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If you want a glorious novel to read in which you'll be swept away to the 18th century for the weekend, then Sally Christie's The Rivals of Versailles is perfect to quench your desire for a french delicacy in the form of words on paper.
This is the second book in her The Mistresses of Versailles Trilogy, but you don't have to have read the first book if you'd like to pick up this one. I'd bet you'll want to go back and read it though, and then the third book next year, because you'll love her writing. She's that good.
Christie's writes as is for the stage, which is really what life was like in the French courts I suppose. It's an experience, her descriptions, her formation of sentences, the letters she intersperses at ends of chapters, and the way she sections the book into acts and employs the voices of the other characters in a seamless fashion.
Like a perfectly fitted dress, Christie writes as if the book is only for each of us (I'm selfish!) and forms around us as if we are given a peek from behind the curtain. Being captivated from the first page, her flowing prose pulled me chapter to chapter, her details dripping, her dialogue exquisite, and her character developmental multi-dimensional.
As a mistress position with Louis XVI is open at court, in sweeps Jeanne Antoinette Poisson. Louis has many mistresses and many women vying for his attention, which he doesn't mind as he loves beauty and pleasure, but soon she is easy to love for him, as well as being highly intelligent. She learns quickly as well how to make him happy by giving him his desires while fighting off her rival mistresses. Christie makes this situation all the more real by giving them first person point of view voices. This might be unheard of and very difficult for most authors to pull off without feeling contrived, but Christie is such a gifted writer that she makes it not only plausible but deliciously authentic.
As Jeanne become more revered by Louis, and bestowed as Madame Pompadour, she gains more influence with him and accomplishes being able to reign as a queen and is admired by many. She had relationships with many well-known people in the arts and advocated for them. She will be remembered in history for her many accomplishments as a woman and Christie has outlined them for us marvelously, but in addition, has given us a glimpse of the true woman who maneuvered with precision the intrigue and dynamics at court and of the affections of Louis while still making an impact on society.
The novel is so intricately detailed and woven in a dynamic way that will demand a reader's attention, I know it did mine. I highly recommend this novel (and series) for any historical fiction or french-anything lover, that's a given, but I truly think a novel this well-written would be enjoyed by anyone looking for a step back in time, an absorbing read, or for it's value of showcasing yet another strong woman in history.
Come back tomorrow for an interview with Sally Christie!
The Rivals of Versailles (The Mistresses of Versailles Trilogy #2)
by Sally Christie
Publication Date: April 5, 2016
Atria Books
eBook & Paperback; 448 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
And you thought sisters were a thing to fear! In this compelling follow-up to Sally Christie's clever and absorbing debut, we meet none other than the Marquise de Pompadour, one of the greatest beauties of her generation and the first bourgeois mistress ever to grace the hallowed halls of Versailles.
The year is 1745 and Louis XV's bed is once again empty. Enter Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, a beautiful girl from the middle classes. As a child, a fortune teller had mapped out Jeanne's destiny: she would become the lover of a king and the most powerful woman in the land. Eventually connections, luck, and a little scheming pave her way to Versailles and into the King's arms.
All too soon, conniving politicians and hopeful beauties seek to replace the bourgeoise interloper with a more suitable mistress. As Jeanne, now the Marquise de Pompadour, takes on her many rivals—including a lustful lady-in-waiting, a precocious 14-year-old prostitute, and even a cousin of the notorious Nesle sisters—she helps the king give himself over to a life of luxury and depravity. Around them, war rages, discontent grows, and France inches ever closer to the Revolution.
Enigmatic beauty, social climber, actress, trendsetter, patron of the arts, spendthrift, whoremonger, friend, lover, foe: history books say many things about the famous Marquise de Pompadour. Alongside Catherine the Great of Russia and Maria Theresa of Austria, she is considered one of the three most powerful women of the 18th century, and one of the most influential royal mistresses of all time.
In The Rivals of Versailles, Christie gets to the heart of Pompadour's legendary relationship with Louis XV, France's most "well-beloved" king. Pompadour was not only his mistress, but his confidante and influential political adviser for close to twenty years. Full of historical insight, decadence, wit and scandal, The Rivals of Versailles is about one woman's trials and triumphs, her love for a king, and her role in shaping a nation.
Author Sally Christie
I'm a life-long history buff – and I mean life-long. One of the first adult books I read was Antonia Fraser's masterful Mary, Queen of Scots. Wow! That book just blew my little ten year old mind: something about the way it brought the past right back to life, made it live again on the page. I date my obsession with history to that time, but I'd been writing ("writing") ever since I was able to hold a pencil.
If you'd told my 12-year old self that I'd not be a writer when I grew up, I would have laughed you out of the tree house. With a few detours along the way, to work overseas in consulting and development, as well as to go to business school, I've finally come full circle to where I think I should be.
I currently live in Toronto and when I'm not writing, I'm playing lots of tennis; doing random historical research (old census records are my favorite); playing Scrabble, and squirrel-watching (the room where I write has French doors leading out to a deck; I avidly follow, and feed, a scruffy gang).
For more information please visit Sally Christie's website. You can also find her on Goodreads and Pinterest.
See all the tour stops:
Hashtags: #TheRivalsofVersaillesBlogTour #HistoricalFiction #SallyChristie #HistFic #France #Versailles #HFVBTBlogTour #BlogTour #18thC
Twitter Tags: @hfvbt @AtriaBooks


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NEW JERSEY -- The SBA and the Treasury Department, this week released detailed loan-level data regarding the 4.9 million small business loans made under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Overall, PPP made $521 billion in forgivable loans to businesses nationwide. The average loan size was approximately $100,000, demonstrating that the program is serving the smallest of businesses, according to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
"The PPP is providing much needed relief to millions of American small businesses, supporting more than 51 million jobs and over 80% of all small business employees, who are the drivers of economic growth in our country," Secretary Mnuchin said. "We are particularly pleased that 27% of the program's reach in low and moderate income communities which is in proportion to percentage of population in these areas.
The SBA released New Jersey-specific PPP loan data earlier this week. According to the SBA numbers, 125,688 PPP loans totaling nearly $4.5 billion ($4,463,997,130) were made in the Garden State and resulted in 531,360 jobs saved.
"Small businesses of all types and across all industries benefited from this unprecedented program," said Rohit Arora, CEO of Biz2Credit, an SBA-approved PPP lender, and one of the nation's leading experts in small business finance. "The state-specific numbers released by the government reinforce that PPP is working by keeping employees on payroll and sustaining of small businesses in New Jersey and across the country."
Congressman Tom Malinowski (D, NJ-07), one of the architects of the PPP lending program in the House of Representatives, called the Paycheck Protection program "a lifeline for small businesses."
"Throughout the 7th District, and now we know how helpful it's been in saving jobs during this public health crisis" said Malinowski. "I urge those eligible who have not yet applied to take advantage of the program before the August 8 deadline."
The PPP was created by Congress to provide cash-flow assistance through 100% federally guaranteed loans to employers, which are forgivable if they maintain their payroll during this emergency. Congress recently extended the PPP lending deadline from June 30 to August 8. For additional information on small business relief options and to apply for a forgivable loan, click here.
In April, Representative Malinowski testified before the House Small Business Committee and called for significant reforms to the PPP to ensure that loans were going to truly small businesses. In May, he co-sponsored the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act (PPP Act), which improved the program by making it easier for small businesses to cover necessary expenses and to give them more time to bring employees back. The PPP Act was signed into law on June 5th.
SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza added that she believes PPP is an indisputable success for small businesses, especially to the communities in which these employers serve as the main job creators.
"In three months, this Administration was able to act quickly to get funding into the hands of those who faced enormous obstacles as a result of the pandemic," Carranza said. "Small businesses of all types and across all industries benefited from this unprecedented program. The jobs numbers released last week reinforce that PPP is working by keeping employees on payroll and sustaining millions of small businesses through this time."

subset: commoncrawl


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Jubilee and the X-factor Queen
by- 11th June 2012
Of 31 monarchs in Europe, the English Queen is the only remaining anointed one. Jubilee watchers will have been affected by this in unfamiliar ways, which may account for some of the outpouring of feeling.
For unlike politicians or presidents, the Queen embodies sacred aspects of ourselves and our national life that other political figures cannot, for they are limited to representing only what current fads will allow.
To embody is much more than to represent. The contemporary idealisation of democracy occludes the fact that it is not the only or even the best political format (witness the struggles to embed it into places radically unfitted for it: Pakistan or the House of Lords for instance.)
We are more than mere consumers or voters. The wholeness of our humanity, which includes the spiritual and even sacerdotal, cannot be represented by whatever current discourse will allow.
I was once told for example, by the eminent New Atheist Professor A C Grayling, without irony on a BBC news feature about my book on chastity, that I could not resurrect this discourse because it was 'coercive'. Yet chastity is essential to spiritual and social health, even when fashionable dons try to suppress that fact.
As an anointed monarch, the Queen embodies and binds into her symbolic being as a constitutional guarantor, or surety, the spiritual and eternal aspects of our national life that may be otherwise vulnerable to political or social whim. And under the authority of Christ at her coronation, this became personal and relational.
For there, she received the Orb 'set under the Cross', and was bidden to 'remember that the whole world is subject to the Power and Empire of Christ our Redeemer.'
To embody this is to incarnate it. These are all words that we no longer use; but which nonetheless carry the freight of this nation's constitutional struggles, its sense of duty to others.
Even when this sense distorts into dangerous meddling (Israel) and hubristic folly (Iraq), it is not possible to explain Britain without understanding this.
The checks and balances of the English monarchical constitution embody the power of the people under an authority higher and infinitely more benign than its own authoritative apex.
Standing on the royal barge for several hours in the rain – even to the point of hospitalisation – says something about a country whose vision of power is tempered by a religious idea that no celebrity guru could possibly emulate. Imagine an X-factor search for a Queen and you get the idea.
Christ, which means Anointed One, from whom the English monarchy takes its model, was the King who undertook his own jubilee pageant on a donkey. The British monarch may own palaces, but no one can possibly deny that here is no strutting potentate.
And that's why the River Pageant was so moving. It was most true to the spirit of a nation that at best is both gallant and modest.
It is no coincidence that it was also the part that the BBC got most wrong.
The BBC's religion is relativism. In attempting to be 'inclusive' even of what is worthless (Fearne Cotton's 'Diamond Jubilee sickbag'), they betrayed the nation's good.
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So you got a job in Thailand, you've booked your flights, you've said your goodbyes, and accommodation is ready.
You are all set. You just need to pack.
I can pack for travelling, it is easy. I know exactly where I am going and what I am likely to do there. Pack a season. Pack for sports. Pack for adventure. You basically pack essentials with a couple of luxuries (hello Nintendo DSi).
I have packed for umpteen holidays; I have packed a few times for long travel.
Twice I have packed to live. First time in 2010 for South Korea and then 2011 for Thailand. Each time I got there and thought 'Sh*t, I should've brought…'
Are you moving to Thailand? Here are some quick tips to pack in that sack.
Tip 1 – Check your baggage allowance. Exceed it!
Being British I tend to get a 20kg allowance, add 10% pack 22. You'll be fine. When I first went to Korea I foolishly only packed 13 kilos. I took my backpack thinking I would do a bit of travelling. I was wrong.
You get hand luggage allowance of 7kg. Use it. Pack 8kg.
Your laptop is separate from your hand luggage; sneak a couple of magazines in your laptop bag.
Tip 2 – Do some research on what you need to bring.
If you are teaching speak to the teachers at your school. I packed a lot of smart clothes for Korea, I assumed that being a teacher I would be expected to wear a shirt and a tie. In fact I was only expected to wear those clothes 3 or 4 times a year. As long as I didn't wear flip flops it was fine. Even my tattoo on my leg wasn't an issue when I wore shorts in school. Remember I only packed 13 kilos? What a waste of space.
On the flip side, in Thailand you are expected to wear a shirt and tie. Did I bring this stuff to Thailand? No, I didn't. There are countless tailors in Bangkok who can make quality bespoke smart clothes for the price of off-the-rack back home.
Tip 3 – What is the country famous for?
There is a famous joke in Thailand that The Land of Smiles has three seasons; hot, hotter, hottest (555). The joke is not wrong. For maybe 2-3 weeks in January it is pleasant to walk outside in Bangkok, to take a stroll in Lumphini Park or haggle for stuff you don't need at JJ market. However it doesn't mean you can't wear shorts. I can comfortably wear shorts all year round.
Bangkok is also famous for being cheap; you can buy anything at JJ Market cheaply. In the abundant supply of shopping malls you can buy higher quality clothes cheaply. I have been in Bangkok for 2 years now and the only original items from my maiden voyage into South East Asia all the months ago are some hiking socks, Lilo and Stitch pants (from Korea Assar!) and some hiking trousers. My Asics running shoes were recently retired after a trip to Khao Yai. Take away two things from this paragraph – 1: I don't do much hiking and 2: Clothes wise you can get everything you need out here.
Korea is different to Thailand in that it has 4 seasons, although when you are there it won't feel like it. Summer and Winter are the two dominant seasons, Spring and Autumn are there but they are overshadowed by their bigger meaner brothers. Think of Spring and Autumn as announcers of the imminent arrival of Summer and Winter.
In Korea you can hike, even if you don't like hiking you should go once to see what the older generation wear when they go hiking! So unless you already have a decent pair of hiking boots you can buy a quality product there.
I want to say Koreans are stylish or fashionable, but I don't share the adoration that the Thai youth has. When it comes to fashion Koreans are avant garde, but to me the best adjective is brave; I once went on a second date with a Korean wearing a Super Mario Bros. knitted jumper and bow tie. But then on the fashion cline I am probably more Marks & Sparks than Spencer than American Apparel.
Tip 4 – What are the essentials?
In Thailand it is shoes, in Korea it is deodorant.
The majority of Asians are likely to be shorter, leaner and thinner than you, and in my opinion prettier or more handsome too ; )
Don't be offended when a gimgilbang (Traditional Korean sauna) attendant offers you a XXXL shirt and trousers combo to wear (wow, thinking about it after 2 years doesn't make me cry anymore).
Koreans pride themselves on being the tallest Asians, and from my experience it is probably true. And like all nationalities they have some fatties so chances are you can find some clothing that fits. It is a developed country with a huge expat crowd so you can buy imported goods too ($20 for a lump of cheese!)
The one thing you will likely struggle with is deodorant, these guys simple do not need it. I got by, I stocked up during my visit to Thailand and I did manage to find some in the shops in Seoul.
In Thailand the biggest shopping stress I have is shoes. I will always without fail throw a tantrum while shopping for shoes. When I put on the 6th pair of beautiful _ _ _ (insert ANY shoe type here) and the sales girl starts to laugh I immediately grab my figurative rattles and Tonka trucks and take aim at OJ's head (bless 'im).
My feet are average length; a UK size 9 (size 10 if I am bowling with friends). But my feet are wiiiiide. A UK size oh-my-god-your-feet-are-so-wide-they-won't-fit-in-the-machine-to-measure-the-wideness-of-your-feet.
So, on trips home to England I always stock up on shoes; smart and casual. Also 100% cotton socks as in the UK you get cotton socks with cartoon characters on. In Thailand you can get tofu coloured and shaped like a clown fish, but socks here are serious business and are either white or black or very expensive. Note – I do have my Super Mario trainer socks still from Seoul, they've been with me since the beginning too.
Tip 5 – What's your MVP (most valuable possession)?
For me, it's my Kindle. I love books. I love collecting books. Most of all I love reading books. I recently converted to a Kindle and I couldn't find one in Bangkok over the counter. I found a website where I could collect one from someone, somewhere. I decided it would be easier and cheaper getting my parents to buy it and ship it to me.
To some up, packing for a year abroad shouldn't be a stressful experience. With a few exceptions everything can be bought in the country you are heading to e.g. If I am willing to spend $10 for a small jar of Marmite I can Marmite.
I do wish they would make decent white chocolate here though, and why of all the countries I have been to, only the UK and Australia realize that salt and vinegar is the best of all crisp flavours?
What about you? Are you working in Thailand and thinking about other career options? When is it time to leave Thailand? Feel free to share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.
And don't forget to please subscribe to our blog if you found it useful (or amusing).


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|Monday 10 August 2020
|0 confirmed events for today
|Events for day: Friday 31 August 2018
|10:30 Childrens Storytime
Category : General
The Dallam-Hartley County Library, 420 Denrock Avenue, holds Children's Storytime on Fridays.
18:30 Senior Game Night
Category : General
The Dalhart Senior Citizens Association hosts Senior Saints Game Night at the Dalhart Senior Center, 610 Denrock Avenue. Everyone is welcome.
19:00 DHS Varsity Football Game
Category : General
Away against Muleshoe


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Build Your Skills and Confidence!
Need fast, powerful training? I've got you covered with a mix of fun, inspirational and targeted workshops that help you master simple concepts and get your nonprofit fully funded.
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Having Sandy on the program not only increases our attendance, but the topics she offers are key to our mission of supporting and sustaining our member organizations. Sandy is a trusted expert and presents in a way that is warm, fun and engaging."
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In this session, you'll learn how to follow 7 Simple Steps to put together a written plan, so you raise the money you need without begging and constantly feeling like you're selling. We cover goal setting, creating action plans and how to keep everything on track. Plus, you get worksheets and checklists that make the entire process easy.
Secrets of Success for the Small Nonprofit
Webinar, Breakout Session, ½-day Workshop
What if you could raise all the money you need to cover your nonprofit's expenses…like, every last dollar, overhead and all? And what if you could do it without having to sell t-shirts, hold car washes or host ineffective Buffalo Wild Wings Nights? It's possible if you deliver the right message to the right people at the right time!
If you're ready to do more with less effort and stop playing small, join us for this workshop, where you learn the 3 Simple Steps to fully funding your work, so you help more people (and do it with a lot less stress and a bunch more fun). We cover how to find ideal donors and craft appealing, heart-warming, perfectly timed, wallet-opening messages — all without having to sound or feel sleazy or salesy.
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Great donor relationships start with communication that builds trust. Yet, many nonprofits do a poor job of saying the things that get to the heart of what matters to the donor. What you say will either grab someone's attention and inspire to them to give…or, bore them to tears and turn them off.
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Webinar, Breakout Session, ½-day Workshop
If you're like many nonprofits, your Board may have nice people who want to help but aren't as productive as you need them to be. What if you could learn how to recruit an engaged Board that buys into your annual fundraising plan, helps more, makes big donations and connects you with the people most likely to give?
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Breakout Session, Keynote
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text:
All Purpose Event Tickets
All purpose and general purpose Event Tickets work for any event. Our general purpose templates enable you to choose and print the right ticket for your concert, performance, game, dance, ball, benefit, fundraiser, and more. You don't need to know how to make Event Tickets, just choose a design and customize for your event!


text: Temperatures this week are hitting the low to mid 70's. How many of you are thinking about getting on the lake? Lake Wylie was hit hard after last summer's drought conditions. Duke Energy who manages the lake reported last October 2007 a dam lake level of 92.80 feet. Full pond as Duke Energy calls it is 97 feet. Minimum levels are said to be 94 feet. Many of us decided to stay off the lake for a while since many of the boat ramps closed and new rock hazards popped up in the low water conditions. The good news is Duke is reporting this week the lake is at full pond or 97 feet. Most boat ramps have now been reopened. So what are you waiting for? Even thought the lake is up in level now, we are still under stage 3 water restrictions. It will be interesting to see if our current rain pattern will hold to keep the lake level up this summer.


text:
Hi all,
I'm a Software Architect by profession. I used to travel a lot since my teenage. My hometown is London. My sister who is an Endocrinologist is married to a Canadian doctor. I used to frequently visit her at her place. While both of them gets engaged in their hospital duties, I used to explore the scenic beauty of Canadian landscapes. Niagara was always there in my fantasies.
I'm engaged to a pretty Canadian lady. I met her at the last Vancouver Celebration of Light. And at the first glance, I felt that she is my soulmate. We wish to spend the rest of our lives together.
I always like to be an exception in everything. Even in the case of my choices. My dream is to build a small and beautiful home beside the Niagara and to live there peacefully with my girl.
What about picking a cargo container for this purpose? Hey...don't think about an old container with dents, dings and surface rust. LoL…Noooo….
I will purchase a new container and enrich it with many features. A gorgeous container home with all luxuries…. It will be awesome right?
I'm in search for a good cargo container company in the Canadian province itself. And I remember, I've been in my friend's container guest house two years back, for blasting his bachelor party. He suggested me a provider of shipping containers in Edmonton. But I have some queries regarding this matter.
Is there any legal problem for proceeding constructional activities on the river bank without proper consent from the governing authorities?
If I build a multi storeyed building using cargo containers, will it be strong enough?
What size of containers will I need?
Any idea about the cost and service charges?
Containers are easily prone to rust. I have heard about Corten Steel (COR-TEN) . It is a special type of weathering steel that consists of alloyed elements such as silicon, nickel, copper, and chromium to enhance the corrosion resistance capability. Are such kinds of COR-TEN containers available in Canada?
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text:
I've been listening to Anderson .Paak for a little over a year now. I was first turned on to his incredible sound on the track "Make It Work" featuring Asher Roth. From the moment the track started I was caught in a groovy vibe due to .Paak's infectious vocals. That groovy vibe can be heard his music catalog.
The interesting aspect about Anderson .Paak's artistry is that he doesn't subscribe to one genre. In an interview with XXL, he describes his sound as "range and dynamic". He is an artist that is pushing the boundaries of hip-hop and R&B by incorporating a diverse collection of sounds into his music.
A perfect example of Anderson .Paak's unique sound is on the track "Suede" with producer Knxwledge. This track even got the attention of Dr. Dre during a recording session. Ultimately leading to .Paak working close with Dre on his Compton album where he was featured on 6 of the 16 tracks on the album.
In addition to his work with the legendary Compton producer, Anderson .Paak released his second studio album, Malibu, which was met with universal acclaim. This spring he went on tour with his band The Free Nationals and wowed audiences across the country. His show was one of the best I've seen this year. Just watch his performance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert or his Tiny Desk Concert and you'll see why his live show is a must-see. The way he commands the stage from the mic and the drum kit is unreal.
We can't wait to see more great releases from Anderson .Paak. He is an artist that will continue put out quality music for years to come. Get familiar with his artistry with our latest Starter Pack playlist.
Listen to the Anderson .Paak Starter Pack Playlist
Track List:
- Anderson .Paak – "Come Down"
- Anderson .Paak – "Off the Ground"
- Anderson .Paak – "Silicon Valley"
- NxWorries (Anderson .Paak & Knxwledge) – "Suede"
- Mac Miller Feat. Anderson .Paak – "Dang!"
- EOM Feat. Anderson .Paak & Blu – "Get Along"
- Anderson .Paak Feat. Schoolboy Q – "Am I Wrong"
- Snakehips Feat. Anderson .Paak – "Money On Me"
- Anderson .Paak – "The Season/Carry Me"
- Dr. Dre Feat. Anderson .Paak & Marsha Ambrosius – "All In a Day's Work"
1 Comment
[Single] Anderson .Paak (Breezy Lovejoy) - "P.Y.P." (Acoustic Version) | Sonic SelectsJuly 17, 2017 at 7:34 pm
[…] he was performing in sold-out arenas opening for Bruno Mars and J. Cole, Anderson .Paak went by the name Breezy […]


text:
Sorry just getting back to this after being away from a computer after posting my last post...NORTHWOODS HOCKEY wrote: Ha! No, not upset at all. I just didn't see where anyone brought it up, so I thought it odd? What was the point or how did it tie into the thread? You don't think that makes sense?
Then, knowing the person, I thought it odd that he made the statement, knowing that he knows very little about the team. He has zero idea where this team fits, yet he throws it into a thread. If he knew the team and the makeup, well then, I guess his opinion would carry more weight. But knowing he doesn't, just makes his opinion less creditable.
He knows very little about Andover's make up either, only what he is told by his Edina friends:)
Clearly I should not have made that statement. I meant nothing malicious by it. Clearly NORTHWOODS felt that was my intention. Again, it was not. I did not say that they sucked or make a comment about their players or the makeup of their team. Like I stated earlier a couple of people mentioned both of those teams.
Since I do not know anything about CI other than what is on the HUB and having seen one of their players play a few times a year over the past several years (whose game I like a lot and believe that I have been pretty complimentary about as long as I have known her), please tell me about CI.
Next please tell me what I should know about Andover.
I want to know about both teams and I am sure that you know more than I about both teams.
I have heard NOTHING about Andover from any friends I have in Edina...and what in the heck to people in Edina care about Andover other than when their u12 team plays them?NORTHWOODS HOCKEY wrote:
He knows very little about Andover's make up either, only what he is told by his Edina friends:)


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The Cape Verde consists of ten islands 500 km off the west coast of Africa and 1000 km southwest of the Canary Islands. They were claimed in 1456 by Portugal, as a refreshment station for voyages to and from South America. Later, the Portuguese developed vineyards and imported African slaves to work with the vines.
The two islands we visited were Santiago (46 by 25 miles in area) and Sao Vicente (14 by 10 miles in area). Praia on the island of Santiago has been the capital of Cape Verde since 1770 and was built primarily by slave labor. In the late 1700's, the islands were hit by a 100-year drought, resulting in a devastating loss of life and mass emigration. Gradually, during the 1900's, the economy based on agriculture and fishing rebuilt itself.
We hired a taxi to take us into the interior of the island, heading towards Assomada, with a stop on the way in Sao Jorge to see the beautiful Jardim Botanico. The drive was full of twists, turns, and switchbacks as we made our way through the mountains, passing by many small villages.
Our young, but very accomplished taxi driver.
As we passed through one of the small villages, two policemen were manning a roadblock, stopping all the taxis driving through the area. Our driver was nervous as he quickly gathered together all the paperwork for the vehicle. The policeman asked that he get out of the car and they moved to the back of the car to search the trunk. We wanted to see what was happening, but thought it might cause a problem to get out of the car with our cameras. But we caught the action through the rearview mirror for our memory book.
On our way to the botanical gardens in Sao Jorge, we stopped to take pictures of the school children who had been released from their lessons for the day.
Jardim Botanico
This picnic area was beautiful enough to be an outdoor chapel.
Christmas poinsettias
We continued our drive through the mountains to finally reach Assomada, a town that is home to one of the island's largest, most vibrant markets as well as many examples of Portuguese colonial buildings.
Town of Assomada
Solar panel "tree" in town square
Truly cobblestone streets!
Assomada Market Activities and People
Sugar Cane
Our super hero!


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I would just like to say, that this is my own best practice – make sure you do some research elsewhere before you take this as gospel 🙂 .
After recently setting up my only second new Cisco UCS, I thought I would share some of my experiences with the networking side of the Cisco UCS. In my last deployment of a Cisco UCS I only configured a single Virtual Machine network template to use a single Fabric uplink to the Core Switch with Failover enabled. This works still really well to this day, but the biggest issue for me is that the traffic between Fabric A and Fabric B is now not distributed evenly. Ideally, the Virtual Machine traffic should be able to traverse either Fabric A or Fabric B, and I will admit that the design of my first Cisco UCS deployment was by no means my finest piece of work.
This time around I had the time to properly scope out the design with some vigorous white-boarding sessions, which made a nice change as I could completely map out the UCS network and fibre design. So the uplink from the UCS to the Core Network is to a pair of stacked Cisco 3750X's which logically looks like this:
So from each Fabric Interconnect on the UCS Mini, we have an uplink to each Switch. This not only provides more bandwidth for the Virtual Machines, but ensures that we don't have a single point of failure. If a FI or a Switch fails then we still have connectivity to the corporate network. The next piece was how could we setup the networking to allow Virtual Machines to communicate via both FI's? The solution itself is simple, but means that there is a gotcha that you must make your virtualisation administrators aware of (which I will explain later).
The solution is to configure two vNIC templates, one vNIC template will use Fabric A with failover enabled and the secondary vNIC template will use Fabric B with failover enabled:
So we then present two NIC's to Hyper-V, (which I have renamed already) and we basically then create two virtual switches on each host:
The task for us then (or the virtualisation administrator 😉 ), as we started to migrate Virtual Machines over to the new Hyper-V 2016 cluster was to re-balance all Virtual Machines between Switch-A and Switch-B. We used the methodology that we should put all odd numbered Virtual Machines on Switch-A and all even number Virtual Machines on Switch-B. That way roughly half of all VMs are going out of Fabric-A (which is through Switch 1), and the other half are going out of Fabric-B (which is through Switch 2).
What about converged networking?
Well, I had thought about using converged networking but after reading several forums I decided to let the Cisco UCS do all the hard work. I have on several occasions used the converged networking functionality on rack servers, but for a blade environment like this it is definitely best to let the Cisco UCS handle FI failure and let it switch over between working FI's. I did attempt to do this during my first deployment, but for some reason I could not ever get it to work. So in this method I presented what was a single NIC to the Hyper-V host and then using some Powershell scripts I logically split this out into several other NICs which actually uses the Hyper-V networking stack. But doing this on a Cisco UCS deployment does not seem to work, as having both links active at the same time seem to cause a lot of networking problems.
Also look here: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/24f8dd51-07db-41c4-a964-1031bd519d1f/deploying-hyper-v-on-cisco-ucs-converged-networking-in-vmm-or-on-hardware?forum=winserverhyperv
This is a great little thread on the matter.


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Manufacturers around the world continue to grapple with the pressure of reducing costs while achieving the highest standard of quality. In this era of the connected customer, we are now experiencing a whole new world with mass customization/personalization in a high-volume environment becoming the norm. To stay competitive, manufacturers need to become agile to respond flexibly to this new demand. But without the real-time visibility and intelligent insights to optimize production, manufacturers will not be able to keep pace with the increased demand for innovation and adapt to dynamic new business models.
As manufacturers architect and execute their Industry 4.0 initiatives, intelligence gathering and analytics is a mission-critical component to success. In Aberdeen Group's 2017 MOM/MES and Manufacturing Operations Benchmark study, research revealed that 47% of organizations believe they need to become more data-driven to remain competitive. The amount of sensor and machine data being produced today alone is immense, and this is only expected to increase as the cost of sensors decrease, and control points increase. As the number of interconnected factory assets, devices, and sensors increases, the amount of data available to manufacturers provides an unprecedented opportunity to generate "smart" insights not possible before.
On-Demand Webinar: Data-Driven Manufacturing -Monetizing the Analytical Edge
The proliferation and complexity of multiple disparate systems in modern manufacturing environments is not uncommon (MES ERP; PLM; QMS, Inventory, etc.). If that wasn't overwhelming enough, now add the ever-increasing number of connected machines and devices, and the difficulty of retrieving relevant and insightful data increases exponentially. Different systems have different data structures and traditionally require highly skilled IT personnel to learn the database structures and then write structured queries to retrieve data if the data can even be retrieved at all. Typically, it is a time consuming and costly process that also puts an intermediary between the data and the people who need to analyze and leverage it. But just having "more" data isn't the answer either.
The sheer volume of data available today is burying individuals and departments in a glut of information that they cannot leverage intelligently. Even if the IT folks eventually extract the data, it then requires the expertise and knowledge of a line-of-business manager or engineer that understands the data at a holistic level as it relates to the entire operation. With today's manufacturing environment, companies will not survive if they don't change their approach. What's needed is contextual insights — and the ability to access, analyze and act on the data quickly. Applying the traditional way of extracting and analyzing the ever-increasing terabytes and exabytes of data is no longer an option.
Analytics should be for the masses, not just for IT or data specialists. Everyone should be able to easily manage and display data that is important and enables real-time and proactive decision making to their job functions. The more broadly that data is available for all members of the organization, the more value the enterprise can extract from it. Providing users across the enterprise with intuitive and configurable reports, real-time dashboards, and even mobile apps can empower the people in operations — not just the IT office — to build the outputs they need in a graphical, simple manner. More importantly, the end user needs to be able to do all of this without SQL, scripting, or IT knowledge.
Manufacturing leaders need to be able to easily apply data in real-time to current challenges, while simultaneously using the information to better plan for and drive future business. Competitive agility, improved profitability, reduced costs and higher customer satisfaction are just some of the benefits accrued by leveraging intelligent insights across the connected factory floor and throughout the enterprise.
Access the webinar recording to hear Greg Cline, Research Analyst – Manufacturing, Aberdeen Group and Bob Miklosey, VP Product Management, Aegis Software discussing the following:
- What leading manufacturers are doing today to ensure their survival in the future.
- How technology can bridge the gap between IT and Operations to ensure the right information is accessible to the right person at the right time in the right way.
- How intelligence can be leveraged across the factory floor to support continuous process optimization and productivity improvements for optimal business outcomes.
Author: Deb Geiger, VP Global Marketing, Aegis Software
Deb has extensive product marketing & management experience spanning multiple industries. Prior to joining Aegis Software, she worked with Astea for 12 years where she was responsible for global marketing in the aftermarket support/service management industry. Prior to Astea, she worked for Draeger Medical (a Draeger and Siemens Company) where she was responsible for global strategic and tactical marketing for acute point-of-care software solutions. She has also managed a marketing consulting company, working with clients in the high-tech sector to provide product & services marketing. Deb has also held sales & marketing positions with Lever Brothers and ACNielsen. She has a B.S. degree in Marketing from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a M.S. degree in Information Systems, Drexel University.


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The persistent, dependent use of marijuana before age 18 has been shown to cause lasting harm to a person's intelligence, attention and memory, according to an international research team.
Among a long-range study cohort of more than 1,000 New Zealanders, individuals who started using cannabis in adolescence and used it for years afterward showed an average decline in IQ of 8 points when their age 13 and age 38 IQ tests were compared. Quitting pot did not appear to reverse the loss either, said lead researcher Madeline Meier, a post-doctoral researcher at Duke University. The results appear online Aug. 27 in PNAS.
The key variable in this is the age of onset for marijuana use and the brain's development, Meier said. Study subjects who didn't take up pot until they were adults with fully-formed brains did not show similar mental declines. Before age 18, however, the brain is still being organized and remodeled to become more efficient, she said, and may be more vulnerable to damage from drugs.
"Marijuana is not harmless, particularly for adolescents," said Meier, who produced this finding from the long term Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study.
About 5 percent of the study group were considered marijuana-dependent, or were using more than once a week before age 18. A dependent user is one who keeps using despite significant health, social or family problems.
At age 38, all of the study participants were given a battery of psychological tests to assess memory, processing speed, reasoning and visual processing. The people who used pot persistently as teens scored significantly worse on most of the tests.
Source: MedicalXpress


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Paper Cuts Collection - Moonlit Sleigh Cutting Die
Project Idea
Moonlit Sleigh Edger Cutting Die from Creative Expressions! This moonlit sleigh with presents cutting die by Cathie Shuttleworth cuts a beautiful edge that is 6" long. This die is 1 piece and cuts the design on only 1 side while reverse cutting on the other. This allows you to create a beautiful edge to your cards and other paper craft projects! It works with most leading die cutting machines, including the Big Shot (link) and the Gemini (link).
More from the Paper Cuts Collection: Merry Christmas (link), Let It Snow (link), Seasons Greetings (link), Deck The Halls (link), 'tis The Season (link), Partridge in a Pear Tree (link), Heavenly Bells (link), Snowman (link) and Dashing Through The Snow (link).
Item #: 4015111
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text: I have resisted watching or reviewing these films for some time. I was always partial to Michael Myers, for better or worse, and the times I watched these films, it just felt like a hulking replica of everything after the first film in the Halloween franchise. Insert dumb kids, make them get down, then enter … Continue reading Friday The 13th Chronology: The First 8, because they were cheap.


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Hospital unveils new pediatric ambulance
Ambulance funded by community donations
The Barbara Bush Children's Hospital at Maine Medical Center unveiled a new neonatal and pediatric ambulance on Tuesday.
Click here for photos of the ambulance.
A dedication ceremony was held for Angel One, which provides intensive care services to both critically ill children and newborns as they are transported to the hospital.
"It really is crucial. We can get out there and be able to start the treatment on site, rather than needing to wait two hours until get back here is essential," said director of pediatrics Dr. John Bancroft.
Officials said the ambulance provides the same care as the newborn or pediatric intensive care unit at the hospital, which is reassuring to parents of children who need its services.
"Having all this technology, all this excellent support team, with the nurses and doctors is really comforting," Monique Crawford, the mother of a premature baby.
The ambulance was funded entirely by community contributions.


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Tonks and Atiga return for Edinburgh Rugby
October 19, 2012 Leave a comment
Full-back Greig Tonks and centre Ben Atiga have recovered from injury to make to make their Heineken Cup debuts for Edinburgh against Munster on Sunday.
The duo are among five changes made by head coach Michael Bradley as his team look to bounce back from last week's disastrous 45-0 home defeat at the hands of Saracens. Tonks and Atiga replace Tom Brown and Matt Scott, who both drop to the bench, respectively.
The capital side have a point to prove after the Saracens result but Bradley is acutely aware that a trip to face Munster on their Limerick home turf is a daunting one. Bradley said: ""Thomond Park is a fortress, steeped in the Heineken Cup history. The fans and the players will be fired up for this, so we'll need to front up to the physical aspects of the game from the outset."
Bradley's will be hoping that his changes will give his side both a physical and attacking edge for the vital fixture. Fijian Number 8 Netani Talei returns to the back row with Stuart McInally moving to open-side flanker in place of Ross Rennie who does not make the match-day squad. Scotland prop Geoff Cross comes back into the pack at tight-head in place of Willem Nel. Club captain Greig Laidlaw has failed to recover from the shoulder injury he sustained in last week's match and his place at stand-off goes to Gregor Hunter while second row Sean Cox will skipper the team.
To win the match Bradley insists that Edinburgh must front up against the two-times former European champions and silence the home crowd. He said: "If we match them physically, and are patient and accurate in possession, then we have a chance to impose our game plan and not be dictated to by the Munster players and a Thomond Park crowd that will be desperate for a home win."
Edinburgh Rugby team to play Munster in round two of the Heineken Cup at Thomond Park, Limerick (kick-off 12.45) – live on SkySports
15 Greig Tonks
14 Lee Jones
13 Nick De Luca
12 Ben Atiga
11 Tim Visser
10 Gregor Hunter
9 Richie Rees
1 John Yapp
2 Ross Ford
3 Geoff Cross
4 Grant Gilchrist
5 Sean Cox CAPTAIN
6 David Denton
7 Stuart McInally
8 Netani Talei
16 Andy Titterrell
17 Robin Hislop
18 Willem Nel
19 Robert McAlpine
20 Dimitri Basilaia
21 Chris Leck
22 Matt Scott
23 Tom Brown
Original here


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When you're putting everything together for a show-stopping day, you want to plan a wedding that you love, but also that your guests rave about for years to come. It can be a stressful process, so it's important for you to have some time of your own to relax at websites like www.dreamjackpot.com. Planning a wedding involves a lot of time and effort. You want everything to run smoothly and everyone to have a fantastic time. If you're in the midst of designing your dream day, here are some tips and tricks to keep your guests on side.
Give plenty of notice
It's no secret that many people lead busy lives. If you're getting married, and you've set a date, give your guests as much notice as possible. When you go to a wedding, you may need to take time off work organize childcare and book transport and accommodation, so the sooner you know, the better.
Provide important information
As a wedding guest, it's always helpful to know where you're going, what's happening when, and what you need to wear. When you send out invitations, include an information sheet with details of local hotels, directions and travel tips, and the dress code. You'll also need to provide information about gifts, and it's useful to have a timeline. If you're getting married abroad, try and include as much information about hotels and flights as possible to help your guests plan their vacation.
Make sure there are enough toilets
There's nothing worse than missing the first dance or the cutting of the cake because you're stuck in the line for the bathroom. If you're getting married at home, or you're having an outdoor wedding, look into portable toilet rental. Think about how many people you're inviting. If you've only got one toilet for 50 guests, there are going to be problems.
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Image from https://pixabay.com/en/photos/appetizer/
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Image credit https://www.flickr.com/photos/beckmann/5348869988
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A bank of Bloom's Energy Servers supplies power at Amazon headquarters. (Credit: Bloom Energy.)
The email message was short and very to the point: "Is there a reason the American CERAMIC society featured the development of POLYMER based fuel cells in its weekly newsletter?"
Given our normally laser-like focus on ceramic technologies, the question, a response to last week's CTT coverage of a DOE project to install PEM fuel cells on refrigerated trucks, was a fair one. Of course, last week we also covered advances in SOFC fuel cell technology that are based on some pretty dazzling ceramic science.
And sometimes things just go that way. The week before, CTT featured two stories on developments in the solar energy field. And, we're no strangers to covering the debate about which renewable energy technologies might be more viable in the long run, and which might be more deserving of federal funding. Obviously, we're prejudiced toward ceramic-based technologies. But we have no intention of inserting ourselves into that debate. We just take the stories as they come, and the two fuel cell posts—one about SOFCs, one about PEM technology—seemed to make nice bookends to last week's coverage.
And, we should all be encouraged to see companies such as Redox Power Systems, one of the subjects of last week's fuel cell coverage. The company is working to commercialize the low-temperature SOFC technology referred to above without government subsidies. In a similar vein, Bloom Energy Corp., which has been supplying commercial SOFC technology since 2001, recently announced that it will partner with Bank of America Merrill Lynch to enable customers to lease its Energy Server SOFC technology. The program's first two projects will be at a supplier of golf equipment in Carlsbad, Calif., and at the Anaheim venue that is home to the National Hockey League's Ducks franchise. Bloom recently announced a similar arrangement with Japan's SoftBank Group to deploy the company's technology to customers in that country, and the company claims its SOFCs have generated more than 700,000,000 kWh of electricity for customers such as Google, Amazon, and the Coca Cola Co. over the last five years.
For its part, the Obama administration continues to try to pursue an "all-of-the-above" strategy when it comes to supporting renewable energy research. Just a month ago, DOE announced $4.5 million in funding for two fuel cell projects. However, the debate over funding may become moot if Congress follows through on a House plan that calls for draconian cuts to research funding at two DOE offices.


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Benefits of Using a Waist Trainers
Technology has adverse effects on health. Most of the tasks that which helped in physical exercises are done using technological appliances. The types of food we consume also contribute a lot to poor health. The fitness industry is currently a booming business. Most people have to work out to ensure they stay healthy and fit as well as avoid lifestyle diseases like obesity and high blood pressure. You can opt to enroll in a gym or buy home gym training equipment to workout at home. All these with endurance and commitment will give you the desired fitness goals. At times, you may wish not to lose entire body weight but to just lose fat in specific body parts. The waist and the stomach are the ones mostly affected. Waist trainers are there to help you manage your desired waist dimensions.


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Does the atmail 7 cloud scan outbound emails for spam? Yes.
- atmail 7 cloud
My emails will not send as they are being marked as spam.
The atmail cloud scans outbound emails to protect the reputation of the server.
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For Example: '$10,000,000'
If your outgoing emails are getting marked as spam and you believe this to be false, please submit a ticket and we can review our spam rules and policies.


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The Dillon Brothers - Continuing the Legacy
Ty and Austin Dillon at Homestead-Miami Speedway with the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship trophy after the 2011 Ford 200. (Courtesy: Getty Images)
Our first feature on Jimmie Johnson put the spotlight on the driver that spent half a decade dominating NASCAR, leaving Homestead-Miami Speedway with five consecutive championships.
Our next feature is a "twofer," profiling Austin and Ty Dillon, who were both young teens when Johnson first hoisted a season championship trophy in South Florida. When it's all said and done, the brothers might have trophy cases and career resumes that equal Johnson's.
All Austin, 22, has done in his first two years in NASCAR is win the Camping World Truck Series Championship last year, preceded by Rookie of the Year honors in 2010. The then-21 year old became the youngest champion in series history.
Austin moved up to the NASCAR Nationwide Series for 2012 and is off to an auspicious start with the No. 3 AdvoCare/American Ethanol/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet. After nine races, he's third in points.
Meanwhile, 20 year-old Ty, driver of the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet, is currently fourth in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series standings, fourteen points back.
Continuing the legacy seems to come with the territory in this family – Austin and Ty are the grandsons of Richard Childress and the sons of Richard Childress Racing's general manager Mike Dillon. Richard Childress Racing (RCR) became synonymous with success and championships with the legendary Dale Earnhardt and the famed black No. 3 Chevrolet. RCR has earned 12 championships, more than 200 victories, and was the first organization to win titles in NASCAR's three main series.
If all goes to plan, the famous No. 3 will stay in the family and help RCR build on its dozen championships.
"It's so special when you're family. Our whole family is involved, and I remember the very first championship with Dale Earnhardt. I had the same feeling tonight watching Austin, my grandson. It's just so special to have the family and know how hard all of them worked."
-- Richard Childress, following Austin Dillon's Camping World Truck Series championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway
Q. You won Rookie of the Year honors in 2010 and followed it up last season with the Camping World Truck Series Championship, won in Miami. What are your goals and definitions of success this year?
A. Going to the Nationwide Series, this is our rookie season. I plan on taking the same path that we did in the truck series, going into Homestead with a shot at a points championship and the rookie of the year title. If we can take home both of those, it'd be a wonderful year. But, our main goal first is that Rookie of the Year, and then we'll see what we can do with that championship.
Q. What are your memories from Homestead-Miami Speedway last November 18, starting when your team came on radio during the truck race and told you that you'd won the championship?
A. I enjoyed all of the after-race festivities; holding the trophy in turns 3 and 4, taking the pictures that we took, and getting to stand with Tony Stewart and Rickey Stenhouse -- the other champions -- on Sunday. It was a great day and I'll never forget it.
Q. The No. 3 car and Richard Childress Racing did not run in Nationwide last year. You're changing that. Is there any point of pride to carrying that historic car number into the Nationwide Series – a family tradition of sorts?
A. For sure. I want to take advantage of it and really go out there and put it out front just like we did in the trucks. Truthfully, I just want to work hard and win races with [the number 3].
Q. What would you do with an off day in South Florida?
A. I would love to be able to go deep sea fishing. I was able to do it in the Keys right after our race in 2010, so I'd definitely love to do some fishing.
Q. You have a double whammy of sorts: You come from very famous racing family and you're following in your brother's footsteps. Is this a good or bad thing?
A. It's awesome. I got so much experience around me coming up that it's made it really nice. I have every resource that I could use in the world, having Austin, my grandfather, my dad, all of the drivers at RCR, and all the greatest equipment in the world. I've got it all, and I've got to make the best of this opportunity, go out and win races and do what I'm capable of doing.
Q. How is it going so far this year?
A. It's been fairly easy. I went to most of Austin's races last year and I felt like I went through his learning curve with him. You know, just being with him and hearing what he's had to say all last year, along with his crew chief and his team. And running a full season myself in the ARCA Series and winning a championship in that has helped, along with a bunch of guys that believe in me and helped win that championship with me. I've got a lot of confidence this year. I've got the equipment and the trucks that won a championship last year and a wonderful team. So, like I said, I have all of the knowledge and experience that I could ever use at RCR, so I don't see why we can't go after a championship in our first year and win a lot of races.
Q. Speaking of going through it all with Austin. What are your memories of Homestead-Miami Speedway and his championship last fall?
A. It was awesome. I was in the [Camping World Truck Series] race. We ran sixth in my third truck race ever. It was a great time. I really love Homestead. It's a really fun racetrack and you can race around there. You can run two and three wide and make things happen. So, it's a very interesting race track to go for the final race of the season and battle for a championship. You know that you're going to drive your hardest because they are going to pass you if you're not good enough. I'm excited to go back and enjoyed racing there last time.
Q. Put on your salesmen hat for a minute. Why should people be excited about the Dillon brothers and root for them in races?
A. It's a breath of fresh air. My brother and I, we're bringing something new to the sport – two brothers working their way to the top. People are able to follow us from the lowest ranks to, hopefully, the top ranks. We're going to win races and do whatever it takes. We're very determined people and we're going to be exciting to watch.
NASCAR Camping world Truck Series rookie Ty Dillon takes the wheel of the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet from his brother Austin, who drove it to a series championship last year before moving up to the NASCAR Nationwide Series
2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Austin Dillon celebrates with his team following the Ford 200 (Nov 18, 2011)
Courtesy: Getty Images
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The Long Walls
The Long Walls were like something out of epic fantasy, with the added advantage that they were totally real. A few small parts of them still exist.
In this map, Athens is the pink blobby bit in the top right. Piraeus is the green blobby bit in the bottom left. Those two lines you see connecting them are the Long Walls. As you can see, they're long!
There was a wall built around central Athens, and Piraeus was a reinforced naval fortress. Athens, Piraeus and the Long Walls together formed one, huge, dumb-bell shaped fortification.
Why did they do this? Well, about two decades before my stories begin, a rather bright lad by the name of Themistocles realized that the safety of Athens required a massive fleet. I've previously talked about how huge the Athenian fleet was. At this time, they had about 200 triremes. They needed somewhere to dock and maintain all those boats, so Themistocles decided to turn a teensy fishing village called Piraeus into a massively fortified naval base, and in so doing he set the future of Greece for the next 2,500 years. To this day, Piraeus is their major port.
The only problem was the distance between Athens and Piraeus. An invading army -- Sparta would be a likely choice -- could stand in between to cut off the Athenians from their fleet.
So Themistocles decided to build the Long Walls. Even back then, they were sometimes called the Walls of Themistocles.
There's a paradox with the dating of these things. The historian Thucydides states that Themistocles caused the walls to be built, and he states that they were built in 458BC. The dating on this is technical. A Spartan army attacked to try to prevent the walls being completed, and it's possible to show this happened in 458, or roundabouts.
But Themistocles was ostracized in 470BC, 12 years before, and then condemned for treason. He never returned to Athens. How could he have caused walls to be built 12 years after he was gone? And why would the Athenians name a major defensive structure after a traitor? On the face of it, this is impossible!
Historians almost universally go with the 458 date, and don't have a good answer for the Themistocles question. But I wanted those walls to be there in 461BC, and besides, I think the date paradox needs to be solved.
It occurred to me that the walls might have been built twice. It might be that, after the Persian Wars, Themistocles caused a rapidly-constructed wooden wall to be built, and that subsequently it was replaced with a more permanent solution. Thucydides states point blank that the wall erected in 458 was of stone. A wood-to-stone conversion makes sense, especially since, after twenty years, they'd be starting to see maintenance issues.
Also, disregarding the recorded history, purely as a piece of military thinking, it's inconceivable to me that they would wait 20 years after the Persian Wars to build something so vital to their core naval strategy.
When I checked archaeological records (always check the archaeology) I discovered a report that suggested a small part of the remaining ruined wall structure seems to have been made of wood. That's not nearly enough to prove my theory by rigorous academic standards, but for a humble author of historical fiction, we're just fine.
Ta-da! Life is good.
So the walls Nico sees are specifically described as wooden, not stone.
If you'd been standing in the middle of the Long Walls back in 460BC, you would have seen huge amounts of traffic up and down, from the moment dawn broke. Fishermen landed their catch at Piraeus and carted it up to Athens, to sell in the agora. Workmen trundled their way back and forth. Navy men who lived in Athens walked down to their ships. Merchants with imported goods carted them off the cargo ships and up to the big city.
These days there's a bus route that runs where the Long Walls used to be, and I think the green line of the Athens metro is more or less on the same path too, but in Nico's day the only way up or down was to walk, or take a cart.
3 comments:
- Sarah W said...
This is fascinating.
Not just the walls or Themistocles (who appears to be a genius who actually got things done), but the way two facts have been combined for years, even though the math doesn't work.
(loved, loved, loved Ionia Sanction, by the way -- Barzanes is a marvelous character!)
- November 1, 2011 at 11:35 AM
- Gary Corby said...
Hey Sarah!
This morning I've posted the world's longest blog post (this one), and just finished writing the world's longest email to a marketing department (to an unlucky victim at Penguin who now has to read it all).
And I was just about to mention a lovely book review that I came across...
- November 1, 2011 at 12:18 PM
- Stephanie Thornton said...
This is a great piece of history to add to The Ionia Sanction--very cool hypothesis.
And you answered my question in your last paragraph--I was wondering if the metro I took from Piraeus to the Acropolis mirrored those very same walls.
- November 1, 2011 at 2:45 PM


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Weekly/Daily/Semi-Weekly Lounge Get Together (NET)
KD8JBF posted a topic in Suggestion BoxSo, I am posting a suggestion as to maybe scheduling some times to get together in, "The Lounge" to discuss certain topics. I'm an amateur radio operator and we call these over the radio "Nets" You have one person as the control operator for the discussion, and each person takes their turn to discuss. (It doesn't have to be this controlled). But throw out a topic (Related to Topics within S4GRU) And we all get together at that time and discuss. We can have several topics to discuss through out the week. I know alot of us are on daily. Think It would be a cool idea. If anyone is interested, I can throw something together and present it to the admin/staff. Thoughts? Kris


text: How can we help you? Do you need assistance in developing a furniture plan or layout? YesNo Please attach What is the square footage or dimensions of your office space? How many employees will this office space need to accomodate? What type of business/industry are you in? What is your estimated furniture budget for this project? What date do you need your furniture by? Your Name (*) Company name (*) Phone Your Email (*) Address City State Zipcode


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College of Engineering Award Recipients
Service Award
Winnetka, Ill.
"Consulting and design engineering provide a great opportunity to stay engaged in technical problem-solving while working with and mentoring very talented groups of new-generation engineers," says Larry. "It's also gratifying to be involved in projects where you can see the great value that they bring to our customers."
Spoken like a true man for others.
And as executive vice president and co-owner of Sargent & Lundy, Larry has an abundance of opportunities to serve others by mentoring and providing great value. Sargent & Lundy provides comprehensive consulting, engineering, design, and analysis for electric power generation and power delivery projects worldwide.
Beginning with the firm in 1975 immediately after graduating from Marquette, Larry used what he learned at his alma mater to earn and characterize his current position of influence.
"A fundamental grounding in theology and ethics sets the Marquette engineering education apart," he explains. "The technical problems we deal with are not devoid of cultural and social implications. I often go back to the 'wheel of ethics process' when dealing with decisions involving people."Outside Sargent & Lundy, Larry volunteers with the United Way Crusade of Mercy Tocqueville Society, is a guarantor donor to the Ravinia Festival, served on his local school board and was a volunteer youth football coach for more than 10 years. For Marquette, Larry has served on the Chicago CIRCLES Host Committee since 2009; was on the College of Engineering National Advisory Council from 2005–11 and his class reunion committee; and has contributed to the college's Engineering Alumni Association Scholarship Fund by leading several silent auction sponsorships at Sargent & Lundy.
Get to Know: Lawrence V. Jacques
Hometown: Green Bay, Wis.
Favorite book: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Someone past or present he'd like to have dinner with:
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Favorite Marquette memory: The migration from campus to the arena for basketball games.
In grade school Larry's fifth grade teacher told him he'd either be an architect because he could draw straight lines and letters or an attorney because he liked to argue.


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Reporter's Notebook: A historic day in New York City
Issued on: Modified:
As the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks approaches, FRANCE 24's Leela Jacinto takes the temperature of New York City on a day New Yorkers will never forget.
5 pm
Finally get to the "Ground Zero Mosque" protest. But it's not at Ground Zero, neither is it at 51 Park Place, the address of the planned Islamic cultural center that has been at the center of so much controversy. The area around Park51 - the official name for the Islamic center - has been totally blocked by the police.
The anti-"Ground Zero Mosque" protest is on West Broadway and it stretches for just a block – between Park Place and Murray Street. At its peak, I'd say the protest gathered around 200 people – including security officials and press, of which there are many. A similar protest this time last year had far more people, stretching down a couple of blocks. Is the momentum sagging?
But what they lack in numbers, they make up in volume.
Pamela Geller, right wing high-priestess and blogger, takes the mike and thanks all the "patriots" for gathering to pay tribute.
The patriots are waving "No Ground Zero Mosque" placards and are a noisy bunch.
Then come the speakers. First speaker: Bhupinder Singh Bhurji, a Sikh priest and chairman of the Namdhari Sikh Foundation USA.
Second speaker: A Hindu priest flanked by two thuggish-looking sidekicks. Hindu priest talks of "karma" (fate) and "shanti" (peace) – and ends with an indecipherable Sanskrit chant.
The Indian right-wing is here in full force. "India, like Israel, is on the frontlines of the global jihad," says Pamela. "Hundreds of thousands of Hindus have been slaughtered by jihadists."
Well, back in India, thousands of Muslims have also been slaughtered by Hindu extremists and Sikh extremists killed a former Indian prime minister back in 1984. Mais bon, as the French say, never mind. This is selective history center and India is rising in US anti-Islamic circles.
My friend, a fellow American journalist of Indian origin, leans over and wryly mutters, "So many Indians here, I'm getting lost in the brownness."
But there are plenty of non-brown folk as well. I turn around and spot a familiar face with a bushy, white handlebar mustache surrounded by a posse of plainclothes guards. Rev. Terry Jones of threatened Koran-burning fame is here.
I dash for him. I reach him. But so does a crush of other journalists. We elbow and fight as we get into each others' camera frames – quietly, we don't want the camera mikes to pick our scuffling.
Jones tells us he's planning a "Judge Mohammed Day" - as in judge the Prophet Mohammed. Any more Koran -burning events lined up for the future? Apparently not. "I'm done with the Koran," says Rev. Jones.
And I'm done with this crowd. It's been a long day. A historic day. A day I will never forget.
2 pm
Spent last hour trying to negotiate past three blocks. The NYPD and Mayor's office has set up a labyrinthian system of roadblocks and it takes ingenuity to get around.
I'm trying to make it to 51 Park, site of the Islamic center that has been dubbed the "Ground Zero Mosque". It's not at Ground Zero of course, but that's the term that continues to be used by opponents of the center. Apparently there are protests scheduled there. But try making it there! I've befriended every cop on every block around 51 Park.
12:30 pm
Resplendent in their Marine Corp League dress uniforms, a group of retired Marines stand at attention on Church St. " We're here to honour the 23 former Marines we lost in the building," says Jim Seaman, 51, from Queens, NY.
11:45 pm
At corner of Fulton and Church streets right by Ground Zero, Diane DeCarlo and her husband are watching the ceremony on a giant screen at the corner. They're from Sea Girth, New Jersey, and they came to New York last night to be here. "Our friends thought we were crazy," says Diane. "But we just wanted to be here. It's so different here. There are so many people watching. But it's so quiet here."
9:45 am
Walking down Broadway, past the historic Trinity Church, and I spot Lady Liberty – in the flesh. She looks wonderful in an all-white robe with a heart-shaped sign hanging from her neck that says: "Dare always to love and to hope and to believe good eventually will triumph!"
It's a good photograph, so I elbow my way to interview her. She's Sheilah Hill, from Riverdale in the Bronx, and she tells me she's "three score ten plus two-years-old". That's 72-years-old. Her math, not mine.
"Seventy-two?" I squawk. "You don't look it!"
"Love is the secret," she tells me.
Good enough. But then she launches into a gobbledegook spiel of angels and love and keeping quiet and the good forces, and I start looking for an exit point.
Her message – or what I could make of it – goes like this: Love will keep us secure. "Can police and scanners and the military keep us safe? I don't think so. Where can we fit them all here?" she asks, gesturing to the crowded sidewalk. "Only love can keep us safe."
Amen, sister.
Then she launches into a very tuneful, beautiful rendition of "Amazing Grace".
Minutes later, there's a serendipitous New York moment. The sound system relaying the ceremony at Ground Zero a few blocks away breaks into a lone trumpeter playing..."Amazing Grace".
The music is haunting, goosebump-inducing. I see people wiping their tears. There's nothing like "Amazing Grace," - it is, always has been, always will be an amazing song.
8:40 am
At the corner of Broadway and Cedar Street, just a few blocks from Ground Zero, the distant sounds of bagpipes being playing at the main ceremony filter through.
But there's a different music dominating this street. An anti-gay group is demonstrating at this corner, singing hymns and holding placards saying, "Soldiers die 4 fag marriage," "Mourn for Your Sins" and "You will eat your babies".
Across Broadway, a group of New Yorkers are heckling the anti-gay demonstrators with gusto. "Your voice sucks," screams Matt Enright, 23, from Queens, New York. "Hey, pink T-shirt," he screams at an anti-gay demonstrator, "you're voice sucks, shut up!"
When I ask Matt if he's familiar with the group, he says he has no idea who they are. "But they're coming to this space which is sacred for people who lost their loved ones and for all Americans, and they're degrading this day with their hate agenda. Hate is what brought this whole thing about ten years ago and they're perpetuating the same thing."
The police are protecting the anti-gay demonstrators and I can't cross the barricades to talk to the group, so I talk to a calm, portly, bearded man handing out little booklets.
He's David Dale, 40, a missionary from Indiana, and he says he's here to hand out booklets with special commemorative scriptures. I ask him if he's part of the demonstrating group across the street. "No ma'am," he says vehemently. "I don't agree with them because what they're telling people is not what the Bible says."
So, the Bible is pro-gay rights? "No ma'am. The Bible says we should love the person and not the sin."
So, homosexuality is a sin? "Yes ma'am. I do believe homosexuality is wrong. But I don't agree with their hatred because as Christians, we do not hate homosexuals."
Welcome to America.
5:30 am
Sunlight just starting to chase away the night and already this city feels very different. There are state troopers, complete with characteristic beige hats, at seemingly every street corner in Lower Manhattan. The glass and chrome of the towering buildings reflect an incessant red and blue strobe of the flashing police cars parked along the narrow streets of the financial district. Sniffer dogs make a beeline for trash cans...this is New York's security shock-and-awe moment, a historic day. The eyes of the world -- and of al Qaeda central command -- are on the Big Apple, and they're taking no chances.
Even the shop assistants display a sense of history. The local Duane Reade pharmacy staff at the Wall Street branch are wearing navy blue "Never Forget" t-shirts and handing out little flags to customers. The morning shift crew woke up very early to get to work on time with all the security stops and checks and street closures.
The city papers – The New York Times, the Daily News and The New York Post – weigh a ton with their special 9/11 supplements. The Daily News headline captures the spirit and mirrors the White House message for the day: "Agony of the Past, Hope of the Future".
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Frederik Sjoberg's entomological memoir The Fly Trap deserves much better than my month late musings, but here they are.
The titular fly trap is the Malaise trap, an essential piece of entomological collecting equipment devised in the early twentieth century by the Swede Rene Malaise, when he noticed that flies had a tendency to collect in the highest corner of his tent. Malaise made several extraordinary collecting journeys, to Kamchatka and Southeast Asia, and uncovering something of the man is one of the driving forces behind Sjoberg's book.
Sjoberg's own interest is in one way the polar opposite of Malaise's: for years Sjoberg collected only on the island of Runmaro, not far from Stockholm, and mostly in his own garden. He found more than two hundred species of hoverflies in this way, these being members of the widespread but rather inconspicuous insect family Syrphidae. Some of these harmless creatures are very convincing mimics of wasps and bees, which is a source of amusing aggravation when the entomologist is accosted by ignorant summer vacationers.
It bears remembering that in common with many other insect taxa, there remain many things about the life history and distribution of hoverflies, and no doubt many species, that are unknown to science. Many of Malaise's specimens lie unsorted in museums to this day. Hence it is possible for the dedicated hobbyist (it's not clear but I gather that Sjoberg supported himself with translation, and perhaps the civility of the Swedish state) to make real contributions that are truly appreciated by a small community of specialists. Amongst them, memories are long and the appetite for new reports tremendous; after a long summer of collecting Sjoberg describes settling in for the winter with his cabinets and writing to his colleagues about his most interesting discoveries.
He talks about the Legendary Flies, and it's really hardly funny at all; it's awe inspiring, these animals that are seen twice in a century, if that. He tells the incredible story of the Fly Tree, a giant which stood for centuries in a Swedish town until it was brought down with dynamite by insane government busybodies. It was so named because every summer night it was surrounded by a cloud of flies, some of which are speculated to have bred only in pools of water that collected high in the trunks of ancient trees. Where are they now?
Birds are my current pursuit in the domain of natural history, and I asked myself if there are legendary birds. There have been so many people looking for the Ivory Billed Woodpecker that it's very hard to believe that it's not extinct. Others, like the condors, whooping cranes, or Kirtland's warbler, they are extremely rare, but, still, I think, more accessible than the Legendary Flies. Something I have yet to attain to. On the other hand, Sjoberg's discussion of learning natural history the way one learns a language is, I think, quite widely applicable and accessible. He has invested so much time in learning hoverflies because reading the Book of Nature is so pleasurable. Simply looking is pleasurable as well, but that's not all there is. I've learned that one has to know at a glance many species of warblers to feel the full impact of a really busy day of spring migration. One has to go out a lot, and listen carefully, to really appreciate the explosion of cedar waxwings in Boston in the first week of June.
I'm wondering what language I want to learn next.


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Riverside Medical Center App
Riverside Medical Center, based in Kankakee, Illinois, needed a custom web app for iOS and Android. The custom app gives people the ability to find the closest urgent care facility when they are in need of immediate medical care. It provides locations of the immediate care facilities in the area listed according to proximity, services offered, wait times, hours of operation, and necessary phone numbers.
- Closest location information
- Wait time
- Connection to default map program
- Hours of operation
- iOS and Android
Click here to download the app for Android.


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Updates from the Furness Building Society Stadium as Rovers take on Barrow in the first round of the Lancashire FA Senior Cup.
BARROW: Taylor, Carroll, Ashton, Livesey (c), Cowperthwaite, Pilkington, Mellor, Fofana, Symington, Cook, Newby.
Subs: Eccles, Haworth, Walker, Newby, van den Broek.
ROVERS: Simpson, Nyambe, Doyle, Petshi, Lavelle (c), Wharton, Mahoney, Carson, Mansell, O'Sullivan, Wall.
Subs: Thomson, Crump, Rittenberg, Cham, Edgar.
Keep up-to-date with events from the Senior Cup match via our twitter feed below.


text: SPRING BREAK SALE MARCH 14TH – 24TH Last weekend, Antiques Iowa was crazy busy. Spring was sweetly warming up our days. Everyone was out enjoying. I thought that I would just take some pictures of green glass in Antiques Iowa. May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light. MayContinue reading "SPRING BLESSINGS!"


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I just watched Christmas Carol today with my girlfriend at EMPIRE XXI and i was surprised to see so many people lined up to register themselves as MTIX users. Probably they have found out that having MTIX has more benefit rather than lining up in the morning while the MTIX users can just send a text message or buy tickets via online ticketing.
Unfortunately, MTIX is not a perfect solution, as it's not too reliable, mostly when several new and famous movies comes out in the same time, just like what happened these days. There are 2012, New Moon, and Christmas Carol. When we accessed MTIX website, it couldn't process our request, thus we can't do transactions via the website.
Let's just hope MTIX administrators will see this blog post and fix this problem, as it's getting so annoying to see the website goes down very often in the morning when their users are lining up to buy the tickets online.