expected arrayBag contents to match \(dataDictionary)")
var dictionaryBag = Bag(dataDictionary)
precondition(dictionaryBag.contents == dataDictionary, "Expected dictionaryBag contents to match \(dataDictionary)")
var setBag = Bag(dataSet)
precondition(setBag.contents == ["Banana": 1, "Orange": 1], "Expected setBag contents to match \(["Banana": 1, "Orange": 1])")
This won't compile because you haven't defined any initializers for these types. Rather than explicitly creating an initialization method for each type, you'll use generics.
Add the following methods just below
totalCount inside the implementation of
// 1
init() { }
// 2
init<S: Sequence>(_ sequence: S) where S.Iterator.Element == Element {
for element in sequence {
// 3
init<S: Sequence>(_ sequence: S) where S.Iterator.Element == (key: Element, value: Int) {
for (element, count) in sequence {
add(element, occurrences: count)
Let's take a look at what you just added:
- First, you created an empty initialization method. You're required to add this after defining additional
initmethods to avoid compiler errors.
- Next, you added an initialization method that accepts any
Sequenceof elements. This sequence must have a matching
Elementtype. This, for example, covers both
Setobjects. You iterate over the passed in sequence and add each element one at a time.
- The last method works similarly, but for tuple elements of type
(Element, Int). An example of this is a
Dictionary. Here, you iterate over each element in the sequence and add the specified count.
These generic initializers enable a much wider variety of data sources for
Bag objects. They do, however, need you to initialize another sequence simply to pass to
To avoid this, the Swift standard library supplies two protocols. These protocols enable initialization with sequence literals. Literals give you a shorthand way to write data without explicitly creating an object.
Add the following code to the end of your playground to see an example of how this is used:
var arrayLiteralBag: Bag = ["Banana", "Orange", "Banana"]
precondition(arrayLiteralBag.contents == dataDictionary, "Expected arrayLiteralBag contents to match \(dataDictionary)")
var dictionaryLiteralBag: Bag = ["Banana": 2, "Orange": 1]
precondition(dictionaryLiteralBag.contents == dataDictionary, "Expected dictionaryLiteralBag contents to match \(dataDictionary)")
Again, you'll see compiler errors which you'll fix next. This is an example of initialization using
Array and
Dictionary literals rather than objects.
Add the following two extensions just below the other
Bag extension:
extension Bag: ExpressibleByArrayLiteral {
init(arrayLiteral elements: Element...) {
extension Bag: ExpressibleByDictionaryLiteral {
init(dictionaryLiteral elements: (Element, Int)...) {
// The map converts elements to the "named" tuple the initializer expects.
self.init(elements.map { (key: $0.0, value: $0.1) })
ExpressibleByArrayLiteral and
ExpressibleByDictionaryLiteral require an initializer that handles their matching literal parameter. These were incredibly easy to implement due to the previous initializers you added.
Bag looking a lot more like a native collection type, it's time to get to the real magic.
By far the most common action performed on a collection type is iterating through its elements. To see an example of this, add the following to the end of the playground:
for element in shoppingCart {
Super basic stuff here. As with
Array and
Dictionary, you should be able to loop through a bag. This won't compile because currently the
Bag type doesn't conform to
Add the following just after the
ExpressibleByDictionaryLiteral extension:
extension Bag: Sequence {
// 1
typealias Iterator = DictionaryIterator<Element, Int>
// 2
func makeIterator() -> Iterator {
// 3
return contents.makeIterator()
There's not too much needed to conform to
Sequence. Let's look at what you just added:
- You defined a
Sequencedefines as conforming to
DictionaryIteratoris the type that
Dictionaryobjects use to iterate through their elements. You're using this type because
Bagstores its underlying data in a
makeIterator()returns an
Iteratorthat can step through each element of the sequence.
- You create an iterator by calling
contents, which already conforms to
That's all you need to make
Bag conform to
You can now iterate through each element of a
Bag and get the count for each object. Add the following to the end of the playground after the previous
for-in loop:
for (element, count) in shoppingCart {
print("Element: \(element), Count: \(count)")
Open the Debug area and you'll see the printout of the elements in the sequence.
Being able to iterate through
Bag enables many useful methods implemented by
Add the following to the end of the playground to see some of these in action:
// Find all elements with a count greater than 1
let moreThanOne = shoppingCart.filter { $0.1 > 1 }
precondition(moreThanOne.first!.key == "Banana" && moreThanOne.first!.value == 2, "Expected moreThanOne contents to be [(\"Banana\", 2)]")
// Get an array of all elements without counts
let itemList = shoppingCart.map { $0.0 }
precondition(itemList == ["Orange", "Banana"], "Expected itemList contents to be [\"Orange\", \"Banana\"]")
// Get the total number of items in the bag
let numberOfItems = shoppingCart.reduce(0) { $0 + $1.1 }
precondition(numberOfItems == 3, "Expected numberOfItems contents to be 3")
// Get a sorted array of elements by their count in decending order
let sorted = shoppingCart.sorted { $0.0 < $1.0 }
precondition(sorted.first!.key == "Banana" && moreThanOne.first!.value == 2, "Expected sorted contents to be [(\"Banana\", 2), (\"Orange\", 1)]")
These are all useful methods for working with sequences — and they were given to you practically for free!
Now, you could be content with the way things are with
Bag, but where's the fun in that?! You can definitely improve the current
Sequence implementation.
Improving Sequence
Currently, you're relying on
Dictionary to handle the heavy lifting for you. That's fine and dandy because it makes creating powerful collections of your own easy. The problem is that it creates strange and confusing situations for
Bag users.
For example, it's not intuitive that
Bag returns an iterator of type
DictionaryIterator. Creating your own iterator type is definitely possible, but fortunately not needed.
Swift provides the type
AnyIterator to hide the underlying iterator from the outside world.
Replace the implementation of the
Sequence extension with the following:
extension Bag: Sequence {
// 1
typealias Iterator = AnyIterator<(element: Element, count: Int)>
func makeIterator() -> Iterator {
// 2
var iterator = contents.makeIterator()
// 3
return AnyIterator {
return iterator.next()
The playground will show a couple errors which you'll fix soon. This looks close to the previous implementation with the addition of
AnyIteratoris a type-erased iterator that forwards its
next()method to an underlying iterator. This allows you to hide the actual iterator type used.
- Just like before, you create a new
- Finally, you wrap
iteratorin a new
AnyIteratorobject to forward its
Now to fix the errors. You'll see the following two errors:
Before, you were using the
DictionaryIterator tuple names
key and
value. You've hidden
DictionaryIterator from the outside world and renamed the exposed tuple names to
element and
count. To fix the errors, replace
key and
value with
element and
count respectively.
Your preconditions should now pass and work just as they did before. This is why preconditions are awesome at making sure things don't change unexpectedly.
Now no one will know that you're just using a dictionary to do everything for you.
Now that you're feeling better about
Bag, it's time to bring it home. Ok, ok, collect your excitement, it's
Collection time! :]
Without further ado, here's the real meat of creating a collection... the
Collection protocol! To reiterate, a
Collection is a sequence that you can access by index and traverse multiple times, nondestructively.
To add
Collection conformance, you'll need to provide the following details:
endIndex: Define the bounds of a collection and expose starting points for transversal.
subscript (position:): Lets you to access any element within the collection using an index. This access should run in O(1) time complexity.
index(after:): Returns the index immediately after the passed in index.
You're only four details away from having a working collection. Add the following code just after the
Sequence extension:
extension Bag: Collection {
// 1
typealias Index = DictionaryIndex<Element, Int>
// 2
var startIndex: Index {
return contents.startIndex
var endIndex: Index {
return contents.endIndex
// 3
subscript (position: Index) -> Iterator.Element {
precondition(indices.contains(position), "out of bounds")
let dictionaryElement = contents[position]
return (element: dictionaryElement.key, count: dictionaryElement.value)
// 4
func index(after i: Index) -> Index {
return contents.index(after: i)
This is fairly straightforward:
- First, you declare the
Indextype defined in
DictionaryIndex. You'll pass these indices to
contents. Note that the compiler could infer this type based on the rest of your implementation. Explicitly defining it keeps the code clean and maintainable.
- Next, you return the start and end indices from
- Here, you use a precondition to enforce valid indices. You return the value from
contentsat that index as a new tuple.
- Finally, you echo the value of
index(after:)called on
By simply adding these properties and methods, you've created a fully functional collection! Add the following code to the end of the playground to test some of the new functionality:
// Get the first item in the bag
let firstItem = shoppingCart.first
precondition(firstItem!.element == "Orange" && firstItem!.count == 1, "Expected first item of shopping cart to be (\"Orange\", 1)")
// Check if the bag is empty
let isEmpty = shoppingCart.isEmpty
precondition(isEmpty == false, "Expected shopping cart to not be empty")
// Get the number of unique items in the bag
let uniqueItems = shoppingCart.count
precondition(uniqueItems == 2, "Expected shoppingCart to have 2 unique items")
// Find the first item with an element of "Banana"
let bananaIndex = shoppingCart.indices.first { shoppingCart[$0].element == "Banana" }!
let banana = shoppingCart[bananaIndex]
precondition(banana.element == "Banana" && banana.count == 2, "Expected banana to have value (\"Banana\", 2)")
(Cue the moment where you're feeling pretty good about what you've done, but sense that a "but wait, you can do better" comment is coming...)
Well, you're right! You can do better. There's still some
Dictionary smell leaking from
Improving Collection
Bag is back to showing too much of its inner workings. Users of
Bag need to use
DictionaryIndex objects to access elements within the collection.
You can easily fix this. Add the following just after the
Collection extension:
// 1
struct BagIndex<Element: Hashable> {
// 2
fileprivate let index: DictionaryIndex<Element, Int>
// 3
fileprivate init(_ dictionaryIndex: DictionaryIndex<Element, Int>) {
self.index = dictionaryIndex
There's nothing too strange here, but let's walk through what you just added:
- You're defining a new generic type,
BagIndex. Like
Bag, this requires a generic type that's
Hashablefor use with dictionaries.
- The underlying data for this index type is a
BagIndexis really just a wrapper that hides its true index from the outside world.
- Last, you create a
fileprivateinitializer that accepts a
DictionaryIndexto store.
Collection requires
Index to be comparable to allow comparing two indexes to perform operations. Because of this,
BagIndex needs to conform to
Comparable. Add the following extension just after
extension BagIndex: Comparable {
static func == (lhs: BagIndex, rhs: BagIndex) -> Bool {
return lhs.index == rhs.index
static func < (lhs: BagIndex, rhs: BagIndex) -> Bool {
return lhs.index < rhs.index
The logic here is simple; you're using the
Comparable methods of
DictionaryIndex to return the correct value.
Now you're ready to update
Bag to use
BagIndex. Replace the
Collection extension with the following:
extension Bag: Collection {
// 1
typealias Index = BagIndex<Element>
var startIndex: Index {
// 2.1
return BagIndex(contents.startIndex)
var endIndex: Index {
// 2.2
return BagIndex(contents.endIndex)
subscript (position: Index) -> Iterator.Element {
precondition((startIndex ..< endIndex).contains(position), "out of bounds")
// 3
let dictionaryElement = contents[position.index]
return (element: dictionaryElement.key, count: dictionaryElement.value)
func index(after i: Index) -> Index {
// 4
return Index(contents.index(after: i.index))
Each numbered comment marks a change. Here's what they are:
- First you replaced the
Indextype from
- Next, for both
endIndex, you created a new
- Then you used the property of
BagIndexto access and return an element from
- Finally, you used a combination of the previous steps. You got the
DictionaryIndexvalue from
contentsusing the property of
BagIndex. Then you created a new
BagIndexusing this value.
That's it! Users are back to knowing nothing about how you store the data. You also have the potential for much greater control of index objects.
Before wrapping this up, there's one more important topic to cover. With the addition of index-based access, you can now index a range of values in a collection.
To finish off, you'll take a look at how a Slice works with collections.
Slice is a view into a subsequence of elements within a collection. It lets you perform actions on a specific subsequence of elements without making a copy.
A slice stores reference to the base collection it was created from. It also keeps reference to the start and end indices to mark the subsequence range. Slices maintain a O(1) complexity because they directly reference their base collection.
Slices share indices with their base collection which make them incredibly useful.
To see how this works in practice, add the following code to the end of the playground:
// 1
let fruitBasket = Bag(dictionaryLiteral: ("Apple", 5), ("Orange", 2), ("Pear", 3), ("Banana", 7))
// 2
let fruitSlice = fruitBasket.dropFirst() // No pun intended ;]
// 3
if let fruitMinIndex = fruitSlice.indices.min(by: { fruitSlice[$0] > fruitSlice[$1] }) {
// 4
let minFruitFromSlice = fruitSlice[fruitMinIndex]
let minFruitFromBasket = fruitBasket[fruitMinIndex]
Let's take a look at what's going on here and why it's significant:
- First you create a fruit basket made up of four different fruits.
- Next, you remove the first type of fruit to eat. This creates a new
Sliceview into the fruit basket excluding the first element you removed.
- With the remaining fruit in the slice, you find the index of the least occurring fruit.
- Although you calculated the index from a slice, you're able to use it successfully from both the base collection as well as the slice.
Dictionary and
Bag because their order isn't defined in any meaningful way. An
Array, on the other hand, is an excellent example of a collection type where slices play a huge role in performing subsequences operations.
Congratulations — you're a collection pro now! You can celebrate by making a bag of whatever prizes you want. :]
Where to Go From Here?
You can download the complete playground with all the code in this article here. If you'd like to view or contribute to a more complete
Bag implementation, check it out on github.
In this article you learned what makes a data structure a collection in Swift by creating your own. You added conformance to Sequence, Collection, CustomStringConvertible, ExpressibleByArrayLiteral, ExpressibleByDictionaryLiteral as well as creating your own index type.
These are just a taste of all the protocols Swift provides to create robust and useful collection types. If you'd like to read about some that weren't covered here, check out the following:
- Array's protocol hierarchy: Array Hierarchy
- Dictionary's protocol hierarchy: Dictionary Hierarchy
- BidirectionalCollection: BidirectionalCollection Documentation
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Building your own custom collection might not be the most common requirement, but hopefully it's given you a better understanding of Swift's provided collection types.
If you have any comments or questions, feel free to join in the forum discussion below!


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After MS installed SP3 the laptop slowed down. I tried to fix it by eliminating programs and services I never use. The other day I had a cd in the drive and when I pulled it out the blue screen appeared. I tried safe mode, restore but nothing seem to work. I contacted Dell and they told me the HD was bad. In desperation I wiped the hard drive clean and attempted a clean install. That did not work same response. I have since confirmed the HD is not bad, I loaded WIN98 on to it. But now when I try to install from the XP disc it stops right before the options to install or recover. I have removed the HD ,memory, battery, dvd and my hair. I just can't figure out how to fix this blue screen error Stop 0X0000007E,
pci.sys address F853e0bf base at F85370000, Dates tamp 3b7d855c
Jon in touble, maybe? Take a look for your error @:
Ed in Texas.
remove sp3 and download the iso image for sp3 and burn to disc, this should fix your problem


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Skip to Content
Home > About Us > What's New > 2017 > UHS recognizes awesome healthcare professionals
Published on May 05, 2017
UHS takes this opportunity to recognize and celebrate all of its outstanding employees, especially in connection with the many nationwide healthcare observances held at this time of year. The people of UHS provide awe-inspiring care. They have a positive, lasting impact on the health and well-being of their patients and communities, offering diagnosis, treatment, support and compassion through care from the heart. Our UHS family shares a common bond, built on the spirit of teamwork and fueled by the power and passion that reflect our mission. Our people are a Team of Healers, creating life-changing encounters. Take a moment to thank a healthcare professional during the month of May. May 6 to 12 is National Nurses Week. May 7 to 13 is National Hospital Week. May 14 to 20 is National Nursing Home Week.
Student Health
Nurses Improving Care forHealthsystem Elders
© 2020 United Health Services. All rights reserved. United Health Services, Inc. and the members of the UHS System neither are affiliated with, sponsored, endorsed nor approved by, nor otherwise associated with, Universal Health Services, Inc. (NYSE: UHS), UHS of Delaware, Inc. nor their affiliates, which can be found at www.uhsinc.com.


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Following rumors of Amy Winehouse and Beyoncé, it has finally been revealed who will croon the next James Bond theme song for Quantum of Solace: Alicia Keys and Jack White.
Yes, that's right: for the first time in Bond song history, it will be a duet. Titled "Another Way to Die", the tune was written by White, lead singer of the White Stripes.
Daniel Craig returns as Agent 007 in Quantum of Solace, in theaters November 7.


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A Palestinian youth on Wednesday evening has passed away due to wounds he sustained three weeks ago during the Great Return Marches on the Gaza border.
Ahmed Khaled al-Najjar, 21, from the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, had been hit by an explosive bullet in the abdomen about three weeks ago, and was transferred due to the seriousness of his condition for treatment at the Ahli hospital in Hebron.
This brings the number of martyrs of the return marches to 231 since the march began on the 30th of March.
(Source / 08.11.2018)


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Tony Stark - Avengers Assemble
Looking good =] I like the brightness of the reactor through the shirt - works well =D
Yeah it really came through! Thank God. @_@
Very cool! :) a fellow stark in the works!
LOVE that arc reactor. :)
looking good! when is this for?
Unsure yet; I may do it for July expo for Manchester, or take it to Alcon. (: Depends on what I finish first, my Ghost cosplay or this one!
ah cool i might be going to alcon in my warmachine cosplay and possibly october see you their and great job :)


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Oct 10, 2018
Let's get one thing straight right off the bat: The statewide propositions appearing on this year's November ballot aren't as sexy as the ones Californians voted on in 2016 — when voters weighed in on actual sex, as well as blockbuster issues like pot and the death penalty.
This time around we've got dialysis clinic profit margins (huh?), daylight savings time (yawn) and bonds — so many bonds.
But the confusing and complex nature of these measures is all the more reason to study up.
For this podcast episode, Ry Rivard and I run down all of the statewide ballot measures, including why there are 12 propositions but only 11 you'll actually vote on (see, you're learning already).
If you'd like a similar study guide of the local measures facing San Diego voters, check out this handy guide.
Voice now has a podcast texting club for listeners. To join, text the word "podcast" to 619-202-9051. We'll send you links to new episodes weekly and solicit questions and ideas for future podcasts.


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Mark your calendar! For 2019, the Hahns Peak Area Historical Society's Ice Cream Social and Arts & Crafts Fair will be held on Saturday, July 6th.
The Hahns Peak Area Historical Society is responsible for the preservation and management of the Hahns Peak Schoolhouse, the Wither Cabin, and the Hahns Peak Museum and Pole Barn. Once a thriving gold mining camp, Hahns Peak is the oldest permanent settlement in northwest Colorado's Routt County and served as the county seat from 1877 to 1912.
The Hahns Peak schoolhouse was built in 1911 and is listed on the National Register and the Routt County Historic Register of Historic Places. The District 34 schoolhouse opened for class in 1912 to about ten pupils. The last class of students was held in 1943.
The Wither Cabin, built in the 1800s, is accepted as the senior dwelling in Hahns Peak Village. In 2008, the Wither family donated the cabin to the Hahns Peak Area Historical Society who moved the structure across the street from the schoolhouse and restored it.
The Hahns Peak Museum was built by the Hahns Peak Area Historical Society through donations and a grant. It houses many mining and personal living artifacts from the Hahns Peak area. The Bear Cage Jail, located at the back of the museum, was part of the original courthouse in Hahns Peak when it served as the county seat of Routt County.
The Pole Barn houses many mining relics from the area. Interpretive displays at the building give visitors a step back into time when Hahns Peak was a thriving gold mining camp.
All four buildings, and our gift shop which is located in the Museum, are open daily to the public during the summer season, Memorial Day to Labor Day, at no charge from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m., weather permitting. A self guided walking tour map of the historic buildings in Hahns Peak Village is available at the museum.
Go west two miles on U.S. 40 to County Road 129 (also called Elk River Road). Turn north and drive 24 miles. The School House and Museum is on the right-hand side of the road. You can't miss us!
Ice Cream Social – July 5, 2020– 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Silent auction 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM July 5, 2020.
Open daily from 12:00 to 4:00 PM starting on Memorial Day Weekend, May 23, 2020 (weather permitting) to Labor Day, September 7, 2020. We hope to stay open weekends in September (weather and staffing permitting).
Hahns Peak Area Historical Society
RCR 129 and Main Street, Hahns Peak
PO Box 803
Clark, CO 80428
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 303-887-4341


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Spiritual Life The Morning Offering: Daily Thoughts for Orthodox Christians
From the Publisher:
"Thousands of readers and listeners have benefited from the fatherly wisdom and insight ofThe Morning Offering, the blog and podcast of Abbot Tryphon of All-Merciful Saviour Monastery, Vashon Island, Washington. Now Abbot Tryphon's reflections on faith and contemporary life have been collected in book form, with one entry for each day of the year. Start your day with The Morning Offering and keep yourself oriented toward Christ all through the day."


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The Disney film 'created the "standard version" that no fairy tale should ever have, for these are stories that are elastic, mischievous ... becoming slightly different with each telling'.
@LucyLethbridge on the story of Snow White.
His 'star – in the way writers' reputations unfathomably come and go – shines less brightly than it once did, unfairly I think.'
@saradwheeler recalls visiting the home of the Bronxite E L Doctorow.


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::Outfit Details::
RetroCity Glasses// Maurices Scarf //
Forever21+ Boyfriend Jeans// Pink Pumps (old)
Around this time of the year I like to reflect, spend time with family, and friends. This year has been full of highs and lows but mostly highs. If you follow me on Facebook you saw that I completed every single goal I wrote down in December 2015 except making it to New York Fashion Week (NYFW). I even completed a goal a few months early, which was becoming a full time entrepreneur. There are so many small things we take for granted such as having water, being able to breath or simply walk to the bathroom. I definitely recommend sitting down and writing what you are thankful for in life.
I am thankful for the following 10 things:
- Being ALIVE!
- Having my mother, family, and boyfriend in my life.
- My Tribe! (YOU)
- Having a sane mind.
- My little Lucky is feeling better. (If you follow me on IG you saw he has been sick. :(
- A growing business that allows me to help others feel, look and be amazing.
- My cousin growing strong every day since his stroke.
- The new bundle of joy in my family. He is adorable, I can't wait to meet him.
- The new things to come next year. (wink, wink)
- Every past and future test, trial, and obstacle to come. They have allowed me to grow as a person and showed me what is important in life.
What are you thankful for in life? Share with us below or in the FaceBook group "PinkLux Babes".
*So much is going on in the world don't forget to just say thank you, even if everything is going wrong right now. Remember peace and joy will come!
Until next time Lux Babe....Be Unique...Be You!


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St. Lawrence Shrimp Fishery Certified Sustainable
Gulf of St. Lawrence Shrimp Boat by Else49
The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has certified 75% of the Gulf of St. Lawrence northern shrimp (Pandalus borealis) trawl fishery as sustainable and well-managed. The 27,000 metric tons from this fishery joins the 68,000 tons from the neighboring Canada northern prawn fishery that MSC certified sustainable in early August.
Shrimp is one of the most highly demanded seafood products in the world, and ensuring shrimp fisheries are sustainably managed is critical to the health of our oceans," said Brad Ack, regional director for MSC's Americas region. "Marine Stewardship Council applauds the Gulf of St. Lawrence northern shrimp trawl fishery for meeting the MSC standard for well-managed and sustainable fisheries. We are already hearing commercial partners ask for MSC-certified shrimp products from this fishery.
Getting fish from the ocean to the dinner plate can be a complicated journey, which is why MSC certifies not only the fishers, but also the processors. And while they are a well respected international non-profit that certifies over 35 fisheries worldwide, with another hundred under assessment, others watching the fate of our oceans caution that MSC's certification methods may give consumers false confidence that what they are purchasing is the most sustainable product possible.
Seachoice, a Canadian non-profit with partners including the David Suzuki Foundation and The Sierra Club, BC Chapter, voiced concern that the original Canada northern prawn certification left "conservation concerns unaddressed".
SeaChoice's main concern lies in the minimal passing grade in the ecosystem category of the MSC's certification process. The fishery also failed to achieve the MSC minimum standard in several of the sub-categories. The MSC evaluates fisheries using three guiding principles: stock status, ecosystem impacts, and management effectiveness.
Potential impacts to the ecosystem include:
* destruction of seafloor habitat by drag nets along the bottom;
* unintended catch (by-catch) of ground fish species currently protected by fishing moratoria; and,
* consequences of removing 160, 000 tones of a species from the food web that play an important role in the lower levels of the marine food chain.
The Northern Shrimp fishery is second only to the Greenland halibut trawl fishery in soft and hard coral by-catch.
As evidenced by three new sustainable sushi guides being published in the next month, sustainable seafood is in vogue these days. But, as the disagreement between MSC and SeaWatch shows, in order to truly source sustainable fish consumers need to edicate themselves beyond labels. Or better yet, know your fisherman.
Marine Stewardship Council
More on Sustainable Seafood
Sustainable Fish Now Served on Not-So Sustainable Flights
Worldwatch Institute Reports that Sustainable Fish Farms Can Feed the World
Wal-Mart Sets 100% Sustainable Fish Target for North America
TreeHuggerTV - How To Find Green Fish
Enjoy Eating Sustainable Fish with FishPhone


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Annual Friends of Badger Mountain Celebrating the Badger Ridge Preservation | Richland, WA
Join the Annual Friends of Badger Mountain Celebration on January 28, 2017. This event will start at 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. and will be held at the Richland Community Center, at 500 Amon Park Drive, Richland, WA. For more details, please contact firstname.lastname@example.com or visit the Annual Celebration page at Friends of Badger's website.
About the Annual Friends of Badger Mountain Celebration
The Annual Friends of Badger Mountain Celebration will be a fun gathering that will feature Hors d'oeuvres and wines. It will be comprised of appreciation and election activities. Friends of Badger Mountain has some great news to share, too. This event will be attended by special guests. RSVP is requested.
Friends of Badger Mountain is comprised of local residents who work together in order to preserve the local ridges' beauty and protect everyone's access to it for recreational purposes.
by Colleen Lane
The Lane Real Estate Team
(509) 438-9344 - Colleen cell
Feel free to call or text!
Homes Listed Today | Search All Homes | Advanced Search
Search By Map | Newly Built Homes


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The thing I love about London is that you can carry a large wooden stool down the street, bring it on the tube, proceed to sit on it while riding the tube, then carry it down the street again and no one bats an eye. In America I'm sure at least someone would have quipped "Brought your own seat, eh? Smart!"
Why was I carrying a stool around London? I'll get to that.
On Thursday we moved home — I believe that's the phrase they use here, "move home," along with "removal company," which makes sense linguistically, but I still imagine the removal company removing all of your belongings and then taking them away forever when I see "removal" on the side of a van. But I digress. We moved and as I say every time, moving is the worst. We had the movers pack for us, which you'd think would make the process stress-free, but it was still completely mentally and physically draining. We didn't get the keys to our new place until the day of, and discovered that not only did the previous owner not clean the flat whatsoever, but they took the chandeliers with them, meaning we walked into a nearly pitch-black flat. Stephen had to run out to buy £5 lamps at Argos just so the movers could see where they were going. So we had plenty to deal with at our new place, but things also had to be settled at our old flat. There was some miscommunication regarding the check out inspection and I found out Friday morning it was at noon and I had booked the flat to be cleaned at 2pm. So I had to frantically find a cleaner who could start as soon as possible and got the inspection moved to 2:30, the latest they could do. But before I could go over to meet the inspector, I had to supervisor the cleaners at our new place (who were not happy about all the boxes everywhere!), let in the guy to install our internet (superfast fibre, yay!) and wait for the sofa delivery. As expected, the sofa guys arrived 10 minutes before I had to go to meet the inspector at our old flat, so I let them in then asked the porter to supervise them. Then my stool and I were off.
About the stool — at our old place we took down some of the landlord's curtains in the bedroom. I put them in the closet with the towels, but by the time I remembered we needed to rehang them, the movers had packed them up. Once we moved I dug the curtain out of the towel box. Time was of the essence because I needed to get to the flat before the inspector arrived and quickly hang it up. Because of the delayed sofa delivery, Uber was no longer an option, so my stool and I rode the tube. I got to the flat at 2:20pm — just in time to stand on my stool, hold the curtain up and realize I was missing curtain hooks.
I explained to the inspector that I had the hooks at home in a box somewhere and could bring them later. He said it wasn't his problem — his job was just to photograph and inspect the flat, which was still in a quasi state of disarray despite the fact that the cleaner had been working for 3 hours. I sat on my stool and waited for him to finish. Since the cleaner was still working and I had to lock up after her, he told me to drop the keys off at the estate agent's office after the cleaner was done. When she finally finished, without thinking, I promptly packed up the items we had forgotten in the top closet, left the curtain in the wardrobe, and loaded my stool into an Uber to the estate agent. I carried my stool into the office, handed over the keys, then loaded my stool into another Uber to go home. There was no way I was walking it to the tube in the dark. When I got home I asked the porter how the sofa delivery went. He said he had something he must ask me.
"Why are you carrying that thing all around?"
I could only laugh.
It's called the laugh of recognition / When you laugh but you feel like dyin' – Over the Rhine
The next day I did nothing but unpack, yet the boxes seemed to be multiplying. And what did I find in the bottom of the towel box? ("Curtain hooks!" I bet you're thinking, but no, the curtain hooks appear to be gone forever and I almost lost my mind searching for them.) Another curtain. Because of course the window has two curtains. So I need to make another trip to the flat. I guess I always needed to make another trip to the flat. Which begs the question: why the heck did I bring the stool all the way back?
So today my stool and I have another Tube date. Maybe I should go at rush hour just to have a seat. I can't wait to see the porter's face when he sees me and my stool again.


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The mountains are getting their first big snowfall of the season.
With the snow level is expected to drop as low as 3,500 feet tomorrow, as many as 16 inches may fall in the mountains.
Falling snow was visible early Monday throughout the Cascades. As of 11 a.m., traction tires were required on Stevens Pass.
The road to Artist Point at Mount Baker was closing for the winter after six inches fell, accord to Washington State Department of Transportation. The earlier recorded closure of the treacherous stretch of road was Sept. 27, 2007.


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Free WNY Braces Consultation
Welcome to Owl Orthodontics! We have been creating beautiful, confident smiles throughout the Buffalo area since 1983. We have 6 offices located in Amherst, Williamsville, Clarence, Grand Island, Depew and Buffalo, New York.
Our team of highly-qualified and dedicated professionals is committed to determining which treatment solution is best suited for your specific orthodontic needs. In addition to traditional braces, we utilize the latest innovative technology such as Invisalign and Damon brackets.
For a Free Consultation – which includes photos and x-rays, simply complete the brief form below and we'll follow-up with you soon.


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Congratulations to Mike Harrington on becoming the Cheshire Strokeplay Champion for the first time following victory over four rounds at Wilmslow Golf Club from 27th to 29th June. Mike's total of 280 (8 under par), which included a birdie on the final hole, was enough to see off Jake Hibbert (Delamere Forest) by one shot.
Click here to view the final leaderboard
Mike will represent Cheshire in the national county finals at Frilford Heath in September and he also took the Darlington Trophy for the best score on the first two rounds.
He was also a member of the Prestbury team with Remy Miller and Tom Kirton who won the Team Championship and PGC will now go on to represent the county in the national finals later in the year.
Click here for the Team Championship results
Mike secured a third county title of 2019 for PGC, with Bel Wardle winning the Cheshire Ladies Championship and Gill Mellor winning the Cheshire Senior Ladies title earlier in the season.
Click here to read the full report


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Welcome to the debut of the Accent Marketplace. We have many items by local artisans and curated, unique hand selected garments. All clothing items are $20. Come on out to Accent on Hair and Marketplace to see what we currently have available.
25 Years at Camp Rainbow!
What another great time at Camp Rainbow! Accent on Hair has been serving the girls for 25 years…25 years! It doesn't seem possible but so many return, and we have become like family. For a week these sweet kids are able to forget about their cancer or that of a sibling and have fun. We love fixing the girls' hair … Read More
Shaping Up Your Face For 2016
We are starting a new informative series about different styles options based on your facial shapes and features. Look for more information to come, but enjoy this primer on the different types of facial shapes. The Different Types of Facial Shapes Oval Face – The best way to sum up a round face is that it's just not the same … Read More
Home & Work Families
Words can't express the deep gratitude of my home & work family for the guests who come to Accent On Hair! What an honor to serve for 33 years! As we continue to serve by 1Peter 4:10, we resolve to work hard to make new & current guest experiences at our salon to be the greatest ever!
50% Off Select Products And Services During Visit
50% Off Select Products And Services During Visit Chemistry System $10 Value – Regularly $20 Shellac Nail Service $15 Value – Regularly $30 Brow Tint/Wax $16 Value – Regularly $32 Individual Lash Application $22.50 Value – Regularly $45
Happy 42nd Anniversary Pam and Donnie
Pam and Donnie spent their 42nd wedding anniversary at Calverts in Augusta, then Saturday morning with Sean Frantom filling them in on District 7, some work at AOH, then an amazing musical with our own SarahB, then Sunday with long time friends, Pam on the job as phone bank coordinator for our Children's Hospital, then Monday & Tuesday helping with preparations for Trinity … Read More
AOH Working With Trinity On The Hill Children's Consignment Sale
Pam Wilkins recently helped Augusta's Trinity on the Hill with their annual children's consignment sale. It was great fun and a worthy cause.
Helping With The Children's Hospital of Georgia Fundraiser
Pam Wilkins, the owner of Accent on Hair, has been helping as the phone bank coordinator for the annual Children's Hospital Of Georgia fundraiser for many years. WRDW Channel 12 and the Augusta Richmond County Sheriff's Office were on hand to help raise funds for the GRU Children's Hospital.
Write A Review And Win
Write a review about Accent On Hair at Yelp, Google+ or FaceBook for a chance to win $200 in gift cards from both Amazon and Accent on Hair. ($100 from Amazon and $100 AOH) Simply write a review between May 1st and June 30th and you will be automatically entered for your chance to win. You may write a review on … Read More
Make Eye Contact With Accent On Hair
Make Eye Contact With Accent On Hair. We are now offering eyelash extensions, tinting and waxing. Book an appointment online now. #styleyourstory #redkenobsessed #redkenready
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Top 25 Language Learning Blogs 2013
These are the Top 25 Language Lovers 2013 in the category 'Language Learning'. This category focuses on blogs about the language learning process, language teaching, difficulties with or discussions about learning a language. Congratulations to the winners (2012 winners here)!
See all categories
Make sure to check out the Top 100 for each category as well:


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Posted: May 14, 2019
Garrett Mack (Avon) has added another honor as he has been named the ECAC North Pitcher of the Month for April.
Mack threw three complete games in AMCC victories in the month of April. He totaled 32.2 innings with 30 strikeouts and a 1.93 ERA. He allowed just 22 hits and held opponents to a .185 batting average.
Kenny Jarema of Misericordia was named the ECAC North Player of the Month.


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- $4.99
- Published By: Devine Destinies
- Author: J.S. Frankel
- Page: 229
- Word Count: 72080
- Publication Date: July 30, 2014
- Series: Catnip #1
- Available Formats: Adobe Acrobat, Epub, Hiebook, Microsoft Reader, Mobipocket, Mobipocket (.mobi), Palm DOC/iSolo, Rocket, Sony PDF
- Categories: Fantasy, Young Adult
Harry Goldman, a teenage prodigy thrown into jail for illegal research, is teamed up with a transgenic cat-girl and soon finds himself in love and running for his life.
Harry Goldman, teenage DNA researcher, genius, and total nerd, is thrown into jail for illegal transgenic research. Freed by the FBI on the condition he works under their aegis, Harry is taken to New York where he meets Anastasia, a cat-girl and the product of transgenic engineering. No sooner do they get acquainted then they are attacked by another creature, a bear which is more than a bear, and are forced to flee for their lives. Along the way, they encounter furries, Doug the Dog, find out that they are more into each other emotionally than they're willing to admit, and end up in the Catskill Mountains where Harry finds out the shocking truth about how Anastasia was created...and what she was created for.


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Japan shadow boxes with structural reform imperative
By: Published on:
Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe has promised structural reforms, alongside monetary action, to drag the country out of decades of slow growth. The jury is out on whether he is making sufficient progress.
Structural reforms are the third arrow in Abes aggressive economic plan Abenomics and probably the most difficult to deliver. The policies are designed to raise incomes by 3% a year and per capita income by 40% to about $60,000 over 10 years. The problem is that while fiscal stimulus and quantitative easing merely require a parliamentary majority and a cooperative Bank of Japan (BoJ), economic reforms and deregulation entail taking on powerful vested interests and transforming entrenched cultural values. Abe has sketched a broad reform package, from promoting trade and investment, switching subsidies away from job protection to job creation in growth sectors and boosting the number of skilled foreign workers, to getting more women into the workforce. The challenge has defeated many before, most recently former prime minister Yoshihiko Noda, who partnered with the BoJ in an effort to develop key growth sectors. Junichiro Koizumi prioritized structural reform during his 2001 to 2006 administration, most notably privatizing Japan Post, then the countrys largest employer only for the process to be shelved in 2010. Their efforts even within their limited scope delivered few results. Abe has revealed little detail and done even less... so far. The market has reacted negatively as doubts over his resolve to push through difficult reforms creep in. The Nikkei was down almost 20% in recent trade after surging more than 70% since Abes election victory in December on hopes his policies would boost growth and corporate profits. Given the inevitable pain involved in implementing his reforms, Abe is sensibly holding out for a mandate he hopes to win in elections for the upper house of the National Diet in July. Victory could buy his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) up to three more years to get as much of the reform programme through as possible. Capital Economics chief global economist Julian Jessop says while many of the reforms have been on the policy agenda for years, Abe has the best opportunity for success in a generation. This time around there is a recognition that they cant go on as they have been and the appetite for reform is much stronger than it has been in the past, he says. So far, the country is behind the LDP with a pretty convincing election win in December. Theyll get a convincing win in the upper house as well, and consumer and business confidence are all pretty strong. Whats fundamentally different is a fourth arrow of Abenomics, which is a coordination of the first three [fiscal stimulus, monetary easing and reform]. This time they are more serious and theyre going to try them all at the same time, one helping another. Jessop says probably the biggest test of the governments mettle will be whether it pushes through two planned hikes in the consumption tax from 5% to 8% in April and then from 8% to 10% in 2015. If theyre willing to press ahead with this hard decision, it would make me that much more hopeful about some of the other reforms, he says. The consumption tax represents a fiscal tightening that flies in the face of stimulus. However, it is seen as critical to achieving fiscal sustainability, with tax revenues under pressure from the shrinking of the labour force and an ever-growing population of retirees. Japans VAT is one of the lowest of any developed economy. One area where Abe is pressing ahead is trade joining negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a proposed free-trade area of 12 Asian and Americas economies. Membership could reinvigorate Japans uncompetitive agricultural sector, according to researchers at the University of Auckland. Reform efforts are likely to get a boost from figures showing that the economy grew at a quicker pace in the first quarter than originally thought. Revised government numbers show GDP growth of 4.1%, up from 3.5%. Companies across all sectors plan to boost investment by more than 7% in the fiscal year on a sharp rise in business sentiment in the second quarter at firms capitalized at ¥1 billion ($10.4 million) or more, according to a finance ministry survey. Even if many of the reforms are implemented, there is one few believe is possible for any government: immigration. Japans demographics are a ticking fiscal time bomb, which the UN says it needs to address by increasing annual immigration from about 50,000 to 650,000. Immigrants comprise just 2% of the population. Japan has successfully absorbed some 600,000 Chinese migrants in recent years, 100,000 of whom have become citizens. But mass immigration is a non-starter given Japans homogeneity and strong cultural biases. I dont think were going to get anything on immigration, but many of these reforms are going to be difficult because of the strong influence special interest groups exert over the political elite, says Michael Taylor, director of research at Lombard Street Research. Theres going to be lots of squealing from powerful groups such as the agricultural lobby who want to keep their huge food import tariffs. The labour market is also going to be tough because there are all these temporary workers and permanent salarymen who are underemployed and a drag on productivity growth. The service sector especially has very poor productivity levels. There are some major obstacles to be overcome. He adds: Therell be some modest reforms but we have to wait to see how far theyll go. The effort will be helped by the benefits Abenomics is already producing on wages, for example, summer bonuses this year will be higher than a year ago. Toyota, Honda and others have agreed significantly bigger bonuses. Firms are going to increase investment and others, such as Toyota, that were going to relocate production overseas are now staying put. Taylor, counter-intuitively and perhaps optimistically, concludes that the expectations of a revival plan could fall victim to its own success. There is a significant risk of the impetus for difficult reforms fizzling out if the economy improves dramatically in the next two or three years, he says. That is perhaps a more optimistic assessment of Abenomics cyclical prospects for success.


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Brooke Shields attended the 2017 CDFA Fashion Awards on Monday (June 5) in an on-trend floral gown by Sachin & Babi.
Whilst the split front reveals an interesting black under-dress, there appear to be swathes of fabric. Add to that the outdated and unnecessary train and the ensemble appears to overwhelm the actress.
It was a well-judged decision to keep accessories to a minimum, as they would have fought for attention with the busy print.
This felt forgettable and a touch forced.
Credit: Vogue.com & Getty


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Before you start your reservation online:
If you would rather speak to a real person or if you aren't offered your desired time online, please call us. We'd love to talk to you and assist you any way we can.
Aloha friends of Duke's Huntington Beach! We are happy to announce that we will be open for dine-in starting Friday, 5/29! Click the link below to make a reservation. We will be open Wednesday-Friday from 4pm-9pm and Saturday-Sunday from 12pm-9pm. To-go and curbside pickup are still available during business hours. Click "Order on Toast" to view the to-go menu, order, and pay online!
raw ahi, shoyu, maui onions, avocado, wasabi aioli15
guava cocktail sauce, meyer lemon remoulade13
crispy compart family farms duroc pork ribs, spicy gochujang glaze, fresh herbs, lime13
lilikoi chili water13
fresh fish, passion fruit, red onions, cilantro, tomato, avocado, tortilla chips 12
garlic & herb, firecracker aioli6
creamy new england style8.5
romaine, parmesan, garlic focaccia crumble, lemon-anchovy dressing8.5
lemongrass poached, guava cocktail sauce, bok choy macadamia nut slaw13
edamame, macadamia nut, roasted red pepper, herb flatbread, seasonal vegetables8
crab meat, cream cheese, macadamia nuts, mustard plum sauce12
fresh ahi, edamame & cucumber salad, wasabi, shoyu13.5
all natural free range chicken, carrots, cucumber, herb buttermilk dip12
house fried tortilla chips, cheddar, pepper jack & queso fresco, sour cream, guacamole, pico de gallo, jalapeños
add duroc kalua pork or all natural chicken for $4 more11.5
Local favorites from the streets of Waikiki. Served with jasmine rice, macaroni salad & bok choy macadamia nut slaw
compart family farms duroc pork ribs, mango bbq sauce, grilled huli chicken17
grilled all natural fresh chicken breast, ginger, garlic shoyu marinade12.5
imu roasted duroc pork, braised cabbage, onion, sesame13.5
raw ahi, shoyu, maui onions, kimchee, pickled cucumber, furikake16
grilled or beer battered, flour tortillas, tomatillo sauce, cabbage, guacamole, pico de gallo, tortilla chips15
local greens, yuzu 1000 dressing, hard boiled egg, tomatoes, citrus, avocado, maui onions, cucumber, lemon vinaigrette 19
kona brewing co. fire rock pale ale battered, meyer lemon remoulade, bok choy macadamia nut slaw, fries17
parmesan & panko dusted, tomato lemon caper butter, jasmine rice, bok choy macadamia nut slaw19
1/2 lb angus chuck, brisket & hanger blend, sharp cheddar, mango bbq sauce, onion strings, tomato, pickles, brioche bun, fries 16
1/2 lb angus chuck, brisket & hanger blend, white cheddar, maui island dressing, tomato, onion, pickles, brioche bun, fries add duroc bacon 3 or avocado 2
veggie burger and gluten free bun available15
– Gluten conscious – item is prepared with gluten free ingredients; however our kitchen is not gluten free. Please inform your server of any allergies.
*Consuming raw or undercooked foods may increase your risk of food borne illness.
Local, state and federal taxes will be added to all food and beverage items
We accept MasterCard, VISA, American Express and Discover
Menu items and prices subject to change
All meals include your choice of fresh fruit, fries or jasmine rice and your choice of beverage: milk or juice.
Vanilla ice cream, fudge and whipped cream3.5
Available in the Barefoot Bar Sundays from 10:00am-2:00pm. All you can eat Sunday Brunch also available
half pound chuck, brisket & hanger grind burger patty, jasmine rice, fried egg, furikake, mushroom gravy14
sweet bread, maple syrup, papaya, seasonal berries12
half a papaya, pineapple, seasonal berries, lilikoi yogurt, coconut cornflake crumble9
toasted pan de sal bread, slow roasted kalua pork, fried egg*, bacon, firecracker aioli, white cheddar cheese, avocado, tomato, breakfast potatoes13
shaved duroc smoked ham, poached eggs*, english muffin, hollandaise, breakfast potatoes14
blue lump crab meat, poached eggs*, english muffin, miso hollandaise, shichimi togarashi, breakfast potatoes17
flour tortilla filled with eggs, duroc apple wood smoked bacon, linguicia sausage, cheddar & jack cheese, pico de gallo, charred jalapeno crema, breakfast potatoes13
Adults $31 | Keiki $12
Chili infused ketel one, homemade mix of herbs and spices. Go Big or Go Home!13
Your choice- traditional mimosa, fresh PPOG mimosa5
Fresh hawaiian juices, pineapple, passion, orange & guava
Make it a duke's mai tai for 13.54
Blend of strawberries, passion fruit, pineapple juice, apple juice and banana6
Tito's Vodka, fresh grapefruit juice, St. Germain, cranberry juice11
– Gluten conscious – item is prepared with gluten free ingredients; however our kitchen is not gluten free. Please inform your server of any allergies.
*Consuming raw or undercooked foods may increase your risk of food borne illness.
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Hofstra's annual Great Writers, Great Readings Series wraps up the spring 2016 semester with author Dani Shapiro on Monday, April 11, 2016, at 7 p.m. Location is the Guthart Theater, first floor, Axinn Library, South Campus.
Shapiro's most recent memoirs are the bestselling Still Writing: the Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life, Devotion, and Slow Motion. Her five novels include Black & White and Family History. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, Tin House, n+1, Ploughshares, One Story, Electric Literature, The Virginia Quarterly Review, The New York Times Book Review, The New York Times Op-Ed, and many other publications, and has been broadcast on This American Life.
Great Writers, Great Readings is sponsored by the English Department and the MFA in Creative Writing Program. Events are free and open to the public.
Photo of Dani Shapiro by Michael Maren


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On June 26, 2017, Governor Scott approved House Bill 1237, changing or amending a number of statutes regulating condominium associations.
Month: June 2017
Changes to Financial Reporting Requirements for Associations
On June 23, 2017, Governor Scott approved House Bill 6027, which provides substantively identical changes to the annual financial reporting requirements for condominium, cooperative, and homeowners' associations. Continue reading
Client Alert: Update: Community Associations' Estoppel Certificates
On June 14, 2017, Governor Scott signed Senate Bill 398, enacting it into law. The law, which goes into effect on July 1, 2017, amends sections 718.116, 720.30851, and 719.108, Florida Statutes, regarding condominium, homeowners and cooperative association estoppel certificates. The amendments provide the following changes to the statutes:
Water Shortage Restrictions Override Deed Restrictions
Homeowners associations may not require lot owners to pressure wash their homes, or to water or replace their lawns while there are water shortage restrictions in effect.
The Southwest Florida Water Management District ("SWFWMD"), the agency responsible for managing and protecting water resources of southwest Florida, has declared that Modified Phase III water shortage restrictions are in effect from June 5, 2017 through August 1, 2017 in several counties, including Citrus, DeSoto, Hardee, Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas and Sarasota, and portions of surrounding counties within SWFWMD's jurisdiction. Continue reading


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Chloride-Conducting Chloride Channel Role in Skeletal Muscle
This content was COPIED from BrainMass.com - View the original, and get the already-completed solution here!
For many years Cl- channels have been well studied in neurological systems, where these channels initiate action potentials at synapses, propagate signals along axons and dendrites, and trigger neurotransmitter release and Calcium influx. These activities play a central role in human physiology. Channels with Cl- conductance outside of the nervous system are traditionally viewed as insignificant partners only required for housekeeping functions. In the body, Cl- channels are associated with the secretions of fluids. It wasn't until recently that these channels were recognized as playing an important role muscle functions, relating to disease such as many Myopathies (Myotonia congenita), Epilepsy, Dent's and Bartter's Syndromes, and Osteopetrosis.© BrainMass Inc. brainmass.com June 2, 2020, 5:33 pm ad1c9bdddf
Solution Summary
This document gives a basic outline of the ClC Chloride channel family characteristics, their structure, functions, mechanisms of action, and their specific role in skeletal muscle. A specific section is dedicated to the ClC-1 channel and it's role in the pathology Myotonia congenita.


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I didn't have a booth there, and I didn't do any panels. just meetings. Lots and lots of meetings.
I always leave, feeling like the Uncool Kid in school. And remember: this is around NERDS... Possibly because of all the LA nerds at SDCC. LA nerds are strange and powerful creatures of beauty. Stare not directly at their auras...lest they drain your soul...
Anyway, these meetings were great and cool and productive. But I'm a bit haunted by a question someone asked: "What do you WANT?"
"To tell stories," was my answer.
But now, I'm not entirely sure that was it. I'm not great with on-the-spot answers. I usually have to think about things, for a bit.
So I though. For a couple of days.
What do I want?
(1) To be the best father and husband I can be.
(2) To keep working, and to do the best work I can.
(3) To make people happy, through my work.
(4) To be a good, honest person. And world peace. And +10 Sprinkles of Awesome on my SOLID GOLD ICE-CREAM CONE. And unicorns and double-rainbows, and...YES, YES, YES, we get it. So let's just stick with (1), (2) and (3), and assume all the rest is lurking back there, the same as it ever was, OK? Jeeze. This is maudlin enough already. You people hve no idea how much work it is to be this sincere.
Anyway, where were we? Oh, yeah. What do I want? (1), (2) and (3). In that order? Probably. Though (2) and (3) may change places, from time to time...but in general, you get the point.
I'd add "To be Happy," but my family and my work make me very, very happy. How ridiculously lucky am I? All I need to do is be around my family, and work harder, to become happier.
My work is telling stories. I haven't been telling enough, recently.
That's changing.
Honest. (See #4).


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There are many places, which provide these items.
You will find some Art Supplies listed here
N.B Painting Surfaces:
A list of painting surfaces will be available closer to the start of term
A: Paints
Paints come in different grades eg: economy, student and artist quality. Artist quality is superior in colour intensity, consistency & permanence. However they are much more expensive than student quality, so we advise that you start with student quality.
If you decide to purchase artist quality we suggest Atelier Interactive Acrylic Paint. Note acrylic brands are intermixable however mixing other brands with Atelier Intermixable will alter some of the interactive qualities . A set of student quality acrylic paints for experimental work is often a good idea even if you work with artist quality for your extension work. Some student quality brands we suggest are: A2 Student Acrylic, Mont Marte Dimension Acrylics and Chromacryl Student Acrylic 75ml
Colours for a starter kit: start with at least 75 ml tubes (or similar):
1. Cool primaries:
a. Cool Yellow (eg Lemon Yellow or Cad Yellow Light hue) ,
b. Cool Red (Crimson)
c. Cool Blue (Cerulean Blue)
2. Warm Primaries:
a. Warm Yellow (eg Cadmium yellow medium hue)
b. Warm Red (eg Scarlet Red or Brilliant, or Cadmium red light.)
c. Warm Blue (Ultramarine Blue)
3. Yellow Ochre (Note A2 Student Acrylic do not have this colour but other brands are intermixable)
4. Raw Umber
5. Titanium white
6. Black
7. Paynes Grey
B: Painting mediums
There are many different acrylic mediums. We'll start with:
1. A 250 mls flow control painting medium such as: Chromacryl Painting Medium & Varnish, Derivan Spreader Medium, Atelier Satin vanish & painting medium" or Atelier Clear Painting Medium 250ml.
2. Retarder medium or Atelier Slow Medium
C: Palettes & water containers
1. Palettes: don't buy anything until we have discussed options in your first lesson.
a. A white mixing surface is preferable.
b. Meat trays, the glossy side of cereal packet cardboard, plastic ice cream container lids can all be used for colour mixing. Plastic palettes can also be purchased. Before spending too much on palettes wait until this has been discussed in week 1.
c. Milk bottle tops are very useful for both paint mediums and colour mixing.
d. A "Stay wet palette" will keep your paint useable for up to 3 weeks. Making up a stay wet palette will be demonstrated in the in Week 1
2. At least 2 plastic water containers eg yogurt or ice cream containers.
3. Mixing knives: Plastic knives ,paddle pop sticks or metal palette knives (we'll discus this in your first lesson)
D: Brushes
Brushes can be very expensive so start with a range of sizes of the cheaper hog hairbrushes.
Here are some other suggestions:
4 Flat Hog Hair Bristle brushes: approx .5 cm, 1 cm, 1.5cm and 2.5cm.
Filbert brushes are also lovely to paint with so you might like to purchase a Filbert brush approx 1cm.
Or the 7 piece Mont Marte Acrylic Brush Sets (approx $22. The Art Shed price)
e. Every lesson Items
Coffee Mug & morning tea
Roll of paper towel
Apron (optional) but a good idea!
Masking tape
A4 Visual Diary,
A3 Visual Diary,
2B pencil
Willow charcoal (about 4 sticks)
Pencil eraser, sharpener
Glue stick
F. Easel/support
1. A Drawing Board.
a. A piece of masonite or ply board approx 60 by 43 cm (or larger) size is perfect.
2. Drawing board clips (eg bulldog clips or clothes pegs)
3. Easel: If you wish to purchase an easel the table easels are convenient for easy transporting. I suggest one like the Mont Marte Large Traditional Desk Easel, Model No: MCG0035, price approx $56 (The Art Shed).
G. Other Items
1. Paint soap (optional but good for your brushes)
2. Gesso Primer - 250ml Atelier or Artist Spectrum. NB Mont Marte Gesso is too thin)
© Brizart 2018
PO Box 5110 Kenmore, Brisbane 4069 Australia


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Theres a new kid on the mobile display block, LGs NOVA LCD display. It promises to be the dream screen its super bright, energy efficient, with great colors, viewing angles and outdoor visibility. Well be running our usual battery of tests on the new guy to see if it can deliver on those promises.
LG isn't just throwing superlatives around theyve have hard numbers to back up their claims. They bill the NOVA display as the brightest smartphone screen around 700 nits of brightness. Also, keep in mind that bigger screens are harder to light up, so at 4 big the NOVA display of the LG Optimus Black P970 will be well ahead of the competition if it can pull it off, as other 4-inchers dont even come close to 700 nits.
NOVA uses In-Plane Switching technology, which greatly reduces color distortion and contrast loss when viewed at an angle. This is vital on mobile devices as you rarely hold the phone so that you view the display head on.
But LG has done more to enhance the viewing experience theyve worked harder on reaching what they call pure white tones. LCD and AMOLED screens usually have a slight tint to them, so greys are not quite neutral and even the white is not perfectly white. Your eyes get used to it pretty quick, but its always there unless your phone has a NOVA display that is.
What else? Ah, clearest and most readable are being thrown around in relation to the NOVA display too but how is a 4 WVGA screen better in sharpness and resolution than another 4 WVGA screen? It could be possible, not all pixels are created equal. But well need to get pretty close and personal with the Optimus Black to find that out. Well pit it against some of the best in the business the Samsung Galaxy S and S II, the Apple iPhone 4 and LGs own Optimus 2X (for good measure) to find out which one is the best.
Energy efficiency is also on the menu LG claims 50% less energy used to display a pure white screen than AMOLED displays and also 50% less energy during general usage than regular LCD displays.
So welcome to the display lab! Put your safety goggles on and hit the next page for the LG NOVA display test.


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While Pen 1 had the greatest carcass value/cwt. ($105.48), Pens 2 and 3 had the highest total carcass value ($838.26 and $852.64, respectively) simply because these steers produced heavier carcasses.
Sellers of cattle often want to determine whether to sell their finished cattle on a Live Cash basis or on a Carcass Grid basis. The Live Cash Value/cwt. for each pen of steers was $66, and the Carcass Value/cwt. was determined using the Carcass Grid presented in Table 2. To evaluate which method of selling was best for these pens, compare the first and last rows of data in Table 3 (Live Cash Value/cwt. vs. Carcass Value back on a Live Basis/cwt.).
If the carcass value back on a live basis was greater than $66/cwt., then it would be better to sell those cattle on our Carcass Grid. For this grid, a pen of cattle must have a dressing percent greater than 63% in order to beat the Live Cash price.
This grid gave equal value enhancement to pens producing a high percentage Choice or Prime carcasses (Pens 1 and 4) and pens producing a high percentage Yield Grade 1 or 2 carcasses (Pens 2 and 3). Pens that can do both have a significant advantage on this grid. At the time of the contest, the Choice-Select price spread was narrow. As this spread increases, Quality Grade gains importance on this type of grid.
Pen 4 had the lowest percentage of carcasses grading Choice and a high percentage of Outs. Therefore, it would have been better to sell these cattle on the hoof.
The irony is that it is easy to make the marketing decision after we have the data in hand, but the majority of cattle producers don't have that insight. If a rancher or feeder had knowledge of the feeding and carcass history on prior year's progeny, then they would have a tremendous managing and marketing advantage.
Bottom Line Advice 1. Learn about the feedyard and carcass characteristics of your cattle. Many state Extension programs have information feedback programs that allow you to put cattle on feed and get feedyard performance and carcass data.
2. Before selling cattle on a Carcass Grid basis, have a track record on how similar groups have performed in the cooler.
3. A proper health care vaccination program for weaned calves and backgrounding calves have great potential in improving feedyard health, growth and carcass traits.
4. To optimize cattle management, sort cattle into pens that are similar in frame size, weight and muscling. When these similar groups are properly managed, the number of Outs will be reduced.


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A Brief History of Branding in America and the World
Ms. Pomerantz has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Mary Pomerantz Advertising for the past twenty five years. She was formerly the Chief Executive Officer of Pomerantz Staffing, which grew to be one of the largest privately-owned staffing companies in the US under her leadership.
The roots of branding are debatable based on your definition. There is evidence of branding dating back to earliest days of recorded civilization in 2250 BCE. You could point to Josiah Wedgwood's branding of his fine china and tableware products with his name to denote high quality during the 18th century. Though many were likely not aware of the concept as we know it today, there have been many pioneers and trailblazers in branding. This article will review some of the more important developments in the history of branding.
The Earliest Days of Branding
From the earliest days of human civilization up through the first half of the 20th century, branding was used as a marker of superior quality. When consumers saw certain markings on the products they purchased, it served as a guarantee that they were buying high-quality products that did what they were supposed to.
You can find evidence of this in the ancient Indus Valley civilizations, where craftsmen etched square seals into stone and bronze tools, and merchants also used seals for their own products as well. One of the earliest examples of branding in the known world was in this era where merchants were forced to use seals of bulls, elephants, tigers and other Indian animals to brand their wares and communicate across different cultures.[1]
This practice of using branding to differentiate between quality and efficacy was extremely popular in the early 1900s. Companies like Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble used branding to corner their respective markets. They used branding to build a reputation of quality that would precede them. So when a person was looking to buy a bar of soap or a can of soda, they immediately thought of one of these companies. This created a consumer relationship that was built on trust.[2]
Brands as Status Symbols
As the 20th century marched forward, pioneering companies like Coca-Cola, Quaker, Procter & Gamble, General Foods and Unilever faced a growing problem: their products were no longer head and shoulders above the competition. A person could spend less on the same products produced by lesser known companies and get similar results. To position their companies ahead of the growing list of competitors, they had to use branding as a badge of sorts.
As the 1950s ended and the 1960s began, just saying you had the best product was no longer enough. In addition to offering functional value, products also needed to add emotional value and associate a person's identity with the products they used. At a time when disposable income had reached an all-time high in America, companies focused on being more creative in their advertising so that they could charge more than their competitors and still command market dominance.
Some popular branding examples from this era include:[3],[4]
- Pepsi's "Think Young" and "Pepsi Generation" campaigns
- Campbell's new slogan: "M'm, m'm groovy!"
- Hertz's "Hertz puts you in the driver's seat" campaign
- Noxema's "Take it off, take it all off" commercials narrated by a Swedish model
- Volkswagen Beetle's "Think small" campaign
All of these advertisements and many others went far beyond the functionality of their products and added personality to their brands. It also added emotional value to buying products. This laid the foundation for modern branding practices today.
Brands Adding Value Beyond the Product
The 1970s and 80s saw a new evolution in branding: an embellishment of promises. Through contextual associations in advertisements, brands began promising things like youth, strength, beauty, adventure and control. When consumers were buying a can of Pepsi, they weren't just buying a great soda, they were buying the youthful adventure that came along with it. This was apparent in the frowned upon subliminal messaging tactics of the 1970s.
Advertisers would allegedly hide sexually charged words and photos in ice cubes, clothing or anywhere else in an effort to get viewers to associate desire with their brands. Even beyond subliminal messaging, many companies used contextual messaging to associate added value with products. This included the setting of the advertisements and the age, characteristics and behaviors of the actors.
Advertising in the 1970s grew at a rapid rate. The average American consumer was exposed to approximately 1,600 ads every day. The preferred advertising method was through television, as more than 69 million U.S. homes owned at least one television set and watched more than six hours of television every day.[5] But the 1980s complicated this with the increasing popularity of cable television, remote controls and VCRs. Not only did networks have to compete in a fragmented television market for the first time, but they also had to contend with viewers easily changing channels during commercial breaks and audiences choosing to control their viewing experience by watching VHS tapes rather than television.
This was also a time when brands began to invest in international marketing more frequently, joining the ranks of McDonald's, Coca-Cola, IBM and others. Technological advances allowed advertisers to be more creative in their commercials and reach farther with their branding.[6] Many of these trends continued into the 1990s as technology continued to race forward.
21st Century Branding
There may be more pressure on brands today than ever before. Not only are they required to guarantee quality and act as status badges, but they are now asked to interact with their consumer base and embody values that resonate with the public. Never before have consumers held brands more accountable for political and societal stances. Part of this has to do with the growing cynicism Americans have towards advertisers in general.
People in the public do everything they possibly can to avoid exposure to any type of advertising. With exposure to an average of 5,000 or more ads per day, we are over-inundated with marketing and now instinctively avoid it.[7] Whether it's using streaming services exclusively, installing ad blockers, changing to one of the 800 channels they have during commercial breaks or burying their heads in their smartphones, Americans have become professionals at avoiding ads. Advertisers also have to combat the increasing fragmentation of the market – it's hard to predict when, where or how people will be consuming media or what they'll be reading, watching or listening to.
To get around this, brands now have to be everywhere. This means on social media, television, the radio, in stores and in the news. Powerful brands have to have engaging websites, create viral videos, write relevant blog posts and become part of the public conscious. They also have to create two-way advertising that allows consumers to interact with them.
One of the ways that brands become more relevant (and also more controversial) is by using their marketing to make commentaries on societal issues, such as gay rights, immigration or minimum wage. This strategy can and has backfired because there are very few stances that have no opposition. Virtually any position a brand takes will alienate one demographic or another. Still, with many of these issues coming to the forefront, there's mounting pressure on brands to take stances in some way.
When you take snap shots of the history of branding throughout the years, it's clear that changes in technology and societal perceptions dictate how advertisers must evolve. The most successful companies are able to anticipate and recognize shifts in the market and adjust their branding strategies accordingly. If you own a business that is using outdated advertising methods, allow Mary Pomerantz Advertising to give your marketing a facelift. We would love to discuss our ideas with you in an initial consultation. Contact us today at 732-214-9600 to schedule an appointment.


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And so it begins. Welcome to fifty-four (that's 54) days of excruciating TV, of pollsters polling and saying sooths about said results. Of interminable explanations of the possible ramifications of a 1 percentage point change in a poll with a 3 percent margin of error!
Of a mainstream media intent solely on the headline regardless of factuality and driven by the editorial instructions ("Hi Rupert!") to propagandise surreality and lead the sheeple in the preferred voting direction ("We're all your's Rupert!").
Of commentators commenting on every word said, reading between the lines, extrapolating the implications and examining the portents and signs. If you haven't switched off by day 5 and started watching replays of "Yes Minister" for some light relief, you're liable to need intensive psychological care and enough Valium to numb your brain up until July 2. I'm thinking liquids containing at least 12% alcohol have the potential to be a viable alternative!
Now to overcome the problem of smooth segue from that to the next bit! I know! I know!!
Well see admissions of frailty by those wishing to prostrate themselves before the electorate in the hope of capturing enough votes to return them to the Canberran Troughs of Largesse. Like for example our recently displaced Prime Minister, aka, the Wacko Warringah Wabbott!
And who could ignore Sophie Mirabella's outburst of angst against those nasty little voters of Indi who had the temerity to elect someone else to HER sinecure! Goddamn plebs we should take their vote off them!!
Hidden away alongside the "Stop the Boats" three word slogan policy we found another, equally relevant, once realisation smacks the Lieberal Party in the mouth that Anthropogenic Global Warming just ain't going to go away just by engaging the "wishful thinking" brain cells.
Which brings us to those intellectual giants Fiona Nash and George (bookcase) Brandis' views on the the issue of climate change, aka, global warming, aka, anthropogenic global warming.
That Bloody Rat, was considerably more impressed with the strength of the current Prime Minister (that's Malcolm Turnbull) and the current Treasurer (that's Scott Morrison) who got those disreputable bankers in a room and gave them a good talking too!
He was also most tickled by the assistance provided to DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER Barnaby Joyce to assist him in keeping his foot out of his mouth during an election.
We also found ourselves increasingly concerned with the nature of ephemera because we had seen so many of these during the previous election which had, well, disappeared!
And it was noticed that as the election fervour was racked up a notch or two we started to get an increase in the level of furious defence of the indefensible, leading to raucousness.
The meter was showing extreme levels of bullshit raising concerns that, at those levels, measurement accuracy was now doubtful! In fact, similar to that of election polling.
It was also noticed that the more recently acquired Turnbullshit meter was also operating at peak level.
Although accuracy of measurement is now dubious these levels are extremely concerning, and can only be expected to worsen. As certain as anthropogenic global warming you might say!.
This has led to the following warning being made current over the sunburnt country! The populace is advised to put their tinfoil hats on NOW!!
And there you have it . . . . . . . .!
AFTERTHOUGHT: If you don't punish politicians and their parties for lying to you, you are predetermining your treatment as a fool!
AFTER-AFTERTHOUGHT: This Lieberal/Neutered Puppy Coalition Government is trashing the good standing of Australia. It cares little about its people in its fanatical pursuit of ultra-conservative ideology. It is using the weapons of minority xenophobia, the secret fears and uncertainty of the general public and blatant propaganda, aided by a complaisant media, to turn this country into something is has never been – bigoted, racist, xenophobic, selfish, self-indulgent, self-obsessed, uncaring and a disgrace to all those things that have made Australia a great country! Tolerance, mateship, community, fairness and equity, honesty and a love of freedom in both speech and expression!
POSTSCRIPT: All characters appearing in this work are entirely, and amazingly, fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living, dead or in a zombie like state, is purely coincidental with an exceptionally high probability of being the construct of a deluded mind trying to grasp the true meaning of the political unreality of Australian politics! We can only gaze upon such greatness with wonderment!