text:
Study of Light Harvesting Properties of Different Classes of Metal-Free Organic Dyes in TiO2 Based Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
In dye-sensitized solar cells, the photosensitization of TiO2 thin film semiconductor was accomplished by using different classes of metal-free (fluorone, triarymethane, azo and thiazine based) organic dyes as photosensitizer. The broad electronic absorption spectra of these dyes have been obtained in the visible region due to the presence of chromophoric groups in these dyes. The contribution of these dyes as light harvesting species is seen from the photocurrent action spectrum of the cell. Here, we report the sensitization activity of these dyes in terms of current-potential curve, open-circuit potential, fill factor, IPCE, and overall solar energy conversion efficiency which have been evaluated under 100 mW/cm2 light intensity. The results suggest that dyes based on fluorone and azo groups are promising candidates for high performance, dye-sensitized solar cells because of better anchoring groups (–COOH, –OH, and –) present in these dyes. Better anchorage of dyes to the surface of TiO2 semiconductor helps in charge transfer phenomenon.
1. Introduction
Direct conversion of sunlight into electricity using solar cells is a steadily growing energy technology which is gaining tremendous popularity because they can produce electricity near the end user, avoiding transmission losses and costs. The solar panels operate without noise, toxicity, or greenhouse gas emissions. However, due to the high material and fabrication cost of Si solar cells, the PV electricity generated is less than 0.1% of the total energy demand of the world. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have the potential to be a low-cost alternative to silicon solar cells due to their low cost and high power conversion efficiency [1–15].
A typical dye-sensitized solar cell is depicted in Figure 1. The device is constituted of two transparent conducting oxide substrates (TCO) such as fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) on glass or polymeric substrates [16]. One TCO is a photoanode, composed of a sensitizer adsorbed onto the surface of the nanocrystalline semiconductor electrode (typically nanostructured TiO2) and the other is a photoinert counterelectrode with a thin layer of a catalyst (for instance, platinum) sandwiching an electrolyte/relay medium (usually a solution containing the / pair). n-TiO2 is the most employed semiconductor material in dye-sensitized photoelectrochemical solar cells due to its favorable energetics, good stability, low cost and facile processing [17–19].
In a regenerative DSSC, visible light is efficiently converted into electricity without any permanent chemical change (Figure 2). All the processes involved in the functioning of such cells in general are summarized below.
First Step. Photoexcitation of sensitizer (dye) molecules anchored onto the surface of the S.C. electrode:
Second Step. Electron injection from excited dye molecules into the conduction band of the S.C. is as follows:
Third Step. Flow of injected electrons to C.E. through external circuit and accomplishing reduction reaction is as follows:
Forth Step. Reduction of oxidized dye molecules resulting after electron injection (regeneration process) is as follows:
Net Result (Sum of All the 4 Steps). The net results of the four steps involved are:(i)No net chemical change ().(ii)Only light is converted to electricity.
Till date, a variety of frameworks and materials are being pursued to replace Si based and other thin film technologies in which the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) developed by Grätzel continues to be one of the most efficient "next generation" technologies having power conversion efficiencies () in excess of 10% [4, 8]. But owing to the limited resources, environmentally unfriendly nature, and high cost of ruthenium metal, the efforts have been continued to search for more and more efficient sensitizers. With an objective to search for efficient sensitizers, many new commercial [20–25] and synthetic dyes (organic compounds and inorganic metal complexes) [26–29] have been studied for spectral sensitization of wide band gap semiconductor electrodes.
Many efforts have been made to change the different parts of organic dyes to optimize DSSC performance. To date, hundreds of n-type organic dyes including coumarin dyes, indoline dyes, tetrahydroquinoline dyes, triarylamine dyes, heteroanthracene dyes, carbazole dyes, N, N-dialkylaniline dyes, hemicyanine dyes, merocyanine dyes, squaraine dyes, perylene dyes, anthraquinone dyes, boradiazaindacene (BODIPY) dyes, oligothiophene dyes, and polymeric dyes have been adopted to act as sensitizers for DSSCs and impressive efficiencies have been obtained. The structures and their photovoltaic parameter have been reviewed by Hagfeldt and coworkers [30].
Meanwhile, fluorone, triarylmethane, azo, and thiazine based organic dyes as sensitizers have been applied successfully to sensitization of nanocrystalline TiO2-based solar cells and the corresponding photovoltaic properties are presented in this paper by using iodine/iodide redox couple in propylene carbonate as a cell electrolyte.
2. Experimental Study
2.1. Materials
The propylene carbonate (Merck) was employed as a medium of electrolyte solution; LiI (Aldrich) and I2 (BDH) were used as redox couple in PEC experiments. Titanium paste (HT) was used for preparing TiO2 electrode; platinum catalyst (T/SP) used as the counter electrode and sealing agent (SX1170-60, 50 μm) were obtained from Solaronix. Conductive glass plate was obtained from Pilkington, USA. The fluorone, triarylmethane, azo, and thiazine based organic dyes were purchased from CDH, India.
2.2. Preparation of TiO2 Electrode (Photo Anode) and Counterelectrode
TiO2 film electrode (photoanode) was prepared by spreading a highly transparent paste of TiO2 (Titanium-HT) on a conductive glass plate (15 Ω/cm2, Pilkington, USA) by the doctor's blade method and annealing at 450°C for half an hour in air. The dye was attached to the TiO2 surface by immersing the TiO2 coated electrodes in the solution of dye according to their solubility for 8 h. The nonadsorbed dye was washed with anhydrous ethanol. Platinum counterelectrode was prepared by deposition of Pt catalyst T/SP paste on another conductive glass and annealed at 400°C for half an hour in air.
2.3. DSSC Assembly
Before assembling the components of the cell, the dye was anchored onto the surface of the TiO2 thin film electrode by immersing it for 6 h in the dye solution prepared in a suitable solvent (methanol or DCM). The nonadsorbed dye was washed off with anhydrous ethanol. To assemble the cell, the platinum catalyst-coated counterelectrode was placed over dye-coated TiO2 electrode in such a way that the conductive side of the counter electrode faced the dye-coated TiO2 film, and the cell was sealed on three sides by using the spacer SX1170-60, 50 μm (Solaronix, heating it at ~80°C); one side was left open for the injection of electrolyte solution. The cell electrolyte (0.2 M lithium iodide mixed with 0.02 M iodine in propylene carbonate) was injected through opening and was drawn into the space between the electrodes by capillary action. Thereafter, the open side was also sealed carefully with araldite. On uncovered portion of the electrodes, the tips of the copper wires were attached using silver paste which was subsequently covered with araldite and dried before use.
2.4. Apparatus and Instruments
A bipotentiostat (model number AFRDE 4E, Pine Instrument Company, USA) and recorder (e-Corder 201, Australia) were used for all current-potential measurements. For PEC measurements, a 150 W xenon arc lamp (Oriel Corporation, USA) was used as the light source and the semiconductor electrode was illuminated after passing the light beam through a water column 6 inches in length (to filter IR) and condensing it with the help of fused-silica lenses (Oriel Corporation, USA). The light was monochromatised, when required, by using a grating monochromator (Oriel model 77250 equipped with model 7798 grating). The width of the exit slit of the monochromator was kept at 0.5 mm. To obtain the action spectrum () of the dye-sensitized TiO2 electrode, the monochromatic light-induced photocurrent was measured with a digital multimeter (Philips Model No. 2525) in combination with the potentiostat. The intensities of light were measured with a digital photometer (Tektronix model J16 with model J 6502 sensor) in combination with neutral density filters (model number 50490-50570, Oriel, USA).
3. Result and Discussion
The electronic absorption spectra of these dyes display bands in the visible region (400–700 nm) of electromagnetic spectrum. The absorption peak values (), molecular formula, molecular weight, and structure of the dyes are presented in Table 1.
The power output parameters of the dye-sensitized photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell (TiO2 electrode/dye-containing electrolyte/platinum counter electrode) were determined from current-potential curves () obtained under illumination with 100 mW/cm2 light intensity. Keeping the cell (DSSC) illuminated with desired light, the potential at the working electrode is swept in a selected range and generated current is recorded. From such current-potential curve, all cell output parameters (open-circuit photovoltage (), fill factor (FF), and overall power conversion efficiency () were obtained.
The maximum output power () is obtained by choosing a point "x" on experimentally determined () curve (black line in Figure 3) corresponding to which the product of current () and voltage () gives maximum value. The fill factor (FF) and power conversion efficiency () are evaluated using the following relations: Here, , , and are short-circuit photocurrent, open-circuit potential, and intensity of incident light, respectively. The fill factor is obviously always less than unity for any cell and it is the measure of the fraction of the ideal power () which is obtainable at the best for external use.
To ascertain unambiguously the sensitization of photocurrent by the dye under investigation, the action spectrum of dye-modified TiO2 electrode was determined. The close resemblance of the nature of such spectrum with the absorption spectrum of the respective dye-coated electrode indicates the sensitization of photocurrent by dye. Initially, the short-circuit photocurrent () induced by monochromatic light was determined in the range of visible light (400–700 nm wavelength). From the values of and the intensity of the corresponding monochromatic light (), the incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) was calculated at each excitation wavelength () by using following equation: The (IPCE versus ) plots (action spectra) thus obtained for TiO2 electrodes coated with different dyes were compared with the electronic absorption spectra of the dyes. The close resemblance of action spectrum and electronic absorption spectra reveals the contribution of these dyes as a light harvesting material/component in the dye-sensitized solar cells.
3.1. Fluorone Based Dyes
The current-potential curves, obtained by using fluorone based (Phloxine B, ethyl eosin, Eosinol, and Erythrosine B) dyes as sensitizers, adsorbing on nanocrystalline TiO2 thin film electrode are shown in Figure 4. Ethyl eosin shows the highest photocurrent ( mA/cm2) and the highest efficiency (%) among the fluorone based dyes. The decreasing trend of cell efficiencies of the fluorone based dyes is as follows: ethyl eosin (1.25%) > Erythrosin B (1.10%) > Eosinol (1.03%) > Phloxine B (0.92%). The remarkable efficiencies have been obtained in fluorone based dyes due to better anchoring group (–COOH, –OH) present in the system for better interaction to the surface of TiO2 semiconductor for efficient electron injection.
The close resemblance of the absorption spectrum of these dyes with the respective action spectrum confirms the sensitization of the photocurrent by dye (Figure 5). The onset wavelength of the IPCE spectrum of DSSC on the fluorone based dyes is 650 nm. The highest value of the IPCE, obtained among these dyes was 33% at 535 nm in the case of ethyl eosin. The output parameters such as , , FF, , and IPCE, obtained by using these dyes, are summarized in Table 2. These IPCE values obtained under short-circuit conditions can be increased if the semiconductor photoanode is externally biased with positive potential.
3.2. Triarylmethane Based Dyes
The triarylmethane based dyes (Victoria blue 4R, acid fuchsin, chromoxane cyanin R, and methyl green) display short-circuit current and open-circuit voltage in the ranges of 2.16 to 2.63 mA/cm2 and −0.614 to −0.626 V, respectively (Figure 6). The highest photocurrent and efficiency were obtained by using chromoxane cyanin R ( mA/cm2, V, , and %).
Figure 7 displays incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) plotted as a function of excitation wavelength of the triarylmethane based dyes. The IPCE spectra for these dyes showed good agreement with the absorption behavior of the dyes on TiO2 film, indicating the photosensitization of TiO2 thin film semiconductor by these dyes. The IPCE spectrum exhibits a maximum of 30% for chromoxane cyanin R at 520 nm. The short-circuit current, efficiency, and IPCE maximum value for methyl green and Victoria blue 4R are lower than those obtained in other triarylmethane based dyes, possibly due to poor anchorage of dye with TiO2 surface. On the other hand, chromoxane cyanin R and acid fuchsin with anchoring groups, –COOH and –, showing better efficiency and IPCE value. The photovoltaic parameters obtained by using these triarylmethane based dyes are shown in Table 3.
3.3. Azo Based Dye
Photovoltaic performances of the azo based dye (Orange G, Sudan III, Azophloxine, and Xylidine ponceau), sensitizing TiO2 film electrodes, are listed in Table 4, and the corresponding photocurrent-voltage curves are shown in Figure 8. Azophloxine also shows better efficiency among this class of dyes. The decreasing trend of efficiency for these dyes is as follows: Azophloxine > Xylidine ponceau > Orange G > Sudan III. The short-circuit current and open-circuit voltage of Sudan III are lower than the others, which can be attributed to the poor injection efficiency of the dyes. This may be the result of the small energy gap between electrolyte and dyes.
The action spectra obtained by using azo based dyes (Figure 9) show resemblance with the absorption spectra for these dyes, thereby confirming the sensitization of photocurrent by these dyes. The maximum IPCE obtained with Azophloxine (32%) and the lowest IPCE value obtained among these azo based dyes is for Orange G with 27%. The onset wavelength of the IPCE for the Azo based dyes are 600 nm.
3.4. Thiazine Based Dyes
The thiazine based dyes (Azure C, Azure B, and Toluidine blue O) show their photosensitization activity by current-potential curve in Figure 10. The photocurrent obtained by using these dyes was in the range of 2.21 to 2.57 mA/cm2 and the open-circuit potential was in the range of −0.538 V to −0.552. In thiazine based dye series, Azure B shows the maximum photocurrent (2.70 mA/cm2) and the maximum power conversion efficiency (0.79%). Toluidine blue O shows the lowest photocurrent and cell efficiency, having the values of 2.21 mA/cm2 and 0.68%, respectively, in thiazine series.
The IPCE values exceed 28% for Azure B, 25% for Azure C, and 22% for Toluidine blue O at their characteristic absorption wavelengths (Figure 11). The corresponding open-circuit voltage (), short-circuits current density (), fill factor (FF), and power conversion efficiency (%) for thiazine based dyes are listed in Table 5. The lowest efficiency of this class of dye compared to other classes of dyes is due to the poor interaction of thiazine based dyes to the surface of TiO2 because of the poor anchoring group present in thiazine based dyes.
The decreasing order of efficiencies of these classes of dyes is as follows: fluorone based > azo based > triarylmethane based > thiazine based dyes. Among these, the fluorone and azo based dyes show better photovoltaic performances due to better anchorage property to the surface of TiO2, chemical stability, and wide visible spectrum.
There are some general principles for dyes to be efficient sensitizers.(1)The dye should be absorbed into the whole visible region (400–700 nm).(2)The dye used as photosensitizers should be fulfilling the reversibility criteria for long term application.(3)The LUMO level of the dye should be more negative and above the conduction band edge whereas the HOMO level of the dye should lie below the energy level of the redox mediator to allow efficient regeneration of the oxidized dye.(4)The dye should possess better anchoring group which favors strong adsorption onto the semiconductor surface.(5)It should not desorb into the electrolytic solution.(6)The dye should not aggregate onto the semiconductor electrode.The electrochemical studies of some fluorone and thiazine based dye are summarized in Table 6 for the comparison of better performance of fluorone based sensitizers and poor performance of thiazine based sensitizers. These dye are well absorbed in visible region but they are not following the reversibility criteria ( mV). In fluorone based dyes, theses value is not more than 200 mV whereas, in thiazine based dyes, these values are more than 200 mV. Both groups show quasireversible process which is one of the main factors for the poor performance of these dyes compared to the ruthenium based dyes. In fluorone based dyes, the LUMO level is sufficiently more negative than in the thiazine based dyes leading to better electron injection properties from excited state of dyes to the conduction band of the TiO2 [31]. Another important factor for poor performances of thiazine and triarylmethane based dyes is lack of proper anchoring group for adsorption onto the surface of semiconductor electrode whereas, in fluorone and azo based dyes, –COOH and –SO3H are the main anchoring group which facilitates the greater adsorption on the semiconductor electrode.
4. Conclusion
Comparative behavior of these fluorone, triarylmethane, azo, and thiazine based commercial dyes has been shown in this paper, which is essential for the further studies of chromophoric group behavior as photosensitizers. With the use of these commercial dyes, the spectral response of wide band gap TiO2 electrode can be extended well into the visible region (up to 700 nm wavelength).
Action spectra with these dyes adsorbed on TiO2 electrode provide clear evidence for its sensitization effect as photosensitizers. Amongst all the series of the organic dyes used, the best performance was shown by fluorone based dye (ethyl eosin), having photocurrent of 3.35 mA/cm2 and power conversion efficiency of about 1.25%. The Azo based dyes also show better performance with cell efficiency of about 1.19% (Azophloxine). This is probably due to better interaction between the sulfonic () groups of Azophloxine and carboxylate group () of the ethyl eosin to the TiO2 surface. These dyes have properties such as better anchorage to the TiO2 surface, short adsorption time, chemical stability, and wide visible spectrum which makes them promising candidates for use as sensitizer in dye-sensitized solar cell. Although, they show low photovoltaic performance in comparison to inorganic dye based DSSCs, still owning to their easy fabrication technique and low cost, these organic dyes provide a potential method for the development of efficiently low-cost DSSCs.
Conflict of Interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
The authors (Ratna Chauhan and Lal Bahadur) are grateful to the Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi, for financial assistance for this work. The author Reena Kushwaha is thankful to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), New Delhi, for financial support.
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text:
Publication Date:
March 6th 2018
RC Boldt Publishing, LLC
The beer's not the only thing getting tapped.
I have a secret. It'll get me fired if my boss ever finds out…which shouldn't be a problem except for one thing: my coworker, Reid Morgan.
He's cocky, aggravating, and that hot-as-sin mouth simultaneously makes me want to slap him and melt into the mattress.
Now that he's discovered my secret, he's doing everything in his power to take my job.
I have a problem: my pint-size spitfire of a coworker who's primed to take my promotion.
She's infuriating, sexy as hell, and I just can't seem to keep my hands off her.
Now we're both vying for the same position…and only one of us can come out on top.
*I was provided a copy by the publisher in exchange for an honest review
You know when you are super excited for a book just to end up disappointed?? That was what happened to me with Tap That. I was really excited for this book when I first heard about it not only because I love Jennifer Blackwood books but also because it has an enemies turned lovers romance and that's one of my favorite tropes. However, I ended up being disappointed with some things on this book that I wished could have been done differently. First of all, let's talk about the characters.
I couldn't connect with Reid and Callie for some reason. I don't know why but I didn't care about them or their relationship. I really didn't like Callie. She got to my nerves quite a few times and she wasn't that smart. Reid was a bit better but there was something missing. I don't know how to explain but I didn't feel anything for those two and, to be honest, some of their decisions got me frustrated. I just wanted to throw my phone at the wall and poor Clay is not the one to blame. Their relationship happened way too quickly. I still can't understand what they saw in each other and why they ended up together. They go from hating each other to really like each other really fast when I wanted to see some more development in their relationship. I also didn't like that they didn't talk about things. There's some drama by the end that was kind of predictable but I'm still mad that they never discussed the issue but everything ended up working out between them.
To be honest, this could have been a great read but there were so many things that didn't work for me which made me quite disappointed with this book. While I can't recommend this book there are still a lot of good reviews on Goodreads so you might enjoy it. If you do it, go on your own risk because you'll probably want to roll your eyes sometimes.
Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If you haven't read it would you read it?

subset: commoncrawl


text:
"Suppose a dichotomous data set produced by 100 persons responding to 40 items fit the Rasch model, with no noticeably misfitting persons or items.
Is it possible that when only a subset of these items (say, 20 items) are analyzed, some misfitting persons or items will appear?"
Tetushito Shizuka
Fukushima National College of Technology
Examine the fit statistics for your 40 items. Construct a subset
of the 19 items with the lowest mean-squares (say in the range 0.8
- 1.0) and the 1 item with the highest mean-square (say 1.2).
Reanalyze this subset. Fit is relative, so your 19 items now have
mean-squares 0.9-1.1 and your high mean-square item is reported at
1.3 or even 1.4. In the context of this new, better fitting
subset, you now have a misfitting item! This paradox is often
encountered by those who use arbitrary rules to drop misfitting
items. Dropping badly fitting items changes the fit context for
the remaining items, so that a new crop of badly fitting items
appears. Followed mechanically, fit-based exclusion rules can
result in every item being dropped!
Benjamin D. Wright
Subset fit.Wright B.D. Rasch Measurement Transactions, 1998, 12:2 p. 635.
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Go to Institute for Objective Measurement Home Page. The Rasch Measurement SIG (AERA) thanks the Institute for Objective Measurement for inviting the publication of Rasch Measurement Transactions on the Institute's website, www.rasch.org.
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|June 23 - July 21, 2023, Fri.-Fri.
|On-line workshop: Practical Rasch Measurement - Further Topics (E. Smith, Winsteps), www.statistics.com
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Website: www.rasch.org/rmt/contents.htm


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If you live with chronic illness, you may often find you sugarcoat your struggles. For 26-year-old Marissa Spratley of Maryland, this is nothing new. She battles Crohn's disease, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and interstitial cystitis. She manages her conditions with Stelara and sulfasalazine. This week she openly shares what she wishes healthy people knew about life with IBD. I'll let her take it away.
In the chronic illness community we all know how incredibly difficult it is to have Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), or any other chronic illness. We know what it feels like to get hit with a wave of fatigue so hard you have to lay down immediately. We know what it feels like when our gut is on fire from something we ate. We know what it feels like to have nausea so badly all we can do is curl up in a ball on the bathroom floor and cry. We know these things, yet when we communicate with a healthy able-bodied person, we downplay our struggles and pain.
Why are we afraid to be honest about how much pain we're in on a daily basis? Is it because we don't want to make others feel bad for us? Is it because we don't want to show weakness? Or maybe it's because we feel like by explaining how much we suffer on a regular basis, people might know the truth about us. That even though we are incredibly resilient, we live a hard life. We struggle and we cry and we ache and there are days where we wish IBD didn't exist at all.
The truth is, hell yeah we are strong. But we are also weak, and we are tired. We are exhausted from always having to be strong in the face of pain. We are sick of having to downplay our symptoms and our suffering to make the healthy, able-bodied people around us feel less uncomfortable. We are tired of saying, "I'm good," when someone asks how we're doing and we really want to say "I feel like death."
So, in the spirit of honesty and opening up to the very ableist world around us about what it's like to live with IBD, here are four things people with IBD wish healthy people knew.
- There are days when it hurts just to breathe.
No, I am not being overdramatic. Yes, IBD affects more than just your gut. There are days when we wake up and everything about us aches. The way I describe it, is that I feel like I just got hit by a bus. My whole body aches deep in my bones, and it can take me an hour just to get out of bed and stand up straight. Those days are some of the hardest because on the outside we look perfectly normal. Please remember that not all illnesses are visible to the eye.
- Good intent doesn't always mean good impact.
We know you're just trying to help when you make suggestions about things we could do to try to feel better. But the truth is, we know our bodies better than anyone else, and trust us when we say — if there was something we could do to make us feel better, we'd do it. When you comment about things we should try (like juicing or yoga or going paleo), it makes us feel like you think we aren't doing enough to feel better. Our healing and health are our business, and while we know you care, if we want your help or advice, we'll ask for it. We appreciate you understanding this.
- Having a chronic illness is really hard on our mental health.
IBD is hard, period. Folks with chronic illnesses not only have to struggle with our physical health, but IBD also has a huge impact on our mental health. Being chronically ill makes you question a lot about yourself — Am I a burden to those around me? Am I worthy if I can't work? Does my chronic illness make me hard to love? It also makes you question a lot about your worth — Am I lesser than because I can't work as long as healthy people? Will employers not want to hire me? Do I bring enough to a relationship? These are all real questions I've asked myself at one time or another, and I can guarantee they are things other chronically ill folks have thought about as well. The way that IBD can affect your mental health is one of the most challenging parts of being chronically ill, because it is not talked about. So, what can you do to help us with our mental health? You can remind us we are inherently worthy, no matter how "productive" we are. You can remind us that you love us for who we are in our hearts, and not what we can do with our bodies. That means more to us than we can even put into words.
- Ableism affects the chronically ill, too.
Many people with IBD and chronic illnesses struggle to claim themselves as disabled, and this is something I could go on a tangent about. But here's what you need to know: IBD affects our bodies in ways that make us less able, or disabled. The truth is, in the able-bodied centric society we live in, we believe it is offensive to call someone disabled because it means they can't do something. However, to the actual disabled folks in our community, it is not offensive at all. We own the fact that we can't use non-handicapped restroom stalls or walk up stairs. We are not afraid to say that there are tasks we cannot do as chronically ill, disabled individuals. It is our ableist society who thinks the term disabled is offensive. It is the ableist mindset that believes by saying someone can't do something, we are being hurtful. Because to the chronically ill and disabled community, we know that our disabilities do not affect our worth. We know that our health does not affect our worth. But now we need you to know that, too.
To all my IBD and chronic illness folks: I see you, and I hear you. I hope that the next time you have a conversation with someone and you want to be real about how much it truly sucks sometimes, you can send them this article.
To the healthy, able-bodied folks reading this article, thank you for showing up and reading to the end. I hope you learned something new about how to better support your loved ones with IBD or chronic illness.
Connect with Marissa on Instagram: @mindbodycrohns


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This video says about itself:
"Doctors Without Borders": In a bombed hospital in Kunduz burned children alive (06.10.15)
Among those killed in the shelling of the hospital of the international organization "Doctors without Borders» (MSF) in the Afghan Kunduz were children who were burned alive during the air strike, said a member of the organization's leadership, the president of the operations center for MSF in Brussels Maini Nicholas. "On Saturday morning [the United States air force] began bombing the hospital by air. It lasted more than an hour. There have been several approaches, several planes flew and shot at the hospital. The shelling affected the main building, where the intensive care unit, ambulance and physiotherapy, which was a lot of employees [were hit] " she said, reports RIA Novosti.
According to the organization, the air bombardment of the hospital started early on Saturday morning. As a result of falling shells in the central building of the hospital a fire started.
"The staff ran out to the street when the building caught fire. Later, we sadly noted that 10 patients died. Six of them were in the intensive care unit and could not leave the building. Some of them were burned alive in their beds, and among them were children. Also killed 12 employees of "Doctors without Borders". A total of 22 dead and 37 wounded, "she said.
"We do not know the whereabouts of the staff and whether they are alive … A few people left (Kunduz), but we do not know where they are. Because the situation there – it's chaos" she said.
From daily The Morning Star in Britain:
Afghanistan: US's hospital attack was no 'error' – MSF
Monday 19th october 2015
Charity chief slams deliberate and deadly strafing by gunship
DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS (MSF) has rejected US claims that its attack on an Afghan hospital was made in error.
MSF general director Christopher Stokes said in an Associated Press interview that the "extensive, quite precise destruction" of the bombing raid casts doubt on US military assertions.
Mr Stokes said the attack on October 3 that killed 22 patients and staff should be investigated as a possible war crime.
In the interview, held outside the burnt-out main hospital building in Kunduz on Friday, Mr Stokes said MSF wanted a "clear explanation because all indications point to a grave breach of international humanitarian law and therefore a war crime.
"The hospital was repeatedly hit both at the front and the rear and extensively destroyed and damaged, even though we have provided all the co-ordinates and all the right information to all the parties in the conflict.
"The extensive, quite precise destruction of this hospital … doesn't indicate a mistake. The hospital was repeatedly hit," he said.
MSF has said the bombing went on for more than an hour despite calls to Afghan, US and Nato forces. The US gunship made five separate strafing runs in that time.
The attack by the AC-130 — the kind of gunship used in the brutal US war in Vietnam — was ordered as Afghan national army troops were fighting to recapture Kunduz from the Taliban.
Associated Press has reported that US special operations analysts were scrutinising the hospital days before it was destroyed as they believed it was being used by a Pakistani operative to co-ordinate Taliban activity.
MSF has denied there were any armed Taliban fighters on the hospital grounds at the time of the attack.
"The compound was not entered by Taliban soldiers with weapons," Mr Stokes said.
"What we have understood from our staff and guards is that there was very strong, very good control of what was happening in and around the compound and they reported no firing in the hours preceding the destruction of the hospital."


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In 2017, Intel surprised the market by unexpectedly launching Kaby Lake-G processors. These CPUs were and remain unique, since they contain the GPU Radeon, that is, Kaby Lake-G is actually only half the Intel solution.
The processors received very powerful graphics cores, which made them good solutions for gaming PCs and laptops. However, something went wrong from the start. As a result, very few devices with Kaby Lake-G came out, and in October last year Intel completely closed the project, as it was already very close to releasing its own productive iGPU Xe.
However, there is another curious fact regarding Kaby Lake-G. The fact is that, despite the AMD GPU, Intel was responsible for the graphics drivers for these processors. That is, AMD sent Intel drivers, and the latter eventually released them. But until recently, the last driver for Kaby Lake-G was released in February 2019! The other day there was news that after 14 months Intel finally released a new driver for Kaby Lake-G, but in the end it turned out that everything was a bit wrong. In fact, a fresh driver came out not the other day, but in early February of this year, it just went unnoticed. True, then Intel only published a PDF file containing a link to a section of the AMD site with a driver for Radeon RX Vega 64. As a result, now the software support for the Kaby Lake-G GPUs fell on AMD's shoulders, so if you suddenly own a device with such a processor , you can go to the site last and download the latest driver.


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Weeklong Deals for 3/1/21
Back again! Last week was a bit too hectic to fit in our customary rundown of deals, but we're all over the Weeklong Deals this time. It's a bigger, fresher list than usual, with some newer names slotted in between old standbys of this roundup. Caves of Qud is a permanent recommendation, of course, but there's weird, wild stuff like Paradise Killer and Fight Crab up for more discerning types.
We're deep in the throes of classic gaming on our Twitch channel, but we'll take a little time out this week for some good ol' indie games. Namely, we'll be starting what's planned to be a full playthrough of Loop Hero when it releases on Thursday, and on Friday I plan to dip into quite a cross-section of inventive indie adventures.
Paradise Killer – Exceedingly strange murder mystery with a unique style and fantastic first-person exploration
Caves of Qud (review) – Still the best classic-style roguelike out there
Fight Crab (Review) – Everything you could ask for from floppy crab deathmatches
Aven Colony (Review) – Decidedly chill sci-fi colony builder
Stronghold Crusader HD (Review) – Classic castle sieging action
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger (Review) – Solid wild west FPS with a unique storytelling style
Project Warlock (Review) – Killer retro FPS offering tons of weapons and action
Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight (Review) – Moody, challenging metroidvania
One Finger Death Punch 2 (Review) – Everything you loved about two-button stick murder, but more
One Finger Death Punch (Review) – The wild, frenetic original stick murder marathon
Big Pharma (Review) – Conveyor belt puzzling with a management layer on top
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood (Review) – Not quite as fun as Gunslinger, but still a fine shooter
Shower With Your Dad Simulator 2015: Do You Still Shower With Your Dad (Review) – Much more than just a stupid joke
Unforgiving – A Northern Hymn (Review) – Haunting horror adventure built around Nordic mythology
City of Brass (Review) – Fun roguelike FPS with whip combat
Odallus: The Dark Call (Review) – Excellent retro platformer on the level of Shovel Knight
Alwa's Awakening (Review) – Puzzling magic-based metroidvania
One Way Heroics (Review) – Classic-style roguelike with a really unique gimmick
Slain: Back from Hell (Review) – Brutally metal platformer
Ace of Seafood (Review) – Janky laser fish armada simulator
Nightmares from the Deep: The Cursed Heart (Review) – Still one of the best hidden object games around
Hero of the Kingdom: The Lost Tales 1 (Review) – Decent adventure but losing the magic this series once had
Sproggiwood (Review) – Adorable roguelike that can get pretty challenging
Submerged (Review) – Amazing atmosphere, so-so gameplay
FRAMED Collection (Review) – Charming puzzler using comic panels
This Strange Realm Of Mine (Review) – Intensely unique retro FPS adventure
Reveal The Deep (Review) – Short but atmospheric platformer through a sunken ship
Ghoulboy (Review) – Charming retro platformer that's nicer than the games that inspired it
Cargo Commander (Review) – Roguelike platformer collect-a-thon with a decent story, too
Black Paradox (Review) – Neon-drenched horizontal shmup
Daily Chthonicle: Editor's Edition (Review) – The only cosmic horror newspaper management sim I know
Hero Siege (Review) – This was a confusing, unbalanced mess back when I tried it, maybe it's different now?
Apparition (Review) – Singleplayer Phasmophobia, except tedious and terrible
Das Geisterschiff (Review) – Neat aesthetic, but too boring for a dungeon crawler
Vertiginous Golf (Review) – Utterly joyless minigolf
Bardbarian (Review) – Neat idea, just no fun in execution
rooMaze (Review) – This game hates you so much


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Isn't Tapis ExxonMobil's field?
Dateline 2013-09-25, The Star:
Petroliam Nasional Bhd expects Malaysia's first large scale enhanced oil recovery (EOR) project to boost oil production at the Tapis oilfield offshore peninsular Malaysia by up to 35,000 barrels per day from between 3,000 and 4,000 barrels currently.
Head of EOR programme, exploration and production technology division Dr Nasir Darman said using the water-alternating-gas (WAG) injection measure, the depleting Tapis oilfield will be injected with gases from nearby Guntong oilfield to increase pressure and enhance oil production.
Production, he added, is expected to start in the first half of next year. "At peak, the project is expected to produce between 25,000 and 35,000 barrels per day of oil in 2016 and 2017," he told reporters in a briefing at the Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Bhd (MMHE) fabrication yard here on Tuesday.


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Event Details
Fri December 01, 2017
7:00 pm to 10:00 pm
Ferment.Drink.Repeat.(FDR) Brewery, Main
2636 San Bruno Avenue
San Francisco, California, United States
This Friday come belt it out at FDR for the First Friday of the month Karaoke event. KJ Omar is a master karaoke MC who cut his teeth in the punk rock clubs of the Mission district. He has a 10,000 song list and is super excited to meet the karaoke signers of the Portola. So you better start practicing in the shower, because it is on.


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Greg Solecki is a well-known and respected emergency management executive with over 20 years of experience in implementing emergency preparedness and continuity programs for corporate, national and international organizations. As Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) Manager during the catastrophic 2013 Alberta floods, he played a pivotal role in the response to the most costly disaster in Canadian history.
Greg's knowledge of regional, national and international standards and regulations define him as one of Canada's leading experts in emergency management. He was therefore a natural selection to be Canada's representative for the creation of the ISO Security and Crisis standards, a committee member for the CSAZ1600 Standard in Emergency & Continuity Management, and contributed to the development of Canada's Critical Infrastructure Framework.
Greg is also one of few Canadians to be selected to attend Harvard University's prestigious National Preparedness Leadership Initiative (NPLI). He has an extensive facilitation background having trained over 500 municipal and executive leaders in emergency and continuity management across Canada. He has also designed and executed emergency response and continuity exercises for both the corporate and public sectors.
With in-depth knowledge and the practical experience to back it up, Greg has also successfully designed Emergency Operations Centers, Business Unit Tactical Operations Centers, and Corporate Continuity Centers. This has included the development of emergency and business continuity processes, integration of data sources and the creation of performance measures. He is also a certified instructor to the highest level for both Incident Command System (ICS) Canada and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Our ramp up process is designed to empower your team and outfit them with the tools they need to succeed. Talk to us today about how we can support your growth, limit negative repetitional and financial impact during crisis, and put you on a solid track to success and profit.


text: Spreading happiness from Fredericksburg, Texas, our Fredericksburg Peach Jam evokes memories of being in the Texas Hill Country even when you can't. This fruit-forward jam is full of bright, sweet peach flavor companioned by a little tart lemon that makes it the perfect addition to breakfast items, desserts or grilled meats. RecipesPeach Jam Fast CobblerPeachy Grilled Pork ChopsTexas Peach Sangria Fredericksburg Peach Jam Sale! from 799 799 /per Qty. Add to Cart Customize & Send Tweet


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January, 17-18-19 Huilo Huilo – Huilo Huilo
The Huilo Huilo Reserve, located in the Region of the Rivers, will be the stage where the first 3 stages will be developed. Reserva Huilo Huilo is a private reserve of more than 100,000 hectares, declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO. A wonderful place, where you can find the best trails for the practice of the Mountainbike and where the majesty of Native Forests, Snowy Mountains, Lakes and rivers of crystal clear water make it the ideal place for a competition like the Transandes Challenge.
January, 20 Huilo Huilo – Pucón
The fourth stage, to be held on January 20, will be a special stage, will be 112 kilometers of route, which will allow to connect the Reserve Huilo Huilo with Pucón … During the journey will be transited by places of extraordinary beauty, will ascend to the National Park Villarrica for old forest paths, we will appreciate the spectacular forests of Pino Araucaria, and to finish, we will arrive to Pucón not without first circulating by the faldeos of the always imposing Villarrica Volcano. This will be the "Epic Stage", will be a stage of lower technical demand, so the average speed will be higher than the other stages.
Detail and programming of the Stage 4
January, 21 Pucón – Pucón
In Pucón will be held the fifth and final stage, stage whose format we will keep secret …
Pucon, meanwhile, is the main tourist destination of South Chile, National Capital of Sport Adventure. With a wide range of gastronomic, hotel and infinity of activities, make it the ideal destination to finalize this edition of Transandes Challenge.
Detail and programming of the Stage 5
After each of the stages the participants arrive at specially equipped camps. In these camps you will find a dining room, mechanical assistance, medical assistance, fully equipped bathrooms and tents for overnight stays. All the needs that the competitor requires will be found in the camps, where a great atmosphere of camaraderie among the participants is also generated.
In Transandes Challenge 2018 there will be 14 categories divided into both Doubles and Individual categories:


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wait never mind. I found the answer... " Heck, no. A black hole has a "horizon," which means a region from which you can't escape. If you cross the horizon, you're doomed to eventually hit the singularity. But as long as you stay outside of the horizon, you can avoid getting sucked in. In fact, to someone well outside of the horizon, the gravitational field surrounding a black hole is no different from the field surrounding any other object of the same mass. In other words, a one-solar-mass black hole is no better than any other one-solar-mass object (such as, for example, the Sun) at "sucking in" distant objects. "
1) Supermassive black holes seem to have an upper limit: "Black holes are thought to exist throughout the universe, with the largest and most massive found at the centers of the largest galaxies. These supermassive black holes have been shown to have masses upwards of one billion times that of our own Sun. But an astronomer studying black holes says there's an upper limit to how big a black hole can get. Priyamvada Natarajan, an associate professor of astronomy and physics at Yale University has shown that even the biggest of these gravitational monsters can't keep growing forever. Instead, they appear to curb their own growth once they accumulate about 10 billion times the mass of the Sun. These ultra-massive black holes, found at the centers of giant elliptical galaxies in huge galaxy clusters, are the biggest in the known universe. Even the large black hole at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy is thousands of times less massive than these behemoths. But these gigantic black holes, which accumulate mass by sucking in matter from neighboring gas, dust and stars, seem unable to grow beyond this limit regardless of where and when they appear in the universe. "It's not just happening today,"Â said Natarajan. "They shut off at every epoch in the universe."Â Natarajan's study is the first time an upper mass limit has been derived for black holes. Natarajan used existing optical and X-ray data of these ultra-massive black holes to show that, in order for those various observations to be consistent, the black holes must essentially shut off at some point in their evolution. One possible explanation, says Natarajan, is that the black holes eventually reach the point when they radiate so much energy as they consume their surroundings that they end up interfering with the very gas supply that feeds them, which may interrupt nearby star formation. The new findings have implications for the future study of galaxy formation, since many of the largest galaxies in the universe appear to co-evolve along with the black holes at their centers. "Evidence has been mounting for the key role that black holes play in the process of galaxy formation,"Â said Natarajan. "But it now appears that they are likely the prima donnas of this space opera."Â " Source and further information: http://www.universetoday.com/2008/09/05/black-holes-can-only-get-so-big/ 2) Small black holes which don't find enough to grow eventually evaporate: "In 1974, Stephen Hawking showed that black holes are not entirely black but emit small amounts of thermal radiation.[50]He got this result by applying quantum field theory in a static black hole background. The result of his calculations is that a black hole should emit particles in a perfect black body spectrum. This effect has become known as Hawking radiation. Since Hawking's result many others have verified the effect through various methods. If his theory of black hole radiation is correct then black holes are expected to emit a thermal spectrum of radiation, and thereby lose mass, because according to the theory of relativity mass is just highly condensed energy (E = mc2). Black holes will shrink and evaporate over time. The temperature of this spectrum (Hawking temperature) is proportional to the surface gravity of the black hole, which in turn is inversely proportional to the mass. Large black holes, therefore, emit less radiation than small black holes. A stellar black hole of 5 solar masses has a Hawking temperature of about 12 nanokelvins. This is far less than the 2.7 K produced by the cosmic microwave background. Stellar mass (and larger) black holes receive more mass from the cosmic microwave background than they emit through Hawking radiation and will thus grow instead of shrink. In order to have a Hawking temperature larger than 2.7 K (and be able to evaporate) a black hole needs to be lighter than the Moon (and therefore a diameter of less than a tenth of a millimeter). On the other hand if a black hole is very small, the radiation effects are expected to become very strong. Even a black hole that is heavy compared to a human would evaporate in an instant. A black hole the weight of a car (~10-24 m) would only take a nanosecond to evaporate, during which time it would briefly have a luminosity more than 200 times that of the sun. Lighter black holes are expected to evaporate even faster, for example a black hole of mass 1 TeV/c2 would take less than 10-88 seconds to evaporate completely. Of course, for such a small black hole quantum gravitation effects are expected to play an important role and could even – although current developments in quantum gravity do not indicate so – hypothetically make such a small black hole stable." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole#Evaporation
As the mass of a black hole increases the gravitational horizon will increase and may eventually draw in all matter even other black holes untill all matter in the universe becomes compacted to a single spot or perhapse more than likely a small number of single masses and maybe these masses could draw together and create the next big bang starting it all over again . just my theory , who knows .
Copyright 2023, Wired Ivy, LLC


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Skip NavigationSkip to Primary Content
A native New Mexican, Adam was born in Albuquerque and grew up in the East Mountains. He has three darling dogs: a Maltese mix named Ace, a Terrier mix named Buffy, and a Chihuahua named Pickles and three little bunnies: Ophelia, Persephone, and Doc. When not working, Adam likes to watch movies, spend time with his puppies, and volunteer with Animal Humane of NM. His favorite thing about veterinary medicine is being able to help animals by being a part of their healthcare team. Adam has been a part of our team since 2019.


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How to create Custom notification?
Go to Setup and Click on Custom Notification in Notification Builder.
Click the New button to create a new custom Notification.
Enter Custom Notification Name, API Name and Supported Channels as follows,
Click the Save button.
Custom Notification for Internal Users using APEX:
The below example shows how to send a custom notification when the related contact is delinked. Call this method from a trigger, flow, or wherever you want to send a custom notification from an Apex Class.
Code Snippet:
public class CARS_CustomNotification {
//This method is used to send notification when the related contact is delinked.
Public static void sendNotification(AccountContactRelation currAccCon){
//Get the custom Notification type
List<CustomNotificationType > TemplateInfoDetail = [SELECT Id, DeveloperName FROM CustomNotificationType
WHERE DeveloperName='Notify_Delink'];
if(currAccCon.CARS_IsActive__c == false && currAccCon.CARS_ContactUser__c != Null){
// Create a new custom notification
Messaging.CustomNotification currNotification = new Messaging.CustomNotification();
// Set the contents for the delinking notification
currNotification.setTitle('You have been DeLinked' + currAccCon.CARS_Account_Name__c);
currNotification.setBody(currAccCon.CARS_Contact_Name__c + ' has de-linked from ' + currAccCon.CARS_Account_Name__c +
' on ' + system.today());
// Set the notification type and target
// Send the notification
try {
catch (Exception ex) {
System.debug('Notification Failed: ' + ex.getMessage());
- Custom Notifications are used to send notification for internal users.
To notify the External users, an Email Alert can be used in the immediate action of the Process Builder in place of the Notification to notify the desired recipient.
- Bulk Notifications are not supported using APEX, since it is designed to notify a bunch of people with single update, not for bulk updates.
For Bulk Notification, use Process Builder or restructure your logic using Batch or Queueable class.
- It is available only in Lightning Experience.


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Urdu needs to be preserved and promoted through modern techniques so that it can compete on a global forum.
This was said by speakers at a two-day international Urdu seminar titled "Teaching Urdu at Universities: New Dimensions and Methodologies" that started at National University of Modern Languages (NUML) in Islamabad on Tuesday.
Organised by NUML's Urdu Language Department in collaboration with Higher Education Commission (HEC), the seminar was attended by more than 40 scholars from India, Iran and Pakistan. Prominent Urdu scholar Dr Rasheed Amjad stressed the need for training teachers and promoting literary interests using new techniques.
NUML Rector Professor Dr Aziz Ahmad Khan said Urdu scholars should do more research for finding fresh perspectives on classical Urdu literature. Four sessions of the seminar were held on Tuesday and the fifth session was held on Wednesday.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 9th, 2011.
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PHIUS+ 2015 Certified Project
577 W. 161st St
PM Architecture PC is thrilled to be presented with the PHIUS + 2015 Certified Project for the design development of 577 W. 161st Street. This project certification has proven that PMA has achieved the PHIUS passive house design qualification presented by a rigorous Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) program performed on site by highly skilled and specialized PHIUS+ Raters.
PHIUS+ Certification Overview
The PHIUS+ Certification Program is the leading passive building certification program in North America. It is the only passive building certification that combines a thorough passive house design verification protocol with a stringent Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) program performed onsite by highly skilled and specialized PHIUS+ Raters and Verifiers.
Lucy G. Moses Preservation Awards- 2021
The Lucy G. Moses Preservation Awards are the Conservancy's highest honors for excellence in preservation. PM Architecture PC is honored to be presented with this prestigious award for 244 Lenox Avenue.
"From the smallest buildings, to the most extraordinary landmarks, to our diverse neighborhoods, the New York Landmarks Conservancy preserves and protects the unique architectural heritage of the City we love. We are on the frontlines, giving New York's preservation needs a voice, advocating for sensible development, providing financial assistance and technical expertise—all to ensure that the character of our city continues to enrich the quality of life for all New Yorkers."
The Awards have recognized individuals, organizations, and building owners for their extraordinary contributions to the City. PM Architecture PC has worked relentlessly with the New York Landmark Conservancy to preserve and protect the development of this project. Saving this landmark building and revitalizing this development for the community was essential to PM Architecture PC.
#LucyMosesAwards #PreservationOscars #2021MosesAwards
Building Restoration in Downtown Davenport 2011
'The Social Security Administration is moving out of downtown Davenport, meaning the loss of one of the central business district's longest-serving tenants… Parag Mehta, who is one of the three […]
Urban Renewal in Downtown Waterbury 2009
'Parag Mehta, a New York-based architect and developer, is renovating old buildings in downtown Waterbury into livable spaces. His 18 apartments at 70 Bank St., the red-bricked building in the […]
Revival Restaurant 2002
Celebrating the new boutique restaurant with a unique menu combining many different cuisines in up and coming Harlem.


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KK Energy Vape – Gummy Bear (8000 Puffs)
Out of stock
... people are viewing this right now
KK Energy 8000 Puffs vape features a 650mah battery capable of fast charging very rapidly via USB-Type C port.
The KK Energy Disposable also has adjustable airflow (valve located on the bottom), a 1.2 ohm Mesh coil, 5% Salt Nicotine, and huge 16ml capacity.
However, they did check all the boxes by making it with a mesh coil, rechargeable, airflow adjustable, great flavors, and a very reasonable price point.
Quick Detail:
- 5% Nicotine Salt
- 1.2ohm mesh coil
- 16ml eliquid
- Type C Cable Charging
- 650mAh Rechargeable
There are no reviews yet.


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SCT to PGX Converter
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My daughter wants to be a detective when she grows up.
This means she'll have to be a police officer first.
It's taken everything in me not to shout, "Do you even watch the news??" Which would be a moot point considering I already know she doesn't.
Also, I don't either.
But the blaring screens at my gym seem to think being a police officer is a losing game right now, and my child apparently didn't get that memo. She talks about her future career like God's already printed it on her heart, and she's merely reading the directions.
She reminds me of when I was twelve and knew I was going to be a writer some day.
You can't stop what providence is already in the midst of working out. As much as I want to worry and cry and scream and pull out my hair at the idea, I'm also realizing she's been built for this.
Her journey is to bring God glory, not me.
Her life won't be easy but that's not something any of us are promised. My only hope, really, is that her life is used for the good of others and that she bows to nobody but God.


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Ben's Column: Uncut Gems (2019) Movie Review
It may be hard to believe given his post-2000 movie roles, but Sandler is electric from beginning to end. He's never been better, topping his previous high when directed by Paul Thomas Anderson in Punch Drunk Love. Without Sandler's frenetic energy, Uncut Gems would not be able to sustain its breakneck pace for the quickest 130 minutes you'll sit through all year.


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Users of booking site Hostelworld have rated their favourite hostels around the world, including categories for size, continent and atmosphere, with Lisbon and St Petersburg earning many plaudits
The 15th annual "Hoscar" awards have been announced, with users of Hostelworld.com choosing the best hostels around the world according to categories of size, country and continent. One of the most coveted awards is for the hostel with the best atmosphere. This year it goes to Goodmorning Lisbon, a bright friendly property in the Portuguese capital which was praised in "review after review" for staff who go "above and beyond" to ensure guests enjoy their stay.
It is one of many awards to go to hostels in Lisbon, which continues to stand out as a backpacker destination, with the city claiming six out of the top 10 places on the list for Best Medium Worldwide hostel, a category topped by Home Lisbon for the second year running.
The award for the best new hostel goes to Lub d Phuket Patong in Thailand, a chic modern hostel with a pool, while the top-ranked large hostel is Ostello Bello Grande in Milan, which has also been ranked the best hostel in Italy for the past three years.
Soul Kitchen, St Petersburg, Russia
Home Lisbon, Portugal
Ostello Bello Grande, Milan, Italy
The Freehand, Chicago, US
Lub d Phuket, Patong, Thailand
Goodmorning Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
The B.I.G., Cape Town, South Africa
Mojzo Inn, Nha Trang, Vietnam
Hostel Mama's Home, Tulum, Mexico
Traveller's Oasis, Cairns, Australia
Chili Kiwi Lakefront, Pukon, Chile
Park Villa, London


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This would seem to tell you all you really need to know about Rodney Stark's God's Batallions: The Case for the Crusades:
Clearly this is not the politically correct version of the Crusades, and that is fine: there is little that was politically correct about the Crusades in the first place. The difficulty I have with Stark's account is not that it is controversial and even confrontational, but that his conclusions are often grounded in outdated historical sources—many of the same sources responsible for creating the portrayal of backward, barbaric Muslims in the first place.
Stark concedes that his book is not based on his own exploration of the primary sources. He writes: "Many superb historians have devoted their careers to studying aspects of the Crusades. I am not one of them." Instead, he describes himself a synthesizer of existing research. The curious thing is that much of the research he uses to refute the historical accounts of the past generation is itself over 30 years old. Does God's Battalions, then, prove that the accounts of contemporary historians are wrong, or does it merely revisit and resurrect the scholarly accounts that gave rise to contemporary Crusades historiography in the first place?
If you're writing as a popularizer or a synthesizer, you're conceding that you don't have first-hand expertise in the subject matter. All the more important, then, to rely on state-of-the-art scholarship. Unless, that is, your goal is to grind a particular ideological axe.


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Last week while I was at the weekly prison ministry down at the Tucker Unit, I talked with a young man for about a half hour about some spiritual struggles he was having and issues with his upbringing. My conversation reminded me of what we discussed on Sunday about killing, anger, and the sixth commandment.
This young man (we'll call him John) grew up in rural northern Arkansas and was essentially raised by white supremacists. From an early age he was told to judge other people based off of appearances. Countless family members and friends of his had been involved in illicit activity, from weapons and drug trafficking to even murder. He talked about how a relative of his had killed someone because they "looked" hispanic.
Fortunately, a few years ago John had a conversion experience and came to know God's all-inclusive love. It doesn't matter what color your skin is–God loves us all equally and invites us to become a part of his family. John was also being mentored by two African American inmates in the program and growing in his faith each day. He would actually reach out to folks he knew from his previous life and try to evangelize them (even if they responded by insulting, threatening, or disowning him).
During my conversation with John, I noticed something very important about the sixth commandment and Jesus' teachings in Matthew's gospel:
Anger and killing are often on the same spectrum.
If we never address anger in our hearts, the outcome will never be pretty. Either we will become jaded and calloused to the world around us, or even worse, we might act on that anger and harm someone. This was clear in John's family and their friends. They indulged in racially-motivated anger, believing that folks with nonwhite skin were to blame for all the world's problems. And in the most extreme cases, this anger actually lead to murder itself. Personal hate produced more hate, and often that produced "public" sins of violence and terrorism.
As Christians, we subscribe to a completely different reality in God's kingdom. I'm so grateful that John began to realize this as he pursued Jesus Christ. In our world filled with violence, we always must remember prophecies like Isaiah 2:4:
God will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.
In other words, the fullness of God's kingdom has absolutely no hatred, violence, war, death, or destruction. Everyone will finally experience the hope and resurrection only Jesus can offer. When we finally live in God's presence, we will experience the indescribable peace of Christ. There will be neither violence nor anger in the age to come.
The sixth commandment sounds so simple, yet it cuts to the heart of how we oftentimes view the world. We are tempted to think of our earthly struggles as ones that can be solved through violence. Our own personal struggles with violence might not be as extreme as John's case, but we still struggle with it on a daily basis. As Christians, you and I are called to put our full faith and hope in Jesus alone.
Killing someone will not bring resolution. Neither will winning a war or even hitting someone back. Even indulging in anger will just leave you feeling unsatisfied in sin.
Jesus is the only thing that can fix our broken world.


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SYNOPSIS: crime caper
Is anyone who they say they are? What is going on here? This play is crazy comedy about low lifes cavorting with the upper crust on the French Riviera. There are many twists and turns of the plot about people who are not what they seem to be.


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Raines defense stops Ribault in 42-20 victory in the Northwest Classic
Deran Wiley loves football on Monday nights, just not the kind that involves his Raines football team.
Playing in front of a packed audience that included numerous local dignitaries and even a few former NFL players, the Vikings wrapped up their postseason berth with a 42-20 win over rival Ribault on Saturday. A loss would've forced Raines into a three-way tiebreaker with the Trojans and Jackson on Monday where who knows what could've transpired.
Box Score: Raines 42, Ribault 20
Photo Gallery: Northwest Classic: Raines vs. Ribault
Instead, the Vikings (7-2, 2-1 in District 3-4A) cranked up their defense and pitched a shutout in the second half and settled things where they should've been settled all along - in front of a packed and festive house at the mid-afternoon Northwest Classic. Wiley said he estimated the crowd to be more than 8,000 strong.
"People were loading up on tickets all week for this," said Wiley, whose team will visit Bushnell South Sumter on Nov. 16 in the Region 2-4A semifinals. "Playoffs, playoffs, playoffs. The Northwest Classic is back."
So are the Vikings, who limped in to the game on a two-game losing streak, including a 24-21 loss to Bolles on Oct. 19 that Wiley said was one of the most emotional games that he's ever been apart of. Raines looked flat for most of the first half, and needed a Marvin Zanders-to-Calvain Holmes 16-yard touchdown pass with 28 seconds before halftime to scratch out a 21-20 lead. For how uneven Raines played on offense and how many big plays it gave back due to penalties, being up a point was an accomplishment.
The Vikings defense had their own set of plans from that point on - make Ribault (3-6, 0-3) throw it down the field. Victimized by screen passes, including one from Rashad Youmans to Javonte' Boston that went for a 60-yard touchdown, the Vikings brought the pressure up front, keeping a linebacker anchored in the middle of the field and shutting down the screen. The result was 35 passing yards between Youmans and Jamal Hardeman after halftime. One half earlier, Youmans was 7 of 13 for 146 yards.
"We just had to stop their little screen passes," said Vikings defensive back Nigel Tribune, an Iowa State commit, who returned an interception for a touchdown.
With Raines' defense getting the ball back on every series, the Vikings finally found some balance offensively. Zanders settled down and started getting Raines moving down the field consistently. He threw an 18-yard scoring pass to Devonte Washington to give the Vikings a 27-20 cushion, and it only grew from there. Alex Gardner (18 carries, 123 yards) had a 10-yard run and Keith Stallings tossed an 80-yard bomb to Carlos Tarrats on a halfback pass.
Justin Barney: (904) 359-4248


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Intrapreneurship's Impact on Scientific Innovation
- There is a risk to intrapreneurship within an organization whereby you must allocate time and resources before you can make a product or profit on a new, innovative technology.
- Intrapreneurs have a better understanding of industry demands and a passion to overcome industry challenges, which will ultimately help companies to overcome future barriers.
- Companies need to allocate time, resources, budgets and training to develop a culture of intrapreneurship and drive innovation to commercialization.
The Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade should listen to intrapreneurs on the challenges they are facing and the resources that they need. By adapting the government system, Canada can support a stronger culture of intrapreneurship.
What is intrapreneurship to you, and what skills or mindsets does it relate to?
When we talk about intrapreneurship, it means the employees within an organization that are motivated to follow their novel idea and bring it into reality. Intrapreneurship also refers to a tech world system with integrated resources provided to employees who are eager to follow their innovative idea within the system, and create a framework around innovation to bring it into reality.
What is the value of intrapreneurship to an organization and what are the potential benefits or risks?
There are definitely risks associating with adapting and bringing a novel innovation into a business, but there is also a lot of value. In risks for companies, bringing a new innovation or a culture of intrapreneurship into a company will mean allocating time and resources before you are making a profit from the innovative technology. But at the same time, to have a sustainable business and keep your company in the market, you have to adapt with novel technologies. That is where an intrapreneur gives you the upper hand in surviving among your competition.
"There are definitely risks associating with adapting and bringing a novel innovation into a business, but there is also a lot of value."
How does intrapreneurship impact innovation and do you encourage it within your team?
My team definitely supports intrapreneurship. Intrapreneurs and employees within a company know the problems and challenges within the specific industry, and they are facing these challenges with their business. They have a better understanding of industry demands, so if they have the motivation and passion for their novel idea to overcome those challenges, this will serve the company to overcome future barriers.
"Intrapreneurs and employees within a company know the problems and challenges within the specific industry, and they are facing these challenges with their business."
In my team, we write down the problems we are facing and believe we will face in the future. We look at similar stories of companies that are successful or that fail, and then set aside time to determine the solutions if we were to face the same challenges. That creates the mindset within our team to always consider this intrapreneurship path and solutions to future challenges. At the same time, we are prepared for when those challenges come. For example, there are rainy days when you run businesses, so we need an umbrella for those days.
What impact does intrapreneurship have on an organization's ability to commercialize?
Innovation alone is not enough—and individual intrapreneur cannot bring an innovation into reality and into the marketplace. You need to have a system from the top to the bottom, from the executives to the employees. That connection can bring resources to intrapreneurs and create a framework to create a profit or product out of your innovation. Technically, you first need the innovation and a practical business plan around it, as well as to provide training to your employees. If you are talking about an academic institution, there has been an emergence of campus accelerators and incubators that provide training to students and recent graduates to develop a very practical commercialization plan around their idea. Companies, on the other hand, need to allocate time, resources, budgets and training to develop a culture and mindset that will drive innovation to commercialization.
What steps can be taken by academic institutions to encourage and instil a culture of intrapreneurship?
The first step is to create a mindset among the students in academic institutions and then provide them with training. Professors at academic institutions can encourage students and graduates to pursue ideas that solve a problem within an industry and fill a niche in the market. Academic institutions then have to provide training to entrepreneurs, and there are a lot of incubators and accelerators that have amazing training programs to students, and even better to post-doctoral fellows. Post-doctoral fellows are the sweet spot because they have scientific background, management skills and have developed their own novel ideas. If they have proper business and entrepreneurship training, they can bring their idea into reality.
In my case, I was in the exact same situation. While completing my PhD in the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto, we had an amazing technology working. I heard about the incubators on campus that could help with your idea and help you make a commercialization and business plan to develop your technology. That motivated me to speak with Dr. Shirley Wu, my supervisor, and she agreed that entrepreneurship was an interesting path to pursue. We founded Nanology Labs together and expanded the team to create a practical commercialization plan around the technology.
How can Canada improve intrapreneurship?
This will require systematic support from the federal government, because it brings risks, and you need to spend money in order to train intrapreneurs and to bring innovations into reality. Programs like Mitacs are the best example of this systematic support. Mitacs and similar internship and fellowship programs work with academic institutions and help create the shelter for intrapreneurs and entrepreneurs within an organization to pursue their ideas and bring them to commercialization.
Who would you pitch in 30 seconds about improving Canada's culture of intrapreneurship and what would you tell them?
I would pitch to the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, as they are the best people to hear the story of what intrapreneurs are looking for and the challenges they are facing. I have been in touch with them and they are very open to hearing these stories of recent graduates or intrapreneurs within organizations that are overcoming challenges. They should further adapt the system to create an atmosphere and environment within Canada to better serve an intrapreneurship culture.