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This F DICK Red Spirit Santoku Knife 18cm is a classic Japanese knife that has many uses for the preparation of seafood, meat, and vegetables. The blade has a Kullen edge, creating a cushion of air, which minimizes food from sticking to the knife and allows especially fine cutting.
Even at first sight, the beholder experiences the inspiration and passion emerging from this knife series. Our Red Spirit knives are designed for uncompromising sharpness.
The blades are ground extremely slim and the cutting edge is polished. The round-shaped, Asian-style handle of the knife offers an extraordinaryfeel and grip.
Team Manager of the Welsh National Culinary Team
"I have found them an excellent knife especially the Chefs Knife. The knives are extremely well made and the 3 stainless steel rings around the Handle give the knives the feeling of strength as well as being a very stylish design feature. I can say without any doubt that the "1905" series knives are the best knives that I have ever used."
Winner "Koch des Jahres 2011" |Executive chef restaurant Horváth (Berlin)
"My first set of knives during my apprenticeship was, and still is, made by F. DICK. As a chef I have to do my work precisely and steadily. Thus, I need high-quality cutting tools that lie good in hand and stay sharp for a long time. The wide product range of F. DICK offers the right tool for each kind of work."
Former Team Manager Culinary Team of theMaster Association of Gastronomers (Germany)
"Friedr. Dick products offer the best possible support for a convincing performance during competitions on high international level – all you need for creative cooking!"
Friedr. Dick is well known to professional chefs around the world as the leading innovator in its field. Its international reputation as a manufacturer of quality utensils is based on the consistent reliability and longevity life of our products.
Friedr. Dick supplies numerous national culinary teams with knives and utensils. The firm's longstanding tradition and experience in manufacturing as well as close cooperation with professional chefs facilitates a constant stream of innovation.
Knives should always be stored in a suitable knife block, on a magnetic board or in a protective edge guard. Under no circumstances should a finely honed and highly polished blade comes into contact with other hard materials such as metals, ceramic or stone. Enjoy the feeling of possessing something really quite special and treasure your knife.
The days of applying oil and powder to your knives every day belong back in the 19th century. However, for long-term care, knives should be treated now and again with quality cooking oil from the kitchen (e .g. olive oil). This is suitable for the blade as well as for the natural wooden handle.
You will receive email confirmation when your item/s are ready.
Please bring order confirmation. Ring the bell on arrival, and we will meet you at the door with your items.
A signature will be required when receiving your items.
Pickup Times: Mon-Fri 10am-5pm.
Address: 15 Kendall Street, Clyde 2142, NSW Australia
We are currently experiencing very high order volumes while having to abide by strict distancing and hygiene practices which has resulted in increased despatch times of 1-3 days.
Standard Delivery: $8.90 flat rate nationwide | FREE delivery for all orders $99 or more.
Express Deliverycalculated at checkout based on the weight of your item/s and delivery address.
Brisb | Syd | Melb | Canb – 1-3 working days.
Adel | Hobart - 2-3 working days.
Perth | Darwin - 5-10 working days.
Regional WA | NT - 8-12 days.
Standard Delivery: Calculated at checkout based on the weight of your order.
FREE International Delivery for orders $300 AUD or more using discount code 'FREESHIP'.
Asia: 6-12 working days.
Oceania (excl AUS): 3-8 working days.
Europe: 4-10 working days.
Americas: 4-10 working days.
Due to COVID-19, international deliveries may take up to 1-2 months to arrive depending on your location.
Items placed on pre-order will despatch from our warehouse within 1-2 weeks.
Bulk orders ($2k+) only: a 20% surchage will apply to the total value of any cancelled/returned pre-order items.
Get discounted rate of 7% OFF for all orders $2000+ AUD using discount code 'bulk2rdi' at checkout.
If you would like to order more than what is available in our store, please email us at email@example.com.
After you have placed a bulk order, photo ID with address will be required for verification purposes before we can despatch your items.
If the order value drops below $2000 at any stage due to cancellations, the bulk discount will no longer apply.
A 20% surchage will apply to the total value of any cancelled/returned bulk order items (pre-order items only).
Within a few mintues you will receive an order confirmation email. And within 1-2 business days you will be notified that your order has been despatched.
Example Email Confirmation:
Using the order tracking link above, you will be able to clearly see the status of your item/s from point of purchase all the way to your doorstep.
You can also track your order anytime by visiting our website and selecting 'Track Your Order' in the header or footer of the page.
Example Tracking Order Page:
If you opt for SMS tracking updates (free) or Facebook Messenger updates, you will also receive an update of your order at every step of the way via SMS and/or Messenger.
We treat every order from all our customers with extreme care. Your item will be carefully packed with bubblewrap/cushioning to ensure everything arrives in mint condition.
All purchases on our store come with a guaranteed 90-day full refund money-back from the date of purchase.
To be eligible for a return, your item must be unused and in the same condition that you received it. It must also be in the original packaging.
To complete your return, we require a receipt or proof of purchase which is to be sent to firstname.lastname@example.com. Please do not send your purchase back to the manufacturer. Your refund will be processed and a credit will automatically be applied to your credit card or original method of payment within a certain amount of days.
We only replace items if they are defective or damaged.
If you need to exchange it for the same item, please contact our customer support team at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Please attach to the email clear photos of the product showing any defects or damage and specify which product this pertains to.
We will then issue a Return Label (PDF) shortly after which will cover the shipping & packaging to return the defective item to our warehouse.
Simply present the Return Label at Australia Post along with the returned item. Please inform us as soon as you have sent the item; as soon as the tracking number for the returned/exchanged item activates we'll send out your replacement.
If your order is delayed and it is well past your expected delivery date, you will be required to launch an investigation with Australia Post to locate your item. We cannot do this on your behalf as Australia Post require the customer to raise the investigation directly.
If your order doesn't arrive within 30 days of the expected due date, we are happy to provide a refund in full. This will allow additional time in case your order does arrive.
If your order does arrive after a refund is processed...
Welcome to House of Knives - Australia's favourite family-owned kitchen knife store!
We have handpicked the best brands to ensure you are receiving premium, top quality knives, sharpeners, cutting boards and everything else kitchen knife related.
All our products come with full manufacturer warranty and if for any reason you are not satisfied with your product, we will refund or exchange your item no questions asked.
With our range of premium knives, whetstones, knife accessories matched with our team's passion and emphasis on the customer experience, you are bound to leave with a smile on your face.
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Buy World-Renowned F. Dick Knives for Your Home or Restaurant Kitchen
House of Knives is proud to present a full selection of F. Dick knives, recognised as some of the most impressive knives in the world. In our experience, there are few situations in which another knife would be better suited, and we can recommend without reservation that everyone could benefit by upgrading to these knives.
If you aren't familiar with Friedr. Dick knives, then we're excited to share information with you about our favourite kitchen knives. Here are a few important things you should know about these knives:
Truly, there are no better knives that you could get to help you work effectively in the kitchen. F. Dick knives are excellently made and showcase the difference that high-quality materials and design make when it comes to restaurant knives.
When you buy from us, you have access to unparalleled selection and a comprehensive lifetime warranty on our knives. Our online outlet is ideal for anyone who wants access to high-quality knives combined with the convenience of a trustworthy online store. Contact us today to place an order for your new knife site.


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After finishing the time-lapse videos, we rode on home. I stopped for gas even though Fiona had only accumulated 30.5 km since the last fill up. It took .642 gallons to fill the tank which works out to 31.1 MPG. So a definite improvement!
More tweaking to be done of course, I hope to get the MPG up into the high 30s, low 40s like Richard Winter's Bural rig.
Update: 15APR17. Next tankful, which comprised city/dirt/highway driving: 23.98 MPG.

subset: commoncrawl


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Prosecutors say they've decided to charge the owner of a Peninsula dog-sitting service with animal cruelty after a neighbor captured video of a woman allegedly abusing a dog in her care.
The woman, identified by prosecutors as Linda Levac, runs the dog walking and boarding business out of her home behind Burlingame High School. Earlier this month, the Humane Society released a disturbing video showing a woman picking a small dog up by the neck, slamming it to the ground and hitting it.
On Thursday, Levac pleaded not guilty through her attorney, Robert Courshon.
After seeing the video, workers from the Humane Society and the SPCA went to the woman's home and seized 11 dogs.
"It saddens us, sickens us and horrified us," said Scott Delluchi, a spokesman for the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA.
Levac was released after posting $10,000 bail, prosecutors said, the same amount as her possible fine if she is convicted.


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Compression: Whats the difference between SQL2005 and SQL2008?
Looks like some folks are confused about the functionality and differences so let me try and explain and give some pointers to great blog entries for more details.
Compression was added to SQL Server 2005 as part of SP2 and it was added via a new "type". The primary goal here was to catch up on some of the changes in customer apps during the development life of SQL 2005. One of the problems with a 5 yr release is at some point you get locked into your feature set and just have to ship, but over the course of a long release its possible and in fact almost certain that there will be changes in apps that you are unable to react to. One of the big changes between 2000 and 2005 was the amount of data being stored, especially in Data Warehouses. Fact tables with millions or even billions of rows have become common place and the cost of storing and backing up those fact tables gets to be a real problem.
Hence the VarDecimal type was introduced, to put it simply it strips off unused bytes(leading and trailing) from numbers stored in a given column. Its a relatively simple change and hence viable in an SP, but it can make a big difference, I've seen reports of everything from 10% to 60% saving in the space requirements for a fact table.(makes sense if you think about a classic fact table which has lots of dimension columns which are likely int based surrogate keys and then lots of float columns for storing measure data)
Sunil has a great series of blog posts on VarDecimal over on the storage engine blog, you can find them here.
Ok so now we have SQL2005's implementation, what was done and why for SQL2008?
First of all I want to say I am very happy that this feature(set of improvements) looks like it has made it into the product, I remember all the debates about trying to add compression late in SQL 2005 and then when doing planning for SQL2008, there was a surprising amount of passion including push back to not do the feature, but at some point it crossed over into the "we just gotta do this no matter what" bucket and bypassed a bunch of approval process. From what I have seen of the implementation (and I have not yet tried it on any large systems) so far the team knocked it out of the park of completeness and flexibility while keeping it simple.
There are 2 basic types of compression in SQL 2008, data and backup:
This can occur at 2 levels, the first is row level. To put it simply row compression uses a variety of techniques to more efficiently store a row of data, it does htis by trying to reduce data storage to the min number of bits/bytes needed. In some ways think of this as a VAR row as a VARCHAR is to a CHAR, row compression can reduce the data and metadata overhead at the row level depending on actual data. The next option is page, page level compression includes row compression and adds to other techniques, prefix compression and dictionary compression.
I think about dictionary compression as a way to per page eliminate duplicate data by adding an entry to the data in the dictionary and then referencing it in each column. Think about a Data Warehouse dimension table in a star (rather than snowflake) schema, there is likely to be lots of data thats duplicated, thinking about Safeway/Costco/Best Buy etc like retail chain, these companies can have product dimensions with millions of members, likewise customer dimensions. In the case of product its likely that names like Nabisco, Sony etc appear more than the odd one or two times, in the case of customer, state and town names are going to appear a LOT. In all these cases these names should appear once per page and every other instance effectively becomes a pointer.
For prefix compression this is simply defining a common root for words/data and making that a reference and then explicitly storing the suffix. Another good example here could be SKU/Product codes in a DW where the root of an 11-17 char code could have 6/7 common chars.
Now both of these are simplistic explanations of what's going on and I'm dragging up memories of early conversations with folks in the Storage Engine on this from 2 years ago. Chad Boyd has a much deeper explanation here.
There is not a lot to say here, which is one of the reasons I love the feature, its either on or off and it compresses the backup stream before it hits the disk. When we were originally looking at this feature there was something like 4 different levels of compression and all sorts of trade off on compression vs CPU, buts it my understanding that as it will appear all the options have been removed and the system will take care of choosing the right compression ratio. I love it! (If you have ever heard Dave Campbell's TV technology through ages analogy this is another classic example of removing the horizontal and vertical hold options)
Disk is cheap right? I can get 1tb drives from NewEgg for less than a tank of gas (I suspect that's actually true in WA state this week) Well some disks are cheap, the price and performance of SATA drives these days is certainly a wowser, but SANs are still very expensive and the amount of data we are storing is increasing at a scary rate. So its actually more important than you would think. However there is another reason and that's simple maths, data costs money, it costs to store on disk, it costs to read from disk, it costs to store in memory, it costs to write to disk, etc etc, you get the idea. Hence what compression in SQL Server allows us to do is to perform the classic compression trade off and that's CPU vs storage. If you compress something it takes CPU to perform compression, but then you read and write less data. Given the amount of CPU/Core power available these days it seems very viable to give you the choice to trade off some spare CPU for some better memory and IO usage.
Sunil is starting a new series of compression posts here, if its like his vardecimal posts they are going to be great reading.
So how should you think about the SQL2005 vs SQL2008 versions of compression? Well I'm in a car analogy mode this week as I have been catching up on my Top Gear watching, I think of 2005 as an American muscle car from the 70s, Charger/Corvette/Mustang/... its not subtle and its not going to be everyone's cup of tea but its brute force approach can be very effective and appealing. For 2008 there is a lot more finesse, more technology involved it feels warmer and fuzzier but WOW when it gets going, new BMW M5 anyone?
Let car flames commence...


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About cpricewatch.com
CanonPriceWatch.com was founded in 2010 out of a need for good, honest, price comparisons for Canon photography equipment. The site is run by a small group of photography professionals, and we only list the most reputable merchants -- stores that we ourselves would frequent, and merchants we wouldn't hesitate to refer family to. We also understand US warranties vs. grey market, by presenting all these options to you, you can make an informed choice. We update our prices hourly and let photographers track the changing prices through handy graphs.
In 2013, we decided to take our site to the next level and now feature a "Hot Deals Blog", featuring the very best in Canon deals from authorized dealers, unauthorized dealers, and refurbished options. We haven't lost track of our roots though, and all our deals are supported by years of pricing history and data. We are proud of the community of Canon deal-seekers that we have built!
Previously, we founded PhotoPrice.ca in June of 2007, and have quickly turned that into Canada's most popular photography comparison shopping website.
We are disclosing our affiliate links in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.".
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Please also see our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.


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Christian Healthcare Centers Fosters Biblical Approach to Medicine
They thought it was encouraging that a Christian-based healthcare practice would operate without co-pays and deductibles, but instead, a monthly fee akin to paying a gym membership.
But, they added, could it really be done?
"People told us you couldn't do this," Blocher said in a recent interview at CHC, 3322 Beltline Ct. NE, in Grand Rapids. '"You guys are nuts. There's no way that you're going to do this.'"
Now they know better, said Blocher. CHC opened for patients in July 2017.
To understand what makes CHC unlike other primary care centers – both Christian and otherwise – stems in part from Blocher's concerns about the history and current condition of the U.S. healthcare system he says is both secular and pagan. This trend reaches back to when former President Bill Clinton charged his wife, Hillary, to launch in 1993 a Task Force on National Health Care Reform, referred to pejoratively as "Hillarycare."
Two other red flags, according to Blocher, are abortion on demand and the so-called death with dignity movement that caused healthcare to lose its moral compass.
Wrong direction
"It just struck me that the direction of our culture, the direction of our politics, and what was happening to medicine, was becoming increasingly secularized and frankly paganized," said Blocher.
"The day was going to come when it would be harder for Christians to go into medicine, and it would become hard for them to stay in medicine. The secular influences that actually command the groupthink within medicine would catch up to Christians and Christians would be pushed out of healthcare or muzzled because they wouldn't toe the line on abortion. And at that point, the whole LGBTQ issue was really just starting to percolate. And here we are now, looking at a whole different situation."
It's these trends that ignited in Blocher a desire to craft a member-fee based affordable healthcare.
What makes Christian Healthcare Centers different
HCH does not participate with any health insurance plan or government agency. The result, said Blocher, is CHC's Christian physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, chiropractors, nutrition and fitness coaching, counseling and pastoral care counselor can focus solely on patients' care minus the need to answer to insurance companies or government mandates.
"Doctors want to spend time with their patients but the way healthcare is set up for the reimbursement system, the third party payer system, is they've got to see 20 to 25 patients a day so the average visit is 8 to 10 minutes," said Blocher. "That's not much healthcare. What happens (instead) is doctors become disease managers. We've streamlined the patient experience so when they walk in the door, somebody greets them by name and says, 'Hi Sue,' or 'Hi Bill,' to create an environment that's more like a family than it is going to some sterile clinic where you're just one of the cattle waiting out in the waiting room."
Healthcare and the first century church
A key element to CHC's mission is it wants to serve as a driving force that restores the church back to the medical ministry it was starting in the first century.
"When you go back to see what really transformed Roman society and turned persecutors into followers of Christ, it was the healthcare ministries of the church," said Blocher, "it was the preaching of the gospel in conjunction with caring for the sick and caring for the poor. The Roman government tried to fight it. Christians were being incredibly persecuted and were impoverished yet they were the ones who were going out and picking the people off of the streets and taking care of them."
How CHC works and what it provides
CHC currently has 1,560 members and that number grows continually. An initial one-time membership of $50 is charged for an individual and $75 for a family. Those with pre-existing conditions may also enroll. Patients do not need to be professing Christians.
"We don't do anything with insurance whether it's private insurance, Medicare, Medicaid," said Blocher. "We run it like a gym membership. You pay a monthly fee and get all of our services."
A breakdown of the monthly membership fee is as follows: newborns to 24 months $25 a month; two years old to 18 years of age $10 a month; college students, $30, adults are $80 and seniors (65 and up) $70.
The monthly fee covers primary care services including, but is not limited to, acute care, urgent care, management of chronic diseases, in-house counseling and spiritual care, annual wellness assessment, physical exams, routine laboratory tests and sundry medications.
A more complete list of services can be found here.
Because of CHC's model, patients may still want to consider enrolling in a major medical policy.
"We tell our members that CHC is not a substitute for major medical coverage, either through traditional insurance or with a medical expense sharing ministry like Samaritan Ministries," said Blocher.
More CHCs on the way
Currently there is only one CHC location, but the reason Christian Healthcare Centers is plural is because Blocher and CHC's two other co-founders which to add primary care centers not only in Michigan but other states as well.
Besides primary care centers, Blocher also foresees launching Christian surgery centers, outpatient surgery centers, birthing centers, and providing ancillary services such as, MRIs, CT scans.
"Our vision is to create a distinctively Christian healthcare system," said Blocher. "We've probably have 13 to 14 cities that have contacted us about starting centers. We just have to grow a little more and become a little more sustainable before we stretch out too far.
Blocher said he's serious about restoring stewardship in healthcare.
"There's no reason in the world why healthcare needs to cost $3.1 trillion here in the United States," he said.
Blocher comes well-equipped for the challenge.
He is a bioethicist and the author of two books, "The Right to Die? Caring Alternatives to Euthanasia" and "Vital Signs: Decisions That Determine The Quality of Life and Health."
He founded several Christian nonprofit organizations, including an inner city medical clinic and pregnancy care centers in several states, and served as associate professor of interdisciplinary studies in the professional and graduate studies division of Cornerstone University for 15 years; was a captain in the Michigan State Police Chaplains Corps from 2001-2016; and served on the pastoral teams of three churches.
And he debated late pathologist and euthanasia proponent Jack Kevorkian.
"And I went to medical ethics conferences all over the country and I just saw the direction that things were headed," said Blocher.
Blocher said he and others want to re-set healthcare's priorities.
"One of the things I think that contributes to the transformation of medicine from compassion and caring to business is one of the pagan aspects of it," he said. "It has turned the caring of the sick into enterprise. And so there's the chasing of payment rather than the caring of patients. I don't blame doctors and other medical professionals for that. They still provide extraordinarily good care across the board despite the motives of people who are not medical professionals.
"I plan on defunding Planned Parenthood the old fashion way: capitalism and competition," Blocher added. "I'm going to take their business away from them. Provide superior care. Every single time I have seen a woman who has seen an ultrasound for the first time, they never say, 'You mean that's my fetus?' Science is on our side."
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You may not see me here for a few more days, until I get everything ready for Christmas. Hopefully, it won't take me too long.
Thanks for stopping by and have a spectacular weekend!
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IGF025 In Good Faith with Sister Judy Zielinski, OSF, recorded live on March 27, 2013. Produced by aNunsLife.org Ministry. Topics include: documentary film We Shall Not Be Moved, vocation as sister and storyteller, bringing the Gospel to life.
I just watched the documentary We Shall Not Be Moved. What a great story about perseverance and, ultimately, resurrection. It seems fitting that I saw it during Holy Week.


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Despite the fact that the motors are physically TINY, they seem to have enough power to carry Bernie around fairly comfortably. Better yet, I have got the program to work so that the analog joystick on the Playstation controller operates the two motors and lets me steer! I expect he will get slowed down once he is dragging the full load of skin and wings and his tail is reattached, but for now he is pretty zippy.
Shuffling along
I have been busy working on giving Bernie a way to get around. He won't be autonomous (that's a whole other level of complexity and honestly I don't need a dragon who can move around when I'm not there, that's just going to lead to disaster!), but he will be able to move around on wheels under control from the Playstation controller and he has four legs to crawl around on.
Each leg has a bearing joint in the knee/elbow, which is made up of a screw, nut, some washers and most importantly one rivet attached to each piece of wood to allow the parts of the leg to move around the screw without too much friction.
Once in place, the bearings work very nicely for letting the leg move, but they initially didn't do much to stop the leg splaying out to the side, so to avoid this I added the third rivet which you can see in the top picture, as well as a second section of the lower leg which is supported by a 6mm spacer (just visible in the picture on the left) to allow the joint to move freely around the screw without moving sideways. I also replaced the nuts with nyloc nuts so that the repeated rotation and vibration doesn't continually loosen the joint. This way tightening the nut on each joint gives me very good control over how much resistance the joint offers to rotation as well as how much the lower leg wobbles around.
Reconnecting the legs to the body and wiring up the servos to the arduino made it very simple to test out a basic walking motion. The timing still needs some work, and without the wheels and tail to provide resistance the whole body has a tendency to wobble around, but the basic idea is there and the pulley system seems to be working nicely.
To make the legs move a bit nicer I need to make the hips more rigid by adding some blocks around the join to the spine and also reinforce the screws joining the servo horns to the hips. hopefully I will have that done by the end of the week and can move on to the final programming of the walk motion.
Did you notice he's not actually getting anywhere? I have some lovely little micro geared motors and wheels from pololu (bought through littlebirdelectronics) which I have wired up through an ardumotor shield and will be mounting as soon as possible, however the scroll saw is out of action for the moment so I can't cut the recesses in the body to mount the axle supports. These will also raise the body off the floor by about 15mm so the legs can move more easily without rocking the body from side to side.
It's been quite a long time since I've updated here, which sadly reflects just how long it has been since I've had some spare time to work on Bernie: between organizing the Melbourne Mini and studying for exams it's been a very busy couple of months! I finally have some holidays so I can get going on Bernie and flesh out some of the designs I've been working on.
Poor Bernie has been sitting there on the coffee table unable to move for a while now. He has developed a bit of a lean because his poor tummy is carrying all of his weight, He can't even wave when people come to visit him. Clearly this must be fixed, and as many a quadruped knows, limbs are handy things to have around.
I've been thinking about how to do this for a while now, because I want to use just one servo motor to control the whole limb. This will reduce the load on the arduino, simplify the programming and make the leg lighter, but makes the mechanism more complicated to design. I started by playing with some cardboard, and then went back to the drawing board to see how I could make this idea work. Like all of this project, there is a lot of documentation which will probably never see the light of day, but it sure does help fill a boring lecture and makes construction much easier and quicker.
Just like my very first bit of body construction I decided to make a cardboard prototype to see if my idea really worked. Initially I had different designs for the arms and legs because they are such different shapes, but I didn't like the extra complexity in the legs so I have decided to modify the design to work on a single concept. The joints work because the string does not change length - both ends are fixed to the leg, but there is a pulley point on the body so that the relative motion of the leg to the body makes the elbow/knee extend.
Before anyone asks, these legs are not in any way load rated! They will not be carrying the weight of the dragon, just providing some balance and making him look less like a glorified snake.
The tethered dragon
I've had a few questions about how 'wired' this dragon is.
This is what he looks like at the moment. As you can see, he is tethered to power by two power cables (the black and red you can see in the photo), and has a usb cable (the grey one) which can connect to my laptop to reprogram the arduino.
The usb cable is completely removable, which leaves the two power supplies. These can both be replaced by rechargeable li-po batteries when the dragon moves beyond the current testing phase.
That's the easy bit though. I want a control panel which will allow me to interact with the dragon and control him to move around, which means I will eventually need to work out some remote wireless i/o. I'm not going to be up to that for a while though, so I can do a lot more research first.
I love working with this arduino Mega board - so far everything I have tried to do has just worked, and I can already see that it will make development much faster and less depressing, especially in comparison with my last attempt using PIC technology and hand wiring everything.
About half an hour after I got home I had the first servo running, only to discover that actually I didn't know how to stop it... I was so surprised that it worked it took me a little while to remember to wire in a switch.
I now have a momentary push button which enables the servos, which means that if I release the button they gradually come to a stop as they complete their respective routines. In future I will program this as an interrupt as it will be a safety device to stop the dragon trying to move further once it has reached the limits of the skeleton structure - I would hate for it to destroy itself on the first test!
The button will also be replaced by a slider switch so that I can turn the dragon on and off properly rather than having to re-enable it each time it cycles through the main loop program.
The circuits in this photo have been rigorously tested by a 3 year old who found the concept of pressing a button and having things spin fascinating for about an hour. I figure if it can survive that, I'm on the right path.
My only issue so far is that the tower-pro servos are incredibly noisy - I think for a lot of the more important servos I will have to invest in better quality servos which have metal gears instead of plastic so that they are more accurate and less loud.
Tess is an Engineer who sometimes gets a bit carried away with her hobbies, which include animatronics, uavs and millinery.
March 2015


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Species Account for Agroeca inopina
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Agroeca inopina O.P.-Cambridge, 1886 Maps produced by MapMate®. Data overlays Copyright © Essex Field Club 2020.
Reproduction for study and non-profit use permitted, all other rights reserved.
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Agroeca inopina O.P.-Cambridge, 1886
Araneae: Phrurolithidae
Reproduction for study and non-profit use permitted, all other rights reserved.
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Additional Phenology Data
Agroeca inopina
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Taxonomic group: spiders (Araneae) - County data
National map for Agroeca inopina on Spider and Harvestman Recording Scheme website
Broad Habitat Data (based on 56 records with habitat information)
Broad subhabitat Data (based on 2 records with subhabitat information)
Structural Habitat Data (based on 183 records with structural habitat information)
Habitat Detail and Method (based on 190 records with habitat detail and method information)
Recorded management for locations with Agroeca inopina
Recorded substrate and hydrology for locations with Agroeca inopina
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Interpretation of distribution maps


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Motorola is getting its fair share of attention from past few weeks. There are news about Droid Ultra, Mini, Moto X and what not. Few days back, @evleaks suggested that Razor Ultra and Razor M Ultra may launch on Verizon.
Earlier today, the infamous leaker tweeted that one of the new smartphone in Motorla's upcoming lineup, Motorola Droid Maxx, will be headed to Verizon.
The picture that surfaced doesn't reveal much about this mysterious smartphone, considering the number of Droid models that have been leaked in the past few days. The image reveals the power button along with the volume keys and a front facing camera but we are not sure if the home and back buttons are part of the screen or not.
In case of the specifications, there is no confirmed news about the hardware as well. By looking at the picture, one thing which can be speculated is that the device may sport a widescreen 16:9 display. Other than that, it is expected that we will see a couple of smartphones by Motorola this year considering the fact that it has been acquired by Google.
There is also no news about the availability and pricing of the new Motorola lineup, but we can speculate that they could hit the shelves by the end of this year, or at least few of them. We will keep you updated as soon as we hear something about them. In the meantime, what do you think about the new Motorola lineup and the fact that it is trying to re-enter the market that is already dominated by Samsung and Apple. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: @evleaks


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A Portland, Ore., police officer in pursuit of a speeding car, put the chase on hold to help a duck in distress.
In a dash-cam video released by the Portland Police Bureau, viewers are treated to what looks like the beginning of an exciting high-speed chase. A car zooms past a hiding police cruiser, and then Officer Mark James begins the pursuit.
But not long into the chase (the video above has been sped up), James sees a duck crossing the busy road. Rather than leave it to fend for itself, he pulls over and guides it to safety.
[Related: Giant rubber duck sails into Hong Kong harbor]
James then resumes his pursuit, but by then the speeder had escaped. The upside: The officer's actions made plenty of people happy.
On YouTube, the comments were nearly across-the-board positive.
One commenter wrote, "I can't love this enough!!!"
Another said, "This conversation, in conjunction with the video, make me want to move to Portland. I mean .... nice police officers? It's a utopia!"
But not everyone was convinced the duck was as innocent as it looked. A conspiracy-minded commenter wrote, "What if the guy from that speeding car left ducks on road to distract the police car and run away? :D"


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Okay, I am the other writer for Royal Revival that has been chosen to spill his thoughts on the Myers-Shields trade. While Damion Mandalas looked at a few of the positives and tried to see both sides, I am just going to react on how I really think this trade panned out for us as Royal Nation.
I will always remember last night, it could very well define my childhood love of the Kansas City Royals. December 9th, 2012. It was a cold, chilly night; I was sitting by the fire watching the Dark Knight rises when all of a sudden, I clicked the Twitter app on my iPhone only to find that Andrew Friedman had been lurking in the shadows waiting to pounce on his prey. Okay, I'll quit this theatrical thing I got going on, but really I was freaking out. In fact, when I saw the possible trade I got that bad feeling in your stomach when you think you're about to puke. This couldn't be true. Remember during the Winter Meetings when these rumors were going on? And they passed through? Surely that would be the case this time. No, this rumor seemed different, tons of analysts were reporting this rumor and tons were saying it could be done shortly.
After an hour or two of frantically panicking about us trading what some Royals fans called the "Last Hope" Wil Myers. It was complete. It was the worst text notification I have ever received from ESPN. I just stared at it. No words could come out. That initial reaction was only seeing that we had traded Wil Myers and other prospects for James Shields and Wade Davis. I was sick just seeing that, but when it came out that we had also given Jake Odorizzi and Mike Montgomery AND Patrick Leonard. I knew that Andrew Friedman had struck again. I have two friends of mine that are Rays fans. They are actually brothers, and I joke with them all the time saying "The Royals aren't smart enough to play with Friedman". Now there is actually some evidence to that statement.
This trade made me sick. It was a desperation move by a desperate General Manager who hasn't done squat in his tenure with the Royals. What the heck is he doing? We clearly overpaid for James Shields. Those two Rays fans will tell you the same, and I am as big of a James Shields fan as they come. I've always loved this guy. However, we gave up way too much for possibly (probably) only two years of "Big Game James". I was happy that Yordano Ventura and Kyle Zimmer weren't involved in the trade because I like them both better than Odorizzi and Montgomery but still, trading our Minor League Player of the year for a guy that we will probably only have for two years doesn't make sense to me at all.
I'm not a huge Jake Odorizzi fan but I definitely think he could turn out to be a solid 2-3 SP in the big leagues. I don't know how Friedman got us to put him in the trade but whatever he said to sweet talk more really worked. Mike Montgomery going doesn't rile me up as much, because he has just disappointed me the last two seasons. I loved this guy and thought he was going to be a STUD. I still think he has more upside than Odorizzi does, he just needs someone to tap into it. The scary thing to me is I think the Rays will tap into his potential. It makes me cringe that the Rays possibly could have one of the best hitters in the majors in Wil Myers and if Montgomery reaches his potential then they could possibly have one of the best pitchers as well.
Now that I have been through all of the negatives to this trade and why I don't think it was a smart move by the Royals; lets go through some WHAT IF scenarios.
If I would have wrote this post last night, this paragraph would not have been included. I was too upset, and just pissed off at what Dayton Moore had done. I was among those on the Royals Twitterverse that were just going crazy tweeting how stupid I thought we were and retweeting other people that were saying the same thing. After a good nights sleep, I have thought through some things. This trade maybe, just maybe could turn out to be a decent trade for Royals fans. Just think, WHAT IF we do indeed advance to the playoffs in the next 2 seasons? WHAT IF James Shields leads us to an ALDS? How much fun would that be? Throughout my 20 years of being a Royals fan I have never once seen a playoff team or even sniff contention most years. Now we have no excuses, we pushed the chips all in. Dayton can say that these next two seasons aren't "playoffs or bust" seasons but they are. Royal nation is aching for a winner, and now you made the big move. It's time for us to make the transition to being a playoff team. WHAT IF we do make the playoffs in the next two seasons or so, how fun would that be? I don't know, I have never been a part of it. However, I'm sure it would feel a heck of a lot better than consistently losing 90-100 games and watching Luke Hochevar take the mound on opening day.
I will end this post with one tweet I said last night, that drew some response from Royals fans. I said I have been going to Opening Day for the last 8 years or so and not once have I seen an above average SP on the hill for us. This year I can finally be there on Opening Day when we do have a stud who can beat anyone on any given day.


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If you haven't been to Street Breads you are missing out my friend! During our food photography session with Street Breads and Waitr we encountered so many amazing entrees that it was hard to choose a favorite! We will have the results of the photo shoot later this week but here are a few pics we snapped while on site. Special thanks to Chris Meaux, and his team at Waitr for coordinating with us on each of these photo shoots.
Street Breads Locations:
3475 Nelson Rd.
Lake Charles, LA 70605
(337) 430-4672
3131 Perkins Rd.
Baton Rouge, LA 70808
(225) 930-4672


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We are delighted to be hosting two evenings of incredible jazz entertainment alongside a delicious 2 course menu.
The first event is on the 7th October, as Jeff Hooper performs with the Dave Cottle Trio. Our next date on 11th November with Matt Ford is now also fully booked.
Here's a taster for the talent on show.
Jeff Hooper, 7th October 2018
Matt Ford, 11th November 2018
~ Starters ~
Beef and smoked bacon meatball, tomato ragu
Crispy calamari, grilled lemon mayo
Smoked fish croquet,tartar
Homemade soup of the day
Tomato, basil and mozzarella bruschetta
~ Mains ~
Braised beef in Langland's own beer, root vegetable mash
Fish and chips
Breast of chicken, herb and pea risotto
Pumpkin and sage ravioli, sage cream
These events are now sold out.


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My mother refused to defend me against my father for years. Weekend mornings were always met by his demands. Within a few minutes she would witness, once again, her oldest, teen aged daughter lying next to her husband, but chose to do nothing about it.
If Something Doesn't Seem Right, Do Something.
10 Mar 2015 3 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: #Forgiveness, #hope, faith, incest, overcoming abuse, survivor, trust
Sharing our testimony for God's glory
15 Jan 2015 1 Comment
in Christ's love, Freedom, Growing Your Faith, Holy Spirit, privilege, Purpose, Uncategorized Tags: challenges, Christ's love, doors of my heart, eternal perspective, faith, growing your faith, journey, life, peace, spirituality, survivor
I absolutely love it when hubby picks up our evening devotional, Morning and Evening, by Charles Spurgeon.
He began to read, "I have yet to speak on God's behalf" from Job 36:2, and I knew this reading would be exactly what I need.
We should not desire to be known by others for our virtue or for our zeal. But at the same time, it is a sin to always try to hide that which God has bestowed upon us for the good of others. A Christian is not be to a village in a valley, but a city set upon a hill. He is not to be a candle under a bushel, but a candle in a candlestick, giving light to all. (See Matthew 5:14-15) Retirement may be lovely in its season, and to hide one's self in modest, but the hiding of Christ in us can never be justified. The keeping back of truth which is precious to us is a sin against others and an offense against God. If you are of a nervous temperament and retiring disposition, take care that you do not indulge in this trembling tendency too much, lest you become useless to the Church. In the name of Him who was not ashamed of you, decide to ignore your feelings. Tell others what Christ has told you. If you cannot speak with the sound of a trumpet, use the still, small voice. If the pulpit is not your platform, if the press does not carry your words say with Peter and John, "Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I unto thee" (Acts 3:6). Talk to the Samaritan woman by the well if you cannot preach a sermon on the mountaintop. Utter the praises of Jesus in the house, if not in the temple; in the field, if not in the city; in your own household, if you cannot speak in the middle of the great family of man. From the hidden springs within let sweetly flowing streams of testimony flow forth, giving drink to every passer-by. Do not hide your talent. To speak for God will be refreshing for ourselves, cheering to saints, useful to sinners, and honoring to the Savior.
This devotional seemed to impart words I hadn't considered in quite some time, yet I'm so thankful for the reminder that sharing my testimony doesn't mean keeping silent and hiding out of fear. Instead, it means that wherever God directs my steps I'm to share the testimony that He has blessed my life beyond measure.
What about you? Do you boldly proclaim God's praises in your house, in the field, in the city, or on the mountaintop? Speaking for myself, this devotional is a true wake-up call and a feast for my soul.
How can truth set us free?
30 Sep 2014 6 Comments
in Book launch, Christ's love, Creator, Fear, Forgiveness, Freedom, God's sovereignty, Growing Your Faith, Hippie chick, Holy Spirit, Obedience, Overcoming Abuse, Purpose, serving, Storms of life, Success, talents, Uncategorized Tags: challenges, Christ's love, eternal perspective, eternity, faith, forgiveness, growing your faith, Holy Spirit, life, peace, prayer, promises, sin, spirituality, survivor
Ephesians 1:3-9 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance to his pleasure and will-to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ. More
Trials and Joy
16 Sep 2014 1 Comment
in Christ's love, Creator, Freedom, Goals, God speaks, God's sovereignty, Growing Your Faith, Obedience, Purpose, serving, Storms of life, talents, Uncategorized Tags: challenges, Christ's love, eternal perspective, eternity, faith, hardships, journey, life, peace, prayer, promises, spirituality, suffering, survivor, trials
Re-posted from InTouch, by Dr. Charles Stanley, September 16, 2014
My pastor is currently preaching from the book of James and Dr. Stanley's message today is a perfect reminder that through out our lives we all suffer under a variety of difficult trials and hardships. But, if we consider that those times of suffering can be used as a catalyst to help us be mindful that the Lord uses them to mold us into what His desire is for our lives, they're so much easier to bear.
Trials and Joy
James 1:2-4,12
"Consider it all joy . . . when you encounter various trials" (James 1:2)—what a preposterous statement! How can that make sense when joy and trials don't fit together? But James is presenting a divine vantage point, not a human one. There are some surprising benefits in suffering, which aren't easy to discern.
First of all, we need to understand that these verses are not telling us to be happy in our pain, but rather to rejoice in the blessings that accompany suffering. The word consider is an accounting term that means "to evaluate." When we look at hardships from God's perspective and place the proper value on them, we can rejoice in the beneficial outcome, even while experiencing pain. Humanly speaking, trials hurt; but from the Lord's point of view, they help.
The only way to rejoice during trials is to understand what God wants them to accomplish. Regardless of the difficulty's source, we can know that the Lord wants to use it to test our faith and thereby produce endurance and spiritual maturity. In every trial, He has hidden a precious character gem, but whether we receive it depends upon our response. Those who want to be transformed into the image of Christ can rejoice in the many benefits that accompany suffering.
How about you? Does your hunger to know the Lord and be transformed by Him exceed your dread of suffering? None of us want to experience pain, but since it's an unavoidable reality in this fallen world, why not respond in a way that produces eternal benefit? Let's not waste our suffering.
Book Launch Invitation & two reader comments…
19 Aug 2014 Leave a comment
in Book launch, Christ's love, Forgiveness, God's sovereignty, Growing Your Faith, Hippie chick, Holy Spirit, Journey, Obedience, Overcoming Abuse, Purpose, Storms of life, Success, talents Tags: 1970's, America, California, challenges, Christ's love, faith, forgiveness, growing your faith, Holy Spirit, journey, life, peace, prayer, promises, shame, spirituality, survivor, voice
…I laughed, I cried, my heart and soul ached for all that you went through and I felt boundless joy reading about how your relationship with Christ has evolved and is continuing to grow daily. When you asked questions, you asked the hard questions that require soul searching for answers. Thank you for doing that as I don't think we ask enough hard questions in this present age. Thank you so much for obeying God and telling your story. This book has the potential to help so many people who are hurting because of choices they have made. ~ Patty
I spent the weekend with you and your friend, Judy!! What a journey – what courage – what a faithful God to bring you to this place!! It has given me such insight into who you are and how God has brought you here – for such a time as this. I found myself in parts of your story – the me I had forgotten even existed. Your journey was a tough one, but look at the victory!! Amazing grace, no doubt about it. ~ Cathy
Life in the Lord is part of His Tapestry
08 Feb 2013 1 Comment
in Forgiveness, Freedom, God's sovereignty, Growing Your Faith, heaven, Overcoming Abuse, privilege Tags: challenges, doors of my heart, eternal perspective, eternity, faith, forgiveness, heaven, journey, life, promises, randy alcorn, religion, spirituality, theology
Recently, I finished reading Heaven, by famous Christian author Randy Alcorn. Along with the Bible, it made an extremely profound impact on my spiritual journey with the Lord. I became keenly aware that out of all God's promises we can't begin to fathom or have any idea of the eternal and unfailing love He has for us.
My eyes, and the doors of my heart opened to receive more of His promises and the glorious eternity He has prepared for us. It's hard to begin, or comprehend, what life will be like when I step over into eternity.
One important fact that we need to focus on is that our lives are but a vapor, here today and gone tomorrow. I fully believe that there will come a day, when I'll be able to look back on my life as the Lord lovingly guides me, allowing me to see how both tragedy and joyous events unfolded from an eternal perspective.
We should look forward to the end of our lives, praying daily, seeking God's will. His desire is for us to serve Him, showing Christ's love to a hurting world, in the process, continually mending broken relationships through forgiveness.
That takes faith! Yet, remember, Romans 8:28? 'We know that all things work for the good to those who love the Lord, those who have been called according to his purpose.
Years ago, I read Why do bad things happen to good people?
I don't recall the name of the author, but he had an intriguing way of describing events that occur throughout our lives.
To paraphrase, our lives are like part of a tapestry, we only see the threads closest to us, each thread woven in alongside and beside us, but God sees the full picture of a beautifully complete tapestry, every thread carefully placed, and sewn in, by our Creator.


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The age old saying, "If it isn't broken, then don't fix it" Is alive and well today especially with the executives in the film studios that produce these paeans to iconic genres. The strict formula that they follow to produce these films can be easily traced back to older precedents that; if are not captured on celluloid then can surely be found within the pages of timeless stories, plays and dramas that may well have been devised since before the time of Christ. The structure which they follow has been so firmly established and often repeated to perfection that one must only piece together interesting or juxtaposing plot lines with interesting circumstances for the main and minor conflicts within the story and finally sprinkle some common parallels throughout the movie to give viewers something they can hold onto that's it familiar to them. Then, with these "new" elements, simply place them into the archetype for whatever genre that is desired. A solid film that we will be dissecting within the confines of this paper is the 2007 remake of the 1957 western, 3:10 to Yuma. Within the following paragraphs we will dissect the inner workings of this movie and find what parts are common to the genre that it pays a very valiant homage to.
As with most westerns the plot line involves a quiet man that is down on his luck who is occupied only with the daily business of living. In our case the protagonist is Dan Evans, a farmer and crippled civil war veteran who is raising his family on a tract of land that has been prepared to be sold to the local railroad company without his consent or objection. In a horrible season of rampant drought he needs to grow an ample yield to free himself from his mounting debt and save his homestead. Dan Evans is also trying to maintain the structure of his family during this struggle. He is battling for position with his wife about being a proper man and breadwinner while trying to maintain his fatherly status amongst his children who are testing their limits to establish themselves as equals in their manhood. Dan had become crippled as a result of his service to the union army during the civil war and the circumstances under which he was injured are not revealed but they did result in him moving very far from his home. This is an interesting sub plot because it is not made clear to the viewer why his family has so much underlying content for his authority or being. The story clearly illustrates that Dan Evans is at the end of his moral fiber and is desperate to redeem himself and rescue his family from the bleak future that so closely awaits them. This plot line (and even sub plots) is highly typical of most western cinemas. These situations do a good job concrete the dire circumstances that may have been commonplace to a contemporary of this time.
All these events set up the arrival of the hero's salvation within the guise of the anti hero, who in this case is an outlaw murderer, Ben Wade. Ben wade is typical of this genres antagonist. He is very similar in many ways to the hero and they share many common thoughts and experiences but the antagonist just cannot accept any other way of life. The path to catharsis for our hero is clear and straightforward. In order to get redemption in the eyes of his family; the hero must face old fears, daunting odds, tough decisions and even the prospect of constant death to meet the challenge and win the life which he deserves. All of which can only be given by the hero's counterpoint. The stories subplots are progressive and usually weave in and out of the destinies of the main characters. They (hero and antihero) both must deal with internal and external strife, moral struggles, deception from their respective camps and a growing fondness for the others character making their previous ways of life even more strained in the knowledge they conjure together. All of the minor characters have their storylines and always end up in the same manner. The good side often loses a very likeable and trustworthy character adding tension to the hero's camp; while the bad side will battle amongst itself to satisfy its own lust for power which will usually bring about it own demise in the end. And while these new and exotic circumstances are unfolding, we the viewers are given some very familiar and relatable scenes to use to establish credibility and identity with the characters.
Another important aspect of the genre is the eternal givings that have become the calling card of that type of film. These common thread experiences aim to give the viewer a familiar event to hold onto to help give the film a sense of credibility and fullness. In Westerns the stereotypical thoughts that arise are about but not limited to; steamy locomotives, ambushes, saloon scenes, gambling scenes, prostitutes, quick draw showdowns, expert horsemanship, and "trail life". All of these segments are contained between the opening and closing credits of this movie but also within other movies. This creates a familiarity with the world the director is presenting to the viewer.
So in summation, it is clear that these events have previously been done many times over with so many variables and approaches in preceding films. So why then do viewers still watch and rave about a film that we as moviegoers are already too keen to what will happen? The answer is not that we like to watch the same events unfold over and over again or that the idea of the West is an appealing escape from a very different world that we all occupy today. But the life of this genre deals with the reality of the human story. The overcoming of hardship for virtuous reasons is the driving force to genre. The iron will of the frontier can be tamed but only by a certain type of individual is always a tied in theme and promotes a sense of strength and hope that justice and righteousness are found in the most unlikely of situations and every man can make the future they wanted


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5 things about the English Premier League
It takes something pretty special to overshadow Ryan Giggs' first game as manager of Manchester United.
A title-defining match between Liverpool and Chelsea can be described as just that.
Liverpool will eliminate Chelsea from the title race - and move to the brink of a first English championship in 24 years - with a win at Anfield on Sunday in a contest that will capture the world's attention. The Reds hold a five-point lead over Chelsea with three games remaining, with Manchester City a point further back in third but with a match in hand.
United is usually in title contention at this stage of the season. Not this time.
David Moyes was fired on Tuesday with the team lying seventh and with no chance of qualifying for next season's Champions League. Giggs, a United great, has taken temporary charge of a team he has graced for 23 years and his first match is against Norwich on Saturday.
Here are five things to know about this weekend's round:
Perhaps Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was just trying to lull Liverpool into a false sense of security by saying this week that the Champions League was his priority and he'd prefer to pick a weakened team for the Liverpool match.
All will be discovered in lineup on Sunday.
The timing of the match is unfortunate for Chelsea, coming between the two legs of the Champions League semifinals against Atletico Madrid. Mourinho is sure to make changes to give several players a breather, but how many?
Captain John Terry and goalkeeper Petr Cech will definitely miss out after being hurt in Tuesday's first leg.
It all puts Liverpool in a very strong position as Brendan Rodgers' team goes for a 12th straight league win. A victory for Liverpool and a slip-up by Manchester City at Crystal Palace later Sunday would mean the Reds having a chance to clinch the title with a match to spare.
Aside from maybe Liverpool, was there any team Man City would prefer not to play against this weekend than Crystal Palace? Probably not.
Under the wily stewardship of manager Tony Pulis, Palace has won its last five games to climb away from the relegation zone and secure Premier League football for another season. It's a remarkable feat, given that the promoted team had only four points when Pulis was hired in November.
City stayed in realistic title contention by beating West Bromwich Albion 3-1 on Monday but it came at a cost, with David Silva injuring his right ankle. The absence of the Spain playmaker for this weekend would be a huge blow as he makes City's attack tick.
Key midfielder Yaya Toure could return for City, though, and striker Sergio Aguero is slowly getting his match fitness back after a long lay-off. City realistically needs to win all four of its remaining matches to stand a chance of winning a second league title in three years.
Perhaps the final vestige of Moyes' woeful reign at United was removed on Thursday when the "Chosen One" banner was brought down at Old Trafford.
Saturday marks another new start for United in the gloomy post-Alex Ferguson era, with Giggs in charge for the visit of Norwich.
Assisted by former teammates Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes and Phil Neville from the so-called 'Class of 92,' Giggs' priority will be to pick up some wins and also to bring a smile back to United fans, many of whom have never seen the club so low.
"We walked in here together when we were 12 and to be here now . together is a very proud moment," Butt said. "We're here to try to help the club and get the results that we want from now until the end of the season. What happens after that, who knows?"
Seventh-place United can still fight for sixth position, which likely offers the final Europe League berth. Tottenham is three points ahead in sixth.
Arsenal is in command of the race for the fourth and final Champions League qualification spot, holding a one-point advantage over Everton with both having three games remaining.
The Gunners have much the easier match coming up, with Newcastle visiting Emirates Stadium on Monday on the back of five straight losses which has piled the pressure on manager Alan Pardew.
With attacking midfielders Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey back fit, some cutting edge has returned to Arsenal's attack just in time for a crucial last month of the season when the team looks to seal a 17th straight campaign in Europe's top competition and to win the FA Cup final against Hull.
Everton plays at Southampton on Saturday. With its next match being at home to Man City, it's easy to see why the Merseysiders are underdogs for fourth.
Sunderland has proved to be a nemesis for the big teams this season -it's time for Gus Poyet's last-place side to show its mettle also against the strugglers if it is to stay up.
Nothing can be decided this weekend in the increasingly fraught relegation battle that still involves nine teams, but the outcome of Sunday's crunch match between Cardiff and Sunderland - two members of the bottom three - will have a huge bearing on who goes down.
Sunderland has taken four points from trips to Man City and Chelsea over the past week but is still bottom by a point behind Cardiff and Fulham.


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Welcome to the Albuquerque Chapter of the American Payroll Association
On behalf of the Payroll Professionals in the State of New Mexico, welcome to our website.
This site has been created to provide payroll professionals and their colleagues information regarding the happenings of the Albuquerque Chapter of the American Payroll Association (ABQAPA). We are affiliated and accredited by the National American Payroll Association.
The ABQAPA is open to anyone involved in payroll, human resources, compensation, benefits, and accounting fields. We welcome you to come and learn more about our enlightened group of payroll professionals.
Please feel free to contact us for any questions or suggestions.
John Weaver, FCP
Chapter President


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Ever since the cavemen used embers to sketch animals on their cave walls, humans have been making art about where and how they live. But the city is a far cry from a prehistoric cave, and portraying the cosmopolitan scene is a lot more complicated for modern-day artists than it was for our ancient, cave-dwelling ancestors.
See also: - Artist Valerie Savarie on co-ops and why she likes Navajo's art district more than Santa Fe's - Artist Corrina Crazie Espinosa finds her inner unicorn in all the strangest places - Kyle Banister on Rockies predictions, opening day, and why some say his art isn't art
Metropolis, a group show inspired by the city and juried by Ken Hamel of Denverarts.org, will be celebrated with an award ceremony tonight at the Kanon Collective Art Gallery, which is filled with art inspired by all things urbane, both beautiful and profane. Tonight's Third Friday reception runs from 5 to 9 p.m., with awards handed out at 7 p.m.; Metropolis continues through July 29. For more information visit Kanon online.
Find information on hundreds of other arts and entertainment events in our online Calendar.
We Believe Local Journalism is Critical to the Life of a City
Engaging with our readers is essential to Westword's mission. Make a financial contribution or sign up for a newsletter, and help us keep telling Denver's stories with no paywalls.
Support Our Journalism
To keep up with the Froyd's eye-view of arts and culture in Denver, "like" my fan page on Facebook.
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Also found in: Wikipedia.
An emission control device that uses microorganisms to destroy volatile organic compounds and hazardous air pollutants.
apparatus for the biological treatment of sewage. It is a round or rectangular tank with a double bottom filled with a filtering material (boiler slag, granite chips, gravel, porous clay filler, and so on). The bottoms are at least 0.4 m apart. The filtering layer is 1.5–2 m high; the grainsize of the filtering layer is 30–50 mm, and of the lower underlying layer, 60–100 mm. When sewage passes through the filtering material, a biological film forms on its surface. The film consists of accumulations of bacteria and fungi that oxidize and mineralize the organic matter in the sewage. The oxidation capacity of a biofilter is determined experimentally.


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First Title Insurance plc, ECA Court, 24-26 South Park, Sevenoaks, Kent, TN13 1DU
Telephone: +44 (0)207 160 8218 Email: email@example.com
First Title Insurance plc is committed to providing the highest standard of service to its customers. However, should you need to complain, we will do all we can to resolve your complaint quickly and fairly.
Please click here for further information.
First Title Insurance plc is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. First Title Insurance plc is registered in England under company number 01112603. Registered office: First Title Insurance plc, ECA Court, 24-26 South Park, Sevenoaks, Kent TN13 1DU.


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Step 1: Use a gentle shampoo.
Many common shampoos contain harsh sulfates that can strip your hair, causing it to become dry and eventually leading to breakage. A good gentle shampoos is Essentious Exonerate.
Harsh sulfates include:
Ammonium Laureth Sulfate
Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate
TEA Laureth Sulfate
TEA Lauryl Sulfate
Sodium Lauryl Sulfate
These types of harsh shampoos should be used for clarifying only. A clarifying shampoo can be used once monthly, if at all. Clarifying shampoos can be used to remove excess buildup.
The following sulfates are gentle and will not damage your hair:
Polyoxethylene Fatty Alcohols
Sorbitan Laurate
Decyl Polyglucose
Cocamidoprpyl Betaine
Sodium Myreth Sulfate
Sodium Laureth Sulfate
Review this list of hair products for help with finding a new "gentle" shampoo.
Step 2: Use protein treatments to rebuild hair structure and strength.
Your hair is about 88% protein. These proteins are of a hard fibrous type known as keratin. When hair is chemically straightened, these bonds are broken, causing the hair to lose strength. If this protein is not replaced, it will eventually cause the hair to break. Egg treatments are effective protein treatment for black hair and usually stops breakage immediately. A protein treatment should be used every other week (for chemically relaxed or damaged hair). If using an egg treatment, heat should not be applied. The treatment should be applied to the hair and covered with a plastic cap for 60 minutes. If using another type of protein product, it should be applied and covered with a plastic cap for 10-15 minutes. For healthy hair, a protein treatment should be used every other week, alternating with a moisture treatment.
Step 3: Use moisture treatments.
Moisture treatments help build hair's resilience and prevent breakage. If protein is not balanced with moisture, it can lead to breakage. A good moisture treatment for black hair is Essentious Rejuvenate. It can be used after your protein treatment. Or on alternating weeks (one shampoo do the protein, and then the other shampoo do the moisture.) This treatment may not leave your hair feeling as "smooth" as many conditioners that contain silicones. You can use any instant conditioner that you like after your treatments to get a smoother feel. Instant conditioners are not necessary and do not need to be applied with heat. If pre-shampooing is done, the moisture treatment can be skipped.
Step 4: Use water and oil based moisturizers correctly.
Your hair may be dry even though you are using a variety of moisture products on it. The reason is that oils and other moisturizing products that contain petrolatum, lanolin, and mineral oil do not moisturize your hair effectively. Instead they seal moisture in or out of your hair. They should only be used to seal the hair and add shine. Water based moisturizers effectively penetrate and moisturize the hair.
Some examples are:
Triple Moisture
Silk Touch Leave-in
Profectiv Anti-Tangle Leave-in
Profectiv Mega Growth
Cantu Shea Butter Grow Strong
Elasta QP Mango Butter
Cantu Shea Butter Leave-in
You can also try applying your oil moisturizer after rinsing the moisture treatment to combat dryness.
Use a light oil moisturizer following the application of these water based moisturizer to seal moisture in the shaft.
Step 5: Use hair vitamins to increase your growth rate and lengthen your natural growth phase.
Hair grows at an average rate of about 1/2 inch per month. Your hair vitamin should contain nutrients such as Biotin and Folic Acid that make your hair grow faster. Also, they should contain MSM which lengthens your natural anagen, or growth phase. This allows your hair to grow much longer. Your anagen phase, or growth phase, is genetically determined and limits the maximum length that your hair can reach. The hair growth phase (anagen phase) is one of three phases (growth, resting, and shedding) your hair goes through during its cycle. For example, a person with a 2 year anagen may only grow hair to their shoulders before it enters the resting phase. On the other hand, a person with a 4 year anagen will grow hair down their back before it enters the resting phase. Learn how HairFinity Vitamins can help your hair grow longer.
Step 6: Use a wide tooth comb.
Step 7: Use a satin scarf/ pillowcase for sleeping.
Cotton scarves and pillowcases can absorb much needed moisture from the hair. Satin does not have this effect. It allows your hair to retain moisture, while protecting it from friction and damage.
Step 8: Limit heat styling to once weekly, and use thermal protectants.
Heat styling can damage your hair, especially if done too often. When you straighten your hair with heat, you are temporarily altering the protein bonds in your hair and weakening it. A good thermal protectant that can be used when flat ironing hair is Silk Elements MegaSilk Heat Protection Spray. It is only available at Sally's Beauty Supply. It should be sprayed directly on each section of hair just before it is flat ironed.
Step 9: Wear protective styles.
To minimize breakage and retain moisture, try wearing your hair in a protective style at least 3 days a week. Protective styles are those which do not expose the ends, such as buns and French twists.
Step 10: Properly neutralize after applying chemical relaxers.
Also, when you relax your hair, you need to make sure you properly neutralize. You will first wash all relaxer out with water. Wash with neutralizing shampoo at least three times. Then apply the neutralizing shampoo once more and let sit for 10 minutes. Then wash and proceed with conditioners and styling.
In order to achieve the longest hair possible you need to do the following:
Stop Hair Breakage – by following the hair care techniques in Secrets for Faster Hair Growth, you can minimize your hair breakage and allow you hair to reach it maximum length.
Increase Anagen (Growth) Phase– Using Hair Vitamins with MSM will naturallly lengthen your anagen phase and allow your hair to grow much longer before entering the resting and shedding phases.
Address Any Other Problems that May Limit Growth– Using specific types of products as part of a hair care regimen can help reduce breakage and increase your hair length.


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Saturday, 31 December 2011
Here's wishing you and your loved ones every happiness for the New Year ahead, may you have health and happiness in abundance.
We are leaving on a 15 hour road trip to visit one of my daughters and her family, so I spent today making her a bag to take along with me (a belated Christmas present).
Although the photo doesn't show it all that well, it is purple velvet (I always seems to have a problem capturing purple the way it really looks) also lined with purple with an inside pocket, and on the outside, where the lace doily is, another pocket for her mobile phone, car keys etc. Hope that she likes it.
Blessings all,
4 comments:
- Witchcrafted Life said...
Hi sweet Rob,
Wishing you a very safe trip and wonderful time with your daughter and her family. Hope your New Year sparkles with as much joy and beauty as the amazing creations you share here all the time.
Thank you very much for starting to follow my scrapbooking blog, too (it's much newer than Chronically Vintage, having just been started this past August). While today will mark the last day of consistently daily posts, please fear not, just as prior to 2011, CV will be going strong and posts will continue to appear as frequently as I can write them.
I truly appreciate your support of both of my blogs (as well as you kind words about my Christmas cards, which all went out to friends and family this year), and look forward to connecting with you in 2011.
Tons of hugs & joyful New Year's wishes!!!
- 01 January, 2012 00:03
- Beth Norman said...
Have fun on your trip. Happy New Year Rob!
- 02 January, 2012 04:28
- Angie said...
What's not to love about purple velvet and lace doileys? I'll bet your daughter loves the bag.
I like your tea cup pin cushion too, I have a similar one myself.
It was super to meet you today, I hope we can stay in touch.
- 21 January, 2012 12:17
- les lunettesde soleil pas cher said...
- This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
- 28 July, 2012 18:19


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Deadline: November 14, 2017
This funding seeks to improve health and well-being for children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN) and their families by increasing access to patient and family-centered care, improving the process of transitioning youth into the adult health care system, and adopting health care financing models that achieve cost savings by supporting state Title V programs and stakeholders through training and technical assistance.
Award Amount: $1,666,000
Please Note: The Center for Health and Health Care in Schools (CHHCS) does not administer this funding opportunity.
Please contact HRSA for more information and to apply for this funding.


text:
1500 pcs. assorted silk skirts: 2.0 USD
100 pcs. 100% dupion silk stoles: 9.00 USD
100 pcs. 100% pure silk stoles: 9.00 USD
300 pcs art silk scarves @ 2.00 USD
Really beautiful, are all of these made by you? I too make my own Jhola Bags but my style of jholas are very different compared to yours.ReplyDelete
Really beautiful pic. you can buy online bags on baggout.
click here: Baggout
Really Awesome. I too have crafted some of my own products like Mirror work bags. Do check them out or ping meReplyDelete
This comment has been removed by the author.ReplyDelete
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Training has been going strong over the past few months at FitterFaster. Everyone has fully embraced the new 4 week periodisation cycle.
We have MetCon week where we use higher repetitions of each drill . We also include more high intensity cardio focused drills and longer sets
MeltDown week includes slightly heavier weights, dropping the repetitions and using more resistance drills than MetCon week. We also do about a 50/50 split of cardio intervals and resistance training.
AfterBurn is the week where you choose the heaviest weights you can manage for each set. Repetitions are dropped right back and rest periods are a bit longer too to allow you to keep using the same weights throughout. We do a bit less cardio, but each interval set is to be performed at the highest intensity possible. Sets are usually a bit shorter and often include an active or total rests even during them.
The latest addition to our cycle was introduced this year and is called Challenge Week. At first, Challenge week was met with scepticism from some clients, but I've been really pleasantly surprised by the way everyone has embraced it AND, more importantly how it has allowed even the fittest clients to jump to a new level of intensity. Rookie clients are of course allowed modifications and are given a slightly different challenge to our Commandos and Warriors during Challenge week, but even they have enjoyed the games and 'challenge' aspect of Challenge Week.
For each of the 4 phases, you have to give your best effort. It's one thing to do a training session and just 'go through the motions', and another entirely to keep pushing even when it starts to hurt or you feel like you can't do any more.
I'm not talking about pushing through any kind of injury or joint pain here. Its always important to stop straight away if you feel something is not right. However, you have to give your best effort at all times. Keeping on going till the last rep is done or the time keeper yells 'rest' will yield the best results-no doubt about it. Don't just give up when it starts to hurt.
Cycling our training in this way means that every energy system and all muscle fibres are given a chance to be improved. And this means better fitness, more strength, better mobility, less chance of injury and just feeling awesome.
The fitter you are, the more energy you'll have and the easier it is to lose body fat
and to keep it off.
So aside from attending training at FitterFaster, what can you do to get better results?
- GET MOVING MORE Even if you're following a structured training routine by attending a gym, playing sport or exercising at home, it's pretty hard to do too much. If you're reading this, chances are you could do more.
- Walk or ride to work – yes really! Or just add a few walks (or runs if you're up to it) to your week. 3 x 30 mins will make a big difference.
- Stand instead of sitting. I practically never sit any more. Only while eating and driving. Standing is much better for you, so grab a standing desk or work out how you can sit less often. And whether you're standing or sitting, make sure you take a break every 30 mins or so and take a quick walk around or have a little stretch.
- Add another workout (or 2) to your week. If 2 times a week is all you're managing, you're simply not going to see great results. My clients should be all training at least 3 times per week as an absolute minimum. And that's what that is. The minimum times you can train (not including walking/running or sport) and expect to see good results.
- Stop using your sport as your only fitness. Sport is great, don't get me wrong, but training 1-2 times per week specifically just for your sport and playing a game or 2 on the weekend won't cut it if you want to see a better body that is truly fit. Add specific fitness training to your routine and not only will you notice a difference in your body, but also in improved sports performance as you improve core and whole body strength and control and general aerobic and anaerobic fitness.
- Firstly, clean up your kitchen, office and car or wherever you're storing that crap food. If its processed, its got to go if you really do want to see great results. Rewarding yourself with food is NEVER a good idea. And if you identify yourself as an emotional eater, even more reasons to get rid of that crap
- Make sure you have plenty of healthy food available in your fridge so that when hunger strikes, or you are feeling down, angry, upset or just bored you have plenty of options. And yes, I know those things aren't what you feel like, but studies show that the sugary and fatty foods you crave only satisfy your emotional side for about 3 minutes. Yes, they work but for just a short time before you want more. Try veggies sticks and a scoop of hummus (just one) or some cottage cheese or greek yoghurt with herbs added. The protein and healthy fats, combined with the act of using your hands to pick up and dip together with the full-on taste of herbs and the crunch of the veggies will satisfy you for much longer AND provide fibre, vitamins and minerals and some protein for longer term satisfaction.
- Start planning your meals and snacks a bit more. Knowing roughly what you'll be eating for the week means you can have everything you need on hand, you'l know how much time you need to devote to food prep and cooking and you can even prepare meals ahead of time on days when you do have more time to spend in the kitchen. THIS IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT IF YOU DON'T LIKE COOKING. Those that love cooking will make time for meal prep, not the other way around.
- IMPROVE YOUR RECOVERY, SLEEP AND STRESS LEVELS So I've recommended you train more, but along with that comes the need to look after your body between sessions.
- Get enough sleep. I could name several clients right now who are not getting great results, despite training well and eating ok because they are lacking in quality sleep. A minimum of 7 hours per night is required and preferably 8. You simply cannot change this need. YOU may say that you're too busy to get that much sleep, but your body will tell you otherwise.
- Reduce your stress levels. Stress used to be reserved for high powered executive types. But these days, everyone from kids to stay-at- home mums and dads (I nearly said housewives!), anyone working anywhere, anyone trying to get work, school or uni attendees and your dog pretty much all have higher stress levels than they should. YOU need to find ways to reduce this if you want to see good results. Again, I could name several clients where this is THE REASON they are not seeing results. Not their training, not their diets, not anything else but the stress levels they have.
- Symptoms of lack of sleep and/or higher stress levels include:
- Not being able to lose weight or keep it off
- Being tired (duh)
- Feeling lethargic (even if you're not 'tired')
- Getting sick often – yep. Getting more than 1 cold a year, this could be it
- Not feeling like it – you just can't get 'motivated' to do anything
- More belly fat (usually)
- Cravings and/or what you may call 'emotional' eating
- Ongoing injuries that can't be explained by something like a tear/break or strain
- Chronic pain anywhere in your body – you know that achy shoulder, hip, tight calves, legs, back pain etc that you've been and had looked at but no one can tell you what it is but it won't go away
These 3 areas; training, diet and recovery are the things you need to get right if you want to see awesome results into the future. You simply cannot ignore any of them
At FitterFaster, we look at all these areas and help you to work out ways that you can improve all 3 in the real world. Generic advice, strategies and tips work for most people – yes they do – you're not THAT DIFFERENT to everyone else – sorry.
But…… I help you to find ways to tweak that advice and put it into action in the real world that you call MY LIFE.
The principles don't change, but the way you may put them into action might. It's my job (and my privilege) to help you with that. Whether it's on an ongoing daily basis as a client at FitterFaster and/or with shorter term challenges and programs.
One way that I may be able to help YOU add exercise and better nutrition to your life, even if for whatever reason you can't join FitterFaster, is with my free online program Get Fit Maryborough.
You can find out more by going here: GET FIT MARYBOROUGH
If on the other hand you'd like to get some information about actually becoming a client at FitterFaster and training with us, you can fill out your details below and I will email you some further details. No obligation and no sharing of your email
Thanks for reading


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Monetizing data is a must in today's market. Data is an asset and has value — be it usage data, customer details or other data customers share as users of your service. But unlocking that value can be a challenge for companies of all sizes.
In today's infographic from IDC and SAS, they identify three approaches to data monetization and apply the theoretical framework to two specific industries. These three approaches, however, are relevant to any business looking to derive value from their data. Effectively monetizing data means:
- New revenue streams
- Better products and services
- Operational efficiency
- Profit optimization
Key Approaches to Monetizing Data — Data Decisioning
One approach to monetizing data is to leverage insights to enhance processes. SAS calls this Data Decisioning. By combining customer data with comprehensive analytics and A/B testing, any business will have a more accurate perspective on what resonates with customers. From these insights, a company can optimize the customer experience on their website and within their product or service. Improving customer experience will increase customer loyalty and satisfaction which, in turn, increases revenue.
Key Approaches to Monetizing Data — Data Products
Establishing a service based around the data a company collects is another important strategy for monetization. For instance, in our earlier look at connected devices, we noted Nest successfully leverages customer data for a paid service. Their NestAware data storage plan allows customers to access Nest Cam video data from anywhere, and stores tiered amounts of data at different monthly or annual price points. Nest makes it easy for customers to access the service, including offering a free trial.
Key Approaches to Monetizing Data — Data Partnerships
SAS's third approach to data monetization involves selling or sharing core analytical capabilities with partners. In the age of APIs, partnerships are easier than ever. Essential data can be easily communicated between platforms and organizations. And companies will pay for access or ownership of the data. For example, the infographic points out that banking data can be shared with retailers, or manufacturers may have important fault diagnosis or productivity optimization capabilities that partners in the supply chain would pay for.
Whether your company uses data to shore up internal processes, create innovative products or services to sell directly to consumers, or works within a B2B partnership, you can tap into the value of data to earn more revenue. In fact, enterprises that leverage analytics are two times more likely to outperform their peers. Statistics like that beg the question – can you afford not to monetize your data?
Learn about essential subscription KPIs in our complimentary guide, Mapping & Measuring the Subscriber Journey


text: Ireland Chair of Poetry to deliver poetry workshops at Seamus Heaney HomePlace February 16, 2018 As well as the brighter days, spring sees the welcome return of the Irish Writers Centre to Mid Ulster as award-winning poet and Ireland Chair of Poetry, Erin Halliday hosts a six-week poetry workshop at Seamus Heaney Homeplace in Bellaghy. In honour of the Irish Writers Centre's remit to support writers throughout the island of Ireland they are now offering access to their courses in Belfast and Derry focusing on editing, blog writing, creative non-fiction, poetry and the novel. The course starting this month at Seamus Heaney HomePlace will be taken by Erin Halliday, Ireland Chair of Poetry bursary awardee and featured poet in New Poets from the North of Ireland (Blackstaff). She published her first collection Pharmakon (Templar) in 2015. An Arts Council of Northern Ireland ACES award has funded the completion of her forthcoming second collection. Erin's course will begin on Tuesday 27 February at 7pm and will run for six weeks, one evening per week, throughout the spring. The course is aimed at emerging or advanced poets who are interested in receiving critique of their work and Erin will provide constructive workshop-based analysis throughout. Speaking what would be available to emerging poets and peers during the course workshops, Erin said, 'Your voice, form, your poetic preoccupations, condensing meaning into words, and how you consider these aspects of poetry in your editing process; these are questions we'll consider over the course of this series of workshops.' Spaces on the six week course, costing £60, can be booked directly through the Irish Writers Centre at www.irishwriterscentre.ie or for further information contact Bernadette Greenan, Education Programmer, Irish Writers Centre (telephone +353 (0)1 872 1302)