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The UK Aid-funded Climate Information Prize (CIP) will close in November with the announcement of the winner of up to $200,000. As of now, we have shortlisted 18 organisations that have found ways to make climate information easier to access and use by farmers to increase their resilience to climate change.
While the excitement is mounting around what the winning initiative will be, we thought of taking stock of the hurdles encountered in this three-year long competition and what we have learned along the way. We hope this will help anyone who is thinking of funding, designing and running an innovation prize in a similar context.
Our 3 greatest hurdles
Without further ado, let's dive into the three key challenges we faced:
1. What is climate information – if you launch a prize to find a solution to a problem, you first need to define the problem as accurately as possible. Moreover, all potential solvers need to share that same understanding, which proved to be tricky with CIP. That's why we defined from the prize kick-off what we meant by climate information. For the purposes of this competition, we included data ranging from short-term weather-related information over days and weeks to information that covers longer time spans.
2. How much support – our experience with CIP suggests that applicants might need help in areas such as how to access and use climate data, attract investment and run a start-up initiative. Support could be provided in the form of workshops, mentoring or guidance documents. However, the aim of running a competition is to see whether contestants can find new ways to solve problems primarily on their own, the incentive being a cash prize in our case. It could be argued that providing too much assistance would get us closer to a grant initiative and break down the whole rationale behind the prize process. However, in a longer term perspective, would not helping participants have been a missed opportunity if with a little bit of support they could solve a longstanding development challenge? Also, any assistance provided must be completely unbiased and equal, as helping some and not others would distort the contest. This is a dilemma and not one easy to solve – we also addressed the issue here.
3. Upfront investment – Having to invest time, money and resources with no guarantee of winning the financial prize purse at the end can discourage smaller or grassroots organisations from participating. This goes against the logic of a prize which, compared to other funding mechanisms such as grants, has the advantage of attracting unexpected solvers. How can we balance this? More on risks and rewards can be found in this blog post.
Our proudest achievements
While we are not sure about the answer to these questions, we are certain that CIP has raised awareness of an issue which is often neglected. A conventional grant, instead of a prize, couldn't have excited that many people and that much – the so-called buzz effect.
Also, we have brought together experts from different sectors, such as academics, investors, meteorologists, entrepreneurs and government officials, that tend to work in silos. Their collaboration could help find solutions to the accessibility of climate information faster and more effectively.
Finally, everyone is a winner because all participants have developed valuable solutions that can help farmers adapt to climate change, even though only the best few will be awarded.
Independent agents are now verifying the merits of the initiatives in the competition, their impact as well as their financial health and sustainability. These findings will help judges determine which initiative deserves to win CIP, so stay tuned to find out who the winner is!
You can learn more about CIP at www.climateinformationprize.org
Cover photo: CIP applicants attended a workshop in Turkana, Kenya, in December 2015.
This blog post was authored by Nicki Spence, CIP Prize Manager from Cardno International Development, and Lorenza Geronimo, Ideas to Impact Communications Manager, based at IMC Worldwide.


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When, upon waking,
I lose sight
of a dream, it's like watching
a ship on a distant
horizon; the harder my eyes
strain to capture
its outline, the more certain I am
that it's sailed on
without me.
[The title for this poem was inspired by the Ferdinand Foch quote, "The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire," as quoted recently by The Better Man Project Blog (here). Everything else is my own.]
First, the recurring
Exposure. The residual
Re-experiencing of a scene
Witnessed. Directly.
Lived. Personally.
The correlating stress:
Reactive. Dissociative.
Persistent. Intrusive. A heightened
A diagnosis: internalized.
Acutely disordered. Insecure.
Inhibited. Restricted social
Engagement. Avoidant attachment.
She is remembering her
Self. Her soul is
On fire and this
of words
can't describe the inflammation
caused by the friction
of her
still burning
when life
on the high wire
of possibility, and
is the word
that beats between
two lungs,
those meticulous contingency plans
prepared in emotional
sobriety will
out the hospital window, leaving
holding hands, clasped tight
to keep the light
Words- flung forward into
Sunshine days
With force enough
To slice through
fear, yet still too fleeting
To last longer than the shadows that stretch
Across the lawn- will wither
wilt, melt away, so
with the owls
over moonbeams meant for
Hieroglyphic footprints
Where the snow
Forgot to melt
Through the window
The breath
Of summer nights
Hung bright with lights, when
Laughter collapsing
Into sighs
Escaped our hungry lungs.
This excerpt resonates deeply with me- I particularly love the imagery of rising at dawn with a winged heart. Lovely.
So, I was recently nominated for the versatile blogger award. Instead of listing seven things about myself as the rules suggest, I decided to write a poem that articulates seven things about me and then I accidentally included more than seven things because- what can I say?- sometimes I get carried away. Anyway. Here is the poem.
Seven Things and then Some
Youngest in a family of
six and a native
of New England, she prefers the quiet
Grey of dawn to the
Deep silence of
Midnight. She sleeps with windows open and dreams
in German, but speaks
With her eyes and laughs
Like a child. She
Delights in the magic of
A good view, is held captive by
The grasp
Of a baby's fist and when the world
Feels hazardous, she soothes
Her soul with the strings
Of her guitar.
Snowflakes slam
against red brick and bare
feet roam the hardwood
floors. The rasping rustle
of pages being turned drowns out
the memory of soft honey hands
holding handfuls of hair in a mutually forceful
act of fusion; an attempt to feel
the sweet burden of exposure
forgetting the step when we look into
each other's eyes and accept
the risk of a beating

subset: commoncrawl


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The Railway Museum, situated next to the Railway Station in Mysore, is a fun place to spend a couple of hours, especially if you have train-crazy children.
It is mostly open-air, with actual steam engines, diesel engines, coaches and bogies. You can get inside coaches and engines, and get a feel of it all! There are quite a few boards which explain each installation.
Forgive me for the quality of images - they were taken with a mobile camera.
|Puttachi pretending to drive a steam engine.
|Awed by the size of the wheels - they were taller than Puttachi.
|A crane-train.
|An old Austin that was rescued from a British scrapyard, given railway wheels, and used to ferry inspection engineers.
An inside view of the coach of the Maharani of Mysore. The entire coach consisted of the Maharani's bedroom, sitting room, servant's quarters and toilet, cook's quarters and toilet, kitchen, dining room, luggage room - all of which fascinated Puttachi.
There is even a toy train with a very short journey, but was enough to excite Puttachi. Here's a view of the Mysore railway station from the toy train.


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Iona Henderson - Marketing Coordinator
View My Listings
Phone: 242-396-0023
As the Marketing Coordinator for Bahamas Realty (as well as NAI Bahamas Realty Commercial and Bahamas Realty Luxury Portfolio), Iona works with the agents and marketing team to produce presentations, packages, and other complex marketing materials. She is responsible for all of the advertising, collateral, and social media management and coordination for the company.
Iona was born in Prince Edward Island, Canada. When she was a child, her family moved to Nova Scotia where she grew up. She attended Mount Allison University in New Brunswick where she met her Bahamian/British husband, Ash. In 2009 she and Ash moved to The Bahamas where they were married. Iona has one son, born May 2015.
Professional Affiliations NAI Global Marketing Council- Part of the NAI Global group providing feedback and collaboration on NAI marketing initiatives/materials.


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AT&T marketing materials always make everything they offer seem easy and affordable, but I learned a long time ago that this isn't always the case. There's always a surprise that makes your plan much more expensive than you thought it would be. I have no idea why they felt justified in charging me an exorbitant activation fee when I was just adding the tablet to an existing plan. There was no need to try to pressure me into buying more data either. "But you'll need more data now that you're using two devices," said the pushy sales representative. "No I won't," I said. "I'm only using one at a time." We went back and forth for a while and ultimately she failed to sell me anything extra.
The roofers are coming out tomorrow. Well, they promised to come out tomorrow anyway. We'll see what happens. Since the roofers typically get started early, I won't be able to go out for breakfast in the morning. I definitely want to be here while they are working. This time I want to make sure that all the bad areas get repaired, instead of just some of them. I've already eaten this week's supply of fresh fruit, so I won't be able to make my regular smoothie tomorrow. Hopefully, there's still a package of toaster waffles in the freezer. If that doesn't work out, there's always oatmeal.
I've gotten really superstitious about taking out the trash. Since the trash ultimately did get picked up last week, I tried to place my rolling cart in exactly the same spot this evening. Maybe I need to mark the spot with chalk or something. I had a hard time remembering where I put my can last week. If you're looking for a lucky spot, a foot or two in the wrong direction could make all the difference.
Maybe I'll write the blog on the iPad tomorrow. Since I rarely do serous video editing anymore, I could probably use this high octane tablet for most things I do. I like the idea of a slim, powerful tablet replacing my computers, but I'm also a creature of habit. I've spent so many years sitting in front of this giant monitor that it might be too late to change.
My SiriusXM free trial ends in a few days. I need to decide whether to subscribe or not. I like listening to NPR in the car, but I really don't drive much anymore. I don't really need satellite radio, but then I don't really need Hulu or Netflix either. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between wants and needs. I do need a leak free roof and reliable trash pick up. If I can get those two things taken care of tomorrow, I'll be a happy camper.
|Dash is today's Dalmatian of the Day
|Watch of the Day


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The long awaited sequel to the wildly successful combat game is set to hit store shelves next week, though insiders across the gaming community were shocked to hear that cheat codes for expanded weapons were made available today.
Insiders to the Call of Duty development team tell reporters that it was most likely a disgruntled background image artist that released the codes.
While nobody was willing to offer up the image developer's name, management at the Call of Duty design studios in California were quick to engage in damage control.
According to Director of Combat Action, Howie Stackim, no cheat codes were actually stolen or released:
"We're confident that this is just another tall tale from somebody looking to make a name for themselves out on the Internet. We don't do cheat codes. That would be cheating".
Beta testers who were brought in to validate the performance of the game prior to distribution disagree:
"Like dude. We tried a couple of the cheat codes and like BANG, instant weapons upgrade. I'm hosing down bad guys like nobody's business", says one tester who wanted to remain nameless.
Some of the cheat codes were released to this publication and are offered below without and implied or explicit warranty as to their validity or effectiveness. They are:
• TOASTYPINEAPPLE - Unlimited incendiary grenades
• CHEWBAKKA - Exploding trick gum for your enemy
• HEDGECLIPPER - Unlimited ammo for the Gatling gun
• SHRINKAGE - Shrink ray that miniaturizes enemy's twig and berries
• FIDO - Lifelike mechanical dog, pees poison into enemy's cornflakes
• HIGHNTIGHT - Ballistic hair trimmer that takes a little too much off the top


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When mom and personal trainer Maria Kang posted a picture of herself in little more than a sports bra and shorts last month with the tagline "What's your excuse?," the outcry might have seemed like reason enough to stop being on social media at all.
With an almost equally divided response from those applauding her discipline and those accusing her "fat shaming," the California-based mom issued a sort-of apology on her Facebook page, saying "what you interpret is not my fault."
And now, she's done it again, striking out against an ad campaign featuring full-figured women. As Kang wrote on her blog:
I woke up this morning to news stories about how overweight nearly obese women should be proud of their bodies (as they posed in lingerie) ...
We need to change this strange mentality we are breeding in the U.S. and start celebrating people who are a result of hard work, dedication and discipline. I'm not bashing those who are proud and overweight, I am empowering those who are proud and healthy to come out and be the real role models in our society.
According to Kang, after she posted this on Facebook she was banned from the social networking site, a mistake the company attributed to "human error." They would not, however, restore the post:
While Kang says she thinks we should accept healthy bodies that prioritize nutrition and exercise, she seems to be ignoring recent studies that point to the possibility of being overweight and healthy. As noted by Harvard Medical School, those whose bodies demonstrate 'metabolically healthy obesity,' can show someone with a high BMI who is still healthy.
Of course, obesity is a massive health issue facing the entire world, with links to diabetes, cancer, heart disease and many more fatal illnesses. But as far as contrast goes, the Curvy Girls Lingerie campaign was looking to increase self-esteem of those who might not see their body types reflected in mainstream media, while Kang's response seemed to drive home exactly the opposite.
What do you think of these contrasting opinions? Do you take a side?
Also on HuffPost


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Integrated CT Resident Program
Meet our Residents
The faculty of UT Health San Antonio Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery welcomes your interest in the six-year Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery program. The Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at UT Health San Antonio began training our first integrated resident in 2009 and is one of the more mature integrated programs in the country. The course of study is specifically designed to efficiently provide the very best training through an integrated, multidisciplinary, competency-based approach.
The integrated curriculum is divided into two distinct phases of training: Foundations and Thoracic Surgery. The Foundations curriculum includes rotations in cardiothoracic surgery, general surgery, vascular surgery, transplant, pediatric surgery, trauma and emergency surgery, cardiology, pulmonary, radiology, and simulation training. The Thoracic Surgery curriculum consists of graduated rotations in adult and congenital cardiothoracic surgery. Graduates are eligible for certification by The American Board of Thoracic Surgery and fully competent in all areas of cardiothoracic surgery.
The integrated program is led by Program Director A.J. Carpenter, MD, PhD; and Associate Program Director, Dawn Hui, MD. Our faculty chose the cardiothoracic surgery career path because it offers unique rewards. Our entire team is committed to providing an environment that provides a good work/life balance. As we continue to practice this rigorous and challenging medical specialty daily, we are mindful projections suggest a looming shortage of CT Surgeons. While we cannot predict the exact landscape of CT surgery, it seems clear our skill set will remain in demand.
We are therefore pleased to be one of the early residency programs approved to offer to interested and focused graduates an integrated Cardiothoracic Surgery curriculum. This program offers substantial benefits for the motivated medical school graduate to learn, master, and then perform the delicate and crucial art of cardiac and thoracic surgery and other essential operative procedures. It also affords the opportunity for supervised, yet hands-on cardiac surgery and thoracic surgery experience in the third year or even sooner.


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NRG Athletes Fitness Therapy (745 Kingsbury Ave.) is bringing two female stars to help young girls improve their athletic skills.
On Feb. 2, girls will have the opportunity to spend an entire day — eight hours — with Team Canada soccer player Desiree Scott. The two-time Olympic medallist partnered with NRG to teach her skills to about 100 girls at the Winnipeg Soccer Federation North soccer complex (770 Leila Ave.). Scott is experienced in teaching kids through annual soccer camps she has hosted in support of KidSport Manitoba, but this is the first time she has partnered with NRG. NRG owner Scott Miller said female sports are sometimes left behind, and people focus on offering programs for male athletes. His goal is to provide equal opportunities for both male and female aspiring athletes. "It's time we put our specialties together and give back to the community by offering various programming that are affordable within the community that a young soccer star may want to join," he said.
Scott said she is happy she has the opportunity to pass down her knowledge to Winnipeg girls since this is her home. During the camp, Scott will be on the field teaching athletes how to play soccer, work on technical skills, and showing the stepping stones that she's done herself. The camp starts off with Scott telling her story and explaining her journey as an athlete. "I enjoy being able to share my experiences with the kids," Scott added. "I think the biggest thing I've learned is to follow your heart and to enjoy the ride along the way and soccer has certainly been a game that I love. Being able to get on the field and just get to know some of the kids in the community is a lot of fun for me." "I am incredibly honoured to be seen as someone that people can look up to, and I enjoy the pressure of it." Scott's camp cost $99 and includes lunch and camp shirt.
To register, go to https:// tms.ezfacility.com/OnlineRegistrations/ Register.aspx?CompanyID=5430&Group ID=2023326 Later in the summer, Canadian Women's Hockey League player Jenelle Kohanchuk, will be the head coach for NRG's Elite U12 and U14 Female Semi Private On and Office 2018 Spring/Summer program. The hockey program will run twice a week from June 18 to August 10. Registration is open and Miller said about 65 per cent of their spots are taken. The 32 sessions will take place at the Seven Oaks Arena with a mix of on ice and fitness sessions and workouts. Kohanchuk told The Times via email that she is excited to coach the girls. "Having the opportunity to teach them new skills on the ice, and to watch them succeed in what I teach them is something I'm very grateful for," she continued. "I take pride in making each and every athlete a better person and hockey player, providing them with everything I've learned in my previous hockey experiences throughout the world." The hockey camp costs $1,325 plus GST and includes an NRG high-performance jersey, workout dri-fit T-shirt, and customized gym bag. For more information and to register for Kohanchuk's camp, contact NRG Athletes Therapy Fitness at 204-783-9578


text: Our readers use the hand-selected review papers featured in our newsletters to keep current with the latest perspectives from experts in their field. However, we recognize that it's hard to keep up every week, which is why we archive and link each review featured in Immunology of Infectious Disease News here, making it a one-stop, comprehensive resource for researchers and medical professionals interested in infectious disease research. Did we miss a recent infectious disease review paper? Submit it to our editorial team today.


text: Tripper 3150 Posted December 22, 2008 CBS has announced Episode 2.12, "The Killer Robot Instability", which will air January 12th, 2009. "The Killer Robot Instability" - When Penny's comment about Wolowitz's love life sends him into a depressed stupor, his friends lose their most important team-mate in an upcoming fighting robot competition, on THE BIG BANG THEORY, Monday, Jan. 12 (8:00-8:30 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. http://the-big-bang-theory.com/episodeguide/episode/212/ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


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The Delta American Express is also offering double miles on tax payments made between February 15 and April 15.
Update: A reader writes:
- The Starwood federal income tax offer this year is double points, $4000 MAX, March 15-April 15 ONLY, apparently www.officialpayments.com only. It's not announced yet. I called earlier this week, and asked.
I haven't seen or verified this yet but it makes sense.


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Adelaide Crows 2019 Mens Light Marle Training T-Shirt
- Write a review
- Add to wishlist Added to Wishlist
Train like an AFL pro and display your fandom with this Adelaide Crows 2019 Mens Light Marle Training T-Shirt. Constructed with ISC's signature Airtex performance mesh which aids in wicking mositure away from the body to maximise comfort. This is a replica of what your players will be wearing as they battle through their training sessions and it features club and sponsor logos to showcase your passion for the Adelaide Crows when sweating it out.


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There is a special place in our world for those who care for expectant, birthing and new families. Childbirth educators, doulas, lactation professionals and others are important facilitators for those going through the life-changing transformation of becoming parents.
Participating in a workshop or seminar can help you discover your path and then follow it. Your dreams can become a reality.
In 31 years of working with expectant, bithing and new families I have found great comfort in the organizations with whom I am associated. I believe in them, their longevity and their committment to excellence. I am fortunate to train for two of them and I also present continuing education workshops.
Let the nurturing begin as you stop dreaming and start doulaing!
With Gratitude,
PS: I was fortunate to be a guest on The Birth Geeks podcast. Click the buttons below to give a listen!


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Technical Information
- SM6250_Datasheet.pdf353 KB
The Silicon Microstructures' SM6250 Series of MEMS pressure sensors combines state-of-the-art pressure sensor technology with CMOS mixed-signal processing technology in a low profile SOIC-16 package.
Combining the pressure sensor with a signal conditioning ASIC in a single package simplifies the use of advanced silicon micromachined pressure sensors. The pressure sensor can be mounted directly to a standard printed circuit board (PCB). Pressure is measured from the backside, while additional protection to the electronic circuitry is provided by protective gel on the topside. The SM6250 is shipped uncalibrated and uncompensated with only a functional test.
The SM6250 Series pressure sensors are based on SMI's highly stable, piezoresistive pressure sensor die. The model SM6250 is designed for operating pressure range of -50 to +50 mbar differential pressure.
|Key Attributes
|Product Series
|Pressure Range
|-0.7 to +0.7 PSI
|Pressure Type
|Operating Temp. Range
|-40°C to +85°C
|Package Type
|Low Profile SOIC-16
|Port Type
|Dual Hole (Top & Bottom)
|Supply Voltage
|N/A (uncalibrated)


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It's powered by a diesel engine, but powered by a petrol engine in association with famous Italian clothing brand, Diesel. The bike is not only powerful but also has a stunning looks. It comes only in a single shade, Diesel Brave Green Matte. Photos of Ducati Monster Diesel bike.
Ducati Monster Diesel
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Our highly concentrated portable roll-ons bring convenience and potency to your aromatherapy experience. Formulated with oils like eucalyptus, peppermint and lavender, Stay Active smells great before or after exercise and physical activity.
Pure organic and wildcrafted essential oils in a base of organic jojoba
Roll onto muscles and joints before or after activity to enjoy the powerful, fresh aromatic experience.


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Warhammer 40,000: Storm of Vengeance, a new MOBA set in Games Workshop's Warhammer 40K universe, today announced by British developer Eutechnyx.
Unlike Relic's excellent real-time strategy series, Warhammer: 40,000: Dawn of War, Storm of Vengeance based on canonical events in the 40K universe telling the story of a pivotal moment in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, during the legendary planetary conflict on Piscina IV. Featuring two of Games Workshop's most cherished characters, Grand Master Belial and Ork Warlord Ghazghkull Thraka, Storm of Vengeance offers the player the chance to command the tenacious defence of the planet with only 100 Dark Angel Space Marines, or attempt it's annihilation using the cunning of the Ork Waaagh! and their telly-porta technology. You can check out the original Storm of Vengeance and the Piscina campaign in this PDF.
Eutechnyx describes Storm of Vengeance as a "lane strategy game" set in the dark, gothic universe of Warhammer 40,000.
In fact, Eutechnyx is a studio that is known for its racing titles like Auto Club Revolution. Storm of Vengeance is the first non-racing game of Eutechnyx. So I don't think Storm of Vengeance will be a big title, but it still get my attention because it is in partnership with Games Workshop and it is a MOBA that set in the awesome Warhammer 40K fiction.
Storm of Vengeance is slated for a 2014 release on PC and mobile devices.
Trololo mobile devices. Fuck this shit. At least the artwork is amazing once more.


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The Mull of Galloway is not only the most southerly point of the Rhinns Of Galloway, it is also the most southerly place in Scotland. Visitors can enjoy extensive views of the Solway Firth and even the Isle Of Man. When I was in Peel recently on a visit to the Isle Of Man I could make out what I was pretty sure was the southern end of the Rhinns Of Galloway. As befits such a geographical distinction, it has a suitably handsome, whitewashed lighthouse, known as Stevenson Tower, since it was built by the prolific builder of lighthouses, Robert Stevenson. The lighthouse, which is 26 metres high, came into operation in 1830. It is open to visitors, who can visit an exhibition in the Engine Room and, when open, can access the tower. Aside from lighthouse enthusiasts, the Mull Of Galloway is a magnet for birdwatchers, being an RSPB site. Gullemots, kittiwakes, peregrine falcons, puffins and gannets are the species to watch out for, and in summer they are joined by basking butterflies.
While the Mull Of Galloway is the most southerly point in Scotland, the village of Drummore is the most southerly Scottish village. The harbour started out in the 1800s as a point of departure for the locally produced lime, and for imported coal, but it later turned to defence use when the Ministry of Defence took it over with the establishment of West Freugh and Luce Bay bombing ranges. RAF West Freugh was an armament training camp just before World War II but after war broke out the training activities were expanded, including the use of a bombing range. The MOD have since moved out, leaving the harbour to more pleasurable pursuits. Drummore is a popular small resort, thanks in part to the nice sandy beach in Drummore Bay. Out at sea there are a number of small rocky islands called The Scars which are managed by the RSPB and host colonies of gannets during the breeding season.
Map of the area.
Mull of Galloway lighthouse. Photo by Derek Ball, via Wikimedia Commons


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There is history and beauty in taking rock and blues and a bit of country, turning it up loud, and making swamp rock. It is what Creedence Clearwater Revival did to great success. That's what – with their own twist – The Delta Saints have done.
Nashville-based group released its debut full length, Death Letter Jubilee, on January 15th.
The opening cut is "Liar" is a taste of that swampy southern rock . Shout out to Little Feat, with a funky bass breakdown that helps hips sway.
"Chicago" grooves to the old Chess blues sound, grinding through a tale ("gotta dollar in my pocket and my feet on the ground") of ain't-got-much-but-gonna-make-it.
Consisting of Ben Ringel (vocals/dobro), Dylan Fitch (guitar), David Supica (bass), Ben Azzi (drums), and Stephen Hanner accompanying on harmonica while on tour, the band's ongs rise and fall, throwing loud guitars and pulling back to highlight singer Ringel's shouts.
The title cut coasts with bumping harp and a bass line that eventually opens up to a thumping and running "I'm gonna dance and I'm gonna sing" chorus, with a full-on group shout/clap bridge. Fun.
"Jezebel" tweaks the album's mold with a throwback to a 1950's Mississippi front porch blues conversation. "From the Dirt" mines Black Keys territory, raising that ante with some southern funk.
You like the Avett Brothers? check out "Out to Sea".
The band enlists some gospel background singers to makes the quick "River" anode to the South's musical heritage.
Having met at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee and has gained some good fortune throughout in Europe, and will spend two months this spring playing shows overseas.
Their sound is a Memphis soul-rock stew mixed with distorted electric guitar and harmonica. For Indiana fans of the crashing, electric country blues (think of Rev. Peyton) this one is for you. Fans of jam bands can like them. Black Crowes fans too.


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Displaying items by tag: HopCat Detroit
Sunday, January 29, 2017
HopCat Detroit - Morning Wood - Barrel Aged Beer & Brunch Fest
Morning Wood - Barrel Aged Beer & Brunch Fest
Sunday February 12th @ 10am / open
Sunday February 12th @ 10am / open
Thursday, June 02, 2016
Live Music returns to HopCat - Detroit with Tributesville Tuesdays
Live is back at HopCat - Detroit next week with the launch of Tributesville Tuesdays, a special collaboration with some of the Detroit's best tribute bands in the Huma Room at HopCat – Detroit.
Monday, January 04, 2016
HopCat Detroit Has Great Events Planned For January
Monday, September 28, 2015
HopCat Detroit October Events
HopCat Detroit has great events planned to welcome in fall.
Monday, August 24, 2015
September Events At HopCat Detroit
Monday, August 03, 2015
HopCat Detroit August Events
Wednesday, April 22, 2015


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Advanced Search
Networking & Wireless | News
A Forestville, CA, high school has won $65,000 worth of new wireless network infrastructure and services, which will allow students and teachers access from anywhere on campus.
El Molino High School won the prize through Meru Networks' Summer of Wireless Makeover program and will receive $45,000 worth of infrastructure from Meru and $20,000 worth of deployment and integration services from Carousel Industries. El Molino was one of More than 500 schools to enter the contest.
Specifically, El Molino will receive the following, which will be installed during winter break:
The prize also includes a two-and-a-half day online course for one person that will focus on network monitoring, configuration, installation, and troubleshooting. In addition, technical support is provided for one year, which includes support, software upgrades, patches, and replacements.
For more information, visit merunetworks.com and carouselindustries.com.
About the Author
Tim Sohn is a 10-year veteran of the news business, having served in capacities from reporter to editor-in-chief of a variety of publications including Web sites, daily and weekly newspapers, consumer and trade magazines, and wire services. He can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @editortim.
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I've had a few good friends like that in my life, and I've been separated from them for several years now. Jennifer, Melody, Alicia and Jackie are still my wonderful friends, but distance creates a barrier to daily interaction and adventures.
I read some of the literature that our new church sent us, and I noticed a little paragraph about a MOPS group (Mothers Of Preschoolers) that meets regularly. My eyes brightened, and my heart tingled, that's how God's going to introduce me to my new friend! I just KNEW it!
When Dian (without an e) and I got together on Friday, I asked her about the group. Her kids are now in their twenties, so she has stopped keeping tabs on the MOPS group. "I don't think they are still meeting," she told me. "There was a logistical problem that they were working on, and I think they quit meeting last month."
"Oh," I smiled unconcernedly at her while my heart crumbled. "That's too bad."
The following day, since Jeremy went to Chicago with the guys from church, I had another time slot to fill up. I strapped the girls into the van and drove around town.
Guess what?
I immediately drove home to gather the necessary piece of mail with my name and address on it in order to obtain a library card. Did you know that in two weeks, I have not received any mail? Or if I have it has my old address on it. How frustrating.
So, I gathered several pieces of mail. One with Jeremy's name and the new address, one with Liberty's name and the new address, one with Jeremy's and my names together and the old address and my old drivers license, and I prayed all the way there.
The librarian's name was Anne. I would guess she was in her late forties, maybe early fifties. She had dark brown hair and a gentle face, but the most amazing part of her was the fact that being around her felt comfortable and easy. I felt loved and cared about immediately. She quickly joined Evelyn from my old church on my List of Women Whom I Would Like To Be Like Someday.
She bent the rules on documentation in order to give me a library card, and she asked a strange question without any context at all: "Would you mind terribly if I gave your name and phone number to another lady who has children right about your girls' ages?"
I stared at her for a second, wondering if I were understanding her intent correctly. "Wh-what do you mean?" I finally stammered.
"Well, I can see that you are new in town, and I'm sure you will be needing some friends. There are a few moms who like to get together every so often..." her voice trailed off, then she clarified, "I would like to give your contact information to one of the ladies, but I certainly would not do so if you would rather that I didn't."
I blinked to dry up the tiny moisture springing to my eyes. There was more moisture there than I expected. I laughed and fanned my face with a nearby brochure, "This is ridiculous!" I told her.
Anne smiled in understanding. "It's okay," she reassured me with a hand on my arm. "I've been new before, too."
Liberty selected a book from a nearby shelf and flopped to her tummy in front of the desk to read it out loud. Anne and I laughed together, she recommended a book to me and then she told me about the story time sign up sheet for preschoolers. I signed up for a Tuesday morning time and a Thursday morning time.
We took two Curious George books, a novel by Roxanne Henke called Learning to Fly and a mended heart home with us.
It felt wonderful!


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Get the CMDB RightAdvice for building a configuration management database system that works for your company.
Jennifer Zaino
In a webinar Wednesday, EMA VP Dennis Drogseth presented some recent research findings on the topic, along with guidance for making this work in your organization.
Theres a definite upswing, EMA reports, but most organizations are still in the very early stages. Twenty-four percent of respondents to its recent survey, whove already done their initial vendor selection, are still in the planning vs. deployment stage, and 28% are less than six months into deployment. Thats in contrast to just 10% that have been in deployment for more than two years.
Generally CEOs, CIOs or, at the least, VPs either are have some awareness of, are supporting or helping to fund these efforts, but its usually those at the director level who generally do the actual team coordination.
Most organizations have two levels of teams involved: In addition to a core team, theres usually a distributed team representing CI ownerships across various functions who coordinate to define requirements and shape the system.
Theres still a substantial amount of in-house development, but the action for the base system is moving to third-party software vendors. Most in-house development is revolving around customization of third-party tools to fit customers environments.
Today its configuration management, according to the survey. But Drogseth noted that in focal interviews incident and problem management came out as key concerns, as respondents are trying to create a closed loop system in which they can support high levels of service management in context with how changes are made.
Governance and compliance become more important in 2008, with 57% citing these as long-term CMDB priorities.
IT governance is an important requirement for maintaining the integrity of CMDB systems, Drogseth says, and clear views of the CMDB system as it performs will increasingly be in demand.
Nearly 50% said they began their CMDB deployment with ITIL training, but 7% said they had no ITIL training and 24% didnt start with such training.
A point of interest, Drogseth says, is that theres a strong correlation between those who had ITIL training and those who consider their CMDB efforts to be very successful.
Process tends to get minimized in too many environments, which have too much of an interest in purchasing technology, Drogseth says.
And so much of a CMDB is related to politics and processes, requiring gaining buy-in from traditionally silod IT organizations with their own tools, data and reports.
Nearly 60% of respondents said they did it themselves, and 5% said their vendors handled it.
We usually recommend a dialog with the initial logic and requirements being defined internally, and then for a detailed implementation, have a dialog with the vendor, Drogseth says.
ITIL V3 almost eliminates the notion that a full-fledged CMDB system is anything but federated by definition, Drogseth says. But you have to start with something concrete that brings value, and a single system may just be it.
Ten percent of respondents consider their deployments to be very successful. These deployments are characterized not only by the use of ITIL training, but also by having clearly defined schema, a tendency to update the CMDB system more frequently, going in with expectations that the CMDB system will demonstrate break-even ROI in one year, and an understanding that politics vs. technical issues are the toughest factors going forward.
Most importantly, Drogseth says, no one regretted moving into a CMDB. They all felt it was necessary inevitable.
This article appears courtesy of bITa Planet.com.


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After devastating Beirut explosion, trauma sinks in
Doomed last voyage of the ship that brought the Beirut megabomb
Troupe gets its act together to support Belarus protesters
OP-ED: What China's Uighur Muslims are facing
Smuggling of groceries from SA a new Covid-19 frontier
Unemployment rises to 18% in Q2 of 2020 (INS)
Pompeo signs deal to deploy more US troops in Poland
Erdogan says Turkey 'will not back down' in East Med standoff
German health minister warns against 'party holidays'
French Ambassador to Cairo: Turkey's agreement with GNA is null
London-based Lebanese NGO at forefront of Beirut fundraising
'Turkey will respond to any harassment targeting Oruç Reis in East Med'
Paraburgim për dy personat që sulmuan fizikisht dy policët në Ferizaj
Prishtina përfshihet nga një stuhi ere e shiu
Number of migrants landing in Italy more than doubles in past year
Al-Qaeda elements execute dentist in Bayda
British Dynasty star Emma Samms tells of six-month 'Long Covid' hell
Britain records HIGHEST infection rate for a Saturday in EIGHT weeks
Queen thanks war heroes on VJ day
Belarus leader appeals to Russia as pressure to quit grows
Turkey accuses France of 'bullying' in Mediterranean gas exploration spat
Belarus leader calls Putin to reaffirm mutual cooperation, later rejects foreign mediation offers
'Fit as a fiddle', Raila vows to push for BBI and referendum
Deputy Amir says no need to dissolve Assembly: Speaker
Israel's shift on annexation sparks right-wing anger
No fuss, no drama: Mahendra Singh Dhoni does it again
Turkey guards its legitimate rights, interests in E.Med
Dubai ruler issues decrees to restructure boards of Investment Corporation of Dubai and Meydan City Corporation
Iran fumes, warns of 'dangerous future' for UAE over historic US-brokered deal with Israel
Why Boris Johnson's new anti-obesity strategy makes me reach for the chocolate
US welcomes Lithuania's ban on Hezbollah
U.S. contractor knew of explosive material in Beirut since at Least 2016
High Expectations on the New WTO Leadership!
Njeriu i afërt i Veliut ngacmon ata që janë afruar me Kurtin, u kujton deklaratën për rrëzimin e shtatores së Rugovës
Head of Tawergha's Passports Department assassinated in Misrata
MS Dhoni retirement leaves a void in world cricket
Analysis: China and the US are making pandemic power plays in Latin America
Courtship between Israel and UAE a decades-long open secret
Video Alert: Yes the F-35 Is the Best Plane on the Planet
We are not shy about raising issues of racism – US envoy
US bill introduced to strip Israel of funds over annexation
President of the Republic meets with Lebanese Democratic Party Chief
Why New York assemblywoman agrees Trump could win state in November
China welcomes Putin's proposal of holding online summit over Iranian nuclear issue
Migrants make Channel dash in dinghy only to be caught
Lobby asks UN to probe death of Cameroon journalist Samuel Wazizi
Minsk protesters mourn dead compatriot as Lukashenko blames outsiders
Kthimi i nxënësve në shkolla – "Nëse je i sëmurë, rri në shtëpi"
Coming Soon: Russia and Turkey Building Su-57 Stealth Fighters Jointly?
Abu Dhabi's Musalla at Al Hosn wins Architizer Architectural Award
Hamilton takes pole for Spanish GP
UK halts military training for Hong Kong police as relations with China decline
France, US see eye to eye on Libyan conflict
Turkey: Ancient restored monastery holds mass
Naivas takes over Nakumatt space in Kisumu with 65th supermarket
US, China postpone consultations on trade deal
Obama shares his troubling private doubts on Biden to inner circle
Turkey: Our vessels are "a red line" and France is harming NATO
Scenery of Zijin Mountain scenic spot in Xingtai, Hebei
Israel-UAE peace deal draws mixed reactions
Turkey rescues 26 asylum seekers in Aegean
US retail sales, industrial output post modest gains
UAE and Israel disclose their relations after decades of secrecy
Debenhams's entire 14,000 workforce brace for bad news
Israel-UAE deal unifies Palestinian factions
Muslim scholar slams media, Biden for reaction to Trump's 'epic and historic' Israel-UAE peace deal
Pompeo signs deal to redeploy troops from Germany to Poland
Tenenti: One of our soldiers has contracted Conronavirus and is in complete isolation
UAE leaders congratulate India on independence day
Anadolu 13.07. 23:55
Turks in US ask Congress to extradite FETO leader Gulen
The US-based Turkish American National Steering Committee (TASC) sent Congress a letter Monday requesting the extradition of the leader of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the terrorist group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey. The request came as Turkey will mark the fourth anniver»»»
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OpenStack is an open source software (OSS) platform for cloud computing, controlling resources throughout a data center. It is an increasingly used key component of cloud infrastructure. As an open source project, OpenStack can be used, built on, and altered by anybody and everybody. NEC works with OSS and OpenStack in particular because these projects provide vital software resources to business cloud communications and internet infrastructure.
OpenStack: the Community
Starting up with 25 partners in 2010, OpenStack now caters to over 50,000 members globally. With the focus being put on developers and users, the OpenStack community is always expanding, updating and safeguarding the server operating system.
Contributing to the Open Source Community
OpenStack is not one single company trying to sell products to users. It is a community of people working together to co-create powerful software. Over 600 companies are involved in supporting OpenStack; some platinum members include Rackspace, Red Hat, AT&T, IBM, and Intel, as well as NEC.
OpenStack is not the only open source initiative project NEC participates with, and contributes to.
"Red Hat welcomes the latest release of the NEC Cloud System (OSS building model), which uses Red Hat OpenStack Platform as a core part of its cloud infrastructure. We have offered highly reliable open source information and communications technology infrastructure solutions to a wide range of customers through our longtime collaboration with NEC. With this release, we plan to continue working with NEC to extend OpenStack in support of multi data center environments or delivering new features for large-scale service providers." Jim Totton, Vice President & General Manager, Platforms Business Unit, Red Hat.
NEC and OpenStack
NEC's Senior Software Engineer Mr. Kenichi Ohmichi was recently named Project Team Leader (PTL) with OpenStack Community's Quality Assurance Project. His contributions of time and effort have helped improve the OpenStack software.
"We congratulate Mr. Ohmichi on his election as the Quality Assurance PTL. DefCore interoperability testing is a priority for the Foundation this year, and this relies on a close working relationship with the QA team. We look forward to progress in this effort under Mr. Ohmichi's leadership." Mark Collier, COO of the OpenStack Foundation.
UNIVERGE BLUE Business Cloud Services by NEC provides cost-effective, secure and reliable unified communications services. UNIVERGE BLUE can give you an overview of what a hosted communications UC solution has to offer. Our white paper: The Case for Cloud Communications is free to download to help you learn more about cloud communications technology.


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This is EWU's hub for events, clubs/organizations, and service projects. All currently enrolled students are automatically added.
EagleSync is your go-to site to get connected! Find out about upcoming events and engagement opportunities!
Get involved at EWU! Select "Eastern Single Sign-On" at the top of the page to sign in or create an account.
Returner? Select "Community/Alumni Sign In." New? Use the Get Signed Up Box to create an account.


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We have had some hot, dry spells punctuated by occasional rain. Our impoundments have risen slightly but are still very low before what promises to be a hot Summer.
The sporadic rain produced a few small, but welcome, rises in local rivers. The warmer waters and rising rivers produced spells of good fishing where bait anglers took some good catches of golden perch and cod, which were returned to the water prior to the December 1 season opening.
With water clarity improving in some of our rivers, the lure fishing scene should kick into gear this month.
With the opening of the cod season a lot more anglers should be on waterways such as the Macquarie River around Dubbo. Let's hope the cod had a good opportunity to spawn.
The Darling River has remained stable and water clarity has gradually improved. Anglers have taken some good fish around Brewarrina, Bourke, Louth and Tilpa. Bait anglers have fared best with goldens up to 2kg falling for yabbies, prawns and worms.
The lure brigades are taking a few fish but murky water is still hampering their efforts. A few anglers have reported recent catches of mostly small cod.
The Darling is showing signs of clearing and if this continues there should be some good lure fishing. Casting or trolling large deep-diving lures should work. Although the carp will be active over the next few months, baits of grubs, yabbies, prawns and worms should account for native fish as well.
The fishing along the Lachlan between Forbes and Hillston has certainly improved, with the warmer weather and some rain the catalyst. Anglers using worms, shrimp and yabbies have taken golden perch to a kilo and caught and released Murray cod to 5kg. The river has remained clear in parts and several fish have been taken on deep-diving lures and spinnerbaits.
The few storms that passed through the area in November produced some new water. The river should continue to fish well for natives through December.
Bait and lure anglers fishing the deeper holes should take some good fish. Bait anglers will no doubt encounter lots of active carp.
Few anglers have fished the Macquarie River around Dubbo in past months due to the closed cod season. Those fishing the river closer to Warren took some good golden and silver perch on lures and bait. Small yabbies and worms accounted for a lot of these, as did deep-diving lures and spinnerbaits.
This month should produce some good fishing. The warm weather should bring on some good Murray cod action on bait or deep-diving lures.
We are still in the midst of one of our worst droughts in Australia. I know that doesn't come as a big surprise for 99% of the population but recent increases in water allocation for the Lachlan and Macquarie river systems following some rain in October left me wondering if some of our public servants have worked it out yet. A small amount of rainfall does not a drought break!
The decision was made shortly after our recent elections and made me think that I shouldn't really be surprised, should I?
A well-conditioned Darling River Murray cod, taken on a yabby bait., about to be released. Cod caught over the past few months have had to be released because of the closed season, which ended on December 1.Reads: 711


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This week SHG meeting was attended by Amol,Nishu,Ravi,Sandeepan,Vishal,Vikram,Anshu.
Meeting started at around 10:30 am.
We started with doing meditation for 2 minutes. After doing meditation we did introduction
round in which along with introduction everyone has to speak about tools or techniques they are
using to manage their stuttering.Afterwards we did a round of pausing and voluntary stammering on difficult words.
Later we did a round of extempore in which everyone has to speak for about 2 minutes on a topic provided.
In last SHG meeting we had planned that we would be having some outdoor activity in coming week.So
We decided to visit a nearby Mall. We split in pair of 2.There we interacted with people at mall and also People outside the mall. We tried voluntary stammering with rickshaw walas and strangers walking on pedestrians.
Response was pretty good.People asked many questions and asked for contact details. Main purpose of activity was to deal
with fear, guilt, shame and other emotions associated with our
stammering. It gave us a new learning experience us.
with fear, guilt, shame and other emotions associated with our
stammering. It gave us a new learning experience us.
Sorry we forgot to take photos
Next SHG meet details
Date: 24 January 2016(Sunday)
Time: 10.15 am
Venue: Senior Citizen hall,Dhole patil road,Ruby Hall Clinic,Near Pune railway station
For queries contact :
Contact below members for further details
Amol Karale
Vishal Yewale
Write up By Ravi


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A dull and dismal day on the South Coast, but I have some good news. Our nephew James and his wife Laura had a baby girl yesterday . Nellie Rose arrived early yesterday to join little Isla just in time for Christmas. So luckily there will no frantic rush to the hospital over Christmas.
This is the card that I have made for them which has been cased from Zoe Tant. I hope that they don't see it on this blog but it may take several days to arrive with all the Christmas post.
I really enjoyed this as it is different from my usual style. I love the scored lines across the card, I think that I will be using that idea in other projects.
I am going to make some small crackers for table gifts for our Christmad Eve dinner with our family.
Until next time
Margaret x


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Head of Real Estate
KPMG in the UK
Andy has 24 years of professional experience of which the last 17 has been as a full-time transaction adviser. Initially Andy gained a broad range of industry experience, including retail, transport & logistics, property & construction and manufacturing in KPMG's Birmingham office, and moved to London in 2007 to focus on Real Estate and Infrastructure transactions.
In 2015 he took over as the UK National Sector Head for Real Estate, overseeing all of KPMG's services to property companies and investors in the UK, and has focussed on real estate transactions since that time.
Andy has advised a number of investors who have bought and sold real estate assets in the UK and Europe within the commercial office, retail/shopping mall, industrial/warehousing/logistics, residential, self-storage, student accommodation and serviced office sectors covering both development and investment assets.
He has advised on some of the largest transactions in the European real estate market, particularly involving major shopping centres, and portfolios of logistics warehouses. He has also advised on a number of large airport and car parking transactions.
Andy is a regular speaker at property conferences and events, including at MIPIM's RE-Invest Summit for the last 3 years, Property Week's Sheds conference in April 2017, and was on a future-focussed panel at the British Property Federation conference in June 2017.
He is part of a KPMG team advising some of the largest real estate investors on the impact of technological disruption on the real estate sector, and was voted 6th in LendInvest's Top 25 PropTech Powerlist 2017. He has also regularly spoken on the potential impact of Brexit on the property industry.
Andy is a member of the Management Committee of Real Estate Balance, an association run by a group of female and male leaders from different organisations and disciplines engaged in real estate who are focussed on addressing the gender imbalance in the sector.


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Website: www.dumoulinblack.com
10th Floor – 595 Howe Street
Vancouver, BC V6C 2T5 Canada
Phone: (604) 687-1224
Fax: (604) 687-8772
Member Sector: Legal Services
Since 1966, hundreds of companies have relied on DuMoulin Black to structure and coordinate their corporate finance and M&A deals, from start-ups to complex international "company maker" transactions. We act for growth-focused companies, both private and public, in a variety of industries, including energy, life sciences, food and beverage, industrial, mining and technology.
Our lawyers combine deep transactional experience and big firm expertise to provide the personal, timely and efficient services of a specialized boutique firm.
Our clients benefit from our strong relationships with investors, regulators, stock exchanges, underwriters and other industry professionals. Whether dealing with day-to-day corporate matters or sophisticated transactional advice, DuMoulin Black delivers cost effective, tailored legal solutions.


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China eyeing more gains
World Cup qualifier against Guam a great chance to build on momentum
China will attempt to take another small step towards the 2022 World Cup on Thursday when minnow Guam visits Guangzhou.
A 5-0 stroll for Marcello Lippi's side against the Maldives, along with the addition of two naturalized players, have given Chinese fans belief that the nation's wait for a second appearance at the finals could be nearing an end.
US Pacific territory of Guam looks like easy pickings for Lippi's men after it lived up to its 195th FIFA ranking by losing 1-0 in the Maldives before being swatted aside 4-1 by Pacific neighbor the Philippines.
Lippi's squad assembled in Guangzhou on Saturday, with Brazil-born Ai Kesen, aka Elkeson, and 39-year-old captain Zheng Zhi among eight players from the city's Chinese Super League-leading Guangzhou Evergrande team on the 25-man roster.
"Our priority is to enter the next phase," Lippi said at training in Guangzhou over the weekend.
"So I have to call on our best players. I hope we can score more, it looks easy but we need to be at our best."
After Thursday's game, China faces a tougher test away to the Philippines next Tuesday.
Star striker Wu Lei has also linked up with the squad but is expected to be rested against Guam after facing a busy schedule for Espanyol last week.
Last Thursday, Wu was on the scoresheet as the Spanish club won a Europa League clash against CSKA Moscow in Russia before the former Shanghai SIPG forward played the full 90 minutes in a La Liga loss at Real Mallorca on Sunday.
According to reports, Beijing Guo'an midfielder Zhang Xizhe will deputize for Wu, who hopes the squad can build on the morale-boosting win in the Maldives.
"We were prepared to face all kinds of difficulties before the match against the Maldives," Wu said in a blog post.
"The trip to Maldives and the venues there were a new experience for all of us... Despite the beautiful landscape, we focused only on the match. We won the first qualifier, but that was just a start."
Coach Lippi will also hope the victory was the first step on a road to redemption and ultimately the World Cup finals in Qatar.
The Italian failed to steer China to the 2018 finals in Russia in his first stint at the helm.
Lippi stepped down in January following the country's disappointing Asian Cup campaign which ended in a limp quarterfinal loss to Iran.
However, the Chinese Football Association rehired Lippi as head coach in May, with the 71-year-old vowing "to spare no effort to repay the Chinese fans who give me love and respect with a whole new Chinese national team."
Barring the retention of veteran captain Zheng, Lippi has made good on that promise, introducing younger players into the fold, as well as acquiring the help of two new Chinese citizens, Ai Kesen and Li Ke.
Ai Kesen made an immediate impact against the Maldives by bagging a brace, while London-born Guo'an midfielder Li, aka Nico Yennaris, contributed defensively in the second half off the bench.
"There was a lot of pressure, but when the game starts and you're playing, you don't focus on that," Li, a product of Arsenal's youth academy, told Tencent Sports.
"This (naturalization) is a massive honor for me. I'm very proud of what I've achieved so far."
The pair's performances appear to have appeased fans who had initially expressed concerns about the CFA's naturalization policy.
Ai Kesen, in particular, has endeared himself to supporters, as evidenced by the hero's welcome he received from autograph hunters at Guangzhou airport on his return from the Maldives.
Lippi is no doubt the policy is the best way forward for China.
"In many of the matches we played before, we were up against teams that had four or five naturalized players in their lineups," Lippi said before the first qualifier.
"As long as the foreign players are good enough and can meet the naturalization regulations, they all could be on our list.
"Although they were not born in China, many of them have played and trained here for many years. They know our training philosophy and have close connections with our coaches.
"I believe once they wear the red jersey, they will try their best to fight for the country."
England-born Tyias Browning might also be an option for Lippi soon. The former Everton defender has reportedly completed the naturalization process and has taken the Chinese name Jiang Guangtai.
Another Evergrande player, Alan, currently on loan at Tianjin Tianhai, is reportedly set to follow suit. The 30-year-old Brazil-born forward last month told teammates that he is "already Chinese".
CFA president Chen Xuyuan, though, says the naturalization option should be used with caution and with careful consideration for the good of the game in China.
"I originally disagreed with this idea," Chen said after his election in August. "That's a compromise we had to make to realize our imminent goal of qualifying for Qatar. But it's not going to be part of our long-term strategy."
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We are very thankful to Aerials Gymnastics for a generous donation of $1650 to KidSport Parkland.
The proceeds were from their annual Spruce Moose Invitational's admission fees and were donated to KidSport Parkland earlier this year. Pictured: Carly Holm, President (right) with Carol Dunnigan (left).
KidSport Parkland is ecstatic with the wonderful generosity of local businesses in the Tri Region. We are proud to be able to create impact for our communities with partnerships such as this.


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Author: Bob Brassington (Smith & Williamson)
Employers can help members ease the pension tax squeeze
With pay increases returning to the agenda, those on the highest earnings will be wondering how to avoid losing their personal income tax allowance when their earnings go over £100,000 pa and fall into a 60% marginal rate of income tax. This marginal rate of tax applies on the band of earnings between £100,000 and £120,000.
In a defined contribution scheme, the solution is to give up salary or bonus and redirect to higher employer pension contributions. National insurance savings for both employer and scheme member increase the attraction, especially if the employer is willing to add a proportion of their savings to the increased employer pension contribution.
Even if the extra pension contribution pushes the member's total contribution above the £40,000 annual allowance, the tax burden suffered by the member is lower.
An extra £10,000 pension contribution in excess of the £40,000 annual allowance suffers a tax charge of only £4,000 – and the member can ask the pension scheme to settle the charge from their pension scheme benefits.
In summary, the tax burden is lower if the £40,000 allowance is breached compared with taking income over £100,000 and, for the member; the affect of the tax charge on the member's benefits is effectively deferred until retirement.
The same problem exists for those earning close the £50,000 pa threshold. They might want to take steps to minimise the high income child benefit tax charge.
Employers need to ensure their salary and bonus sacrifice arrangements are properly documented to satisfy HMRC requirements.
The problem is more complex for active members of defined benefit pension schemes because they are less likely to have any control over earnings that are 'pensionable.' In particular, if they have accrued a lot of pensionable service – a small increase in pensionable salary can lead to a tax charge to be settled personally or by a reduction in their benefits.
Giving up salary increases or bonuses to cap the annual increase in the value of their pension benefit may not be an option, especially if they are members of a pension scheme, for example, in the public sector, which does not recognise salary or bonus sacrifice arrangements.
Employers and trustees may not be willing to meet the cost of changing their scheme rules to recognise a salary sacrifice arrangement, although the abolition of contracting out from April 2016 will increase their attraction.
As an alternative, some employers are installing other forms of remuneration and benefits that would not be regarded as pensionable by the rules of the pension scheme but which remunerate the employee in a tax efficient manner.
Immediate tax danger
How many pension scheme members are aware of a tax charge of up to £137,500 on their pension fund or company life assurance benefit?
Employers and pension scheme trustees should make members aware that they might be able to make an application to HMRC to avoid this extra tax.
Simple and inexpensive changes can be made to the employer sponsored life assurance scheme to relieve this problem. The unfortunate scheme member may not thank you, but their dependants will.
Employers and trustees may feel sufficient duty of care to scheme members, or desire to avoid litigation from their dependants' representatives, to provide access to advice rather than direct them to guidance.
To deal with the increasingly complex pension taxation issues and complete pension flexibility at retirement, we envisage that demand for advice, as opposed to access to 'free' guidance, from members will increase.
Given what they face, members may be willing to pay for the advice if it helps arrange their affairs in a tax efficient way.
This article first appeared on mondaq.com.
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City to have the first of public electric charging stations in the State
With talks of conventional fuel standards being upgraded from BS4 to BS6, electric vehicles may appear a dot on the horizon.
But Kerala's charge towards having a million electric vehicles by 2022, it appears, will be led by Kochi, which will have the earliest of the State's public electric charging stations soon thanks to efforts by public sector oil marketing companies.
It is expected that 15 electric charging stations will be functional across the State shortly.
The first three of the stations will be in and around Kochi, industry sources said on Thursday. Fourteen of the 15 charging stations will be launched by Bharat Petroleum Corporation, which will offer the facilities initially at petroleum outlets near InfoPark, Edappally, and the Kerala High Court. Indian Oil Corporation has finalised plans to have a charging facility near Edappally, it is learnt.
Electric charging stations at Chalakudy, Kodungalloor, Thriprayar, Kombidi, Panancheri, Kolaazhi, Chevoor, Choondal, and Vaniyampara in Thrissur district are also expected to be functional soon. One of the major considerations of electric vehicle vendors has been the lack of charging facilities. "There is an air of uncertainty and lack of clarity on the issue of electric vehicles," said a major vendor, who has lined substantial number of vehicles for the Kerala market. While States like Karnataka has written off registration charges on electric vehicles, Kerala has come out with 50% concession for electric autorickshaws and 25% concession on private electric vehicles. The longevity of batteries is also a matter of concern. However, the issue will be addressed along the way. While the present range is between 100 km to 120 km, it is expected that batteries will last up to over 350 km over the next year or two.
Charging stations will cater to both swapping batteries and direct charging of vehicles, while safety considerations will be among the issues to be addressed when electric charging facilities are established at conventional fuel outlets, said R. Venugopal, deputy chief controller of explosives.
Electric charging facilities will have to be installed at least six metres away from fuel vending machines.
The charging facilities must have locks to ensure that there is no accidental disconnection as the charging is done at 150 to 450 volts. The facilities will also have to depend on an independent power supply line.
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Helping Honduras Kids has partnered with other organizations to benefit disadvantaged children in Honduras and around the world. HHK desires to share information that will bring about awareness of important community projects. Many of these partners provide donations, volunteers, work groups and supplies that help us to accomplish our mission.
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Place the butter in a bowl and beat until light. Mix in the remaining ingredients, except corn. Cover and refrigerate the butter until needed. When ready to serve, cook the corn in boiling water 2 to 3 minutes, and then plate and allow diners to slather it with the butter to taste.
Recipe options: Instead of boiling the corn, grill it and then slather it with the butter. To do so, remove most of the outer leaves on each cob, leaving a thin protective shell of leaves. Now pull back those remaining leaves on each cob, being careful that they still remain attached. Now remove the corn's hair-like silk. Put the leaves you pulled back into their original position; don't worry if some of the cob is unprotected. Soak the corn in cold water for 10 minutes. Grill the corn on the barbecue over medium heat with the lid closed for 10 minutes, turning occasionally, or until tender and nicely charred.
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The biennial Peabody Live and Silent Auction is a great way to support Peabody School. This cocktail-attire evening finds current parents, alumni parents, faculty, and friends gathered for drinks, dinner, entertainment, and a great night of fundraising for the school.
The Live and Silent Auction raises more than $50,000 to support Peabody and the professional development of our amazing teachers. Past themes have included the 2012 "Mardi Gras Magic," the 2014 "Great Gatsby Gala," the 2016 "Peabody in Wonderland," and 2018's fabulous "Peabody and the Chocolate Factory." We will see you in 2020 for our next auction, and the 25th anniversary celebration of Peabody School!


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Poland or Polska is just standing for the term of a flat land what it is mostly in reality with wide agricultural fields, big forests and national parks, some mountains in the South-East at the border to Slovakia (High Tatra), small villages and some wellknown big cities like Warsaw, Cracow, Wroclaw or Gdansk. Around 40 million people are living there which are 99,9 % Christians (87 % Roman-Catholics) – only 5,000 Jews and around 30,000 Muslims have still their home in this country with a total amount of foreigners of around 100,000 or 0,27 % of the population (1).
So this is nowadays a ethnically cleaned society due to the brutal and fierce developments during the Nazi-occupation between 1939-1945. In former times the population was really much more diverse with a lot of Jews and other nationalities living there what is in my view always better for creating an open society.
Poland-Lithunia used to be an important monarchy in medieval times with the capital Cracow, but afterwards for long-time it was governed by foreign countries, divided more than once between other empires with the effect that Polish was more an underground language for centuries, therefore it is also regarded as a quite museal language in the Slavic area because it could not develop freely for long time. The grammar is really complicated, so to learn it is really not an easy task, but some few words like "barzo djekuje" (many thanks) can always be helpful to know for every visitor.
Due to the very bad experiences made in history nationalism is quite attractive for Polish people as a political concept, as long this does not mean national egoism and stupidity this is normally not a problem for neighbouring countries. So Polish people or governments quite often look nervously to the West (Germany) or anxiously towards the East (Russia) especially due to the traumatic experiences in the 20th century when in 1939 Germany and the Soviet-Union invaded and occupied the country and divided it in 2 parts where incredible crimes and mass-murders of the local populations took place. Subsequently a lot of matters happening today are a little bit more understandable when looking back in history of this country in the heart of Europe.
Urban art at an unused house in the old town of Lublin
The town of Lublin is situated in the very South-East of Poland not far away from the border to the Ukraine. The old town is very charming because not all houses are perfectly restored (some even without inhabitants) but instead you will find a lot of old pathes for loafing around, a high diversity of pubs and restaurants which are very crowded in the evening, just real life. Besides there is also an old castle in the centre hosting nowadays a big museum with a lot of important paintings from Polish history.
Former SS concentration camp Majdanek near Lublin
Only a few kilometers from the city centre you will find the former SS concentration camp Majdanek which was finally erected in December 1941 with the original purpose to serve as a camp for war prisoners from the Soviet-Union. However, it was then utilized for other purposes such as accomodating Polish civilians forced to work for the German SS regime. In 1943 and 1944 it served also as a place for eliminating the local Jewish population till the Red Army freed it in August 1944. At least 80,000 people (59,000 Jews) were killed here in the gas chamber, by shooting, due to hard work and inhuman treatment or by disease. On the photo you see the watch towers, in the background the crematorium with chimney and the white modern memorial monument made out of concrete at the place of a mass-grave. A visit is quite terrifying because the horror is still present in one of the still existing gas-chambers or the crematorium. This kind of industrialized mass-murdering is hardly realiziable for us today at this damned location. So the memorial place outside of the camp therefore shall be a place of honour and remembrance to those who lost their life here at the brink of Europe.
Performance of the German-Polish chorus "Spotkanie" in May 2015 at Kazimierz Dolny
Fortunately we today live in different times with open borders between a lot of European countries (the Schengen zone). This is also the case for the border between Germany and Poland which can today be easily crossed normally without any control or delay. However, it must be still quite astonishing for a lot of people in Poland, when the mixed German-Polish chorus Spotkanie from Berlin is making concerts in Poland (mainly in churches) and then performing also a lot of traditional Polish songs like Gaude mater. The word Spotkanie is Polish and means meeting each other, so in May 2015 the chorus did a short of performance on the market place of Kazimierz Dolny supported by the dynamic mayor of the town (to be seen on the photo infront of the chorus to the left) who professionally whistled melodies on a simple leaf what was a quite funny situation. Kazimierz Dolny (ca. 40 kms from Lublin to the North-West) is meanwhile regarded as one of the nicest villages in Poland with 2 famous Rennaissance buildings at the market place for instance. It is also possible to make short boat trips here on the nearby river Vistula.
Market place with town hall and the Armenian houses at Zamosc
The city of Zamosc is a must for every visitor of this region while it is also called the "Padua of the North" – a UNESCO world culture heritage town being situated around 35 kms from Lublin to the South. The city was constructed (starting 1578) in accordance with the ideas of the Italian master builder Bernardo Morando in the style of the Italian Renaissance. It was founded by Jan Zamoyski in 1576 who was also the name giver of the town – his descendant Marcin Zamoyski was president of the town during the periods of 1990–1992 and 2002–2014. At the big market place it is truly nice to stay in one of the diverse taverns for a coffee or whatever will be individually preferred.
Roots gorge near Kazimierz Dolny
To complete an impression of the region it is also very much advisable to pay longer attention to a natural moment near Kazimierz Doly – the roots gorge created by erosion where you can view a lot of exposed roots created by very big trees in all different shapes. An amazing place for enjoying the subtile powers of plants which are existing much longer than our species on this unique planet Earth.
(1) All figures were published by the European statistics authority as per end of 2014.
More information is also available under the links above:
© transmutation.me (2015)


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Apart from the Mantronix Amen, does anyone have any idea on the the other breaks, rolls, fills used?
Sounds like a really ruff (they all are) Lyn Collins or BDK Raw might be in there..?
Satin Storm - Let's Get Together breaks
Started by Specialjustin, Nov 27 2016 08:55 PM
No replies to this topic


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Yellowstone Park Activities
In 1872, President Theodore Roosevelt established Yellowstone as America's first National Park. Encompassing three states, Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, Yellowstone is home to the largest hydrothermal system and largest concentration of active geysers. It is also home to one of the largest areas of concentrations of mammals, including grizzly and black bears, gray wolves, linx, elk, bison, moose and bighorn sheep.
Seasonal activities are plentiful for the novice or the thrill seeking adventurist. From a professionally guided van tour to white water rafting, exploring the geology of Yellowstone at the Canyon Visitor Center to hiking to the top of Mount Washburn, or a relaxing soak in the Boiling River to riding a snow machine to Old Faithful, Yellowstone has an adventure for everyone.
From the North & I-90
- At Livingston, MT take Hwy 89 South towards Yellowstone National Park Exit #333
- Follow Hwy 89 south approximately 52 miles until you reach Gardiner, MT
- Drive through Gardiner and over the bridge that crosses the Yellowstone River
- Turn right at the first street on the other side of the bridge, Stone Street
- Go 2 blocks & turn right onto Fourth Street S
- The B&B is at the bottom of the hill on the right
From the South & Mammoth Hot Springs
- Follow Hwy 89 north towards Livingston/Gardiner
- At the north entrance gate, go under the Roosevelt Arch and turn right
- Follow signs to Livingston and turn left on Hwy 89
- Turn left at the first street before the bridge, Stone Street
- Go 2 blocks & turn right onto Fourth Street S
- The B&B is at the bottom of the hill on the right
View Larger Map


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PhD Positions
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Create an account for our Online Application System. The link to the system will be shown on this page throughout the opening period. You will receive access to the system immediately. Please note that our Online Application System is the only way to apply for PhD positions in our program! We cannot accept applications outside of that system.
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In the 1st part of our Online Application you'll need to give personal and contact information and contact details of two referees. We recommend you register early and contact your referees well in advance to grant your referees sufficient time for submitting their recommendation.
Your referees will be invited via email to submit an online recommendation. You will be informed on a submitted recommendation but will not see the recommendation itself.
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After submission of your registration you'll get immediate access to the 2nd part of our online application, the actual application forms:
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You can save, revise, and edit the data at any time until the application deadline or until you submitted your application.
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Once you've completed all the application forms and we have received at least two reference letters (you will be notified about submitted references) you will be able to submit your application.
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In a multilevel evaluation process we assess the applicants' general eligibility and research experience. These steps are carried out by the program administration and internal experts of the respective research field.
Qualified applications proceed to video interviews.
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Applications passing the first assessment steps will be invited for interviews with an Admission Panel via a video conference. They will present a brief chalk talk of a research project (generally the Master thesis) which will be followed by a Q&A session.
Passing the Admission Panel is a necessary step to be eligible for invitation to the Interview Week in Dresden.
Interview Week in Dresden
Onsite interviews and discussions w/ group leaders
Candidates who have passed the admission panel interviews and are shortlisted by participating faculty will be invited to Dresden to meet group leaders and learn about research projects. The interview week will include a poster session, presentations – and leisure activities, too.
Invitations are sent approximately 4–5 weeks before the interview week.
Travel costs will be reimbursed and accommodation will be provided by us.
Offers and Start of Thesis Work for Successful Candidates
Offers of admission to join the DIGS-BB within the Dresden International PhD Program (DIPP) are made by the end of the interview week. Admission is granted by the Dean based on the results of the Admission Committee and the group leader interviews. In general, offers include the affiliation to a defined research group.
The individual starting date will be agreed on with the primary supervisor. For the Spring Selection, the latest starting date is 1 October of the year of admission. For the Fall Selection, the latest starting date is 1 March of the year following the year of admission.
PhD Fall Selection 2020
interview week in Dresden (or virtually):
1–4 September 2020


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One again, I have decided to do the crusade by Michelle Ward. Text messaging didn't sound hard, but I struggled with this one. We were to cut out text from magazines and arrange in a composition. I had a couple of magazines and decided to use a fashion magazine. I had been looking at the faces trying to see the shadows and tring to figure out how to draw for my other course which I take online. I pulled quite a few pieces of text from the magazine which appealed to me. I knew it was a shallow magazine but until you see it spread out in front of you, you don't realize how bad it is. Is this the image I want to put out there? So I thought about the other magazines I had with me, one from the liquor store, which is full of great food receipes and wonderful colour pictures and a Good Housekeeping which was all domesticated. None of these things truly speak of me either, I need a whole raft of magazines to say who I am! I am not cutting up my craft, sewing or knitting mags.
Maybe, I am taking this too seriously, I should just glue it down and get on with it. Maybe I should do more than one, each from a different magazine and see how varied I should make the project. I wallowed for days.
I thought about the words , fashion bible, style bible, food bible and how loosely the word bible is used these days compared to the past, when bible referred to one book only.
So both bibles (it was an old Bible wwith the cover falling offf) were used, it became more of a statement, than I usually make. I used matte medium to glue it all down and thus it is wrinkly.


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Days away from EPA announcing its final air toxic rule, the attacks on it continue. But importantly attacks are not coming from all quarters of the business community or electricity industry.
The Chief Executives of Calpine and PSE&G strongly defended the EPA's air rules and took to the woodshed the consistently error-filled and ideologically-driven editorials of the Wall Street Journal. See http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203501304577084573119094642.html.
It is good to see both of these corporate leaders raising their voice to rebut particularly the charge that the EPA proposed air rules would create systemic grid reliability issues, a flimsy, factually challenged assertion.
The Wall Street Journal editorial position presents itself as pro-market and anti-regulation. Refusing to internalize major external costs in pricing is not pro-market and only another form of subsidization for favored companies.
Stripping away the ideological cover and pretension, the Wall Street Journal position boils down to supporting continued operation of 40-plus-year old coal plants without pollution controls by continuing their subsidy and opposing the interests of gas plants, nuclear units, renewable energy facilities, and modern coal plants--all of which comply with the EPA rules.
The EPA apparently will announce the final air toxic rule either on friday, December 16th or monday, December 19th. Hopefully it will not make major changes to the proposed rule and keep to the rule's schedule.


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Honor and saving face is an integral part of Japanese culture, and this was especially true during wars. The story here happened 77 years ago. The identity of the subject in this story is disclosed here for the very first time.
Many years ago, I was conducting research on the Khalkin-Gol Border War. This is known to the Japanese as the Nomonhan Incident. It lasted 129 days and involved Manchuria (supported by the Japanese) against the Mongolians (supported by the Soviet Union). It started in May 1939 along the disputed Mongolian/Manchurian border and lasted until 16 September 1939.
In the course of research, I came upon a photo of a captured Japanese fighter pilot with a bandaged head. It was taken by a Soviet military photographer and appeared in various Russian publications since the 1939 war. I had to identify the pilot!
In searching Japanese combat accounts, I discovered that Capt Keisuke Yamada was lost on 21 July 1939. He reportedly parachuted from his stricken fighter and was declared killed. Soviet records show that Sr/Lt Vitt Fyodorovich Skobarikhin rammed an enemy plane on 20 July (it could have been an accidental collision). There was an 11th Sentai casualty on the 19th, none on the 20th, one on the 21st (Yamada), and 4 on the 23rd.
Luckily, there is a Soviet photograph showing the Japanese aircraft brought down by Skobarikhin. It clearly shows the marking of the 1st Sentai (air group). Capt Yamada was squadron leader in the 1st Sentai and he was the only Japanese casualty that day. Skobarikhin's ramming/collision actually occurred on the 21st. So, what was the fate of Capt Yamada?
All Japanese fighter pilots carried pistols. The sidearms were not carried for self-defense; they were suicide weapons. It is a certainty that if Capt Yamada had not been critically wounded, he would have shot himself to prevent capture.
In Japanese military culture, the concept of surrender did not exist. Soldiers were expected to fight to the death. If they did not return, they were declared dead. To be taken prisoner brought extreme shame and dishonor to the individual, his family, and his unit. Since Japan is a group oriented society, anyone connected to the person shared in the silent humiliation.
Those Japanese captured were seriously wounded or incapacitated; no one willingly gave up. During the war, both sides took care not to mistreat prisoners. After the armistice was signed, they were released. The Japanese captives came back spiritually dead and were treated with disdain by their comrades. The officers were dealt with harshly; as leaders and role models, they should have died with their men, no excuses! The enlisted personnel were transferred to labor units and were ordered never to discuss what happened. Many bore guilt and shame for the rest of their lives.
It is understandable that some Japanese prisoners refused repatriation and choose to voluntarily stay with the Soviets. Going back would cause more harm than good. According to one study, about 560 stayed behind. Under the circumstances, it was a painful but practical decision. The families were notified of their deaths and funeral services held. These forlorn men started new lives. They took on new Russian names and helped in the Soviet war effort. After the war, they eventually married and started families. They blended in with the large Asiatic population in the Soviet Far East and disappeared forever.
I know of 3 officer pilots whom the Soviets captured: 1/Lt Naoyuki Daitoku, 11th Sentai, lost 6 July; Capt Keisuke Yamada, 1st Sentai, lost 21 July; and Maj Fumio Harada, 1st Sentai, lost 27 July.
The officers presented an embarrassing dilemma. They had been venerated at the sacred Yasukuni Shrine which needed Imperial approval. Awarded the title of war gods, their return would be an insult to the Throne and a mockery of the war dead. Japan has never had a living war god. The mistake had to be rectified and the public could never know.
All returning officers were quickly separated from the enlisted men, confined, and no communication was allowed. Even their guards did not know their names. A secret court of inquiry was held and ended with the disgraced officer being given the gracious opportunity to protect his honor…by suicide.
In postwar interviews, the deaths of Maj Fumio Harada and 1/Lt Naoyuki Daitoku were revealed. Harada stoically accepted his fate, but the lieutenant stated that his capture was beyond his control, and requested that he be returned to active duty to fight again. The request was denied. Caskets were delivered outside their quarters at night and pistols were left on the table. Both men shot themselves. If Capt Keisuke Yamada had returned, this is how it ended for him.
Sr/Lt Vitt Skobarikhin became a Hero of the Soviet Union on 29 August 1939 and fought in the Great Patriotic War. During Khalkin-Gol, he flew 169 missions and claimed 5 victories (one by ramming). He retired as a colonel in 1954 and died in Moscow in August 1989.


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Block Blasters in Review – This Is Why You Shouldn't Play With Bombs
I love physics puzzle game, but there is certainly more than a fair share to choose from. Still, if one seems to offer something new or do something proven really well I'm more than happy to give it a shot. In the case of Block Blasters you get to use various forms of explosives to shuffle the board around, so who wouldn't want to give that a go? Unfortunately, while the game is conceptually intriguing, in practice it's more burdensome than anything else. Imprecise controls, frustrating puzzles and annoying sound effects highlight what should have been a fun little puzzle game.
The red blocks have invaded, and it's up to you to boot them out while keeping the green blocks safe. Thankfully you have a limited supply of bombs and dynamite at your disposal, but skillful hands and a sharp mind will guarantee that the resources you have do the trick. Tap to place a bomb and you'll immediately see the effects as blocks go flying. Tap to place a pack of dynamite and you get three seconds to either mock the blocks or do something else. The nice thing is that the game is real time, so you can set a pack of dynamite and then use a bomb while the dynamite is counting down. If you do it right you can even redirect a block in mid air with another bomb.
There is no scoring or achievements in Block Blasters. All you have as a measure of "completion†in the game besides actually finishing each level is collecting the three stars that reside on every level. The way the game starts out that doesn't seem like it's going to be an issue. Unfortunately before long it becomes a bit troublesome, especially once the green blocks are introduced. You know, the ones you have to protect? They are still impacted by the events that transpire, and if one of them crosses the boundary on either side of the screen the level is lost. There are eventually stone blocks that get tossed around but don't get destroyed with one blast and gold blocks that barely move on impact.
Normally I would welcome the challenge, but I find it so difficult to set the explosions precisely where I want them that I'm often just thrilled to pass a level. Combine that with the fact that there is no reset button on a level and I very rarely find myself caring about going back to collect all three stars once I've passed a level. For someone that thrives on collecting stars, that's never a good sign.
The graphics are pretty standard for this type of game. The red and green blocks are cute, though not nearly as animated and some other puzzle games I've played recently. In fact, the whole visual setup seems pretty stiff, and there is no animation in the background at all. The sound effects are actually kind of irritating, which makes this the second game in a week where I've felt compelled to turn the sound off. At least the other game had some decent background music, though, whereas this one has none.
Unfortunately, in the end I wasn't very impressed with Block Blasters. It's a fairly run of the mill physics puzzler to begin with, and when you throw in troublesome controls and lackluster aesthetics, I find it very hard to recommend giving the game a try. In a fledgling game market it might be a different story, but with all the physics puzzle games at your disposal, there are much better options than this.
|App Summary
|Block Blasters
|G3zar Studios
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