text:
Thursday, March 5, 2009
My First Give Away
45 comments:
- Dolores said...
What a beautiful piece of work. The Canada goose got to me. I would love to "win" it.
- March 5, 2009 at 12:08 PM
- Thearica said...
What a beautiful lamp! My husband is a wood-turner but only turns salad bowls, vases and artistic pieces. I would love to display this lamp amongst the art we have in our home.
I am gone to add this to my blog!
If I should win you can contact me via: firstname.lastname@example.com
Have a wonderful day!
- March 5, 2009 at 1:30 PM
- Sara said...
What a beautiful lamp. Its very pretty and you did that yourself? I'm jealous, I am no where near that talented!
- March 5, 2009 at 2:39 PM
- Thearica said...
Well, unexpected company delayed my adding your give-away to my blog but it is posted now. Hope you get lots of traffic!
- March 5, 2009 at 2:52 PM
- Kimberly said...
Love the painting! What a great prize for any lucky gal to win... but I know you don't want to pick just 'any' gal... you want me!!
Hugs to you Kaaren!
- March 5, 2009 at 3:10 PM
- Pat said...
It's beautiful Kaaren. Someone is going to be very lucky!!
- March 5, 2009 at 4:29 PM
- Julie said...
wow kaaren, what a lovely piece! would look so nice in my home, so i'd love to enter your giveaway please?
i've put it on my blog.
take care,
julie x
- March 5, 2009 at 5:23 PM
- Thecraftytrundler said...
I've never been to your blog before, but was directed here by 'Bushbabyjag'. I love patchwork, and your blog is truly inspirational!!!!
It would be lovely to be entered in your 'giveaway', and I will definitely be visiting again!!!
Great blog!!!!!
Sharon xx
- March 5, 2009 at 6:53 PM
- Jeanette said...
What a lovely lamp. I'm sure i'll find a lovely spot to display it should i win. Off to tell about the giveaway on my blog. Oh yes i learnt about the giveaway on Julies blog Bush Baby Jag
- March 5, 2009 at 7:08 PM
- Carrie ~ Cricketwood Prims said...
Wow! What a special lamp to giveaway Kaaren. You do beautiful work!! My sister paints so I can appreciate your talent. I painted dot flowers on Easter Eggs one time with my sister, LOL..... she did floating C stroke bunnies and chicks...
A special prize for someone...
- March 5, 2009 at 9:42 PM
- marie said...
Hi Kaaren,
What a great lamp! The painting is beautiful!!
I'd love a chance to have it for my very own.
- March 5, 2009 at 9:44 PM
- marie said...
I'm back ~ I posted about Give Away on my blog this afternoon!
- March 5, 2009 at 9:45 PM
- manda said...
What gorgeous folk art! My Mother does Australian flowers folk art, I must show some on my blog when I get the chance!! Please enter me in your drawing, and Bush Baby Jag again for letting me know of your giveaway and your beautiful blog! Manda xx
- March 5, 2009 at 11:38 PM
- Mel said...
Oh, beautiful Kaaren! I would cherrish it!!
- March 5, 2009 at 11:43 PM
- Mel said...
Ok I've posted about your giveaway on my blog http://melsownplace.blogspot.com/2009/03/giveaway-link.html I've told them to say that 'Mel' sent them! ;)
- March 6, 2009 at 12:12 AM
- Pat said...
Okay...I'm telling you...."Mel sent me" (she did,so give her another chance in your giveaway!!!) I have a blog linked to my name, so you can find me easily when you need to notify me that I won!!! :) VERY nice prize, by the way. You are an extremely talented gal from what I can see here on this blog.
- March 6, 2009 at 12:17 AM
- Kate/Massachusetts said...
What a beautiful lamp base! Your painting is stunning! Thank you for the chance to enter you giveaway! Mel sent me ~
dfuller55 at verizon dot net
- March 6, 2009 at 8:02 AM
- Lurline said...
Kaaren, Mel sent me - so pleased she did - love your work!
Hugs - Lurline♥
- March 6, 2009 at 8:32 AM
- annemarie said...
Oh do I love this - hope I am lucky. firstname.lastname@example.com
- March 6, 2009 at 10:14 AM
- annemarie said...
Mel sent me - am so glad she did. firstname.lastname@example.com
- March 6, 2009 at 10:15 AM
- Jane's Fabrics and Quilts said...
Hi!! Mel sent me and I am so glad she did, just beautiful work, beautiful!
- March 6, 2009 at 11:31 AM
- Annette said...
Beautiful painting. Lovely talent.
- March 6, 2009 at 12:11 PM
- Carrie P. said...
I can't believe you are going to give that away. It is beautiful. It would be so awesome if I won. I will mention your giveaway on my blog tomorrow. Prepare to read lots of comments.
- March 6, 2009 at 2:09 PM
- Micki said...
I am from Ireland, and I am so glad that I found your blog. I would love to enter your giveaway as your work is gorgeous.
I will post your giveaway on my blog too.
- March 6, 2009 at 4:00 PM
- Stellar Creations said...
Hi Kaaren.. I came across your blog by clicking other blogs and I came across your giveaway. It's beautiful.. I want it, I promise to take good care of it.. lol. I am posting it on my blog today. Have a great day!
- March 6, 2009 at 5:15 PM
- Country Whispers said...
This is beautiful. You did a great job in painting it. I wish I had such talent!
- March 6, 2009 at 9:20 PM
- Karen from Sew Many Ways... said...
You are so talented...this lamp wonderful and such a generous giveaway. Thanks for the chance.
- March 7, 2009 at 11:01 AM
- Doreen said...
Beautiful lamp!! :) purposedrivenlife4you (at) gmail (dot) com
- March 7, 2009 at 1:40 PM
- 2ne said...
Great blog you have and a nice lamp. Have a great day
- March 7, 2009 at 3:10 PM
Just gorgeous! I love love pumkins, and that is beautiful! Please enter me into your giveaway.
- March 7, 2009 at 7:21 PM
- Darlene said...
Beautiful! I hope you're enjoying blogging!
- March 8, 2009 at 5:56 PM
- Amy said...
The little lamp is wonderful.....I want it......You are a very talented person.....I LUV you pincushion bird.....and the sewing book.......Geez, you are busy,lol! Amy
- March 9, 2009 at 12:05 PM
- Candace said...
Hi Kaaren, your lamp is gorgeous - what talent you have! I've mentioned your giveaway on my blog as well!
- March 9, 2009 at 3:31 PM
- Marty Mason said...
Love the choice for your first giveaway. Glad you are so generous and sure hope it's mine.
- March 9, 2009 at 4:48 PM
- Marty Mason said...
Okay, now then Kaaren, your wonderful give away is published on my blog. Whoopee!
- March 9, 2009 at 5:50 PM
- Linda said...
Beautiful! You are very creative! Good luck on your additional postings to get to 50! Congratulations on your first giveaway!
- March 10, 2009 at 12:20 AM
- Tom H said...
It looks like in addition to painting, you have many areas of talent. I like your painting style, especially as in the lamp. And os course, the sewing items are great too.
- March 10, 2009 at 3:01 PM
- Sandy said...
Wow, great lamp. Gorgeous painting, count me in for your giveaway. I too am new to blogging and love it!
- March 10, 2009 at 5:27 PM
- Sandy said...
Hi again. I blogged about your giveaway on my blog. Good luck to me! LOL
- March 10, 2009 at 5:40 PM
- pwl said...
It's a lovely lamp base - and I especially like the Canada goose! I don't win things, but I know whoever does will absolutely adore it!
- March 10, 2009 at 6:15 PM
- StitchinByTheLake said...
Sandy over at Sandy's in Stitches sent me over and I'm so glad she did. What a beautiful piece of art this lamp base is. Please count me in the drawing. blessings, marlene
- March 10, 2009 at 8:49 PM
- Vintage Sandy said...
Beautiful lamp... I'd love to win and I will add your giveaway to my blog
You can contact me at firstname.lastname@example.com
- March 10, 2009 at 8:57 PM
- tisme said...
I love your painted lamp. Wow, this was my first visit and am just amazed at the painting you do. I will be a frequent visitor in the future. I would love to win your lamp.
I found your blog by visiting a blog I always read which is
Quilting and Carving, by Tom.
So he gets the credit for pointing me in your direction.
I will post about your great lamp on my blog!
- March 11, 2009 at 10:04 AM
- Linda said...
Wow Kaaren are you ever talented. I was at Sandy's in Stitches and saw your giveaway. What a great idea. I'm new to blogging as well and I'm from Ontario too. We might be neighbors. Linda
- March 11, 2009 at 9:10 PM
- Judy said...
Your lamp would look perfect on my DH's desk. It is beautiful and the colors are just right.
- March 15, 2009 at 12:56 PM


text:
Mayo Clinic gynecologic cancer specialists Jamie N. Bakkum-Gamez, M.D. and John Weroha, M.D., Ph.D. discuss the signs and symptoms women should be aware of for detection of ovarian cancer, understanding treatment options, and the importance of new clinical trials. Mayo Clinic medical geneticist Myra J. Wick, M.D., Ph.D. discusses the importance of family history and genetic counseling in preventing ovarian cancer. A live question and answer session followed the presentation. You can still ask questions using the chat box to the right. Speakers include: - Jamie N. Bakkum-Gamez, M.D. - John Weroha, M.D., Ph.D. - Myra J. Wick, M.D., Ph.D. Would you like to: Request An Appointment Learn More About Ovarian Cancer
This is a very common question and one with no good answers. The best way to boost the immune system is with a medication called Neupogen (assuming the low dose chemo is weekly) or Neulasta (if the chemo is every 3 weeks) but this isn't something you can do on your own and would require a prescription. I think the question you raise is referring to vitamins, certain foods, or complimentary medicine ways to boost the immune system. I'm not aware of anything non-prescription therapy that can overcome the immunosupressive activity of chemotherapy.
The United States Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF) does not recommend screening (ultrasound and CA125) for average risk women. As such, these tests are not recommended for the general population of women (ovarian cancer risk 1.4% in lifetime). This is because in average risk women, these tests have not yet been shown to detect ovarian cancer at early stages. However, in those women at high risk of ovarian cancer development (BRCA, family history of ovarian cancer), the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) recommends every 6 month ultrasound and CA125 until a woman is ready for risk reducing surgery to remove her ovaries and tubes.
Thank you for sharing your experience with ovarian cancer. This question comes up daily. Durable remissions have been observed in women with recurrent ovarian cancer. This doesn't mean the cancer is gone forever (cured) but it means we can't see the cancer with any of our tests, which is the next best thing. If long-term remission is not achieved, the cancer can still be treated. Clinical trials increase the treatment options.
Studies have shown that cancer cells respond differently to chemotherapy when they are grown in 2D (in a petri dish as is what happens with ChemoFx) v. 3D (as a structured tumor as is what happens in an Avatar). Some chemotherapies that are not active against cells grown in a dish are active against cells grown as a tumor, and vice versa. It is thought that 3D tumors grown respond more like the tumors in the human body. The Avatar study will help better understand this. Although ChemoFx is commercially available, the American Society of Clinical Oncology has reviewed the data and experts have come to the conclusion that these tests should not be used in general clinical practice and further investigation is needed in a clinical trial setting. I have not used this test in my practice.
For this question, I would refer you to the http://www.NCCN.org guidelines for a comprehensive list of treatment options. Mayo Clinic is a member of NCCN.
There are other genes, aside from BRCA1 and BRCA2, that may have been associated with your ovarian cancer. Would recommend revisiting with a genetic counselor to discuss whether additional genetic testing is warranted. If you have one of the less common genes that has been implicated in ovarian cancer, your sister's risk could be elevated above the general population risk.
I have been experiencing severe pelvic/abdominal pain. My u/s and ct showed I have a small mass on my left ovary and one on my uterus (a small cyst in my liver) and my alpha feta protein test was abnormal, CA125 was normal. My doctor says there is nothing to worry about, I see my gyny on the 2nd June. My question is: can a doctor tell by my test results that the mass is benign? I am a 58 yr old female. I took HRT for 7 years stopped 1 year ago. The pain is increasing in severity now extending into my back and the groin area, I have had to stop work and am taking painkillers Tramadol 24/7. Thank you for you help.
There are many potential therapies for recurrent ovarian cancer and the pros/cons should be discussed with your local oncologist. It is difficult to give advice about what treatments to do now or next without having more information about your medical history, tolerability of prior chemo, life goals, physical condition, etc. The best way to answer this question is through a face-to-face consult or electronic consult if your physician is part of the Mayo Clinic Network.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Cafe Barriers
Made in England
Our high quality cafe barriers are made in England.
Quality materials
Stainless steel weighted posts (normally around 18Kg in weight) are used with fabricated cross beams, which are sturdy for a long life. High grade acrylics are used, but other fabrics are available on request. Optional branding on the fabrics is also available. The standard widths are 1200mm, 1500mm , 1800mm and 2000mm. However, special sizes can be made.
Normally, Cafe Barriers are designed to be mobile, so free standing is the norm. However, our posts and bases are designed so that they can be bolted to the floor if required. In addition, we have in ground sockets that are flush to the floor, which is sometimes an important consideration.
Call us today on 01452 865260 for expert advice
Cafe Barriers (More Photo's)
Cafe Barriers – Stainless Steel Posts Shape and Sizes
1.2m wide
1.5m wide
1.8m wide
2m wide
Cafe Barriers (Bases)
Cafe Barriers – Stainless Steel Posts Information Downloads
Call us today on 01452 865260 for expert advice


text:
It is sad that you often recognize a business to business company at a glance.
Grey colors, stock images and sterile tones characterize most of the B2B companies we see around. I remember many of my designs being criticized with the statement: wait we are a B2B, we can't use a smile icon for a success message.
That's because companies usually want to keep a serious facade.
Bringing fun into the B2B world
Why does it sound so strange to bring fun into the B2B world? One reason is probably given by the fact that established companies are likely to think that showing that you are having fun connotes you aren't serious.
But, as Levitt and Dubner say in their 'Think like a Freak' book, being serious doesn't mean that you are good in getting your job done.
Having fun means that you love the way you work. And if you enjoy it, you'd also want to do more and therefore improve faster getting better results.
It is hard to understand what is the proper tone of voice for companies: should we be friendly and easy-going or formal and technical? I always try to keep in mind that in the end, every product and service is meant for humans and success stories like the Slack one demonstrate that people-oriented design could be groundbreaking.
Having fun means that you love the way you work
The Slack case
Slack, one of the hypest company we see around, made the process of corporate internal communication easy and fun. It could sound as a minor thing but if we take a look at the state of the art of internal communication services made for companies it is crystal clear it is not.
The 'Slack approach' is known as the consumerization phenomenon, that means bringing B2C inspired experiences to B2B products. It means to always keep in mind that at the end every product should be designed for humans.
How Slack came to this?
The company behind Slack was first designing a collaborative video game project.
They then shifted to creating this brand new 'company chat system' after realizing their first idea was not appreciated by the public. One of the keys to their success was probably (aside from not being too much in love with their original idea) bringing the gaming framework into the work one: the easy and fun approach is common between gamers, less common between employees.
In the end B2B products are designed for companies, and companies are made of people made of feelings. The Slack team simply considered what people, not companies, really like.
Designing for people
That's what we thought at glueglue when designing the logo for a startup Fabian Niederkofler and I founded with other 3 young founders (who don't take themselves too seriously) 4 years ago. Waynaut delivers multimodal transportation API to the travel sector. Nothing could sound more boring than this at a first sight, so how to give it a twist? First, we took inspiration from the outer space, which well represented the daring and visionary startup spirit, then we decided to give a personal touch by creating a sort of character – a stylized astronaut installed in a pin that points a new travel destination.
The name, the colors, the way we talk and show pictures of the team are nothing but conventional, enabling this company to emerge and communicate both the passion and innovative approach that distinguish it.
It was fun that brought us again together to develop Waynaut – something our stakeholders largely appreciate!
I am personally and professionally trying to evolve myself by not being afraid to show that I am actually having fun, because I simply love what I do, and I do believe that if B2B companies will dare to consider what people really like the results can be amazing.


text:
Federal judge weighs jurisdiction in Watada case
TACOMA -- A decision by a federal judge about whether he can allow 1st Lt. Ehren Watada's second court-martial for refusing to serve in Iraq to proceed next Tuesday could go down to the wire.
U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Settle on Thursday afternoon heard arguments from Watada's lawyers and a lawyer from the U.S. Attorney's Office about whether he has jurisdiction in the case.
Settle held the hearing after Watada's defense attorneys, Jim Lobsenz and Ken Kagen, sought an emergency halt to next Tuesday's court-martial. They said they were compelled to go to federal court after receiving no word from the military justice system's highest appellate court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, concerning Watada's challenge to his court-martial.
Watada's lawyers argue that the circumstances of a mistrial declared by a military judge during Watada's February court-martial means that a second trial would amount to double jeopardy.
Watada in June 2006 refused to accompany the Fort Lewis-based 3rd Stryker Brigade to Iraq, saying the war is illegal and could expose those who serve there to charges of war crimes. If convicted of missing movement with his unit to Iraq and conduct unbecoming an officer, Watada faces a maximum of six years in prison.


text:
Regular readers would know that I no longer do Feng Shui house audits, because it is a very tedious process. You have to get all the birthdates of the people living in the house, do the preliminary work before doing the actual audit.
However, recently my aunt who practically charmingly manipulated me through my mom so that I will do the Feng Shui audit of her husband's nephew's house didn't give me much choice.
You see, NG, her nephew recently went back to Manila from the US with his family. His primary reason of coming home is because he wants his children to grow up here, and also his father passed away, so that he and his wife will have to stay with his family.
NG and his family together with his mother moved in to a posh condominium unit. There are only 2 units in their floor and the floor area was really big for a condominium.
However, things started to go really bad for them as soon as they moved in to their new home. NG's kids had trouble adjusting to their new life here, NG's mother started to get quite ill, his business in the US and his father's business, which NG runs with his wife, started to have so many problems. Soon financial problems started to follow as well.
As I said I no longer do Feng Shui audits, however, my aunt and mom were quite persuasive so I decided to look at NG's home. Well, what I saw is a Feng Shui nightmare! The condo's entrance has bad Feng Shui, and the unit where they're staying also has a lot of Feng Shui blunders. My initial recommendation is to move out or do some renovations; both are quite impossible for them because of their financial constraints.
So I decided to fix what can be fix and then tried to look for a somewhat cure all Feng Shui charm or amulet.
The very first thing I told them to do is to take out the mirror in their dining area, which was suggested by a Feng Shui consultant. Told them that having a mirror is good as long as it reflects the food on the table and doesn't cut out the body parts of the diners. Well, their mirror doesn't reflect the food on the table and their reflection on the mirror is incomplete.
And for all the other Feng Shui blunders, which are too many to mention here, I suggested that they put a Vajrapani Ruel on their altar.
Writing this now because according to NG, things started getting better within the week after they've taken out the mirror and put the Vajrapani Ruel on their altar. Furthermore, NG's mother seems to be on her recovery and on her way to good health.
And now NG is asking me to do the Feng Shui audit of the unit next to their unit. Apparently, the family who lives there is also having problems. Told them to simply try the Vajrapani Ruel cure first.
You can also read the following posts about the Vajrapani Ruel:
- The World's Most Powerful Amulet in the Buddhist Pantheon Called Vajrapani Ruel.
- The Vajrapani Ruel Stories: The 17th Karmapa's Relatively Easy Escape; The Miraculous Release of a Tibetan Monk from Chinese Prison and Labor Camp; and The Wealth Luck Bestowed Upon a Repentant Prodigal Son.
- The Vajrapani Ruel Stories (2): How A Man Got His Land Back After A 20 – Year – Old Legal Bottle.
- The Vajrapani Ruel Stories (3): Early Karmic Death Was Erased with Good Deeds and the Vajrapani Ruel.
- The Vajrapani Ruel Stories (4): Received the Needed Financial and Wealth Blessing to Solve Money Problems.
- The Vajrapani Ruel Stories (5): In the Nick of Time and Money Problems Solved with the Help of the 'Hated' Gift.
- A Reader Receives A Precious Gift from the Abbess of the Lotus Temple and Some Quaint Vajrapani Ruel Stories.
- Vajrapani Ruel Stories (6): Getting to Work Abroad.
- The Kuan Yin with Heart Sutra and the Vajrapani Ruel Helped an Entrepreneur Solved Her Problems.
- Vajrapani Ruel Stories (7): Miraculous Healing and An Unexpected 'Miraculous' Financial and Wealth Luck.
- Coincidence or Another Vajrapani Ruel Story?
- Did the Vajrapani Ruel Triggered a Past Life Recall?
- Vajrapani Ruel Stories (8): Amazing Financial Luck and 5 Condo Units All Because of the Vajrapani Ruel.
- Vajrapani Ruel Stories (9): Two Bags Full of Money Helps Solve Family Financial Problem.
- Vajrapani Ruel Stories (10): Simple Miracles But Miracles Nonetheless.
- Vajrapni Ruel Stories (11): Acquiring A Property, Avoiding Problems Brought About A Natural Calamity, and Life Simply Becomes Easier All Because of A Wonderful Gift of Luck.
- Vajrapani Ruel Stories(12): Finding Long Lost Father With A Bonus of Finding True Love!
- Vajrapani Ruel Stories (13): Migrating to Canada and Breaking – Up with the Live – In Partner.
- Vajrapani Ruel Stories (14): Winning A Contest On A National Television!
- Vajrapani Ruel Stories (15): 90 Million Pesos Mutual Fund Deal Closed Without A Sweat!
- Vajrapani Ruel Stories (16): Chased After By Jobs.
- Understanding the Vajrapani Ruel Stories: Clarifying the Difference in the Miracles and Why The Anonymity of Those Who Experienced It.
- Expecting A Good Harvest and Temporarily Acquiring A Much Coveted Property: Another "Vajrapani Ruel Stories" and A "Wish Fulfilling and Buddha's Blessing Mantra Pendant" Personal Testimony.
- Vajrapani Ruel Stories (17): How A Man Helped His Mother Get Her Land Backed After More Than 20 Years of Trying!
- Did the Vajrapani Ruel Manifested It's Power to A Person Even Before She Received It?
- Vajrapani Ruel Stories (18): Borrowed Luck Lands Him A Job In A Japanese Company!
- Did the Vajrapani Ruel Make Him See the Future that Helped Save His Life?
- Vajrapani Ruel Stories (19): A Difficult Pitch That Ended in A Totally Different But Wonderful Way!
- Be Grateful for Miracles No Matter How 'Small': Two Simple Vajrapani Ruel Miraculous Stories and How Those Who Experienced It Are Teaching Us A Lesson About Gratitude.
For questions, suggestions, or comments please email firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Discussion Paper
In recent years sub-Saharan Africa, notwithstanding the global financial crisis, has increased its share in global trade and investment flows. This has led to an appreciable improvement in development levels, albeit off a small base. However, these patterns are still dominated by commodity flows and investment, and remain marginal on the global stage. Increased trade and investment flows, particularly related to network services, would be of great benefit to the sub-continent. Yet many domestic regulatory constraints remain. Furthermore, substantial international market distortions, particularly in agricultural trade, inhibit economic diversification into more value-adding activities. The Doha development round could, if concluded, go a long way towards addressing these barriers. Ultimately it could prove more consequential to the sub-continent's development trajectory than regional economic integration. The latter, whilst important, is shallow and too reliant on institution-intensive forms mimicking the European Union. Overall therefore this paper motivates for an African trade agenda focused on concluding the Doha round.
Paper submitted to the special issue
Multilateral Trade Liberalization and Regional Integration under Stress
Workshop in Honor of Prof. Dr. Rolf J. Langhammer
Comments and Questions
I think it is a good tour d'horizon, a solid discussion paper that touch upon several key aspects of trade policy and the Doha agenda. For what it is worth, I strongly recommend the article for publication.
In the event the authors are interested, I'd like to see an ...[more]
expanded discussion on differences between African economies in how their economic interests in the Doha round, and more generally, are defined.
I think it also would be good if they could make a bit clearer how they arrive to particular judgements. For instance, there is a discussion in the paper about African regionalism, which contrasts different economic and political economy aspects against each other.
The authors make a judgement on the issue, but I am not sure they explain how and why they daw the conclusions they draw. But this is a small point of editing, rather going into the substance. Again, I support the article for publication.


text:
There is this game on the iphone that I am addicted to. Hubby found it, and I LOVE it. It is called Sextuple. It is a word challenge game where you are timed to make words. The goal is to find the six letter word before you run out of time. It makes you think. And being the genius that I am, it always helps to keep my brain sharp. 🙂
Anyways, a few weekends ago, I taught my mom how to play it.
Mom: What are you doing?
Me: Playing a game.
Mom: What game? I wanna play!
Me: NO! It is MY game.
Mom: Let me play. What is it called?
Me: Sextuple.
Mom (incredulous): Wha?
Me: SEXTUPLE
Mom: Really?
Me: MOM! Get your mind out of the gutter. SEXT means six letter word.
Mom: Yea, I knew that…..
Me: Mom, you are a sicko!


text:
|Components and Circuits For discussions about component types, alternatives and availability, circuit configurations and modifications etc. Discussions here should be of a general nature and not about specific sets.
|Thread Tools
|12th Jun 2019, 2:42 am
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Mt. Maunganui, New Zealand
Posts: 2,525
Dormer & Wadsworth (D&W)
I have some curiosity questions about the UK assembly maker Dormer & Wadsworth (D&W), of whom I dont think that there has been much mention on this forum to date.
I know that D&W made solid-state FM front ends in the later 1960s and probably into the 1970s. Known users were Radford and Rogers, in hi-fi tuners.
Who else used D&W FM front ends? Were there any setmakers who used them as well as hi-fi equipment makers? Although I suspect that the Mullard modules were economically more attractive to the setmakers.
Did D&W start in the solid-state era, or did it have earlier activities with valve-based FM front ends?
What other radio/audio assemblies, if any, did D&W build?
And what eventually happened to D&W? Id guess that the availability of FM front ends from Japanese sources such as Toko might have pushed it aside.
As to known users, Radford used the bipolar version of the D&W 341 4-gang model in its FMT2, and the 2 mosfet version of the 341 in its FMT3. (I think that the 2 mosfet 341 might have been an option late on in the export version of the FMT2.)
Rogers used the 2 mosfet 341 in its Ravensbourne 2 FET tuner of 1968. It used a simpler D&W front end (model number unknown), 3-gang with mosfet RF amplifier and bipolar mixer, in its lower-priced Ravensbrook tuner of 1969.
The 2 mosfet 341 was of the four-gang type with one RF amplifier, with a bandpass doubled-tuned input and a single-tuned interstage. This appears to have been the reverse of usual practice, which was to have a single-tuned input and a double-tuned interstage. For example, the Revox A76, which was an early benchmark supertuner, followed the usual practice, as did many Japanese products in the 1970s.
My understanding is that, at VHF at least (HF might be different), too much selectivity at the input compromises noise performance, even though it helps reduce large signal cross-modulation problems. Placing the bandpass at the interstage, where high selectivity is usable without worrying too much about noise effects, allows higher overall pre-mixer RF selectivity than would placing it at the input. Certainly VHF TV tuners, both valve and solid-state, usually had single-tuned inputs and bandpass interstages.
It is apparent that the D&W 341 was originally designed around bipolar devices, and later adapted to use dual-gate mosfets. Given that small-signal bipolar devices were known to have relatively poor RF performance, as compared with their valve predecessors when it came to cross-modulation and intermodulation effects, it could be that D&W thought that the better trade-off was to place as much selectivity as reasonably possible right at the input and accept the higher noise level. Then once then this was done, replacement of the bipolars by mosfets was done on a minimum change basis, meaning that the bandpass stayed at the input.
As to other users of D&W FM front ends, Sugden could be a candidate. This is the front end that it used in its R21/R51 FM tuner:
It looks as if it could have been a varactor-tuned derivative of the D&W 341, retaining the bandpass input. Given that early implementations of varactor tuning were said to degrade cross-modulation performance, perhaps there was a case for the bandpass input where such were used.
The Sugden R21/R51 front end used different mosfets to those in the Radford and Rogers tuners, but this probably reflected the relatively quick progression in the early days. The RCA 40603 and 40604 were not gate-protected, and belonged to the 3N140 family. (Of which the variants and their nominal applications were the 40600 (VHF TV RF), 40601 (VHF TV MX), 40602 (TV 1st IF), 40603 (FM RF) and 40603 (FM MX)). The RCA 40822 was gate-protected, and belonged to the 3N187 family (40673 (all applications to 400 MHz), 40819 (to 200 MHz), 40820 (VHF TV RF), 40821 (VHF TV MX), 40822 (FM RF) and 40823 (FM MX).) I think that the gate-protected mosfets became available commercially late 1968 or 1969.
Other than that, any of the British hi-fi makers who were primarily audio specialists might well have been looking for third party help when it came to designing solid-state FM tuners. Leaks difficulties in getting to the Stereofetic were well-documented in Stephen Spicers excellent history. I think it built its own front end as an integral part of the chassis, but based upon an intermediate RCA circuit. RCA went from all-bipolar to all-dual-gate mosfet FM front end circuits in four steps, namely single-gate mosfet RF + bipolar MX; single-gate mosfets RF & MX; single-gate mosfet RF & dial-gate mosfet MX; dual-gate mosfets RF & MX. It appears that somehow Leak got off at the third stop, not the final destination. Quad was quite late with its solid-state FM3 in 1971; whether that was a deliberate delay or circumstantial is unknown, but I think that its RF specialist, JD Collinson, had departed before then. Like Leak, it rolled its own FM front end as an integral part of the chassis, but it was probably based on the RCA two dual-gate mosfet circuit.
So Leak and Quad were evidently not D&W front end users. But there were other candidates, such as Lowther and Tripletone, and later on perhaps, Meridian. Armstrong I think had a history of doing its own RF work., so seems to have been unlikely to have used third-party front ends (although the 600 series might have been different.)
Possibly D&W would have been competing with not only German suppliers such as Görler, and later on Japanese suppliers, but also with those UK component and assembly makers who were active in the TV tuner market and who had also added FM front ends to their product lines. For example, it is known that Wharfedale used a German FM front end for its WFM-1 tuner of 1967.
Anyway, that was an interesting interlude in which D&W supplied high-performance solid-state FM front ends to the likes of Radford and Rogers.
|12th Jun 2019, 6:36 am
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 14,808
Re: Dormer & Wadsworth (D&W)
There were also the Larsholt FM front-end modules that came along a bit later.
The noise issue in the front end was indirect. Designing the selectivity between the antenna socket and the first active device was a compromise. Go for more resonators, or use light coupling to achieve narrowness and the insertion loss went up. This loss acted as an attenuator, reducing your signal, reducing equally noise from the antenna, and adding thermal noise from the resistive effects of the losses of the filter components.
A quick fag-packet calculation woulb be that the loss of the filter in dB would add to the noise figure of the active device following it. but ireality's a bit worse than that. The antenna will see cold sky in half its field of view, and outdoor temperature ground in the other half, so overall its noise output is colder than the 290K assumed in noise figure definition. (This is why it's still worth pursuing noise figures down to 1dB and below) The losses of the input filter are at room temperature and so have a worse effect on the incoming signal to noise ratio than the simple loss in dB would suggest.
In later FM tuner designs the Q of varactor diodes is dramatically lower than that of mechanical variable capacitors, and they become the dominant limitation on resonator Q, no longer the inductor. So the losses of the input filter increase leading to more noise disadvantage unless heavier coupling is used to widen it. A wider filter lets more off-channel signals in to add up and clobber the first active device. Worse, the varactors themselves are non-linear. Narrower filters run their resonators at higher Q's and that scales up the signal voltages across the diodes. Intermod products rise disproportionately fast.
So designers go quite wide with varactor tuned front ends. High-Q filtering would be desirable, but it bites you at both ends of the dynamic range. You need a better active device as the RF amp.... lower noise helps, as does greater linearity at higher levels. The better linearity means narrow preselection is less needed and the low noise figure makes up for a little of the loss of the preselector filter.
A diabolical juggling game.
I developed my own spreadsheet for visualising the tradeoffs and balancing acts of a multi-stage receiver structure many years ago and I've fine-tuned it as I've used it to design various receivers over those years. It did the Agilent Noise Figure Analyser family, so it contributes to the noise figure values in most data sheets, that other people plug into their receiver-designing calculations
When you get to multi-dimensional compromises, there aren't any unique optimal solutions and RF design does become an art.
Artful Bodger would have made a good pseudo-name on the forum, or has it already been used?
Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done
|15th Jun 2019, 9:00 pm
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Wincanton, Somerset, UK.
Posts: 1,122
Re: Dormer & Wadsworth (D&W)
When I was designing Band II FM rebroadcast receivers I did some literature searching to try to establish the "noise-field" which a terrestrial antenna might see. I recall a figure of 4dB for quiet locations: in cities man-made noise is considerably higher. Figures for medium-wave are such as to make an RF person weep.
|15th Jun 2019, 10:17 pm
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, UK.
Posts: 706
Re: Dormer & Wadsworth (D&W)
The Cambridge Audio T55 is almost certainly another candidate, the circuit diagram of the front end looks identical to the one shown above for Sugden R21/R51. The transistor and varicap diode types are identical too.
|15th Jun 2019, 11:12 pm
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Surbiton, SW London, UK.
Posts: 1,866
Re: Dormer & Wadsworth (D&W)
I've just completed a service on a Clarke & Smith 959 schools radio. This has a D&W FM
front end, with the output fed to a Mullard module. By replacing a couple of ceramic
caps with high quality trimmers I have extended the band to 108 MHz for which I will
make a replacement FM tuning scale. I was surprised the local oscillator was 10.7 MHz
low of the signal frequency. Performance is excellent.
Last edited by Restoration73; 15th Jun 2019 at 11:31 pm.
|16th Jun 2019, 1:40 am
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Mt. Maunganui, New Zealand
Posts: 2,525
Re: Dormer & Wadsworth (D&W)
Thanks for the Cambridge T55 (candidate) and Clarke & Smith (959) additions to the list of D&W FM front end users.
That the Cambridge T55 and Sugden R21/R51 front ends were identical strongly indicates that they were third-party units, and I think adds some weight to the notion that they were from D&W.
The Clarke & Smith case is interesting in that as a Mullard Module IF strip was used, one supposes that a D&W front end was chosen over the more obvious Mullard Module because it had better performance. Lower cost seems less likely as major producer Mullard was probably in a position to match competitor pricing as required.
Oscillator-low (infradyne) operation was in fact the original BREMA recommendation in respect of the 10.7 MHz FM IF. As oscillator-high (supradyne) was the norm in the USA and elsewhere, I suspect though that many UK makers, with the export market in mind, followed this pattern. Clarke & Smith might have been more UK domestic-market oriented. Id guess that D&W would have supplied its FM front ends for either infradyne or supradyne operation as customers required.
As to tuning range, the Radford and Rogers FM tuners had full coverage, 87.5 or 88 to 108 MHz. Initially anyway the Sugden R21/51 covered the European range 88 to 104 MHz. Presumably the D&W front ends could be configured to suit.
D&W was very early in adopting dual-gate mosfets for FM front ends. Whether it also went through an intermediate jfet stage in the transition from bipolars is unknown, but the available evidence suggests not. The use of jfets in FM front ends preceded the use of dual-gate mosfets by around a couple of years.
The FET front end option for the Radford FMT2 was available by the time of the Audio Fair 1967, a year after the model was first introduced. The working assumption is that this was the D&W mosfet unit, although it might have been otherwise.
On the other hand, Mullard seems to have been slower in adopting fets for its FM front ends, and I think that it started with a jfet RF amplifier.
Eddystone used a Mullard FM front end in its 1002 broadcast receiver of 1972. This was shown in the schematic as an all-bipolar, 3-gang, varicap-tuned unit. Oddly, it was followed by two dual-gate mosfet IF amplifiers before the CA3089 FM IF subsystem IC. Assuming that Eddystone preferred to use a Mullard unit, one imagines that it would have used a mosfet-based unit had such been available, but absent that accepted what Mullard had available.
The replacement for the Eddystone 1002, the 1570 of 1978, also used a Mullard FM front end, shown as the UM1181 without circuit details on the schematic. I understand that the UM1181 had a dual-gate mosfet RF amplifier, although I have not seen the full circuit. In this case the front end output went directly to a TDA1071 subsystem IC.
As Larsholt has been mentioned, here is the schematic for its 8319 FM front-end. This was of the single-RF stage, four-gang type with a bandpass interstage.
|16th Jun 2019, 11:34 pm
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Mt. Maunganui, New Zealand
Posts: 2,525
Re: Dormer & Wadsworth (D&W)
Another possible candidate for having used a D&W front end was the Tripletone FM Mk II of c.1970. In the Gramophone magazine review, it was described as having front end that was completely shielded within a metal box, which suggests a proprietary unit rather than an in-house design. It had 3-gang capacitor tuning with a dual-gate mosfet RF amplifier and bipolar mixer. This description was similar to that of the D&W unit used in the Rogers Ravensbourne.
|26th Jun 2019, 3:32 am
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Mt. Maunganui, New Zealand
Posts: 2,525
Re: Dormer & Wadsworth (D&W)
Here is the Cambridge T55 FM front end, with the Sugden R21/R51 circuit for comparison:
I think that the T55 dated from later in 1972, so it was a bit later than the R21/R51, which were from 1970-71.
In terms of general circuitry, the T55 could be said to have been an early plateau model, having dual-gate mosfet RF and mixer stages, and using the industry standard CA3089 IF processor (which dated from the second half of 1971) and the MC1310 PLL stereo decoder (which dated from early 1972). The Sugden R21/R51 started life with a discrete decoder, later changing to the MC1310. It also had a discrete IF strip, which I dont think was ever upgraded.
On about the last step to the plateau was the Quad FM3. In original form it had the two dual-gate mosfet front end, IF strip using the TAA661 IC, and the MC1305 non-PLL IC decoder. It was updated in two stages, firstly with the MC1310 in place of the MC1305 and secondly the CA3089 in place of the TAA661.
Models such as the Leak Stereofetic and Rogers Ravensbourne and Ravensbrook were further back down that staircase from all-bipolar discrete to the plateau. The Ravensbourne was early in having the two-mosfet front end (courtesy of D&W) and had the early Fairchild IC-based IF strip using a µA703 cascade and a ratio detector. The Ravensbrook had an early RCA IC-based IF strip, namely the CA3012/CA3014 combination (which actually predated the µA703). Both had discrete decoders. The Ravensbourne was later updated, but I am not sure of the details.
Returning to D&W front ends, it occurred to me that the Goodmans models of the later 1960s and 1970s might have been candidates for using them, but a look at the schematics for the Stereomax, Module 80 & 90 and One-Ten models does not show any correlation. The Module 80 & 90 and One-Ten models all had front ends using jfet RF amplifiers, so they might have been of German origin. The German makers seemed to favour jfets during that period.
|26th Jun 2019, 4:32 am
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 14,808
Re: Dormer & Wadsworth (D&W)
Back in the day, I wasn't aware of D&W and I thought that all those British tuner makers were making their own front ends, so they must have their own RF designers. Engineers are dangerous beasties to keep in captivity, particularly design engineers, at the best of times. They'll laugh at management decisions, see straight through personnel department shenanigans, and generally cause disruption. RF design engineers are by far the most dangerous. They know that no-one else understands what they do, thinking it's some form of black art. They do practical jokes. They design what they want to do, not what they were told to do. Disruption is elevated to mayhem. The electronics industry never saw more beards and VWs until Unix hit town. I can now understand the attraction of bought-in front-ends.
What I did wonder about was where all the innovation came from. The answer I saw was the semiconductor firms. What became the norms in FM tuners came from the applications notes of RCA for dual-gate MOSFETs, CA3089 and CA3090. Motorola for varactor tuning and MC1310. Philips ar the time were producing reference designs around bipolars saying that they represented the best performance on low DC bias currents - clearly thinking of portable. radios, not hifi. Ceramic filters came along and became standard features. Did this come from Murata/Kyocera? or were Brush-Clevite the initiators? Murata were certainly the winners.
D&W were but a step in this food-chain... the trickle down from apps notes.
Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done
|26th Jun 2019, 10:41 am
Rest in Peace
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Solihull, West Midlands, UK.
Posts: 4,872
Re: Dormer & Wadsworth (D&W)
|26th Jun 2019, 11:39 am
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Herefordshire, UK.
Posts: 2,219
Re: Dormer & Wadsworth (D&W)
Re post no. 10
G8HQP_Dave: Yes, there is more noise than thermal at 100 Mc/s and lower. It is cosmic noise emanating mainly from our Galaxy - At 100 Mc/s typically it is about 1000 deg Absolute reaching as high as 10,000 deg Absolute towards the Galactic centre, with higher values at lower VHF frequencies.
|27th Jun 2019, 2:55 am
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Mt. Maunganui, New Zealand
Posts: 2,525
Re: Dormer & Wadsworth (D&W)
RCAs several steps along the road from all-bipolar to all-dual gate mosfet front ends were mentioned in post #1.
The use of jfets in FM front ends turned out to be something of a side-story. TI could have been involved as a proponent, although not the only one. It did pursue the use of jfets in TV front ends, but that was not productive, although the specific drawbacks, whilst being deal-breakers for the TV case, were manageable for the FM case. But by 1970 it was advocating the use of dual-gate mosfets in FM front ends.
In respect of the development of integrated FM IF strips, RCA was a major contributor but not quite as dominant in early innovation as it was in the dual-gate mosfet case. It went through several intermediate steps before it got to the CA3089. In coarse terms, and referring only to the FM-oriented ICs (not those with a TV-sound orientation) these were the CA3012/CA3014, the CA3043, the CA3075/CA3076. The CA3089 was the first RCA own-design FM IC to include quadrature demodulation. Fairchild had previously introduced a rudimentary form of quadrature demodulation in its µA717, but Sprague was the first to use a balanced six-transistor tree for the purpose, in its ULN2111A. This spawned many lookalikes, including but not limited to the SGS TAA661 and Siemens TBA120. RCAs master stroke was to develop a complete subsystem, inclusive of auxiliary functions, in an IC that included a quadrature demodulator and had extra gain as compared with what had gone before.
Sprague had also noted that the six-transistor tree had multiple uses, and Motorola took this on board in a big way. One of its several early applications was in the MC1304/5 stereo decoder IC, which I think established Motorolas prime position in this field. RCA was first with a PLL-type stereo decoder, but Motorola followed this very quickly with its own MC1310, which became the dominant type. Id guess that Motorola built on its established position, added to which its decoder did not require the use of an inductor, whereas the CA3090 did. Anyway, the equipment makers seemed happy enough with using an RCA/Motorola combination rather than an all-RCA set of ICs. Fairchild also introduced a PLL stereo decoder, the µA758. I am not sure whether this just preceded or just followed the MC1310, but in the literature it has often been treated as an MC1310 variant/derivative, perhaps not because that is what it was, but because of Motorolas dominance.
During the 1970s, once the plateau had been reached and refinement rather than significant innovation became the mode, both RCA (CA3189) and Motorola (TCA4500) offered improved ICs in their respective fields, but Hitachi and Toko moved into dominance, each offering successively improved versions of both the CA3089 and MC1310, with some selective innovations such as pilot-tone cancelling decoders. Toko was by then a major coil and IFT supplier, and also offered block filters for pots-decoder filtering, birdie filtering, etc.
The arrival of fully electronic tuning towards the end of the 1970s, which required changes to the IF ICs, apparently provided an opportunity for Sanyo to emerge as a major force, at least somewhat displacing Hitachi and Toko. National Semiconductor also entered the FM IF IC field with its LM1865 family, which was innovative in having an on-board IF pre-stage and providing dual-bandwidth front end AGC.
It also reasonable to assume that D&W saw a market opportunity for FM front ends that were somewhat better than those offered by Mullard, and suitable for use in hi-fi tuners. It could have been a niche that was not addressed by the major TV front end makers, such as AB Metal Box, Plessey-Brayhead and Cyldon. In the valve days, some of these at least also offered FM front ends, but these appear to have been of the basic one-valve, two-gang variety that was probably at best marginal for hi-fi applications. And with solid-state TV front ends, they stayed with bipolars well beyond their best by date, so even had they FM offerings, they probably would not have had the mindset necessary to make the change to mosfets perhaps some NIH at work. D&Ws main competition in the 1960s may have been the German makers such as Görler.
From this distance looking back, D&W is very obscure. It is the sort of organization that Hi-Fi News magazine just might have written about back in the days before it went off the rails, and had quality columnists such as Austin Uden, but as yet, there is no on-line archive for this magazine.
|27th Jun 2019, 3:02 am
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Mt. Maunganui, New Zealand
Posts: 2,525
Re: Dormer & Wadsworth (D&W)
Here are some charts showing atmospheric and cosmic noise distributions. They are from a 1955 paper on TV tuners, but I dont think that the universe has changed all that much in the intervening time.
|27th Jun 2019, 8:13 am
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 14,808
Re: Dormer & Wadsworth (D&W)
There is another factor in addition to NIH syndrome that has been at work in many companies over most of time.
They do not want to release onto the market a new product with some new technology because they fear it will cannibalise sales of their existing product, their cash-cow.
The error in this decision is that once a new technology is starting, if you do not introduce it yourself and thereby cannibalise your own products, there will soon be a competitor along to do it for you.
Some firms really were too dim to see the inevitability of the loss of surpassed technologies. Others could see it, but were financially trapped without the cash flow to more regularly update their product lines.
It's one of natures wonders how a firm can be made up of some quite bright people, yet the composite entity can behave in some rather disappointingly stupid ways. I guess it's a case of having so much momentum going in some direction, that by the time they realise it's silly, they can't stop it
Of course, it's too easy for us to judge, looking back with 20-20 hindsight.
I sometimes wonder about Clive Sinclair, sitting in his C5 prototype, didn't he feel just a bit too vulnerable? His potential customers did.
Studying the mechanisms behind failed products and missed opportunities can be fascinating. I wonder if the history of our times will be written in these terms, or will future historians not be able to get themselves out of the Monarchs, politicians and wars groove?
Philips has a long history of innovation and haven't been scared of upstaging their own products, so sticking with bipolars too long has to be NIH.
By the way, semiconductor firms seem to be dropping dual gate mosfet transistors as fast as they can. We seem to be exactly at the end of their era. Trying to find something to equal them for easy AGC, low cost and plentiful gain is proving difficult. Some 12v parts linger, but the 5v families are almost all gone.
Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done
|27th Jun 2019, 9:18 am
Rest in Peace
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Solihull, West Midlands, UK.
Posts: 4,872
Re: Dormer & Wadsworth (D&W)
Groupthink is alive and well in a boardroom near you. One dominant person with a bad idea (or a lack of good ideas) can steer a whole organisation down the wrong path. Mix in some mergers and demergers, which almost always destroy value (except for the accountants and lawyers).
|2nd Jul 2019, 5:35 am
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Mt. Maunganui, New Zealand
Posts: 2,525
Re: Dormer & Wadsworth (D&W)
Two of my opening questions were:
Similar advertisements ran through to 1969, but apparently not beyond.
Thus, D&W was active in the valve era,
That the advertised assembly was an FM front end (of the single-valve type) with an attached AM two-gang tuning capacitor shows that the D&W product line extended at least a little beyond FM-only front ends.
Id guess that Haverson Surplus had acquired remaining stock of D&W valved FM front ends following the change to the solid-state type by D&Ws customers.
The Haverson description beautifully designed and precision engineered by Dormer & Wadsworth to some extent was probably marketing speak purple prose, but suggests that they might have been better than comparable run-of-the-mill units aimed more at the setmaker market.
Radford might have been a user of D&W valved FM front end. Its FMT1 model is known to have had a separate tuning head of the one-valve (ECC85) type, and it is almost certain that this would have been a proprietary unit. It does seem a little odd that a single-valve FM front end essentially a lowest common denominator type would have been used in a high-performance tuner that had a four-stage IF strip and a wideband ratio detector, but that may have reflected the non-availability of higher-performance units from third-party sources. Those UK FM tuner makers who used two-valve front ends probably rolled their own, and in many cases integrated them into the chassis rather than mounting them as a separate screened unit. (Although the Dynatron FE2 (used in the T10A and I think the T11) was a two-valve separate unit.) Of the UK-made single-valve units available to Radford, the D&W may have been seen as the best of the bunch.
Be that as it may, it does appear that with the arrival of the solid-state era, D&W took the opportunity to rise above the standard performance level, with 4-gang models and early adoption of the dual-gate mosfet. (Whether it ever got to 6-gang models with 2 RF stages, as did the Japanese suppliers and Ambit in the UK is unknown).
|2nd Jul 2019, 7:38 am
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 14,808
Re: Dormer & Wadsworth (D&W)
I've just been looking around and found Short Wave Mag May 1971 on the American radio history site. I even remember the trio advert on the front cover!
Inside is an article "Versatile Sub-Modulator" by A H Dormer G3DAH C.Eng FIERE. and a column "The VHF Bands" by the same.
The article is about a very hybrid (valves + JFETs + Plessey SL600 series ICs) FM modulator for a KW2000. If this is the Dormer of D&W, then he seems to have interests in VHF and FM. The VHF column ran to 5 pages.
There is a Wadsworth in the same issue, G3OLP in Todnmorden selling a DX100U and, wait for it! a DST-100.
This might be the right Dormer, but I'm not sure about Wadsworth. Not a common name, though.
There is a wing commander A H Dormer in the RAF list, group 90 (signals) Radio warfare 12 April 1955. RAF Medmenham, Marlow, Bucks.
Even with SWM's page rate and all those pages, Mr Dormer would still need a day-job.
Once you start searching, heaven knows where you wind up... I've just spotted a Scottish VHF convention 1969 piece with a photo of David Guest GM3TFY, who I worked with for many years, and someone getting presented with the Jock Kyle trophy, which many years later sat on my mantelpiece for a year. It's a small world!
Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done
Last edited by Radio Wrangler; 2nd Jul 2019 at 7:49 am.
|3rd Jul 2019, 3:33 am
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Mt. Maunganui, New Zealand
Posts: 2,525
Re: Dormer & Wadsworth (D&W)
Thanks for that. Id say that its better than even odds that A.H. Dormer was the Dormer in D&W.
His comment at the end of the SWM article about using the Plessey SL620 and SL630C ICs in a modulator circuit - is interesting: Although circuits have been published in the past showing use of these ICs [sic] for compression purposes, they seem to have been taken directly from the manufacturers data sheets which, in practice, are not always suitable for amateur use.
That suggests that although he might have been guided by the semiconductor makers application notes in designing FM front ends, he also put his own interpretation and ideas into them. I imagine that he would have been able to provide a cogent rationalization for placing the bandpass at the input rather than at the interstage.
Interesting that he used the TIS88 jfet for the microphone preamplifier and its emitter follower. This was TIs contender for TV front end use in the late 1960s, and did find application in some FM front ends (I think B&O used it, for example). One wonders if D&W offered say a TIS88 cascode RF amplifier option for its 341-series FM front end.
|12th Jul 2019, 2:27 am
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Mt. Maunganui, New Zealand
Posts: 2,525
Re: Dormer & Wadsworth (D&W)
I have found an odd reference to Dormer & Wadsworth in Elektor magazine 1976 March. This was in a constructional article for a TV sound tuner that also received FM, using both a TV front end and an FM front end whose respective outputs were the converted to 6 MHz for further processing. In respect of the front ends it was said:
The internal circuitry of the front ends will not be described as these are commercial units and the circuits will obviously depend upon the manufacturer.
A word of warning would not come amiss at this point. There are on the market vast quantities of scrap TV front-ends, and as many of these are of dubious quality they are best avoided. It is advisable to obtain a front-end from a reputable manufacturer such as Toko, Dormer & Wadsworth [my emphasis], or at the very least a new, boxed, surplus front-end from a reputable TV manufacturer. The problem does not arise to such as [sic] extent with the front end of FM radio, as there are less scrap ones on the market
From that one could reasonably infer that both Toko and D&W also offered TV front ends as well as their probably more well-known FM front ends. That would not be surprising in the Toko case, although I have never seen mention of it. But it could well have made TV front ends for those Japanese TV makers that did not wish to build their own. On the other hand, with D&W I have the impression that it might have been oriented to relatively small production runs that might have made it uncompetitive when it came to TV front ends. I think that the TV front-end business was somewhat cut-throat, requiring a melding of both precision engineering and low-cost mass production techniques.
Still, in view of the Elektor comment, the question needs to be asked has anyone here ever come across a D&W TV front end?
|12th Jul 2019, 5:55 am
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 14,808
Re: Dormer & Wadsworth (D&W)
Until you mentioned them here, I hadn't known they existed. I'd seen Larsholt ubits in some magazine projects, I knew about the Mullard modules, and were there ones by Gorling (sp?) in some German/Austrian radios?
In the 1990s, analogue TV was still dominant and cable system operators wanted to add a quality monitoring system to look at the VITS (Vision inserted test signal) that is added in one of the unused lines. From this you can get bandwidth, diff gain and diff phase, etc.
They wanted a test box to demodulate and test each channel in turn, and if a fault persisted long enough to not be a glitch, to fire up a modem and 'phone home' with a report to some central monitoring facility.
The reason for all this was the advertisers. Advertisers had long argued that not all parts of a distribution network got good enough quality all the time, and used this supported by ad-hoc monitoring to argue down the price of running their ads.
There must have been sufficient money dependent on this for getting the cable firms interested in thorough network monitoring. Quality parameters, not just signal presence.
An R&D project at HP repackaged video digitiser and CPU cards that existed in spectrum analysers with a TV tuner/demod module for the TV standard of the target market.
We found a series of tunerr/demods from Philips with variants for each of the standards we had to cover. Then our problems began. Philips provided samples freely, but thereafter Philips did not want to deal with us. We didn't want the sort of quantities a TV setmaker used. "Go through a distributor!" we were told. The distributors were no better. They didn't handle this product range because setmakers dealt directly with Philips. The distributors would be delighted to deal with us, but as Philips would only sell to them in units of a pallet-load, the distributors imposed the same requirement on us. They would have no other customers for them.
Anyway, analogue TV distribution was drawing to a close and interest was fading. Add in the Philips problem and although the project was just on the threshold of full production, it was quietly withdrawn from the catalogue. If this sounds like a lame product, it was worse than that. Truly accursed would be accurate. A safety recall hit the units which had gone out. All the units were got back, except one which no-one could trace.
I got dropped in to manage the project part way through. I have an enduring urge to run at the mention of 'tuner', and a tendency to avoid Philips parts of any type.
Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done
|Thread Tools


text:
She sees that you are watching her and decides to play a JOI game with you. Sarah strips down to nothing but her panties and starts doing yoga poses while you focus in on her panty covered crotch. She squats down with both feet together and her legs spread, slowly opening and closing her legs. She knows you are watching and it turns her on.
Sarah takes special care not to let the panties ride up or bunch because she loves the smooth way it feels against her skin.
At the very end of the video, Sarah pulls her panties down to her ankles and show me her pussy, then hold her feet up in the air stretching the panties between them at the camera as she encourages you to finish.


text:
Movies: The Beginning
Posted by Matt Singer on
By Matt Singer
IFC News
[Photo: "Hannibal Rising," Weinstein Company, 2007]
This week's release of the film "Hannibal Rising" marks the crest of a new wave of Hollywood filmmaking: the rise of the prequel as a major box office force. First with 2005's "Batman Begins" ($370 million worldwide) and then with last year's "Casino Royale" ($570 million), prequels have suddenly become more than a quick, cheap way to cash-in on a hit. They're just as commercially viable as and in some ways more commercially viable than a standard sequel.
The prequel (simply, a sequel whose events take place before the chronology of the film it is following) is in some ways the perfect Hollywood enterprise. A prequel is what you make when you can't get or don't want your original film's overpriced stars or directors or writers to return. The focus remains instead on the property, the brand: and brands don't get pay raises or star treatment. Actors age; James Bond the property and Batman the brand remain young forever.
Prequels are particularly appropriate for these sorts of franchises because they all contain iconic elements, and icons need origins. "Batman Begins" shows us where Bruce Wayne's bat fetish comes from. "Casino Royale" shows us why James Bond is such an unrepentant womanizer. Commonly, prequels like to present happy accidents, whereby characters stumble onto their destinies without realizing their significance. For instance, in "The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas" Fred casually plays a carnival game, unaware the prize will be an egg that will soon hatch into his beloved pet Dino. Audiences probably like these sorts of gags for the slight, knowing buzz of superiority that comes with them: they understand something even the characters themselves do not yet grasp.
According to the always reliable Wikipedia, the first cinematic prequel or, at least, the first use of the actual term "prequel" was 1974's "The Godfather Part II," which is technically part-prequel and part-sequel: some events lead up to the story of the first picture, some continue the story of the first picture. Coppola was smarter than many who followed him, because he must have known a crucial flaw in prequel storytelling: an inherent lack of surprise. We know Vito Corleone will rise to power because we've already seen him as the The Godfather, so we watch his sections with less anticipation than bemused curiosity. The Michael Corleone sections in the "present" (technically the past, but let's not get confusing) are far more engrossing because to the viewer the future is not written, and we don't know what will happen. The classic line used to justify prequels is "we know where the characters will end up, but not how they will get there."
But, of course, if how they got there was all that interesting, that was the story the filmmakers would have told in the first place. Thus another fundamental flaw of prequels: they tell no stories, only backstories. By their definition, prequels fill in the holes in the history of characters, or explain how characters transmogrified into the icons we know them to be. But those icons became popular because of who they were in those films, not because of who they were before those films which is totally irrelevant. Many prequels include the phrase "The Beginning" to attempt to bestow some sort of narrative significance, but they're not fooling anyone.
Prequels are also great ways to bring back dead characters in ways sequels obviously couldn't. Typically, these prequels belong to movies that are unexpected hits; if filmmakers expect to make a whole series of movies they probably won't kill off their lead characters. So when the creators of "Infernal Affairs" bumped off one of their two leads, they went the prequel route in "Infernal Affairs II" (and later still went the "Godfather Part II" route with the part-prequel part-sequel "Infernal Affairs III").
It's not for me to guess whether "Hannibal Rising" will be a success haven't you always wondered where he got the taste for chianti? but, regardless, prequels have shown a newfound strength at the box office and so there are sure to be plenty more of them in the future. So it's an appropriate time to look back at a few of the worst prequels, to see why they work or (more commonly) don't work, and to remember that many of the worst movies ever made were prequels. So tread carefully, moviemakers. And learn from the mistakes of those who have come before you.
"Missing in Action 2: The Beginning" (1985)
Prequel to: "Missing in Action" (1984)
Plot Summary: In Vietnam at an indeterminate time after 1972, Col. James Braddock (Chuck Norris) and a platoon of American soldiers are imprisoned and tortured at a barbaric Viet Cong prison camp. Years later (i.e. in the first movie), Braddock will return to Vietnam, rescue more American P.O.W.s left behind, and get revenge on his captors.
Reason Why It's Not a Regular Sequel: Braddock already returned to Vietnam once to save American soldiers. Doing it again might make him look ineffectual. And if there's one thing Chuck Norris is not, it's ineffectual.
Relatively Necessity of Prequel: High. The Braddock of the first "Missing in Action" is traumatized by his captivity in Vietnam; this film offers the opportunity to see why.
Most Shocking Revelation: Events and even people don't seem to match up between the two "M.I.A."s. In the original, Braddock meets his old torturer, Colonel Vinh. But in "The Beginning" he's tortured by a guy named Colonel Yin. Things get even more confusing in the third film in the series (the first sequel, technically speaking) "Braddock: Missing in Action III." Though "The Beginning" depicts years of imprisonment stretching well past the end of the Vietnam War, "Braddock" shows Chuck Norris at the fall of Saigon in 1975, where he's also got a wife. So he was combat shocked, imprisoned for years after the war ended…while also serving elsewhere and getting married. Pick a side Norris, we're at war!
Least Shocking Revelation: That even though Braddock claims to be mentally scarred by his imprisonment in "Missing in Action" he actually seems pretty cool with everything in "The Beginning." In fact, when he gets the opportunity to escape, he hangs around the camp and kills every single Vietnamese soldier in the area rather than simply fleeing.
Waiting For the Check To Clear: Chuck Norris, but in fairness to Chuck, that Total Gym thing I've seen on TV looks totally awesome.
One Scene That Sums It All Up: During his forty-minute escape that's really more of a systematic execution, Norris gets to beat up Colonel Yin, first in a kung fu fight, then by exploding him. So he's already blown up the man who he will later return to Vietnam to face. Again, Chuck Norris is totally awesome.
"The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning" (2006)
Prequel to: "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (2003)
Plot Summary: In 1969 four years before the events chronicled in the Michael Bay produced remake of Tobe Hooper's epochal slasher film two teens (and their foxy girlfriends) driving across Texas on their way to join the army run afoul of a burly gentleman named Thomas Hewitt, later to be known as Leatherface.
Reason Why It's Not a Regular Sequel: The 2003 "Massacre" killed R. Lee Ermey's Sheriff Hoyt; a prequel enables him to reprise the role. But more importantly, at the end of the first picture, Leather face lost an arm, meaning unless he's going to hire a kid sidekick to follow him around, it'd be awful difficult to operate that chainsaw.
Relatively Necessity of Prequel: High. When someone's as genuinely deranged as Leatherface there's a certain amount of curiosity as to how he got that way. Unfortunately, the film gets most of the "origin" out of the way in the first ten minutes and the rest is your standard gorgeous-20-somethings-in-scantily-clad-peril.
Most Shocking Revelation:That Leatherface is the spiritual brethren of "Perfume"'s Jean-Baptiste Grenouille. As it turns out, Mr. Hewitt was actually born in a slaughterhouse; his mother worked there and couldn't even get so much as a coffee break to go and have her baby, so (much like the scene in "Perfume") she just plops down on the floor, pushes him out, then leaves him wrapped in butcher paper in a dumpster. Instead of a miraculously sensitive nose, Leatherface would gain the power to appear out of thin air and shove a meat hook into things.
Least Shocking Revelation: Leatherface dresses like a butcher because he used to work as a butcher. Creative.
Waiting For the Check To Clear: Michael Bay, the producer of the recent "Massacre" series, who stood to clear a tidy sum regardless of "The Beginning"'s artistic potential.
One Scene That Sums It All Up: As the torture of the innocents begin the two guys are tied up and hung from Leatherface's ceiling. As one loses his cool, the other pleads "Dean! Stay with me! I need you to be a soldier!" Dean and the audiences both, it seems.
"Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd" (2003)
Prequel to: "Dumb and Dumber" (1994)
Plot Summary: In 1986 roughly a decade before the classic Farrelly brothers film starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels Harry (Derek Richardson) and Lloyd (Eric Christian Olsen) meet in a high school special needs class. Hilarity theoretically ensues.
Reason Why It's Not a Regular Sequel: Clearly Carrey and Daniels weren't interested in reprising their roles; clearly the producers weren't interested in paying them enough to make them interested.
Relative Necessity of Prequel: Low. Few questions were asked, let alone left unanswered by the original. Its biggest benefit to audiences is retroactive: it makes the original seem like a Joyce novel in comparison.
Most Shocking Revelation: Lloyd's trademark chipped front tooth broke when he literally ran into Harry for the first time. Most would be deeply annoyed if some stranger mussed their dental work. These two becomes pals for life. But hey they're dumb.
Least Shocking Revelation: That Lloyd's (other) trademark, his bowl cut hairdo, is actually cut with a bowl.
Waiting For the Check To Clear: Eugene Levy who plays Harry and Lloyd's evil principal beneath a moustache and even bushier eyebrows than normal. Sorry Eugene. We can still tell it's you.
One Scene That Sums It All Up: After Harry has an awkward encounter with a chocolate bar in a bathroom (a twist on a similar moment in the first film), Bob Saget enters and screams, "There's shit everywhere!" accurately describing both that scene and the film surrounding it.
"Amityville II: The Possession" (1982)
Prequel to: "The Amityville Horror" (1979)
Plot Summary: Before the Lutz family was terrorized by an unholy evil in their quaint Long Island home, the Montelli family faced said same unholy evil in said same quaint Long Island home.
Reason Why It's Not a Regular Sequel: The original "Amityville Horror" was based on the real Lutz family and their account of the events that transpired in the month they lived there. After they left, plenty of other people came and went from the house, and no one since has complained of any supernatural shenanigans, making a straight sequel a bit tougher to justify (though producers would later, in 3-D no less).
Relatively Necessity of Prequel: High; if the film's purpose was to explain how the house got so horrifying in the first place. Unfortunately "Amityville II" begins with the evil already firmly entrenched as tenant, so it's more like "Amityville Too."
Most Shocking Revelation: That with its lengthy exorcism subplot and crazy demon dude with a reverb voice, "Amityville II" is as much a rip-off of "The Exorcist" as it is of the first "Amityville Horror."
Least Shocking Revelation: Sleeping with your brother, as the Montelli's eldest daughter does, will lead to the undoing of your family. Well, yeah, and you don't even need to be possessed by the devil while you're doing it.
Waiting For the Check To Clear: Burt Young, as the bored-looking and intensely abusive Montelli patriarch, marking the days between "Rocky III" and "Rocky IV."
One Scene That Sums It All Up: The final shot of the film echoes its first: the quiet image of the Amityville house with a "For Sale" sign on the lawn, a deadly threat not only to tenants but to audiences everywhere.
"Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist" (2005)
Prequel to: "The Exorcist" (1973)
Plot Summary:Years before the events chronicled in the William Friedkin film, Father Merrin (Stellan Skarsgard) encounters a demon who possesses a young crippled boy in East Africa.
Reason Why It's Not a Regular Sequel: With all of the original film's cast fully grown or dead, there's little incentive to make a direct sequel, particularly after the shall we say "limited" success of 1977's "Exorcist II: The Heretic."
Relatively Necessity of Prequel: Low. Other than explaining exactly what the early scenes of "The Exorcist" are all about, there's very little reason this movie exists, which is probably why it has such an identity crisis.
Most Shocking Revelation: That this film, by Paul Schrader, really is worse than the one by his replacement, Renny Harlin, who was hired to reshoot the film from top to bottom (and did; his slightly better, slightly louder, and slightly dumber version is called "Exorcist: The Beginning").
Least Shocking Revelation: In light of the languid pace and horrid (as opposed to horrific) special effects, its not all that surprising when Schrader at one point acknowledges on his director's commentary, "I didn't quite know how to shoot this scene," and that he "…[doesn't] know quite what it means," when a character dies with a butterfly in his hand.
Waiting For the Check To Clear: Satan, who clearly phones in the evil (and the crummy computer generated demons) throughout the picture.
One Scene That Sums It All Up: Schrader's final thought on the commentary track: "Somehow we made it through that."


text:
Takes two parameters, Source and Match
Returns the number of items to be delimited/parsed, as a string.
This is a similar command to ParseCount%, which returns the number as an integer.
Wisebox Solutions Inc.9240 Young RoadChilliwack, BC, V2P 4R2Canada
[email protected] [email protected]
Word Cloud
Copyright © 2020 Wisebox Solutions Inc.
Terms of Service / Privacy Policy
Built with Moxie.Build™


text:
About Us
A creative agency based on Michigan, ready to boost your business with some amazing seo strategy and tools. Michigan SEO Agency is one of the best in US to help companies higher ranking in google first page. All the lead generators on the Internet tend to repeat predefined chunks as necessary, making this the first true generator on the Internet.
In the basic page content optimization implemented within three months, we achieved 320% growth in organic search traffic in almost all of our target keywords to determine the average bounce rate and the major search engines page ranking with 15% decline. Customers are actually looking for better visibility, leading to more traffic and sales.


text:
About Us |
Contact Us |
Register |
Log In |
Delivery |
Returns |
Wednesday, 05 August 2020
website developed by
Digital Donkey
- version 2.0
Mobile Towers (DIY)
Mobile Towers (Trade)
Podium Steps
Trestles and Stagings
Hop-up Platforms
Tower Training
Welcome to Scaffold Towers UK...
We are aiming to become the UK's No.1 supplier of mobile scaffold towers, stair towers, podium steps, trestles and stagings.
We specialise in the supply of all access, and work at height safety equipment, stocking items from such leading brands as
to name but a few.
As a division of
Eastern Counties Access Solutions
, we have been established for over 30 years, in which time we have built up an enviable reputation in the supply of access equipment. We are a member of
The Ladder Association
and, as an approved training centre of this association, we are able to offer professional advice in the safe use and selection of the right equipment. There is no Company better equipped to advise and supply all your access equipment needs.
If you require more help in the selection or choice of your equipment, please feel free to
Contact Us
. Otherwise browse our web site to order online or phone or fax your order through.
Email address
Forgotten Password?
0 items
View Basket
Proceed to checkout
Scaffold Towers UK - www.scaffold-towersuk.co.uk
Airfield Industrial Estate, Muck Lane, Rackheath, Norwich, Norfolk NR13 6ST
Tel: 01603 735130 - Fax: 01603 722844 - VAT: 783 862 483 - eMail:
2008 Digital Donkey Web Design Studio


text:
Here you are, some demo snippets.
We've been working very hard on new songs and sounds.
What you get here are some rough studio sessions recorded during rehearsals.
Uncut, unmixed and unmastered. Things were recorded in a rush while the inspiration was burning.
Let this be a little preview of the forthcoming album "Hotel Existence".
Demo studio sessions - Spring 2010 by diskonnekted


text:
Dec 29, 2010
Hello friends 🙂
It's your crazy running buddy with an early morning rant. So over the weekend, I met a guy(we just had a conversation), when it was time for the conversation to end, the guy asked me for my number, I gave it to him. The guy has a girlfriend, so I thought he was saying that we were all going to hang out sometime. Nope, the guy asked me out to lunch and after not mentioning his girlfriend, I declined. Now he can't stop saying that his girl goes out with her guy friends all the time.
KARMA ALERT: I don't think it is wise for a guy or girl in a relationship to go out alone with a single person of the opposite sex(AM I WRONG?). It's just something I hold to my core(due to my lovely interactions with dudes who said they were single but were actually in relationships, and oh yeah the dude who always denied to my face that he was engaged even though he managed to marry said fiancee a few months back).
I don't know about you but I really don't need any bad karma in my life(in fact I would love to be rid of all of it). So while it may be flattering, why aren't any truly single guys around to admire my personality? Maybe its just not meant for me to know right now.
In other news, keeping fingers crossed that the apt gets sprayed thoroughly today. I tried out Bob's cardio last night and it was no joke(will try again later). My arms are a little sore(due to not doing regular pushups in probably years lol).
Had an interesting conversation with a friend last night explaining why I have to eat differently this year(and actually saying outloud that I think I have had the same weight on my mid section for the past 10 years). See, even though I logged the miles and got the t-shirt lol, my eating was only maintaining my weight.
After these past few days of weird eating, I know that my middle has no problem holding on to those same fat deposits(If I were a betting woman, I would bet my 20-30 pounds atleast are right in my mid section). I have maybe five pounds to lose in each arm, and then maybe ten in my legs. My friend was shocked that I said that I had 40 pounds to lose but I do.
The only way that is going to happen is with a change in my eating(which I have never done before in life). See, when I was in high school, I weighed 125(still had my same bubble behind). So basically this is a challenge for myself because I also know that the only way that my times will change is with this weight off. I noticed it when I put on shirts(that used to be tight in the arm area), now stick right to my middle. I don't like that. So here's to more push ups and situps :)Wow! I think this is the first blog that I have ever written about my actual body before.
On that note, let me go get my first cup of tea for the day.
I hope you have a great day and no matter what challenges you may be facing, don't give up 🙂


text:
Still not connected?Sign Up
Thank You!
Your Response has been received successfully.
We will get back to you shortly.
There seems to be some problem sending the request.
Please try again later.
Redirecting you...
A five-member gang of youngsters kidnaps children for ransom. However, there kidnapping comes to a jolting halt when an honest police inspector decides to bust the gang. Will he be able to arrest them within 24 hours?


text:
We change menus each season to incorporate seasonal vegetables and fruits as well as giving variety. We cater for all dietary requirements such as vegetarian, vegan, allergies etc. We are happy to work with you to accommodate a menu suitable for your child.
- Weetabix
- Toast
- Ready break
- Rice crispies
- Macaroni cheese
- Mash potato, sausage or veggie sausage, peas
- Pizza, smiley faces, beans
- Cottage pie and vegetables
- Spaghetti bolognese and garlic bread
- Jacket potato with tuna or cheese and beans
- Fish fingers, oven chips and spaghetti
- Roast turkey, potatoes, vegetables and gravy
- Cheese & tomato pasta bake with garlic bread
- Five bean chilli with rice
- Chicken curry, rice and naan bread
- Pitta bread with cheese and salad
- Sandwiches, crisps and salad
- Crumpets with cheese and salad
- Soup with bread
- Toasted Sandwiches with salad
- Wraps with a selection of fillings
Followed by:
- Yoghurt
- Fruit salad
- Angel Delight
- Ice cream cornets
- Jelly and fruit
- Home made cakes
- Raisins
- Milk and water will be available throughout the dayFresh fruit
- Dried fruit
- Bread sticks
- Crisps
- Carrot and cucumber
For more information please contact us, email firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
MGallery by Sofitel brand announced for Melbourne's fashion capital
AccorHotels will operate the Chadstone Hotel Melbourne under the MGallery by Sofitel brand, set to open in 2019.
The new-build, 250 room hotel will sit alongside Chadstone's hugeretail, dining and entertainment precinct and aims to further cement Chadstone's status as the country's number one fashion destination.
Reaching 13-storeys high with two restaurants, a lounge bar, day spa, fitness and meeting facilities, the hotel will become the tenth MGallery hotel in Australia and will join other Melbourne MGallery addresses including The Como Melbourne in South Yarra and Hotel Lindrum in Melbourne's CBD.
Construction on the $130 million Chadstone Hotel Melbourne will commence in the first half of 2018 with the hotel scheduled to open in 2019.
Simon McGrath, chief operating officer of AccorHotels Pacific, said he was thrilled to be embarking on the project with the joint co-owners of Chadstone and that the development would contribute significantly to the evolution of the world-class precinct.
"We are delighted to be working on Chadstone's new hotel development and are incredibly excited by the synergies it creates; bringing our high-end, boutique MGallery by Sofitel brand to Melbourne's most luxurious fashion address.
"Chadstone has become a destination in its own right with more than 500 stores across retail, entertainment and dining and having an internationally recognised hotel brand within the precinct, coupled with the strength of our loyalty and distribution platform will make for a powerful mix.
"Melbourne has established itself as world-class tourist destination and has the infrastructure to support the 11 million tourists which come to the city annually. To now have a hotel in the city's leading luxury retail hub is incredibly exciting and we look forward to the opportunities this will present our guests and our group."
Vicinity Centres executive general manager, development, Carolyn Viney, said: "We're delighted to be partnering with AccorHotels through its MGallery by Sofitel brand to deliver superior boutique accommodation, dining, wellbeing, lifestyle, and conference amenities while also leveraging Chadstone's premium customer experience across shopping, dining and entertainment.
"MGallery by Sofitel properties offer bespoke, unique consumer experiences that reflect local character which aligns with Chadstone's brand and how we're continuing to evolve the centre," Ms Viney said.
Designed by leading Melbourne-based architects, Bates Smart, it will target a 5 Star Green Star rating using the new generation Green Star – Design/As Built v1.1 rating tool.


text:
By Brett M. Paepke, OD
As anyone who plays a musical instrument can attest, a difficult song or solo is nothing more than a collection of small, easier-to-manage sections. Learn each of the small parts, string them together, and you're a virtuoso. That same wisdom can be applied to the patient experience within your office. Analyzing each stage of the patient visit allows you to see where you're hitting all the right notes and where you might need to get back on key. In our practice, for example, a patient-perspective analysis of our dispensary paid off in a one-year increase of 10 percent in revenue-per-patient and capture rate.
Dr. Paepke's office reception area prior to renovations (top), and after improvements made, based on patient-perspective analysis(bottom). In one year, both capture rate and revenue-per-patient increased 10 percent.
Our practice defines the patient experience as composed of:
When you analyze the patient experience in your practice, do sofrom the patient's perspective. Keep in mind: You're creating an "experience," not just delivering a service.
At each office meeting, we address one stage.
As part of the reception stage analysis, for example, we exit the office and re-enter with "fine-toothed combs" looking for weaknesses in the initial impressions. Our needed improvements and the results of our enhancements were guided by the patient satisfaction surveys we conduct multiple times a year.
We try to view things from a patient perspective, identify things that would make the experience at that stage better, implement those changes and then evaluate via survey. Occasionally, a survey respondent will offer suggestions, but the surveys are designed more to assign a numerical score to how we did. If scores slide down, we know we need to re-evaluate.
When we looked at the in-office reception area from a patient perspective, the first impression wasn't consistent with the modern technology and care we provide. Subsequently, we established a budget, planned and then executed a front office makeover (see before- and after-photo left and above) to revamp that first impression, as well as promote confidence in the care and materials we provide.
The view of Lake Champlain from Dr. Paepke's office, which takes advantage of the stunning views.
While we were restricted in terms of layout by the physical dimensions of the space, we were able to open the entire front office up allowing the influx of much more natural light and unobstructed views of Lake Champlain and the Green Mountains of Vermont. The front office was converted from a dated decor to one more modern and representative of the experience we want people to have here.
Since the changes, 97 percent of surveyed patients say their "first impression when I walked through the door" is "very positive" (72 percent) or "positive" (25 percent), the top two options on our five-choice scale.
We try to be astute observers and figure things out on our own first, implement the changes we identify, and then "grade" ourselves with patient surveys. As mentioned above, the surveys will occasionally provide suggestions, but it is mainly a statistical tool. We run our 10 question surveys online through SurveyMonkey which allows for easier data collection and analysis.
Ourrenovation also positivelyimpacted the dispensary and departure stages of the patient encounter. On the dispensary side, the available square footage and visibility increased significantly, leading to a 10 percent increase in both eyeglass sale capture and revenue-per-patient versus the previous year. Ninety-three percent of surveyed patients rated the dispensary as "excellent" (65 percent) or "good" (28 percent) compared to previous years where patients would question if we even had glasses. Patient departure was facilitated by the much more open front office resulting in fewer bottlenecks. This is significant because we absolutely don't want to ruin an experience by making a patient wait to leave.
While the changes to the front office were great for reception, dispensary and departure, they did little beyond setting the tone for the pre-test and exam stages of an encounter that take place elsewhere in the clinic.
When we analyzed pre-testing, we collectively drew on our experiences as patients at other health care providers' offices and came to the conclusion that the entire stage could be made much more personal with a simple introduction by the technician. None of us could remember the names, or even being told the names, of the people who worked with us prior to the actual provider. This seemed counterintuitive for creating a personal relationship and establishing trust. How significant of a relationship and bond can a patient have with the practice if they don't know the names of everyone involved in their care? As such, all pre-tests are now started with a self-introduction by the technician. While we don't have comparative statistics to track the effect this has had, we do know that 100 percent of surveyed patients rated their interaction with their technician as "extremely satisfied" (98 percent) or "moderately satisfied" (2 percent), the top two options of five.
We pride ourselves on investing in the latest instrumentation to improve the quality of care we provide. Whether it's an OCT to manage a disease process or an anterior segment camera to show a patient why their eye hurts, we have the most up-to-date instruments. But so do many other practices. So when we analyzed the exam stage of the encounter for ways to be different, we felt that a discussion of corneal topography and wavefront aberrometry was the way to go. We were already gathering that data as part of each pre-test, and the analytical software provides fantastic maps that we now use to educate patients about everything from contact lens-related disorders and corneal disease to cataracts. When asked how they would rate their experience with their doctor, 100 percent of our surveyed patients chose the highest rating: "extremely satisfied."
Today's eyecare patients are bombarded with options for both care and material purchases. Practices need to critically consider their value proposition to the patients they seek to serve. Staging the patient experience, or breaking it down into smaller parts for easier analysis, facilitates this process. With attention to each note your practice is playing, the greater the chance the resulting song will be music to your patients' ears.
Patient Experience: Key Ongoing Questions for You and Your Staff
What can you do during each patient experience stage to be different?
What can you do during each stage to positively influence the patient's perceptions of the practice?
What can you do during each stage to promote loyalty and take the patient out of the marketplace?
What does the practice do between visits to keep itself at the top of the patient's mind?
Brett M. Paepke, OD, is the co-owner with his father, Charles Paepke, OD, of FirstView Eye Care Associates in Plattsburgh, NY. To contact him: firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
When I started school in Tennessee after moving from North Carolina I was miserable. I had just lost all the friends I had worked hard to make in North Carolina , and I instinctively worried that the civilian school culture would be far less accepting of me than the base school. In later years I would find just how accurate that fear turned out to be but the fourth grade was wonderful. Mrs. Alsup was and still is my favorite teacher from elementary school.She and Mrs. Ryan , my in school aid,did everything they could to help me succeed. When Mrs. Alsup had the idea to pair some of my rowdier classmates with me in a peer helping system in class, she asked my parents but she also asked me how I felt about it and made it clear if I said no the whole project was scrapped. I said yes and it turned into one of the most fun and enlightening things I have ever done. I think she was one of the first adults to give me full veto power over an idea and mean it. This means a lot because I'm 31 now and still not granted that basic level of autonomy by some people. I told you all this small stuff to get to the big thing, the thing she probably doesn't even realize she did, Mrs. Alsup saved my life.
Fast forward to the fifth grade As wonderful as the fourth grade was that's how awful the fifth grade turned to be. The teacher was great, my aide that was evil. Mrs. Ryan had decided to go to school to be a teacher and so I was paired with a new aid entering my fifth-grade year. This woman was verbally and/or emotionally abusive every single day . She teased me and called me names because I needed LOTS of repetition to grasp math concepts. She yelled at me and made me cry because bladder spasms I couldn't control made me have accidents at least once a week, which of course, she had to clean up. She chastised me about my weight, even though I was only eleven and had only just started to come close to weighing the same as other kids my age. For a while, I wasn't allowed to play on the playground because she didn't want to push my chair through shavings. I was permitted to read outside during recess but I think the other kids thought I was in trouble because I was sitting with teachers and didn't talk to me , meaning the baby friendships I had started the previous year fell apart fast.
Why didn't I tell my teacher? She and my aid were friends outside of school and I didn't think she'd believe me. I know that I should have told her anyway. I could've gone to Mrs. Alsup, she would have listened if my new teacher wouldn't . At some point that year I seriously considered suicide. The reason I didn't try apart from worrying about my parents and sister, was the love and time Mrs. Alsup put into me .


text:
Why do I prefer to eat raw food?
Because all the nutrients remain intact and I am now eating half the quantity and the 'cooking' time is reduced in half! Instead of only digesting the food, I am assimilating the food. Eating raw food is like eating light.
Are you ready to start feeling better than ever?
Please contact me for a FREE initial consultation. No obligations, lets meet and see if it works for you. You may also get started by completing the following forms.


text:
Bring your ukulele or borrow one for an all ages sing-along with the Homebrew Ukulele Union (HUU). The HUU is a sing-along group that comes together at the University of Illinois in the course Designing Musical Experiences. As a part of the course, students build ukuleles, write songs, perform, and collaborate with local public schools. Joining them will be students from Robeson Elementary School who work with music specialist Sarah Filkins.
Saturday, November 2nd, 2:00pm-3:00pm
Independent Media Center