text:
The Supreme Court of South Carolina
In the Matter of Steven Robinson Cureton, Respondent.
Following the issuance of this Court's opinion imposing a two year suspension in this matter, information was received from the parties regarding the disposition of the charges which form the basis for that suspension. In order to accurately reflect the status of the charges, we withdraw the former opinion and substitute the attached opinion.
s/Jean H. Toal C.J.
s/James E. Moore J.
s/John H. Waller, Jr. J.
s/E. C. Burnett, III J.
s/Costa M. Pleicones J.
Columbia, South Carolina
April 23, 2007
In The Supreme Court
In the Matter of Steven Robinson Cureton, Respondent.
Opinion No. 26301
Submitted March 12, 2007 - Refiled April 23, 2007
Henry B. Richardson, Jr., Disciplinary Counsel, and Assistant Deputy Attorney General Robert E. Bogan, of Columbia, for the Office of Disciplinary Counsel.
Perry Hudson Gravely, of Pickens, for Respondent.
PER CURIAM: In this attorney disciplinary matter, respondent and the Office of Disciplinary Counsel have entered into an Agreement for Discipline by Consent (Agreement) pursuant to Rule 21, RLDE, Rule 413, SCACR. In the Agreement, respondent admits misconduct and consents to the imposition of a definite suspension or any lesser sanction set forth in Rule 7(b), RLDE. Respondent requests that, if a definite suspension is imposed, it run from the date of his interim suspension.[1] We accept the Agreement and find a two year suspension from the practice of law is the appropriate sanction; however, we deny respondent's request that the definite suspension run from the date of his interim suspension. The facts, as set forth in the Agreement, are as follows.
A. Criminal Matter
Respondent was arrested and charged with possession of alprazolam, a generic form of Xanax; possession of hydrocodone biterate, a generic form of Lortab; and possession of morphine sulfate, all in violation of S.C. Code Ann. § 44-53-370(d)(2). He was also charged with possession of marijuana, less than 28 grams, in violation of S.C. Code Ann. § 44-53-370(d)(3), and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, based on his possession of 3.84 grams of cocaine, in violation of S.C. Code Ann. § 44-53-370(b)(1). The charges for possession of alprazolam and possession of morphine sulfate were dismissed. With regard to the remaining charges, respondent pled guilty to possession of hydrocodone and acetaminophen, possession of marijuana and possession of cocaine. Respondent does not dispute that he committed the offenses and admits that, at the time of his arrest, he suffered from a cocaine dependency for which he has since sought and completed inpatient and outpatient treatment.
B. Legal Representation Matter
Respondent was retained by three clients and was paid a fee of either $3,000 or $3,500 by or on behalf of each client. The clients maintain that, upon his suspension, respondent failed to adequately communicate with them regarding their cases and they were required to retain other counsel to complete their litigation.
Respondent acknowledges he did not communicate with the clients with reasonable diligence and promptness as required by Rules 1.3 and 1.4 of the Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 407, SCACR, and that his physical and mental condition, caused by his drug dependency, may have impaired his ability to handle the clients' cases, in violation of Rule 1.16(a)(2), RPC, Rule 407, SCACR. Respondent also acknowledges the clients are entitled to a refund of their retainer fees, less any amount respondent earned by performing work on the clients' behalf.
Respondent admits that by his conduct he has violated the following provisions of the Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 407, SCACR: Rule 1.1 (a lawyer shall provide competent representation to a client); Rule 1.3 (a lawyer shall act with reasonable diligence and promptness in representing a client); Rule 1.4 (a lawyer shall explain a matter to the extent reasonably necessary to permit the client to make informed decisions regarding the representation, keep the client reasonably informed about the status of the matter, and promptly comply with reasonable requests for information); Rule 1.16(d) (upon termination of representation, a lawyer shall take steps to the extent reasonably practicable to protect a client's interests, such as giving reasonable notice to the client, allowing time for employment of other counsel, surrendering papers and property to which the client is entitled and refunding any advance payment of fees or expenses that has not been earned or incurred); Rule 8.4(a) (it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to violate the Rules of Professional Conduct); Rule 8.4(b)(it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to commit a criminal act that reflects adversely on the lawyer's honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer in other respects); and Rule 8.4(c) (it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to commit a criminal act involving moral turpitude).
Respondent also admits that he has violated the following provisions of the Rules for Lawyer Disciplinary Enforcement, Rule 413, SCACR: Rule 7(a)(1) (it shall be a ground for discipline for a lawyer to violate the Rules of Professional Conduct) and Rule 7(a)(5) (it shall be a ground for discipline for a lawyer to engage in conduct tending to pollute the administration of justice or to bring the courts or the legal profession into disrepute or to engage in conduct demonstrating an unfitness to practice law).
We find a two year suspension is the appropriate sanction for respondent's misconduct. Accordingly, we accept the Agreement for Discipline by Consent and suspend respondent from the practice of law for two years. Respondent shall not be eligible for reinstatement until respondent has paid his fine and completed the sentence imposed, including release from the period of probation. See Rule 33(f)(10), RLDE. Finally, respondent shall, within thirty days of the date of this opinion, enter into a restitution plan with the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, and begin making restitution to presently known and/or subsequently identified clients, banks, and other persons and entities, including the Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection, who have incurred losses as a result of respondent's misconduct in connection with these matters. Within fifteen days of the date of this opinion, respondent shall file an affidavit with the Clerk of Court showing that he has complied with Rule 30, RLDE, Rule 413, SCACR.
TOAL, C.J., MOORE, WALLER, BURNETT and PLEICONES, JJ., concur.
[1] In re Cureton, 363 S.C. 78, 609 S.E.2d 527 (2005).


text:
Montreal is a popular long weekend destination for us in Toronto since it's only a 6 – 7 hour drive away. I visited Montreal for the first time as an adult over the Canadian Thanksgiving holidays. Here are some of the cool things I did during the 5 days.
- Live in an awesome Airbnb. Although your stay indoors might be short, a great accommodation does make a difference. LeQube was chosen for its reasonable price, walking distance to a subway station, beautiful interiors, and let's not forget to mention a rooftop jacuzzi.
- Indulge even at brunch. At Le Passe Compose they serve foie gras eggs benedict – where else can you get that? And it is as delicious as it sounds. From this trip, it was hands down my favourite meal. Be prepared to spend over 30 minutes in line though.
- Take in the beauty of Montreal Botanical Garden. I was lucky enough that my visit coincided with their annual Lantern Festival and it was definitely magical!
- Dine at the famous Au Pied de Cochon. 4 words: Duck in a Can. As cliche as this restaurant may be as a Montreal staple, it lives up to its name and hype. Remember to make a reservation as they get fully booked fast!
- Squeeze some sort of exercise in by hiking up Mont Royal. Quite an easy hike as the trail is a slow gradual uphill. Since it was fall, a beautiful view of the city and the changing colours of leaves could be seen.
- Discover a secret bar. Atwater Cocktail Club – swanky interior, interesting drinks, and as a bonus you can order snacks from the restaurant Foiegwa that it shares a kitchen with.
- Have a semi-romantic date on The Montreal Observation Wheel. A giant Ferris wheel that gives a panoramic view of Old Montreal and St. Lawrence River. My experience was semi-romantic because we had to share the car with others.
- And most importantly, do what must be done in Montreal – poutine at La Banquise. It's open 24 hours so there is no excuse.
It was interesting to re-visit Montreal as an adult to appreciate the sights of its landscape and architecture. And of course being able to choose where to dine was a definite plus. Whether you will be in Montreal for a weekend or even just a day, these are some locations that I would recommend to consider for your next trip!
Bonus of places I also dined at but did not make the "favourites" cut: L'avenue, Ganadara, Bar Darling, Farberge, Cafe Falco, La Diperie, and Nos Thes. I also ate at MAIS which was delicious and quite reminiscent of La Carnita in Toronto. However, I didn't have any photographs of the food and as the meal was treated by the owner/chef I am admittedly biased. Do check it out though if you are at Mile End doing some shopping!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Seeing I just interviewed Doug Sanders for our site I thought it would be good to extract a few nuggets from his 1964 book about the swing- Compact Golf
As he mentioned in the interview there is a lot of merit to having a shorter hand swing going back and a wide stance. Here are some great thoughts from his book.
"Anyone that wants to play golf for very long and improve and enjoy it, has to build a game that will be dependable under many conditions and on many different types of golf courses"
"Hitting a golf ball is a physical act.If you know something about your swing, can control it and feel what it's doing, then you stand to improve your score and start winning more often"
"Because my stance is quite wide and use not a lot of body turn, the action looks awkward and unnatural. The fact is that it feels natural to me. Sam Snead's flowing move has been used as the ideal model for twenty five years. Yet no-one else can swing like Sam, so in one sense every golfer has an unnatural swing"
"One thing which my swing type can do easily, that the longer sweeping swing has trouble doing, is hitting control shots. With a short swing and little body turn I can hit shots down very low or up very high, or hook or fade as much as I want. Long swingers have to rely on their big body turn to get back into position. Mine is in my hands. I have the feel there and do the work there."
My thoughts: You need to know YOUR swing and be able to FEEL your swing. It is no good trying to swing like Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus if you don't understand the motion and feel the motion you are trying to create... Doug talks a lot here about being able to FEEL the swing...FEEL the hands....this is one reason I really love the module work because it isn't a guess or an attempt at a swing. It is diligent work based on allowing you to FEEL the motion and make it your natural motion, He also talks about conditions and different courses. Golf is not played from a flat driving range so you need to work on all different types of grass and ground conditions and uphill,downhill, sidehill....remember on the course you don't get to drag another ball over for a re-do like you can on the range...get some course time in to improve and not just be a ball beater
"My swing is really not too much different from that of anyone else in my league. The most noticeable differences are the wider stance and the shorter or more restricted backswing. But if you were to match photos of my swing with someone else's- put my feet 8-12 inches closer together and extend my hands another 8-12 inches higher- my swing would be just about the same. So the fact is that my swing is not unorthodox at all. It's just that I don't continue the arc back quite as far. I feel that this shorter swing demands a wider stance, this gives the leverage for maximum distance and power"
"Building a perfect championship swing takes years of constant practice. This is impossible for a person who's playing only on Saturdays or men's days on Thursday's or even both. Their muscles simply aren't toned to be whipping a club around the way Jimmy Demaret has been doing for forty years."
"The principle behind using a shorter swing is this simple: any time you shorten any kind of precision movement, you have less margin for error. It's just like throwing darts at a target board. The closer you move in, the better chance you have to throw a bulls eye. The farther back you move, the longer and harder the throw you must make. You make fewer bulls eyes. The point being is that the short swing is much more likely to get the shot started in the right direction and to put it in better shape down the fairway"
"If a person would cut down their swing and use more force right at impact, they would get a lot more distance. A long loose swing doesn't necessarily generate clubhead speed; it just looks pretty. The simple fact is thata golfer who cannot keep the ball in the fairway a high percentage of the time will never score consistently well"
My thoughts:This is very much in tune with a shorter hand swing..as per Sam Snead diagram in his book and even though Hogan had a long clubhead swing he actually had a reasonably short hand swing going back. The 'more force at impact' logic is right on the money.... the later you can speed up the more angles created to deliver to the ball....and the more mass can be delivered to the ball. Once you speed up too soon....the party is over, all bets are off and you will have a tough time....He talks about toning the muscles ....this is the impact bag we use here to aid the students and tone their correct golfing muscles....again all his thoughts here are very much in tune with the ABS module work
"The rules of golf don't say anything about how a player has to swing at the ball, just what type of club he has to use. A person's size, shape, temperament, age, co-ordination, strength and other factors will decide what his swing looks like and how it performs. Unless the person is more vain than he is anxious to play the game well, he shouldn't give a hang what his swing looks like. It's the results that count"
"Some of the prettiest swings in the world are wasted on clipping dandelions before the average golfer ever hits a ball. It's surprising how many golfers have an uncomfortable passion to hit a longer ball than they can usually control"
"Golfers who try to imitate their heroes and swing trying to look pretty and yet looking terrible by swinging from their heels for distance have trouble putting any type of round together. They need to forget about how they look and how far they can hit the ball and think instead about where the next shot should land and how they are going to get the ball from here to there"
"The ONLY important part of a golf swing is getting the club in position two feet before it reaches the ball on the downswing and two feet after it passes through the ball. So in retrospect it is much easier to maintain the same pattern every time with a short swing than one that comes from up behind the head"
My thoughts: Dynamics of the swing are far more important than the so called 'pretty ' swing. Work on your dynamics and the ball will take the correct route. Doug clearly states the P3 to P4 position and as Lag calls it - the hitting arena- is the most important part of the swing. The ABS students know this is the crux of the module work and why we talk so much about keeping the club and shaft on it's true plane from hip high down to hip high through. Control of the ball should be the goal..Also plan ahead. Get the ball in position to make your next shot easier. Very basic simple logic that has become forgotten in much of today's golfing circles


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Center of Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Computing
Faculty of Information Technology
Multimedia University
Cyberjaya, Selangor, 63100 Malaysia
E-mail: {abdollah.dehzangi07; email@example.com
*School of Computer Engineering
Nanyang Technological University
Nanyang Avenue, 639798 Singapore
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
The functioning of a protein in biological reactions crucially depends on its threedimensional
structure. Prediction of the three-dimensional structure of a protein (tertiary
structure) from its amino acid sequence (primary structure) is considered as a challenging
task for bioinformatics and molecular biology. Recently, due to tremendous advances
in the pattern recognition field, there has been a growing interest in applying
classification approaches to tackle the protein fold prediction problem. In this paper,
Random Forest, as a kind of ensemble method, is employed to address this problem. The
Random Forest, is a recently introduced method based on bagging algorithm that trains a
group of base classifiers by randomly selecting sets of features and then, combining results
obtained from base classifiers by majority voting. To investigate the effectiveness
of the number of base learners to the performance of the Random Forest, twelve different
numbers of base classifiers (between 30 and 600) are applied for this classifier. To
study the performance of the Random Forest and compare its results with previously reported
results, the dataset produced by Ding and Dubchak is used. Our experimental results
show that the Random Forest enhances the prediction accuracy (using same set of
features proposed by Dubchak et al.) as well as reduces time consumption of the protein
fold prediction task, compared to the previous works found in the literature.
Received November 16, 2009; revised February 4, 2010; accepted May 6, 2010.
Communicated by Jorng-Tzong Horng.
Received November 16, 2009; revised February 4, 2010; accepted May 6, 2010.


text: First post for March Of Robots 2019 was a quick one. The theme was box. Sometimes a little robot just need a friend, even if they have to build one themself. I felt the one without the box showed a different set of emotions so I included it as well.


text:
AV9000 Checklist Item Under Test: 3.7.4: "Entanglement" issues included in the needs analysis/programming phase have been accounted for, and failover processes have been documented in the narrative. Immediate actions during a failure have been considered, along with their possible solutions (e.g., redundant power supplies, system switchers, control systems, patch bays, etc.).
Reasoning: Inevitably, something will go wrong with a complex AV system. There is too much technology communicating with other technology for the system to have 100-percent up time.
For some systems, if something fails, it is acceptable for the participants to move to another room; for other systems, failure is not an option. This is the case for Entertainment Venues.
Entertainment Venue systems should be designed with failovers built into the operation. Operators should also practice these failover procedures to assure they function and, when needed, they can be implemented quickly.
The level of redundancy depends on how critical the space is to the success of the owner. It could include a spare display on wheels for simple systems, or it could include three separate ways of routing sources.
Addressing and eliminating single points of failure should be discussed during the programming phase of any project, and periodically practiced during the system's life.
The Story: If you have ever traveled with little kids, you already understand how important redundancy is. Whenever my wife and I take "the smalls" to a restaurant, we use a three-tiered approach to maintain the peace and avoid "high-pressure situations."
- Level One centers on crayons and coloring books. It is creative and quiet.
- Level Two revolves around their current favorite toys. Not only do toys occupy them, but they can also be used as a reward. For example, "If you have one more bite of broccoli, you can play with your Gudetama Lazy Egg."
- Level Three…the last level, which comes out in emergencies…is the iPad. I'm not proud of it, but it works in a pinch.
So, for quick meals, coloring books are all you need. However, if it's a busy night and the kitchen is backed up, coloring might lose its appeal; that means we have to pull out the favorite toy. If the kitchen is backed up and the place is out of chicken tenders, then not even a coloring book with stickers or a new toy will make up for the fact that we had the audacity to order our children hamburgers. In such cases, there is no choice left but the iPad. That is the triple-redundant, keep-your-child-happy Restaurant Entertainment System* the Maltese family uses. (* Patent Pending)
We see the same thing in AV systems, especially in mission-critical venues in which the show must go on. I've written about the triple-redundant HD-SDI MPR system that had three methods of routing sources: control system, router control panel and patch panels. I've also written about the trading floor systems that had standardized on a single pit design, and they kept two extra systems on standby that could be swapped in minutes if anything went wrong during operation. Those are extreme examples, but harmonics of their effectiveness can still be very useful. My question is this: Are we talking about these possibilities with our clients?
Most conference rooms are simple enough to be replaced with a user's laptop and an HDMI cable. As long as a spare display is somewhere on the floor, either an LCD on wheels or, dare I say, a portable projector, the meeting can continue in some form with software codecs and presentations. However, as simple a solution as that is, a question must be asked: Has the support staff been trained in efficient system failover? For example, does the receptionist or AV operator know where the spare display is? Has it been turned on in the last two years? If the room requires a speakerphone, are the ports at the table configured to accept it? Even if redundancy has been built into the system, many AV owners neglect their systems currently in use. I can only imagine the backup systems are neglected to an even greater degree.
For entertainment venues, let's assume that redundancies (we hope) were included in the design. These spaces, which most likely have dedicated AV operators who run the shows, don't always allow the operators time to drill failover Standard Operating Procedures. The integrator who installed the system might not even have taken the backup devices out of the box.
I remember one system that included two telephone hybrids (primary and backup) that were controlled by the control and audio systems. However, the mixer that had the two hybrid modules was a single point of failure for the system; for that particular space, that was unacceptable. So, standalone telephone hybrids were included in the design and delivered by the integrator…but they were never tested.
Well, as luck would have it, one day, during an event, the DSP mixer stalled. The eager-to-please operator remembered having read about the backup hybrids, and went to find them. The phone lines were patched in, and only then was it realized that an analog phone set was needed to dial out. When was the last time you saw an analog phone set anywhere in a modern office space? The failover procedure was never tested and never documented; as such, it was useless.
Not including failover solutions in system designs is like taking your kids to an outing without a bag filled with goodies. Not drilling failover procedures for the operators is like not checking the battery of the iPad before you leave the house. Both can be disastrous, although, arguably, bringing an iPad with two-percent battery is worse. You have the three-tiered failover solution in place—it just doesn't work at the moment. And I'm just not sure which is a higher-pressure situation: when the person in front of you having a meltdown is a toddler or a senior-level executive.


text:
I missed both working out AND meditating yesterday. I'd been planning to get to both before all the drama. However I got back to both today & am very happy to report:
The easel has been successfully extracted from enemy territory!
I can't believe she tried so hard to give the one thing away that I said was still important to me, but I shouldn't be surprised. It'll be waaaaaay less than the $600 last quoted by a UPS team that was being encouraged to take it off her hands. And now I can discard the check that's on its way. I think I'll burn it.
I've told my friend Cathy that assuming Charlie and I can figure out how to put it back together again (he's pretty handy), the first piece created on it will be dedicated and on its way to her.
Power Strength by Jamie B
Warmup: (10/30) x5 rounds jump rope. 3:20
Mix Circuits (perform 3 rounds on first set before moving on to second)
Round 1 —- 50:10
Round 2 —- 30:10
Round 3 —- 12 reps
Time = about 32 (forgot to time specifically)
Set 1: (set 13
24" elv) I'd maybe try 16″ if I had it. I'm not too good on vertical height with jumping! Even taking my 5'2″ stature into account.
1. Regular DL 40
2. Box Jumps
3. Squat touching butt to bench
Top DL 40
4. Squat Jumps
5. Wide Leg DL 40
Set 2: (no vest)
1. Push-up, Handstand, Plank
2. Drag Curls (bicep curl position, while curling arms up, keep weights close to body pulling elbows behind) 26lbs
3. Pull-ups
Archer Push-up
4. Wide
Hammer Curls 26lbs
5. Chin-ups
Tricep Push-up
Combos (HIIT at 50:10 x3) 18:30min
with vest both sets
Set 1: (vest)
1. Alt Curtsey Lunge + OH Tricep Extension 20
2. Narrow Squat + Back Row 30
3. Alt Knee Lift + Lateral Raise 20
Set 2:
1. Chest Press + Leg Raise (raise legs at same time as chest press up) 30 Lowered from 40 cause I forgot to give myself 15sec for the change intervals! Also forgot to take vest off
2. Bicep Curl to Shoulder Press 30
3. alt Side Plank Row press + Leg Lift (side plank position, weight in hand, pull up to row while raising top leg) 10 per hand first 2 rounds, upped to 15 the 3rd. I figured out I can avoid hand pain by putting the supporting hand on the floor rather than staying on the dumbbell.
"Death by Dumbbells" (by Scott Herman Fitness)- HIIT at 30:20 4x
Time = 18:20
with vest for all but move 5
1. Dumbbell Squat 40
2. Dumbbell Renegade Row 30 Bent over, fast alt row
3. Dumbbell Burpee 20
4. Dumbbell alt T Push-Up (alt T raises with push-up in between) 20
5. Dumbbell star Toe Touch abs 10 alt sides
Burnout: AMRAP 5 reps per move 5 mins
Score: 2 rull rounds + 5 tricep push-ups
1. Tricep push-ups
2. Squat jumps
3. Wide Push-up, handstand, plank
4. Box jumps
(Time – 1:28)
About 15min


text:
Pawsey supercomputing board members
Governance for the Centre is overseen by the Board of Management, which provides leadership and oversight of the Centre's activities, setting its strategic direction, ensuring delivery of its objectives and upholding its values. The board members include representatives from the Centre's partner organisations and an independent Chair.
Andrew Dowse joined Edith Cowan University after a 37 year career with the Royal Australian Air Force.
His career included working in air defence and communications, as well as managing command and control systems and information technology. He has also been involved in electronic warfare and capability planning. During his RAAF career, he worked in locations such as Melbourne, Darwin, Western Sydney, Oklahoma City, Ipswich, Washington DC and Canberra.
Between 2008 and 2012, Andrew worked to develop future capabilities for the Australian Defence Force, the efforts of which were recognised with his appointment as a Member of the Order of Australia.
Whilst Andrew was born and raised a Queenslander, he is married to Fiona, a West Australian who also had a distinguished career in the Royal Australian Air Force.
Professor David Morrison is the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation at Murdoch University, Australia. Prior to that, he was the Head of the School of Psychology and Winthrop Professor Psychology at the University of Western Australia. Heisa registered Psychologist with Organisational Psychology as an endorsed specialty, Chartered Member of the Australian Human Resources Institute, member of the Academy of Management (US) and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society. Professor Morrison began his career in human factors and engineering design, researching how humans solve complex problems and make decisions in complex industrial systems. This includes a 5-year project funded by Meat & Livestock Australia, which looked into the introduction of new technologies within the meat processing industry to enhance the organisational design and employee well-being. He also has a personal interest in animal production and manages a small farm which breeds and exports Boer goats to targeted markets. Professor Morrison's board memberships include the Pawsey Supercomputer Centre; National Centre for Excellence in Desalination; and Western Australia Animal Resources Authority.
Dr. Williams is building the world's leading data-focused research, development and digital capability, and leading CSIRO's research in astronomy, National Research Collections, the Australian Animal Health laboratory, the National Marine Research Vessel and Information Management and Technology services.
Prior to his CSIRO role, Dr Williams was the Chief Executive of the United Kingdom Space Agency.
From June 2010 he was also the Chairman of the 20 nation European Space Agency from June 2012.
David holds BSc degree and a PhD from the University of Reading. He has previously worked at the University of Reading, in industry, the Natural Environment Research Council, the British National Space Centre and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT).
David has been a Member of the Global Climate Observing Committee, was elected a Member of the International Academy for Astronautics in 2012, and is now a non-executive director of AARNET.
Geoff leads KPMG's Business Development and Marketing teams as Head of Markets WA and is also General Manager Public sector with specific business development responsibility for growing KPMG's public sector line of business in WA.
In this role he coaches client-facing teams with strategy, sales, relationship management, contract negotiations and solution delivery, particularly within the health and human services, infrastructure, transport, regional and local government sectors.
Geoff has made a significant contribution to the public sector, including advising the Minister for Technology on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) issues, and consulting on the Government's general conditions of contract with the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA), where he has been a WA Council member for over 25 years.
Driving the firm's focus on Government sector services, Geoff's more than 30 years of experience in policy, process and procurement has resulted in the development of long-term relationships with major Government agencies across Western Australia.
Mr John Langoulant has extensive executive experience in the private and public sectors including as the Western Australian Under Treasurer, Chief Executive Officer with Australian Capital Equity, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Western Australia and the Oakajee Port and Rail project.
John is currently Board Chairman at the Government Employees Superannuation Board, the Northern Territory's Power and Water Corporation, Westpac Banking Group WA, Pawsey Supercomputer Centre, Rottnest Island Authority and the Dampier to Bunbury Gas Pipeline. John is a Director of The National Disability Insurance Agency and also holds chair positions with Telethon Kids Institute, CEDA WA, the Committee for Perth and ARTrinsic.
He recently completed a Special Inquiry for the State Government into Government Programs and Projects covering the period 2008-17.
John was awarded an AO in 2010 for distinguished service to business and commerce, particularly through leadership and management roles and to the community of Western Australia.
Mark is a research executive with more than 20 years' experience working at a senior level in innovative research and business development roles in complex, multi-stakeholder environments. Through national and international programs and joint-ventures, Mark had successfully led initiatives to accelerate the impact of research, development and education programs for Australia's key energy, mining and agricultural sectors.
He is a former Chief Executive of an LNG research and development alliance of CSIRO, Curtin University and UWA, partnering with Chevron, Woodside and Shell. Prior to his appointment at Pawsey Mark led the innovation and industry engagement portfolio at The University of Western Australia. In addition, Mark is the current Chair of the Board of All Saints' College and was appointed an adjunct Senior Fellow of the Perth USAsia Centre (an international policy think tank) in 2017.
Dr Merran Smith is the inaugural Chief Executive of Australia's Population Health Research Network (PHRN). The PHRN which commenced in 2009, is a national research infrastructure capability focused on the provision of linked data in privacy-preserving ways to support health and human services research. Merran is based at the University of Western Australia which is lead agent for the PHRN.
Prior to joining UWA, Merran was a Director in the Western Australian Department of Health. Her responsibilities included strategic planning, system policy and Commonwealth-State relations. She was in charge of the Department's Health Information Centre for more than 10 years and established data linkage as a core Departmental service during that period.
Merran has served as Chair or Member of a number of Australia's peak national health information committees and is currently Director of the International Population Data Linkage Network. Her qualifications include a PhD in Medicine and a BA in Economics from the University of Melbourne. She is a member of the AICD.
Read an interview with Dr Smith http://bit.ly/BoardUWA
Paul Nicholls is the Director, Research Partnerships at Curtin University.
This role supports the research community across all disciplines in engaging with industry/government in strategic projects that provide research income and community benefit for Western Australians.
Paul sits on a large number of diverse boards and committees, and holds the responsibility for Curtin's research Institutes and Centres whom generate the majority of Curtin's research outputs and is also responsible for supporting the ICT and Emerging Technology research capabilities at Curtin that include the Square Kilometre Array, Pawsey Supercomputing Centre, the Curtin Institute for Computation and the Cisco IoE Innovation Centre.
Key board responsibilities
Compliance monitoring
Ensuring compliance with the objectives, purposes and values of the organisation and with its Members Agreement.
Organisational governance
Setting or approving policies, plans and budgets to achieve organisational objectives and monitoring performance against them.
Strategic planning
Reviewing and approving strategic direction and initiatives.
Regulatory monitoring
Ensuring the Centre complies with all relevant laws, regulations and regulatory requirements.
Financial monitoring
Reviewing budget, monitoring management and financial performance.
Financial reporting
Reviewing and approving annual financial statements and required reports to government.
Organisational structure
Setting and maintaining a framework of delegation and internal control.
Risk management
Reviewing and monitoring the effectiveness of risk management and compliance in the organisation.


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Roof Replacement
Most home and business owners have a lot to think about when making the decision to replace a roof. Learn More
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A little water can sure go a long way and create some serious damage. Sometimes, the damage goes well beyond what you can see. Learn More
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A roof tune up is very much a recommended for keeping your home or business in good order. Learn More
Hail Damage
If you had hail, you have hail damage and should have your roof inspected by a licensed roofing contractor in your area. Learn More
Gutter Installation
Having gutters on your home is critical to keeping the foundation of your home dry, safe and in good working order. Learn More
Reeves Gutter Guard
The angle your roof is manufactured in a fashion to accomodate design as well as to encourage drainage and runoff. Learn More
Asphalt Seal-Striping
Asphalt sealing, striping and repair is a vital service to residential and commercial properties. Learn More
You don't want just any siding for your home. You want distinction – a home that stands out in the neighborhood. Learn More


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Apan Vayu Mudra – first aid for heart attacks?
Hand mudras* are easy to do lying down, sitting, standing or walking, and can be very effective. Here is one that is also known as The Lifesaver because of its ability to ward off a heart attack, according to the Indian mudra researcher Keshav Dev. It is also useful for general healing and strengthening of…Read more →


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News: GDPR and the RGC Enterprise Software
The General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR") is the new European Union ("EU") legal framework, and is directly applicable in all EU Member States from the 25th of May 2018.
GDPR is concerned with the protection of personal data, i.e. data about individuals, and builds on existing data protection laws, setting out the responsibilities of businesses in relation to the personal data they collect, hold, transmit and otherwise use.
User data is managed securely in the database and mobile app. The RGC Enterprise Software solution allows our Customers (using the secure Administrator role) to search, export and delete user information as required. Customer backups of their data are the sole responsibility of the Customer.
The RGC Enterprise Software solution is GDPR compliant, and we at RGC continue to include GDPR compliance in the design of future functionality.


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The French embassy together with Alliance Française de Kotte in partnership with Black Cat Café welcome French photographer Cedric Gatillon for an exhibition dedicated to Sri Lanka, at the Black Cat Cafe between Agust 15 - 25 from 8am to 10pm.
According to a statement by the French embassy the artist presents a series of photographs taken during a recent stay in Sri Lanka. The images try to capture the ordinary life of Sri Lankan men and women, in their everyday work, and leisure activities.
Cedric Gatillon combines formal composition and emotions in order to comply with the reality. However his pictures do not follow the traditional and academic codes of photojournalism. Cedric Gatillon wants the viewer to understand the peculiarities of this country apart from any political or symbolic message.
Cedric Gatillon is a contemporary freelance Graphic Designer and teacher with a unique and original voice. His multi-disciplinary, auteur-like approach blends his own photography and digital imagery with typography to express ideas and design solutions for a multitude of high end clients. His unique approach is the result of an international design education at L'École Estienne in Parisand then in London at Camberwell College of Arts and Crafts.


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Two pin-oaks were dedicated in New Brunswick, N. J. at the hitherto treeless home of the late Soldier-Poet Joyce Kilmer (Trees).
Mrs. Maria Magdalene Sieber, better known as Marlene Dietrich, cast her first vote as a U. S. citizen in Beverly Hills, Calif. Asked how she voted on Ham & Eggs, Marlene said: "When I became a citizen they told me my vote was sacredand for that reason I don't want to tell how I voted."
Proud was old J. P. Morgan, and prouder was his head gardener, James S. Kelly, when, at the...
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Employers are 100% responsible for ensuring that their workers are safe. If your accident occurred because of a preventable hazard, such as a slippery substance on the floor, hazardous fumes, an object falling from a shelf or a dangerous piece of machinery, your employer will be accountable for the harm it caused you. Workers' compensation benefits are usually not enough to cover the enormous financial consequences created by physical harm caused by an unsafe work environment.
Let's talk. I'm attorney, Rob Ianuario, and I'd like to invite you to a no-obligation consultation. I'll thoroughly review your case and determine if you have a viable workplace accident claim, and answer any questions you may have. If a workplace accident caused you injury, and has slowed or completely stopped your income, I'll fight tirelessly to ensure you obtain the highest compensation for your pain and suffering.Contact Us
While many workplace accidents qualify for workers' compensation benefits, if negligence occurred from property owners, product manufacturers and other careless parties, you may be eligible to file a lawsuit and recover compensation from third-party liability claims. If you were seriously injured on the job and are unable to work as a result, you may be entitled to file for lost wages, medical bills (past, current and future), physical pain, suffering, and disability.
We Require No Money from you until We Win for You. We believe all accident victims deserve the best legal representation possible-whatever their financial situation. That's why we made the decision to charge our clients no fees or expenses until we recover damages for them.


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Take Advantage of a Little known Tax Rebates
R&D Tax Credits apply to businesses that are liable for Corporation Tax. They can help to reduce a corporation tax bill or can be claimed as a cash sum paid back to a company by HM Revenue & Customs, due to an overpayment of tax. Types of qualifying R&D expenditure are typically staff costs, software, utility bills, and any subcontracted work and materials. These R&D costs can be accelerated up to 230%.
Do I Qualify?
What can I claim for?
Typical claim items include staff costs, consumables, utilities, travel costs and sub-contraction costs. The company I work with are a specialist R&D firm, they have a detailed understanding of Research & Development practice and legislation and will conduct a detailed audit of your business to ensure that every opportunity for Research & Development tax relief is identified.
What could it be worth?
The amount of tax relief available will depend on the amount of money being spent by the business, and the profitability of the business when the work took place. The average claim size is in excess of £42,000, so we are not talking small change. In some cases, the relief can extend to around a 30% return on the investment undertaken by a business in Research & Development. The tax relief will typically take the form of a cash rebate from overpaid tax in year 1 and then reductions to your tax liability moving forward.
Are there any additional costs?
There are no up-front costs, and should we fail to identify a claim then we will not charge you a fee at all. In other words, we operate on a 'No Win, No Fee' basis. Also, we do not charge for submission fees so there will be no surprises when it comes to your claim being filed with HM Revenue and Customs. We also offer all clients 6-year report protection as part of our service.
What do I do now ?
Give me a ring or email me. My contact details are below.
Do you own a commercial property?
Are you a UK taxpayer?
If you've answered 'yes' to both of these questions then we'll almost certainly be able to secure you a significant tax benefit because of unclaimed capital allowances. To find out more about capital allowances, go to the commercial property – capital tax reclaims page of this website.
"Karen's help with finding our new premises was pivotal to our relocation. Her guidance through the planning process was crucial and her support through the whole process was invaluable. Karen's passion for helping local businesses is one of our strengths and I would not hesitate in recommending her." Peter Joyner – Chairman of First Line.Peter Joyner
Give me a ring
01869 337720
07901 526855
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The Bellini Chair - Set of 4
Mario Bellini for Heller
*Digital swatches are not always color accurate. Please contact us for samples.
Includes 4 chairs. Injection molded stacking chair appropriate for indoor/outdoor commercial, institutional and residential use. The flexing action of the back provides a high degree of comfort. Lightly textured, fully washable surface. The legs provided with pads for hard surface flooring.
Stackable - up to 4 pieces.
Design Public is an authorized USA dealer for all Heller products.


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Stars come in all sizes, from white dwarfs to average stars like our Sun. But stars can be oh, so much bigger than our G-class sun. Like blue giants. How much bigger? If our sun were placed next to Rigel, it would be barely visible. This excellent video puts it all in perspective. Check it out.
Check It Out: Think Our Sun is Big? Take a Look at These Stars


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Devout Trinity: Sterling Silver with Blue Lace Agate
This five-decade full rosary is created using sterling silver with 8mm beads in gentle blue lace agate, a colour that supports peace, trust and peaceful communication. The rosary has a large cross in sterling silver, of Italian design, showing the Trinity with the Father's outstretched arms forming the background to the cross. The centre is a large and beautiful double-sided rose.
Your blue lace agate rosary is hand-chained with love and care in Ireland. The rose centre and cross are linked to the Aves and the Pater beads by a hand-wrapped and very secure sterling silver connector.
The rosary comes with a quality zipped black leather purse for extra protection and ease of use and is presented in a gold-embossed bronze-colour gift box.


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In his State of the Union address, President Trump took credit for everything that went well during his first year in office. Even if he should really thank his predecessor for the good economy.
President Donald Trump tried to shed the polarizing image and words that have stunted his popularity and thwarted his ability to pass bipartisan legislation, attempting to recast himself on Tuesday as a unifying figure in his first State of the Union address.
"Tonight, I call upon all of us to set aside our differences, to seek out common ground, and to summon the unity we need to deliver for the people," he said at the top of his roughly 80-minute speech. "This is really the key: These are the people we were elected to serve."
It was a striking difference in tone for a president who came into office decrying "American carnage" at his inaugural, and since then has often spoken and tweeted in harsh terms about his perceived enemies, including lawmakers of both parties and his vanquished opponent, Hillary Clinton.
Trump continued to warn against what he sees as the scourge of illegal immigration. But he cloaked the warnings with soft descriptions of the American character, describing the nation as "one team, one people and one American family," and suggested immigrant communities actually would benefit from his policies.
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Every year for the past... I'd say 5 years I have done a Christmas book countdown. Some years I've gotten really fancy and I've done a book and craft countdown (pretty easy to do when your a preschool teacher and have a billion templates already made) other years I have wrapped 24 books individually and made adorable handmade numbered tags... but this year....well this year is a little different. I am working full time, have 2 kids under the age of 6 and I'm 6 months pregnant...to be honest the simple thought of wrapping 1 book let alone 24 sounds just plain awful!! I do however want to keep the tradition going so I thought I'd share with you my easy but still cute Christmas book countdown.
Now I know very few things in life are free....but did you know that shipping supplies through USPS (the post office) are free, and you can order online and have the supplies delivered straight to your door for free. Now before you call the post office police on me, I am aware that this is a service to be used, to then ship with USPS. My husband and I both sell items online (more on that under hustling mama) and we ship out a lot of things weekly through USPS so I am fully supporting our local post office! Anywho, back to our countdown. I decided to use 24 of the priority mail envelopes to do our countdown this year.
I happen to be in the craft store and saw some adorable washi tape and found the perfect #number stickers because again....the easier the better this year! Let's be honest I could have numbered these envelopes with a sharpie but I think we can all agree that washi tape make everything 1000 times cuter!!
I did alternating envelopes with candy cane washi tape and gold reindeer washi tape.
Once I finished making them cute and putting on the number stickers I filled each envelope with a Christmas book.
Again, having taught preschool for 10 years I have quite the collection of books but I still ordered a few new ones to change things up this year.
We start with book 1 being Elf on the Shelf because yes, we have bought into the tradition and we keep it cute and kind and not so crazy....our elf comes the first night of December because a few years ago he came the night after thanksgiving and then this mama was totally over the elf thing come mid December so now he come December 1st at night.
Christmas Eve I always put the good old classic, The night Before Christmas.
Here's a look at some of my favorites, I posted links for each book at the bottom of this post.
Here are a few I just ordered so we could have a bit of a different selection this year!
These will all fit nicely in an envelope to be chosen each night as we look forward to Christmas!!
Our envelopes are filled and ready, now time to decorate the tree!!


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Read more about Operations on:NewsBlogPublicationsEvents
JANS has concluded a contract for the installation of SBAS (Satellite-Based Augmentation System) and Japan's first GBAS (Ground-Based Augmentation System). Operations will commence for both systems from around 2020.
The SBAS will provide its service using the QZSS "Michibiki" geostationary satellite, the successor to MTSAT (Multi-functional Transport Satellite) that will be decommissioned in 2020.
JANS will install MSAS Signal Generation and operation equipment (MSG-16 type) and provide MSAS (MICHIBIKI Satellite-based Augmentation Service).
The first GBAS equipment (GBAS-16 type) will be installed at Tokyo International Airport (Haneda). There are many aircraft that equip GBAS receivers in flight at Haneda, and the airport will be enhanced by introducing advanced approach procedures in the future. One set of GBAS systems enables the introduction of precision approach procedures to all runways in an airport. It also enables a flexible approach path to be defined resulting in reduced noise and improvement in airport efficiency.
Director General Banno of Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB) said:
"GNSS is an important element for advancing future air navigation, and the ANSPs of each country are going forward to implement SBAS and GBAS. Since the number of aircraft equipped with SBAS and GBAS receivers is increasing, implementing SBAS and GBAS will be expected to contribute to the development of air traffic through the promotion of GNSS usage in Fukuoka FIR.
SBAS is included in the road map of the Japanese Government's Basic Plan on Space Policy and is a key element of Japan's space policy, JCAB will pursue the project steadily.
General Manager Iimori of Radio Application, Guidance and Electro Optics Division, NEC Corporation said: "NEC's objective is to ensure the security and safety of society through our technology. For our objective, NEC is proposing 'Airport Solutions' globally. It is our great honor to be awarded the contract for MSG-16 and GBAS-16 and be given the opportunity to contribute to realize much safer, much more efficient flight through our technology and twenty-year experience on GPS, SBAS and GBAS."
After this, JANS plans to introduce GBAS to other domestic airports and to investigate much higher performance of SBAS to contribute to the evolution of air traffic in Fukuoka FIR.


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Comfort food, with an Irish twist
One dish that has remained a favourite and always has a place at the end of the holiday table is Bread & Butter Pudding. Mom would use whatever bread we had in the house and layer the generously buttered slices and plump soaked raisins in a casserole dish. It was always served hot out of the oven with a big scoop of French vanilla ice cream and a hefty drizzle of real Canadian maple syrup. I've tweaked Mom's recipe slightly to add some complexity to this beautifully simple classic; I hope you can enjoy this recipe and create your own favourite memories with your family this holiday season.
Tom Emmott is the in-store chef at Sobeys Mill Cove in Bedford, NS.


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daevid allen/Mother Gong
The Owl and The Tree LP
(Sorry, no longer available.)
One side daevid and Mother Gong, one side pure Mother Gong.
Recorded in 1989 in Wales.
Owly Side:
Note: Unfortunately the musicians can expect no royalties from the label on sales or publishing from this release. The only way they benefit is if you buy it here.


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Today I received an email from a professor at Fairleigh Dickenson University, a composer, asking me if I would be interested in taking a look at some of his recent compositions for clarinet. I just resigned from two different community colleges as the Adjunct Clarinet Instructor, but he sent this email to my direct email address, and it wasn't flagged as coming through my website either. I think I may have the actual email address written out on my website somewhere, so he could have just copied it rather than linking to it. I never attended or taught at or that close to that University, nor do I have any connections at that University. I have NO idea how he found me. It is times like these that make me feel semi-famous in my little music world. To know that I was scouted out in some way, that my opinion matters in the clarinet and University/Professional level composer world means something to me.
I know I will never be the principal of the New York Philharmonic, or a big shot soloist. I made the decision a long time ago while I was still in college and met my to be husband that I wanted a family and I knew that meant I would need to make sacrifices in my career. Right now I'm still not quite where I want to be, especially recently because my husband has had to take 2 full time jobs to help us out financially which has meant that I have even had to turn down some gig opportunities because I need someone home with our 10 year old, and I don't have many sitter options. I am hoping that as she gets older and within the next few years when she is able to start staying home by herself at night as well that I am able to start taking and seeking out more gig opportunities again. I miss playing more. I still perform, but hardly anywhere near what I used to, and even then it wasn't as much as I had wanted to. I am 40. I'm getting up there in terms of music career to be feeling like I haven't even really broken in the way that I have wanted to. I started a bit later having a kid (I started by raising my older step kids first, so I didn't have my biological daughter till I was 29). I hope it's not too late by the time I'm actually able to get myself back out there. The one thing I have going for me that's unique is that I can play 3 instruments almost equally well, Clarinet (my primary), Flute and Sax. There are people who play all three in order to play pit orchestras, but not many can actually play the level of solo repertoire on all 3 the way that I can. I am able to play a full length solo recital and play all 3 instruments with equivalent level solo material on all 3 instruments, which makes for something that is not really done. So I hope that I am able to begin re-pursuing that in a few years again.
Emails like the one I got today are little reminders that my name is out there. People in other states have heard of me. I hope that this will work to my advantage 6 years from now when I really work on becoming famous for real. Fingers crossed.
My Professional YouTube Channel
Would love for you to give a listen to my recordings of me playing and subscribe to my channel 😘
(Yes, those are all my instruments, I played all of them in the pit orchestra for a musical a few years ago)


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In Japan lonely senior citizens (especially women) are shoplifting in search of the community and stability of jail. From 1980 to 2015, the number of seniors living alone in Japan increased more than sixfold, to almost 6 million. That's quite extreme but all across the developed world it has become clear that loneliness is a killer and it is an epidemic.
Alongside the rise of loneliness has been the decline in religious commitment. What this has revealed is that religion creates a huge amount of social capital. Social capital here is really just an academic term for being part of a healthy community. Yet community is eroding fast in rich nations and that's a problem.
A decline in social capital can have a lot of adverse side effects. A lack of social capital can be bad for your health, is associated with higher crime rates, and leads to lower levels of academic achievement. It has been speculated for decades that a decline in social capital will also lead to a decline in the health of our liberal democratic societies, though this is still a controversial stance that is difficult to prove. As fewer people attend church services, a large source of social capital in our society begins to fade away.
Atheists have begun to recognise that so far, atheists have largely been ineffective in creating the same amount of social capital as religious people. They are trying with initiatives like the atheist church The Sunday Assembly. But there is a huge and growing gap.
As time goes on and demographics and tastes change, the activities and institutions which drew people together in days gone by no longer have the same power in the modern world. While the morality of those changes is another subject, the social cost is one that can be measured. Will the new atheists rise to the challenge of providing the community that religion once provided? Or are we doomed to social decay and fragmentation?
In an article called The Death of the Church Todd Dildine says,
The church isn't the only community that is collapsing; It's all volunteer-based communities that are hurting! If we want to rebuild the church, we have to understand its problem as part of a much broader issue—we have to identify the force in the environment that's causing all communities to collapse. What we need to do is examine the "anti-community forces" that are threatening to pull apart all of our communities, and then we can develop strategies that resist these forces to begin cultivating strong communities of Christ again.
A small market town in the west of England, called Frome, has been attempting to push back against these 'anti-community forces' to remarkable effect.
Which brings me to hospitality. I said three years ago that Christians were losing the art of hospitality, I sad four years ago that hospitality is a church planting essential, and I've repeated my belief that what is being practised is a starved, skinny, under-nourished form of hospitality. And I've been known to go off on one on Twitter about hospitality (here in a blog post) and I'm not the only one.
.@PeteGreig telling it like it is. #hospitality pic.twitter.com/5qybc9d0Zh
— Sam Tomlin (@samjtomlin) March 6, 2018
Which is why I've noticed that in the last month or so that there are several new books coming out on the subject and that writers, leaders and movements are thinking through hospitality.
Aaron Gray in writing about pastors and hospitality says
Hospitality, by contrast, is focused on the one who is not already common. Verses like Matthew 25:35 and Hebrews 13:2 talk about welcoming and showing hospitality to the "stranger," or the xenos in Greek. Xenos is where we get our modern word xenophobia, or fear of the stranger. Where fellowship is focused more on an already-established group, hospitality is focused on new people, outsiders, and those who are foreign to us. Hospitality, therefore, is taking upon yourself the responsibility to help someone move from unknown to known, from stranger to family.
This notion of hospitality is one that Matt Chandler holds in his new book, Take heart
Hospitality might sound unexciting or initially feel confusing. But when the Bible speaks of hospitality, it almost always ties it to aliens and strangers—people who aren't like us. If I had to come up with a biblical definition for hospitality, I'd say it means to give loving welcome to those outside your normal circle of friends. It's opening your life and your house to those who believe differently than you do.
James Faris pushes back a little against the idea (that I myself make) that there is a difference between fellowship & hospitality. Yet says,
We need to be stretched to love others whom we do not yet know and those with whom we might not be most comfortable initially. Experience teaches us that one of the best ways to grow in this practice is to invite friends and those who are yet unknown to us into our lives and homes simultaneously. When we practice the "love of strangers" to people we know and to people we don't know, people feel loved without distinction.
Let me be clear, fellowship is really important and it's key in building a resilient community and pushing back against these anti-community forces at work in the world. But there are lots of people inside and outside the church who are already victims of these forces and they are lonely and unknown. Hospitality is a difference maker.
Jen Oshman asks whether hospitality is our mentality? And says,
We think our house isn't big enough, our kids are too crazy, we don't know how to cook, people don't do that anymore; it's weird, they'll think we're selling something. Or maybe we think it sounds too simple. We're looking for a professional way of doing hospitality; for the latest three-point strategy to love our neighbors and get them saved. But all of this misses the point.
Her broader point using 1 Thessalonians 2:8 is that the practice of hospitality makes us like Jesus.
As Christ followers, may we be like Jesus. May we be like the Thessalonians. May we love those around us so much that we share not only the gospel of God, but our lives—including our homes—as well. May we lay down our lives, lay down our personal space, lay down our homes, lay down our kids' playroom, lay down our quiet nights on the couch, and invite others inside.
Yet there is a connection between hospitality and reaching your community for Christ. Tilly Dillehay in thinking about Rosaria Butterfield's new book on hospitality (we'll get to that) says, "God saved me through hospitality. To be more precise, God used hospitality crucially in his pursuit of my soul." And then she concludes with:
It's a picture of the kind of lifestyle to which every Christian has been called—remembering that without this sacrificial giving of the home, many of us would never have met Christ ourselves.
Speaking of Butterfield, I feel somewhat nervous about reading her book because I think it's going to punch me in the gut and challenge me deep in my soul. I fear I will be exposed as a hypocrite for championing the cause on my blog and not being bold enough with my home. But read it I will, those kind of gut punches are good for your discipleship. For a short summary and a quick jab to the ribs, here she is with 10 things you should know about Christian hospitality. Here's one of them:
Every Christian is called to practice hospitality, but that does not mean that everyone practices it in the same way. We practice hospitality by sharing our resources and our needs, by serving as both host and guest, as Jesus did when he walked this earth. Hospitality works on the same principle as tithing. You are either giving, or you are receiving. You are either building up the body, or you need the body to build you up. All of us have a stake in hospitality because Jesus does.
There is also an exciting opportunity and a real challenge. There are more believers from Muslim backgrounds now than at any other point in history and as COlin Edwards says that poses a challenge to the church:
All believers present the church with the positive challenge of providing family, being family, for new believers. They need big sister and big brother figures. They need wider family. They are used to the idea that praying five times a day is a normal ideal and maybe even did manage to pray three times a day. To move to a church that lives for Sunday worship and a midweek homegroup is just not sufficient. The church in the UK needs to rediscover deep community, being in each other's houses and eating together, and being family through the week.
The answer is Christians who are convinced of the spiritual discipline of hospitality. But it's not easy as Matt Chandler says:
When we open up our homes and build friendships with those who don't look like us, believe like us, or act like us, we open up our lives and make ourselves vulnerable. We risk getting hurt and making enemies with those who don't think the way we think or act the way we act. Yet we can do it because of the hope, strength, and courage we get from the Lord.
Hospitality then helps create resilient communities as it makes us good Gospel neighbours. Hospitality provides the basis of discipleship for people from radically different faith backgrounds. Around a meal where eat together we break down barriers, defeat loneliness, demonstrate the Gospel, win hearts and shapes us into the likeness of Christ. That's why hospitality is a big deal and why as Krisk Kandiah says here it can change the world.


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Translational Research
Translational research transforms scientific discoveries arising from laboratory, clinical or population studies into clinically relevant applications to improve health by reducing disease incidence, morbidity and mortality. Owing to a dramatically increased understanding of disease mechanisms, NEI's translational research program has made significant progress
Gene Transfer: A pioneering, NEI-funded phase I clinical trial published in 2008 found that gene transfer for Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) resulted in modest visual improvement. This ongoing clinical trial is the result of years of translational research.
- In 1993, NEI intramural investigators studying the visual cycle isolated RPE65, a gene expressed in the retinal pigment epithelium
- The development of a RPE65 knockout mouse helped determine that RPE65 transports vitamin A to neural retina to enable phototransduction.
- In 1997, NEI investigators identified mutations in RPE65 as the cause of a form of LCA.
- In 1998, NEI investigators identified RPE65 mutations in Briard dogs with early onset visual impairment.
- Clinical studies of patients with LCA and animal model work established that retinal architecture remains normal for some period before photoreceptor cells degenerate, providing a window of opportunity to intervene in the disease with gene transfer.
- In a 2001, NEI investigators established that RPE65 gene transfer restored vision in Briard dogs.
- NEI next supported an R24 grant to conduct necessary pre-clinical toxicity studies to gain regulatory approval.
- In 2005, the Recombinant Advisory Committee granted approval to begin a phase I clinical trial of RPE65 gene transfer for LCA.
- In 2008, NEI investigators reported that RPE65 gene transfer was well-tolerated and resulted in statistically significant increases in visual sensitivity.
- In 2009, NEI investigators reported that visual improvements measured at three months have persisted for one year.
- This ongoing clinical trial will next evaluate gene transfer in younger patients with less advanced disease.
- Based on this breakthrough study, NEI grants support efforts to develop gene therapy for a number of eye diseases.
Neurotrophic Agents: During the early 1990s, NEI investigators began evaluating the use of neurotrophic agents in animal models of retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a family of retinal degenerative diseases. These naturally occurring proteins had been previously evaluated in a variety of neurodegenerative diseases. These early laboratory studies established that ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) resulted in photoreceptor cell protection in a variety of animal models of RP. In 2011, Neurotech Pharmaceuticals reported positive results from a phase II clinical trial with the use of ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) in age-related macular degeneration. These encouraging results were made possible with robust support from NEI.
- In 1994, NEI investigators reported that CNTF delayed retinal degeneration in a rodent model of retinal injury.
- In 1997, NEI investigators reported that CNTF is upregulated in animal models of retinal injury, providing evidence that CNTF is directly implicated in the protection of photoreceptor cells.
- In 1998, NEI investigators found that CNTF preserved photoreceptor function in a wide variety of animal models of RP.
- Although CNTF exhibited therapeutic potential, further progress was inhibited by drug delivery to the retina.
- During this period, Neurotech Pharmaceuticals licensed CNTF for use in its proprietary drug delivery device, encapsulated cell technology (ECT).
- ECT is an implantable device consisting of a semi-permeable encapsulated membrane containing transfected cells that produce CNTF. This device offered a viable method to deliver CNTF. However, Neurotech lacked funding to evaluate the utility of its drug delivery device.
- In 2002, NEI provided funding to evaluate the ECT device in canine models of RP. These studies established proof-of-concept that the ECT device was an effective drug delivery method for CNTF.
- NEI provided funding necessary to gain regulatory approval for ECT with CNTF.
- NEI also funded the phase I clinical trial to establish the safety of CNTF in patients with RP. Results from this study, published in 2006, established that ECT delivery with CNTF was well-tolerated.
- Preliminary data suggested that patients in the trial experienced two to three lines of visual improvement on an eye chart. The trial also demonstrated that the ECT device might be a viable drug delivery device for a variety of therapeutic proteins and other drugs.
- A subsequent Phase II clinical trial evaluating ECT delivery of CNTF found that this treatment approach was effective in treating geographic atrophy, an advanced form of age-related macular degeneration.
- While awaiting results from the phase I clinical trial for ECT in RP, subsequent NEI-supported animal model studies, published in 2010, found that CNTF regenerates cone photoreceptor cell outer segments. Outer segments are essential to phototransduction, the biochemical process that converts light into an electrical signal.
Cell Therapy\Regenerative Medicine: Another promising therapy for eye disease is cell transplantation. Some of these approaches have already led to standard, state-of-the-art treatments, such as corneal transplantation. Other investigational treatments are being developed through NEI's translational research efforts.
- During the early 1990s, NEI supported retinal cell transplantation studies in animal models. These early studies, using fetal or adult cells, found that implantation of donor cells delayed retinal degeneration in animal models of RP. However, transplanted cells could not migrate to integrate with the host retina.
- In more recent studies, NEI supported investigators have developed RPE cells from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS). These cells have delayed retinal degeneration in animal models of retinal disease.
- Based on this and other work, in November 2010, the FDA granted approval to Advanced Cell technology to evaluate their proprietary iPS RPE cells in the treatment of Stargardt disease and age-related macular degeneration.
- Efforts to replace lost cell function require that donor cells integrate with the host. Recent NEI work has focused on developing new tissue or organ structures rather than disassociated single cell types. In a recent NEI supported study, investigators implanted animal pole cells isolated from blastula stage embryos of Xenopus laevis in the eye bed. These precursor cells formed an entire eye, with appropriate neural structure and connectivity. ERGs in iPS induced eyes were similar to normal eyes. Importantly these could guide vision based behavior.
- These and other studies are providing important clues in the development of regenerative medicine.
Last Reviewed: December 2011


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I am now a postdoctoral research fellow in the Donahue lab!
I joined the Donahue lab in 2013 as a Marine Biology Ph.D. student. Broadly, my research interests are in the ecology and spatial dynamics of marine communities with a focus on reef fish, their predators and prey. I recently earned my Masters of Science in Ecology and Evolution from Florida State University where I was advised by Felicia Coleman and Kevin Craig. My Master's thesis investigated how the effects of areas of low oxygen in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico propagate up through the food web to higher trophic levels. While at Florida State University, I was also involved in other research projects including tropical reef assessments, goliath grouper projects, and trawl and benthic surveys of the Gulf of Mexico. I was also a science instructor with a middle school outreach program called Saturday at the Sea where we brought groups of students to the marine lab and into the field for the day.
Before I began my graduate studies, I worked in South Caicos with the School for Field Studies as a research intern. There I assisted with studies of the natural markings on Nassau grouper, juvenile habitat enhancement for spiny lobster, lionfish diet, and an assessment of artificial reef habitat. I also worked at the Newfound Harbor Marine Institute in the Florida Keys as a Science Instructor leading snorkel and kayak trips in addition to marine based lab projects.
I received my Bachelors of Science degree from Elon University where I majored in Biology and minored in Chemistry. As part of my degree, I completed a honors thesis focused on Nassau grouper in the Turks and Caicos Islands. This work included a survey of the grouper population around Long Cay, an assessment a juvenile habitat enhancement project, and a literature review of the biology of Nassau grouper. During my undergraduate career, I was able to be a part of sea turtle, lemon shark, and conch research projects. I also spent a summer at the University of California at Davis's marine lab in Bodega Bay researching the impacts of climate change on an intertidal snail through a combination of field, lab, and historical analyses.


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Low-Carb, High Protein Mini Cakes By Keetopia
Here you can find our line of low carb high protein mini cakes that we rotate every season. All of our mini cakes are made from scratch and contain all natural ingredients. Most of our mini cakes are less than 20 grams of carbs (unless otherwise stated; we are foodies so flavor and texture are important) and contain more than 30 gr. of hydrolyzed isolated protein. At Keetopia, we use gluten free ingredients but our baked products are out the same facility at this time.


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|View source on GitHub
Forward features to predictions dictionary.
In some cases, user wants to see some of the features in estimators prediction output. As an example, consider a batch prediction service: The service simply runs inference on the users graph and returns the results. Keys are essential because there is no order guarantee on the outputs so they need to be rejoined to the inputs via keys or transclusion of the inputs in the outputs. Example:
def input_fn():
features, labels = ...
features['unique_example_id'] = ...
features, labels
estimator = tf.estimator.LinearClassifier(...)
estimator = tf.contrib.estimator.forward_features(
estimator, 'unique_example_id')
assert 'unique_example_id' in estimator.predict(...)
estimator: A
tf.estimator.Estimator object.
keys: A
string or a
list of
string. If it is
None, all of the
features in
dict is forwarded to the
predictions. If it is a
string, only given key is forwarded. If it is a
list of strings, all
the given
keys are forwarded.
sparse_default_values: A dict of
str keys mapping the name of the sparse
features to be converted to dense, to the default value to use. Only
sparse features indicated in the dictionary are converted to dense and the
provided default value is used.
A new
tf.estimator.Estimator which forwards features to predictions.
ValueError: * if
keysis already part of
predictions. We don't allow override.
- if 'keys' does not exist in
- if 'keys' does not exist in
TypeError: if
keystype is not one of
stringor list/tuple of


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Islamism, Democracy and Liberalism in Turkey
The Case of the AKP
Prices & shipping based on shipping country
Book Description
The Justice and Development Party (AKP) were elected to power in 2002 and since then Turkish politics has undergone considerable change. This book is a comprehensive analysis of the AKP, in terms not just of its ideological agenda, but also of its social basis and performance in office in the main theatres of public policy – political reform, and cultural, economic and foreign policies.
Based on an extensive analysis of official and party documents, interviews, academic sources and media coverage, the book outlines the main features of the current global debate on the relationship between Islam, Islamism and democracy. While most top AKP leaders come from an Islamist background, the party has behaved as a moderate, centre-right, conservative democratic party who are fully committed to democracy, a free market economy and Turkey's EU membership. The book explores and analyses these changes in Turkish politics, and provides coverage of the workings of the contemporary Turkish political systems, policy and ideological issues that go to the heart of Turkish identity.
Filling a gap in the existing Turkish and English literature on the subject, this book will be an important contribution to Political Science, particularly the areas of Turkish politics, Middle Eastern studies, Islamic studies and comparative politics.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Islamism, Democracy and the Turkish Experience Part 1: The AKP's History, Ideology, Social Bases and Organization 1. The History of Islamist Parties in Turkey: From the National Order Party to the Justice and Development Party (AKP) 2. The AKP's Ideology: Conservative Democracy 3. The AKP's Social Bases: A New Centre-Right Coalition? 4. Party Organization Part 2: The AKP in Government 5. Democratizing Reforms and Constitutional Issues 6. Cultural Policies: Creeping Islamisation or Politics of Avoidance? 7. The AKP Government and the Military 8. The AKP and the Turkish Economy 9. Foreign Policy and the AKP Conclusions, Assessments and Expectations
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Ergun Ozbudun is Professor of Constitutional Law and Political Science at Bilkent University.
William Hale is the former Professor of Turkish Politics in the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London. He is a specialist on the politics of the Middle East, especially Turkey, and has written a number of papers and books on modern Turkish politics and history.


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After leaving medical school (in the fourth year), I found my way into advertising, where I began as a jr. copywriter at BBDO. Fortunately, I didn't go out to dinner one night, and I was discovered by the late, great Phil Dusenberry– the guy who did the Reagan campaign and (accidentally) set Michael Jackson's hair on fire for Pepsi. Phil was my "rabbi" in the business and tremendously influenced the scale of my thinking, especially how I approach creating image for clients.
At BBDO, and then afterwards at DMB&B, Y&R and KPR. I (along with many amazing people) created award-winning campaigns for Apple computers, Black & Decker, US Post Office, Colgate-Palmolive and many others, as well as some pharmaceutical campaigns for Risperdal, Rezulin, Nasocort and others. (Always turn your failures, like medical school, into successes.) My claim to fame still lingers as the writer of Gillette. The Best A Man Can Get, still running in over 100 countries around the world.
After a decade on Madison Avenue, a strange, mysterious "chance"-meeting happened, which, many years later, lead to my ordination as a rabbi and involvement in inter-religious dialogue. I've worked with Catholics, Protestants, Muslims and others, around the world.
I'm currently on the Board of Directors for The Center for Spirituality and Health Education at the State University of New York (Stony Brook), In addition, I was appointed adjunct professor in the School of Social Welfare, teaching, on a graduate level, spirituality and comparative religion.
I am Social Responsibility Officer for the Patton Foundation, working with the granddaughter of General George S. Patton, Helen Patton, in her history-healing organizations around the world.
I helped a lot of non-profits along the way, including AARP, CAIR (the Council on American Islamic Relations), URI (United Religions Initiative) and uncountable others.I continue to do this. It makes me very happy.
As my knowledge of advertising, business, image, spirituality, religion and ethics has fused into a single life-understanding, this just seemed to lead me to coaching executives and CEO's. My forte is teaching them how to improve their bottom line by handling, correctly, their personal and professional lives. You might call this "Spirituality in Business", which I now a class I teach at the Iacocca institute for Global Entrepreneurship at Lehigh University.
As you'll discover on this website, I've authored some books, had a column in Success magazine and a proverbial 5 minutes of fame.
Right now, I live in Bucks County PA, with my wonderful wife of 33 years, artist Teddy Frank. We have three children, Christian, Adam and Zoe.
See also www.universaljudaism.org


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Today With Sean O Rourke Thursday 15 June 2017
(Listen back to episodes of 'Today with Sarah McInerney' here)
The mid-morning current affairs magazine with the stories of the day, sharp analysis, sports coverage, in-depth features and consumer interest. Presented by Cormac Ó hEadhra
British Prime Minister Theresa May is to hold talks today with the Northern Ireland politcal parties amid warnings an expected deal with the DUP to prop up her minority government could undermine the peace process. We spoke to Noel Doran, editor of the Irish News.
Well as we know, tough times lie ahead for Ireland with Brexit looming large on the horizon. And while much uncertainty still surrounds the precise shape Brexit will eventually take, in an attempt to prepare businesses for whatever might lie in wait, Enterprise Ireland have been hosting a number of 'Prepare for Brexit' roadshows around the country.
With us this morning, were Enterprise Ireland's Leo McAdams, business owners Paul Jacob, MD of Smart Storage and Daithí O'Connor, MD of Revive Active.
Reporter Brian O'Connell has been looking at the issue of persons presenting at emergency departments feeling suicidal or having attempted suicide. In some cases, patients feel they haven't been able to access acute units when they felt they needed to. Today, Brian focuses on the West of Ireland.
After all the speculation and relentless guess work - In the end Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's Cabinet changes turned out to be fairly limited. Three new senior cabinet ministers appointed and Mary Mitchell O'Connor the only Cabinet Minister to face demotion. Although, she still retains a seat at cabinet as a super junior minister with responsibility for higher education. Paschal Donohue may well need a double helping of porridge every morning as he finds his work load doubled as he oversees both finance and public expenditure and reform.
Joining us this morning was the re-appointed Minister for Education Richard Bruton and Fiach Kelly of the Irish Times.
Recent figures reveal there are almost 8000 drivers on our roads with multiple concurrent disqualifications on their licenses.
It's a terrifying thought for anyone on the road- whether driving, cycling or walking.....and the research, compiled by the Road Safety Authority, also found that banned drivers are responsible for killing between 11 and 14 people every year.
Claire Doyle's husband Willie Crowley was one of those victims, he died after being hit by a driver on December 15th, 2015 while walking home. She joined us this morning.
Beoga are getting ready for a busy summer of touring, but they're here this morning to perform for us.
Paddy O'Gorman has been to Kilrush District Court.
Arco String Quartet
Presenter: Sean O'Rourke


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Finding A Soulmate In 48 Hours???
Did you know our very own Alisa Purifico was in a Buzzfeed Video trying to help Aria to track down his soulmate in under 48
Shannon's Circle offers customized matchmaker services to exceptional people. Shannon's Circle primarily attracts upscale, sophisticated, attractive and successful people in the San Francisco Bay Area who are interested in meeting that special someone for a long term relationship.
People that partner with Shannon have rich and fulfilling lives, and are excited to share it all with someone wonderful. They know that finding their life partner will take time and effort and they want to accelerate the process. Often it will require expanding their social circles, and they don't have a lot of time to build new networks. This is where Shannon's Circle comes in. Shannon is able to fill a key gap through high-caliber, quality introductions that can expand your circles quickly.
In one word – Shannon. Shannon is a connector and has a natural matchmaking talent. She has a natural instinct to match people. She loves helping exceptional people find true love. Shannon puts her heart into matchmaking and is relentless in finding the right connection. Shannon is an Ivy League graduate who brings special skills to the table. See more About Shannon & Shannon's Testimonials.
Shannon has the gift of attracting amazing people into her life. Shannon brings to the matchmaking table a unique network of high-caliber people, beyond her Ivy League network. This opens doors to new circles of people for you to meet.
Did you know our very own Alisa Purifico was in a Buzzfeed Video trying to help Aria to track down his soulmate in under 48
Hire a dating coach? I know you must be wondering, what is a dating coach and why would you need one? Trust me, I have
A lot of people believe that long-distance relationships never work out in the end. You may have already been discouraged from being in one by
When you embark on a new relationship with someone, it is natural to have positive feelings for your new-found partner. But regardless of whether your


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We are very excited to have the privilege to partner with Raintree Systems and their customers. Raintree's product offering in the Physical Therapy, Chiropractic and Rehabilitation practice markets is very important to our payers.
Temecula, CA and Concord, CA (PRWEB) October 24, 2013
Raintree Systems, Inc., a leading provider of value based solutions for the US and Canada healthcare industries, and Jopari Solutions, a principal supplier of integrated medical transaction EDI services to the Property and Casualty Industry, announced today they have established interfaces allowing Raintree clients to directly access Jopari's expanding nationwide list of Workers' Compensation and Auto Medical payers.
Raintree Systems has already successfully assisted several clients with Jopari integration, and is preparing to implement many more. "We have established Jopari as our Premier Connectivity Partner for the Property & Casualty insurance industry", explained Terrence Sims, COO of Raintree. "Jopari has an industry presence that not only brings for our clients a vast network of payers and other channel partners, but is regarded as one of the key industry experts in this area."
Said Don St. Jacques, SVP of Business Development and Client Services of Jopari, "We are very excited to have the privilege to partner with Raintree Systems and their customers. Raintree's product offering in the Physical Therapy, Chiropractic and Rehabilitation practice markets is very important to our payers. Many patients of Workers' Compensation and Auto Medical payers utilize these types of services, and the ability for both providers and payers to interact electronically dramatically improves the workflow as well as the overall revenue cycle."
Founded in 1983, Raintree Systems, Inc., a privately-held corporation, is a provider of integrated patient registration, scheduling, electronic medical records, E-Prescribing, billing/collections and management reporting within a single application; empowering organizations to improve client/patient care, streamline workflows and enhance profitability. Raintree has a proven track record of success and customer satisfaction in Physical Rehabilitation, Surgery, Behavioral Health, Long-Term Pediatric Rehabilitation, Chiropractic, and Billing Service industries, with more than 2,200 implementations and 17,000 concurrent licensed users deployed throughout more than 50 specialties. Our customer base includes commercial, non-profit and government agencies across the US and Canada. For more information about Raintree Systems, visit http://www.raintreeinc.com .
Jopari Solutions, Inc. is a SSAE 16 Type II attested technology products company supplying integrated eBill compliance and payment solutions to workers' compensation, auto medical and healthcare payers and providers. Jopari has established an extensive connectivity network directly with providers, practice management systems and clearinghouses, and offers innovative solutions to assist with the management of attachments. Jopari significantly enhances payers' ability to manage medical bills and disbursements, allowing significant reductions in associated expenses as well as full compliance with applicable federal rules and jurisdiction eBill/ePay regulatory requirements. For more information, please visit http://www.jopari.com, email info(at)jopari(dot)com, or call 800.903.7799 ext. 5213.


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After the stupidly cold weather we've had for the past couple of weeks it was great to get out and do some sea fishing. As the BLAS social cup at Perch Rock was cancelled due to the snow and ice it was moved to Anchorsholme, an area just North of Blackpool and South of Cleveleys.
With the sea being almost flat calm and no movement of consequence in the water the humble Dab was the target species. Armed with 30 or so frozen (past their best) black lug and some Mackerel as bait I met up with the guys for a few of hours before high water then selected a spot in front of what I thought looked like a 'fishy' gully, set up a couple of 1 up 1 down clipped rigs with size 1 hooks (just in case anything bigger turned up) and waited for the shout of 'all in'. We cast our baits into the darkness and then the wait began.
It was a good job the company and banter was good as the fishing in the area I selected was grim, not a bite for 2 hours. It was so bad a couple of the guys left early so I moved along the prom 50 yard or so to continue – hoping to maybe locate a fish or two.
The move payed off and I landed my first fish of 2011, a small Dab of 24cm. It seemed I had found the fish but time ran out on me and the call 'all out' came far too soon.
Although it initially looked like the fishing was going to be rubbish over half of those present handed in catch sheets which considering the less than ideal conditions was a great result all round.
First sea fishing outing of 2011, a fish and a good chat with some mates – what a great start to the year.


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Lined Drapes Tutorial
After my friend made me beautiful ruffled bedding for Ansiton in one of my favorite fabrics, osnaburg, I decided to make coordinating lined drapes. Why make them? I wanted them to be an exact match and wanted to line them with blackout fabric. I consider it a miracle fabric for babies! There are several tutorials online, but I wanted to share mine – I felt many of them overcomplicated what is truly a simple process. It just takes a couple hours, a little patience and a lot of ironing. {Sorry}.
Cut your fabric if needed, leaving extra for the length. Mine was already the width I wanted. Iron your fabric. I'm sorry, but it has to be done. For the top and two sides, fold the fabric over an inch or two and iron.
Now fold again, leaving a clean edge and iron. Align your lining at the tip and left edge. Tuck into your fold and pin. Trim the right side carefully so that it hits against the fold.
Tuck and pin.
You are now ready to sew the top, then the two sides. Carefully measure the length you want your drapes, once hung from both the clips and rod. Measure and cut, adding an additional 4 inches for a significant fold at the bottom. I did this on my dining room floor where I had plenty of room to spread the fabric out. Sew. Equally space pinch clips, clipping low enough that only a little of the ring will show.
Hang from your rod and you're done! From start to finish, this project took 2.5 hours. Most of it was ironing!