text:
So...you're getting yourself a new fur ball? That is great! But -- have you broken the news yet to your kitty yet? Chances are, kitty isn't going to share your enthusiasm - at least, not at first.
You see, cats are territorial by nature. They don't rely a pack or a group to back them up, so other cats are considered a potential danger; not a friend. Dumping one in their territory is likely to start world war III right there, in your living room. That said, with the right introductions, cats are perfectly capable of living in a group.
So, how do you introduce cats to each other?
Step 1: Create a safe haven
Credit: http://pixabay.com/en/cats-funny-kittens-playing-animals-88516/You know how, when you go on holiday, you like to check into the hotel and make sure you're comfortable there before you go out to explore the town? Do the same for your new kitty - set up a safe space. Pick a small room, preferably one that isn't that important to the resident cat, and one without a dryer or a washer to spook your new arrival. If you don't have such a room, you might want to consider renting a big crate that can house all the accommodations needed at the local veterinarian clinic or shelter.
Set up the room - litter tray on one side, food bowl on the other, and the water bowl some distance away from the food bowl to prevent contamination. Put in a carton box to hide and sleep in. If it is an empty room, provide some objects, like furniture, to hide behind - your kitty will appreciate it. A scratching post by the door is excellent. And if you can, bring some familiar objects like a blanket with familiar smells, familiar food and familiar litter with you as you pick the cat up. A nice touch is to plug in a Feliway to make them as comfortable as possible.
Step 2: Bring your kitty home
When you go to pick up your new cat, don't forget to bring your cat carrier and be sure to ask anything familiar that you can bring with you - food, litter, blanket - to make the transition easier.
As you come home, go straight to the safe room - no letting the cats sniff each other just yet. And no introductions to the rest of the family, be it kids, dogs, rabbits or adults. It'll just cause undue stress and confusion. Once there, open the carrier, put the items you were able to bring with in the room, and leave. Yep. Leave. This cat has just been through a world of stress, and does not understand what is going on. What it needs is time to gain its bearings and check out the new environment - alone. If you want to keep an ear on things, feel free to stay in the room adjacent to kitty's, and give it about an hour. If you're dealing with a kitten, half an hour or even just 15 minutes should do the trick.
Open the door, and check up on the cat: is it out of the carrier? Is it hiding somewhere in the room? Has it found the litter tray? Is it rubbing up against your legs with its tail up? Has it eaten? Each one of these things will tell you at what stage of adjustment the cat is. You want to make sure that the cat eats within two days - normally, this isn't an issue - and you want to make sure that its litter box gets used. This too can take up to two days.
Most importantly, you do not want to move on to the next step, until the cat is eating and greeting you with its tail-up. Respect their (s)pace, while checking on them regularly. This may take a day or so.
Tip: Make sure your kitty has been cleared by a vet before physically introducing him or her to your other cat, and use this time as quarantine if he/she hasn't. A trip to the vet, after the cat has had time to acclimatise properly, is probably wise.
Step 3: I'm not alone...
Meanwhile, your other cat may have figured out that something is up. Let them check out the door to the new kitty if they want, while feeding them treats. Any good associations with the newcomer are definitely a plus.
Now, grab two small towels. Rub each cat gently down with a towel, from top to bottom with particular emphasis on the flanks and under and along the chin. Place the towel with the scent of your newcomer under the food bowl of your resident kitty and vice versa. This is an indirect introduction - cats can pick up a great deal from scents and pheromones about a stranger. The food bowl will act as a reward and positive association with the new smell.
As soon as you notice that both eat comfortably without hissing, crouching, or growling and are open to being petted while eating, you're ready for the next stage!
Tip: if you find that your resident kitty hisses at you after you've been in the room of the new kitty, it is because you have stranger danger all over you - in other words, you smell wrong.
To avoid this, use a bathrobe when you go into the new kitty's sanctuary, then disrobe once you come back out and wash your hands. This will avoid the encouragement of negative associations with the smell as well as feelings of confusion and animosity towards you.
Step 4: Who lives here?
So now we go on a field trip. Put your resident kitty in another small room or a pet carrier, placing them out of sight. Then open the door for the new cat. At their pace, let them investigate the entire house. Make sure the door to the safe room stays open so they can return there at all times. They may get overwhelmed at first and retreat a few times, but eventually you're hoping to see a tail-up while walking around and checking out the territory.
Once the cat no longer needs to retreat to the room, it's time to let the other cat investigate the safe room - close the door though, so they don't accidentally meet face-to-face. Supervise them as well, so they can indicate when they've had enough.
Then, return everyone to their corners to let things sink in.
Step 5: Peekaboo!
All right, time to stop pussy-footing around! Grab the food bowls of both cats and put them against the door, on each side. Or, alternatively, have someone feed the cat inside treats while you feed the cat outside treats. The point is - have them associate hearing and smelling the other cat with good stuff. Bribing is the way to go.
As soon as they are comfortable eating and more focused on the treats than on growling or hissing at what is behind the door, you're good to go.
Open the door just a little so nobody can pass through but they can see each other. There will be sniffing and perhaps some posturing which is normal. Keep it under 30 seconds though so there is little chance of escalation and close the door instantly if there is growling, hissing or meowing. Now rinse and repeat. Build up the amount of time that the door is open. If things escalate too much, close the door and try again an hour later, so everyone has time to cool down.
Once that goes well, open the door fully. See how things work. Again, keep the intervals short, based on the body language you see. Once the open door is no issue, leave it open, but supervise and be ready to return the new kitty to her safe room should anything happen. Watch as they interact around the house together. At this point, do not leave them unsupervised just yet - so return the new cat to her safe room at night and when you are at work.
Once you're sure that there is no more posturing and everyone is relaxed, happy, tail-up and eating, you've succeeded in your mission.
And remember, if at any time things escalate, it means you've gone too fast and need to back up a step and start over.


text:
Where you can own a home in Houston based on your salary in 2020
It's getting more expensive to buy a home in Houston.
The salary requirements to buy a new home in Houston increased by 10 percent from last year, according to a new report from Keller Williams Realty Broker Paige Martin. Martin and her team analyzed median home prices across more than 50 Houston neighborhoods to determine salary requirements to own a home in each respective area.
The 10 percent growth is higher than normal for Houston, according to Martin, and can be attributed to Houston neighborhoods appreciating in value in 2019. The report found areas that have flooding history offer the cheapest homes in 2020 and cited the Katy, Fulshear, The Woodlands, Pearland, Spring and Sugar Land areas as having the most growth.
Looking for your next home? Click through the photos above for the annual required salary to own a home in Houston neighborhoods in 2020...
In order to calculate salary requirements, Martin's team used the assumption that a buyer would have a 20-percent down payment on a 30-year mortgage, 4.2 percent interest rate, an effective tax rate of 2.54 percent, annual insurance costs of .5 percent and no private mortgage insurance.
Another assumption her team followed was that homeowners could spend a maximum of 28 percent of their salary on their monthly costs (principal, interest, taxes & insurance costs) to be able to comfortably afford a home.
River Oaks was ranked the No. 1 most expensive neighborhood. To buy a home there, a person would need to earn an average of $628,488 in 2020, per the report. The most affordable homes can be found in Northwest Houston, where an annual salary of $54,735 is required to live there.
PRIME PROPERTY: Get your updates on Houston real estate deals and developments
Rebecca Hennes covers community news. Read her on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, houstonchronicle.com. | email@example.com

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Fanatic Finish can 'Help You Get the Details Done Right' in your home with our Classic style wainscot panels. A paneled wainscoting wall treatment offers a level of elegance exceeding most other architectural details and can immediately elevate the level of elegance and 'wow' factor in your home. Our Classic wainscot panels embody this time honored detail.
Typically installed at a finished height of between 32 and 42 inches (in rooms with 8ft ceilings), the Classic single panel style adds visual substance and weight to the lower portion of your walls setting a foundation for additional architectural details such as an Archway, Crown Molding or a Coffered Ceiling.


text:
Transfer Pricing Senior Manager
- Recruiter
- Pro Tax
- Location
- England, London
- Salary
- Up to £90000 per annum
- Posted
- 09 Jul 2019
- Closes
- 08 Aug 2019
- Ref
- Contact
- Chris Barnett
- Job Role
- Tax
- Sector
- Accounting Practice
- Qualification Level
- Fully qualified
- Professional Membership
- Contract Type
- Permanent
Transfer Pricing Senior Manager - Top 10 Practice - London - up to £90,000
This firm are looking for an ambitious and driven leader to play a pivotal role in the award-winning Transfer Pricing practice, which aims to double in size in the next four years.
Why this firm?
- They recognise it's important to understand how they can support you in your role including flexible working adjustments
- Have taken the steps to create an agile working culture where you are empowered to work where you want
- Committed to creating an inclusive working environment where people can flourish
What you'll be doing?
- Be responsible for transfer pricing projects related to international tax, tax reassurance, indirect tax and innovation consulting, providing alternate transfer pricing methodologies
- Delivering Transfer Pricing projects and managing the 360 process
- Providing a distinctive service and unlocking potential for growth in dynamic organisations
- Driving the team's business development and taking a lead on marketing initiatives
- Coordinating with transfer pricing, international tax, indirect tax and advisory teams on wider tax issues
What they are looking for?
- Working knowledge of transfer pricing regimes internationally, OECD rules, BEP's project work and thin cap
- Experience working in a professional services firm, coaching and mentoring junior staff to grow the team
- Knowledge of UK transfer pricing issues
- Ideally, CTA qualified at least
For more information, please contact Chris Barnett on 020 7123 5059 or [email protected]
The Pro-Recruitment Group consists of five distinct brands: Pro-Tax, Pro-Legal, Pro-Finance, Pro-HR and Pro-Marketing.
Similar jobs


text:
An essential part of online success is using search engine optimization to compete effectively with other sites in the search results. Today, search engines are a vital part of online commerce, helping people find the products and services that they need. Read on to find out how to get your site to the top of the search engine rankings.
When you're working with SEO on pages you should try to have a lot of articles that are short and about the same thing instead of an article that's long. Pages that are long don't do as well as the short ones within search engine results. Also, the majority of visitors will not spend the time necessary to read something that is extremely long.
When optimizing your search engine results be sure to use any variation of the word possible, including misspellings. This meta-tag data will be read by search engines and as a result, your website to appear in a larger array of search results. Therefore, make sure you use all the possible spellings of your keywords.
Consider using a pay-per-click strategy as a good affiliate marketing tactic. This is the simplest service that can be provided to affiliates, that is why the pay associated to it is modest, but it could eventually build up in time.
Find a way to include keywords in your domain name. You need to make your site easy to locate when customers are trying to look for it in the web. Not everybody will come to your website from the advertisements, some find your site by searching for things on your site.
Using a product feed can really help to reach new customers. Through feeds you will be able to deliver information about your goods such as descriptions, pricing and images. Make submissions to shopping comparison sites and all of the major search engines. Make sure to include a place where loyal customers can sign up to monitor your feed.
Present yourself in a way that highlights your expert status. As an expert this is a great tool for Internet marketing that can make serious money. Design your website around a certain niche, and use SEO techniques to drive those potential customers to your site so they can buy your products and services. Provide the customers with what they desire, not what they may think that they desire.
Consider asking a website with trusted content to link with your site. Non-profits and educational websites are perfect for this. Search engines view back-links to reputable sources favorably, and they will reward your affiliation with them. If your site contains information that is useful to readers, reputable websites will want to link to it. Provide useful and worthy content to the organizations.
Successfully optimizing your site for search engines may seem intimidating, but as this article has shown you, it doesn't have to be difficult. Knowing the few basic principles that determine how the search engines work, can help you tweak your site to attract more visitors than ever. Before you know it, you'll have a slew of new customers.


text:
I took the dogs out for, oh, two minutes? Three, tops. Olivia is at my mom's and I'm home alone with Adelle "destructicon" Knepper.
Oh well. I can maybe blog again in like 17 years...at least she is really cute!
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
How do you kick rash? Share for a chance to win!
Fact: I birth babies with rashy butts.
Olivia was the worst for sure because she always had some sort of redness and irritation that I was fighting. It would get better for a day or two, and then all of a sudden Hello Red Butt Baybee. But Ainsley was always rashy and now Adelle tries to fit right in too.
I would have sworn to you, over the past four years, that I tried everything to keep from getting diaper rash. Different brands of diapers. Keeping her super dry. Keeping her super clean. Only using wipes for dirty diapers but not wet diapers. But still, my babies would end up with diaper rash and a bad attitude no matter what. Bring on the diaper rash cream!
I'm not sure why it took me until kid #3 to figure out that I should be using diaper rash cream to prevent diaper rash instead of shaking my fists at the heavens and cursing it every time it showed up. It's like, "AHA! I am supposed to put this cream on her beefy little bottom all the time instead of just when it looks like it needs it! Who knew?"
Everyone. Everyone knew.
Except me, and maybe except you. But now you know! It is crazy how you can take care of babies for so long and feel like you actually know what you are doing, what with keeping them alive and fed and everything. And then all of a sudden you realize that you were missing something very simple and very useful all along.
|These butts are rash free!!!
Diaper rash cream. With every diaper change. Lucky for Adelle I discovered this revolutionary method in time to save her lots of sore butts and crankiness!
I've tried all different brands, and my very favorite for everyday prevention is Boudreaux's Butt Paste. It smells good and wipes off easily. I can't stand creams that are sticky and require lots of wiping to remove. I don't have that problem at all with Boudreaux's Butt Paste (I use the Original Butt Paste, but there are a couple of other options - All Natural Boudreaux's Butt Paste and Boudreaux's Butt Paste Maximum Strength). Plus it keeps away the burning heat of the evil Rashadon!
No Rashadon threatening to crush our Butt City!!
No matter what, every parent is going to have to deal with diaper rash at some point and will probably hit the Internet for ideas on how to fight it. So tell us:
How do you kick rash? Answer in the comments for a chance to win a $100 Visa Gift Card!!
Sweepstakes Rules:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
b) Tweet (public message) about this promotion and/or to share the above video; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: "#SweepstakesEntry"; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
c) Blog about this promotion and/or the above video, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.
This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
The Official Rules are available here.
This sweepstakes runs from 3/18/13 - 4/15/13
Be sure to visit the Boudreaux's Butt Paste brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers' reviews and find more chances to win!
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)


text:
Lace and chambray team up in this charming style. This fit and flare dress features lace and faux denim striping from neckline to hem, chunky tank straps, and a square neckline. Pockets within the full skirt complete this classic dress. Paired with peep toe wedges, this dress is set for warm days and summer nights.
Garment Details


text:
Archive for February, 2014
Bridgetown Dental in Portland OR
Bridgetown Dental
8907 North Lombard St
Portland, OR 97203
From teeth cleaning to cosmetic dentistry, Bridgetown Dental clinic offers a level of care that makes other local dentists blush. Bridgetown Dental continuously strives to be number one among all of the area's dentists.
Malvin, Riggins and Company, P.C. in Newport News VA
Malvin, Riggins and Company, P.C.
725 Middle Ground Boulevard
Newport News, VA 23606
Malvin, Riggins and Company, P.C. brings together many years of professional accounting, tax and business advisory services. Malvin, Riggins and Company, P.C. is small enough to provide individual attention, but large enough to give the highest level of tax and accounting expertise.
Doctors Express Newark in Newark California
Doctors Express Newark
5763 Stevenson Boulevard
Newark, California 94560
Doctors Express Newark is a walk in urgent care clinic. Our experienced onsite Doctors will treat virtually any non life threatening symptom. Common areas of treatment include ear pain, sore throats, cuts, sinus pain, x-rays, allergies and much more.
Aqui Luxury Vacation Rentals in Santa Fe NM
Aqui Luxury Vacation Rentals
412 E Palace Ave
Santa Fe, NM 87501
Aqui Luxury Vacation Rentals offers discerning guests upscale vacation accommodations in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Enjoy the most traditional Santa Fe style with all the exceptional hotel-like amenities such as FRETTE linens, ETRO toiletries, ECO spa towels and a special gift basket of New Mexico's BEST. We are known for keen attention to detail and unprecedented service.


text:
"6God" Drake may have laid the early claim for Summer '16, but it's the Chicago boys who keep steadily heating things up.
Following new projects from Chance the Rapper, Vic Mensa, and Joey Purp, the next release via Chi-town collective Save Money comes from Brian Fresco. His upcoming mixtape Casanova arrives July 5, and on Tuesday, he shared a promising taste of what's to come with "Higher."
The dancehall-indebted track sounds like a punchier, more soulful "One Dance," featuring an irresistible hook from electro-pop duo Blue Hawaii: "Say you want me, yeah / That you don't need nobody else." Chance the Rapper also makes a predictably playful cameo that finds him trying to convince a feisty girl to hang with him. "You could skip a couple steps / You could steal a couple bases / A couple friends, a couple chasers / You don't need nobody, baby," he gleefully raps over dreamlike production, with a smile you can hear through your headphones.
Get into "Higher" below, which should definitely become your new go-to for sweltering summer nights.


text:
Since fifth grade, Rose has known she liked to write, but her career path has taken several turns until a family story compelled her to write her first novel THREATEN TO UNDO US (MAY 2015). The book is the result of years of research, revealing a history that few in the Western world are familiar with. During the process, Rose has realized that not only is truth stranger than fiction, but truth can be told through fiction. Two inspirational non-fiction pieces will appear in the HOT APPLE CIDER WITH CINNAMON compilation in Fall 2015. Rose lives in Surrey, BC, Canada. Her reading tastes include historical fiction, biographies, narrative non-fiction, memoir, literary and inspirational.Visit my website
Make your presence felt. Be the first to post!


text:
Why choose Victoria's Health & Beauty for IPL Hair Removal?
After 12 months of careful research into the most effective Intense Pulsed Light and laser systems on the market, we invested in one of the best commercial machines available. The high-powered Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) system from Lynton offers a safe, virtually pain-free solution to unwanted, excess hair for both men and women. All of our IPL treatments are carried out by friendly, well-qualified and highly-trained staff who know how to achieve the very best results for you.
IPL consultation & treatment
You will receive a free, one-to-one consultation with one of our practitioners, followed by an assessment of the best course of treatment to achieve results you are looking for. You will have the opportunity to ask questions about the treatment and we will run through our IPL prices with you, finding a package that suits both your budget and your treatment needs.
How does IPL hair removal work?
Short pulses of filtered light are directed onto the treatment area. This light is selectively absorbed by melanin, the pigment found in your hair follicles. The light energy heats up the pigment and destroys the hair follicle – without causing damage to surrounding cells.
Will IPL hair removal work for me?
Most people can benefit from IPL treatments, although the best results are often seen in clients with a combination of fair skin and dark hair. Dark hair is easier to treat because the light is absorbed better by ]its high concentration of melanin, while fair hair is harder to treat – and grey/white hair contains no melanin and is not suitable for treatment.
What does the treatment process involve?
Before treatment we will carry out a small patch test. The £25 fee for this test is refunded in full when you receive your first IPL treatment.
A thin layer of chilled gel is applied to the treatment area. Then, using the machine's hand-held applicator, our practitioner releases a short pulse of light onto the area being treated, targeting several hair follicles at a time. This process is repeated until the applicator has covered the entire area being treated. A session may take as little as ten minutes or up to an hour, depending on the size of the area being targeted.
Is the treatment painful?
The sensation felt during IPL treatment varies from one customer to the next, but many say it feels like the "flick" of an elastic band - and most clients find the discomfort tolerable.
What should I expect after treatment?
Your skin may appear red immediately after we've treated it, and the hair follicles may be swollen and bumpy, although this usually calms down within just a few hours.
At this point, the hair is damaged but remains in the follicles until it sheds - usually one to three weeks after treatment. During this initial period the hair may appear to 'grow' but this is simply the epidermis renewing itself and pushing out the dead hair.
How many treatments will I need?
IPL treatment only targets hair that is actively growing, so several treatments are required over a period of time. Most of our clients have six or more treatments in total, with an interval of four to eight weeks between each – although this will vary depending on the area you wish to target.


text:
Saturday was a very late start for me – the product of an inconveniently late Friday night until 4am, when I knew that I had (for one last time) to be at the Marchmont stall for 11 the following morning. Instead, I woke at half eleven, groaned, rolled out of bed, and was at the bus stop just after midday – but some bizarre bus delays (I choose to blame the Edinburgh trams…for no good reason) meant that all trace of the stall was gone by the time I reached the Meadows just before 1pm. It was disappointing to miss it (even before I heard about the quantity of cakes that had been on offer) as it was an opportunity for a last 'thank you' party for those who had helped at the Marchmont Stall over the year (and sometimes longer), with the table covered this time not with leaflets, badges and stickers, but instead with membership registration forms for the Scottish Socialist Party, the Green Party and the SNP.
This idea, to offer people the membership forms if they wanted to sustain their political engagement, had been conceived on Tuesday night at the mobbed meeting in the Argyll Bar cellar – and of course that was long before the true scale of the post-result membership expansion had become clear: all the Yes political parties had doubled in size. But we all know about gym memberships – you pay your membership fee and sign up, then feel morally vindicated that 'you could' participate if you got the time, but will probably not do so for several years. As much as many of these people had been non-party Yes activists like myself, is there not a danger that these new recruits are just padding?
Well, later in the afternoon on Saturday I went to the Newington Yes Shop, for (another) 'thank you' party. A variety of Yes activists (over 40 at any one time) crowding into the tiny shop for a last gathering. (Fortunately I arrived a little less late for that event – sandwiches, if not cakes, were consumed aplenty.) It was anything but a wake. There I talked with Sally and Alison of the Greens/English Scots for Yes, and asked how things had been going: they had had their regular Green Party meeting on the Thursday night, where they normally had about 35 people turning up. Instead, they had had to move to a larger venue…and even then there was not enough room for the more than 400 people that had come along. So these new party members (as someone said 'it is unlikely that they believe in 'No' if they just joined the Greens) seem to have got past the first 'gym membership' stage: they have actually gone along and tried out the weights.
But the SNP's gain in membership since the announcement of the result has, of course, eclipsed everything. On the day of the Referendum, they had 25,000 members – which meant that at that point they already had more members than all the Scottish political party memberships combined. But SINCE the result was announced, an additional 40,000+ members have pushed them over 69,000, making them larger than the whole UK-wide LibDem party membership – so the SNP is now the third largest UK political party.
There is a sense of agitation since the 19th September, a rising power, looking for a new direction and outlet – but will it find one in time, before it starts to dissipate? In addition to the two events on Saturday that I had known about, there had apparently been a further one, spontaneously organised through Twitter (damn it, I'm probably going to have to get on that last social media horse after all…): between 1 and 3pm a party of a couple of thousand had taken place outside Holyrood. As has become standard, a wag observed 'The BBC – of course – were not in attendance.' And part of that disillusionment is manifesting in the surge to consolidate the pro-Indy social media (including the wonderful Dateline Scotland – see them on YouTube) as permanent fixtures, with crowd-funding activities that no doubt bring a warm glow to the heart of Wings Over Scotland's Stuart Campbell. asa variation on Jello Biafra, Don't Bemoan the Media – OWN the Media.
The media are an important component in providing an environment within which the Yes attitude and philosophy can thrive – the only newspaper to come out for Yes, the Sunday Herald, has just this weekend reported that their sales are up 111% on last year, in sharp contrast to all other newsprint. (The historian Tom Nairn once said "Scotland will never be free until the last minister is strangled by the last copy of the Sunday Post." – so it is perhaps unsurprising that this publication was one of only three – with the Scotsman and the Financial Times – that actually came out in open support of a No vote..and it is somewhat bitterly appropriate that this week it is celebrating a century in print.) So alternative media outlets are required to help sustain and grow that community – it would be hard to maintain a Yes perspective against the grinding day-to-day onslaught of BBC Scotland's Winston Smith-type output. But within these media, there has to be a direction – short-term realisable objectives. Clearly, the Daily Record's front page 'Vow' of the three Westminster leaders for 'more powers' for Scotland two days before the Referendum, fell apart within 24 hours of the result being declared, and there needs to be a regular holding to account for each date that fails on Gordon Brown's 'exciting timetable'. Also, there is a gearing up towards the Westminster general election…but that is almost 9 months away, and that is a long time to sustain people's energy or anger at betrayal.
And there does seem to be some anger and disappointment – most particularly from No voters. There has been a surprising number of encounters with what are being referred to as 'hangover Nos' – they vote No then the next day they feel sick and realise with the victory that it was not the result that they wanted and that they have done the wrong thing (sometimes even before 'The Vow' started to come apart at the seams). Frustrating though that may be for those of us who wanted a Yes and therefore voted Yes (as opposed to No – there is a clue in there), we have to build something that includes them for the future. Going down the Referendum line, we need almost another 5% in order to win – and beginning with hangover Nos and incorporating them is a good place to start.
Back to Sally at the Newington Yes Shop: she is fingering her '45' badge, saying she is not so comfortable with it – she had originally been very glad to have that badge of identity as being part of the 45%, but now feels that it was like a stage in grieving, and now it is time to move on. For one thing, she felt that the '45' identity alienates those who did not vote Yes but want to be part of the future of the group that did. We agreed '45+' might be much better (if less catchy and punchy), and maybe that was the way to go. It is a fair point – the branding of the post-Referendum Yes identity has to be done carefully, and as inclusively as possible. As I wrote before on an earlier post, some of the No voters (many of whom were taken in by the Daily Record) just don't know they are Yes voters yet – and a taste of that post-1979 disillusionment will do them a world of good.
Towards the end of the party at the Newington Yes Shop, I was stunned to see a familiar figure on the far side of the room: my old friend (former Scottish History Professor at the University of Edinburgh) Owen Dudley Edwards. Back when I was president at the students' union in Edinburgh, Owen and I had gone on anti poll tax demonstrations, where he had shared some of his personal stories about Gore Vidal and many others (see also my earlier Jim Sillars post for his perspective on possible routes to independence). To my great and pleasant surprise, he had apparently been regularly staffing the Newington Yes Shop, just as I had regularly been staffing the Marchmont stall (albeit in my case for only the last couple of months, during my 50 Days).
Suddenly, it all fell into place – Irene on the Marchmont stall had turned up one day wearing a 'Scottish Academics for Yes' design t-shirt, which I was very keen to acquire a copy of. The next day she came back from the Newington Shop bearing one for me, and said she had asked an academic there if it was Ok for her to wear such a t-shirt, as she was not an academic herself. The academic in question had replied that of course it was OK: just because one wore a Black Sabbath t-shirt, did not mean you were a member of the band. Suddenly, the wit of that academic's response – even though we had not spoken for some twenty years – was recognisable as pure, unadulterated Owen.
I asked him about attacks on the Newington Yes Shop, and he told me of the 'Nazi' graffiti that had been sprayed upon it from its opening day. As we talked, and the wine flowed, there had been some intermittent flute music, prior to an acapella rendition of Hamish Henderson's 1960 Writers Against Apartheid protest song 'Freedom Come All Ye' (which seems to be emerging as the post-Referendum Yes anthem, after its international tour de force by the South African soprano Pumeza Matshikiza at the Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony a couple of months ago). After a lull, the music started up again with a piper, and Owen made to leave, but grabbed my forearm as I was turning away and pulled me close so that I could hear his words over the bagpipes: "I'm SO glad you're involved in this."
I was touched, and genuinely felt the same to hear that he had been involved so deeply in the campaign – but instead of reciprocating, I said only one thing as a farewell.
"Owen, I wouldn't be anywhere else."


text:
We've covered some pretty serious topics in the past few weeks. While it's important to keep on top of everything to run our businesses successfully, we also must remember to stop and soak in all that we've accomplished. Far too often we rush from one project to the next, push our business forward, work our teams even harder and worry non-stop to make sure all the bases are covered. It's easy to forget about celebrating. While we are professionals at creating celebrations for others, what about our own achievements? STOP RIGHT THERE! It's time to take a breath and bask in the glory for a moment.
Recently, we received this thank you letter from a client, and not only did it energize us, but it gave us a taste of that glorious rush that comes with a great sense of accomplishment (not to mention it made our tired and achy feet feel SO much better)!
Email Subject: Your VIBE was AMAZING!!!
Dear Valerie –
I hope you knew throughout last week's conference how much your assistance was appreciated. I want to take this opportunity to tell you one more time how essential you and your team were to the successful outcome of our very first Global Leadership Team conference. Every little detail was taken care of and no one – or thing – was left unattended. I personally enjoyed working with you and look forward to doing so again very soon. Thank you once again for everything you did and a special thank you for Friday night's dinner at Zuma. It was very special.
All the best,
So, stop and look around you…there's something to celebrate within arm's reach. We're sure of it! It doesn't have to be huge, but something that you can feel proud of and give you pause for a moment of peace and appreciation. After all, it's the little things in life that add up to the big ones!
For more information, please contact firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
About Stacy Luft...
I am committed to educating small business owners on how to manage their business finances in order to build real and sustainable businesses. There are so many coaches and gurus with lots of information on how to make six figures overnight. However, how much of that information is real? How much of the hype around mindset and money blocks is really real? Not. Much.
CF Grow Academy is something that I have wanted to build for a long time. I have been working one on one with business owners as a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) since 2008 and now, I am putting together in one central place, all my knowledge and my experience in business. I have been working in the accounting and finance departments of entrepreneurial companies for 25 years. I started at the entry level position of Accounts Receivable Clerk and through hard work and a passion for learning, ultimately rose to become a CFO in 2008.
CF Grow Academy brings one to one consulting and group masterminds together. Not in the way you are used to. There are no cookie cutter answers. Just straight forward, real world experience to support you in building your business, your way.
Now for the fancy pants "About Me" part... 😉
Stacy Luft is the President of CF Grow, an Entrepreneur and Small Business Consultant. Stacy works with Entrepreneurs to help them move from self-employment (creating a job for ourselves and doing it all) to Business Ownership with teams and systems they can rely on.
Stacy is an accomplished Financial and Operations Executive with a solid track record of maximizing productivity, cost-efficiency and scalable growth in companies ready to emerge to the next level. Equipped with strong leadership skills, she knows how to build high performance teams producing extraordinary results. One of the keys to her success is her ability to create an atmosphere of integrity and accountability while maintaining strong goal-oriented, financial achievement.
Stacy is a skilled negotiator with highly developed analytical, organization and communicating skills that creates positive solutions. Resourcefulness and creativity are keys to a broad understanding of today's entrepreneurial business environment.
Stacy has built a reputation for providing small companies with the ability to align functions and priorities to improve cash flows, increase buying power, attain high levels of efficiency, establish goal setting and accountability procedures and reduce the level of stress the pervades companies during financial crunch periods.
Stacy has earned her A.A.S. Accounting degree from Suffolk County Community College and her B.S. in Accounting and Executive M.B.A. from St. Joseph's College.
Recent Accomplishments
- Stacy created a new organizational structure in a faltering organization, fully aligning functions and priorities which resulted in higher efficiencies and reduced work stress and a major turnaround during a difficult national economic period.
- For one small company, Stacy introduced and established goal setting and accountability procedures resulting in a reduction of over $500K in annual payroll costs.
- In multiple instances, she significantly improved cash flows by renegotiating payment terms with vendors, reducing on-hand inventory quantities and establishing purchasing standards for all inventory and overheads.
- In a cash-strapped company, Stacy uncovered unanticipated available cash through collections of over $210K in 30+ days and 90+ days accounts receivable.
- She also increased buying power by restoring supplier confidence in timely payments and negotiating higher credit limits. And she secured that company's $250K line of credit from traditional financing in order to fund a two-year contract.
- Stacy headed software conversion teams and implemented an integrated email, contact, and order tracking systems.
- Implemented the installation of a new accounting platform in one company that was integrated with the sales software resulting in seamless order to invoice accounting.


text:
Google jumped into the complicated and very expensive business of building its own chips to give itself an edge in artificial intelligence. The chip, called the Tensor Processing Unit, is optimized to run its deep learning algorithms. And to give it a leg up in the its nascent cloud business, the tech giant will start making the hardware available to outsiders who went with Google Cloud.
Now, Microsoft is announcing Project Brainwave to get deep learning applications running fast and efficient across its sprawling data centers.
Microsoft is taking a slightly different approach than Google. Instead of building a chip optimized for a very specific set of algorithms, Microsoft is using a type of chip called field-programmable gate arrays (or FPGAs), which can be reprogrammed after manufacturing.
The FPGAs, built by Intel-owned Altera, give the company more flexibility than a dedicated chip (like the one Google has), said Microsoft distinguished engineer Doug Burger. And flexibility is important when the latest advancements in deep learning are emerging still at an almost monthly (or weekly) pace.
"We wanted to build something bigger, more disruptive and more general than a point solution," Burger said in an interview at the Hot Chips conference, where Project Brainwave was announced.
Also unlike Google, Microsoft will support multiple deep learning frameworks, including Microsoft's CNTK, Google's TensorFlow and Facebook's Caffe2.
While FPGAs are flexible for different kinds of applications, they're not known for great performance. But Burger said Microsoft has tweaked the FPGAs enough to make them competitive with (and sometimes better than) the dedicated chips. Running a deep learning model called gated recurrent units, Microsoft's hardware demonstrated nearly 40 teraflops (a unit of computing speed for floating point operations) of performance and ran each operation in under one millisecond.
Project Brainwave is focused on what Microsoft calls real-time AI for running these deep learning algorithms, not training. Training in deep learning is a more compute-intensive process that requires running the algorithms through massive amounts of data.
Project Brainwave will be only available for Microsoft's internal AI services for now, but will potentially offer the system to outside companies through its cloud services in the future.
Microsoft has been investing in FGPAs for years now -- initially for areas like security and Bing search. The company said it has the largest installations of FPGAs in the world. A year go, the Project Brainwave team was tasked with taking that existing FPGA infrastructure and making it work well with the latest deep learning advances.
"We've already deployed FPGAs at a massive scale," Burger said. "So, if you think about, the technology to run deep learning is already deployed worldwide with Azure."
Deep learning is branch of machine learning that has started taking off across the tech industry. It's making big advancements in areas like speech recognition, image vision and translation, among others. The underlying hardware infrastructure is now changing to accommodate this shift. Nvidia's graphics processors are in a huge lead in this still-early market, and the company's stock is reaping the benefits with its shares nearly tripling over the past year. But a number of new chips from the likes of Google as well as a slew of startups are emerging.


text:
FREE EBOOK - Equipping Your Home Recording Studio
uly 11, 2004
MAGIX announced Audio Cleaning Lab 2005, a solution for cleaning and burning k analog and digital music and audio from a variety of sources, such as LPs and cassettes, downloaded MP3 music, and soundtracks from old VHS tapes.
Priced at only $39.99, MAGIX Audio Cleaning Lab 2005 treats unwanted hisses, clicks and scratches found in old recordings and home videos. The tools in MAGIX Audio Cleaning Lab 2005 are designed to remove the guesswork, making audio restoration, sound optimization, digital re-mastering, and CD and DVD burning easy. This flexible program allows as much control as the user desires, from fully-automatic for fast, effortless results to complete manual control for customized sound.
MAGIX Audio Cleaning Lab 2005 offers automatic cleaning and re-mastering wizards that detect unwanted noise while improving sound quality. Presets for correcting common problems, such as clicking sounds on old, dusty LPs or the annoying tape noise heard in frequently-played cassettes, make restoring any music collection quick and easy. Simply select a track and a cleaning or re-mastering problem preset from the drop-down menu. These presets can even be customized and saved for batch-processing future projects, or the manual draw mode can be used for more detailed removal of individual scratches.
Other features include a software pre-amp for LP recording without additional hardware pre-amplification; recording timer for scheduling recording events at a more convenient time; automatic volume adjustment for leveling playback volume across all tracks; track fading for creating professional transitions between songs; and surround sound effects that create an awesome listening experience for compatible home theater systems. MAGIX Audio Cleaning Lab 2005 also features support for DirectX plug-ins, a wide selection of real-time effects, and MAGIX Music Editor 2.0 for music and sample editing. MAGIX Audio Cleaning Lab 2005 also employs an acoustic processor, FX rack, mixer and much more for re-mastering music just like the pros.
MAGIX Audio Cleaning Lab 2005 is available immediately through authorized MAGIX retailers for $39.99.
Feature List:
Burning & Export:
For more information, visit their web site at www.magix.comCome on the FREE COURSE TOUR
Great home recording starts with a great home recording studio. It doesn't need to be expensive if you know how to select the right equipment for your needs.


text:
Any news on Special Guests?
September 16, 2012 by catinthehat300
Every year, it seems, there are special guests that come to the Birthday Bash. Has there been any info on who may appear this year. This is my first Bash trip and am SOOO excited. See all you you RedHeads on the 7th!!!
- catinthehat300's blog
- Login or register to post comments
4 Redhead Comments
onemorshow | September 18, 2012
Joe will be there on Oct.7 for the 1st. show only. Then he's off to South America to do the G3 tour Oct.11-Oct.24. Have fun everyone!!
CaboWaboGuy | September 17, 2012
Chef Emeril Lagasse & Guy Fieri! LOL!
caribbeanqueen | September 17, 2012
Hoping for Black Stone Cherry, Nothing on their tour schedule and the opened for Chickenfoot :)


text:
Bambi is the fifth Disney film, and I want to start this review by clarifying something. I will not be reviewing every single animated Disney film ever made. I will simply be reviewing the ones that are the most well-known and revered by audiences and critics alike (with a few exceptions). For instance, I will be skipping over Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros, Make Mine Music, etc. and go right to The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. If you want a full overview of what I will be reviewing, check out a list I made for this series here. Now, let's talk about Bambi!
Out of all of the ones in Disney's library, this is one of the few films that actually started one of what many call "Disney clichés". This was the first Disney film to actually have a parent die. Bambi's mother dies off-screen, but she's still killed. And think about it. Cinderella: Dead parents. Beauty and the Beast: Dead mom. Lilo & Stitch: Dead parents. The list goes on and on. Unfortunately in this film, though, I didn't feel emotional when Bambi's mom died. The film gives enough reason to care about her, but not enough development so that we actually can care.
The story of Bambi growing up is heartfelt and emotional itself, though. Seeing him walk for the first time, learn how to speak, and watch him chase a butterfly are only a few examples of how much you watch him grow, and it's beautiful. When he meets new friends (such as Thumper, a bunny, and Flower, a skunk) it adds on to the emotion even more. Even though the film itself caps out at 70 minutes, it seemed like longer because of how invested I was in the story of Bambi's life.
The pacing is very consistent as well. There are some very fast-paced moments that are quite intriguing, but there are also quieter, more calm and tranquil moments. This makes for quite an enjoyable time and not only is the pacing strong, but the writing is, too. While some characters are annoying (sorry, Thumper) I really do love this film and the time it takes to give the viewer a sense of the (albeit fictional) life of a deer.
If you haven't seen Bambi, I highly recommend you do. It's well-written, beautifully animated, consistently entertaining, and an overall amazing film. I'm going to give it an A.
Bambi stars Bobby Stewart, Donnie Dunagan, Hardie Albright, John Sutherland, Peter Behn, Tim Davis, Sam Edwards, Paula Winslowe. Directed by David Hand, James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, Graham Heid, Bill Roberts, Paul Satterfield, Norman Wright.