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Simon Carey & Eryn Mullins
Drovers Rest
"It's all about the view"
A Dry Land Garden.
We started this garden 10 years ago. It is on almost 5 acres of rock on the side of Ressie hill. Nothing grew here but iron bark and black wattle, the ground had been pushed up and used for oat hulls and machinery. We saw none of that though, only the massive 360 view of gorgeous country side. Our river block wish list didn't have a chance against this view.
We went into a massive battle with the rock, droughts, sever water restrictions and a scarred landscape armed only with ignorance and rookie enthusiasm to create a landscape that would do justice to the view. Years of trying to recreate the lovely river block garden of our dreams ended in disaster. The block not so gently reminded us it started out with iron banks and black wattle for a very good reason. It is DRY LAND....Crushed granite now replaces the struggling turf lawns, sculptural agraves and cactus replaced verdant bushed and pots contain citrus and cottage plants and the orchard now has olive trees. Gabion walls replace timber fence (white ants). It is a work in progress and will always be as everything changes, the climate, our ideas and needs.
Come and see what we've accomplished so far and take inspiration from a dry land garden we've created to complement the view.


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13 Nov 2016. Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers. It had been a while since I last played. I think it was the first time for the children.
In the original Carcassonne, the farmer scoring is a little complex and difficult to teach. In Hunters and Gatherers, this element is simplified. Instead of needing to count the number of forests (the equivalent of castles) your meadow is connected to, you simply count the number of animals you can hunt. There is no confusion with a forest being connected to multiple meadows. Each animal can only be in one meadow. This is not necessarily better, just easier to teach.
A forest with a gold nugget gives the player who completes it a benefit. This incentivises players to help others complete their forests. When you do this, you get to draw a special tile from a separate deck. These are always better-than-average tiles, and some have special powers. This is something not found in basic Carcassonne. The fishing huts are also a new element. They are scored at game end. You earn points based on the number of fishes in the whole interconnected river network.
In our game we had one humongous meadow right at the centre. Everyone fought over it. In this photo Shee Yun (yellow) was leading.
This was the end of the game. Our central meadow had become even more impressive. Slightly to the left of the centre, you can see the forest fire tile. This tile neutralises all tigers in the meadow. Normally each tiger neutralises a deer. With a forest fire tile, all deers are saved from tigers. Just don't ask me why deers don't fear fires. Near the left edge of the map, you can see a tile with a stonehenge-like structure. That's a shrine. Whoever controls the shrine controls the meadow it is in. Shee Yun was the one who drew the shrine tile, placed a meeple to claim it, and then merged that meadow to the main central meadow. So all our manoeuvring and fighting over the central meadow had been in vain. Shee Yun defeated all of us in one fell swoop.
The score track.
25 Nov 2016. Jason, Allen and I played this 2nd edition of San Juan, the Puerto Rico card game. The 2nd edition has some new cards, and some old cards are modified. It was still fun after all these years. I enjoyed the new cards. I am a big fan of Race for the Galaxy, which is inspired by Puerto Rico and shares many mechanisms with San Juan. However I've never felt San Juan unnecessary. I own both, just that my San Juan is the first edition.. San Juan is more brisk, but still quite strategic. Race for the Galaxy is richer, more complex, but it can be intimidating.
13 Jan 2017. I brought Captain Sonar to Boardgamecafe.net, so this time I played with gamers instead of non-gamers. We did two games. I sat out the first one since we had exactly 8 other players. It was interesting to watch them play. I felt nervous for them. Sim (left) and Jeff (right) were the radio operators. Both made mistakes when tracking the enemy submarine's path, so I knew it would take a while for them to locate each other. Eventually it was Jeff who managed to narrow down the right position first. He knew he made some missteps, so he used the path he traced as just a rough estimation. His team used the drone and sonar to help him better determine the enemy position. Eventually his team won.
Jason was the only other player who had played Captain Sonar, but prior to this he played the turn-based version, which I have never tried (and have little interest in trying). He said that with no time limit, they considered and planned many things in detail. Before the captain decided where to move, they made sure the resulting route could fit into as many positions on the board as possible, so that the enemy radio operator could not easily narrow down the possibilities. In a real-time game, there is no such luxury. Having heard Jason's description, I am even more convinced that I should not do the turn-based version.
It turned out that gamers enjoy the game very much too. Success!
In this photo you can compare how close the radio operators' trackings are to the actual paths made by the captains. Captains' paths at top right and top right, and radio operators' trackings at bottom left and bottom right. Naturally you need to compare top left to bottom right, and top right to bottom left, because the radio operators are tracking the path of the enemy submarine.
I participated in the second game. This time I played radio operator, a role I hadn't tried before. I concentrated hard on the enemy captain, almost to the point of ignoring the rest of my team, but I still managed to make some mistakes. It was not easy! I did manage to do a decent enough job, and so did my counterpart on the other team, who had by then experienced one game and understood how things worked. Both of us managed to work out where each other were. In our first encounter we both scored hits. Due to path constraints we headed off in different directions. The enemy submarine took the opportunity to surface and repair all breakdowns. My team didn't. We had self-inflicted one point of damage due to poor management of the auto-recovery circuits. That minor explosion had allowed us to clear our board of all breakdowns. Don't ask me how we shot ourselves. I had to pay attention to the enemy captain and had no time for chit chat. Both our submarine and the opponent submarine circled around, and were poised for our second encounter. We both had good ideas where the other vessel was. We were both ready to strike once we got in range. Then the enemy used Silence. For a short moment, I couldn't be sure where they were. They could be headed towards us, or headed away from us, and I didn't know how far they had moved. It turned out that they had taken a bold move, speeding right into our range of fire. They shot first, and sank us before we could fire. When both sides know where the other is, speed becomes critical.
I have played four games, and I have lost all of them. I am either jinxed or a lousy player. Now there is only one role I have not tried - the first mate. My fellow gamers commented that one of the responsibilities of the first mate was to be the bridge between captain and engineer. He does sit between them. I have never thought of it that way. I feel this is not quite right though. I think it is better that the captain communicates directly with the engineer, or the engineer proactively warns the captain. I guess the first mate can pay attention to what the captain is doing and what the engineer is doing, and point out any risks, but him being an office boy would probably be inefficient.

subset: commoncrawl


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"Be law abiding to your host Country" – Madam Sorie
"Be law abiding to your host Country" – Madam Sorie
Mrs Nassay Sorie, last Saturday, September 6th admonished the Sierra Leonean Women in Holland to be "Law abiding and conform to the laws of your host countries".
The Spouse of Sierra Leone's Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium with accreditation to the BENELUX, France, Greece, The Vatican and European Union, Hon Ibrahim Sorie, was delivering her keynote address at the 4th Annual Sierra Leone Women's Empowerment Convention in Enschede on the theme, "Challenges African Women face in the Dutch Community".
Sharing her experience as an ex-banker and confidential secretary, Madam Sorie advised the Sierra Leone Women folk in Holland to "continue to work hard, remain focused, ignore trivialities and prejudices that you may encounter".
She continued, "I encourage you to seek education and improve your career skills. It is never too late to go to school and specialize in a particular field or business".
As a mother with 8 successful children, she encouraged the women to "focus on your family, your relationship with your spouses and also be an active community person, know that you are here to succeed and that failure is not an option. Channel your grievances in a peaceful, constructive and dignified manner".
Touching on some of the difficulties immigrants from Sierra Leone and other Africans face in Holland, especially on reintegration, Mrs Sorie advised them to "learn their language and appreciate their culture and traditions. Imbibe the spirit of giving back to societies in which you find yourselves by participating in community development and take the best of the Dutch and the best of African and become women of two worlds and masters of both".
Madam Sorie stated that when calamity hits a country, women and children suffer most and the former considered inferior in intellect and ability and confided to child rearing and matters of the kitchen.
She however added that this perception is drastically improving. "In the last 50 years, we have had female Prime Ministers in Sri Lanka, Britain, Pakistan, India and Australia…………..had female presidents in Ireland, Argentina, Brazil, Liberia and Malawi; female doctors, lawyers, engineers, scientists, politicians, teachers and above all as head of the African Union", she narrated.
She praised the government and the people of Holland for the renowned hospitality extended to African Immigrants. "The Kingdom of the Netherlands has opened its doors to many Africans and is reputed to have one of the most liberal and tolerant societies in the World. The immigrants continue to play a constructive and positive role in their communities and to the Dutch nation at large".
Madam Sorie concluded her remarks by drawing attention of the Sierra Leone Women in Holland on the current Ebola pandemic that is currently ravaging the country. "I appeal to you all to support the efforts of the Government and people of Sierra Leone in their efforts to roll back this outbreak in our region that is ravaging our motherland by embarking on Ebola fundraising activities, soliciting support in cash or in kind. Any kind of help will be greatly appreciated", she concluded.
By Chernor Ojuku Sesay,
Information Attaché,
Sierra Leone Embassy,


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Who says there's nothing new on TV in the summertime? Read this, then come back to me.
Did any of those shows sound watchable? If so, you might make a good Tubular blogger. We're looking to add readers to our regular crew of staff contributors and what better time than now, with a new crop of shows starting.
If you're interested, send me an e-mail telling me the following:
Which show you would like to blog about and why? What makes you the perfect person to take on Blade for a season? (A former love affair with Buffy? Sold!)
That you'll watch every episode and blog about every episode. It helps to have TiVo or a DVR for those pesky dates and vacations that interfere with regularly scheduled programming.
A little about yourself. What do you do for a living? Where do you work? Provide a contact phone number, please.
At the moment, we're only looking for bloggers to write about summer TV shows. We'll do this again in late summer, so save your dibs on fall shows for then.
— Pamela Mitchell, Online Features Editor


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Judging by Yilmaz's Tumblr account, the armed struggle against the Syrian regime is heartwarming and glamorous.
The Dutch national of Turkish descent, who has been fighting with extremists in Syria since last year, posted one photo of himself tenderly holding a pink-clad Syrian toddler. In another he poses solemnly in a black jacket and camouflage, one leg propped up, rifle by his side.
After the photo-sharing site Instagram closed his account, he moved to Tumblr, a blogging platform popular with fighters eager to show off their exploits on the battlefield. Today he uses the question-and-answer platform Ask.fm to field questions about his journey. Yilmaz quickly achieved fame among a niche audience of Syria watchers. The New York Times blogged about him. Other jihadis emulated him, posting photos of themselves on Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms looking happy and relaxed, pointing fingers in the air and casually slinging guns or other weapons.
In an interview with the Dutch TV show Nieuwsuur earlier this year, Yilmaz is depicted leading new recruits in target practice in a desolate Syrian field. "I think 90 percent of [the recruits] have never even fired a bullet in their lives, let alone [fought] on an actual battlefield," he said.
Only a decade ago, recruitment of jihadis happened via a fairly predictable, person-to-person pipeline. Young potential recruits were identified by radical operatives at their local mosques, then gradually indoctrinated in one-on-one conversations about the glorified efforts of their militant "brothers," waging holy war in the name of Islam.
But these traditional recruitment tactics are increasingly giving way to sweeping efforts like Yilmaz's. Twitter feeds, Facebook groups, and Instagram feeds are updated around the clock, reaching thousands of restless young Muslims in Europe and the US, luring them to the fight against the "infidel" regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
"Quite a few jihadi leaders now have their own Twitter accounts and use these to broadcast propaganda, but also interact with sympathizers and others," says Aron Lund, an expert on the Syrian jihad. "That adds a new dimension, a fast-paced jihadi public debate that hadn't really existed earlier."
Jihad online
The early days of Al Qaeda chat forums were far easier to monitor and control than today's seemingly infinite number of sources, says Shiraz Maher, senior research fellow and head of outreach at the International Center for the Study of Radicalization (ICSR) at Kings College London.
"You could vet the members, where you knew who was there," he says. Now, "It's not just one person putting out a message and the message trickles down. You now have hundreds of fighters on the ground giving you a stream of information about what they're doing."
"Some forums still serve a role as guarantors of authenticity," Mr. Lund notes, "but nowadays, whatever is posted by moderators pops up on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, JustPaste and in other non-jihadist spaces within minutes. Some jihadist groups have even begun to release statements and upload links directly to Twitter and similar sites."
Mr. Maher estimates that there are 2,000 European jihadis fighting in Syria, about 400 from France alone. US intelligence officials estimate there are about 100 Americans there. The uptick in Western recruits flocking to Syria has become a major security concern for their governments. Last week a Floridian named Moner Mohammad Abusalha became the first known American to carry out a suicide bomb attack in Syria. A photo of a happy, smiling Mr. Abusalha, holding a cat, quickly made the rounds on social media.
A different kind of radicalization
Today, people are becoming radicalized largely on their own through Internet sites, forums, and videos, and their ranks have expanded beyond the shy, angry, marginalized young men once targeted by recruiters. "The entire radicalization and deployment process has become decentralized, individualized, and very rapid," says a senior French counterterrorism official.
Dounia Bouzar, a Paris-based anthropologist who studies how young people in France are being targeted by radical Islamists, says that about 80 percent of foreign recruits to Syria's war were radicalized before they reached the age of 21, nearly all of them through materials found online.
"Unlike earlier generations, these people aren't being assigned or adopting an emir during the radicalization process, but only once they've become extremists on their own and arrive in the war zone," Ms. Bouzar says.
From the outset of the Syrian conflict, the French official says he warned that graphic images of regime abuses would embolden would-be jihadis from Europe. Today, he looks back at that prediction with a sense of unhappy vindication.
"The longer the fighting [has] continued, the more terrible Assad's violence has become. The worse that got, the more horrid the videos arising from it became. The more horrid the videos, the more impact they had on Islamists watching them online," he says.
"That greater impact enhances the response of those who see them, which both speeds and strengthens the indoctrination and radicalization process. This eventually leads to more fighters flocking to jihadi militias, greater intensity in their battles with the regime, and worse footage of massacred combatants and civilians. It just keeps going on."
"To most of us, such videos are repulsive, too horrible to watch," Bouzar notes. "But when they're seen by people watching them as virtual reality within the wider process of self-indoctrination, they become both intoxicating and motivating."
'Five-star jihad'
With so much out there, there is a message to appeal to every kind of personality.
"We can identify different categories: the rewards for fighters and martyrs are bundled together as the virtues of jihad," Maher says. "Then you can get another track talking about the obligations – don't you know it's a sin for you not to be in Syria? You have an obligation to defend your brothers and sisters."
In March, a British fighter with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) donned a black North Face jacket and a face mask to film a recruitment video released on YouTube, extolling his "brothers and sisters" in Britain to join him on the battlefield. "By the grace of god, we have managed to bring in three or four beloved brothers of Islam," he says. "You can see for yourself."
There are other types of videos beyond the direct appeal. "Another category shows dead babies or homeless families [and is] designed to pull the heartstrings and draw you into Syria on those grounds," says Mr. Maher. "The final category are the things that say, Look how cool this is! I'm on a tank, I have a gun, come out here and have the time of your life. It makes it look like jihadi summer camp. And they call it five-star jihad."


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Deceptions of the Ages:
"Mormons" Freemasons &
Non-fiction, US history, comparative religion, religious history, Western Civilization, humor, science
On Sale
$20.00 Print Edition
$9.99 Kindle Version
A World of Secrecy and Deceptions
If you are curious about the history of the 'Deep State' and what it means for you, this book is just what the doctor ordered. We examine the connections between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Society of Freemasons and their connections to extraterrestrial visitors. If you don't know much about history, physics, the Bible, science, Western Civilization, or UFO's, you are about to get a crash course. Deceptions of the Ages, is the most thorough treatment of secret societies, history, Freemasons and the Latter-day Saint faith available today.
"…Having previous interest in researching such things as the illuminati, freemasonry, science, nature, religion, history, angels, biblical accounts, ancient relics, civilizations both local and extra-terrestrial, astronomy and the mystery of astrology, political affairs, war, technological advancements such as HAARP and Cern, and the conspiracies surrounding them all; this book was just what I was looking for…"
Hello, Phyllis
Amazon Reviews


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Dewey High School's varsity boys basketball team sized up well in Tuesday's measuring-stick game at Inola.
Dewey High School�s varsity boys basketball team sized up well in Tuesday�s measuring-stick game at Inola.
Paced by Stevie Payne with 20 points, the Dewey Bulldoggers toppled the Longhorns, 48-47, in a victory sweeter than just another win.
Approximately seven weeks ago, Inola routed the Doggers, 71-49, in the season opener.
But, Dewey has grown up a whole bunch since then.
Especially on the defensive end.
��That�s probably one of the best teams we�ll play all year,� Dewey head coach Lance Knight said this morning. ��Defensively, we played really well. ... All year, they�ve been scoring 60 or 70 points on everybody. To go down there and beat them, that�s one of the biggest wins we�ve had in a while.�
In fact, Dewey actually scored one less point than in the first meet � but limited Inola to 23 points less than it scored back in December on Dewey.
Since that loss, the Doggers have been playing winning ball.
Tuesday�s triumph upped Dewey�s record to 8-6 for the season and 4-1 in their last five games.
But, Dewey had to dig deep to knock off the Longhorns.
By the end of the first half, Inola possessed an eight-point lead, 27-19, and appeared ready to sweep the season series.
However, in the third quarter, Dewey turned the game around, outscoring Inola, 15-8.
The Doggers capped their comeback with the one-point win.
Collin Wood flushed 10 points as Dewey�s second-leading scorer, followed by Justin Davis with seven, Caleb Harp with four, and Carson LaRue and Corey Johnson with two apiece.
Harp was one of Dewey�s unsung heroes.
Even though he fell short � for just the second time this season � of double digit points, he pulled down 13 rebounds, Knight noted.
��When he can do that, it really makes a difference,� Knight said.
Payne also grabbed 10 or 11 boards, giving him a double-double.
Davis also drew special praise.
��He was really motivated to play this game,� Knight said about his first-year senior point guard. ��He didn�t have too good a game against them last time and he wanted to get that bitter taste out of his mouth.�
Inola girls win
The Lady Longhorns downed Dewey for the second time this season.
Vaulting out to a 37-7 halftime lead, Inola won, 54-25.
Kaleigh Hinkle dumped in eight points to lead Dewey.


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Our rating: 2.5
In this week's episode, the Six Pack Team popped the top on a bomber of Black Rhino by Adelbert's Brewery in Austin, Texas. We really blew the top off of this one. It's easy to drink because it goes down so smooth. Like any Belgian ale, it's got a dark color and a rich taste, but unlike a lot of them, it incorporates the roasty flavor of coffee and cocoa. It's a great beer, so order it whenever you want, but for added drinking pleasure pair it with a chilly night of star-gazing when it's really most appropriate.
To check out all posts and podcasts with this beer click here.
Tried this beer?
Give us your rating below!
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I'm working on a necklace right now that I like to call 'The Sampler', named after the old embroidery samplers girls made 100 years ago to show off different types of stitches. The Sampler has been on my design 'to do' list for more than a year.
It's like setting out on a great Trek, climbing a mountain, crossing an ocean and one can't know for sure whether they will reach their destination. You just set out with all the fortitude you can muster.
But as so often happens to me in the middle of a project I am hit with sudden despair and certainty that I will hate it, that it will look stupid and this whole affair was a bad idea from the start and I have made a terrible mistake. Than I don't even want to bother finishing it.
I know this about myself, so to combat that I have to discipline myself to finish what I started. I reassure myself that not every design can be a mountain top experience, but I must finish what was started.
This powerful urge to quit happened to me when I made the peruvian opal ring shown in my blog. I really like the finished ring and was surprised how nice it turned out!
The Sampler necklace is meant to be made up of vintage brown art glass beads, vintage carnelian ( I think it's carnelian, it was never labeled) and some new agate I have on hand. It was always my plan that these particular vintage beads would go into one piece together. What threw me was that the carnelian stones are 1" in diameter and make a bulky necklace. That is a style I am not used to. I like my necklaces a bit more petite than that.
So than I decided my idea was ruined and I needed to turn this into 2 or 3 downsized necklaces. Now I am back to the idea of one longer necklace than I had in mind.
Will the Angsty Artist love it or hate it? Will it be one necklace or more than one? Stay tuned to find out....


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Adventures in Cartooning #001 – How to Make Webcomics
This site has been up for a few months now, and I've decided to kick it up another gear. Starting this week, The Superpower Union will be updating every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Plus I will be doing a blog update on Tuesday and Thursday, meaning there is something new on the site every weekday!
I'll continue to update The Bookshelf on Thursdays, and this is the first in a semi-regular post chronicling my start in webcomics; something I'm going to call Adventures in Cartooning or Things I Wish I Knew 4 Months Ago. I know I'm by no means a professional, but I thought this would be a good place to spread the word about resources I've found for anybody out there that may be starting out just like me.
And our first stop on our adventure is with one of the best books about comics I've ever come across: How to Make Webcomics. Written by Brad Guigar, Dave Kellet, Scott Kurtz and Kris Straub, the book focuses on all the parts of webcomics that don't have anything to do with drawing. This is a terrific resource, and for the low cost, its well worth picking up. I strongly recommend reading this before you start up your site, as you may come across a few things, or ideas, that need to be addressed on your site, and its far easier to do this from the beginning instead of going back over all your previous posts and editing in new features. Trust me, its easier to do it one at a time instead of spending all day updating 30+ strips!


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Alright, fellow oppo's I haven't given this much thought until now but I have a big drive coming up. As most of you know, I'm headed across the Atlantic to take up residence in Italy. But before that trek, I need to make it from the sun-drenched paradise that is San Deigo, to the east coast (somewhere in BFE NC to be exact), and I want your help!
It's clear that this community knows everything about everything (at least auto related) which is why I'm enlisting your help on the route to which I shall take. Here are the parameters
- I'm taking my environment killing, no fsck's given 2015 Golf SportWagen TDI. As a sign of my effection, I intend to share my pollution with most of the southern US.
- I'll be towing a 4x8 Harbor freight trailer. I'm sure I'll have issue with this, but we'll see what happens. I'll have a large dog crate and some other things on it, but nothing overly large or heavy.
- My Dog, Mack.... yes like the truck. His sister Tonka (notice the theme here?) has her own transportation. He is a loving 85Lbs of lanky stupidity that loves to play fetch and swim.
- 2 Cats.... (yup, we have a small zoo... moving on). One of them is a long haul champ that will probably chill in the passenger's seat asleep for the entirety of the ride. The other is a long haul virgin, and is still quite a kitten, so we'll see how he does.
- I have 7ish days to do this, and assume I have a budget for cheap(ish) hotels. Sadly all my camping stuff will be shipped over to Italy so that is out.
Past that I'd love to actually see some cool stuff that this country has to offer. I've driven from the east coast to the west coast twice, and both have been DO IT AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE OMG RIGHT NOW type runs where 10 hours a day behind the wheel was the minimum. But both of those cannonball runs also happened with a passenger, so the solo thing is new.
So what sights are worth seeing? what things are worth doing (assuming I can leave the pets at the hotel room for a little while)? I was thinking horseshoe bend, but I'm not 100% sure I could leave the pets in the car. Oh great Oppo, plan my journey!


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Hand-picked from the Kalamata region of Greece, these prized Grecian gems are known for their purple color, almond shape, firm texture and fruity flavor.
Welcome addition to vegetable platters. Great as a snack right out of the jar or in salads. The best type of olive to use in a classic Greek salad with feta cheese.
Keep in a cool place. Refrigerate after opening. Shelf life two years after opening.


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by, December 23rd, 2007 at 10:42 AM (3700 Views)
Man, I reallly can hate this time. There is just so much running around to get crap for people. It seems that I need to find more and better presents then each year before. It is like some endless escalation of Christmas cheer that needs to continue in a steady rise or something will explode.
Pain in the...


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Every year, Outreach® magazine publishes a special issue called The Outreach 100. This year, they focused on the 100 fastest-growing churches in America. It's a fascinating look at the state of the church in the U.S. and it was great to see so many churches that we know and love on that list – churches that we've worked with and churches that we've been a part of in our personal lives.
If you're in the church world, the whole issue is well worth reading. I know that I enjoyed it a great deal. As I read, I noticed some interesting trends and made some fascinating (and frankly encouraging) observations that I wanted to take a moment to share with you as we say goodbye to 2016 and start 2017.
1. Non-Denominational Dominates
When you take a look at the denominational breakdown of the 100 fastest growing churches in America, one thing jumps out right away. Out of these 100 churches, 42 of them are non-denominational or independent. That's more than DOUBLE the number of the next largest segment, the Southern Baptists, who accounted for 20 churches. The growth of non-denominational and independent churches is a continuing trend in United States – they make up the second largest protestant group in America. What's interesting is that while they trail the Southern Baptists nationwide in terms of numbers, there are growing far faster.
What accounts for this incredible growth? In a word, tradition. Or, to be precise, the lack thereof. Non-denominational churches are far less likely to cling to traditions for their own sake but, instead, move and flex with the culture. They're not the only ones doing this, of course, but they are leading the charge. And, let's be clear, when it comes to the fastest-growing non-denominational churches, they are certainly not watering down the gospel just because they're not observing tradition. In fact, one of the biggest factors that these churches have in common is their single-minded focus on biblical, gospel truth.
Which brings us to the second thing that I learned…
"My greatest concern is that churches are hanging on to tradition and losing the power of the gospel. If you look at the list of the 100 fastest growing churches, very few are traditional in nature."
Chris Stephens
Faith Promise Church, Knoxville, TN
2. Biblical Truth Builds Churches
By and large, the top 100 fastest growing churches are concerned about teaching biblical truth and values ahead of anything else. They're willing to scrap tradition entirely if they have to and step on the toes of both Christian and popular culture in order to ensure that they and their congregations remain firmly grounded in biblical truth. They aren't compromising the message for anyone.
As you read interviews with pastors from fast-growing churches, you hear time and time again that the most important factor for growth is not a great lighting set up or an awesome worship band or a killer children's program but simply preaching and teaching God's word. When people connect to the message of the gospel, they connect to a church, not the other way around. As Robert Morris from Gateway church here in the DFW metroplex said, "People are looking for real, authentic relationships, with God and others. They're not interested in being entertained by a Sunday morning performance."
"When we lean into the hardest topics without letting go of God's Word, our numbers actually go up. People won't put up with condescending, 'think happy thoughts,' it-will-all-work-out teaching."
Jim Burgen
Flatirons Community Church, Lafayette, CO
3. Millenials Aren't the Problem
We hear all the time about how the millennial generation is a bunch of spoiled, entitled, children. I see that message expressed over and over in articles, blogs, and all over my facebook feed every day. The prevailing opinion seems to be that millennials are going to wreck our country and watch it burn while wearing their bespoke scarves and drinking their ethically-sourced coffee. But when you ask pastors about millennials, you get a different reaction. They are, by and large, really excited about young christians stepping into leadership positions.
"I am most excited about young church planters who are going to the hardest places… God is raising up an amazing crop of young leaders." – Steve Stroope, Lake Pointe Church, Rockwall, TX
"What excites me about the church today is the quality of young leaders that are starting to emerge. Many of them are exceptional communicators. Many are extremely creative, yet they retain a standard of holiness that is so badly needed."
Ron Vietti
Valley Bible Fellowship, Bakersfield, CA
4. Transparency is Critical
Church leadership is hard. Balancing heavenly imperatives like prayer, guidance, and teaching with purely worldly needs like buildings, administration, payroll, and people management takes a toll. With all of their roles and responsibilities, pastors tend to put in 60+ hour weeks. And it doesn't help things that, as the most public face of the church, pastors are generally the target of some of the church's harshest critics. Learning how to deal with criticism is one of the most critical skills a pastor can learn. As Bob Merritt of Eagle Brook Church in St. Paul, MN says, "Someone is disappointed with me every single day, and that's OK." Many pastors learn early on that the best way to deal with criticism is to learn from it. As Steve Stroope of Lake Pointe Church in Rockwall, TX says, "I have found that there is usually a seed of truth even in the criticisms of your harshest critics."
But learning to listen to criticism is only half of the equation. A church pastor needs to be accountable to other church leaders as well. This gives pastors a check-and-balance system that helps them understand and evaluate the validity and severity of criticism. It also keeps them above reproach. "I've learned to develop a strong accountability system. Your life must be an open book," says Chris Stephens from Faith Promise Church in Knoxville, TN. Todd Wagner of Watermark Church, in Dallas, TX says that he has a group of church staff and elders that he trusts to keep him on track. "They know everything about my life, and they have permission (and responsibility) to admonish me when I'm unruly, encourage me when I am faint-hearted, and help me when I am weak."
"Enjoy a personal life but not a private life. Satan and high stress lure us into a secret life. So, no addiction secrets, no immoral secrets, no secret sins because, in the end, you're only as sick as your secrets. Build one or two 'no secrets' accountability relationships."
Kevin Myers, 12Stone Church, Lawrenceville, GA
"Criticism is hard for everyone in ministry. You give your life for ministry and helping others only to have people say some very hurtful and cruel things."
Steve Poe
Northview Church, Carmel, IN
5. Technology is Changing the Mission Field
Churches get a bit of a bad rep for being behind the times when it comes to technology and culture. Maybe there's a nugget of truth to that reputation but it's far from universal and, when it comes to the 100 fastest-growing churches in America, it couldn't be further from the reality. These churches are embracing and leveraging emerging technologies to create unique apps, location aware campus experiences, global home churches, and fully digital, online campuses. And they're reaching whole new audiences in completely new ways. People aren't engaging with churches the same way that they have in the past but that doesn't mean that they won't engage! "When I was a kid, weekly church attendance was a given," says Jim Burgen from Flatirons Community Church in Lafayette, CO. "In Colorado, we consider a person very active and involved when they attend one of our campuses two, maybe three, weekends out of the month. But podcasts, online participation, and even binge watching an entire series are now the norm." The reach of the internet is immense. It allows a church to truly expand its message to be global in scope.
This is just a bare handful of observations. There are a lot more lessons to be learned from the 100 fastest-growing churches in America. Obviously, big, fast-growing churches don't have the market cornered on deep insights and lessons learned. Obviously, church is about way more than numbers. Numbers are just one way – and maybe not even the best way – to measure the effectiveness of a church's programs and outreach. That said, it's hard to deny that these churches are clearly doing something that's working. As we work with and talk to pastors and leaders of large and growing churches, we repeatedly find ourselves encountering men and women who are driven to do their very best with every tool at their disposal to bring the gospel message to the world. That's encouraging and gives us reason to be optimistic about the future of the American Church.


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Day of Charity to help Portage Hospital Foundation
The Portage MCC will dedicate some funds from Tuesday's sale to the Portage Hospital Foundation as they continue fundraising for their new chemotherapy department.
Erin Miller-Simpson, executive director of the Portage Hospital Foundation, said the funds will go a long way to help the local hospital.
"All the funds will go towards the expansion and renovation of the chemotherapy department, which is $85,000. It's a great partnership between us and the MCC," said Miller-Simpson.
"The community has been great in supporting us and we're hoping to have a record-breaking day," she said.
The chemotherapy department still needs another $30,000 to complete their plans for the overhaul and a portion of proceeds will go to the Foundation in the weeks to come.
Proceeds from the Portage Hospital gift shop, personal donations, their gala dinner last month and other efforts which turned funds, will all go to the Foundation's project for the new department.
Kevin Hamm, manager of the Portage MCC, said that he was excited to help the Portage Hospital Foundation raise the funds, admitting he underestimated the amount of positive work they do in the community.
"We really like the connectivity of this partnership because we have a lot of volunteers who frequently benefit from the work that the Foundation does," he said.
"It's really nice to be able to work together with them. I didn't realize how much work that they do to support the community and it's good when we can partner with new organizations like this and help the community in this way."
Hamm added there were 60 people lined up and ready for get their hands on some items at the Portage MCC. It's been really, really busy and I think we're right on track to having one of our best-ever fundraising days.


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She makes it hard for me to read her
Makes it seem like the energy between us
May or may not be functioning with her
There is no questioning the love that I have deep inside
I know there is nothing I can give her,
Can't decide, had it from my heart to win her
So I follow her closely, take notes and sit tightly,
And wait for my moment to strike.
I wait around for the right words to say,
Try to keep up with her as she turns away
I never could give in the easy way,
So I just keep it coming cause I can't find what I'm loving.
Oh yeah Taylor what's happening
Give me a reason to come out and think to me
She said well here is the thing I don't have it inside
Of me to pull it all off, I have plenty of words I could spit out in tunes
You'd enjoy them all equally none of them speak out,
The phrases and turns that would get you, they're turnin me..
Can't find the right words to say..
Listen to me closely as I feed you my lines,
You are my drug I need my fixin I can't wait here in line.
You, you make me panic girl you know how I work,
I was the book you almost read but then you left me at home.


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"Command Alkon provides an integrated suite of products that have revolutionized how producers, haulers, and suppliers of ready-mix concrete, aggregate, asphalt, cement and manufactured concrete operate. And now, the company has gone a step further to integrate heavy civil contractors into the mix, drawing on cloud technology to optimize interactions in the supply chain. The result? Breakthrough productivity.
Command Alkon is regarded for its ability to simplify dispatch, logistics, and business systems through automation. This has brought real-time visibility and accountability to the management of fleet and materials. But now, with its cloud-based platform, Command Alkon provides a participative space that allows all trading partners to perform smarter, faster, safer, and more productively by streamlining processes and coordinating interactions.
"For us to provide an integrated platform for suppliers for heavy work, we have to be integrated ourselves, so we have focused a lot of attention on organizing the company by the customer, instead of the product. There are many customers out there who are participants in the supply chain, and that's where we found cloud technology to be vastly superior," explained President and Chief Executive Officer Phil Ramsey..."
Don't miss out on the rest of the article! Click here to learn more about how Command Alkon is helping the industry grow and thrive through technologies that increase productivity on the jobsite!


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Texas A and M University - College Station
Founded in 1876, Texas A&M University is the state's first public institution of higher learning. It is a research-intensive flagship university dedicated to sending Aggie leaders out into the world prepared to take on the challenges of tomorrow. The university has flourished to become one of the nation's premier research universities. It is one of only three Tier 1 universities in the state and was designated as a sea grant and a space grant institution, making it among the first four universities to hold the triple distinction.
Texas A&M University - College Station is dedicated to the discovery, development, communication, and application of knowledge in a wide range of academic and professional fields. It?s mission of providing the highest quality undergraduate and graduate programs is inseparable from its mission of developing new understandings through research and creativity. The university prepares students to assume roles in leadership, responsibility and service to society. With 133 undergraduate degree programs, 175 master's degree programs, 92 doctoral degree programs and 5 first professional degrees as options for study, Texas A&M is full of possibilities.
Located in the heart of the Houston-Dallas-Austin triangle and within a two-hour drive of 26 million of the state?s 28 million residents, Texas A&M's main campus in College Station is home to more than 64,000 students. Another 5,200 are at the branch campuses in Galveston and Qatar and at the School of Law, Higher Education Center at McAllen, and Health Science Center locations across Texas. Because of the emphasis that Texas A&M places on research and learning, there are numerous nationally-recognized centers, labs, and institutes that are part of the academic experience of Texas A&M at the main campus in College Station as well as at branch campuses in Galveston, Texas and Doha, Qatar. These facilities draw university faculty, staff, and students into academic and research partnerships with industry, government, and peer institutions both nationally and internationally.
To find out more about the information shown here – read about How we collect and display course information. IDP assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions in the content of this site. We always recommend that you speak to an IDP counsellor to get the latest and most accurate advice.
Information on Study Options and Scholarships : United States & Canada Virtual FairMeet online with United States & Canada representatives from various United States & Canada university and institutions to learn more about Study in United States & Canada.Phnom Penh, CambodiaCAUS13th - 15th Aug 202010:00 AM - 12:00 PMMore info
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THQ announced Saints Row: The Third – Enter The Dominatrix, a standalone expansion for their over-the-top, dildo-sword-swinging open-world game.
Enter the Dominatrix adds super powers to the player's arsenal of ridiculous abilities. The plot picks up right after the events of Saints Row: The Third and involves evil aliens who trap the Saints leader inside the Dominatrix, a virtual version of the title's city, Steelport. Saints Row: The Third was THQ's only smash hit in the fall season, and its sales have boosted THQ's revenues higher than previous expectations.
"With a franchise with more than 11 million units shipped globally, it's incredibly gratifying to have the flexibility to give Saints Row fans the features they want most," said Executive Vice President of Core Game Productions Danny Bilson in a press release sent to GamesBeat.
THQ will release the standalone expansion this fall for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC for $29.99.
GamesBeat 2012 is VentureBeat's fourth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. This year we're calling on speakers from the hottest mobile, social, PC, and console companies to debate new ways to stay on pace with changing consumer tastes and platforms. Join 500+ execs, investors, analysts, entrepreneurs, and press as we explore the gaming industry's latest trends and newest monetization opportunities. The event takes place July 10-11 in San Francisco, and you can get your early-bird tickets here.


text: Parker A. Norton Daniel G. Driscoll 2009 The U.S. Geological Survey cooperated with South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks to characterize hydrologic information relevant to management of water resources associated with Sheridan Lake, which is formed by a dam on Spring Creek. This effort consisted primarily of characterization of hydrologic data for a base period of 1962 through 2006, development of a hydrologic budget for Sheridan Lake for this timeframe, and development of an associated model for simulation of storage deficits and drawdown in Sheridan Lake for hypothetical release scenarios from the lake. Historically, the dam has been operated primarily as a 'pass-through' system, in which unregulated outflows pass over the spillway; however, the dam recently was retrofitted with an improved control valve system that would allow controlled releases of about 7 cubic feet per second (ft3/s) or less from a fixed depth of about 60 feet (ft). Development of a hydrologic budget for Sheridan Lake involved compilation, estimation, and characterization of data sets for streamflow, precipitation, and evaporation. The most critical data need was for extrapolation of available short-term streamflow records for Spring Creek to be used as the long-term inflow to Sheridan Lake. Available short-term records for water years (WY) 1991-2004 for a gaging station upstream from Sheridan Lake were extrapolated to WY 1962-2006 on the basis of correlations with streamflow records for a downstream station and for stations located along two adjacent streams. Comparisons of data for the two streamflow-gaging stations along Spring Creek indicated that tributary inflow is approximately proportional to the intervening drainage area, which was used as a means of estimating tributary inflow for the hydrologic budget. Analysis of evaporation data shows that sustained daily rates may exceed maximum monthly rates by a factor of about two. A long-term (1962-2006) hydrologic budget was developed for computation of reservoir outflow from Sheridan Lake for the historical pass-through operating system. Two inflow components (stream inflow and precipitation) and one outflow component (evaporation) were considered. The hydrologic budget uses monthly time steps within a computational year that includes two 6-month periods - May through October, for which evaporation is accounted for, and November through April, when evaporation is considered negligible. Results indicate that monthly evaporation rates can substantially exceed inflow during low-flow periods, and potential exists for outflows to begin approaching zero-flow conditions substantially prior to the onset of zero-inflow conditions, especially when daily inflow and evaporation are considered. Results also indicate that September may be the month for greatest potential benefit for enhancing fish habitat and other ecosystem values in downstream reaches of Spring Creek with managed releases of cool water. Computed monthly outflows from Sheridan Lake for September are less than 1.0 ft3/s for 8 of the 44 years (18 percent) and are less than 2.0 ft3/s for 14 of the 44 years (32 percent). Conversely, none of the computed outflows for May are less than 2.0 ft3/s. A short-term (July through September 2007) data set was used to calculate daily evaporation from Sheridan Lake and to evaluate the applicability of published pan coefficients. Computed values of pan coefficients of approximately 1.0 and 1.1 for two low-flow periods are larger than the mean annual pan coefficient of 0.74 for the area that is reported in the literature; however, the computed values are consistent with pan coefficients reported elsewhere for similar late summer and early fall periods. Thus, these results supported the use of variable monthly pan coefficients for the long-term hydrologic budget. A hydrologic model was developed using the primary components of the hydrologic budget and was used to simulate monthly storage deficits and drawdown for Sheridan Lake using hypothetical application/pdf 10.3133/sir20095059 en U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologic characterization for Spring Creek and hydrologic budget and model scenarios for Sheridan Lake, South Dakota, 1962-2007 reports


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Solutions to Linear Rational Expectations Models: A Compact Exposition
NBER Technical Working Paper No. 232
An elementary exposition is presented of a convenient and practical solution procedure for a broad class of linear rational expectations models. The undetermined-coefficient approach utilized keeps the mathematics very simple and permits consideration of alternative solution criteria.
Machine-readable bibliographic record - MARC, RIS, BibTeX
Document Object Identifier (DOI): 10.3386/t0232
Published: McCallum, Bennett T. "Solutions To Linear Rational Expectations Models: A Compact Exposition," Economics Letters, 1998, v61(2,Nov), 143-147.
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My story of how my life changed for the better after an accident. By Louise Jensen.
"Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around in awareness". James Thurber.
Ever thought you had achieved everything you wanted to? I did.
My teens had passed in a blur of self-loathing regarding my body (tape measure, thighs and many tears; need I say more)?
I stumbled through my twenties not exactly sure what I wanted to do, but never feeling quite good enough, for what I didn't know, but surely I should be better?
By my thirties though I had settled into a career of holistic therapy, had three happy, healthy children, great friends and a beautiful house in a village environment.
What could possibly go wrong? Umm quite a lot as it happens. Somebody crashed into the back of my car and in seconds my seemingly perfect life unravelled.
Although I was in too much pain to stand or walk unaided it never actually crossed my mind that could now be my permanent state. However, after numerous tests, x-rays and MRI scans when my consultant uttered the words "I am sorry there is nothing we can do for you", I felt such a huge blind panic I could literally feel me retreating inside of myself and that's where I intended to stay.
It isn't hard to be invisible in a wheelchair, I felt like nobody saw me anymore but then I didn't know who I wanted them to see. All the words I thought defined me like dog walker, Kinesiologist, runner, kick boxer no longer applied and I didn't know who I was.
If I was popping into a shop I could make do with crutches but I was countlessly asked "have you hurt your foot?" and had to reply "no I am disabled". People were embarrassed at my answer and their response made me ashamed of myself. I became more and more insular until there was virtually nothing of me left.
I constantly questioned who I was and what was the point of, well, me? I missed the person I had been. The only time I came out of living in the past, wishing I was still there, was to feel total blind panic about the future and what would happen to me.
When I was at my lowest I came across the story of The Starfish Thrower which was a pivotal turning point for me. For those of you who don't know it; a boy is walking along the beach when he stumbles across thousands of starfish that have been washed up. He starts to pick them up and throw them back in. A man approaches him and says "son don't bother, there are too many, you won't make a difference". The boy picks up another, throws it back in and says "I made a difference to that one".
I read this and thought, wow, I don't have to do anything amazing to make a difference. I don't even have to actually be mobile. It's the tiniest thing that can make a change. For the first time in a long time I felt a flicker of hope and I didn't intend to let it extinguish.
Fed up with lying on the couch watching bad daytime tv and snacking all day (hey I was heading back to the teenage trauma of thighs and tape measures again) I started to explore my own consciousness. I spent hours meditating, reading up on the mind body connection and attending talks and workshops where I could.
I began adding new tools and qualifications to my repertoire as a therapist and decided to re-launch my career, not standing at a therapy couch as I had before, but in a different, more gentle way.
Overcoming my physical limitations has been hard, but overcoming my emotional reaction to it has been the hardest obstacle to overcome. Learning to live in the Now has been my salvation. I want to share some of the things that have helped me on my journey.
Love yourself like you love others – I would never have thought so negatively if a friend or relative found themselves in my situation. I had to learn to be kind to myself and to accept that actually I am doing the best I can do and that's ok. Think about how you talk to others and how you talk to yourself. Give yourself a compliment. We all need to acknowledge we are amazing.
You can't change things that have happened to you but you can choose the way you feel about them. I spent hours and hours wishing my accident had never happened, longing to be the past me. Accepting that would never happen but realising I have a choice on how I feel about it was really empowering. Yes it was sad but life goes on. I have a different kind of life and actually it is more spiritually fulfilling than the one I had before.
You really can survive anything. We are all stronger than we think. Too many people have said to me "I could never cope in your situation". The truth is you could. The human instinct is to survive and we always do. Things can only break you if you allow them to. We forget sometimes we have a choice about how we feel. I felt really, really sad but then I made the choice to change that. It's not always easy but, with the right support, you can do it.
There is absolutely no point worrying about the future at all. I was in a constant, stomach churning, place of anxiety worrying about how complete my recovery would be. Actually, although I am a long way off healed, I am better than the doctor initially predicted. Truth is nobody ever really knows what the future holds. Think back to situations you have envisaged and fretted over. Did they actually happen? No, probably not. We can't predict forthcoming events and it is a waste of energy to even try.
Don't label things 'good' or 'bad'. Although my accident seemed unfair and tragic at the time I have grown so much as a person, have a new business and have found love. Light always follows darkness. Trust me on that.
Stay in the present moment and live life fully. You never know when, if, or how drastically things can change in a heartbeat. Appreciate what you have right now. I never put off things until the future anymore. My accident has proved to me there is never a future like we think. Now is all we can guarantee.
Live is an adventure, don't fear it; live it. Losing my mobility is probably one of the worst things I thought could ever happen, but it did, and you know what, actually I'm ok. I'm living my life and it's awesome. Live yours too.
(First published on Tinybuddha.com on 17th September 2012)
About You > Your Stories >


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Boeing 'would rather see a healthy Airbus'
Both the US company itself and industry observers say that an enfeebled Airbus presents paradoxical risks should Boeing find itself overwhelmed with orders from airlines.
"I would rather see a healthy Airbus than one that's going through what they're going through," Carson told BusinessWeek magazine in a recent interview.
"I think having healthy competitors is better for all of us," he added in his first extensive interview since being named head of Boeing Commercial Airplanes last month.
The European manufacturer has been rocked by further delays to its flagship A380 superjumbo jet programme, which is now two years behind schedule.
Australian airline Qantas, Singapore Airlines (SIA), Britain's Virgin Atlantic, Malaysia Airlines and Korean Air have all expressed dismay at the announcement.
Analysts have said that clients are unlikely to cancel orders for the A380, given the advantages of the high-capacity long-range plane, which can transport 555-840 passengers distances of up to 15,000 kilometres.
But Airbus will face costly compensation claims and suffer damage to its reputation, which could have knock-on effects in its battle for other airline orders with Boeing.
SIA confirmed it would remain the first to fly the world's biggest commercial airliner, but will not now take delivery until at least October next year.
Stephen Forshaw, SIA's vice president of public affairs, told AFP the carrier is already missing out on incremental growth on some routes because of the plane's late arrival.
The Singapore-London route, for example, is served daily by three Boeing 747s that SIA wants to replace with the larger A380s.
Some leases have had to be extended as a result of the A380's late arrival, and some Boeing 747 jumbo jets will remain in service longer than planned, Forshaw said.
SIA meanwhile this month placed an order for 20 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, which the US company says is the fastest-selling plane in history, representing a fuel-efficient competitor to Airbus on medium- and long-haul routes.
The Sydney-based independent aviation consultancy firm, the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), said the delays will be felt most keenly in the Middle East.
CAPA said Emirates' growth trajectory and competitive impact could be slowed but not stalled by the delays. Last Sunday, the Dubai-based Emirates announced plans to buy 20 747-8 cargo planes from Boeing.
"Every day's delay (at Airbus) gives Boeing a longer walk on the market," said Richard Aboulafia, vice president of the Teal Group, an aerospace consultancy.
This year, Boeing is already outstripping its European rival in new aircraft orders by a margin of three to one.
But the US company has been there before, with unwelcome results. Aboulafia noted that at a time of exploding demand in the late 1990s, Boeing welcomed any and every order placed by an airline.
The outcome was that its factories were overwhelmed by demand, supply chains were interrupted and long-loyal Boeing customers were left seething.
"Historically, the way it works, they would have raised production and gone crazy... they are more disciplined about that: they are not going after volume or market share, they are going after profit," Aboulafia said.
"There's some evidence that they are raising pricing," he added.
Carson said: "What it taught us is that we needed to regroup a little bit."
And Airbus is by no means down and out, the Boeing executive stressed, highlighting its dominance with the A320 family of narrow-body jets.


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Official Ballot Argument in Favor of Measure M
Vote YES on Measure M to OVERTURN the City Council's 87% sewer rate increase!
Last January, the Oxnard City Council voted for a massive sewer rate hike that would raise our household Utility Bills by an average of $326 a year – and later filed a lawsuit to prevent you from being able to vote on this.
Aaron Starr fought back in court and restored our right to vote down this increase. With the support of 61 volunteers, thousands of Oxnard residents rallied to the cause and joined Aaron Starr – signing his petition to place Measure M on the ballot to STOP the City's unfair rate hike.
Here are just a few reasons to join us and Vote YES on Measure M.
Measure M will LOWER future utility bills to help Oxnard families and senior citizens make ends meet. Without Measure M, residents struggling on fixed incomes may be forced to choose between paying their utility bill and buying groceries or medicine.
Measure M will protect local JOBS. Without Measure M, many of Oxnard's family owned businesses – including those employing hard-working farm workers – won't be able to afford City Hall's costly utility rate increase, and will need to lay off people.
Measure M will restore the PEOPLE'S VOICE at City Hall. City leaders refused to listen to our concerns and then tried to raise utility rates – without our consent. Measure M will hold them accountable.
Oxnard is a middle class community and most residents already pay our fair share for utilities.
The people of Oxnard deserve better financial management – not higher utility bills – to fix our community's aging infrastructure. Other cities are improving their streets, sewers and water delivery systems without huge rate increases. Why can't our leaders do the same?
Enough is enough! Stop the 87% Sewer Rate Hike.
Vote YES to Pay LESS. Vote YES on Measure M.
Aaron Starr
President, Moving Oxnard Forward
Edward Castillo
Former Oxnard Planning Commissioner
Bishop Broderick Huggins
Pastor, Saint Paul Baptist Church
Steve Higashi
Retired Farmer
Arlene R. Cuevas
Owner of Super Taco
Measure M Frequently Asked Questions
1) What does Measure M do?
Measure M will overturn the city council's proposed 87% sewer rate increase.
Measure M does NOT stop the improvement of Oxnard's sewer and wastewater treatment system.
Instead, Measure M will require our city leaders to come back with a more realistic and affordable plan to pay for these improvements.
2) Some city council members are saying that an 87% rate increase is needed to repair our city's aging sewer system. Is this true?
No. Their claim is FALSE! Oxnard's own Public Works Department recently issued a report in September of 2014 which stated that a 6% rate increase would provide enough revenues to pay for needed maintenance and repairs.
Unfortunately, city officials chose to squander over $4 million of city funds on an outside consultant who recommended an extravagant $675 million city spending plan which ballooned a 6% sewer rate increase into an 87% rate increase.
3) Doesn't the city have a rate assistance program to help those who can't afford an annual $ 326 increase in their utility bills?
The city's so-called "rate assistance program" is a financial joke. The city has collected only $13,000 in donations for this program -- less than 50 CENTS per household.
That is enough money to offset rate increases for only 40 households.
The city would be able to provide assistance to only a small handful of people—leaving 99% of Oxnard residents stuck paying an average of $326 in higher utility bills.
Paid for by Starr Coalition for Moving Oxnard Forward, Yes on Measure M, 2130 Posada Drive, Oxnard, CA 93030 ID# 1379154


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Company Profile
XJ Group Corporation, directly subordinate to SGCC, is a high-tech modern industry group focused on electric power, automation and intelligent manufacturing. As one of the leading enterprises in the domestic equipment manufacturing industry, the Corporation actively carries out its social responsibility as a large state-owned enterprise, is dedicated to provide high-end energy and electric power technology and equipment for national economy and social development and provides overall technical and service support for production, transportation, distribution and effective use of clean energy. The Corporation focuses on ten core businesses, that is, UHV, intelligent grid, new energy, electric cars, rail transit and intelligent industry, environmental protection, Smart City, intelligent manufacturing, advanced energy storage and electro-military industry and the products are widely applied to the electric power system.
XJ Group is one of the first national innovative enterprises and has been awarded many honorary titles such as the Commendation Award of the first "China Industrial Grand Prize" and a finalist of the first "China Quality Award". With more than 10,000 staff, the Corporation has a national enterprise technological center, a national HVDC transmission equipment engineering research center, a national energy active distribution network technology R & D center and a national electrical instrument quality supervision and inspection center and is the unit undertaking the secretariat of IEC/TC85 Technical Committee and the secretariat of National Standards Technical Committee Electrical Measuring Instruments.
XJ Group has 13 subsidiary (branch) companies, 2 R&D centers in Xuchang and Beijing, 3 R&D branches in Shanghai, Xi'an and Harbin, 7 industrial bases in Xuchang, Zhuhai, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Jinan, Harbin and Chengdu and sets up 7 overseas offices in Southeast Asia, Middle East, Africa, Russia and South America.
XJ Group deepens reform comprehensively and accelerates innovation and development after joining SGCC in 2010. The Corporation sticks to collective operation and intensive management, performs a series of planning and layout, reduces management levels, increases intensive level of human, financial and material resources, establishes the systems of mega marketing, overall services, comprehensive R & D, mass production and comprehensive information and forms the new idea of developing ten core businesses supported by the five systems. The Corporation strengthens persistently innovation of development approaches, marketing modes, service concepts and business patterns and re-plans the industrial focuses and R & D and investment projects in support of the national strategies of "One Belt, One Road" and "Made in China 2025". The Corporation promotes deep integration of information and industrialization, actively develops new industrial forms and business patterns, is dedicated to develop modern service industry and performs integrative innovation on products, technologies and services. The Corporation has built the industry system to prioritize modern service businesses such as system application, scientific research and inspection, manufacture services and EPC/BOT/BT/PPP projects, forms new profits and unique competitiveness and achieves sustainable and sound development.
XJ Group pursues development driven by innovation, is tightly around independence of national major equipment and core technologies, insists on driving industrial upgrading by technological innovation, has nearly 1,200 items of valid patent and nearly 300 items of invention patent and achieves a batch of key technology breakthrough, among which the "key technologies, complete equipment and project application of UHV AC transmission" participated by XJ Group has been awarded the Special class of National S&T Progress Award and the "Major complete technologies and equipment R & D and industrialization of UHV DC" project has been awarded the first class of National S&T Progress Award. XJ Group has formed three basic technologies, that is, "the information and automation control technology, the high-power electronic technology and the design and manufacture technology for primary equipment", three basic platforms, that is, "the embedded software platform, the embedded hardware platform and the system software platform" and over 130 core technical products and has created dozens of "China's first" and "World's first".
XJ Group actively participates in national major projects and has provided successively excellent complete equipment for large projects such as UHV intelligent grid construction, Three Gorges Dam and nuclear power construction and high-speed rail construction, which breaks up foreign monopolies, replaces import technologies, saves a large amount of national project investment and enables national industry to be in the front rank in the world. In aspect of power grid, the Corporation has participated in constructing all domestic UHV DC transmission projects such as the "Xiangjiaba-Shanghai project", the "Yunnan-Guangdong project" and the "Yibin-Jinhua project", all domestic UHV AC transmission projects such as the Southeast of Shanxi-Jinmen project and the Ximeng-Shandong project, distribution network projects in over 30 provinces, cities and districts such as Beijing and Shandong Province and hundreds of intelligent substations such as the 750 kV intelligent substation in Yan'an City, Shaanxi Province and the 220 kV intelligent substation in Dashi Town, Chongqing City and has provided approximately 60,000 switch cabinets and 15 million electricity meters for the national city and countryside power grid modification project. In aspect of new energy generation and grid, the Corporation has participated in constructing projects such as the Zhangbei wind, solar and energy storage demonstration station and the Nanji Island Microgrid Demonstration of the 863 program. In aspect of charging electric cars, the Corporation has participated in many large projects such as intelligent charging demonstrations in big and middle cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing and Qingdao and intercity fast charging stations on the Beijing-Shanghai Expressway, the Beijing–Hong Kong–Macau Expressway and the Qingdao-Yinchuan Expressway. In aspect of Smart City, the Corporation has participated in constructing Jiaxing Smart City, Zhuhai Hengqin New Area Smart City and Shanghai Smart Transportation. In aspect of environmental protection, the Corporation has participated in energy saving retrofitting projects such as the energy saving retrofitting project in distribution networks in provinces such as Shandong, the SINOPEC great wall energy ethyne project and the Beijing Fangshan electricity heating retrofitting project. In aspect of power generation, the Corporation has participated in major projects such as the Three Gorges Dam, Datang Guangdong Chaozhou Sanbaimen Power Plant 2×1000 MW set and the Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant. In aspect of rail transit, the Corporation has participated in all national high-speed rail projects such as the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway and the Harbin-Dalian High-Speed Railway and subway projects in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Low voltage power distribution equipment such as the dry type transformer has been widely applied to important domestic construction projects such as Beijing Olympic venues and Shanghai Expo pavilions.
XJ Group is dedicated to forge the unique domestic brand image to provide "express services" with marketing and service centers covering 22 provinces, 4 direct-controlled municipalities and 5 autonomous regions in China and thousands of staff distributed across the country to respond fast and efficiently to clients' requirements.
XJ Group actively speeds up developing international business, has shifted its focus from complete set export and matching supply to system integration and foreign investment and acquisition and has established an international business organization and management system and a supporting system for implementing international strategies. Currently, XJ Group has sold products such as the automatic protection systems, transformers, high voltage switches and intelligent electricity meters to over 30 countries and districts in Southeast Asia, South Asia, Africa, Middle East and South America and has successfully completed international EPC projects such as the Multifunctional Diesel Engine Plant in Burma and the Athi River Heavy Oil Power Plant in Republic of Kenya. XJ Group has been well received by international clients with sound product quality and excellent services.
XJ Group has been highly valued by the CPC and state leaders, among whom Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan, Hu Jintao, Wu Bangguo, Jia Qinglin and Li Changchun have visited XJ successively and fully affirmed reform, innovation and development of XJ.
In the future, XJ Group will develop to be a world-class energy equipment manufacturing and modern service industry group in an all-round way with innovation of technology, management, process, business pattern and new materials application as its engine guided by "providing low-carbon, energy-saving, environmentally friendly, intelligent, interactive high-end energy equipment and systematic solutions for sustainable development of the economic society".
Copyright ©2019 XJ Group Corporation. All rights reserved.


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Riva del Garda is now an unmissable destination for the lovers of sports, outings and activities in unspoilt natural environments, which actually causes considerable contrast.
The Residence Cristine allows you to fully enjoy all these activities.
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Thèse de doctorat en Médecine
Sous la direction de André Aurengo.
Soutenue en 1996
à Paris 5 .
Pas de résumé disponible.
Pattern Fed Objects : a new approach for textured image segmentation
PAttern Fed Objects (PAFOs) are software objects devoted to image segmentation according to texture homogeneity. They live in the two-dimensional world of images with the goals of surviving and proliferating as micro-organisms. 3 A PAFO is made of a chromosome in which texture parameter values that reflect the PAFO's relish for learned textures are coded. During its youth a PAFO is fed with different textures belonging to a coherent set, and is taught to recognize bthe characteristic parameters of this set. To segment an image having an unknown zone distribution, various PAFO are spread over the image and allowed to compete. Each PAFO springs up on regions of the image as far as the underlying texture is an acceptable regimen. Some generations later, segmentation is achieved. The basic concepts of the proposed method are detailed. Our first results dealing with artificial textured images are shown and discussed


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What Exactly Is PHI and Why Is It So Valuable?
The modern world is based on digital data. Virtually everything we do can be broken down into the constituent and digitized versions of itself. This is no less so in healthcare and in fact, healthcare has embraced this idea, becoming an early adopter of many technologies, based on data, to improve patient outcomes. Big data sharing, like Google's Genomics, is driving medical advances. The Human Genome Project, for example, has allowed the development of pharmacogenomics allowing us to use data to tailor medications. Data sharing in healthcare is fundamental for improving medical care. But medicine is about the individual and all of these data are ultimately tied to a person. In the healthcare industry, we work with a wide dataset of information. This information covers all aspects of a person and their medical interventions. The information includes their individual identity data, such as name, date of birth, address, social security number, telephone numbers and email addresses. It also contains other identifying information such as medical record numbers, health insurance details, medical images, and DNA data. All of this information is wrapped up in the context of Protected Health Information or PHI.
PHI is a digital representation of a patient and as such has value, not just to that patient but also to anyone who wants to commit identity fraud or sell personal identifying information (PII). The healthcare industry was recently identified by IBM's X-Force 2016 Cyber Security Intelligence Index as the "most frequently attacked industry" by cybercriminals. This resulted in over 100 million healthcare records being breached in a 12 month period. Even without the statistics, we know that the healthcare industry has been a target in the last two years just by watching the news. Breaches like those at Anthem and Premera Blue Cross, which resulted in almost 80 million and 11 million exposed records respectively, bring home the message that healthcare is a prime attraction for cybercrime. Moreover, the cybercrime onslaught against healthcare doesn't seem to be slowing. If we use the Breach Level Index to view the number of identity theft related breaches in the U.S. healthcare system, for the first 5 months of this year, there have been 119 instances of breached PHI already.
The Cost of PHI
According to research by The Ponemon Institute, PHI records have been shown to be the most valuable data set with prices on the black market of around $398 per U.S. based record. With the mean price of a record being $217 per U.S. based data set, this makes healthcare records a very attractive proposition for a cybercriminal. If you are after data, best to go for the most lucrative source.
The costs of a PHI breach are far reaching. From an individual's perspective, The Ponemon Institute found in their report on privacy and security of healthcare data that it cost each victim, on average, $13,500 to remedy the breach. As for healthcare providers, HIPAA estimates the average breach of PHI is $200 per victim, which makes breaches of even 1,000 records costly.
Putting a price on the exposure of health records isn't just about the price of the record on the black market or the cost of mopping up the aftermath of a cyber-attack. It is also a much wider problem, affecting the individual and the company who has been breached. The cost is not just financial; it is also about trust. Verizon in their 2015 'Protected Health Information Data Breach Report' found that because of cybersecurity breaches, patients are now becoming more reticent about revealing certain details to healthcare providers.
PHI: The Gift That Keeps On Giving
One of the reasons for the attractiveness of the healthcare industry for cybercriminal activity is the richness and the lifetime of the data within the healthcare record. PHI has detailed and static information on an individual, i.e., data that rarely or doesn't change. Theft of financial data is only as valuable as the time it takes to cancel the card. Identifying data such as name, date of birth and social security number, give cybercriminals all the information they need to commit secondary attacks. For example, we now know that the fraudulent tax claims made through the IRS last year were likely carried out using stolen identities from the Anthem or Premera breach.
Identity data is only likely to become more valuable, and secondary attacks based on identity will become more prevalent as governments, including the U.S., are working on digitizing all of their services and part of this push is to create an online identity. Stolen health records contain much of the data required to generate a citizen identity but stolen PHI has an even wider scope; it doesn't end with an individual's personal information being compromised. All stakeholders in the healthcare industry are impacted by fraudulent medical claims based on compromised PHI. The FBI estimates that healthcare fraud adds around $80 billion in annual costs. PHI is the data equivalent of "light the touch paper and stand back."
PHI: The Big Phish
So how is our PHI being exposed? One of the most successful methods of stealing data throughout the history of cybercrime has been the use of social engineering within the context of a technique known as phishing. According to The Ponemon Institute, phishing accounts for 88% of incidents within the healthcare industry – the second biggest security issue after lost or stolen devices.
Phishing is a method of tricking a person into revealing personal details, such as login credentials, which are then used to commit data theft and steal PHI. Alternatively, phishing emails can send a user to sites that contain malware, which once installed exfiltrates data or credentials. Either way, the result is stolen and exposed PHI.
How Phishing Works
The Common Form Of Phishing
The most common form of phishing usually enters our world via our private email account as a mass mailed attempt at fraud. More recent techniques have also used SMS texts in a similar way – this is known as SMiShing. The email (or text message) will typically look very legitimate, often from a well-known company, like PayPal. The message will be written in such a way as to entice you; typically, it will have a financial element to it, with the hope of a knee-jerk, emotional reaction getting you to click the link. Once clicked, you'll be taken to a spoof site, which looks remarkably like the original. You'll be requested to enter your actual login credentials to the site to gain access and sort out any issue the email pertained to. This type of phishing scam has been around for many years and we are now becoming more aware of them. Even so, they still have reasonable enough success rates to warrant a cybercriminal's time.
Spear Phishing of PHI
Spear phishing is like phishing on steroids. The same principles are used, i.e., an attack comes, most often, in the form of an email, but this time the email recipient has been carefully chosen. Spear phishing emails are precisely crafted. They play on our instinct to trust and comply. Using this type of normal human behavior as a weapon against us is the very key to the success of spear phishing. Where common phishing is starting to show reduced success rates, spear phishing is increasing in successful missions. Security firm FireEye looked at the open rates of spear phishing emails and found they were highly successful with a 70% open rate and a 50% click through rate. The links may be to sites that look exactly like a network app access point, the type that a healthcare worker would normally use to access PHI, for example. Once those links are clicked and the credentials are entered, the hacker behind the site has them and has access to the real site.
Sophisticated spear phishing attempts can also be multi-faceted. Sometimes the originating contact is via a professional body messaging system rather than a direct email. These types of campaigns will have several parts to them, building up a relationship with the target until they relinquish their credentials or install malware which results in the same compromised security issue.
Phishing in Healthcare
In a survey by Cloudmark and Vanson Bourne, 84% of the respondents said that a spear phishing attack had breached their security defenses. The 2016 RSA security conference also found that most organizations, including healthcare ones, have seen increases in phishing attempts. The best way to see how phishing is affecting healthcare is by looking at some examples.
Anthem Inc.: The Anthem data breach was one of the biggest in cybersecurity history. It exposed the PHI of almost 80 million patients. This included names, addresses, social security numbers, health insurers and more. Spear phishing and malware were used to co-ordinate the attack which was targeted at five system administrators. Data was exposed over several months as the malware exfiltrated the PHI through a command and control center back to a hacker base. The breach was organized and sophisticated, with the cybercriminal gang creating spoof sites based on Anthem's corporate domain so that they appeared very similar, even to the point of having very similar domain names.
St. Agnes Healthcare Inc.: Spear phishing affects healthcare organizations of all sizes and exposes small numbers of PHI as well as massive ones as seen at Anthem. St. Agnes Healthcare Inc. was a victim of a phishing campaign which resulted in the PHI of 25,000 patients being exposed.
Main Line Health: A spear phishing attempt against Main Line Health is an example showing it isn't just patient PHI at risk. This time, it was the personal information of Main Line Health workers that was divulged. A spear phishing email, purporting to be from an executive of the organization and sent to someone in HR with a simple request for the personal details of Main Line Health employees, resulted in 11,000 employees having their data compromised.
Playing Phishing at Its Own Game: Phishing Simulations
What Is a Phishing Simulation?
The theft of PHI from phishing attacks can be prevented through security awareness training. If the recipient of the phishing email can spot some of the telltale signs of a phishing attempt, then they will stop the attack dead in its tracks. This is where phishing simulations for training and employee awareness come in. Phishing simulations allow you to create and manage a controlled environment where fake phishing emails are sent out across an organization. You can configure a phishing campaign and respective phishing templates based on known phishing techniques; this toolset becomes the basis of your teaching exercise. The simulation will have built-in guides and metrics to train users and make them aware of their actions. For example, InfoSec Institute's SecurityIQ phishing simulator is fully automated and engages users in campaigns, training them as they go. It gives users feedback in the form of interactive security training, building up their knowledge and awareness. These sorts of eLearning systems are highly effective, with 14% better skills based uptake, and 9% increased retention over traditional teaching methods.
How to Setup a Phishing Simulation: The easiest way to setup a phishing simulation is to use a dedicated system. Ease of use is one of the key factors, especially around the configuration of the process, so a Cloud based system will give you more flexibility in this area. Phishing simulators offer the setup and configuration of a simulated phishing campaign, the training of users as they go through the process, and metrics at the end. This feedback and iteration of pathways lets you adjust future campaigns, focusing in on areas of weakness and improving overall security awareness.
The configuration of the campaign: This involves simulating the various types of phishing techniques, and the periphery requirements of the exercise; kicking off the process by sending out notifications to users to begin training. Phishing simulations require phishing email templates to be created. They also need customized landing pages for users who click on the phishing links. These pages double up as training advisories, teaching the user about what would happen to them in a real-world phishing campaign at this point. This type of feedback loop starts the process of awareness, building up an individual's security knowledge.
Tips to Make Sure Your Simulation is Optimized
- One issue with simulated phishing campaigns is removing user bias. If you know you're involved in a phishing campaign you naturally become hyper-aware and your behavior does not represent your normal modus operandi. A successful phishing simulator will be hard to spot in action until the time comes to train the user. This is best achieved by creating realistic templates that are as good as the phishers themselves create. There is an art to creating an effective phishing template. An earlier Infosec Institute blog post on "How to write phishing templates that work" goes into more details about this, the key to effectiveness being credibility.
- Know your employee and create a baseline. If you already have a general idea of the level of security awareness in your organization, you'll be able to configure your simulation more precisely and get more out of it.
- Related to this is mimicking a real-world and ongoing phishing campaign. Much data is available from the security community, including Infosec Institute, about current phishing threats. Setting up your phishing simulator to tie into a current attack profile will improve recognition of an incoming attack.
- The importance of repetition. Don't train as a one-off exercise. People forget and fall into old habits quickly. Repeat training and awareness programs regularly. Carrying out simulated phishing campaigns over periods of time gives the best results. Repetition creates sticky knowledge and is a well-known technique for retaining memory – repetition of an action, moving memories from temporary to more permanent storage in the brain. Using repetition across our phishing campaigns also gives us a method of generating data to check if our techniques are working.
- Use metrics on completed exercises and feed this back into preparing upgraded simulations.
Protecting PHI Using Phishing Simulators
Ultimately, the goal of using a phishing simulator is to ensure that PHI is not compromised. At the time of writing, the healthcare industry is in the sights of cybercriminals and healthcare records are at a premium on the black market. Phishing is the way into those PHI records and the healthcare industry, as a whole, has to up their game in protecting them. The key to phishing success is in lulling us into a false sense of security, by building up trust and using that normal human behavior in the favor of the cybercriminal. To decrease the success rate of phishing, we have to break that pattern by changing that behavior. Phishing simulations do just that, they change the expectation level of trust when an email comes in and train the user to question its legitimacy, to the point it becomes second nature to 'double check' the validity of a statement. Only by training and awareness can we hope to stem the tide of PHI exposure and take back control of our healthcare data.
Learn more about Infosec Institute's security awareness training with SecurityIQ and how it can protect your Protected Health Information (PHI).


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