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Archive for April 2014
[LINK] "Guizhou emerges as China's big data center"
Chinese news agency ECNS noted that the southwestern province of Guizhou is becoming a major centre for "big data" on the basis of its environmental and other attributes.
Guizhou Province, one of the least developed in China, has emerged at the center of China's big data ambitions, with Alibaba Group and other tech leaders moving to cash in on the big data boom.
Alibaba signed a framework agreement with the Provincial Government of Guizhou on April 17 to use the province as its industrial base for the development of cloud computing and big data.
[. . .]
Guizhou's visibility has been rising in China's big data frontier as a number of heavyweight telecommunication carriers, including China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile, have moved into the province's Guian New District since October to establish cloud computing bases and big data centers.
So far, more than 100 big data enterprises, including Baidu, Jingdong and Dawning, and Internet giants such as Sina.com and Sohu.com have moved in. ( In the eyes of Li Guojie, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the swarming in of heavyweight players is not driven by bandwagon appeal.
[. . . T]he province is an ideal industrial base for big data development. Cool weather, plenty of energy resources, well-developed equipment manufacturing, military industry, sufficient power supply and lower electricity prices are all advantages to lure data centers to set up bases in the region[.]
As one of China's least developed provinces, Guizhou is eyeing the big data industry to boost its economic sustainability while China speeds up its reforms. In 2012, the GDP per capita of Guizhou was only 50.9 percent of the national average, the lowest in the country.
Although rich in energy and natural resources, Guizhou has seen its economy heavily dependent on traditional heavy industries such as chemical manufacturing and ferrous metal production, whose growth potential have been declining.
[. . . T]he province faces a lack of talent to supply the industry's needs.
To remedy the situation, Guizhou launched a talent recruitment project to attract college graduates to set up big data companies in Guiyang by offering them preferential policies.
[URBAN NOTE] On HMV at Yonge and Dundas opening a concert space
blogTO's Derek Flack noted that the HMV music store at Yonge and Dundas is opening up a concert space in its basement. The idea actually makes a lot of sense to me, for the reasons he states.
As the company struggles to remain relevant in the post-CD age, the move makes a whole lot of sense. HMV needs to get people into the store and can tap into a fair bit of local history in opening a live venue on Yonge Street. Over and above the fact that Yonge and Gould was once a nexus of record shops (most notably the former home to Sam the Record Man's flagship location), the stretch of Yonge between Gerrard and Dundas was once a breeding ground for the city's rock and roll scene.
The space will accommodate 140 people and go by the name HMV Underground, which is kind of fitting in its '90s-ness. It was, after all, about 20 years ago when the store was at its peak of popularity. One doubts that a crossover plan like this will restore the location to its former heights, but it sure won't hurt. Hosting live shows is tried and tested way for bricks and mortar record shops to generate traffic and interest on the part of local music fans. In that sense, it's nothing new. But the size and sophistication of the venue is noteworthy. This isn't a little stage tucked into the corner as an afterthought.
I mentioned in April 2012 that the store was going through some hard times, giving up half of its former space to (among other retailers) the Silver Snail comic shop. Doing something innovative with the space remaining is probably HMV's only chance.
Toronto Star's Graham Slaughter has more.
Like other stores, HMV has ridden the peaks and valleys of the music business since the dawn of the Internet. A 2010 Statistics Canada study found that 87 per cent of youth aged 15 to 24 download songs at least once a week, while only 6 per cent exclusively listen to CDs.
This shift has hurt sales and triggered store closures, including Toronto HMVs at Sherway Gardens and on Queen St. W.
But the same Stats Canada research found seniors have remained loyal to tangible sound; 80 per cent of those polled over 65 said they only listen to music on traditional formats.
This demographic gap may be partly responsible for HMV Underground's set list; the first performer will be Canadian classical guitarist Michael Kolk on May 3. The studio has also been reserved for the TD Toronto Jazz Festival in June.
However, Williams insists the Underground isn't for one age group or music style.
"This isn't exclusive just to those hardcore consumers, it's for everybody. If we can bring new people in the store that's all the better," he said. "We're selling the product that is there, but it's about the artist. It's a genuine brand extension, really."
[URBAN NOTE] "Fly Nightclub to close after WorldPride"
I learned last night via Xtra!'s Rob Salerno that the nightclub Fly (official website, Yelp), famous beyond Toronto as the model for the nightclub Babylon in the American version of Queer as Folk, will be closing down at the end of WorldPride on the 30th of June.
Another gay dance club will close its doors for good after one last big bash during WorldPride. Fly owner Keir MacRae broke the news to his employees over the weekend that the club he's operated for 15 years on Gloucester Street will shut down when his current lease expires June 30.
The adjacent resto-bar Fire on the East Side, also owned by MacRae, has already closed and is operating only for private functions.
The building Fly and Fire on the East Side are located in has been approved for redevelopment as a 29-storey condo, although developers have not announced plans to begin construction. MacRae says the landlord offered him the option of renewing his lease but demanded a large rent increase for anything more than a short-term extension. MacRae says that keeping the club going just a year at a time doesn't make sense.
"It's never been a fly-by-night operation. We plan our events months ahead. The numbers and the terms that they wanted didn't make sense."
[. . .]
"It's a great place and central; I hope someone takes it over," he says. "It really depends on whether the landlord wants to come to a deal with someone. The space is there, the liquor licence is there, it has a dancefloor. There's nothing like it in downtown Toronto."
blogTO's Derek Flack emphasizes the extent to which this closure, as well of that of Zippers on Carlton, is the product of pressure to build condos.
[LINK] "Cornish identity: why Cornwall has always been a separate place"
Philip Marsden had an article published in The Guardian responding to the recent recognition by the British government of the Cornish as a distinct ethnicity. Cornwall, as Marsden argues, is a region of England that is not just a region of England, but rather a place with its own distinctive ethnic identity.
Why did the resurgence come so late? It might just be a matter of numbers. Only a few hundred people claim the (revived) Cornish language as their main language. The population of all Cornwall is comparable to the number of people in Wales who actively speak Welsh, and the population of Wales is six times that of Cornwall. I do wonder how long this effort can be sustained, but if Cornish wish it, why not?
When I first drove down to live in Cornwall more than 20 years ago, I was met by a graffiti message on a railway bridge near Truro: "Go home, English!" I should have taken it personally. I should have politely turned around to head back across the Tamar. I was exactly the sort of incomer who was swamping the last little islands of Cornishness. But in fact, I found it heartening. Cornwall was not England – that was why I'd come.
Since then, Cornwall's distinctiveness has, rather than being smothered, become resurgent. In those days, the monochrome simplicity of St Piran's flag was an unusual sight, confined to places of nationalist fervour like Hellfire Corner at Redruth rugby ground. Now it is everywhere – in the logos of Cornish companies, on car stickers (usually with some jokey tag like "Pasty on Board"), or fluttering importantly from Cornwall council buildings. In the late 1980s and early 1990s the Cornish language was likewise invisible, a barbarous and long-vanished practice, like piracy and smuggling. Now it receives government funding to be taught in schools and appears on the bilingual signs at the Cornish "border" on the A30, and on street signs for every new housing development.
It is tempting to regard such reinventions as quaint, like Morris dancing or beating the bounds; some of the most vigorous St Piran's flag-waving comes from English, or even American, settlers. But Cornwall's separateness runs deeper than that. It is less folksy and more physical, something from the soil itself, like the radon gas that seeps out of the granite of Carnmenellis or West Penwith.
The survival of Cornish identity can be traced, on one level, to the quirk of geomorphology and tectonics that placed the sea on three sides and made most of the fourth out of the river Tamar. The shape is reflected in the name: the "Corn-" comes from the Cornish "kern", or "horn" ( the Cornish name for Cornwall, Kernow, is now as ubiquitous as St Piran's flag, and has the same root). Trying to identify Cornwall's appeal, Jacquetta Hawkes reached for its shape: "Cornwall is England's horn, its point thrust out into the sea."
Such a position has always made Cornwall tricky to administer. The Romans didn't bother trying, as long as their supply of tin was secure. Saxon villagisation did not extend far into Cornwall. When the Tudors tried to unite the realm, the Cornish proved unbiddable. Two of the fiercest rebellions of the time came from the far south-west. In 1497, a revolt against taxation began in the village of St Keverne on the Lizard; within months, 15,000 restive Cornishmen had reached London, where they were soundly routed. In 1997, the Keskerdh Kernow 500 commemorated the revolt tracing the original route from St Keverne to Blackheath. The smaller, more benign band of flag-waving Cornish that wound through the market towns of southern England helped to re-establish the sense of Cornish identity, at least for those who took part.


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YUCAIPA >> Detectives finally got a break in a 16-year-old rape case thanks to DNA.
In July 2001, a woman reported she had been walking near California Street and Avenue E when four men pulled alongside her and forced her into their vehicle, according to a sheriff's news release. They drove her to a remote location and gang raped her, the news release said.
During the investigation DNA was collected as evidence and entered into the Combined DNA Index System database, but there wasn't a match at the time of the incident.
The case went cold. Then someone was arrested on an unrelated crime last November, bringing the case back to the surface, according to sheriff's officials.
Jose Angel Bueno, 47, of Riverside, was arrested for an unrelated crime. His DNA was taken by Riverside authorities and sent to the Department of Justice to be added into the national database.
Bueno's sample came back as a match to the DNA collected from the unsolved 2001 rape case, officials said.
Detectives found Bueno in custody at West Valley Detention Center Wednesday on an unrelated case. They booked him for suspicion of rape and kidnapping with the intent to commit rape. He's being held in lieu of $1 million bail.
Detectives believe there may be more victims that haven't come forward.
Anyone with information is asked to call sheriff's detectives at 909-918-2305.

subset: commoncrawl


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Today my rental car detoured itself to Edgar for a late lunch shortly after 4 pm. How this happened can't be explained. Perhaps rental cars shouldn't be trusted?
Once safely there, I had many great choices.
Being an egg lover, it was easy to pick the egg salad on Art-is-in Boulangerie bread with red onion, apple, bacon and arugula. Slightly grilled.
I did a snack pack dessert of a mini almond cake with a chocolate sole and hat! It was a match for my very regular pick of Cha Yi's Rooibos Safari tea.
Rental cars can do unpredictable things and sometimes you just have to roll with it.
* all photos taken with Samsung's Galaxy S Android smartphone *
60 rue Bégin
Gatineau (Hull sector), Quebec
Update to Brunch hours (effective Oct 1, 2011)
Wed to Fri: 10 am – 6:30 pm
Sat: 10 am – 5 pm (Brunch 10 am – 2 pm)
Sun: 9:30 am – 5 pm (Brunch 9:30 am – 2 pm)
Mon and Tues: Closed


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FRIDAY, Feb. 2, 2018 (HealthDay News) — This flu season continues to be one of the nastiest in years. And it isn't helping that the flu vaccine may be less than 20 percent effective against the season's dominant strain, according to a new Canadian report.
In the meantime, thousands of Americans are clogging hospital ERs or suffering at home, with new statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing cases at epidemic levels.
As of Jan. 27, 48 states (down from 49 last week) continue to experience widespread flu activity, the CDC said, with the more virulent H3N2 strain accounting for most reported flu cases.
Not surprisingly, flu-linked hospitalization rates continued to rise — from 41.9 per 100,000 people the week ending Jan. 20 to 51.4 per 100,000 people for the week ending Jan. 27.
"As of this week, overall hospitalizations are now the highest we've seen, even higher than 2014-15, our previous high season," said CDC Acting Director Dr. Anne Schuchat during a Friday news briefing.
"We also continue to hear reports of crowded hospitals and spot shortages of antiviral medications and rapid influenza tests," she said. "Unfortunately, our latest tracking data indicate that flu activity is still high and widespread across most of the nation, and increasing overall.
"This week, we are reporting an additional 16 flu-related pediatric deaths for this season, meaning there are even more families now devastated by flu," she added.
The CDC says 53 children have died of the flu so far this season.
Preventing flu with vaccination is the best means of avoiding these tragedies, of course, but statistics released Thursday out of Canada suggest this season's vaccine is just 17 percent effective against the H3N2 strain.
U.S. estimates of flu shot effectiveness are still to come, but Schuchat wasn't surprised by the Canadian number, since it's been tough to craft a potent vaccine against the H3N2 flu strain.
"A single number doesn't really tell the whole story, but we know that H3N2 vaccine effectiveness is lower, year in and year out," she told reporters. "We expect the effectiveness against the H3N2 strains will be low. That's what they saw in Australia at the end of the season, but we don't have that final number yet."
There is one glimmer of hope: Schuchat said flu activity seems to be easing somewhat in Western states, with Oregon showing a dip in caseloads last week.
Dr. Daniel Jernigan directs the CDC's influenza division. Speaking at the news conference, he agreed that "if this current trend in hospitalization rates is maintained through the season, it is possible the number of flu hospitalizations may well exceed 710,000 as seen in 2014-15."
Older flu patients are still the most prone to needing hospital care, the report showed, as rates continued to be very high for people between the ages of 50 and 64.
But CDC officials stressed that, even if the vaccine's effectiveness is relatively low compared to prior seasons, it's still important — and not too late — to get a flu shot.
That's because any protection is better than none, and studies have shown that being inoculated can at least reduce the severity of the flu if you get it.
That's particularly true for kids, Jernigan said.
"For this season, only 20 percent of these pediatric deaths have been vaccinated, and half of these children were otherwise healthy," he noted. And these deaths were associated with H3N2, H1N1 and influenza B strains — "all of the different types of influenza are causing these deaths," Jernigan said.
Schuchat also stressed that "we are by no means out of the woods. Most seasons last up to 20 weeks, and we've probably got several weeks left of increased flu activity."
Despite the severity of the season, the American Lung Association says there are things you can do to avoid being stricken by the virus.
"The flu is more than just 'a bad cold.' It's a serious respiratory illness that's easily spread from person to person, usually when the person with the flu coughs or sneezes," said Dr. Norman Edelman, senior scientific advisor for the American Lung Association.
"Symptoms of the flu include fever, cough, weakness, aches and pains," Edelman said in a lung association news release. "If you have asthma or other lung diseases, you are at higher risk of developing complications from the flu."
There are a number of ways people can protect themselves and others. They include:
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about the flu.


text: Vintage vs. Art Deco Engagement Rings Finding your perfect engagement ring can be challenging. Deciding what style ring to have lying on your finger for the rest of your life can be a ambiguous decision. We are here to help. Vintage and Art Deco style rings are two of the most trending fads of 2013. Movies such as the Great Gatsby and Downton Abbey have inspired people to get more in touch with their elite side. Vintage Style or Vintage: There is a difference which is very obvious. Vintage is an actual piece of jewelry that has been present since … Read More →


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This is a List of hobbits both male and female that are mentioned by name. They are ordered alphabetically by first name. In cases where a hobbit's family name was changed, usually through marriage, their original family name is given in parentheses. Nicknames are listed in quotation marks.
Note that the years are given in years of the Third Age (unless otherwise noted), and not according to the Shire Reckoning.
Interestingly, one line from The Hobbit includes the insinuation (or at least Bilbo's assumption) Gandalf is "responsible for so many hobbit lads and lasses" going on adventures.
Adaldrida (Bolger) Brandybuck: (c. TA 2818 (SR 1217) - ?) Wife of Marmadoc Brandybuck and mother to Gorbadoc Brandybuck, Orgulas Brandybuck, and two unnamed daughters. Her years of birth and death are not given in The Lord of the Rings, but a birth-year of 2818 for her appears on Bolger family tree 'BG4' in The Peoples of Middle-earth.
Adamanta (Chubb) Took: Wife of Gerontius Took and mother of Isengrim III Took, Hildigard Took, Isumbras IV Took, Hildigrim Took, Isembold Took, Hildilfons Took, Isembard Took, Hildibrand Took, Belladonna Baggins, Donnamira Boffin, Mirabella Brandybuck, and Isengar Took.
Adalgrim Took: (c. TA 2880 - TA 2982) (SR 1279 - SR 1381) Son of Hildigrim Took and Rosa Took. Father of Paladin II Took, Esmeralda Brandybuck, and three unnamed daughters. He was Bilbo's first cousin on his father's side (and Bilbo's mother's side) and Bilbo's second cousin on his mother's side (and Bilbo's father's side), making him an excellent example of the complicated kinship relationships among Hobbits.
Adelard Took: (c. TA 2928 - FO 2 (SR 1327 - SR 1422) Son of Flambard Took and father of Reginard Took, Everard Took, and three unnamed daughters. Bilbo gave him an umbrella as a gift after the farewell party, noting that Adelard had taken many in the past.
Amaranth (Brandybuck): (c. TA 2904 - TA 2998) (SR 1303 - SR 1397) The second child, and eldest daughter, of Gorbadoc Brandybuck and Mirabella Brandybuck.
Andwise "Andy" Roper: (c. TA 2923 (SR 1322) - ?) He was the first son of Roper Gamgee. He was from Tighfield.
Angelica (Baggins): (c. TA 2981 (SR 1380) - ?) Daughter of Ponto Baggins. Noted for her vanity. Received a mirror from Bilbo after the farewell party.
Asphodel (Brandybuck) Burrows: (c. TA 2913 - TA 3012 (SR 1312 - SR 1411)) The fifth child of Gorbadoc Brandybuck and Mirabella Brandybuck, wife of Rufus Burrows, and mother of Milo Burrows. She attended Bilbo's farewell party.
Balbo Baggins: (c. TA 2767 - TA 2863) is the first recorded Baggins, and the ancestor of the Baggins family of Hobbiton. He married Berylla Boffin and had five children: Mungo, Pansy, Ponto, Largo, and Lily.
- Note on Balbo's dates: In the published Baggins genealogy only Balbo's birthdate is shown, but by looking at his children it is possible to estimate his deathdate.
Bandobras "Bullroarer" Took: (c. TA 2704 - TA 2806) led the defense against the orcs of Mt. Gram led by Golfimbul at the Battle of Greenfields. He was known for his exceptionally large stature for a Hobbit (he could ride a horse), although he was later surpassed by his descendant Pippin and his friend Merry Brandybuck. He was the son of Thain Isumbras Took III(c. TA 2666 - TA 2759). He was the younger of two sons, and his older brother Ferumbras succeeded to the Thainship.
Belba (Baggins) Bolger: (c. TA 2856 - TA 2956) The wife of Rudigar Bolger and second child of Mungo Baggins and Laura Baggins.
Bell (Goodchild) Gamgee: Wife of Hamfast Gamgee and mother of Hamson Gamgee, Halfred Gamgee, Daisy Gamgee, May Gamgee, Samwise Gamgee, and Marigold Cotton.
Belladonna (Took) Baggins: (c. TA 2852 - TA 2934) The "remarkable" ninth child, and eldest daughter, of Gerontius Took and Adamanta Took. Wife of Bungo Baggins and mother of Bilbo Baggins. She was also well known to the wizard Gandalf.
Berylla (Boffin) Baggins: (c. TA 2772 - ?) Wife of Balbo Baggins and mother of Mungo Baggins, Pansy Bolger, Ponto Baggins, Largo Baggins, and Lily (Baggins) Goodbody. Her years of birth and death are not given in The Lord of the Rings, but a birth-year of 2772 for her appears on Boffin family tree 'BF4' in The Peoples of Middle-earth.
Bilbo Baggins: See Bilbo Baggins.
Bilbo Gardner: A son of Sam and Rose Gardner.
Bingo Baggins: The brother of Bungo, married Chica Chubb; they had one son, Falco Chubb-Baggins. Falco is most notable as Bilbo's cousin.
Bob: Hobbit of Bree, who worked at the stables in the Prancing Pony inn. See BobBodo Proudfoot: He is the husband of Linda Baggins and father to Odo Proudfoot.
Bowman "Nick" Cotton:
Bucca of the Marish: founded the family of the Oldbucks, after settling in the later Eastfarthing. Also the first Thain.
Bungo Baggins: (c. TA 2846 - TA 2926) was the father of Bilbo. He was also the builder of Bag End. He and his wife Belladonna (née Took) lived there until the end of their days. He had a brother named Bingo.
Camellia (Sackville) Baggins: Wife of Longo Baggins and mother of Otho Sackville-Baggins.
Carl "Nibs" Cotton:
Celandine (Brandybuck): (c. TA 2994 - ?) Third child of Seredic Brandybuck and Hilda (Bracegirdle) Brandybuck. She attended Bilbo's farewell party.
Chica (Chubb) Baggins: Wife of Bingo Baggins and mother of Falco Chubb-Baggins.
Cottar: (b. TA 2820) was Cotman and Carl's father.
Daisy (Baggins) Boffin: (c. TA 2950 - ?) was a cousin of Frodo Baggins. She was the daughter of Drogo's brother Dudo (c. TA 2911 - TA 3009). She married Griffo Boffin.
Daisy (Gamgee): (c. TA 2972 - ?) Sister of Samwise.
Daisy (Gardner): Daughter of Samwise.
Déagol: See Déagol.
Diamond "of Long Cleeve" Took: (TA 2995 - ?) became the wife of Thain Peregrin Took in the 6th year of the Fourth Age. She is possibly one of the North-Tooks, descended from Bandobras Took (aka Bullroarer). She had one son Faramir, named for a Steward of Gondor (see Faramir). Her date of death is not known, but some people assume Diamond probably died sometime before the year 63 of the Fourth Age when Pippin left the Shire to live in Gondor.
Dinodas Brandybuck: (b. TA TA 2914 - TA 2948, d. sometime after TA 3001) was the youngest son of Gorbadoc Brandybuck. He attended Bilbo's Farewell Party.
Donnamira (Boffin) Took: (c. TA 2856 - TA 2948) was Gerontius Took's tenth child and was married to Hugo Boffin.
Dora Baggins: (c. TA 2901 - TA 3006) was Fosco Baggins' eldest child. She attended Bilbo's Farewell Party.
Drogo Baggins:
Dudo Baggins: was Fosco Baggins' youngest child. He attended Bilbo's Farewell Party.
Eglantine (Banks) Took:
Elanor "the Fair" (Gardner) Fairbairn: See Elanor the Fair.
Erling: (b. TA 2854) was Holman Greenhand's third child.
Esmeralda (Took) Brandybuck: A descendant of Gerontius Took, and younger sister to Thain Paladin Took II. She married Saradoc Brandybuck and was thus both Peregrin Took's aunt and Merry Brandybuck's mother.
Estella (Bolger) Brandybuck: (c. TA 2985 - ?) was the sister of Fredegar "Fatty" Bolger, the companion that Frodo, Merry, Pippin, and Sam left behind in Crickhollow at the start of The Fellowship of the Ring. She married Master Meriadoc Brandybuck of Buckland, and had at least one son. Estella probably died sometime before the year 63 of the Fourth Age when Merry left the Shire to live in Gondor.
Everard Took: was Adelard Took's youngest child. He attended Bilbo's Farewell Party.
Erin Took: was Peregrin Took's sister
Faramir I Took: Son of Peregrin Took and Diamond "of Long Cleeve" Took. Named after Faramir son of Denethor and last ruling Steward of Gondor. Married Samwise Gamgee's daughter Goldilocks.
Farmer "Muddy-feet" Maggot: See Farmer Maggot.
Fastred of Greenholm:
Ferdibrand Took:
Ferdinand Took: (b. TA 2940 - d.?) was Sigismond Took's son. He attended Bilbo's Farewell Party.
Ferumbras III Took: (c. TA 2916 - TA 3015), while not otherwise particularly famous, was Thain at the time of the Farewell party of Bilbo Baggins at the beginning of The Lord of the Rings. He was the son of Fortinbras Took II (c. TA 2878 - TA 2980), a cousin of Bilbo) and Lalia Clayhanger. He never married because no one wanted Lalia for a mother-in-law.
Filibert Bolger:
Fíriel Fairbairn: Daughter of Elanor Gardner and Fastred of Greenholm. One of the Fairbairns of Undertowers, the Wardens of Westmarch.
Flambard Took:
Folco Boffin: A good friend of Frodo Baggins. He was probably at Bilbo's Farewell Party.
Fortinbras I Took:
Fortinbras II Took:
Fosco Baggins:
Fredegar "Fatty" Bolger: See Fredegar Bolger.
Frodo Baggins: See Frodo Baggins.
Frodo Gardner: One of the sons of Samwise.
Gerontius "The Old" Took: was the second oldest Hobbit in the Shire's history. The 26th Thain of the Shire, he ruled for 72 years, and died at the age of 130. He was particular friends with Gandalf, and was a direct ancestor to the majority of the famous Hobbits in The Lord of the Rings. He married Adamanta Chubb and had twelve children; nine sons: Isengrim III, Hildigard, Isumbras IV, Hildigrim (great-grandfather to Peregrin Took and Meriadoc Brandybuck), Isembold, Hildifons, Isembard, Hildibrand (great-grandfather to Fredegar Bolger), and Isengar; and three daughters: Belladonna (mother to Bilbo Baggins), Donnamira, and Mirabella (grandmother to Frodo Baggins).
Gilly (Brownlock) Baggins: (? - d. after TA 3001) She was the wife of Posco Baggins and was present at Bilbo's Farewell Party.
Goldilocks (Gardner) Took: (FO 10 - ?) was the 3rd daughter of Master Samwise Gamgee and his wife Rose Cotton. In FO 42, she married Faramir Took, son of Peregrin Took, Thain of the Shire. Faramir became Thain in FO 63, when his father left for Gondor.
Gorbadoc "Broadbelt" Brandybuck:
Gorbulas Brandybuck:
Gorhendad (Oldbuck) Brandybuck: Eleventh Thain of the Oldbuck line. He led the colonization of Buckland, and renamed himself to Brandybuck.
Gormadoc "Deepdelver" Brandybuck: (c. TA 2734 - TA 2836): Master of Buckland until his death, and an ancestor of both Frodo Baggins and Meriadoc Brandybuck.
Griffo Boffin:
Hanna (Goldworthy) Brandybuck:
Hamfast "Ham / Gaffer / Old" Gamgee: See Hamfast Gamgee.
Hamfast Gardner:
Hamfast of Gamwich:
Hilda (Bracegirdle) Brandybuck:
Hildibrand Took:
Hildifons Took:
Hildigard Took:
Hildigrim Took:
Hob "Old Gammidgy" Gammidge:
Hob Hayward:
Hobson "Roper" Gamgee:
Holfast Gardner:
Holman "Long Hom" Cotton:
Holman "the greenhanded":
Holman Greenhand:
Hugo Boffin: was married to Donnamira Took.
Hugo Bracegirdle:
Ilberic Brandybuck: (c. TA 2991 - ?) He was the second son of Seredic Brandtbuck. He was present at Bilbo's Farewell Party.
Isembard Took: (c. TA 2847 - TA 2946) He was the seventh son Gerontius Took.
Isembold Took: (c. TA 2842 - TA 2946) He was the fifth son of Gerontius Took.
Isengar Took:
Isengrim II Took:
Isengrim III Took:
Isumbras III Took:
Isumbras IV Took:
Lalia (Clayhanger) Took: (c. TA 2883 - TA 3002) was the wife of Thain Fortinbras Took II. She married in 2914, and her son Ferumbras was born two years later. Ferumbras never married, reportedly because nobody wanted Lalia as a mother-in-law. Lalia was so fat she couldn't walk and was confined to a wheelchair: she was widely known as Lalia the Great (or sometimes the Fat). In TA 3002 her attendant, Pearl Took, accidentally tipped Lalia out of her wheelchair into her garden, and she died. (Lalia isn't on the Took family tree published in The Lord of the Rings, but she is mentioned in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien.)
Largo Baggins:
Laura (Grubb) Baggins: (c. TA 2864 - TA 2916) was the grandmother of Bilbo Baggins. She was the wife of Mungo Baggins. Besides Bungo, she had four other children; Belba (2856–2956), Longo (2860–2950), Linda, and Bingo (c. TA 2864 - TA 2963). Upon the death of her husband she became Head of the Family. She died and was succeeded by her eldest son, Bungo.
Lee Burns: Hobbit of Epsom, cousin of Kamdar
Lily (Baggins) Goodbody:
Lily (Brown) Cotton: She was married to Tolman Cotton and they had five children.
Linda (Baggins) Proudfoot: (c. TA 2862 - TA 2963) was the sister of Bungo Baggins. She married Bodo Proudfoot, and had a son named Odo (c. TA 2904 - TA 3005). Linda was also an aunt of Bilbo Baggins.
Lobelia (Bracegirdle) Sackville-Baggins: (c. TA 2918 - TA 3020) married Otho, and had a son, Lotho. Lobelia had tried to claim Bag End together with Otho during Bilbo's disappearance, but could only move in when Frodo sold it to her. Much of Bilbo's silverware vanished during his disappearance; when Bilbo left the Shire permanently, he gave Lobelia a box of silver spoons labeled "For Lobelia, from Cousin Bilbo, as a present." During the War of the Ring she opposed Saruman, and was imprisoned. Freed after the Scouring of the Shire, Lobelia granted Bag End back to Frodo, and moved back to her original family, the Bracegirdles of Hardbottle. She died in 3020, and she was over 100 years old.
Longo Baggins:
Lotho "Pimple" Sackville-Baggins: became an accomplice of Saruman during the War of the Ring. Trading pipe-weed with Saruman for money, he began buying land in the Southfarthing, where Men from Isengard were stationed. With the aid of these Ruffians, Lotho was able to depose and imprison Will Whitfoot, the Shire's lawful mayor, and declared himself Chief Shirriff. Under his command the Shire was industrialised. Lotho began to call himself The Boss. However, Lotho was soon stripped of his power, and Saruman took over. Saruman's servant Gríma Wormtongue killed Lotho, and either buried Lotho — or ate him.
Madoc "Proudneck" Brandybuck:
Malva "Headstrong" Brandybuck: (c. TA 2738 - TA 2839) was the first female hobbit to be recorded on the hobbit geneaologies. She married Gormadoc Brandybuck and had three sons: Madoc (c. TA 2775 - TA 2877), Sadoc (c. TA 2779 - ?), and Marroc (c. TA 2783 - ?).
Marigold (Gamgee) Cotton: (b. TA 2983 - d. ?) was Hamfast Gamgee's youngest child and was married to Tolman Cotton.
Marmadas Brandybuck:
Marmadoc "Masterful" Brandybuck:
Marroc Brandybuck:
May (Gamgee): (c. TA 2928 - ?)
May (Gamgee): (c. TA 2976 - ?)
Melilot (Brandybuck): (c. TA 2985 - ?) was a guest at the farewell party of Bilbo Baggins. She danced the Springle-ring (a hobbit dance) with Everard Took. She was a third cousin of Meriadoc Brandybuck.
Menegilda (Goold) Brandybuck:
Mentha (Brandybuck):
Meriadoc "Merry / the Magnificent" Brandybuck: See Meriadoc Brandybuck.
Merimac Brandybuck:
Merimas Brandybuck:
Merry Gardner:
Milo Burrows: (c. TA 2947 - ?) He is the son of Rufus Burrows and Peony Baggins. He was present at Bilbo's Farewell Party.
Mimosa (Bunce) Baggins:
Minto Burrows:
Mirabella (Took) Brandybuck:
Moro Burrows:
Mosco Burrows:
Mungo Baggins: (c. TA 2807 - TA 2900) was the grandfather of Bilbo Baggins. Mungo was the eldest son of Balbo Baggins and Berylla Boffin Baggins. Mungo had four younger siblings: Pansy, Ponto, Largo, and Lily. Mungo married Laura Grubb and had five children.
Myrtle (Burrows):
Nob: Hobbit of Bree and servant at The Prancing Pony.
Otho Sackville-Baggins: (c. TA 2910 (SR 1309) - TA 3012 (SR 1411)) adopted the name of both his parents, effectively founding a new family. His and his son Lotho's ambition was to succeed Bilbo (and later Frodo) as head of the Baggins family; had that happened, Lotho would have called himself 'Baggins-Sackville-Baggins.'
Pearl (Took): (c. TA 2975 (SR 1374) - ?) was the eldest sister of Peregrin "Pippin" Took. She also had two sisters named Pimpernel and Pervinca. Pearl probably died sometime before the year 63 of the Fourth Age when Pippin left the Shire to live in Gondor. In The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien it is mentioned that she was the caretaker of the Took matriarch Lalia Clayhanger-Took at the time of her "fatal fall", and might have been responsible for it, a feat for which she was lauded by the other Tooks.
Peregrin I "Pippin" Took: See Peregrin Took.
Pervinca (Took):
Pippin Gardner:
Polo Baggins: (c. TA 2860 (SR 1359) - ?) He is the son of Ponto Baggins.
Ponto Baggins:
Ponto Baggins: (c. TA 2816 (SR 1215 - TA 2911 (SR 1310) He is the third child of Balbo Baggins. He was married to Mimosa Bunce and they had two children.
Porto Baggins: (c. TA 2948 (SR 1347) - ?) He is the second of son of Posco Baggins. He was present at Bilbo's Farewell Party.
Posco Baggins: (c. TA 2902 (SR 1301) - before TA 3001 (SR 1410) He was the son of Polo Baggins. He was married to Lily Brownlock and they had three children.
Poppy (Chubb-Baggins) Bolger:
Primrose (Gardner):
Primula (Brandybuck) Baggins: (c. TA 2920 (SR 1319) - TA 2980 (SR 1379)) was the daughter of Gorbadoc Brandybuck, Master of Buckland, and Mirabella Took, the youngest daughter of the Old Took. She married Drogo Baggins, and had one child, Frodo. In 2980, both she and Drogo drowned in the Baranduin, leaving Frodo orphaned.
Prisca (Baggins) Bolger:
Reginard Took: (b. TA 2969 (SR 1368) - d.?) was Adelard Took's eldest son. He attended Bilbo's Farewell Party.
Robin "Cock-robin" Smallburrow: One of the Shirriffs of the Shirefrom Hobbiton.
Rorimac "Goldfather / Old Rory" Brandybuck:
Rosa (Baggins) Took: (c. TA 2856 (SR 1255) - ?) was an ancestor of both Merry and Pippin. Rosa was the daughter of Ponto Baggins and Mimosa Bunce. She had a younger brother, Polo. Her husband was Hildigrim Took (TA 2840 - TA 2941 (SR 1239 - SR 1340), one of the many sons of the Old Took.
Rosamunda (Took) Bolger:
Rose "Rosie" (Cotton) Gardner: (c. TA 2984 - FO 61 (SR 1383 - SR 1480). Daughter of Tolman Cotton and Lily Brown and sister of Tolman (Tom), Wilcome (Jolly), Bowman (Nick), and Carl (Nibs). Rosie was a long-time friend of Samwise Gamgee, and they were married in 3020 when Sam returned home after the War of the Ring. Sam and Rosie had thirteen children (Elanor, Frodo, Rose, Merry, Pippin, Goldilocks, Hamfast, Daisy, Primrose, Bilbo, Ruby, Robin, Tolman (Tom)). Many were named after Sam and Rosie's friends and relatives. Among them were Elanor the Fair, Frodo Gardner (c. F0 2 - ?), and Goldilocks. Rosie died in the year 61 of the Fourth Age. Sam then left Middle-earth for the Undying Lands later that year. 'Cotton' in Hobbitish is 'Hlothran'. In the film trilogy Rosie lives at 10 Bagshot row and is played by Sarah McLeod.
"I think the simple 'rustic' love of Sam and his Rosie (nowhere elaborated) is absolutely essential to the study of his (the chief hero's) character, and to the theme of the relation of ordinary life (breathing, eating, working, begetting) and quests, sacrifice, causes, and the 'longing for Elves', and sheer beauty." - J.R.R Tolkien letter dated 1951
Rose: Daughter of Holman the greenhanded.
Rose (Gardner): Second daughter of Samwise.
Ruby (Bolger) Baggins:
Ruby (Gardner):
Samwise "Sam" (Gamgee) Gardner: See Sam Gamgee.
Saradas Brandybuck: (b. TA 2908 - d. TA 3007 (b. SR 1307 - d. SR 1406) Gorbadoc Brandybuck's third child. He attended Bilbo's Farewell Party.
Sméagol "Gollum": See Gollum.
Tanta (Hornblower) Baggins:
Togo Goodbody:
Tolman "Tom" Cotton: See Tom Cotton.
Tolman "Tom" Gardner:
Tolman "Young Tom" Cotton:
Wilcome "Will" Cotton:
(c. ? - SR 1427)Will "Old Will/Old Flourdumpling" Whitfoot: The mayor of the Michel Delving in the late Third Age. He was deposed and imprisoned on the orders of Lotho Sackville-BagginsSee Will Whitfoot.
See also
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Melbourne's Wood Rot Restoration & Painting Specialists
Melbourne Property Rescue's restoration system is simple. We don't believe in treating wood rot, we cut out all of the rotten timbers. This eliminates further spread of wood rot, fungus and fungal spores and can potentially save you thousands on full replacements.
We have a fully equipped mobile joinery workshop. So in almost all cases the entire job can be completed onsite eliminating the need to take away doors and windows. This also reduces to need for unsightly boarding up.
Our Steps for Expert Timber Restoration
- Cutting out of all the rotten timbers.
- Machine and shape new timber onsite to exactly match the originals.
- Expertly splice in the new timbers.
- The newly spliced timbers are glued and screwed in place.
- Then carefully sanded, sealed and painted, leaving no evidence of the repair.


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|This article does not cite any references or sources. (February 2008)
|No. 86
|Defensive tackle
|Personal information
|Date of birth:September 10, 1940
|Place of birth: Gainesville, Alabama
|Date of death: July 16, 1992(aged 51)
|Place of death: Kansas City, Missouri
|Height: 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
|Weight: 270 lb (122 kg)
|Career information
|College: Grambling State
|NFL Draft: 1963 / Round: 19 / Pick: 265
|Debuted in 1963 for the Kansas City Chiefs
|Last played in 1975 for the Kansas City Chiefs
|Career history
|Career highlights and awards
|Stats at NFL.com
|Pro Football Hall of Fame
|College Football Hall of Fame
Junious "Buck" Buchanan (September 10, 1940 – July 16, 1992) was an American collegiate and professional Football defensive tackle. He played for the Kansas City Chiefs in the American Football League (AFL) and in the National Football League (NFL).
High school yearsEdit
Buchanan attended A. H. Parker High School in Birmingham, Alabama, and was a standout in football and basketball.
College yearsEdit
Buchanan attended Grambling State University and was a letterman in football and an NAIA All-America selection. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1996. He is one of four players, Willie Brown, Willie Davis, and Charlie Joiner coached by Eddie Robinson enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Professional careerEdit
On Dec 1961, for the 1962 NFL Draft, Mr. Buck Buchanan was selected 238th overall in the 17th Round by the World Champion Green Bay Packers! The Green Bay Packers had left Defensive End Willie Davis, who went to school at Grambling.
In 1963, the 6'7" 287 pound Buchanan was the first player selected overall in the AFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs. Eddie Robinson, his coach at Grambling State, where he had been an NAIA All-American in 1962, called him "the finest lineman I have seen." Buchanan was the first black number one draft choice in Professional Football. He came from a small historically black university. In fact, the New York Giants had drafted Buchanan in the nineteenth round of the 1963 NFL Draft, the 265th player chosen overall.
Others who had watched Buchanan in action were equally enthusiastic. Buchanan had the physical size plus the athletic instincts to be exceptionally successful at his job of foiling opposing offenses. He was particularly effective at intimidating the passer and in one season alone (1967) he batted down 16 passes at or behind the line of scrimmage. He was clocked at 4.9 in the 40-yard dash and 10.2 in the 100-yard dash at Grambling State and with that speed he could range from sideline to sideline to make tackles.
In spite of the weekly pounding he took on the line of scrimmage, Buchanan was extremely durable. He played in 182 career games that included a string of 166 straight. After dabbling briefly at defensive end as a rookie, Buchanan settled down to his permanent job as the Chiefs' defensive right tackle. He was named to his first AFL All-Star Game after his second season and played in six AFL All-Star games and two AFC-NFC Pro Bowls.
He teamed with Curley Culp, Aaron Brown and Jerry Mays to establish a dominant front four for the Chiefs, culminating in their victory over the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV, when they allowed Viking runners only 67 yards rushing in 19 carries and 172 net passing yards, Buchanan in particular dominating the opposing center, Mick Tingelhoff, a 5-time AP first-team All-Pro selection up to that 1969 season, as handily as the left guard, Jim Vellone.
He was selected to the second team of the AFL All-Time Team, and was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1987 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1990. Two years after he was inducted to the Pro Hall of Fame, he died from lung cancer at the age of 51.
In 1999, he was ranked number 67 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players, right behind his former Chiefs teammate Bobby Bell at number 66. The Chiefs also retired his uniform number 86.
Buchanan once appeared on ABC's The American Sportsman hosted by Grits Gresham of Natchitoches, Louisiana. The program featured Gresham taking celebrities on big-game hunting trips, fishing tournaments, or shooting contests in exotic places around the world.
After his football career Buck started the construction company All Pro Construction, Inc. in Olathe, KS. They specialized in interior renovations and miscellaneous bridge work. Buchanan's widow, Georgia continued to run the company after his passing until 2006 when she sold.
He was diagnosed with lung cancer a week before his Hall of Fame induction and died in his Kansas City home on July 16, 1992 at the age of 51.
See alsoEdit
External linksEdit
- Pro Football Hall of Fame: Member biography
- Football cards
- Buchanan's 1965 Topps football card


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Chris Wray
Chris Wray is a prolific reviewer of board and card games, writing dozens of reviews each year. In addition to writing for Counter, he also writes for the Opinionated Gamers and posts reviews on BoardGameGeek.
Chris's favorite topic is the history of games. He previously wrote the history of the Spiel des Jahres winners dating back to 1979 for the Opinionated Gamers blog. He is currently writing a series for Counter on the history of the International Gamers Awards.
Board and card games were a big deal in Chris Wray's family, and he grew up on the classics. His first experience with Eurogames was with Settlers of Catan back in 2004, and since then he's gone down the rabbit hole. His favorite board games are El Grande, Ticket to Ride, Power Grid, Agricola, and St. Petersburg. His favorite card games are Tichu, Sticheln, Hanabi, Abluxxen, and Seven.
Chris is an attorney by profession, and also teaches accounting at a local university.


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Cabot, VT: Pastor Jack D. Baker, age 83, of Cabot, passed away on Saturday morning, November 24, 2018, in St. Johnsbury, VT, following an extended illness after a fall.
Jack was born in Neosho, MO, on January 29, 1935, son to the late John Wood and Lillian (Jennings) Baker. He grew up in Gorham and Lancaster, NH, graduating from Lancaster Academy in 1953. He went on to receive his Bachelor's Degree in Education from Atlantic Union College in S. Lancaster, MA.
On November 29, 1958 Jack married the former Betty Ann Lumenello. Jack's teaching career ran from 1958-76, teaching in both public and private schools throughout Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and New Jersey before turning to his calling of preaching the gospel of Jesus.
Jack's life in Ministry first brought him to Vermont where he was pastor of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Barre, Randolph and S. Newbury for 4 years. He served throughout Northern New England in each state but returned to his beloved Vermont to his final years in service until retirement in church districts encompassing St. Johnsbury, Newport and Morrisville, before going back to Barre. While in Barre he was instrumental in getting a multimillion dollar donation for the construction of the Central Vermont Academy. During his last assignment, he also served as Pastor at the Cabot United Church for 5 years.
Jack enjoyed reading and was musically talented, able to pick up and play any instrument, but his favorites were the autoharp and harmonica. His true loves on this earth were sharing his love for the Lord, his family and making music. He had the ability to use humor to make any situation better, which is sorely needed in today's society.
He is survived by his beloved wife of 60 years, Betty, of Cabot, a daughter: Jacqueline Baker, also of Cabot, 2 sons: John Baker and wife, LeAnne, of Jackson, TN, James Baker and wife, Holly, of Tampa, FL, a brother: Gerry Baker of Shelburne, NH, a sister: Jean Rines of Ontario, OR, 3 grandchildren: Christopher Baker, Toni Baker-Stephens, Jesse Baker, 2 great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.
He was predeceased by his brother: William Baker.
A Memorial Service will take place in warmer weather at the Cabot United Church with an outdoor luncheon to follow at the family home.
Condolences may be shared with the family at www.saylesfh.com
To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Jack A. Baker, please visit our floral store.


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Time to figure out how to violate our consciences
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Last Friday the Obama administration announced that it would not exempt religious employers and Catholic organizations like colleges, hospitals and charities from a new regulation requiring them to provide insurance coverage for sterilization and contraception, even if they cause abortion. The regulation, which goes into effect Aug. 1, but which federal officials said would be delayed another year until 2013 for church-related organizations, rides roughshod over the conscientious moral and religious beliefs of many Catholics and others. The effective date of the controversial regulation is conveniently after the presidential elections.
Catholic bishops, led by Archbishop Dolan, vowed to fight the measure in the court of public opinion, the legislature and the courts of law. "In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences...We're unable to live with this," he said.
By strange coincidence, just the day before, on Thursday, Dec. 19, the Pope had addressed a group of American bishops in Rome for their periodical ad limina visit. He said, "It is imperative that the entire Catholic community in the United States come to realize the grave threats to the Church's public moral witness presented by a radical secularism which finds increasing expression in the political and cultural spheres... Of particular concern are certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion. Many of you have pointed out that concerted efforts have been made to deny the right of conscientious objection on the part of Catholic individuals and institutions with regard to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices. Others have spoken to me of a worrying tendency to reduce religious freedom to mere freedom of worship without guarantees of respect for freedom of conscience."
Just last week the U.S. Supreme Court spanked the Obama administration over its overly-restrictive understanding of religious freedom. That case decided that a Lutheran school teacher fell within a constitutionally-mandated religious -minister exemption from government anti-discrimination laws. Otherwise, we would have the anomalous situation of government agencies deciding who could teach a particular religion, rather than the religion itself. The Supreme Court's decision in the case of Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church v. EEOC was unanimous, which is evidence that the Administration was adopting an extreme and marginal understanding of religious freedom.
While the insurance regulation emanates from the Department of Health and Human Services, headed by the pro-abortion and nominally Catholic former governor of Kansas Kathleen Sebelius, the legal position came out of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and was vetted by the Department of Justice. This is all evidence that the buck stops at the President, who is making hash of the first freedom of the First Amendment, freedom of religion.
Not only does the First Amendment guarantee that there shall be no official government-sponsored religion (called an "establishment"), but also guarantees the free exercise of religion. This is broad enough to cover religious practice and conscientious objection to involvement in morally questionable practices.
HHS Secretary Sebelius explained, "I believe this proposal strikes the appropriate balance between respecting religious freedom and increasing access to important preventive services." What balance? Coverage of the morally questionable practices is mandated. Religious employers are required to cooperate in their provision, regardless of their consciences. Archbishop Dolan commented, "To force American citizens to choose between violating their consciences and forgoing their health care is literally unconscionable. It is as much an attack on access to health care as on religious freedom."
Now the matter will be decided by the courts. The case is called Belmont Abbey College v. Sebelius, and is being brought by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the same religious freedom law firm that brought the successful challenge to the restrictive EEOC ruling on the religious-minister exemption.
As Cardinal-designate Dolan said, "The Catholic bishops are committed to working with our fellow Americans to reform the law and change this unjust regulation." The sooner the better.
Dwight G. Duncan is professor at UMass School of Law Dartmouth. He holds degrees in both civil and canon law.


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How To Install A Closet Organizer
European home improvement company Kingfisher says it will invest £50 million (about $73 million U.S.) on renewable power in order to minimize its mains grid electrical energy consumption by 10% in just two years.
Good client service is vital for The Residence Depot to sustain its competitive benefit. As a result, The Home Depot is concentrating on associates who interact with clients, as nicely as consumers themselves. Associates obtain a generous rewards package, and very good performance is constantly rewarded. Residence Depot also offers leadership to enable associates to continue creating their information (Corral, 2010). Knowledgeable employees are greater in a position to meet consumer wants. This leads to autonomous actions on the element of the associate which is important for combating new technologies and adverse situations (Hill & Jones, 2008). For customers' advantages, Property Depot has simplified its item return method. It has also begun offering assured price matching, as effectively as other bonuses (Corral, 2010).
Amazon Evaluations: This blower has a wopping 769 critiques on Of these, 486 of these are five star and 182 are 4 star! Given that the downturn, Lennar has gained industry position in 14 of the 30 markets in which it builds, according to the company. The gains helped drive house-creating revenue up 59% to $1.28 billion in its second quarter from the prior year. It is advisable to get in touch with in a skilled if you really feel the need to have to blow out the water lines on your hot tub, because most home owners do not know the suitable stress to use on pipes, and could result in damage to them.
Affluent, and often older, property owners have also been normally a lot more most likely to use tradesmen to perform on extensions, loft & basement conversions and garden landscaping. This influx of skilled workers from other EU countries has led to tradesmen offering very competitive prices. Even so, there is widespread concern about skills shortages, and no matter whether this situation will continue post the selection to leave the EU remains to be seen.
Draw out the design and style prior to you start welding this one. First of all, make certain that you measure the welding machine accurately so that the metal cart is not also modest for it. Use the angle-iron brackets to construct the outer sides. Join them into a rectangular kind. Now weld the metal strips across the base. They must not be placed close enough to offer assistance. Weld the casters and cart wheels. Now use the steel rods to make the deal with that will enable you to pull it anywhere. Your metal cart is prepared to carry the TIG welding machine.


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This season, why not give your loved ones the gifts of health and great skin? Show them you don't need to apply the latest chemical compound or bio-gineered molecules to your face by gifting some of these all-natural products…and maybe even treat your own skin to the gift of all natural products.
Every now and again I stumble across a company that makes their products in their kitchen with all natural ingredients from the roots up. Manor Hall Soap Company is no different. What is different is that they really do make the best of soaps and face, body, hair, hand and foot care face products with the highest quality of vegetarian and vegan products that are beneficial, all natural, smell delicious and eco-friendly.
The Company started only two years ago in Springfield, Massachusetts. Using the cold process and only natural ingredients and quality oils (without preservatives), Manor Hall makes natural bar soaps by hand. Forget about colorants or fragrances (and of course, they never test on animals), you can easily see and read each and every ingredient on all labels and product pages.
What I love is the way they vary a little in shape, size and weight since they're cut by hand. Even the packaging feels so wholesome. You can smell the goodness from the paper.
One of my favorite soaps is the Sesame Ginger Me™. This sweet orange-citrus bar isn't just a delight to smell, it's also great for calming irritated skin. And it's full of great oils like olive, coconut, palm, organic soybean oil, organic sesame oil, as well as ginger spice, turmeric and lemon peel. You know you're slathering on the best.
Looking for a great cleanser that cleans without drying out your skin? Try Manor Hall's In Your Face Natural Foaming Facial Cleanser. Containing tea tree oil and lemon essential oil, you can get cleaner pores that become hydrated. Your skin will feel soft, smooth and supple.
I've always hated getting gift sets with perfumes soaps and body lotion that literally stink. And really if you don't know someone's favorite fragrance don't assume it. So why not give them something that smells naturally good and is also good for their skin? Jason natural holiday gift sets can satisfy all your cranberry cravings.
Did you know cranberries aren't just good for kidney and urinary tract infections? They also fight free radical damage that can cause premature aging and irritated skin. Jason Cranberry Trio of scrub, body wash and body lotion is the prefect gift for anyone who wants a reinvigorating shower/bath experience. In addition to delivering antioxidants to the skin, these cranberry formulas are infused with soothing aloe vera and matricaria (chamomile flower) dry skin becomes soft, hydrated and smell delicious. Jason products are available in most health and natural food stores including Whole Foods.
We all know how the holidays can bring on flus, sinus, colds and aches. Fight them off with a Kneipp Sparkling Herbal Bath Tablets. These alka-seltzer-like tablets are the perfect aroma-therapeutic treat that invigorates and wakes up the system. Activated by warm water, release aromatic essential oils to help renew mind and body. They come in a wide range of herbs from lavender, spruce, rosemary, vetiver, juniper and more.
And if you're sinus prone, indulge in Kneipps Thermal Spring Bath Salt eucalyptus. Essential eucalyptus oil stimulates and helps clear the senses especially during cold and flu season. And if you're not suffering you just feel more relaxed. It's like a mini sauna treatment.
Here's a company that I hadn't heard about but has been making healthy headlines for over 10 years all over the country: The Organic Bath Company. Developing personal care products that are as good for your body as they are clean for the environment, OBC recognizes that by every choice we make, we shape the future of this planet. That's why they honor the rich tradition of herbal wisdom: to ensure those herbal benefits are preserved.
All of Organic Bath products are cruelty free, have no petroleum based ingredients, no paraben or other toxic preservatives, no sodium lauryl or laureth sulfates, no alcohol or artificial coloring or fragrance. Because as they say, "natural means natural" at Organic Bath Company.
The White Tea Body Scrub is loaded super anti-oxidants, and purifying salt to renew lackluster skin. That's not all, mango extracts, aloe vera gel and jojoba and apricot seed oil work loofah-like wonders to rid skin of unwanted rough stuff. For a great gift set, try their A Little Luxury Lavender Vanilla 5 piece gift set. Like a spa to go, you can bring with you everywhere. This set includes: one exfoliating wash Cloth, a Gentle Body Wash, a Super-Hydrating Body Lotion, a Rich Exfoliating Body Scrub and a Botanical Bubble Bath Petal. In addition to lovely lavender vanilla aromas, your skin will benefit form the natural goodness of nourishing extracts, jojoba oils and non-irritant moisturizers. The perfect gift for someone who likes to pamper themselves with a spa-like treatment at home or at the gym.
Who says men are complicated? They're all about simplicity. That's why they'll love this 2-for-1 moisturizer for face and body. Double Duty Moisturizer for Face & Body, which is full of organic white tea and Jojoba to help moisturize skin all over. The Double Duty line also offers a Hair and Body Cleanse and a Smooth Shave and Bread Softener.
Desert Essence is not only the first brand to introduce Tea Tree Oil to the United States, but has a complete line of innovative personal care, spa and active sport products which are sold throughout the United States, Canada and parts of Europe. Desert Essence organic Tea Tree Oil is an inherently antiseptic pure essential oil grown organically in Australia, guaranteed free of herbicides, pesticides and chemicals. Certified organic through third party testing.
One of my favorites is Tea Tree Oil Skin Ointment. Laced with sweet almond oil, organic tea tree oil, jojoba oil, calendula extract and lavender, this delicious smelling formula works great on sensitive dry skin for face, cuticles, minor burns etc. Before you slather it on, clean your skin with Natural Facial Cleansing Pads that are formulated with herbal extracts to gently remove dirt form pores. You'll visibly see how clean your skin looks and as the texture of your skin looks better too. The Desert Essence mission is to deliver quality, natural-based products that improve the lifestyles of today's most health-conscious consumer. Desert Essence is part of the Country Life family of brands, a leader in the nutritional supplement industry for over 35 years.Look out for Desert Essence products in Whole Foods.
She coined the phrase "AcuFacial" and then trademarked it. The smartest business move she ever made she admits. Her name is Shelli Goldstein, a trained licensed acupuncturist you can find at the Eva Scrivo Salon in the West Village, who uses her wisdom of ancient Chinese medicine and highly effective facial massage treatments to improve skin texture, decrease fine lines and lift and tone facial muscles. After analyzing your skin, examining your tongue and checking your pulse, she already foresees the weak spots, knowing that a good complexion and unclogged pores can be signs of poor digestion and weak lungs.
When the needles are strategically placed throughout face, legs and arms, you feel the bad energy leave your body and await the next step of the treatment in a blissful state. After being completely relaxed, the best is yet to come. Shelli isn't just a trained acupuncturist, her facial strokes are so invigorating, relaxing and really help tone muscles. From my experience, she's one of the best facialists in the city.
That's not all. Shelli's also very knowledgeable on diet, skincare trends and what products to use to suit your skin type. Layer after layer of wonderful Yon-Ka products, I could tell my tired, dehydrated skin was already feeling more awake. After an almost a two hour treatment of needles, massaging hands and nourishing products, I knew my skin and I were feeling the better for it. I looked at my skin to see a fresher, younger looking, less exhausted complexion. Plus, I felt so much better, less tense and more relaxed. I think Shelli has also coined another new phrase acumazing!
Discover the AcuFacial™ at Eva Scrivo Salon on 632 Hudson St (between Jane Street and Horatio Street) New York, NY 10014 (212) 677-7315


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4 Exquisite Glass Pool Table Styles to choose from.
All of our Pool Tables are Built with Love.
Generation Billiards has a passion of bringing the most exquisite pool tables to designers and people with a rich flair for their home and vacation cottages. Our design and quality is unsurpassed and the steel strength is the same method Lamborghini uses to make their wheels. Our glass is cut by water jet for precision and exposed edges are polished for that perfect finish. We are very proud of what we can offer our clients thus far for their game rooms, and looking forward to new products for this room and the rest of the home in coming years. The future of modern Innovation is coming…
Four Fabulous Glass Styles to choose from.
The World's Hottest Pool Tables.
You pick the style and we deliver!


text: MTN. (Duncan Alfreds, Fin24) RELATED ARTICLES MTN buys Visafone Nigeria as court mulls $3.9bn fine MTN to dispute huge Nigeria fine in Lagos court Nigeria fine 'typo' sends MTN shares tumbling Johannesburg - Africa's biggest mobile network MTN [JSE:MTN] looks set to make a R15.9bn profit in Nigeria, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.The company was responding to a report in Nigeria's This Day newspaper which reported that it had seen documents which showed that MTN's profit after income tax was about 190 billion naira (R15.9bn) at the end of December 31, 2015.MTN said that it is busy completing its audit and that its financial results are yet to be finalised. But the company noted that the figure of R15.9bn was close to estimates."Noteholders are further informed that the profit after tax figure for MTN Nigeria for the period ended 31 December 2015 being quoted in the press article, is naira 190 billion (R15.9bn) which is within the current estimate but is subject to finalisation and audit sign off," said MTN.This Day referred to the figure in a report about MTN's financial results showing that it could struggle to pay its $3.9bn (777 billion naira) fine in Nigeria in one tranche. Nigerian regulators imposed the multi-billion dollar fine on MTN last year after the mobile network failed to disconnect five million SIM cards in a timely manner. MTN is challenging the fine in Nigeria's courts. Read more about: mtn | nigeria | mtn nigeria fine share:


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April 13, 1924 — July 15, 2018
The Rite of Christian Burial for Anita (Bonnie Brogan) Germann, age 94, was celebrated by the Rev. Edward Girres at St. Michael's Catholic Church in Whittemore on Thursday, July 19, 2018. Burial was in St. Michael's Catholic Cemetery in Whittemore.
Bonnie, daughter of A.D. and Laura (Schmitt) Brogan was born April 13, 1924, in Meservey. She graduated from Presentation Academy in 1941 at Whittemore and married DuWayne (Jug) Germann at Whittemore on April 12, 1948. They lived most of their lives in Whittemore and four years in Fenton. Bonnie then moved to Ames in May of 1992.
She was a member of St. Michael's Rosary Society of Whittemore, the Whittemore Golf Club, Seneca, West Bend, and Algona Saddle Clubs.
In Ames she was a member of St. Cecilia's Catholic Church and St. Cecilia CCW and was the funeral chairperson for St. Mary's Circle. She was also a member of Actors and the Women's Moose Club.
Bonnie passed on Sunday, July 15, 2018, at the West Bend Rehabilitation Center.
Bonnie is survived by three daughters, Jean (Lynn) Rahfeldt of Ames, Jane Germann of Newnan, Georgia, and Joyce (Dave) Wagner of Whittemore. There are three grandchildren and one step-granddaughter, Bob Rahfeldt of Iowa City, Bryan (Suzanne) Rahfeldt of Clive and Sara (Chris) Harlan of Urbandale, and Chrystal Thompson of Mason City. Great-grandchildren are, Lucie, Corbin and Charlotte Harlan, Zack, Lillie and Libby Rahfeldt, Knox Rahfeldt and Annika Wagner.
She was preceded in death by her husband, DuWayne; parents, sister, Carmelita; and brother, Stan. Online condolences may be left at www.oakcrestfuneralservices.com.


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July 12-14, 2016
Moscone Center
San Fransisco, CA
Welcome to Nanotech, Inc. at booth #6455.
Nanotech Inc. is sensor manufacturing company, located in South Korea.
Our products and services include optical emission spectroscopy, end point detectors and plasma monitors, film thickness measurement tools and application S/W used for the process control in semiconductor manufacturing.
We developed the plasma generating and spectrum analysis techniques for the 1st time in Korea, which was very much demanded technology in the semiconductor manufacturing process. We are proud to say that our technological strengths have been proven through 18 patents registered already and 4 under process.
Here in 2019 Semicon West, we would like to show you our SPOES, for leak detection and EPD for end point detection in the semiconductor manufacturing process.
Customer Benefits
√ Control the process accurately and stably
√ Improve production yield-rate
√ Respose to the changes of process promptly
√ Available optimized solution for H/W or S/W to detect an endpoint
√ End Point Detection, Process fault Detection
√ Dry etcher/Asher/PECVD @Semiconductor/display manufacturing
√ Increase throughput by determining the optimal etch time
√ Detect process endpoint through in-situ monitoring optical change in the plasma chamber
√ In-situ monitoring for 200~850nm
√ Use highly sensitive CCD sensor(2,048pixels)
√ Advanced EPD algorithms : Differential threshold method, Window method
√ Improve production yield-rate
√ Separate sensing, not affect the process
√ Optimized solution for HW/SW to detect plasma fault
√ Easy and simple to build in low cost
SEMI Global Headquarters
673 South Milpitas Blvd.
Milpitas, CA 95035
Tel: +1.408.943.6900
Tel: +1.408.943.6986
Copyright 2018, a2z, Inc. All rights reserved.


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Allert - for food allergies 4+
Food allergy app for travelers
Jacques Hoebee
- $2.99
iPhone Screenshots
Allert is the food allergy app for travelers.
Having a food allergy is a reason for many people not to travel abroad. After all, how are you going to tell people about your situation when you don't speak the local language?
Allert assists you in solving this problem.
● Works everywhere; no network, data, or WiFi required.
● Allert's 14 supported allergies cover 95% of all food allergy cases.
● Allergy list: Peanuts, Tree Nuts, Dairy, Eggs, Fish, Shellfish, Soy, Gluten, Mustard, Celery, Sesame Seeds, Sulfur Dioxide, Lupine, and Mollusca.
● 44 supported languages allow you to communicate your dietary needs in almost every country in the world.
● Language list: Arabic, Bengali, Burmese, Catalan, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Javanese, Kannada, Khmer, Korean, Malay, Malayalam, Maori, Marathi, Nepali, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese.
● Are you following a vegetarian or vegan diet? Allert has you covered with no less than five different vegetarian lifestyle choices to display alongside the allergy warning.
● Lifestyle diet list: Lacto-Ovo Pescatarian, Lacto-Ovo vegetarian, Lacto Vegetarian, Ovo Vegetarian, Vegan.
● Allert has a section filled with useful tips and advice to deal with your food allergies during your travels.
The translations provided in this app were done by native speakers from around the world. All translations have been at least triple-checked by at least two different people. No machine translations here.
A very basic pre-release version of Allert has been rigorously field-tested across the globe by one of the members of the development team, who is severely allergic to dairy and peanuts. After visiting eight countries with languages and alphabets foreign to him, he arrived back home alive and well. The app got positive responses and compliments from locals on top of that, which was our cue to kickstart the development of Allert and turn it into an actual app. After more than two years of hard work, it is finally done!
We sincerely hope our application will help you to travel wherever you need and want. The world is an interesting place; it would be a shame if you didn't see some of it because of your food allergies.
Keep an eye on our website. We have big plans for it in the future: https://allertapp.com
1.0.1. Initial release with a little polish.
What's New
Version 1.0.1
-Tidied up Dutch language output.
-UI optimizations.
Ratings and ReviewsSee All
- Seller
- Jacques Hoebee
- Size
- Category
- Food & Drink
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 11.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
- Languages
- Age Rating
- 4+
- Copyright
- © 2018 J.D. Hoebee / All In Tune
- Price
- $2.99
Family Sharing
With Family Sharing set up, up to six family members can use this app.


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A luxurious bathing soap that doubles as a shampoo bar for all hair types. Made lovingly with coconut milk, raw shea and cocoa butter (unrefined so that all properties are preserved), and a generous blend of four oils (olive, jojoba, coconut, and castor oil).
"Happy Skin: This bar is good for troubled skin as well as for dry, mature skin. Shea butter is rich in Vitamin E and acts as a natural antioxidant, while jojoba oil's anti-inflammatory properties help treat acne. Rosemary and cedarwood essential oils liven up dull skin and are also known to be beneficial for eczema and dermatitis. Lavender essential oil is calming and antibacterial in nature.
Happy Hair: The bar's blend of rosemary, lavender, and cedarwood essential oils is best for dry and damaged hair but can also be used for normal hair as a weekly treat. Coconut milk moisturizes and helps prevent hair loss, jojoba oil deeply moisturizes and soothes the scalp, and shea butter helps fight dandruff and brings relief to a dry itchy scalp. It also softens hair and has a mild, natural sun protection factor (SPF)."
Use within 12 months of date of manufacture, as printed on your product.
Disclaimer: This vegan, truly natural product is free from chemicals or preservatives. It has been made from scratch using simple ingredients with extraordinary benefits. Due to the handmade nature of our products, individual units may vary slightly in shape, colour, and weight.
Color: yellow
Weight: 100 grams
Size / Dimension: 100 grams
Time of Delivery: 7 Business days
"Burst of Happyness offers vegan, natural body goodies- handmade for those who believe that beauty shouldn't be at the cost of health, environment or animals. We believe in: Real products by real people: All our products are handmade, cut, blended, and packed in small, detailed batches to maintain quality. We have carefully developed synergistic product formulae that heighten efficacy by using ingredients which complement each other. Vegan and Cruelty-Free: None of our products contain animal-derived ingredients like milk, honey, silk or lard. We do not test on animals, nor do we source any raw material tested on animals! We self-test all our products, pull in family and friends, and keep experimenting till we're super pleased with the final formulation Natural in the true sense of the word: BoH products contain only cold-pressed oils, raw butters, essential oils, and herbs and clays. We do not use any synthetic preservatives (yes, you read that right!) or synthetic fragrances, or any pigments or mica to colour our products. All colours are derived from herbs and other natural ingredients. Unlike many other companies we do not keep a secret of our ingredients as we honest about our work and take pride in our quality. You will find the full ingredient disclosure on each product deion. Eco-friendly practices: As an all-natural company with eco-friendly, biodegradable products, we Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle in everything we do. Social Happyness: BOH employs unschooled men and women from the low-income groups. We help them gain computer knowledge and transferable skills like bookkeeping and office management. And we also periodically donate big batches of soaps to NGOs and relief funds!


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Sound Lounge Everywhere
Remote Service Launches in Boston
Sound Lounge is happy to announce the launch of our new remote-initiative, Sound Lounge Everywhere! Sound Lounge Everywhere is the world's first full service audio post-production service for clients across the globe. Our first space is based at Editbar in Boston, where our custom hardware allows us to stream high-quality audio and video from Sound Lounge's NYC office to Boston with virtually zero latency, meaning that you can view your work live while your talent records. The technology also allows you to speak face-to-face with your NYC-based mixer and/or VO talent!
Sound Lounge Everywhere allows our Boston-area clients to save on travel without sacrificing the ability to supervise NYC-based sessions. By utilizing our custom gear inside of Editbar's space, you can work face to face with a Sound Lounge mixer (and your talent) without having to leave the city! Sound Lounge and Editbar are also joining forces with creative studio Nice Shoes, who are in the same space, to offer the best audio, color/finishing, and creative editorial all underneath one roof.
For more information please contact Head of Production, Liana Rosenberg, at [email protected]
Check out write-ups about SL Everywhere in Post Magazine & Source Creative!


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Last week I wrote about how I broke the KM132 transmission in my truck. Luckily for me, I am an auto parts hoarder, and had a couple spare KM132 transmissions "just in case". My life isn't as easy as pulling the old transmission out and slapping a spare one in though because the one in my truck was fairly heavily customized. Not only that, but the spare KM132's I had were intended for a wide block…. You know what, let's back up the train a bit.
Back in the 1980's Mitsubishi … ehem … I mean Dodge was putting 2.0L's and 2.6L's in many of their rear wheel drive vehicles. Both engines were backed by either an automatic or a "KM132" 5-speed manual transmission. The 2.0L KM132's were known as the "narrow-block" bolt pattern because the bell housing bolts were closer together than that of the 2.6L "wide-block" bolt pattern. Simple enough right? Well this is where is gets crazy… My truck originally came with a 2.6L and a wide-block KM132. I then ripped out the blown up 2.6L engine, and swapped a 1991 Eclipse 4G63 2.0L engine into it (which is a narrow block). This meant that I needed to use the "narrow-block" KM132 in my truck. I grabbed one from a junkyard, heavy modified it, and about 11 years later (last week), I broke it. Oopsy.
Now, I made the assumption that the spare 2.6L KM132 transmission had the same internal components as my narrow-block KM132 that I broke. That way I could swap the internals and be back on the road in short order. I was sort of right. The bearings are the same sizes (except for 1), but different styles. The clutch and driveshaft splines are the same too. Then I discovered the really interesting thing that has been rumored for years. The wide-block KM132's has wider gears than the narrow block did. This basically told me that once I swapped the wider internals into my busted transmission, I would actually end up with a stronger transmission! Nice! Well, that is assuming that it works when I'm done. The other night, I took a couple pictures for comparison porpoises (like a dolphin). One picture came out ok, and the other appears to be lit up by 10 billion candlepower flood lights. I have no idea why this happened because I didn't change the camera settings, and the photos were taken just minutes apart in the same exact spot. See? Cameras really do hate me. Any who, in each picture, notice the width of the gears on the right (wider) vs. the gears on the left (narrower). Cool stuff right?


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Geoffrey Silver and Brent Funderburk
We'll to the Woods No More (2013), Gregory W Brown (b.1974)
1. Introduction: We'll to the Woods No More / On your Midnight Pallet Lying
2. I. I did not Lose my Heart in Summer's Even
3. II. The Winds out of the West Land Blow
4. III. March
5. IV. On the Idle Hill of Summer
6. Epilogue: In the Land to Which I Travel
3 Improvisations for Piano Left-Hand, H.134 (1918), Frank Bridge (d.1941)
7. I. At Dawn
9. II. A Vigil
10. III. A Revel
Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad (1911), George Butterworth (d.1916)
11. I. Loveliest of Trees
12. II. When I Was One-and-Twenty (Tune Traditional)
13. III. Look Not in My Eyes
14. IV. Think No More, Lad
15. V. The Lads in Their Hundreds.
16. VI. Is My Team Ploughing?
17. Lament, H.117, for Catherine, aged 9 Lusitania 1915, Frank Bridge
The sheet music for We'll to the Woods No More is available here.
Amazon | Amazon mp3 | CDBaby | iTunes | Geoffrey Silver | Brent Funderburk
Printable Cover | Printable Back Cover | Press Release | #traxtuesday on YouTube
Release: Armistice, Veterans' Day 2017


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It was awesome to check out Frederick, Maryland Pagan Pride today.
Worked out perfectly. Saw friends in Baltimore last night and was driving back to the Harper's Ferry area today.
Beautiful weather, beautiful people, cool music, cool vendors. Some new shiny things and a cool story workshop to think about.
I even got to see some people from the EarthSpirit Community.
And also cool because I can't make next week's Connecticut Pagan Pride due to working Sunday and Lanna having the car for a weekend workshop.
Such a lovely event and I got to check out a bit of Frederick which is great and check out the fascinating National Civil War Medical Museum.


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Modern Algorithmic Optimization
April 2 – 13, 2018
Speaker: Yury Nesterov (Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium)
TIn this course we present the most important research directions in the modern Optimization Theory. The main topics of our interest are related to the provable complexity of optimization problems and the most efficient methods for finding their approximate solution. The main attention will be given to the methods for solving problems of large and super-large dimension, which arise in many engineering applications, telecommunications, and models for analyzing the Internet activity. We consider also the optimization schemes, which are necessary for justifying rationality of consumers in economic models. The most of the material is absent in the monographic literature. Therefore, we include in the course all necessary proofs. The course will be giving in two weeks, April 2-6 and 9-13 (2017) by ten lectures, two hours each. During the course, we are going to discuss the following topics.
Topic 1. Complexity of optimization problems Topic 2. Universal first-order methods Topic 3. Second-order methods. Systems of nonlinear equations Topic 4. Looking into the Black Box: Smoothing technique Topic 5. Looking into the Black Box: Interior-point methods Topic 6. Optimization with relative accuracy Topic 7. Solving the huge-scale optimization problems Topic 8. Algorithmic models of human behavior
Venue: The mini-course will be held at the HSE faculty of Computer Science (3 Kochnovsky Proezd building 1): Mondays – room 402 Tuesdays – room 509 Wednesdays – room 509 Thursdays – room 205 Fridays – room 402
Time: 10:00 – 12:00


text: The socio-economic cost of Ebola Counting the Cost analyses the effects of the Ebola crisis on the hardest hit African countries. Counting the Cost15 Nov 2014 11:51 GMT US & Canada, China, Guinea, Liberia, Niger According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) report on Ebola the outbreak in both Nigeria and Senegal officially ended in October 2014, but the report says there have been 13,241 cases identified and 4,950 deaths reported in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone so far. The World Bank estimated the economic cost of Africa's Ebola epidemic would be around $33bn, consequently the United Nations requested almost $1bn for Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone - of that, the institution has only received 63 percent around $623bn, which has been distributed as follows: Guinea has received $73m, Liberia $343m, and $127m for Sierra Leone. All three nations have been forced to slash their growth projections for 2014, they have been cut back in anticipation of what Ebola and its effects could do. So what are the economic challenges of Ebola? Dr Carlos Lopes, the executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, joined Counting the Cost for an exclusive interview. The number of new cases of Ebola in some West African countries may have eased. But there continue to be deaths and according the WHO not enough resources are being put into the safely disposal of bodies. The World Health Organisation (WHO) says around 500 trained burial teams are needed to bring the Ebola epidemic under control. But in the three worse-hit countries there are only 140 and many of those doing the difficult and dangerous job are volunteers. Al Jazeera joined one burial team in Liberia and Bhanu Bhatnagar reports from there. Counting the Cost also looks at how countries will eventually recover from Ebola and its effects. Nigeria has been declared Ebola free and business confidence is returning gradually. Al Jazeera's Ahmed Idris reports from Lagos, Nigeria. The geopolitical battle for Asia China has all sorts of overseas plans for growth as it is managing its slowdown at home. Bejing has been trying to attract APEC [Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation] members to a new regional trading bloc, after the US excluded it from its Trans-Pacific Partnership. But wider than that, China plans to spend $1.25tn overseas over the next 10 years. And perhaps nothing underlines its ambition more than a plan to revive the old silk route - a rail line from from inner China to Rotterdam in the Netherlands. China has also established a $50bn Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank; and during the APEC summit near Beijing, China debuted its new stealth fighter the J-31 at the Zhuhai Air Show - a reminder about military strentgh. So what is next for China and the region? Counting the Cost is joined by Jonathan Fenby, the managing director of China Researcher at the consultant group Trusted Sources, to talk about China's new world order. Live Box 2014916141333112526 Source: Al Jazeera Tell us what you think


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New Hampshire Maple Experience at The Rocks
We invite you to explore the New Hampshire Maple Experience during your visit to The Rocks. Located in the former Sawmill/Pigpen - one of the many carefully restored historic buildings on the property - the New Hampshire Maple Experience takes visitors on a tour through time and taste.
Maple sugaring - the process of transforming sap from sugar maple trees into sweet maple syrup and sugar - is a time honored tradition in New Hampshire's North Country. Native Americans made sugar before the arrival of European settlers, and maple sugar became an important staple for early homesteaders. While the process has evolved through generations and with new technology, the end result is just as sweet as ever!
We offer hands-on learning on our Maple Tours, offered during sugaring season - the last three weekends of March and the first weekend of April. Guests will learn the history of sugaring, help tap a sugar maple tree, enjoy a horse-drawn wagon ride through our beautiful property, and get a taste of the syrup made onsite at The Rocks.
Visitors to The Rocks during the summer and fall months - from June 1 through Columbus Day - may visit the New Hampshire Maple Experience museum for a self-guided tour, complete with a video demonstration of maple sugaring. The museum includes a display of maple sugaring tools and artifacts from the extensive collection of Charlie Stewart, who sugared for decades in nearby Sugar Hill.
For more information and a panoramic view of the museum, please visit the New Hampshire Maple Experience website.


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Our values guide the culture and shape the way we service our customers. They are at the core of who we are as an agency, what we believe and what brings us together as a team. They help to define what makes our people special, and how we all play a unique and critical part in the ongoing success of our community.
Travis County considers it a high – more... priority to recruit, motivate and retain employees capable of providing exemplary service to the residents of Travis County by using a total compensation system that is fair, flexible and market competitive.
Values that Guide Travis County Government:
Taking responsibility, public trust and accountability, good customer service, excellence in performance, sound fiscal policy, respect for the individual, honesty and openness, caring, collaboration and cooperation.
Travis County's Vision:
An open, diverse community where all people are safe and healthy and can fulfill their hopes and dreams; one which provides a good quality of life and protects our natural resources for ourselves and future generations.
Mission of Travis County:
For the people of Travis County, our mission is to preserve health, provide a safety net for the needy, ensure the public safety, facilitate the resolution of disputes, foster an efficient transportation system, promote recreational opportunities, and manage county resources in order to meet the changing needs of the community in an effective manner. – less


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A valediction (or complimentary close)[1] is a phrase used to say goodbye at the end of a letter.[2][3] It also refers to the act of saying goodbye to someone. It comes from the Latin vale dicere, which means "to say farewell".[4] Valedictions are normally written before the signature in a written message. The words used usually express respect or regard for the person to whom the message is written.
English valedictions often contain the possessive pronoun "yours"; for example, Yours truly. In the United Kingdom, Yours sincerely or Yours faithfully are most common.
Versions[change | change source]
Old versions[change | change source]
In old letters, Yours truly was often replaced with a longer sentence, for example:
- I beg to remain, Sir, your most humble and obedient servant,
- A. Name
Modern versions[change | change source]
Yours sincerely is used when the person sending the letter knows the name of the person receiving the letter.
Yours faithfully is used when the person who is receiving the letter is not known by name (i.e. the recipient is addressed by a phrase such as "Dear Sir/Madam").
References[change | change source]
- ↑ Complimentary close on The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition.
- ↑ Valediction – Definition from The Free Dictionary.
- ↑ Valediction Dictionary.co.uk.
- ↑ Oxford Concise Dictionary of English Etymology. Great Britain: Oxford University Press. 1996. p. 519.


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Having watched Tim Geithner's disgusting defense of the tax-payer-backed re-inflation of a corrupt and knowingly devastating banking system on Jon Stewart's Daily Show, and watching the US fine (no jail time for anyone) a Swiss bank which admits its guilt over billions of fraud yet allow them to remain a prime dealer of US Treasuries; we thought the following story from a '3rd world banking system' would open a few eyes in the US this weekend as 'we remember'. As AP reports, a billionaire businessman at the heart of a $2.6 billion state bank scam in Iran, the largest fraud case since the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution, was executed Saturday, state television reported.
A billionaire businessman at the heart of a $2.6 billion state bank scam in Iran, the largest fraud case since the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution, was executed Saturday, state television reported.
Authorities put Mahafarid Amir Khosravi, also known as Amir Mansour Aria, to death at Evin prison, just north of the capital, Tehran, the TV reported. The report said the execution came after Iran's Supreme Court upheld his death sentence.
Khosravi's lawyer, Gholam Ali Riahi, was quoted by news website khabaronline.ir as saying that the death sentence was carried out without him being given any notice. Death sentences in Iran are usually carried out by hanging.
"I had not been informed about the execution of my client," Riahi said. "All the assets of my client are at the disposal of the prosecutor's office."
State officials did not immediately comment on Riahi's claim.
The fraud involved using forged documents to get credit at one of Iran's top financial institutions, Bank Saderat, to purchase assets including state-owned companies like major steel producer Khuzestan Steel Co.
Khosravi's business empire included more than 35 companies from mineral water production to a football club and meat imports from Brazil. According to Iranian media reports, the bank fraud began in 2007.
A total of 39 defendants were convicted in the case. Four received death sentences, two got life sentences and the rest received sentences of up to 25 years in prison.
The trials raised questions about corruption at senior levels in Iran's tightly controlled economy during the administration of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Mahmoud Reza Khavari, a former head of Bank Melli, another major Iranian bank, escaped to Canada in 2011 after he resigned over the case. He faces charges over the case in Iran and remains on the Islamic Republic's wanted list. Khavari previously admitted that his bank partially was involved in the fraud, but has maintained his innocence.
What happens in American when the stock 'market' falls? When it becomes clear that all this money-printing has done nothing 'real'... and the middle-class finally realizes what the central planners are up to...? For sure, until then, no billionaires are going to jail, let alone being executed... in America - the land of the consequence-free...


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The Ballroom Dance Society is a mix of beautiful contradictions.
Members come wearing sneakers and jeans to dance waltzes, rumbas and quicksteps. The students spin and step in an elegant back and forth in all the trappings of casual attire. If anything, the comfortable clothes and surroundings only serve to make the complicated moves appear that much more natural of the dancers.
Cecilia Smith, the society's president, said the group formed nearly a decade ago when dance students on campus grew interested in practicing beyond the classroom. Since then, the club has expanded to a type of classroom of its own.
"Basically we teach a different dance each week," Smith said. "We teach each of the separate parts. Once we've taught everything, we get together and go over the dance."
Smith said the club is open to anyone on campus and said she herself joined after a club's flyer sparked her personal interest in dance.
"I personally like to dance. If I get a good beat I just start dancing," Smith said. "It's relaxing to me. It's a fun way to meet people and just shake off the stress of the day."
Lisa Perforres is the club's former president and is still in attendance at the weekly Tuesday night meetings. She talked about the society with a constant grin on her face and even laughed when asked what her favorite part about the society is.
"Looking cool," she giggled.
It is not uncommon for members to talk about the society with a sense of humor or candidness about their initial hesitations. Savannah Kapper, vice president of the society, said she was more than skeptical when her roommate, Smith, first invited her to the club.
"She dragged me here kicking and screaming," Kapper said. Kapper's concerns, though, slipped quickly slipped away.
"I fell in love with it right off the bat," she said. "I wasn't that great at first but I fell in love with the dances."


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Sometimes we have to admit that Real Life is knocking us down. My left foot needs a bit of surgery and it's scheduled for Friday. Then I'll be off my feet for a minimum of two weeks. That means I won't be in the study at the computer.
But it doesn't mean I won't be working on FRIENDLY FIRE. I've printed out the 365, double-space pages containing 113,446 words to read through, edit, plug holes, and generally tear my hair out over. ; )
I'll be back when my foot will allow me to have it on the floor. So, keep writing, keep reading, and I'll be seeing you later in the month.
P. S. My sweet husband is going to be in charge of the food for the next two weeks and that's usually my job. I've promised to eat what he puts in front of me...and like it. ; )
P.P.S. While I'm off with my foot up, y'all keep reading. Check this link out.
Being a Bookworm Boosts your Brain Power into Old Age
See, I knew there was a reason I keep reading books and more books as fast at I can. ; )


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We move people and shape the future
Audi Business Innovation GmbH was launched by AUDI AG in 2013 as a wholly-owned subsidiary with the goal of rethinking the core business.
At Audi Business Innovation GmbH, specialists from various sectors work together in interdisciplinary teams to redesign the mobility of the future and to implement innovative business models. We are thinking beyond the vehicle as a product and are using our digital services to complement the range of services offered by AUDI AG.
As part of this process, we are aligning our products to our customers' varied needs. To meet the demands of the future, we are implementing and engaging in innovative concepts, products and services at the interface between technology, digital business models and mobility. In this way, we collaborate in various forms with external partners in the mobility sector.
We are developing visions for the mobility of today and tomorrow. As part of this process, we search for relevant solutions and business models, we draw inspiration over the course of our day-to-day work from global challenges and international trends. In doing so, we always keep in mind that the focus of what we do is the customer and their needs and demands when it comes to mobility in the face of urban transformation.
Inspired by our goal to make our customers' (every day) mobility easier, better and more digital, we created Audi on demand, our premium mobility service:
Audi on demand — An Audi where you want it and when you want it.
Our way of working is entirely based on agile methods, innovative technologies and collaboration within interdisciplinary teams. This approach creates the environment required for inspiration and new ideas. The prototyping mindset that we actively practice provides the foundation for our digital IT solutions. The joint design of this digital engineering culture is our vision for the future – a future in which we purposefully enrich the Audi ecosystem with digital services and thus offer our users and customers clear added value in everyday life. Whether we are building responsive websites, mobile apps or cloud-native microservices:
We bring people and technology together and ensure that everything runs seamlessly.
We are developing sustainability solutions that will set us apart from the competition. In the field of energy, we are designing and operating stand-alone business models. From carrying out "proof of concept", to the detailing of the business case, to specifying and coordinating IT implementation, we provide support through the entire business development process.
The Audi e-gas project is a result of one of these concepts. The plant project represents a milestone for CO2-neutral mobility and for the comprehensive expansion of renewable energies.
Hochbrückenstr. 6
80331 Munich
Use public transport:
S-Bahn: S1-S8, Station Isartor or Marienplatz
U-Bahn: U3/U6, Station Marienplatz
Burgstr. 8
80331 Munich
Use public transport:
S-Bahn: S1-S8, Station Isartor
U-Bahn: U3/U6, Station Marienplatz
Kardinal-Faulhaber-Str. 10
80333 Munich
Use public transport:
S-Bahn: S1-S8, Station Marienplatz
U-Bahn: U3/U6, Station Odeonsplatz
Kurfürstenstr. 24
80801 Munich
Use public transport:
U-Bahn: U3/U6, Station Giselastraße
Tram: 12/27/28, Station Kurfürstenplatz