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Spending money on activity trackers only to use them for a few months and then loose them in a dresser drawer is somewhat akin to spending money on a gym membership only to stop going to the gym after a few months. It leaves people with the feeling of money and effort wasted and wellness goals unattained—yet again.
However, individuals who combine wearing a fitness tracker with guidance from a wellness coach tend to get better results and wear the tracker for longer, according to a recent study. And that information is something health club operators can use to increase member retention and member satisfaction.
One-third of people abandon their activity trackers six months after first using them, according to a 2014 survey by Endeavour Partners, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based strategy consulting firm.
However, when a wearable fitness device is paired with someone knowledgeable about the device and fitness, then use of the activity tracker increases, according to a study published in the American College of Sports Medicine's Health and Fitness Journal.
Two instructors in the Indiana University School of Public Health conducted the study in which kinesiology students met with university personnel who were given a Fitbit Flex. During eight meetings over 10 weeks, the students explained the options on the device and how to use them, as well as reviewed data to improve workouts or to increase activity.
Ninety-three percent of the 173 participants (87 percent were women and the average age was 47 years old) said that working with the student coach helped them develop reachable goals, and nine out of 10 said pairing trackers and a coach helped them continue their healthy ways after the coaching ended, according to two years' worth of data.
"What I learned is the tech industry overestimated our ability to use these devices," said Carol Kennedy-Armbruster, one of the study's authors and senior lecturer in the Department of Kinesiology at Indiana University. "We spent a lot of time teaching the participants how to use them."
Kennedy-Armbruster is authoring another study that checks up on the participants three years later. Preliminary data shows that 50 percent are still using the devices, compared to other research that shows that only 25 percent will continue to use trackers and reach their goals, she said.
Benefits for Fitness Professionals and Clients
The data from this study may not be a surprise to people in the fitness industry. Many trainers, wellness coaches and club owners know that it's to their advantage to learn how to use the data from wearables and help their clients understand this data so they can reach their goals.
At Alloy Fitness in Norwell, Massachusetts, owner Tina Morin, who is a certified trainer, uses heart monitors on her clients during small group and private training sessions. Doing so allows her to recognize when a client is in the proper zone for rest and when it is time to restart during interval or high-intensity training.
"Heart rate training for HIIT (high intensity interval training) is proven to be super effective, and it makes a session more interesting," she said. She added that keeping individuals within certain zones results in maximum fat burning or weight loss.
The sleep tracker element of wearables is invaluable because getting the proper amount of sleep is vital for optimizing one's output, said Chris Clough at FitWerx in McLean, Virginia.
"I found a number of clients who weren't getting enough sleep in their daily routine," said Clough, who has been a trainer for 12 years. "Once we had the conversation about that, it became a part to focus on and a priority in their life."
The conversations that the wearable data allows Clough to have with clients not only helps them refocus on priorities, but it also allows him to refine their workouts, Clough said.
"We only see clients one, two or maybe three hours a week if we're lucky," he said. "The rest of the hours of the week it is impossible to know what is going on with them. Fitness trackers help along those lines."
The data can be empowering for the clients, too, said Jessica Matthews, senior advisor for health and fitness education for the American Council on Exercise and kinesiology professor at Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego, California.
"The ability to gather and evaluate objective data regarding one's health and well-being, from quality and duration of sleep, to quantity and intensity of physical activity, empowers individuals not only to establish goals which are specific, measurable and attainable, but it also serves as a powerful and effective approach for clients to self-monitor their own behaviors, which is an important element in facilitating lasting behavior change," she said.
Member Retention
Activity trackers offer benefits for gym owners, too, mainly in the form of improved member retention. When owners and their staff are educated in as many wearables as possible—or at least the most popular ones in their club—they are better able to communicate information about the data with members, increasing their personal or online interactions with them. Studies have shown the more club employees engage with their members the more likely the members will remain at the club.
"By using apps and wearables, these clubs can create that online community … the apps and wearables allow for the constant feedback and praise," said Ted Vickey, president of FitWell, a strategic consulting company focused on the effective use of technology within the health and fitness industry. "Apps and wearables help people feel they are more successful with setting fitness and health goals and in tracking progress."
This interaction also may lead to members signing up for more classes, group training or personal training, which can lead to increased non-dues revenue for club owners.
And if all of this interaction and data discussion also leads to members' attaining their goals, then it can translate into members not only staying with the club but also referring friends.
What Does the Future Hold?
Wearables are only the beginning, according to Bryan O'Rourke, president of the Fitness Industry Technology Council. Not too far in the future the use of artificial intelligence—machines learning one's training habits and having the ability to suggest and nudge individuals who are not hitting goals—will be upon us, perhaps in the form of something similar to Amazon Echo or Google Home, he said.
This technology, which is already embedded in some platforms, will not replace a workout with a fitness professional but will add to it by having the ability to send reminders (perhaps just to hydrate or rest), offer support and follow a customized program, he said.
Club operators also will be able to use the technology to recognize when a member arrives or leaves, as well as to notify a professional for assistance or to offer accolades.
"Cognition can happen by machines learning our activity," O'Rourke said. "Based on preferences, [artificial intelligence] can intervene during the day. … by sending you a text or telling you to eat more oatmeal or run 10 minutes to reach goals.
"It can really deliver some unbelievable services that were impossible before."
8 Ways Trainers Can Help Members Use Trackers to Reach Their Goals
Club Industry asked four fitness professionals how members can use trackers to reach their goals. The eight tips shared below were offered by these four individuals: Greg Johnson, owner and personal trainer at Varimax, Sacramento, California; Tina Morin, owner and personal trainer at Alloy Fitness, Norwell, Massachusetts; Chris Clough, personal trainer at FitWerx Studio, McLean, Virginia; and Lee Jordan, ACE-certified health coach and behavior change specialist.
Help clients not only understand the tracker data but also how to use it to their advantage during workouts. - Johnson
Make clients accountable by seeing what they are doing outside of their sessions. - Johnson
Pick the best tracker or wearable for their specific workout goals. - Johnson
Monitor work-to-rest ratios during workouts to see in real time when a client has fully recovered and how heart rates affect different people. - Johnson
Use data to open conversations between trainers and clients. It can deepen the relationship and pinpoint where work needs to be done. - Clough
Use the advantages of a tracker as a seminar subject for club members. – Clough
Track the client's sleep to maximize a workout. Lack of sleep causes abnormal behavior and the inability to optimize a workout. – Morin
Use the data to steer the client toward self-awareness for behavior change. - Jordan


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PIERRE, S.D. — Gov. Mike Rounds signed legislation Monday banning nearly all abortions in South Dakota, setting up a court fight aimed at challenging the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.
The bill would make it a crime for doctors to perform an abortion unless the procedure was necessary to save the woman's life. It would make no exception for cases of rape or incest.
Planned Parenthood, which operates the state's only abortion clinic, in Sioux Falls, has pledged to challenge the measure in court.
Rounds issued a written statement saying he expects the law will be tied up in court for years and will not take effect unless the U.S. Supreme Court upholds it.
"In the history of the world, the true test of a civilization is how well people treat the most vulnerable and most helpless in their society. The sponsors and supporters of this bill believe that abortion is wrong because unborn children are the most vulnerable and most helpless persons in our society. I agree with them," Rounds said in the statement.
The governor declined all media requests for interviews Monday.
The Legislature passed the bill last month after supporters argued that the recent appointment of conservative justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito have made the U.S. Supreme Court more likely to overturn Roe v. Wade.
"This is proof-positive that Gov. Rounds cares more about politics than about the health and safety of women in South Dakota," said Sarah Stoesz, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood regional operations for Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota, said in a statement Monday. "In every state, women, their families, and their doctors should be making private, personal health care decisions — not politicians."
South Dakota's abortion ban is to take effect July 1, but a federal judge is likely to suspend it during a legal challenge.
Abortion opponents donating money
Rounds has said abortion opponents already are offering money to help the state pay legal bills for the anticipated court challenge. Lawmakers said an anonymous donor has pledged $1 million to defend the ban, and the Legislature set up a special account to accept donations for legal fees.
Under the new law, doctors could get up to five years in prison for performing an illegal abortion.
Rounds previously issued a technical veto of a similar bill passed two years ago because it would have wiped out all existing restrictions on abortion while the bill was tied up for years in a court challenge.
The statement he issued Monday noted that this year's bill was written to make sure existing restrictions will be enforced during the legal battle. Current state law sets increasingly stringent restrictions on abortions as pregnancy progresses. After the 24th week, the procedure is allowed only to protect the woman's health and safety.
About 800 abortions are performed each year in South Dakota. Planned Parenthood has said other women cross state lines to reach clinics.
© 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

subset: commoncrawl


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The FLINT Cor-ten Brings Modern Dutch Design to your Backyard Blaze
Posted in Home Stuff and Outdoor
Made in Holland & constructed of heavy gauge 3mm thick Cor-ten steel, the FLINT is a uniquely designed outdoor fire pit. It is maintenance free & easy to move around. Over time the unfinished steel will develop a one-of-a-kind iron oxide patina that will mature and change as you use it.


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Frequently asked questions Frequently asked questions
What happens after I apply for a room?
We will allocate your room when we have two pieces of information:
1. Your online application (APF) form.
2. Confirmation from your School of Studies at UEA that you have been accepted.
Your room offer will be sent to the email address that you provided on your Accommodation Preference Form. You will be given three days, to accept or reject the room offer after which, if you have not responded it will be withdrawn and the room booking cancelled. Please remember to add 'email@example.com' to your email address book (so that our emails don't go into your junk/spam) and to your safe senders list (or equivalent).
It is your responsibility to check your email account regularly including any 'junk mail' or any other relevant subfolders. Please ensure that you let us know if you change your e-mail address after submitting your APF.
For an overview of key dates and what happens next please see our timeline.
Invoicing for Fees
Some students arrange payment for accommodation through their home institution. If you have any queries about who pays for your accommodation, please check your room licence (before you sign) or with the UEA Accommodation Office (firstname.lastname@example.com). At the start of the academic year, Finance will send an invoice for the full amount to those who are due to pay their own accommodation fees. You can pay this invoice in full or, if you are a full year student, make arrangements to pay in three termly instalments or eight monthly direct debits from a UK bank account, within 28 days from the day that you move in.
We do not require an accommodation deposit. Your UEA finance is managed via eVision (your UEA account) or you can visit the UEA Finance Office in the Registry to make payments.


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WASHINGTON — A year ago, Makan Delrahim predicted that AT&T's $85.4 billion purchase of Time Warner would be approved by regulators. "I don't see this as a major antitrust problem," Mr. Delrahim, then a law professor, said to a Canadian television network.
Now, five weeks into his job as the top antitrust regulator at the Justice Department, Mr. Delrahim has taken a different position. The department has threatened to block the deal in court unless AT&T sells off major assets.
Mr. Delrahim's position has thrown a surprising twist into a blockbuster deal, which has been watched for signs about how the Trump administration would handle giant mergers. On Wednesday, the dispute spilled into the public with conflicting versions about what the Justice Department wants.
In one account, the agency offered two paths: Sell Turner Broadcasting, including CNN, or offload DirecTV, according to several people at the companies. In another, AT&T offered to sell CNN, according to two officials at the agency.
Randall L. Stephenson, AT&T's chief executive, said on Wednesday that he had never offered to sell CNN. On Thursday, appearing at The New York Times's DealBook conference, he said the company was ready to go to court against the Justice Department.
"To suggest that selling some of the key franchises of the business that are the most desired for your business plan makes no business sense," Mr. Stephenson said.
The public spat has put a political cloud over the deal. President Trump has been critical of CNN and the deal. Several Democratic lawmakers have called for hearings to determine whether politics played a role in what is supposed to be an independent process.
The Justice Department declined to comment on Thursday.
Pushing AT&T to unload a big part of its business to get the deal approved goes against Mr. Delrahim's history, antitrust experts say. His past comments have largely been in line with more free-market-oriented Republican views, and he was widely expected to be more lenient on mergers than predecessors in the Obama administration.
"This is bold," said Diana Moss, president of the American Antitrust Institute, a nonprofit that generally favors stronger antitrust enforcement. "It signals they are willing to consider the anticompetitive effects of big deals, and on the remedy side they would use structural remedies, which would signal a potential change in policy."
In an interview late last month, Mr. Delrahim strongly rejected the idea that the White House had tried to or could influence his thinking. At the time, he would not discuss AT&T's bid for Time Warner or any other pending mergers.
"All enforcement decisions will be based on the facts and the law. Not on politics," Mr. Delrahim said. "That would be antithetical to everything I've stood for."
Mr. Delrahim, 48, was born in Tehran, but his family moved to Los Angeles when he was almost 10, around the time of the Islamic Revolution. He attended the University of California, Los Angeles, as an undergraduate and then went to law school at George Washington University.
After a few years in corporate law, he spent time as an aide on Capitol Hill, working on some technology and antitrust issues. President George W. Bush later nominated him to be a top official at the Justice Department, where he focused on international antitrust enforcement. After his time there, he returned to corporate law in Los Angeles, representing numerous large technology, health and telecommunications companies.
In his recent interview, he said that the Justice Department did not need to intervene just because a company was big, even a monopoly. He also said the government should not startle business markets with an abrupt change in its approach to antitrust legal theory.
"There are people who think big is just bad," he said. "They don't understand why, but there is an instinctive reaction to big business these days." He added that it was dangerous to go after companies without clear evidence that they were harming competitors.
Mr. Delrahim has said his comments last year about AT&T and Time Warner were taken out of context. He has told lawmakers that the deal deserved a thorough review. He said there could be antitrust concerns when a company like AT&T, which controls distribution of television content through DirecTV and internet content through its mobile and home broadband service, bought a big media company.
That view is more aligned with left-leaning consumer groups that have pushed for greater antitrust enforcement. After the news this week that the Justice Department was taking a deeper look at the deal, some Democrats, including Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, praised the tough stance.
"AT&T and Time Warner is an enormous test because we are just seeing online video disrupting the dominant cable broadband providers," said Gene Kimmelman, president of the nonprofit organization Public Knowledge and an antitrust official during the Obama administration. "And it would be a disaster for consumers and the competitive landscape if those developments are wiped out or diminished by the approval of this deal."
For years, though, antitrust officials have generally approved mergers of companies that do not have competing businesses. These are known as vertical mergers, and because AT&T is a telecommunications company, while Time Warner creates media content like movies, their deal would fit that category.
Problems with those mergers have generally been resolved with settlements known as consent decrees, which restrict the new company's behavior or operations.
Mr. Delrahim is skeptical of such consent decrees, especially demands for "behavioral remedies." The Obama administration approved Comcast's purchase of NBC Universal in 2011 with a stack of behavioral requirements, including a requirement that Comcast make NBC content available to competing cable and streaming services.
During his interview last month, Mr. Delrahim said industries moved too fast for those remedies to be effective.
"We have major parts of our industry that are regulated by consent decrees with the Justice Department," he said, referring to settlements with behavioral remedies.
"I don't think I'm smart enough to figure out where the market and consumer behavior will be 10 years from now, 20 years from now, 40 years from now, 100 years from now," he continued. The agency, he added, is still overseeing consent decrees that are a century old.
Instead, Mr. Delrahim said, he prefers so-called structural remedies, like forcing a company to sell assets before approving a merger. He said the ultimate test for healthy competition was the consumer welfare test, which looks at whether consumers are benefiting from lower prices and options.
Mr. Kimmelman said the Justice Department could be concerned about how the combined broadband, satellite and media company could hurt competitors.
The satellite service DirecTV, for example, can reach all American homes. The potential concern, Mr. Kimmelman said, is that the company may have an incentive to withhold valuable Time Warner content like HBO, TNT or CNN from rival cable and satellite providers or streaming services. The company could also make it harder for rival media companies like Starz to reach AT&T customers.
The Justice Department has proposed various options to meet Mr. Delrahim's demands, according to multiple people close to the discussions.
In the interview last month, Mr. Delrahim defended the president's criticism of AT&T's bid. He said Mr. Trump was unfairly targeted for remarks about deals when other government officials were allowed to air their opinions.
"What's interesting is that you see the president getting criticized for commenting on certain mergers and you have senators who will write with comments on the same exact merger," Mr. Delrahim said. "I find that fascinating but maybe not new in Washington."
And while he insisted that his decisions would be made independently, it was clear that Mr. Trump was not totally out of mind.
When he arrived at the Justice Department in late September, Mr. Delrahim received a hat as a welcome gift. It reads: "Makan Antitrust Great Again."


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The symposium on the protection of minors' rights and interests held in Shanghai
The symposium on protection of minors' rights and interests, sponsored by Shanghai Soong Ching Ling Foundation, was held at Hengshan Hotel in Shanghai on May 23, 2018. Shanghai Soong Ching Ling Foundation's former vice chairman Xie Lijuan, Shanghai Municipal People's Procuratorate's deputy attorney general Gong Peihuad, Shanghai Municipal Judicial Bureau's deputy director Wang Xie, All China Lawyer Association's vice president Sheng Leiming, vice president of Shanghai Institute of Politics Science and Law Yao Jianlong, Shanghai Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau's division director Zhang Jing and Shanghai Lawyer Association's vice president Pan Shuhong and Lu Yan attended the symposium. Also present at the symposium were more than 100 experts, scholars and relevant people of the government departments, judiciary authorities, people's organizations, as well as the legal profession and the public welfare sector from Municipalities of Beijing and Shanghai, and provinces of Anhui, Guangdong and Sichuan.
Chen Naiwei, sponsor of Sunshine Special Fund of Protection for Children's Right, delivers a speech
The symposium focused on the topics of establishing and improving legal mechanisms to prevent and punish sexual assault and violence against minors and the contribution of social forces to the protection of minor rights and interests. All the participants agree that it is an unshakable responsibility of the whole society to build a healthy growth space and a safe living environment for minors. It is of great importance to further strengthen the collaboration among the government, judicial departments and social forces and promote the implementation of more effective mechanisms for the protection of minors' rights and interests in the decisive stage of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and the socialism with Chinese characteristics entering a critical period of the new era.
Nearly one hundred experts attend the symposium on the protection of minors' rights
It is reported that SSCLF – Sunshine Special Fund of Protection for Children's Rights, launched by Chen Naiwei, a trustee of SSCLF and executive dean of the Senior Lawyers College of Fudan University, was established in November 2017, sending a strong signal to the society that the legal persons in Shanghai take an initiative to participate in the public welfare cause of young children. At the symposium, lawyer Wang Li, secretary general of the special fund disclosed that the team is now actively involved in several cases of minors' abandonment and sexual assault, hoping that the professional legal aid can bring hope to the families of victims tortured by pain.


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Canon i-SENSYS LBP6020 Driver Download. The Canon i-SENSYS LBP6020 is designed to fit without difficulty on the desk, this compact and cheap mono laser printer is ideal for private use. Its sleek, space-saving design entails a retractable paper tray quilt and maintains dimension to a mere 359 x 249 x 198 mm (W x D x H). With the productive of efficiency. This Canon i-SENSYS LBP6020 take expertise of professional laser print speeds of 18 ppm.
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Today was a super fun day at the park because Caesar made some friends. Two 10 year olds came up and played with him and he LOVED it!
Here is Caesar demonstrating his 'Nice to meet you'!
The played fetch, and chase and tried to wrestle with him! It was after I took this picture I realized how ENORMOUS he is! When I got home I was cleaning up our yard. Apparently King Kong snuck into our yard and defecated! I will let your imaginations run with that! Anyway, we love this guy. everything about him is BIG and GREAT and I mean EVERYTHING!


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By now, it is widely understood that Google's PageRank algorithm builds on the insight that the eigenvector of the largest eigenvalues for the adjacency matrix representing the set of all web pages and the links between them, yields a pretty good measure of a page's influence. Probably less well-known is that the use of eigenvector centrality or its variants to measure the influence of particular nodes was well-known to network sociologists ever since Phil Bonacich's pioneering work in the early 1970s.
From my admittedly cursory search of the citation record, it does not seem that Brin and Page credited this earlier literature in their early efforts to rank web pages' influence. How could this be? I see three possibilities.
- They may have been genuinely ignorant of Bonacich's contributions, and simply reinvented the wheel with a 25 year lag. As an economist, I am genuinely distraught by this possibility, since it implies that the social return to network sociology research was zero (or at least a very small fraction of what it could have been).
- The use of eigenvector centrality to measure influence in networks might have been well known to contemporaries of Bonacich in computer science, but it circulated within their field in the form of examples rather than a codified body of knowledge, maybe because it was not clear what kind of problems it could be applied to.
- Brin and Page might have been aware of the network sociology literature, but chose to credit computer scientists (including their advisers) for parochial reasons.
Which of these possibilities is the correct one? Writing this particular piece of scientific history could tell us much about how the market for scientific credit works — or sometimes fail to work.
NB1: of course, none of this is meant to belittle Page and Brin's enormous contribution. First, they recognized the usefulness of couching the search challenge in network terms; this was a key recombinative step. Second, the complementary algorithmic innovations that made it feasible to compute the centrality scores for an extremely large (and constantly growing) network were essential to realize their vision.
NB2: Steven Levy's rather excellent history of Google does not enable one to adjudicate between these interpretations.
NB3: The citation behaviors of physicists who study networks also exhibit pronounced parochialism. They generally ignore the contributions of Linton Freeman and other network sociologists. This tend to annoy my sociologist colleagues to no end, probably for good reasons…


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It is always best to soak the fish for twenty four hours in fresh water, changing occasionally.
For 4 persons.
- 1 pike (1-1½ kilos)
- 1 bayleaf, and some peppercorns
- 1 carrot, 1 onion, and some celery
- Riesling
- 50 gr. Butter
- 1 handful sorrel and chervil
- a bunch of parsley and some chives, pepper and salt
- ¼ litre sweet cream
- Boil the vegetables and spices for 45 minutes to produce a stock to which a glass of Riesling should be added.
- While this is being done, clean and descale the fish.
- Put the stock in the fish kettle, and place the fish on the riddle therein.
- Bring to the boil and continue to cook, with the lid on, for about an hour.
- During this time butter a casserole and lightly cook the sorrel and chervil on a low heat.
- Pour in half a cup of stock, add the cream and boil for a short time. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Lay the poached fish on a pre-heated plate. Mix the freshly chopped parsley and chives into the sauce, and immediately pour it over the fish.
- Serve with boiled potatoes and a green salad.


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Years in FPRA: 4 years; Currently serving on FPRA Board as Vice President of Professional Development, a shared roll with Laura Cole
Favorite FPRA Event: The Professional Development event held this past Fall at Rollins College. We had fantastic speakers on engaging topics surrounding the event theme, "The Evolving Landscape of PR."
Favorite Benefit of FPRA Membership: The connections made between the FPRA industry network – not only have I found mentors in the PR industry, but peers that I can work with between our organizations. It's been an invaluable experience so far, and I know it will continue.
Explanation of your job: I am the Marketing Manager of Group & Travel Markets for Hard Rock International. I act as the industry-related marketing, media, and public relations liaison, with writing and creating editorial for industry associations and digital & print media for market segments; in addition to capturing opportunities within these markets at press conferences and media events. I have many other roles but my goals are in line to drive top line cafe and retail sales while heightening overall brand awareness.
Exciting Achievement: Being asked to join the FPRA Orlando Chapter Board in 2011 as the Professional Development Chair!
Contact info:
Email: email@example.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ElizabethB
Website: http://hardrock.com


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Prerequisites for Club Trips
The club has minimum criteria for joining in the club's outdoor trips, including Wednesday evening sea paddling. These are:
Paddle Discover (formerly 1 star) plus 4 trips with club coaches OR
Paddle Explore (formerly 2 star) OR
Relevant previous paddling experience that can be verified by someone known to club coaches.
These criteria help us to run safe trips, while ensuring that one person won't hold back the whole group.
For those new to the sport, the club runs an introductory and a refresher course in the spring (for more details see here). Completing one of these courses will enable most people to join us on club trips. Unfortunately, our volunteer coaches do not have the capacity to run these courses more than once a year - but, if you do miss out on these opportunities, there are plenty of other ways to gain experience, including through some of the very good commercial providers locally.
Before attending any club trip, please make sure that you either have all of the appropriate kit and safety equipment to hand, or you have arranged to hire appropriate kit well in advance (see Equipment Hire). Please read the Club Risk Assessment policy, which can be downloaded below. For trip organisers and leaders, there is also a Risk Checklist (also downloadable below), which is intended to be a useful guide for thinking through the safety implications of a trip beforehand.
Contact Information for Club Trips
In the event of any incident, it can be essential to have a contact number for each paddler and also emergency contact details. A number of incidents have arisen in the paddling community in the past where the group has become separated and the rescue has been hampered because it has been unclear whether all paddlers were off the water. Shared contact details within the group helps avoid this situation. In the event of illness or injury, emergency contact numbers can also be useful. Members do provide such details at annual membership renewal, but they may not be appropriate to a particular day's paddling, may change, and will not routinely be available to the leader or event organiser.
It is recommended that each event organiser collects names and contact details for all participants, together with any medical issues or requirements, prior to the start of each trip.


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Cemetery Service Company Offers Complete Cemetery Supply, Construction and Consulting Services
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Tributes' understanding of cemetery operations is built on hands-on experience. Managing the day-to-day activities of a cemetery and positioning it to take advantage of growth opportunities requires multiple areas of expertise.
Tribute was originally founded to provide sales and marketing assistance to independent, church and municipal cemeteries. When clients demanded control of the products they sold we purchased a precast concrete company which sells a complete line of cemetery-related products. Soon after, we founded a full service architectural firm which is focused on designing facilities that are "economically sustainable" and which enhances our clients' image in the communities they serve.
We welcome an opportunity to discuss how we can address your particular needs. Tribute is proud of its reputation within our industry and will gladly refer you to the many owners, managers and leaders who trust our services.
Our cemetery service company caters to your complete cemetery supply needs. From interment products to cemetery development and consulting services, we cater to all your end of life profession needs.
Founded by William R. Toson in 1973, Tribute has been a family owned and operated business for more than four generations. As a long-standing, highly respected cemetery supply company we have developed strong relationships with a wide-reaching network of nationally recognized cemetery leaders, owners and managers who can refer our company with confidence.
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Whatever cemetery supply needs you have turn to the industry leaders at Tribute. Our friendly, dedicated and highly knowledgeable end of life profession experts are proud to offer one point of contact for cemeteries across North America.


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I'm eternally behind on blog posts, I know this. I promise to write all about Mexico. It was pretty amazing to get a tan, see one of the new seven wonders of the world, watched j2 get violently ill on our last day there, only to have me come down with the same thing 24 hours later. Soon, I promise..
Most of my birthdays have involved a lot of alcohol, and a less-than-perfect recollection of the evening's events. Back in 2009, I got so drunk that I held on to a light pole in the middle of Montreal and told all of my friends that I hated them (sorry?). These days, I'm a little less of a booze hound than I used to be. I just can't party like I used to, and no matter how much fun I have, it's usually not worth the hangover. I put a lot of thought into how I wanted to spend my 30th birthday. I knew that I didn't want to spend it at a bar, and I really hate huge group dinners because you don't get to talk to anyone and the idea of one massive bill for the table stresses. me. out. I decided to host a get-together at my apartment. That way I could talk to everyone, and if I got accidentally too drunk, it would be easy to put me to bed without a scene.
I spent Friday (my actual birthday) at j2's house, eating Indian food, watching Captain Phillips, and chatting with various family members who had called to wish me well. It was pretty perfect, actually. On saturday, I slept in and then did a "long" run. It was supposed to be about 8.5 miles but my back was bothering me so much that I cut it a couple of miles short. I was bummed slash convinced that I was going through kidney failure but there was no time to worry since I had to prepare for my birthdaaaaay partaaay. Luckily Lauren had taken care of most of the prep - I arrived home to a clean apartment and one of my two cakes ready and waiting for me - the other was baked and brought over by Lu a little bit later on. Hey, it's not a birthday party without multiple cakes, right?
I didn't have any idea who would actually show up, so I was pretty amazed when all of a sudden, I looked around and there were over 20 people in the apartment. My best friend from high school drove up from New York with her husband, one of my college roommates came in from Connecticut and it was wonderful to see them, since it had been a while (too long!). At one point, I looked around the room and had to stop for a second to take it all in. I was in awe of how many people had gathered to help me celebrate my special day. I felt cherished, and so very thankful for the relationships I have built over the years.
Thank you everyone - near and far - for being a part of my 30th birthday. I'm really looking forward to what life has to offer me as a thirty-something.


text: Dolly Parton announced that there will be a sequel to her NBC-TV movie Coat of Many Colors. And we couldn't be happier. The sequel, Dolly Parton's Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love, is set for release in 2016. Due to the popularity of the original TV movie, based on the true story that inspired Dolly's actual…… MORE


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Danbury putting old police cars, surplus goods on the auction block
You won't get a 1974 Dodge Monaco sedan, made famous by John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd in the 1980 cult classic "The Blues Brothers," but you might pick up one of about a dozen Ford Crown Victorias once used as police cruisers.
The city is auctioning the cars with other vehicles and surplus equipment beginning at 10 a.m. at the Municipal Building at 53 Newtown Road.
Interested parties may arrive at 8 a.m. to inspect the vehicles, according to Mike Knudsen, a partner in the Branford-based Hamilton Group, the firm conducting the auction.
Knudsen said the surplus vehicles and equipment for sale -- including minivans, pickup trucks, and a 14-foot aluminum row boat -- won't be subject to any reserve prices or minimum bids.
"The vehicles don't have any reserves per se," Knudsen said. "But they do sell subject to the city's approval. The city would ultimately have the final say. They'll be on site that day, but we've never had a problem before selling any of these vehicles, and there's no minimum bid.
"It should be a fairly easy process," Knudsen added. "Last year, we did it and it was a very successful sale. We're hoping for another one."
Charles J. Volpe Jr., the purchasing agent for Danbury, said the city hopes to continue offering surplus equipment for auction as long as there is interest.
"We did it last year, and we're trying to make it an annual event," Volpe said. "The public seems to like it. There are other methods of disposal, but this was pretty popular."
Knudsen said most of the equipment is sold at or near retail value.
"Sometimes they'll sell right at value," he said. "Other times, they might sell slightly below. Usually, we get enough competitive bidders that came that we'll get a fair price on the cars."
For information, including a complete list of vehicles and equipment for sale Saturday, visit the Hamilton Group's Web site at www.Hamilton-Grp.com and click on "Upcoming Auctions."


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"Fujitsu reflected our requests in the user interface they created. I remember being so impressed when I carried out a test on an actual device. I thought, 'now this is something I can really use!'"
Keiichi Niimi Head of Co-op Aichi's Miyoshi Center Tokai Co-op
CS_2018Mar_Tokai Co-op (1.09 MB )
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Passengers welcome technology because it makes a big difference to their travel experience. They're ready for wearable tech too, according to the latest Passenger IT Trends Survey.
Travel is better with technology. Passengers want to use it at every point of the journey, and many already do.
So says the ninth annual global survey Passenger IT Trends Survey, which interviewed almost 6,300 passengers across 15 countries worldwide, representing 76% of total global passenger traffic.
Highlighting the growing importance of tech-savvy passengers, the SITA / Air Transport World survey observes a strong correlation between technology availability and increased passenger satisfaction.
It finds that over half of passengers believe online channels have improved the passenger experience in areas such as flight search, as well as reservations and check-in.
Interestingly, it says passengers have no problem with airline or airport staff using wearable technology, such as smartwatches and glass. Nearly 77% of the 6,300 passengers surveyed would be very and quite comfortable with the use of wearable tech by staff to help them on their journey.
Nearly all travelers carry a phone, and they're looking to use them to gain more control over their journeys. More often than not it's a smartphone loaded with travel apps. Just over four in five passengers have a smartphone and 76% of them use airline apps; 43% say it's made a definite improvement to their travel.
"As new technologies such as wearable tech and NFC become commonplace in consumer devices, they present a great opportunity for airlines and airports to engage directly with their passengers to provide efficient services throughout the journey," says SITA's Chief Executive Officer Francesco Violante.
Tech-savvy passengers are keen to grasp this 'great opportunity'. They're strongly interested in newer mobile services and more personalization.
Passengers have clear views about what new technology will make a big difference to their travel experience. Top of the wish list is making it easier to compare airfares: 54% think it should be a priority investment.
While some travel markets are well served by flight comparison websites, passengers elsewhere find airline by airline comparisons a time consuming process.
Coming next in the top three priority wish list are:
More than half of passengers want real-time personalized alerts about any delays sent directly to their phones in the event of travel disruption.
Personalization expectations figure largely, with most passengers also expecting personalized re-arrangements, with automatic rebooking, to resolve the impact of disruption.
A significant percentage (45%) of them would expect to have access to self service options via a mobile or a kiosk.
In the air, when onboard connectivity services exist, such as OnAir's, most passengers will use them.
The majority (56%) want connectivity so that they can use their smartphone, tablet or laptop for in-flight entertainment. Fifty-four percent want to able to send and receive emails and text messages and make and receive phone calls in-flight.
And 45% would use their connected device to purchase food and drinks or browse a virtual duty-free shop.
The trend allows airlines the opportunity for continuous engagement with the passenger throughout the flight and a good proportion of passengers (45%) would use their own device for purchasing food and drinks, browsing a virtual duty free shop and receiving promotions and offers.
You can download the 2014 survey and listen to the Passenger IT Trends Survey webinar here.


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First Night Stars: Seals, Rudi, Clarke, Flynn…and Melania
Nobody Reports
In case you didn't want to watch the first night of the GOP convention, here's a quick summary:
In the afternoon: Iowa and Colorado walked out because they are still mad that Ted Cruz was not nominated. So Trump supporters are HOPING that Ted Cruz makes a fool out of himself, by NOT endorsing Trump, but using his moment in time to once again promote himself, and reinforce our low opinion of him.
I predict that he will do that, because, like Hillary, he simply can't help himself. If he doesn't gracefully endorse Trump, then he will be just showing America that he is NOT a man of integrity.
It's all about respect and honesty.
But then again, Cruz showed us that he's not honest in Iowa. He didn't fight fair, so he lost.
Anyway the stars of tonight were simple Americans. Pat Smith, the women who lost her son in Benghazi, was great. She looked in the camera and with great sorrow, told the nation of the scumbag Hillary who left her son to die, and then blamed a video.
The two brave American soldiers who ran to help the ambassador in Benghazi, and fought off over 50 or more terrorist by themselves, and also saved American lives, told the story, of how Hillary and Obama watched it all from a video, and sent no help.
Sheriff Clarke got the biggest standing ovation of the night, reminding us all that there are black men with integrity, greatness, and courage of truth.
But there were two stars that really rocked the night. Actually three, but by the time he got on stage, everybody was leaving.
1st Star: Rudy Giuliani. Rudy gave the speech of his life. It was great.
2nd Star: Melania Trump was so breathtakingly beautiful, the men in the audience probably didn't hear a word she said. But, even with the great entrance by the Trumpster, she was the highlight of the night, because we were all thinking "Wow". She is a dedicated wife….she KNOWS her man.
After she left, the air went out of the room, and all I kept thinking was..whose female face would you want to look at for the next 8 years? Hillary or Melania? For men who are ruled by just being men, I have a feeling a lot of democratic men are NOT going to vote for Hillary.
Beauty does have that advantage. In fact, every women on the stage tonight had been made up by professional makeup artists. I'm sure Donald Trump got the best in the business.
3rd star: Lt. General Michael Flynn, was, in context, probably the MOST important speech of the night, because he warned of the great danger we are all in, and yet the Daily Mail said he bombed.
Good god.
Well gee..Trump, the star, had just left with his wife, after making a grand entrance,…This was a show, and to the audience who had probably all had jet lag, and by the looks of the crowd, it was way past their bedtime—they left.
It had nothing to do with General Flynn.
This nobody thought it was great, and it's good to know he will be working with Trump.
So that's it. The most fun chant of the night was 'Lock her up!"
For a first night, and the theme of "Keep America Safe" I give it a B+.


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To view all past publications click here:
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World Submarine is a photoblog and book of street portraits and interviews collected on the streets of Glasgow and Baku.
"There are lots of versions of me. The public one is an angry rabble-rousing controversial lawyer. I would hope that when people meet me they would realise there is a pleasant side to me. I always get told you never smile and you always look angry. But quite a lot of the stuff I do would make most people angry. It is not the sort of stuff you can go on the TV and smile about." Aamer Anwar
"Scotland does things differently from the rest of the UK; here we welcome asylum seekers, recognise the skills they bring and the contribution they can make to our society, and make an effort to help them to integrate with the rest of the community." Humza Yousaf
"Scotland is a place having a conversation with itself about what it can be. It's a mature conversation not rooted in utopian idealism but in what we can practically do to change our communities for the better. About who has power, who should wield it."
Robert J. Somynne
"It's no secret that football has historically been a male-dominated sport. Whilst the number of women attending football fixtures has most definitely increased, we're still the in the minority. It is important that we are visible and our needs are recognised. It cannot be ignored that at the heart of this move is the knowledge that, as the price of sanitary products increase, not all self-identifying women and girls can afford them." Erin Slaven
"We don't have answers to everything but imagination makes everything possible."David Parada Perez
"Most people forgot where they came from and do not know their objectives in life. There's more to life than money, career and fame. People need to find their purpose in life to find happiness."
Vugar Bashirov
"If you are going to Belfast, you should do Black Taxi Tour. It's a tour that brings you through both sides of community and gives you true stories." Orlaith Duffy
"While competing in Muay Thai I've realised your biggest opponent is yourself, mind and body. I've been battling ulcerative colitis since I was 16, I had a tough time dealing with the disease for over 10 years. I was struggling with depression along with my symptoms worsening. I exhausted all medical options available to me so in June 2016 I made the decision to have my bowel removed. When I look back surgery was the best thing that happened it gave me my life back. The support of my family, friends and medical teams at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and Gartnavel Hospital were all critical in me getting through this fight."
Vikas Sharma
"Glasgow is more than a football city, it's a twilight zone for visiting teams."Mark
"Achievement has no color."Graham Campbell
"It's very apt that we are standing on Hope Street. There's not much of it left since the referendum. I am overwhelmingly disappointed in the outcome for Scotland. The future with Westminster is terrifying. In 20 years I will proudly tell my children I voted YES and stood for a movement that could have changed their lives. We had a chance to show Westminster that we are not puppets in their play of power. However this country is a democratic one. The majority decided. We are an amazing country who prides itself on our friendliness, passion and sense of community. We will just have to keep our heads held high and wait for the storm which will inevitably come." Katie Morag
"– Do you want full body or half body shot?– Do it half. I'm half zombie anyways." Davy
"Character, like a photograph, develops in darkness."
"True friends are never apart...maybe in distance but never in heart."Dafni Gyftaki
"My mum died in June this year after a long battle with cancer. We knew for just over a year that she'd die. So I thought I was prepared for grief. I thought I had used the time to get myself ready and to get myself in the right headspace for it. I knew to expect the crying and missing her and all of that. But there's no way to really prepare yourself. There's no way to prepare yourself for thinking, at times, that your sanity is slipping away." Christopher Graham
"I like airports. For their mix of smells of parfums, coffee and adventures." Samira Hasanova


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As discussed in Episode 13, here is a link to the article on GamerChris.com where he rates and briefly talks about tons of Boardgame Podcasts. He refers to our podcast as a "Rising Star". "Two guys talking about games, but their level of knowledge and insight seems really great so far." – Chris Norwood @ GamerChris.com
Link to GamerChris.com Boardgame Podcast Reviews
By Jeff|2013-09-11T21:13:09-05:00June 16th, 2012|0 Comments


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Twitter Town Hall – Tweet Up
Posted by Fred Thomas, III on July 6, 2011 · Leave a Comment
For those who may have missed the Twitter Town Hall, here is the video. Regardless of your political persuasion this shows the White House and President Obama embracing technology that is right before us. More important, you will notice the audience is not filled with the usual suspects but represents more diversity. courtesy of C-Span … Continue reading →
Filed under News, Obama · Tagged with 140 characters, C-Span, facebook, foursquare, obama, social media, Town Hall, Tweet-Up, Twitter, while house


text: The opposition will hold 105 of the new parliament's 454 seats In the elections which ended on 7 December, Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) secured 320 seats after party defectors, who ran as independents, rejoined the ranks. This gives the NDP 73% control of the new parliament which will hold power until 2010. Opposition parties and groups which united under the National Front for Change secured only 17 seats. When added to the Brotherhood's MPs, the entire opposition comprises 105 seats, nearly 25% of the parliament. The opposition made up only 10% of the previous parliament. On Monday, Mubarak appointed 10 members of parliament - five women and five Coptic Christians - bringing the total number of parliamentary seats to 454. The rich And this parliament may prove to be the "wealthiest" in Egypt's modern history. According to Amr Hashem Rabie, a parliamentary expert at the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, there will be many businessmen among parliamentary ranks. Hosni Mubarak's NDP has 73% of the parliamentary seats They include NDP MPs Mustafa El-Sallab, a distributor for several major ceramic companies; Abdel-Menem Ragheb Deif-Allah an Alexandrian billionaire; ceramics magnate Mohamed Abul Enein; steel industrialist Ahmed Ezz; construction magnate Mohamed El-Mourshedi; and hotel-owner Shahinaz El-Naggar. Rabie believes the presence of so many businessmen will shift debate to issues related to tax exemptions "instead of banking reforms or investment issues - things that matter to the people". On the other side is the Muslim Brotherhood, which increased its seats from 17 in the outgoing parliament to 88 this year. In 1995, parliament featured only one Brotherhood MP. Brotherhood's agenda While officially banned, the group is tolerated by the government and it fields its candidates as independents. The Muslim Brotherhood says it is committed to the National Front for Democratic Change - an umbrella of 11 parties and opposition groups - that was formed one month before the elections. Brotherhood leader Mahdi Akef is looking to abolish emergency rule Diaa Rashwan, an expert on Islamist movements at Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, said: "They are committed to its 20-point programme which includes transforming Egypt to a parliamentary republican democracy, releasing political detainees and achieving full independence of the judicial authority." Last week, the group said its MPs would press for constitutional amendments in articles 76 and 77 of the constitution, which focus on the mechanism of presidential election and length of term in office. Addressing the Brotherhood's 88 MPs on Sunday, the group's supreme leader Muhammad Mahdi Akef said: "This parliament is likely to amend the constitution, make the people the source of authority, [and] limit the president's term in office to four years with a maximum of two consecutive terms." Mixed bag Akef also said the Muslim Brotherhood would work on expanding human rights, abolishing the emergency law imposed after the 1981 assassination of Anwar Sadat, Mubarak's predecessor, and combating corruption. "It's a heavy responsibility and you are a minority [in parliament] but your contribution will be significant. And do cooperate with your brothers in the National Front for Change because we are part of it," Akef has told Brotherhood MPs. "This is the parliament that will implement Mubarak's suggestion of replacing the emergency law with a new one and limiting the president's [constitutional] powers" Diaa Rashwan, Islamist movements expert,Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies In addition to NDP and Brotherhood MPs, the new parliament offers a mixed bag of politicians. Two leftists representing the Tagammu opposition party have won seats. Four prominent journalists, including Mustafa Bakri of El-Osboa newspaper and Nasserist politician and editor of Al-Karama newspaper Hamdeen El-Sabahi, also won seats. Only one Copt, Minister of Economy Yousef Boutrous Ghali, and four women were elected. But this parliamentary combination is now more likely to clash over varying political agendas. Promised reforms Rashwan believes the NDP is focused on Mubarak's election platform, which promised political and constitutional reforms. "This is the parliament that will implement Mubarak's suggestion of replacing the emergency law with a new one and limiting the president's [constitutional] powers," he told Aljazeera.net. The new parliament promises to be full of drama and excitement Despite the convening of parliament on Saturday, it may be a long time before the dust of election controversy settles. Elections in six of the country's 222 electoral constituencies have been postponed by the government-appointed High Election Committee in response to court orders. The committee ignored other court orders which declared results in more than a dozen other constituencies null and void. These court decisions, sceptics argue, could serve as pretext for the possibility of dissolving parliament altogether. It is a scenario observers believe is likely if the opposition bloc consisting mainly of the Muslim Brotherhood becomes too troublesome for the ruling party. Far-fetched scenario? "This is not a far-fetched scenario," cautioned Rabie. But Akef dismisses such a notion. "NDP barely managed to gain its two-thirds majority and they wouldn't want to subject the party to that again." Either way, with the potential constitutional changes and the opposition stronger than ever, this parliament promises to be full of drama and excitement. SOURCE: Aljazeera ABOUT THE AUTHOR Amira HoweidyAmira Howeidy is Deputy Editor-In-Chief in the Cairo-based Al-Ahram Weekly newspaper


text: Just a NOTE to the people of Earth Science You are still free to post other threads on global warming, but I would HIGHLY suggest reading back a bit to the other zillion threads on the same topic. Doing this will give you a feeling for the type of discussion and the few nuts around here who know too much about the subject Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! #1. Ill start off with this: Can we please make a list of ONLY FACTS which are 100% guaranteed to be true. From this list, we can do a type of Fermi problem or logic problem to see if, given the facts that we know for sure, global warming truly is an issue. It'll be fun Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! #2. I think many will agree (and many will disagree for that matter), that it is not a question of IF global warming is occuring, but rather WHY. From my understanding, we have proof that the earth has gone from being really warm, to really cold, to inbetween and back through the list again several times. #3. There are some people who will disagree with you completely and think you are a lunatic (that goes for both sides of the argument). There are compeling arguments on both sides and really, its an discussion that wont have a clear victor for many years. Be mindful of this please! In other words, when persuading or discussing, despite being exasperated, do not resort to petty insults. They only make you A.) look like a fool and B.) invalidate everything you have said in the minds of other people (generally). Most of all, have fun! This is Science and the only way science goes anywhere, is by discussion. We can all agree that despite the fact that there might not be a right answer, the discussion will enrich our lives and broaden our horizons. The only thing that can happen is that you will become more effective and intellecutal in discussion as a result of being exposed to the opposite side of the tracks. Enjoy. T Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!


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It's funny, when I looked at this NaBloPoMo writing prompt for yesterday (almost caught up), I had a sense of "deja vu" —
If you didn't have to be concerned about money or expertise,
what would be your ideal job?
Sure enough, I looked back through my posts and discovered one from November 2012 where I discussed what my "dream job" might be if I instantly had the qualifications and training to do so. So please pardon the repeated post with some minor updates, because my preferred dream job or ideal job hasn't changed.
I didn't have to think too long about my ideal job, because my current career and education path is what I want to do now and in the future. If I could skip the remaining two to three years of time and expense at Northcentral University (NCU), and instantly have my Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) degree in Educational Technology and E-Learning, I would be all set!
My dream job would be working as an online education consultant, particularly filling roles as an online instructor at the university level, and an instructional designer and/or curriculum developer. My experience so far in these areas has included working as an online writing instructor for the Online Writing Lab (OWL) for Smarthinking; and for various clients and companies in the areas of instructional design and curriculum development.
As a freelance writer, I enjoy instructional design and curriculum development because they allow me to hone specialized writing skills, as well as share my passion for lifelong learning. More universities now require doctorate degrees for their instructors and professors, particularly because of new accreditation stipulations.
I would really enjoy having that opportunity to teach online to help adult learners and encourage them that age is not a hindrance to achieving academic goals. My Ed.D. degree would definitely give me more career possibilities, so yes – if I could instantly have the qualifications – that would be great!
How about you? Do you have a dream job or ideal job you would want to do if you could do it TODAY?


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The MCC Jazz Ensemble will be performing in Fort Morgan's City Park at the Dahms-Talton Band Shell (414 Main Street) for an evening Street Dance brought to you by Viaero on Saturday, July 30 from 7 to 10 p.m.
To see a complete listing of Glenn Miller Swing Fest activities and events, go to GlennMillerSwingFest.com. To learn more about "Glenn Miller: The Birthplace of His Music" or to preview the film's trailer, visit GlennMillerDoc.com. Follow movie happenings on Twitter @GlennMillerDoc or on Facebook: www.facebook.com/GlennMillerDoc.
The Glenn Miller documentary would not have been possible without the help of its sponsors. CACE thanks the Dahms-Talton Foundation as the title sponsor of the project, as well as the Morgan County Tourism Panel; The Bloedorn Foundation; The City of Fort Morgan; Dr. Jarrold and Sue Schaefer; Dr. Kerry and Jacque Hart; Donald and Loretta Price; Erker Grain Company – Mike Erker; Cargill; Colorado Plains Medical Center; Banner Health – East Morgan County Hospital; Dick and Jo Kline; Roger Schaefer, C.P.A.; Dr. and Mrs. J. Kelly Theisen; Heer Mortuaries – Don and Carol Heer; Dan and Sharon Kauffman; Equitable Savings and Loan; Akron Auto; Mark and Sue Christensen; The Town of Hillrose; Jim and Betty McKie; The Lions Club of Fort Morgan; Drs. Tom and Joy Bryant; Gateway Realty – Wiggins; Robert and Sandra Chapin; Helena Schultz, Attorney at Law; Mr. Vernon and Dr. Ruth Tryon; Doni and Alissa Harris; Hough Realty – R.M. and Elaine Hough; and Greg Thomas.
In addition to the documentary sponsors, MCC wishes to thank this year's CACE sponsors: Colorado Plains Medical Center, Morgan Federal Bank, Blue Lightning, Banner Health – East Morgan County Hospital, Gene and Timmy Fritzler, High Plains Bank, Gina Keenan-Heepke, Hodgson Media, Robert and Barbara Keenan, Leprino Foods, Roger and Susan Schaefer, Ron and Vicki Edwards, Williams Family Foundation, Bob Staley Plumbing, Heating & Air, The Roots Group, and Harris Financial Network.
For more information on how to be involved with future CACE projects, please contact the MCC Office of the President at (970) 542-3106 or MCC Director of Development, Kari Linker at (970) 542-3113.
MCC Jazz Ensemble to play July 30
The MCC Jazz Ensemble will be performing in Fort Morgan's City Park at the Dahms-Talton Band Shell (414 Main Street) for an evening Street Dance brought to you by Viaero on Saturday, July 30 from 7 to 10 p.m.


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| User talk:Horderoyale
Sanguinar of the Illidari
Alar'ion Sanguinar was a priest in the service of the Silver Hand before the Fall of Quel'Thalas. He served the knights faithfully and happily, the Light filling him with a constant inner peace, a sense of right and wrong, a sense of purpose. Then fell Uther the Lightbringer, his inspiration, and the Sunwell just after. Devastated and disillusioned with the Church of the Light, he and his older brother abandoned the failed paladins and joined Kael'thas on the front lines against the Scourge.
They fought furiously, with a hatred they had never felt before, a rage that galvanised every movement. Yet it was not enough. The undead did not scream, they did not beg for mercy. They did not appreciate the pain or the full clarity of vengeance. Then came the day the blood elves were placed in prison, locked away in the darkness below Dalaran for their "treachery." Alar'ion watched his brother go mad slowly, as the humans he once counted among his friends tossed him into the darkened chamber with such disgust, one would think they were the undead themselves.
Then came the naga, their salvation. They led them away from the hateful humans, away from the allies who now hunted them, and brought them before the great demon hunter, a creature of such power he made even Kael shudder. Alar'ion and his brother swore themselves over to Illidan, to the banner of the Illidari, and began their service.
Alar'ion's brother was appointed a Lord in the service of Kael at the newly acquired Tempest Keep, while Alar'ion himself went to serve beside a demon hunter apprentice under Illidan. His name was Varedis. When the naaru known as M'uru was captured, Alar'ion eagerly learned the art of siphoning its power, and, alonside his brother, the Blood Hammer, took up the sword of a blood knight.
Alar'ion and Varedis were good friends, sparing constantly, pitting the stolen Light against the stolen Shadow. They were evenly matched, until the day Alar'ion was assigned to assist one of Kael's magisters, Voren'thal, in attacking Shattrath City. He eagerly wore the tabard of an Illidari and marched in the front lines, eager to fight for the glory of Lord Illidan and Quel'Thalas. But, as Voren'thal approached the city, he lay down his staff, and, as Alar'ion watched, shocked, the other elves around him did. They were surrendering. With a roar of rage at this treachery, he hurled himself at the flimsy mage, only to be blasted unconscious by one of the elves' spells.
He awoke in the Blood Knight Headquarters of Silvermoon many months later, under the care of Lady Liadrin herself. She told him of Kael's treachery and of Illidan's madness, and, after many long hours of evidence and arguing, Sanguinar emerged from the Headquarters, determined to bring Illidan and his rogue Prince to justice for their crimes against the blood elves. He left for Outland with resolve in his heart and a sword in his hand.
The Shattered Sun Offensive was already underway as Alar'ion moved, along with the Scryers, against Illidan and his demonic armies. Although he fought fervently and with great prowess, the blood knight was held back by a sense of guilt, of betrayal. He had spent many long months in Illidan's service, and now fought against those who were once his comrades. As he pushed towards the Black Temple, he heard a chilling laugh behind him, a cruel, all too familiar laugh. Varedis stepped out from the shadows, twin war-glaives clenched in his tattooed hands and his blind, demon hunter's eyes glaring at his once brother-in-arms.
"Behold, the wayward son returns," laughed the blood elf, the runes etched across his bare chest glowing threateningly. "It had been too long, Alar'ion. Have you come here to rejoin our ranks? Or perhaps just to die?"
"I don't want to fight you, Varedis," said Alar'ion not backing down, but lowering his sword, "Illidan is insane. He strikes out against all, the naaru, the Scryers, the Horde. Everyone! He is a rogue, and a mad rogue at that. Come to the right side, the winning side! For Quel'Thalas!"
The demon hunter sneered, "I fight for Quel'Thalas, you fight for the creatures you once enslaved, these naaru. I will show you how we Illidari deal with traitors, defend yourself!"
He lunged at the blood knight, fighting with an intensity Alar'ion had never seen before, and, for a moment, they were sparring against, like they did so many months ago. Light and fel energy set the very air aflame and forced the soldiers, Illidari and Shat'ar alike, away from the dueling pair. The battle lasted at least an hour, fueled by rage and fear. At last, Varedis missed a parry and Alar'ion's blade claimed his hand. With a cry, the demon hunter fell to the ground, clutching his bleeding arm.
"Finish me!" he screamed at the blood knight, "Destroy me, my friend!"
It was then Alar'ion realised he could not finish it. He lowered his sword and walked away from Varedis, unwilling and unwanting to end his friend's life. Varedis screamed after him, cursing him in Thalassian. Then was the sound of a sword singing, and the sound of rending flesh. Varedis was dead.
Alar'ion walked away from the assault as the Doomwalker fell and the forces of the Aldor and Scryers stormed the Black Temple. Voren'thal the Seer, as he was now called, halted him before he left, saying,
"Why do you leave the battle you have won for us, blood knight?"
Alar'ion answered, his voice hollow, "I cannot destroy those I once called my friends. I am Alar'ion Sanguinar of the Illidari, and, though I no longer serve them, I will forever be once of them.
It is said that after that day at the Black Temple, Alar'ion left for Northrend, still wearing the tabard of an Illidari, bringing the fight to the one who was truly responsible for the suffering of the blood elves. It was time for the power of the Illidari to meet the might of the Scourge.
"Traitor wizard, die in the name of Lord Illidan!" (while lunging at Voren'thal, just before being blasted unconcious)
"We have been misguided by rogue demon hunters and power-crazed wizards. Once again, its up to the knights..." (after defecting to the Horde)
"Ha! 'Paladin'? We are no paladins. We do not cower behind our librams and creeds. We are the Blood Knights, and we will walk where 'paladins' dare not. Anara'lah Belore!"
At the end of the battle in Tempest Keep:
- Kael'thas: For... Quel...Thalas!
- (Kael'thas falls, Sanguinar approaches and closes the elf's eyes)
- Sanguinar: I...am sorry... my prince...
- (Sanguinar sings softly to himself, his head bowed, kneeling at the fallen Prince's side)
- Sanguinar: Shorel'aran.
In Naxxramas:
- Baron Rivendare: None shall pass!
- (Sanguinar laughs, the death knight pauses, confused)
- Sanguinar: Clearly you've never met a blood knight...
I dabble in fanfic, these are the results:
Ashes to Ashes
Anna smiled. Tyoril always made her laugh, although for all his intellect he possessed no wit, he continued,
"I am a firm believer in the concept of the orcs smelling better than most night elves. Honestly, for a race with such a superiority complex you'd expect them to roll around in the dirt a little less. Hell, the filthy druids genuflect every time a flower blooms; they spent more time on their knees than a drunken acolyte."
"Tye!" scolded the paladin, almost doubling over with laughter. Tyoril allowed himself a rare smile, and the fire in his eyes danced, but his face soon became hard and grim once more.
"Apologies, madam knight," said the blood mage, sweeping into an exagerated bow before Anna, his elaborate robes, his long silver-blond hair falling about his face in curtains, "I forgot that the Lowborne were now members of your Alliance…"
"Watch it blood elf," said Anna, her voice firm, her eyes still carrying the ghosts of laughter. Tyoril half-sneered and half-smiled, although the Alliance was once a home to him, he had left it long ago. With a pang he remembered his departure.
Scrambling the blood elves ran towards the portal, trying to flee the prisons of Dalaran. The forces of the Alliance's Grand Marshal closed around them. The desperation and pain was palpable in the air as Tyoril, along with the other blood magi under Kael'thas, ushered the sin'dorei into the portal and fended off the humans.
Tyoril fell silent. He never readjusted fully to the air of Azeroth. The atmosphere of Outland was so alive, so full of power and magic, that the air of this young world was bland and pale by comparison. Of course that did not mean he would be going back to the Illidari anytime soon. The Plaguelands were a ghastly place that evoked many emotions in the pair as they traversed the wasted landscape. Distant, constant screams echoed on the deadened air and foul things skittered in the growing shadows of dusk. Anna remembered her father and her brother Leo. She remembered the screams in Andorhal. Those screams had never been silenced.
Leonid had screamed for her to stay indoors when the fires rose up from Stratholme. He had grabbed his axe and ran, for his fiancée was a priestess there, tending and preaching to aspiring knights. Cries of woe and fear rose up from Andorhal. Stratholme was the heart of the countryside, second only to Lordaeron's capital herself. And now, the dead had come at last.
Tyoril remembered the fall of Quel'Thalas, the burning of Silvermoon. The death of his uncle scarred his memory beyond all else. He wished his cousin had been there. He reassured and cursed himself afterwards about this, during the desperate regrouping. If Kael had been there things would have been different.
Anasterian stood grimly at the gates of Quel'Danas, Flamestrike in one hand and a crackling, living blaze in the other. The crown of Quel'Thalas shone like a golden star before the last of his countrymen that yet lived. Desperate measures were taken to safeguard the Sunwell, but none would last. The army of nightmares was too great and Sylvanas was dead and the Prince was leagues away, trapped under Dalaran's newly-imposed martial law. The arcane golems patrolled mechanically, but their metallic footsteps were drowned out by the din of the oncoming onslaught. "For Quel'Thalas!" cried the ancient king, Flamestrike blazing in the setting sun, "Anar'alah belore!" Tyoril hummed to himself, trying to drown out the sounds of war. It was an ancient song, written during the Troll Wars: the Lament for the Highborne.
"Tye? Tye!" yelled Anna. Tyoril snapped out of his trance, and noticed that his hands were clenched and were blazing with conjured flame. He hastily extinguished it and met the paladin's gaze. She was concerned, her eyes wide and anxious. He worried her, his darkness, his inner fury. His pain.


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Micha and August are on a plane to Amarillo to visit family. Trophy husband Chris will guest post today.
At 4:45 am we woke up our little one and all he could say was "Airport! Airport! I fly Airplane Jojo Pops house!" When I put him in his stroller at Oakland airport he gave me a hug and said, "Daddy go work?" Yes, dear child, Daddy go work. See, I don't get to visit JoJo and Pops just yet.
Is this adorable? Heartrending? Yes, and yes. Does it have anything to do with my post? Absolutely not. But I figured I'd warm you up with a quick anecdote in the manner of pastors telling a joke that is (very) loosely related to the sermon topic (I'm looking at you, Fred).
I know very little about parenting and even less about monks, so you'll have to bear with me today. Everything I learned about parenting I learned from three sources (in no order of gravity): The Idle Parent (Tom Hodgkinson), The Three Martini Playdate (Christie Mellor), and Christine Rosen's review of Christopher Lasch's book The Culture of Narcisissm. I haven't actually "read" all these things, but they sound really neat.
Each appeals to the parent who (perhaps selfishly, pls discuss in comments section) rejects this idea that kids should get what they want and do what we think they should all the time. Growing up in a nice little suburb of Philadelphia where everyone plays three sports, invents new AP courses, and practice college admissions for fun on Saturday mornings, I have seen a lot of parents put their kids at the center of their lives. They talk about kids' grades, prom dates, sporting achievements, to the exclusion of anything else.
OF COURSE we should care about what our kids do. Come on, I'm not that mean. But, when parents spend all their time, energy, attention, and money on their kids, a couple things happen.
First, the parents lose themselves. That is, they forget what they're interested in. Second, they become uninteresting-especially to their children. Every relationship needs direction and focus, or else it drifts (here I am indebted to Tim Keller's sermon on Spiritual Friendship). If a child feels like their parents aren't interested in anything but them, what do they have to look up to? Kids need parents who can point them in a direction, and if that direction is right back at them, they get the feeling that they are the most important thing in world. That they're not is a vital lesson.
The Three Martini Playdate teaches us that it's okay to make our kids work. Kids used to contribute to the family. Maybe the most productive use of their time and energy isn't a martini (Bluecoat, don't skimp on the vermouth, stirred, thank you), but I'll be darned if August Henry doesn't have (a lot of) chores to do once we have a lawn to mow.
Christine Rosen's article, The Overpraised American teaches us that if we make kids out to be the greatest thing ever, they'll think the same thing…and they'll be insufferable for it.
The Idle Parent is a direct rebuke to our parent-guilt. His is not a call to laziness or even a lack of interest in our children's development. But rather a lesson that children need time and space to learn things for themselves and grow into whole people. Contrast this with the article Micha tweeted about the other day on Helicopter Mommies. And I quote: "Fertile neglect is the name of that policy: leaving the boy to his own devices so I can pursue mine and he can develop those solitary skills that will serve him in future airports, waiting rooms and prisons."
Our dear friends have been leading Young Life for a long time and have two daughters, one in college, one just graduated. One of the things we appreciate about them is how they have always had their own life-centered around ministry and fellowship. Because of that their kids have always respected them-and more than that, have wanted to be around them and wanted to be like them.


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UNN 3rd & 2nd Supplementary Admission Lists [UTME, DE, Etc.] 2018/2019
The University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) has released a 3rd supplementary admission list, in addition to 2nd supplementary admission lists and other lists released for 2018/2019 candidates.
The university also attached instructions to be followed by the successful candidates whose name appear on the newest admission lists.
Please see the UNN 3rd and other supplementary admission lists below and read the instructions that follows.
UNN Nsukka 3rd Supplementary Admission Lists 2018/2019
UNN Nsukka 2nd Supplementary Admission Lists 2018/2019
Supplementary Admission List II
- Supplementary Admission List II
- Supplementary Direct Entry List II
- Foreign Candidates, Visually Impaired and other Handicapped
Candidates List II
- Advert/Shopping List for Local Government and strategic Studies
PRIMARY Admission list
- Click to DOWNLOAD Primary Admission List
Supplementary & Direct Entry List
- Advert/Shopping Admission List
- Primary Direct Entry Admission list
- Supplementary Admission List
- Supplementary Direct Entry List
- Foreign Candidates, Visually Impaired and other Handicapped Candidates list
Instructions to candidates offered admission
Candidates offered provisional admission are required to adopt the following guidelines to regularize their acceptance of the offer:
- All candidates recommended for admission (in the previous and present admission lists) who have not uploaded their O'level results (WAEC/NECO) in JAMB Portal should endeavour to do so urgently as JAMB would not recognize their admissions until they have uploaded their O'Level results that would qualify them for their chosen courses. Such candidates should submit copy of their admission status printed from JAMB Portal and admission slip from University of Nigeria, Nsukka to the Admissions Office for re-proposing in JAMB CAPS.
- Visit the JAMB Portal and accept your admission on CAPS by clicking "Accept Admission". Candidates who fail to accept their admission on JAMB CAPS would not be issued JAMB Admission Letter and would be deemed as not admitted.
- Visit the University of Nigeria website (unn.edu.ng) or portal (unnportal.edu.ng), log in your JAMB Registration number to generate and download a Payment Invoice which contains a Remitta number, the invoice will enable you to make payment at any Commercial Bank.
- With the Payment Invoice, the candidate is requested to pay Twenty Five Thousand Naira Only (N25, 000.00) acceptance fee. Ensure that the Invoice number is keyed in appropriately at the Bank and obtain a confirmation slip containing your Confirmation number and Invoice number.
- Visit the University of Nigeria website (unn.edu.ng) or portal (unnportal.edu.ng) again and login your JAMB Registration Number, the Confirmation Number and Invoice Number, then print the Admission slip and complete the Acceptance Form online.
- Proceed with other fee payments and registration as indicated on the University of Nigeria website.
- Candidates should note that this admission is provisional.
- If at any time in future, including final year, it is discovered that any candidate does not possess the minimum university and the faculty/departmental entry requirements for the course as prescribed by the Senate of the University, and published in JAMB Brochure, the offer of admission will be withdrawn.
Via: http://www.unn.edu.ng/supplementary-admission-list-ii/


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In 1969, South Korean artist Seok Hee Kang founded the Pan Music Festival where himself and Hwang Byungki performed a piece for daegeum and tape, four years later, in 1973, the Asian Composers League was founded in Hong Kong with the aim of fostering contemporary music which uses both Western and Asian Pacific instruments.
Today in the 21st century, a new generation of composers, free improvisers, noise artists and turntablists cross the barriers again but this time in a less classical and conventional way : Far East Network (FEN), Asian Music Network, and more are reshaping the far east and south east music landscape…
Photo by Kuniya Oyamada – 写真 小山田邦哉
The Asian Music Network festival 2015 took place in Tōkyō and Kyōto and was the first avant-garde festival in the region to include such a large variety of artists from east and south east Asia : dj sniff (Hong Kong), Bin Idris (Bandung), To Die (Yogyakarta), Iman Jimbot (Bandung), Kok Siew Wai (Kuala Lumpur), Leslie Low (Singapore), Yuen Chee Wai (Singapore), Yui-Saowakhon Muangkruan (Bangkok), Nguyễn Hong Giang (Ho Chi Minh), Lương Huệ Trinh (Hanoi), Sachiko M (Tokyo), Tadashi Yonago (Osaka), Tatsuhisa Yamamoto (Tokyo), Kimiya Sato (Tokyo), Shinobu Kawai (Tokyo), Tamura Fumitake (Tokyo), KΣITO (Tokyo), Ai Watanabe (Tokyo), Ryoko Ōno (Nagoya), Ōtomo Yoshihide (Tokyo).
The 2016 festival will be held in Tōkyō, Kōbe and Kyōto, from the 5th until the 12th of February and featuring the following artists : Ōtomo Yoshihide (Tokyo), dj sniff (Hong Kong), Fiona Lee (Hong Kong), Okkyung Lee (New York), Pete TR (Bangkok), Skip Skip Ben Ben (Taipei), Natalie Alexandra Tse (Singapore), Krisna Widiathama (Yogyakarta), Son X (Hanoi), Yong Yandsen (Kuala Lumpur) and guest Japanese artists Umeda Tetsuya, True Oshiro, Takahiro Kawaguchi, Toshio Kajiwara, Doddodo, Yoko Higashino, Mizuuchi Yoshito, Katsura Mouri and more !
Feel free to listen to the following mix prepared by dj sniff that include the 2016 participants and some of their projects while reading the interview.
Photo by Kuniya Oyamada – 写真 小山田邦哉
1. How did you and Yuen Chee Wai got the idea to create the pan Asian network ?
The idea originates from Ōtomo Yoshihide's long standing work in trying to connect experimental musicians, in mainly East Asia, with Japanese musicians and the public.
Ōtomo worked extensively in Hong Kong during the early 90's, and since early 2000's he had been playing in China and Korea which evenly lead to his band FEN with Yan Jun, Ryu Hankil and Yuen Chee Wai. In 2005, he organised the first Asian Meeting Festival which was born out of both an optimism towards new communities enabled by the internet, and fear that it is also accelerating hate speech and xenophobia in Japan. Since my time at STEIM in Amsterdam, I was always trying to invite any Asian musician that was on tour in Europe, and Chee Wai was also active in organising events that featured Asian experimental musicians in Singapore. I moved to Hong Kong in 2012 after finding Europe being utterly dead, and wanting to tour more in Asia.
2. Do you have more logistic and financial ease and possibilities in Japan than in, let's say Hong Kong or Singapore ?
For our project Ensembles Asia / Asian Music Network, yes, because we are funded by The Japan Foundation Asia Center (国際交流基金アジアセンター) which is a government cultural body. Ōtomo was invited to lead a new project that focussed on cultural exchange between South East Asia and Japan, and he invited me and Chee Wai. Japan also has a larger audience and generally better infrastructure than Hong Kong or Singapore, so that helps too.
Photo by Kuniya Oyamada – 写真 小山田邦哉
3. I noticed that step by step, some networks are being build in Asia, connecting musicians and organisers to each other : Asian Music Network, FEN, Border Movement. Seeking independence ?
It is still a challenge. Generally Asian people would rather work with people from the West for such cultural projects. It has to do with local prestige and also not wanting to be confronted with long history of dispute between neighbouring countries. For us we have to be very careful in running a project supported by Japan in Asia – scars from war don't disappear that easily.
4. Does living in Hong Kong makes it easier for you to connect people together and travel around than when you were in Japan ?
I don't know if it makes it easier, but it does give me an identity and edge within the scene. I haven't lived in Japan for more than half of my life now, so I can get away with being "ignorant" to certain local conversions or political tension – that is quite convenient.
5. Would you organise the festival or some other events in other Asian countries and outside of Asia, such as FEN slowly does ?
Yes, we are trying to do this more. Our vision is that we develop programs and collaborations that take place initially in Japan, but can be brought to other cities. This is very challenging because each country has their own difficulties, but what we keep hearing is that it's much more difficult than we think for South East Asian artists to connect with each other. We hope we can be a catalyst for new forms of collaboration within the region. Also we would like to bring these artists to Europe and North America as well. This is of course to introduce them to a wider audience but also playing in Western countries significantly helps them back home to receive recognition or funding.
Photo by Ayane Morishita - 写真 森下綺音
Some recommendations, references and links.
Asian Music Network is part of Ensembles Asia, that also includes Asian Sound Research (a project started in 2014, directed by Japanese musician Sachiko M that focuses on sound art research, including Malaysia, Cambodia, etc.) and Ensembles Asia Orchestra (a project launched in 2014, with the mission of creating a free-form orchestra that engages with people who are not professional musicians. The project is organized by the Japan Foundation Asia Center, with musician Ōtomo Yoshihide as artistic director. Ensembles Asia Orchestra aims to uncover new and unprecedented ways of making music and connecting with people, by sharing the joy of making music and fostering communication with people from elsewhere in Asia – site in Thai, Japanese, Indonesia, Tagalog and English).
You can follow Asian Music Network 2015 on Soundcloud.
And see a few interviews and short live extracts here.
FEN (Far East Network) recently performed at the Festival All Ears in Norway. FEN is an improvised music project group made up of musicians from different parts of Asia. The quartet comprises Ōtomo Yoshihide (Japan), Ryu Hankil (South Korea), Yan Jun (China) and Yuen Chee Wai (Singapore). FEN was started by globally renowned musician Ōtomo Yoshihide and it made its debut in 2008 at MIMI Festival in Marseilles, France. Following its début, FEN has performed extensively throughout Europe and all across Asia.
Border Movement is a platform that aims to encourage interaction between the electronic music scenes of South Asia (Afghanistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan) and Germany. Border Movement tends to be more on the dance side than FEN and Asian Music Network but includes also a few sound experimentalists.
Syrphe contains a database which included more than 1500 references of artists, venues, radios, labels, magazines, networks working in the field of alternative electronic music, electro-acoustic, free improv, noise, electronica, chiptune, breakcore, industrial, ambient and more, it is regularly updated.
Some pan-Asian compilations (and beyond for one and we need more like this !).
Live at Htein Lin's Studio / 7000 Padauk, Yangon, Myanmar, (Syrphe, 2014, digital), an compilation of live recording made in Yangon, Myanmar and featuring six artists mostly living there and coming from Asia and Europe. Free download.
Art of the Muses (Syrphe, 2012, CD and digital), an experimental music compilation featuring 10 female composers from far east Asia (Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, China, Singapore).
Beyond ignorance and borders (Syrphe, 2007, CD and digital), an African, Middle-Eastern, Asian noise and electronic compilation which includes electronic, experimental and noise artists from 21 Asian and African countries (Vietnam, Hong Kong, Mongolia, Philippines, Thailand, Israel, Taiwan, China, South Korea, Lebanon, Indonesia, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Singapore, South Africa, Laos, Tibet, Algeria, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia).
Soundtracks For Bride Of Sevenless (Auscultare Research, 1998, CD), 12 noise and sound artists from Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong.
Eternal Blue Extreme: An Asian Tribute To Derek Jarman (Somnus, 1994, CD), 9 noise, experimental and industrial artists from Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
If you happen to be in Berlin in early February, I (C-drík) will give a lecture during CTM festival : An introduction to electro-acoustic, noise and experimental music in Africa and Asia, 2 February, 13h, Kunstquartier Studio 1 .
My new essay Power through networking : reshaping the underground electronic and experimental music scenes in East and South East Asia will also be available in CTM Magazine to be out very soon. More info soon !


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Paranormal Protection Agency by Mina Carter
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Stars: 3.5
I received this book in exchange for an honest review (LoP or Lovers of Paranormal)
Short and definitely HOT! The book includes 5 short stories that are interconnected, which makes it more interesting. Despite the limited introductions, the author was able to build the characters enough for you to understand their current situations. Short stories has its downside as well, and for this one, each story has more steamy scenes (60-70%) than the real story itself. It would have been much better if each story has more details like how do the PPA starts, how did the people accept the paranormal, when did they come out of the open, etc. Highly recommended to those who wants something sexy and steamy before bedtime.
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