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Posts Tagged 'crowdsourcing'
Love the way Unilever are integrating sustainability communications into their Facebook page here – which currently has a healthy 697,000 likes. Within the dedicated 'sustainable living' tab on its app the brand asks people what they do and don't want to hear about from its three sustainability pillars.
The thumbs down sign is almost, but not quite, a forbidden 'dislike' button. But in any case negative responses are not displayed – it seems only total thumbs ups are shown.
Participation numbers aren't high – but that's probably because it's buried half way down a secondary tab on its main brands app (and not sure how long it's been there). They also might want to consider integrating voting with some sort of incentive, e.g. a charity donation – like Petplan UK are doing at the moment on their Facebook app:
Disclosure: Petplan UK are a client
Pinterest has officially been the fastest growing social network this year. But why do we love it so? Why is it driving sales so much better than other social networks? Why is it so moreish?
I'm running a private Pinterest training session next week, where I'll be covering:
- A rapid introduction to the hottest visual social network right now
- Overview of best in class activity
- Activation framework
And I thought it would work well, especially for those in the room not already into it, to start off explaining why people love Pinterest… how they feel about it… to bring it to life. Personally, I'd muse the following:
- We're tired of looking at words on screens. I was talking to an old friend the other day who was at college when computers first hit the market. She said they used to tell them not to read on screen. To this day she usually prints everything – she says everyone has got too obsessed with saving trees (which can be replaced) – but your eyesight can't. Whatever you think about this logic.. I think one of the reasons we love Pinterest is our eyes have become wary of reading reams and reams of information, and you can actually see a whole world of ideas on Pinterest (especially when you browse the 'everything' tab – without reading a word.
- Simple serendipity. Eli Pariser, among other doom-sayers, have waxed lyrical at length about the danger of filter-bubbles in how we use the web as individuals. Our use of Twitter is mostly confined to the people we follow, the lists we have chosen to follow, searching for – or following the hashtags we are already interested in. On Facebook we see the pages and people we already like or know. But on Pinterest the 'Everything' tab is an easy, visual view into the world of many, many, others. It's easy to skim past any picture you find offensive (and actually its Acceptable Use Policy and usage norms mean I very rarely see anything that fits that category from my perspective).
- The whole world meets one click product discovery. When we shop online we usually go to a very few trusted websites, for the brands and websites we know. Or use massive shopping aggregators like asos which enable us to scroll through pages and pages of bags and shoes. But it can be samey. We get tired of looking at 300 dresses just to find one we like. We get ourselves into the mood to shop but somehow the pressure of scrolling and searching takes the shine off. You can't touch or see the items up close and you get a bit fed up after watching 20 little videos to work out how the fabric hangs. But on Pinterest a dress or pair of shoes, new make-up or hair idea is all mixed up with cool travel and home and even digital inspiration. It's not just one shop or even a virtual high street… it's pictures of the whole world online.. it's the beach, the bar, the library, the philosopher and the boutique all at once.
That's just some speculation from me… but why do other Pinners love it? I thought I'd use the ethnographic method of observing what people say about their feelings about it on Twitter:
Really long hair, perfect skin, awkwardly cute clothes, and dream houses.. I would love to live in the world of Pinterest.—
Anna Miller (@Anna_Miller23) June 23, 2012
I love shopping via Pinterest because I'm lazy and other people have found all the cool shit for me.—
Stacy Place (@OneDizzyPenguin) June 21, 2012
I love Pinterest because I found the most amazing recipe for garlic sauce pasta. It's really easy to make too.—
Meghan (@1millionteacups) June 20, 2012
I love how Pinterest has me saving every wine bottle like I'm actually going to make a craft or some shit out of it.—
Sara Romanowski (@_skroman) June 14, 2012
Love #Pinterest. No, really...I do. Use it for travel and MUSIC. #cyberprSCS—
(@ashleyrcummings) June 20, 2012
Another reason why I love @pinterest. Survey Finds Consumers Using @Pinterest to Engage With Retailers More... bit.ly/MJQlac—
Chris Ciaccia (@Commodity_Bull) June 22, 2012
Any Pinterest fans about? I have loaded some fab new finds to my page 👗🎃🎉🍸🎂 #LotsOfStuff 😃—
Dannii Minogue (@DanniiMinogue) June 23, 2012
I feel like quotes on Pinterest always ground me. They're a good reminder about how blessed I am.—
Allie Moses (@Allie__Moses) June 22, 2012
Graphics/videos are VIP in today's Internet - especially with Pinterest. I love using P because it forces me to think graphically. #bookpro—
John Kremer (@JohnKremer) June 14, 2012
@jillvanbrunt that's the only reason I have a pinterest so I hope my followers love puppies too!!🐱🐶🐶🐶—
Livvv (@Llivv_) June 18, 2012
Pinterest puts me in such a good mood for some odd reason since I wish I had everything on there.....—
Amanda Hulmes (@abhulmes) June 15, 2012
another reason to love #pinterest: you can pin politics, educate citizens #ro12 #rosocial—
Katy Abram (@katyabram) June 15, 2012
I'm convinced the reason things look so good on #Pinterest is bc the pictures are taken by professionals, I'm obsessing over serving spoons!—
Breanne Thomlison (@BreanneMT) June 22, 2012
@JRNorwood I've started bookmarking with Pinterest. For some reason, Pinterest seems less intimidating to non-techies. #atplc—
Janet Abercrombie (@jabbacrombie) June 15, 2012
It seems the 'Pin It' function doesn't work on images from Facebook. Just another reason to love Pinterest.—
Huw Morgan (@martini_weenie) June 19, 2012
In keeping with ethnographic research principles – I started with a question, gave my feelings on the platform and the perspective from which I am approaching the question, and uncovered themes from my observations.. represented here in this word cloud:
Here are those themes in more detail:
- It helps you easily share what you find and love.. without having to comment on it in any great detail – e.g. Danni Minogue's pets board has shown me with pictures, some insight into her personality I'd never have really gauged otherwise
- I've heard people say this in person too – it takes you into another world – a more dream-like world
- It drives desire
- It inspires you to make new things (or makes you feel you should be!)
- It gives you hints, tips and recipes that can brighten your day
- Music was a new one on me – how does one use it for that I wonder? Via video perhaps? This is how I discovered you can now pin sounds from Soundcloud onto Pinterest
- The quotes help you feel positive (personally I always feel an undercurrent of embarrassment when I re-tweet inspirational quotes on Twitter but it just doesn't feel like that on Pinterest)
- It makes you feel good by letting you know when other people like what you love
- I've often found it annoying that I can't pin directly from G+ or Facebook – but the fact someone suggested it as a reason to love Pinterest made me think… it's a good safeguard against it getting filled up with lots of personal pictures of people falling out of nightclubs and indeed outfits
- It can lift your mood – or help you explore the mood you're in
- The ease which which you can share visually makes it less intimidating for non-technical users as a collaboration / bookmarking tool
- Photos are usually professionally taken / shared when they fit with the professionally taken shots there – meaning their visually stunning appeal differs from the more amateur photography you might expect on Flickr, or personal (to you) shots you see on Facebook
- It can help creative people to think visually
So that was fun… a view into the world of our positive feelings towards Pinterest. But I must report that in the course of this research I found a significant number of people reporting negative feelings – i.e. the wish their lives were as fabulous as the world they can enter on Pinterest / their Pinterest boards. This reminded me of criticisms levelled at magazines over the years – on how they make people feel in terms of pressures on how to be and what to buy.
Back on the sunnier flip side, something I realised in trawling tweets about why people have taken to Pinterest so readily – is how much they love to say how much they love eachother's pins. We might posit here that if Facebook be the platform of like, Pinterest be that of love…
Pass the towel: Wikipedia is not a soapbox
Posted by: Mariam on: May 1, 2012
Wikipedia is a global phenomenon; the openly-editable encyclopedia is the sixth most popular site in the world. So it's not surprising that, every now and again, vested interests seek to manipulate its content. Not least in the American presidential race, where, for example, Mitt Romney's Wikipedia page has been edited hundreds of times since the Republican primaries began.
Wikipedia's community guidelines are all available on line and easy to find, but still, sometimes the best of us in the communications industry, or perhaps our colleagues, clients or friends… wonder whether it is a good idea to change an entry in their favour. In such cases, the following points (adapted from Wikipedia's guidelines) should be followed, to avoid wasting your time creating / editing changes that are undone, or worse, cause severe embarrassment or legal consequences:
- All of your edits should be in line with the aim of Wikipedia, which is to produce a neutral, reliably sourced encyclopedia
- Wikipedia is not a battleground – you should not try to begin or engage in disputes via Wikipedia entries
- Avoid Conflict of Interest (COI) editing. This involves contributing to Wikipedia in order to promote your own interests or those of other individuals, companies, or groups. Where advancing outside interests is more important to an editor than advancing the aims of Wikipedia, that editor stands in a conflict of interest
- This includes avoiding self-promotion: including advertising links, personal website links, personal or semi-personal photos, or other material that appears to promote the private or commercial interests of the editor, or their associates. Examples of these types of material include:
- Links that appear to promote products by pointing to obscure or not particularly relevant commercial sites (commercial links).
- Links that appear to promote otherwise obscure individuals by pointing to their personal pages.
- Biographical material that does not significantly add to the clarity or quality of the article.
- Promotional article production on behalf of clients Editors should not create articles which serve solely to promote their subject. All Wikipedia articles should contain useful information written as if from a neutral point of view. The writing of "puff pieces" and advertisements on Wikipedia is strictly prohibited. If you contribute to Wikipedia on behalf of clients, you owe it to both them and the encyclopedia to make very sure you understand the standards for content here, and do not insert promotional material.
- Wikipedia is not a soapbox or means of promotion or advertising. All information about companies and products are written in an objective and unbiased style. All article topics must be verifiable with independent, third-party sources, so articles about very small "garage" or local companies are typically unacceptable. See also Wikipedia:Notability (organizations and companies) for guidelines on corporate notability.
- Those promoting causes or events, or issuing public service announcements, even if noncommercial, should use a forum other than Wikipedia to do so.
If you are in a situation where you need or wish to try and adapt a Wikipedia page on behalf of an individual or institution on the grounds of accuracy, explain your case on the Wikipedia talk page that sits behind it – being transparent about how you would like the page to be edited and why, and including reference links.
Kit Kat Chunky Champion cracks recipe for successful integrated social campaign
Posted by: Mariam on: February 24, 2012
Today Kit Kat UK ends its grand social campaign to choose who will be the next 'Chunky Champion' (voting ends midnight tonight).
This truly integrated communications piece, where the brand released four limited edition chocolate bars of different flavours and asked the public to vote on which will remain in the nation's sweet shops, demonstrates how a social media campaign can work across multiple platforms in harmony.
It also speaks to the promise of social media enabling even massive corporations to bring people into their product decision-making processes.
Facebook voting
The Kit Kat UK Facebook page has enabled voters to select from four choices for the Kit Kat chunky bar. With well-positioned use of a 'like-gate' (you can move around the page but not vote until you 'like') page visitors are enticed in to make their selection.
After the necessary 'like' you are presented with a clear and compelling voting page…
But the mechanics are a little clunky after this point – after getting to the voting app you need to click again to confirm your vote or enter your details for the competition. This seems a little unnecessary – personally I would have designed it for votes be submitted first and offer the competition option to users afterwards, but it's a fairly minor detail.
Of more annoyance is the way Facebook's news privacy controls work -after hitting vote you get its weird app halfway house… the social media equivalent of the Beetlejuice waiting room.
And on the app screen while it is good that you can restrict who sees this activity to certain lists of friends, you cannot select more than one list (maybe they need a visit from a friendly G+ engineer on this one).
Word of Mouth
From personal experience the Word of Mouth on this has been truly buzzing… I've heard several complaints that you 'can't get hold of a peanut one anywhere'. This meme also spills onto KitKat's Facebook wall – where it might be considered whether this 'shortage' is actually rather convenient PR for the campaign…
Interestingly I have mostly seen women on social media talking about wanting the white chocolate version (currently in second place) – whereas the campaign is aimed at young men – and the peanut butter version has been the clear winner throughout.
If more women are saying they want white (we know they generally communicate more on social networks like Facebook than men do) – but peanut butter is still winning – perhaps this means Kit Kat have indeed hit a sweet spot by appealing to rafts of men who will hit the vote button but not necessarily engage in conversation about it. (The campaign was designed to reach a male audience).
TV and radio
Radio ads have sent people to the Facebook page to vote – specifying that participants must be over 18. Even more compelling has been the strategic tie up with ITV – which has enabled ads showing live voting updates to be screened on prime TV ad slots.
For YouTube KitKat recruited four well known actors from the cutting edge of comedy to support the campaign with webisodes where each campaigns for their flavour:
- KIT KAT Chunky Orange supported by Miles Jupp, known for his role in In The Thick Of It, and his appearances on panel shows Mock The Week and Have I Got News For You, offers the addition of a zingy orange flavour
- KIT KAT Chunky White Choc supported by Tony Gardner, known for his roles in The Thick Of It and Lead Balloon, sees the famous Kit Kat wafer encased in luxurious white chocolate
- KIT KAT Chunky Double Choc, supported by Miranda Hennessy, known for her role in Channel 4's Phone Shop, adds an extra layer of milk chocolate to make for an indulgent chocolatey taste
- KIT KAT Chunky Peanut Butter supported by Jason Lewis, star of his own MTV show The Jason Lewis Experience, sees the return of a popular past variant with its own distinct flavour combination and new recipe
The Results
Anecdote aside there are early signs that the campaign has reaped dividends on Facebook. In addition to obvious engagement on the UK Facebook wall they have seen massive growth in likes since the campaign began – they have been one of the top growing pages in the last month on Facebook:
Source: Social Bakers
Soundbite: Angry Birds boss embraces remix culture – 'piracy' good for business
Posted by: Mariam on: February 3, 2012
"We could learn a lot from the music industry, and the rather terrible ways the music industry has tried to combat piracy"…. Rovio sees it as "futile" to pursue pirates through the courts, except in cases where it feels the products they are selling are harmful to the Angry Birds brand, or ripping off its fans. When that's not the case, Rovio sees it as a way to attract more fans, even if it is not making money from the products. "Piracy may not be a bad thing: it can get us more business at the end of the day."
Mikael Hed via Stuart Dredge
It is definitely a balancing act but for us it's all about helping people to have quality discussions, whether people want to use a pseudonym or not. It seems as though most people currently associate a commenter using their real name as one who produces a higher quality comment. We're looking to let everyone know, by our data, that's incorrect
Talton Figgins, Disqus


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Winter is here, and with it comes the need for moisturisers. But how do you choose which moisturiser to treat your skin with? Whether you have dry skin, oily skin or a combination of both, the sheer volume of products in stores can often confuse you - which one should you choose? Luckily, you don't have to. You can now create your own homemade moisturizer; not just one but three!
DIY Moisturiser For The Normal Skin Type
Aloe Vera and Almond Oil:
You've heard of Aloe Vera and Almond Oil separately. Each of them, have unique properties that nourish and protect your skin. Aloe Vera revives the cells of your skin keeping it supple, smooth and damage free from the UV rays of the sun. Almond oil is rich in Vitamin E and D and soothes irritated skin and delays the ageing process.
2 tablespoons of Almond Oil
4 tablespoons of Aloe Vera Gel
2 tablespoons of Coconut Oil
1 teaspoon of Vitamin E Oil
1) Take a clean cup or bowl and mix Aloe Vera Gel, Vitamin E Oil and Almond Oil together
2) Melt the Coconut Oil slowly and add it to the mixture.
And it's done!
DIY Moisturiser For Dry Skin
Beeswax, Olive, Coconut & Essential Oil:
While the benefits of Olive and Coconut oil for your skin are well known, we thought we would remind you why these two ingredients are so effective for your skin. Olive oil revives the cells of your skin, keeping it young and supple and coconut oil softens skin, leaving it smooth and glowing.
1/2 cup Olive Oil
1/2 cup Coconut Oil
1/4 cup Beeswax Pellets (can be bought online)
10 drops of Essential oils (optional)
1) Combine Olive Oil, Coconut Oil and Beeswax in a large heatproof bowl or jug
2) Put this in a large pan and fill the pan with 3/4 water
3) Place this on the stove and heat it until it melts (5 mins)
4) Take it off the stove and replace the hot water with cold water. Put the bowl/ jug back in the pan and wait for the moisturiser to cool.
5) Add the essential oil
6) Whisk it with an electric whisk or fork until the texture is thick and creamy.
Lo and behold! Your homemade moisturiser for dry skin is ready!
DIY Moisturiser For Oily Skin
Milk, Lime & Olive Oil
Don't you hate the greasy feeling that moisturisers give you? Where is that perfect winter cream for oily skin you've been looking for? Luckily with this next recipe, your skin will feel soft, supple and fresh. The lactic acid in milk softens your skin, olive oil rejuvenates your skin and protects it from damage and the lime removes dead cells and clears blemishes.
1/4 cup milk
2-3 tablespoons of Lime
2-3 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1) Take a clean cup and pour in a quarter of milk
2) Add two tablespoons of Olive Oil and mix it well with the milk
3) Finally, pour in two tablespoons of Lime
And Voila! Your moisturiser is ready.
So, whatever your skin type, try out one of these moisturisers and leave your house with that soft and dewy glow! The winter can't touch you!
Also, check out 9 amazing ways to use glycerin for dry & oily skin problems here at our blog
Read useful skin care tips here.
Learn expert beauty tips here.

subset: commoncrawl


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GREENVILLE, S.C. — For decades, students at Bob Jones University who sought counseling for sexual abuse were told not to report it because turning in an abuser from a fundamentalist Christian community would damage Jesus Christ. Administrators called victims liars and sinners.
All of this happened until recently inside the confines of this insular university, according to former students and staff members who said they had high hopes that the Bob Jones brand of counseling would be exposed and reformed after the university hired a Christian consulting group in 2012 to investigate its handling of sexual assaults, many of which occurred long before the students arrived at the university.
Last week, Bob Jones dealt a blow to those hopes, acknowledging that with the investigation more than a year old and nearing completion, the university had fired the consulting group, Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment, or Grace, without warning or explanation. The dismissal has drawn intense criticism from some people with ties to Bob Jones, and prompted some victims and their allies — including many who were interviewed by Grace investigators — to tell their stories publicly for the first time, attracting more attention than ever to the university's methods.
On Friday, Stephen Jones, president of the university and great-grandson of its founder, addressed students and employees, saying, "We grew concerned that in the process, Grace had begun going beyond the originally outlined intentions," but he would not elaborate. He said the university had not told Grace what its concerns were and wanted to discuss them with the consultant but could do so only face to face and felt compelled to fire the firm first.
"We terminated our agreement with Grace so that we could sit down and get it back on track," Mr. Jones said, vowing to complete the investigation, with or without Grace.
Critics angrily dismissed his statement. "As always, they're worried about protecting the church and the university, not the victims," said Camille Lewis, who spent two decades at Bob Jones as a student and faculty member before leaving in 2007 and said she had tried to help several abuse victims over that time.
Grace, whose leaders include lawyers and psychologists, specializes in advising churches and other Christian organizations on addressing abuse. It was founded by Basyle J. Tchividjian, a grandson of Billy Graham and a law professor at Liberty University, also an evangelical Christian school. The group declined to comment on Bob Jones.
Bob Jones is no ordinary university. Unaffiliated with any denomination, it is a leading force in promoting a kind of fundamentalism so strict that the university's founders assailed evangelists like Mr. Graham, Oral Roberts and Jerry Falwell as too accommodating to the larger world.
On the campus here, students are forbidden to listen to popular music or watch television or movies; the student handbook tells them to avoid clothing brands that "glorify the lustful spirit of our age in their advertising"; they face sharp limits on dating and even leaving campus; and they are told which churches in town — usually run by pastors tied to the university — they may attend. Faculty members and other employees are expected to adhere to the university's literal interpretation of the Bible and are forbidden to drink alcohol.
And the university, with about 4,000 students and an affiliated primary and secondary school, is having no ordinary version of the conflicts that have rocked colleges around the country over their treatment of claims of sexual assault. Those controversies usually begin with outrage over highly publicized offenses on campus, followed by an investigation.
But at Bob Jones, most of the stories that have been made public do not involve assaults on campus. They are about people who were abused as children and then looked for help in college. Nor is there much sign of outrage on the immaculate campus of low-rise beige brick buildings, covered walkways, spreading oaks and manicured lawns (off limits to foot traffic). Several students interviewed said they had known little or nothing about the charges and were not concerned about them.
Mr. Jones said that the university began the investigation not because of any particular allegations, but because of the trouble it had seen at other schools, and that it rewrote its policies on responding to sexual assault in 2012. But its attitude toward sexual assault and bad publicity had come under increased scrutiny by then because one of its board members, an alumnus and the pastor of a large church, had been accused of covering up a rape within his congregation and publicly shaming the victim.
A group of alumni called for the university to dismiss the man from the board; he eventually resigned. A student who had criticized the university over the affair was not allowed to graduate and alleged retaliation.
Catherine Harris, who attended the university in the 1980s, is one of several people who said it was very hard for her to talk to Grace investigators about being abused — and she now feels betrayed that Grace has been sidelined.
"Nearly everyone at Bob Jones grew up in a fundamentalist environment, so if you were abused, your abuser probably came from inside that bubble, too, which is what happened to me," she said. "The person who supposedly counseled me told me if I reported a person like that to the police, I was damaging the cause of Christ, and I would be responsible for the abuser going to hell. He said all of my problems were as a result of my actions in the abuse, which mostly took place before I was 12, and I should just forgive the abuser."
Ms. Lewis said she had seen other women have similar experiences. As a college senior, she took a friend to a university administrator for counseling after the other student said she had been molested by her father, a Sunday school superintendent in their church.
"They said not to go to the police because no one will believe you, to defer to authority like your father or especially someone in the church," she said. "They said if you report it, you hurt the body of Christ."
Erin Burchwell said that when she accused a university employee of sexually assaulting her in the late 1990s, "their idea of an investigation and counseling was to ask me what I was wearing and whether it was tight, and to tell me not to talk to anyone about it because it wouldn't look good for me." She said university officials alternated between "saying it never even happened and saying I was a willing participant."
Randy Page, a university spokesman, said Tuesday that university officials had not yet met with people from Grace and that any disagreements would remain between them.
He said he could not respond to the claims about how the university had handled abuse victims in the past, "because I wasn't there," but that Bob Jones has a commitment to "a loving, scripturally based response" for everyone.


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The Ancient Egyptians worshipped different deities depending on the location of the home, and it was believed that they would inhabit an object. The god 'Osiris', considered to be the 'lord of eternity', it is said manifested himself in the form of a pillar made of wood in the village of Dedu. The figure of Osiris is represented as a mummified figure with a pillar on his head. The pillar is called 'Ded' and was linked with the resurrection of the dead Osiris. A priest and relatives of Osiris would help the Pharaoh in a feast concerned with the erection of a pillar. Having laid a wooden pillar on the floor, the group would lift up the pillar which was seen as symbolic of the actual moment of Osiris's resurrection. This pillar later became associated with representing the four pillars which held up the earth. The Ded symbol was always placed around the neck of a royal on death to ensure a safe passage after death.
(See Mystical WWW Main Index Philosophy)
© Mystical www 2010-13 :|: AK Dupe


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A step-by-step guide on how I configured Burp Collaborator Server on a typical Debian 9 VPS. The guide explains how to use Let's Encrypt wildcard SSL certificates together with Collaborator
- An high risk vulnerability reported by me and Mathew Nash, affecting Oracle Hyperion Financial Reporting Web Studio - possibly all versions up to 188.8.131.52
- A walk-through to the possible attacks against WEP networks. Although no one uses WEP in 2017, this is the first of three posts that aim to explain the possible attacks against WI-FI networks.
- What can be more exciting than being authorized to test one of the most hyped companies in 2016?
- The JNews component was found to be vulnerable to SQL Injection affecting multiple pages.
- The AcyMailing component was vulnerable to SQL Injection on the export controller. This was another issue discovered by me, Filipe and Vitor while we were looking for low-hanging fruits in the TOP Joomla plugins.
- JEvents component was vulnerable to SQL Injection on new events functionality. This vulnerability was located inside the backoffice.


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As I wended my way across the Dorset/Somerset countryside down little lanes, I felt more and more excited.
The story first started when Kirsty of 'Dither and Faff' saw my work on Instagram and fell in love with the designs and the yellow ochre colours that I use in some of my fabrics. She felt they would be perfect for her shepherd's hut B&B, which was all but ready apart from the finishing touches like cushions and blinds for the windows. After looking at fabric samples, I put Kirsty in touch with Helen, of 'Helen Izzard Designs', who I knew would be able to bring Kirsty's vision into life. Helen guided Kirsty with the final choice of fabric design and once that was chosen, the fabrics were printed to order. At that time, the hut was not finished, and Helen had to walk across the fields to measure for blinds – quite an unusual brief!
What I loved about this project was the coming together of local businesses. We have so much talent on our doorstep, and so I contacted Somerset Living to share our story.
That's why I found myself in the middle of nowhere. Somerset Living thought it was a great story and so the three of us got together to take some photos for the magazine. What a happy day that was with plenty of laughter, cake and good weather. We trundled all the photographic gear over the field to the shepherd's hut and soon caused chaos and mayhem in a very small space!
Between us we managed to get some great photos for the Somerset Living magazine, but the best thing to come out of the day was the forming of new friendships.
If you're looking for a B&B with a difference in Dorset (and gorgeous fabrics) look at Dither and Faff
And if you're looking for someone to make exquisite things (from gorgeous fabric) visit Helen Izzard Designs
Somerset Living – November Issue 2018


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After Democrats' midterm election win in Wisconsin, Republicans are trying to limit the new governor's reach.
Tony Evers beat Gov. Scott Walker by about 30,000 votes. To combat the loss, Republicans are outlining legislation designed to check Evers's power.
The proposals include:
New limits on early voting
A proposal to move Wisconsin's presidential primary in 2020
New authority for lawmakers in state litigation
Curbing the power of the incoming Democratic attorney general
And while outraged Democrats took to the state Capitol to express their anger, the Republicans' actions are anything but unprecedented.
The time between the election and the end of a lawmaker's term is often referred to as the "lame duck" period.
During that period, controversial legislation is frequently introduced, including proposals that would limit an incoming legislator's powers.
A similar situation is playing out in Michigan, where new bills that would make it more difficult for incoming Democrats to accomplish their agendas are now being introduced.
One measure, House Bill 6553, would give the state House of Representatives and Senate the power to intervene in legal proceedings.
This control is normally given to the state attorney general and governor's office, both of which will be under Democratic control shortly.
Citizens in Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan and North Carolina must make their voices heard. Don't let our democracy be stolen. Stop these legislatures from taking these shameful actions. They will apparently do anything to keep power – including ignoring the people. https://t.co/junl9FXFy9
— Eric Holder (@EricHolder) December 4, 2018
Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder tweeted that this is an "outrageous abuse of power." He added: "The proposed power shifts are drawing some parallels to Republican efforts in North Carolina back in 2016."
In North Carolina, Republicans attempted to pass legislation to limit the authority of the Democratic governor-elect but ultimately lost the legal battle.
Republicans have said they're pushing the measures to help create a more balanced government.
While the proposed legislation may not be unusual, it certainly is an interesting moment in democracy.


text: On 01/08/2011 15:02, Marthinus Beneke wrote: > Hi guys > > I have a question regarding multiple Erlang installations on Linux. > > Is it possible to install multiple releases into the same prefix > (/usr/local/lib/) and still use the different versions independently? > For example erts-5.6.5, erts-5.7.5 and erts-5.8.4? > And would I have to change anything in the applications to support this? > > It would seem that the installation is built to support this since each > erts version has it's own folder. > > Thanks in advance. > Hey Marthinus, https://github.com/evax/kerl this tool is just what you're looking for. Cheers, Carlo


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A light and airy room overlooking the Thames Estuary that serves a varied French style menu. The Brasserie is open 7 days per week and provides classic, freshly prepared dishes using the finest local ingredients.
Along with the a la carte menu, set and buffet menus can be arranged for a minimum of 15 persons. Please note that the Brasserie is completely non-smoking.
The Brasserie serves a French style menu using local sourced suppliers and local independent businesses.
View our sample menu below, which may contain some dishes that are seasonal.View Our Menu


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Also: Have a Talk with MegaHAL on Kongregate.
When I first created a simple Chatbot, which just searches answers for user inputs from a predefined XML file, someone pointed me to MegaHAL as an example which can be trained from users' inputs.
MegaHAL is an advanced ChatBot, created by Jason Hutchens in 1998 and won the Loebner Prize Contest. MegaHAL is based on 4th-order Markov models to construct the model of language, so it can learn from user's input. Thanks to Adobe Alchemy, porting MegaHAL is almost painless.
[Save the brains]: "right click" =>"#Save brain"
[Upload your brains]: "right click" =>"#Upload brain"=>browse for your save brain, it's a zip file=> type command "#brain user" to change the brain
Available Brains:
#brain aliens (Bishop from Aliens!)
#brain bill (Bill Clinton)
#brain caitsith (Cait Sith from FFVII)
#brain danish (Danish MegaHAL).
#brain dune (Alia from Dune!)
#brain ferris (Mr. Ferris Bueller himself!)
#brain german (German MegaHAL)
#brain manson (MegaMANSON, the Marylin Manson personality) #brain pulp (Marsellus Wallace from Pulp Fiction!)
#brain scream (Randy from Scream!)
#brain startrek (Data from Star Trek)
#brain starwars (Threepio from the Star Wars Trilogy)
I also created a forum for Flash MegaHAL, so you can upload and share your trained brains there:
Source Code of Flash MegaHAL:
In Game->Right Click->Download Source Code
MegaHAL Official Website:
To know more about one of the best ChatBots MegaHal:


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Story of My Amazing Journey to Bronx
View: 1011
This trip doesn't have any journals yet.
Journals = travelogue = diary = descriptions of your traveling experiences, which can be written during the course of your journey.
It's best to write down your travel experience as soon as possible or you will gradually lose the precious memory of your trip.
Trip Overview
Bronx is wonderful city of New York. I got a chance to visit this amazing and wonderful place when I went at my aunty Della's home. Her best friends made a trip to Bronx. They invited her but she sent me with them. They already booked a budget hotel among the hotels in Bronx. Location of that hotel was so good. We stayed there only for 3 days. But we enjoyed great time in 3 days there.There were lots of places to see like Wave Hill, New York Botanical Garden, Maritime Industry Museum at Fort Schuyler, Orchard Beach, Bronx Zoo and Hall of Fame for Great Americans. We went firstly at the New York Botanical Garden. There we saw beautiful and different kinds of wild flowers.For a plant lover that place was not less than heaven. For a casual fan of trees and flowers New York Botanical Garden Bronx must launch you into the 'plant lover' category. The Garden was so exquisite. Bronx Botanical Garden boasted with 27 specialty gardens. For kids of aged 2-12 that beautiful garden offered the Everett Children's Adventure Garden, which was another hands-on, fun. We all enjoyed there a lot and then came back to our hotel.Second day we were at the Bronx Zoo. Bronx Zoo always going on for visitors and families and there are always something different for the people. We had seen there Bengali Express Monorail, an exciting narrated ride above Siberian tigers, Asian Elephants, and Indian Rhinos. New York Bronx Zoo was the Wild Asia complex, which was a zoo within a zoo, complete with a Jungle World, education center, Asian forests, birds, and lizards. I picked lots of pictures of all of the. After spending time there we all left back.Orchard Beach is artificial beach in the Bronx. It was really man made beauty. There I enjoyed the water rafting and swimming also. We all spent great time there. Beach mostly liked by everyone. My aunt's friends were also enjoying the water rafting and swimming. Whole day we spent there. At the evening time we went at the restaurant to eat some food at the Carifesta Restaurant after that went for shopping at the Hunts Point Farmers Market of the Bronx. After having great fun of whole day we left back at our hotel. It was Econo Lodge in Bronx. Amazing time to stay there. It was our tremendous journey of ours. After that we all came back to home by taking next flight. After coming back I told the whole story of my journey to Bronx to my aunt Della.
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In this article
Each week, we've planned easy-to-prepare meals that you and your baby can share. Here you'll find all the recipes you need to follow in week five of our you-and-baby meal planners. Lunch recipes are for one or two, and dinner recipes are for four.
Print or save your weekly meal planner for week five
Monday's recipesPrint or save Monday's recipes and shopping list
For you and your baby: tuna fishcakesServes one
This tasty meal contains iron, and is a good source of B vitamins.
- 1 small cans of tuna, drained and mashed
- 2 tbsps fresh breadcrumbs, white or brown
- Half a tsp thyme
- 1 egg, beaten
- A little grated lemon rind
- 2 large potatoes for mashing
- Handful of chopped cherry tomatoes, to serve
Boil the potatoes until soft. Meanwhile, mix the tuna, breadcrumbs, thyme and lemon rind together well, adding the egg a little at a time until you have the right consistency. Form into small patties. Heat a little oil until hot, and gently fry the fishcakes until golden brown on both sides.
Drain the potatoes and mash together. Add the chopped cherry tomatoes to serve.
For you and your baby: chicken and mushroom risottoServes four
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 300g diced chicken breast
- 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 400g mushrooms, roughly chopped
- 1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 350g risotto rice
- 1 litre hot low-salt chicken stock
- Freshly ground pepper
Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add the chicken and cook for five minutes. Once the chicken is cooked through, add the onions and stir round for another two minutes.
Add the mushrooms, thyme and garlic and cook for another minute or so until everything is coated and glossy. Add the rice, stir and then add a third of the stock.
Continue to stir until the stock has been absorbed, then add the next third. Again, stir until absorbed and then add the remaining third. Season well with the pepper and allow to simmer for a few minutes.
Tuesday's recipesPrint or save Tuesday's recipes and shopping list
For you and your baby: cheese and tomato pizza muffinsServes one
- 1 English muffin
- 2 tbsp of tomato pizza topping from a jar
- 50g grated hard mozzarella
Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees C. Cut the muffin half and place on a baking sheet.
Spread some pizza topping on each slice of muffin. Sprinkle the cheese on top. Bake in the pre-heated oven until the cheese is bubbling, about 10 minutes. Let it cool a little before cutting your baby's portion into fingers.
For you and your baby: salmon and haddock fish pie with sweetcorn and peasServes four
This creamy fish pie is rich in vitamins B6 and B12, and the salmon provides important omega 3 fatty acids. You can use any white fish for this dish. This dish serves four. If there are leftovers, you can freeze it, or you can keep it in the fridge for 24 hours.
- 350g haddock fillet
- 200g salmon fillet
- white part of one leek, sliced
- 500ml semi-skimmed milk
- 3 bay leaves
- 20g butter or margarine
- 1 tbsp plain flour
- 1 tbsp chopped parsley
- 800g potatoes
- Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C, or gas mark 5.
Poach the haddock, salmon and leek in the milk, along with the bay leaves, for 10 minutes. Meanwhile boil the potatoes in salted water until they are tender. Remove the bay leaves from the milk and then throw them away.
Carefully lift out the fish and divide into smaller pieces. Place these in a greased ovenproof dish. Top with the pieces of leek.
Melt the butter in a saucepan. Then stir in the flour to make a roux. Cook for a couple of minutes, and then gradually stir in the poaching milk to make a white sauce. Heat until thickened, stirring all the time. Season the sauce, add the chopped parsley and pour over the fish.
Drain and mash the potatoes, adding the butter or margarine and a little milk if required. Spoon the potatoes over the fish, spreading carefully to cover all the mixture. Bake for 30 minutes until piping hot throughout. Serve with peas and sweetcorn.
Wednesday's recipesPrint or save Wednesday's recipes and shopping list
For you and your baby: homemade sardine pate on white wholegrain toastServes one
This richly satisfying snack is a great source of omega 3 fatty acids, calcium and vitamin E.
- 2 canned sardines in oil, drained and well mashed
- Half an avocado
- 1 tsp lemon juice
Mash the ingredients well together and spread on white wholegrain toast.
For you: spaghetti carbonara with wilted spinachServes four
- 300g tagliatelle
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 4 spring onions, sliced
- 100g broccoli florets
- 300g wafer thin ham or turkey ham, cut into small strips
- 100g frozen peas
- 200g half-fat creme fraiche
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Squeeze of lemon juice
Steam the broccoli for about 10 minutes until cooked through but not too soft. Place the tagliatelle in a large saucepan of boiling water and cook for about 10 minutes or until the pasta still a bit of bite (al dente).
While the pasta's simmering, heat the oil in a frying pan and soften the spring onions for a few minutes. Turn the heat very low and add the all the remaining ingredients. Leave to warm through until the pasta is ready.
Thursday's recipesPrint or save Thursday's recipes and shopping list
For you and your baby: hummus, grated carrot and red pepper pittasServes one
- 2 tbsp hummus
- 1 pitta bread
- Handful of finely grated carrot
- Half a red pepper, chopped into strips
- Handful of finely grated cheese
Cut the pitta in half, and open up each piece. Spoon in the hummus, and then add the grated carrot, the strips of red pepper, and the grated cheese. Leave out the strips of pepper for your baby's portion. Cut the pitta into fingers for your baby.
For you and baby: pork and apple casserole with mashed potatoServes four
- 3 medium apples, peeled and chopped
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 300g diced pork
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 2 carrots, chopped
- Few leaves of fresh sage
- 300ml low-salt vegetable stock
- 200ml apple juice
- 1 tbsp cornflour
Pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees C.
Place the chopped apple in some water with the lemon juice until it's ready to use. Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the meat and onion together. Cook until the meat is golden brown on all sides and the onion is softened.
Put the meat and onion into an ovenproof dish and add the carrots and sage. Cover with the stock and apple juice and then cover the dish with a lid and cook in the oven for about two hours.
Mix the cornflour with a little water to form a paste and add to the dish. Stir to thicken, add the drained apple pieces and cook for another 15 to 20 minutes.
Friday's recipesPrint or save Friday's recipes and shopping list
For you and your baby: baked beans on toastServes one
- 1 slice of wholegrain bread
- Small tin of baked beans
Pop the bread in the toaster. Meanwhile, heat up the beans in a pan on the hob or in the microwave. Add the beans to your toast, and sprinkle with grated cheese if you wish.
For you and your baby: cottage pie with green beansServes four
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 300g lean mince beef
- 2 carrots, finely chopped
- 2 sticks of celery, finely chopped
- 500ml low-salt beef stock
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- 400g potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
- 50ml semi-skimmed milk
- 1 tbsp butter or spread
- 50g cheddar cheese
- 300g baby spinach leaves
Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C.
Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the onion with the meat for five minutes, until the meat has browned and the onion is softened. Add the carrot and celery and cook for another five minutes. Stir in the stock, season with pepper and allow to simmer for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, place the potatoes into a saucepan of water and cook until tender. Drain well and return to a low heat to dry off. Mash the potatoes, setting aside some for your baby to have the next day. Then add the milk and the butter or spread and beat until fluffy and smooth.
Mix the cornflour with enough cold water to make a runny paste. Stir the paste thoroughly into the meat mixture and simmer for a further five minutes.
Spoon the meat mixture into an ovenproof dish and cover with the mashed potatoes. Sprinkle with the cheese and bake in the preheated oven for between 25 and 30 minutes until golden brown.
While the pie is cooking, steam the spinach leaves, saving a handful to cook fresh for your baby tomorrow.
Saturday's recipesPrint or save Saturday's recipes and shopping list
For you and your baby: cheesy baked beans in a baked potatoServes one
- 1 medium-sized baking potato
- Small tin of baked beans
- Handful of grated cheese
Cook the potato by either putting it in the oven for an hour at 200 degrees C, or by microwaving it for five minutes on full power. The potato may not be crispy if you cook it in the microwave, so you could finish it off in the oven for 10 minutes.
Heat up your baked beans in a pan on the hob, or in the microwave. Pour the beans over your baked potato and add some grated cheese. Mash up some of the mixture for your baby.
For you and baby: tuna pasta bake with broccoliServes four
- 600g pasta such as penne
- 50g butter or spread
- 50g flour
- 600ml semi-skimmed milk
- 250g cheddar, grated
- 2 cans of tuna in spring water, drained
- Large can of sweetcorn, drained
- 2 tbsp parsley, chopped
Heat oven to 180 degrees C.
Boil the pasta for two minutes less time than the cooking time stated on the pack.
To make the sauce, melt the butter or spread in a saucepan and stir in the flour. Cook for a minute, then gradually stir in the milk to make a thick white sauce. Remove from the heat and stir in all but a handful of cheese.
Drain the pasta, mix with the white sauce, tuna, sweetcorn and parsley, then season. Transfer to a baking dish and top with the rest of the grated cheese.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the cheese on top is golden and starting to brown.
Sunday's recipesPrint or save Sunday's recipes and shopping list
For you and your baby: lamb hotpot with carrots and peasServes four
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 300g diced lamb
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 leek sliced
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 500ml low-salt vegetable stock
- 1 tbsp flour
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
- 300g potato, thinly sliced
Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees C.
Heat the oil in a frying pan and brown the meat. Put the meat into a casserole dish. Fry the onions in the frying pan you used for the meat until soft. Add the onions to the meat. Put the leeks and the carrots into the pan. Fry and stir for a few minutes before adding them to the casserole.
Put the flour into the pan and stir round, soaking up the juices. Then stir in the stock and the rosemary. Bring the mixture to the boil, lower the heat and simmer for a few minutes.
Layer the sliced potato over the meat and vegetables. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and cook for one and a half hours. Remove the lid and cook for a further hour.
For you and your baby: apricot and apple crumbleServes four
- 4 apples, peeled, cored and chopped
- 4 apricots, peeled, stones removed, and chopped
- 150g wholemeal flour
- 100g olive oil spread
- 2 tbsp demerara sugar
- 125g muesli or a mixture of oats, seeds and chopped nuts
Preheat your oven to 200 degrees C.
Place the apricots and apples in a saucepan, add four tablespoons of water and cook gently until soft. Transfer into an ovenproof dish.
Make the crumble topping by placing the flour in a bowl and rub in the spread. Use the tips of your fingers to work the mixture into crumbs. Mix in the sugar and muesli and place on top of the apple mixture.
Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, until golden brown on top.
For you and your baby: lentil and butternut squash soupServes four
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 leeks, trimmed, halved and sliced
- 2 carrots, peeled, halved and sliced
- 1 litre low-salt chicken stock
- 410g can lentils, drained and rinsed
- 1 butternut squash, diced
- Parmesan, to serve
In a large pan, heat the oil. Add the leeks, carrots and butternut squash and cook for five minutes until the vegetables start to soften.
Pour in the stock then bring to the boil. Cover and simmer between 10 and 15 minutes until the carrots are tender. Stir in the lentils and cook for a couple of minutes. Put the mixture in a blender and blend until smooth. Season with freshly ground pepper.
Go to week six for more recipe ideas.


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Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of men's tailored and casual clothing retailer Jos. A. Bank Clothiers (NASDAQ: JOSB) plummeted 18% today after its 2012 profit outlook disappointed Wall Street.
So what: The stock has slumped over the past few months on worries over slumping demand, and today's downbeat guidance only reinforces those concerns. While management blamed the bleak outlook largely on unseasonably warm weather, increased marketing costs and lower gross margins suggest that its promotion-centric business model just isn't as profitable as it used to be.
Now what: Management expects 2012 net income to fall roughly 20% from 2011, implying a profit of about $78 million. "Despite the disappointing earnings results on a year-over-year basis, the fourth quarter and full year of fiscal 2012 will still be very profitable," CEO R. Neal Black reassured investors. "We continue to remain very positive about the company's long-term prospects." With the stock hitting a new 52-week low today and trading at a forward P/E of 9, buying into that turnaround talk might not be a bad idea.
Interested in more info on Jos. A. Bank? Add it to your watchlist.


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BROOKLYN (PIX11) – Here's a bit of advice: Don't trust everyone who comes to your door, even if they look official.
In East New York, Brooklyn cops are hunting for a band of thieves with a legit looking front man. They have released surveillance video that shows the guy and his crew in the well orchestrated act that could lead to quality time behind bars.
In the video the first guy shows up carrying a box and wearing Fed Ex clothing. On Friday afternoon, he walked past the house at about 3:40 p.m. then comes back and cases the place one more time before opening the front gate and heading to the door. He's followed by his crew.
A guy in a leather jacket passes by and then comes back. Another guy in a burgundy sweatshirt, and a guy with a stocking cap head in the others all follow. After knocking on the door cops say the crew forced their way into the apartment and assaulted the four people living inside while demanding to know where they could find money and gold. Cops say they stole cell phones and gold chains.
A 72 year old guy had to be taken to the hospital after the beat down. He suffered minor injuries.
But there's more. Cops are also looking for help in finding two other guys who hit a house on Staten Island in broad daylight. They say they impersonated cops when they approached a home on Sheldon street on January 6th. Cops say they used a police badge and a gun when they entered a home and ripped off the people living there. The guy with the badge had a chipped front tooth.


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Alligator leather
This is a work in progress. Please be aware that there may be errors or incorrect translations, including spelling or transcription errors.
If you'd like to become a wiki editor and participate in the project, please send an email to Suzy, and include your desired user name in the email. You can also send suggestions for corrections, new words to be added, or compliments too!
Related terms
Translations for "alligator leather"
- English: alligator leather
- Danish: (translation needed)}
- Dutch: (translation needed)
- French: (translation needed)
- German: (translation needed)
- Italian: (translation needed)
- Latin: (translation needed)
- Spanish: piel de cocodrilo
- Swedish: (translation needed)


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OverviewUniversal-life insurance was created to address many of the problems associated with whole-life insurance. To fully understand universal life, refer to Life Insurance: Whole-Life Insurance, Virginia Cooperative Extension publication 354-145, for some background information.
One problem with whole-life insurance is its lack of flexibility. For instance, with whole life, what if the owner cannot make a premium payment? What if the owner wants to lower the death benefit because he or she does not need the same level of insurance anymore? Universal life provides options for both these concerns.
A second problem with whole life is that it is much like a black box. The owner cannot see exactly how it works. With whole life, the owner may ask: What are the actual expenses this year? How much did the policy earn and where did it go? Again, universal life provides the answers to these questions.
How Universal-Life Insurance Is Similar to Whole-Life InsuranceAs with whole-life insurance, universal-life insurance is a permanent policy. Its goal is to be in effect when the insured dies, no matter when that may be. As a permanent policy, universal life has a cash-value that will help the owner meet the higher insurance costs as the insured gets older.
How Universal-Life Insurance Differs from Whole-Life InsuranceA universal-life policy can be funded (with premium payments) in many ways. There is a minimum amount of premium that is needed to keep the insurance in effect that is similar to the cost of an annual term insurance policy. There are also upper limits on the amount of premium dollars the owner is allowed to put into the policy, but the range between these lower and upper limits is quite large.
In a whole-life policy, if the owner wants to take money out of the cash-value account but keep the insurance in effect, he or she must use an interest-bearing loan. With a universal-life policy, the owner still has the option of taking a loan, but he or she can also take a straight withdrawal. The owner must be careful when taking a withdrawal, to leave enough cash value in the policy to help meet the policy's expenses.
A universal-life policy also provides complete disclosure.The owner is able to see exactly what the expenses and returns are for any given period. In addition, he or she has the option of lowering the death benefit at anytime (within certain limits). In some cases, the owner can also add more death benefit to the current policy.
Death Benefit OptionsIn addition to allowing the owner to change the death benefit once the policy is issued, universal life also allows the owner to choose between two different death-benefit options. These are usually referred to as Option A - Level and Option B - Increasing.
Option A works very much like whole life. As the cash-value account grows, the net amount at risk (the amount the insurance company has to pay out of its own pocket if the insured dies) becomes lower. In an option B policy, the net amount at risk stays the same. Therefore, the beneficiary gets the original stated death benefit and the money in the cash value account.
Option B is more expensive than Option A because the insurance company will have to pay the beneficiary more of its own money when the insured dies. The owner may be allowed to switch between these options. The owner can always switch from B to A, and but may only switch from A to B if the insured is a good risk - is healthy - and this usually requires a doctor's visit. People use Option B polices to increase the amount that can be saved income tax free.
Cash-Value AccountThe cash-value account of a fixed universal-life policy is invested in short-term debt. The returns are usually close to the three-year Treasury bill. (See Life Insurance: Variable Universal-Life Insurance, Virginia Cooperative Extension publication 354-147, for a discussion of variable universal-life polices.) Historically, these returns have averaged 5 percent or 6 percent. Many insurance companies guarantee that returns can never be below 3 percent or 4 percent. These returns are income tax free inside the policy.
PremiumsAs stated above, within certain limits, the owner can choose the level of premiums he or she wants to pay. However, a person should pay more than the minimum amount of premium each year. The minimum premium only meets the insurance company's costs to cover the insured, and no money would go into the cash-value account.
Each policy will have a "target" premium payment. This target is the amount of premium that the insurance company believes to be adequate to fund the policy. It is generally a good idea to pay premiums at least equal to this target premium, assuming a conservative rate of return (5 percent for example).
Definitions of TermsBeneficiary - The person or entity receiving the death benefit at the death of the insured.
Cash Value - The amount of total premiums paid for a policy minus the costs for insurance in whole-, universal-, and variable universal-life policies. The cash value grows tax-free in an insurance policy.
Death Benefit - The total cash payment made to the beneficiary upon the death of the insured.
Insured - The person on whose life the insurance has been purchased. If the insured dies, a death benefit will be paid to the named beneficiary.
Owner - The person or entity who owns the insurance policy. The owner may or may not be the insured. The owner can designate the beneficiary, and is responsible for paying premiums. See Life Insurance: The Impact of Ownership, Virginia Cooperative Extension publication 354-142 , for more information on the impact of ownership.
Premium - The amount billed to the owner of an insurance policy (usually monthly, quarterly, or annually) by the insurance company. In term and whole-life the full premium must be paid to keep the insurance. In universal- and variable universal-life, the amount billed may or may not be a mandatory payment to keep the insurance.
Other SourcesFor more information on whole life insurance, see the following sites: Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education (http://www.life-line.org), the American Council of Life Insurers (http://www.acli.com), and the Insurance Information Institute (http://www.iii.org).
Virginia Cooperative Extension materials are available for public use, reprint, or citation without further permission, provided the use includes credit to the author and to Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Tech, and Virginia State University.
Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Virginia State University, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture cooperating. Edwin J. Jones, Director, Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg; M. Ray McKinnie, Administrator, 1890 Extension Program, Virginia State University, Petersburg.
Publication Date
May 1, 2009


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Heading to Hawaii : Hawaii Island and Oahu
- Any Advice?!
Do you remember back in December when we surprised our parents with a TRIP TO HAWAII?! I think they would have rather heard that we were pregnant! haha But since that isn't the case, Hawaii is probably the second best surprise!!! We are all SO excited about our trip and we can't WAIT to share our favorite parts of Oahu with our parents! We traveled to Oahu two years ago and it was a trip of a life time! We just loved it!!! This time we're spending a lot of time on Hawaii Island and we need your help!


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Senior Mechanical Design Engineer
The job has expired.
|Job Reference:
|Number of Positions:
|Contract Type:
|Fixed Term - Full Time
|Contract Details:
|Fixed Term - 12 months
|Working Hours:
|39 hours per week
|Closing Date:
|Job Category:
|Business Unit:
|Warrington, Cheshire
Job Introduction
The Engineering Design Team require further design resource over the next 12 months to deliver a new and exciting programme of work within NNL facilities as part of the government funded Advanced Fuel Cycle Programme (AFCP).
The Engineering Design Team provides engineering design support across NNL and in the wider nuclear industry. We cover all aspects of engineering design such as optioneering studies, concept design, detail design, manufacturing, testing and installation. Our expertise includes the supply of active research and development rigs and analytical equipment, and the modification of existing nuclear process plant.
The role of the Senior Mechanical Design Engineer is to provide engineering and scientific support to the design, build, testing, development, commissioning and on-site installation of active rigs and analytical equipment to support scientific research and development work in the nuclear industry.
Main Responsibilities
- The innovative development of engineered solutions from concept through to installation on active plants.
- Liaising with safety assessors, facilities personnel, project stakeholders and other scientific/engineering disciplines as required to provide fit for purpose engineered solutions.
- The supervision of small engineering teams to deliver engineering work packages.
- Undertaking calculations to support / underpin the design and authoring technical reports and design memos.
- Undertake the checking of engineering work performed by others.
- Provide technical advice and guidance on issues appropriate to their working area.
- Comply with all legislative, regulatory and company policy standards and procedures e.g. safety, quality, risk, security etc. applicable to the role.
- Liaise with project managers to ensure that work is delivered to meet time, cost, quality and safety requirements.
- Demonstrable experience in dealing with supply chain, from scoping requirements and authoring procurement specification through to overseeing contract delivery as necessary.
- Initiation and progression of the procurement process, including liaison with suppliers and manufacturers, through delivery and inspection.
- Requirement to travel is expected, between NNL locations and customer locations.
The Ideal Candidate
Essential Skills/Qualifications:
- Degree in Mechanical Engineering or closely related subject and a relevant level of experience.
- Knowledge of the legislative, regulatory, quality and environmental requirements relating to engineering development projects.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills, such that difficult concepts can be conveyed clearly and concisely to customers, regulators and key stakeholders.
- Evidence of problem solving and seeking solutions.
Desirable Skills/Qualifications:
- Chartered Engineer
- Good knowledge of nuclear industry and plant operations.
- Competency in Inventor / AutoCAD / AutoCAD LT desired with the ability and flexibility to undertake own CAD work if necessary.
- Strong and supportive team player.
- Self-motivated, high energy contributor.
- Questioning attitude.
- Good organisational and planning skills.
About The Company
Grounded in robust science and decades of experience, National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) is the authoritative voice in the UK and beyond for technological development within the nuclear power sector.
Our unparalleled understanding of the science, challenges and opportunities makes us an unrivalled authority and partner in the field, providing experts, technologies, and access to cutting-edge facilities to organisations around the world.
Harnessing potential technologies and translating them into to industry-ready solutions means our pioneering approach spearheads international improvement and technological progress.
We work on projects as small as drilling a hole to analyse underground wastes with our integrated micro drilling technology, or as large as developing state-of-the-art power systems for spacecraft, based on radioactive materials


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Whether your guest list is large or on the smaller, more intimate scale, custom printed wedding favor gifts are available to fit nearly any budget, wedding party or guest list size. There are so many items available to show your appreciation to those who came to your wedding or to provide a fun or memorable expression of that special day worth remembering. Can't find the wedding favor you're looking for on this page? You may utilize our search features above to locate the right favors for your wedding or to find other items you might need for the wedding and other upcoming special events-- We have thousands to choose from!
How to Make Your Wedding Memorable with Personalized Wedding Favors
A wedding is the most important day in the life of any woman or man. The sheer significance of this date is why so many married-couples-to-be go all out and creating the most unique, personalized, and memorable event that they can. Every couple wants to make it clear who the star of the wedding is, and ensure that they and their guests remember the event long after it's over. However, no wedding is unique without personalized wedding favors.
Anything that can be used in a wedding can be customized, as anyone making items for weddings knows how important it is to keep a wedding unique. The best place to start is usually with the items absolutely needed for the wedding reception, since that's such a major part of the event. Customized wine and champagne glasses with the name of the couple printed on them are perfect for this, and they can even be purchased in stemless form to eliminate any worry about the most common form of wine glass breakage. Custom place card holders for the name cards on the tables and personalized tea light holders for the candles on the tables are more things that can help to make the wedding reception that much more special.
Once those are taken care of, it's on to the custom wedding favors that make a wedding truly memorable. Various types of candy and special beverages are always well-received. This can take the form of individual personalized candies or chocolates � personalized chocolate kisses are especially appropriate! Other types of edible goodies range from cookies to nuts to jam, and personalized teabags in exotic flavors are also good choices.
Beauty products can also work well as custom wedding favors. Bottles of lotion or bath products can be personalized with the name of the couple, and they'll give the guests who receive them a bit of luxury. Just about any health or beauty product can be found in a form suitable for a small gift, so it's just a matter of choosing the one you like best.
There are truly far too many possibilities for
personalized wedding favors to list all of them here. Even the boxes,
bags, and ribbons for the wedding favors can be made unique to the wedding
couple. Whatever specific gifts you decide to give your guests,
personalization will ensure that your wedding will remain forever clear in their


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Video_4_Dendritic Cells and T Cells Interact Within Murine Afferent Lymphatic Capillaries.MP4
Afferent lymphatic vessels contribute to immunity by transporting antigen and leukocytes to draining lymph nodes (LNs) and are emerging as new players in the regulation of peripheral tolerance. Performing intravital microscopy in inflamed murine ear skin we found that migrating dendritic cells (DCs) and antigen-experienced effector T cells spend considerable time arresting or clustering within afferent lymphatic capillaries. We also observed that intralymphatic T cells frequently interacted with DCs. When imaging polyclonal T cells during an ongoing contact-hypersensitivity response, most intralymphatic DC-T cell interactions were short-lived. Conversely, during a delayed-type-hypersensitivity response, cognate antigen-bearing DCs engaged in long-lived MHCII-(I-A/I-E)-dependent interactions with antigen-specific T cells. Long-lived intralymphatic DC-T cell interactions reduced the speed of DC crawling but did not delay overall DC migration to draining LNs. While further consequences of these intralymphatic interactions still need to be explored, our findings suggest that lymphatic capillaries represent a unique compartment in which adaptive immune interaction and modulation occur.
- Transplantation Immunology
- Tumour Immunology
- Immunology not elsewhere classified
- Immunology
- Veterinary Immunology
- Animal Immunology
- Genetic Immunology
- Applied Immunology (incl. Antibody Engineering, Xenotransplantation and T-cell Therapies)
- Autoimmunity
- Cellular Immunology
- Humoural Immunology and Immunochemistry
- Immunogenetics (incl. Genetic Immunology)
- Innate Immunity


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A message from Four Seasons Sunrooms regarding COVID-19:
We are committed to maintaining a safe and healthy workplace for our employees, contractors, and our valued clients! As…Posted by Four Seasons Sunrooms London & Waterloo on Tuesday, March 17, 2020
Schedule an Appointment
Call us now at 1-888-SUNROOM or email firstname.lastname@example.com to book your in-home design consultation!
We specialize in:
- Sunrooms
- Pergolas
- Windows
- Outdoor Home Improvement
- Conservatories
Why Four Seasons?
Simply the Right Choice For Your Sunrooms and Home Products
Your home is the cornerstone of your life. It's your place to rest and relax, spend time with the people you love, build your future, celebrate your successes. And it's very likely the largest single investment you've ever made. So when it's time to add light and space to your home, choose a year-round Four Seasons sunroom, screen room, patio enclosure, solarium, conservatory, pergola, patio cover or energy-saving windows and doors.
Discover your happy place.
Four Seasons Sunrooms TV Spot 2019


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Windows Server 8: Highlights of the upcoming server OS
ITworld got an exclusive first look at Windows Server 8. Here's the cream of the crop of the 300+ new features.
In version 3 of PowerShell, Microsoft upped the number of commands to over 2300 commands, all designed to let the admin folks without tons of developer experience manage and automate their servers. The server team also made it clear to us that they wanted to reduce the learning curve for PowerShell by using suggestive mechanism. Say, for example, that you want to create a new folder share and want to give it a unique description. PowerShell allows you to do that remotely or locally just by typing commands such as "New", "Share", "Path" and "Description" -- a pull-down menu shows lets you choose the appropriate commands.
Hyper-V: "Version 3 kills them all"
In an unusually aggressive move, Microsoft bragged about Hyper-V, claiming that "once we get to version 3, we kill them all." And I think they're on to something.
Hyper-V 3 in Windows Server 8 sports some pretty hefty performance improvements and balancing that's sure to make the virtualization crowd go wild. The server team made sure that CPU power, memory, network I/O and storage I/O are automatically balanced or can be balanced based on admin policies. They've also beefed up the maximum usage of hardware resources immensely. Windows Server 8 Hyper-V supports 160 processors and up to 2 TB of RAM (physical) and 32 CPUs and 512 GB memory per virtual machine.
And thanks to new features such as Guest NUMA and the ability to remove virtual CPUs, it allows for a more dynamic performance management of Hyper-V. In essence, guest NUMA allows the guest operating system to make smarter (and controllable!) decisions about thread and memory allocation.
Scaling has also been an issue in Hyper-V in the past: even by adding more virtual CPUs, you couldn't really expect the performance to scale accordingly. In Windows Server 8's hypervisor, that's changed. Microsoft promises scaled performance with every V-CPU you add. Until we've gotten our hands on the new Hyper-V, we have to take their word for it, though.
On the networking side of things, Hyper-V got some impressive feature that improve network performance such as, Single Root I/O, Dynamic Virtual Machine Queue (DVMQ), Receive Side Scaling (RSS) and Ipsec Task Offload, all designed to allow for a more effective bandwidth allocation, priorization and and throttling when needed.
There are also a handful of storage enhancements found in Hyper-V 3.
Besides multiple performance fixes, such as multipath I/O, we're going to see three big new features coming in 3.0. First, there's the new VHDX format. This new format supports sizes of up to 16 TB and is more resilient to corruption. Plus, the user defined metadata is already included and it gives admins support for larger block sizes to adapt to workload requirements. Another big one is Live Storage Migration, which moves any VHD files, saved states and other VM metadata from one machine to another without the need to take it offline. That's actually quite amazing since you won't experience downtime during servicing (such as SAN Upgrades or regular migrations). For that to work, the machine will automatically be mirrored and synchronized during runtime. Once the copy process is done, it will be deleted on the source machine. The VM keeps on running, with no interruption with the exception of one millisecond of network connectivity loss, when the adapter switches from one machine to another.
And Hyper-V replica allows you to seemlessly duplicate virtual machines (or just single VHDs) without the need to take the virtual machine offline. As Steven Sinofsky confirmed in his September 7 blog post, there are very strict hardware requirements, so Hyper-V will solely run on the latest generation of Intel and AMD CPUs.
The last feature I want to mention is Hyper-V Network Virtualization. It allows you to run multiple virtual networks on physical network: each virtual network has the illusion of running as a physical fabric in and of itself.
Now read: Windows Server 8's massive storage enhancements
This article, "Windows Server 8: Highlights of the upcoming server OS," was originally published at ITworld. For the latest IT news, analysis and how-tos, follow ITworld on Twitter and Facebook.
Sandro Villinger is a contributor to ITworld. For more by Sandro, see:
15 incredibly useful (and free) Microsoft tools for IT pros
Windows 8 Hyper-V and MinWin: A game changing strategy?
Hyper-V & virtual PCs: How to handle virtual disks.
This story, "Windows Server 8: Highlights of the upcoming server OS" was originally published by ITworld.
Copyright © 2011 IDG Communications, Inc.


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Tekmira Pharmaceuticals' (TKMR) Treatment Used in First American Ebola Cases
Shares of Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp. (TKMR) were down -1.86 or -6.30 percent to $27.67 per share in premarket trading this morning. The stock is trading correctively after the shares surged on Friday as news that medical facilities will be using its TKM-Ebola treatment on the first U.S. Ebola cases. Tekmira Pharmaceuticals stock closed at $29.53 per share, up +4.06 or +15.94 percent in Friday's regular trading session.
This morning, a photojournalist, working in Liberia will be the fifth American to contract the Ebola virus. Ashoka Mukpo is expected to travel to Omaha, Nebraska today to receive treatment for the disease. and will be the second patient to be treated at the Nebraska Medical Center's specialized isolation unit. Mukpo was on assignment for NBC News when he contracted the virus last week.
The first person treated with Tekmira Pharmaceuticals' drug TKM-Ebola at the Nebraska Medical Center's isolation unit was American aid worker Rick Sacra, who was successfully treated last month and was allowed to go back to his Massachusetts home on September 25th after being treated for three weeks.
The TKM-Ebola treatment is still in Phase 1 tests, nevertheless, some analysts believe that the company's work with the U.S. FDA will expand to include a consortium on a planned controlled clinical trial. Tests will probably be conducted in Africa where the Ebola outbreak begun and has reportedly claimed as many as 3,400 lives.
Last month, Tekmira announced it had already reached a tentative agreement with the FDA, in a press release, Dr. Mark J. Murray Tekmira's President and Chief Executive Officer said that, "Tekmira is reporting that an appropriate regulatory and clinical framework is now in place to allow the use of TKM-Ebola in patients. We have worked with the FDA and Health Canada to establish this framework and a treatment protocol allowing us to do what we can to help these patients".
The FDA has already granted Tekmira with "potential use of its TKM-Ebola treatment "for investigational use for patients in the U.S. that have contracted Ebola. The company has yet to formulate a plan for creating a U.S. stockpile order to monetize its treatment. According to some analysts, recurring orders between $75 million and $100 million are possible.
Tekmira stock has risen sharply since trading at $7.22 per share in mid December of 2013. Despite this morning's selloff, the stock is still up sharply for the year. As more Ebola cases appear in the United States, Tekmira stock could easily make a new all-time high in the coming weeks.
Other News About Tekmira Pharmaceuticals
Tekmira to Present at BIO Investor Forum
CEO Dr. Mark J. Murray will make a presentation in San Francisco on October 7th.
Analyst downgrades rating from Outperform to Market Perform.
Other Stocks in the News
Hewlett-Packard to split into two public companies
Company will divide into two listed companies.
Samsung to Build $15 Billion Chip Plant as Phones Stall
Company will begin construction on the plant in South Korea next year.
Published on Oct 6, 2014By Jay Hawk
Posted in ...Market Commentary Investing Stock of the Day Stocks


text: 2009 has born witness to countless struggles in a subdued global economy. Collateral damages can be seen in every industry, with some governments forced to put projects on hold while others pressed on with stimulus packages. A&S reviews the year's happenings and presents how industry players have prepared for 2010.Lowered forecasts from Frost & Sullivan and IMS Research indicated that earlier optimism for the industry was premature, and the industry has indeed suffered. However, increased fear of crime and terrorism has prompted countries, both emerging and mature, to take proactive measures. According to the "Global Homeland Security 2009-2019" report, worldwide government spending on products and services for homeland security reached US$141.6 billion in 2009, with continuous growth going forward, said Roni Klein, VP of Sales for Verint Video Solutions APAC, Verint Systems. "Prevention of terrorist attacks and detection of perpetrators are vital."To this end, security activity has been booming in infrastructure-related projects, including all modes of transportation, city surveillance, and health care and educational institutions. Funding, however, has been difficult and postponed by some government bodies."For the global video surveillance market, Western Europe, the Middle East and Africa have been the most severely affected, followed by North America," said Alastair Hayfield, Research Manager, Video Surveillance and VCA Group, IMS Research. "Asia is still performing strongly, thanks to China, India and other growth regions."Partnerships, such as Pelco-Cisco, Dell-HID and UTC Fire and Security's recent acquisition of GE Security, have turned heads in this industry, and companies continue to fill gaps in their portfolios with strategic acquisitions. "We're going to see new players from telecommunications, looking at leveraging their network capabilities in the fast-growing security market," said Matia Grossi, Industry Analyst for the EMEA Physical Security Group, Frost & Sullivan, in a prepared statement.To varying degrees, certain countries and regions abide by standards and regulations, and efforts have been made to consolidate video standards. "Both PSIA and ONVIF have made progress over the last year. With numerous large manufacturers committing to implementing these specifications, we should start seeing them make a real-world impact in 2011," said John Honovich, founder of IPVideoMarket.info.In biometrics, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) launched its professional certification program for biometric practitioners. The Certified Biometric Professional (CBP) program includes study material and course work. "The CBP will spur more interest in biometrics as a professional field of endeavor, and, as a result, help encourage industry growth," said Walter Hamilton, Chairman of the International Biometric Industry Association and Senior Consultant with Identification Technology Partners.More companies are also investing more in certification and training for partners and users. "Meeting user needs requires a level of commitment from dealers and integrators," said Gadi Piran, President of OnSSI. "Our certification program strengthens our channel partners' capabilities to design, configure and install our solutions in a complex, networked environment."Scott Schafer, Executive VP of Sales and Marketing at Arecont Vision, added, "We hold classes around the globe focusing on megapixel technology, to help better design and deploy systems."Additionally, manufacturers such as Honeywell stress the importance of going beyond the product. "Everything from lead generation programs and custom literature, to specification tools and sales and product training are areas in which we make a difference and help our customers grow," said Frank Roth, VP of Global Marketing for Honeywell Security.The security industry has been tried and tested by the financial crisis, leaving only the fittest to survive. Those who pulled through 2009's tribulations do not expect 2010 to be easy, but most remain cautiously and reasonably optimistic.Changing Currents in EMEAQuality assurance and cost control have seen major players through the year's turbulence. "With the financial crisis still far from over, we're controlling costs very carefully rather than pushing for rapid expansion," said Dr. Oliver Vellacott, CEO of IndigoVision. Some have felt the recession's impact more than others. "We continue to feel the impact of a difficult economy and sluggish business development environment," said Dave Patterson, President and CEO of Optelecom-NKF, in a prepared statement.Strategic partnerships such as Siemens-Bosch and Johnson Controls-Milestone Systems show EMEA players reaching beyond technological expertise and geographical borders to embrace new markets.Overall MarketThe overall physical security market in Europe is expected to remain flat, or show up to 3 percent of growth throughout 2010, said Matia Grossi, Industry Analyst for the EMEA Physical Security Group, Frost & Sullivan. Video surveillance is expected to show stronger growth, up to 6 percent, due to falling prices for IP devices, increased performance and availability of models, and new players entering the market. Access control is expected to show decent growth, whereas intrusion detection is predicted to be flat in 2010, Grossi said.EuropeAfter a "cautious" spring in 2009, the European markets have picked up in the early summer, said Michael Zabler, Marketing Director for ABUS Security-Center. Although there are distinct signs that things are starting to move again, the effects appear less profound on some niche manufacturers, said Doktor Jon, a 30-year veteran of the video surveillance industry.Western Europe, slowly moving from traditional installations toward IP-based systems, is now looking at megapixel technology to improve image quality and reduce costs, said Scott Schafer, Executive VP of Sales and Marketing at Arecont Vision.Scandinavia, France and Germany remain relatively stable, said Dr. Juan Farre, CEO of Ernitec.In Italy, the intrusion alarm market is slow-moving. "From our observations, 2009 will see a 10- to 15-percent decrease, compared to previous years," said Chafik Khaoutem, Export Manager of Tecnoalarm. A factor is that companies concentrate more on producing conventional intrusion alarm systems that have limited use. New to the market are embedded cameras (in control panels), access control and advanced software. "These technologies go hand-in-hand with evolving market needs," Khaoutem said.Middle EastIn the Middle East, large projects are suffering less due to lucrative oil revenues. The United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Jordan and Turkey have seen increased government installations and city surveillance deployed in parallel to city planning projects.Over in Turkey, residential security is quickly becoming an area of interest, creating an important market for intrusion and fire alarms, said Ismail Uzelli, Chairman of Gesider and Country Manager of Turkey for ADT/ Sensormatic. Shopping centers and residences have turned more attention to procuring and implementing security measures.AfricaThe 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa has propelled the bulk of the continent's security spending. Construction is booming, and infrastructure projects include airports, roads, highways, mass transportation, stadiums, hotels and malls. "Perhaps in 2010, there might be a slight decline, but major infrastructure investments will last at least for the next five years," said Francois Malan, Technical Director of Camsecure.International standards are being adopted for cabling infrastructure, which will be a major driving force for IP uptake. The O.R. Tambo International Airport, for example, installed 650 network cameras in 2009.Thriving VerticalsWith the 2012 London Olympics just a couple of years away, preparation has already begun. Distribution of worker identity cards and biometric scans, including iris and handheld readers, is part of a move to protect against terrorism, said Blake Kozak, Market Analyst for IMS Research. "Security spending is predicted to surpass $2.2 billion."Both, retail and transportation sectors are increasingly driving adoption of video analytics. Retailers look to extend the value of their surveillance cameras, and analytics provide reliable management information on customer flows and dwell time, said Kevin Waterhouse, Sales and Marketing Director of VCA Technology. "Benefits of integrating PoS transaction data from cashiers' tills with video footage deliver real ROI by helping spot and reduce employee theft, which still makes up nearly 40 percent of all retail theft, according to the latest shrinkage figures."Transportation applications, such as monitoring traffic flow or capturing license plates, are also a rapidly growing area for surveillance cameras, analytics and powerful video management software.The residential market is somewhat subdued, particularly for video surveillance. "It's not yet a big market for us, and it will be a few years until we reach a price point that is appropriate for broad residential uptake," said Ray Mauritsson, CEO of Axis Communications. The SMB market, however, has great potential, where analog solutions can be replaced by IP-based solutions.Product NeedsWhile 2009 has seen more relaxation of laws, such as in France, Scandinavia and the U.K., and less skepticism, Europe is still regarded as a conservative user of technology. According to the McKinsey Quarterly's "Time to Raise the CIO's Game," less than 20 percent of European IT executives believed their companies were effective at introducing technologies faster and better than their competitors. That is, Europe needs stronger IT presence and development to tip the scale in IP's favor.The Middle East and Africa, being relatively "greenfield" areas, are more open and quicker to adopt IP infrastructure.Video SurveillanceSales cycles have become longer in 2009, but loosened budgets for video surveillance are anticipated for 2010, said Eric Fullerton, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer for Milestone Systems. Growth in 2010, however, is not expected to get back to 2007 and 2008 levels immediately.To ease the transition from analog to IP, hybrid DVRs are among the highlights of popular products for 2009. PTZ dome cameras, H.264 compression, megapixel technology, day/night cameras and panoramic cameras also dotted the innovation landscape of EMEA players."Video feeds from our new H.264 PTZ dome camera are indistinguishable from the best analog out there — even during rapid PTZ movements. This is the fastest 'take-off' of any product we've ever launched," Dr. Vellacott said.Boxed network cameras with small form factor and day/night functions have been well-received, said Hardy Mehl, Director of IP Business for Basler Vision Technologies. "Additionally, we recently released a fixed network dome series which will enable us to address the worldwide demand for domes."Hemispheric cameras have been a success. Decentralized technology and doubled processing power have made this a very powerful and efficient technology, said Lutz Coelen, CFO of Mobotix.IMS predicted high growth levels for video analytics over the next three years, with global sales set to reach $1 billion by 2012, Waterhouse said. "Though the possibilities have been initially overestimated, eventually there will be many opportunities to make surveillance more efficient by adding analytics," Mauritsson said. The analytics market, currently a small part of the overall surveillance market, will see rapid adoption from the second half of 2010, Grossi said.Finally, standardized and preintegrated systems, such as off-the-shelf products, will be seen in the year to come, said Mads Bo Frederiksen, Territory Manager for Asia, Milestone Systems.Access Control and Intrusion DetectionThe Americas access control market was relatively flat in 2009, while the Asia market maintained strong growth. The security market in EMEA fell in between the conditions that were seen in the Americas and Asia regions, Kozak said. Migration to IP and increasing integration with video surveillance are trends that will continue in 2010.2009's innovations were driven by plug-and-play intelligent locks with networking capabilities and battery-operated wireless locks, said Michael Soderberg, Business Manager of Electronic Access Control for Australia, ASSA ABLOY. "Wireless locks are being driven by the need to put access control on more doors in a building, but at a much lower cost."With little to no growth in construction and reduced activity in the residential market, intrusion detection had negative growth in 2009 and will see flat growth in 2010, Grossi said. Trends that picked up were wireless alarm systems with active anti-burglary protection and video verification. Both Tecnoalarm and RSI Technologies have developed wireless devices with alarm and surveillance capabilities."The industry is moving quickly toward GPRS for alarm monitoring. In Europe, we expect our GPRS product sales to overcome standard PSTN products in early 2010," said Francois Lafferriere, Director of Business Development, RSI Video Technologies. "A lot of our clients still consider wireless unreliable for critical deployments, but both wired and wireless solutions can be combined to offer optimum security with GPRS backup."Increasingly, value-added products are gaining market share. "Integrating various capabilities, such as biometrics and home automation, into the alarm system will become a trend in 2010," Khaoutem said. Likewise, camera manufacturers like Mobotix are looking to broaden their product portfolios in 2010. "We will not simply focus on cameras, but also venture into developing alarm and security systems," Coelen said.Challenges and OutlookA slow-moving market, lack of education and standards, and increasing competition are highlighted challenges in EMEA. "The biggest weakness is the inertia in the marketplace. It's well-documented that IP-based surveillance systems have better ROI and lower TCO than traditional analog devices, yet we still see incumbents trying to prolong the lifespan of analog technology based on lower acquisition cost alone," Fullerton said. Dr. Vellacott agreed, adding that, "Companies emerging from the financial crisis will be stronger than before."2010 will see more competition from IT companies. "When the security market starts to use advanced technology from the IT world, it's natural to see collaboration between new channels and vendors," Mauritsson said. "Fast-growing markets like network video will always be very competitive — with the market convergence, you have competitors from two different industries."Large installations, such as industrial sites, severely affected by the financial crisis will likely delay new and replacement investments in 2010, Zabler said. However, SMBs and the private sector are predicted to recover to previous growth rates.The industry will anticipate the first ONVIF-compliant systems being deployed in 2010, which will boost confidence in associated brands and give users more freedom to choose among manufacturers, Dr. Vellacott said.