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Lynn V. Andrews takes the reader with her as she goes on inward journeys with the help of the Sisterhood of the Shields, and relates the stories of others.
Join her as she is initiated into the Sisterhood and creates her own shield, which will show her the nature of her spiritual path (Spirit Woman). Follow her to the Yucatan, where the medicine wheel leads her, and she is faced with the terrifying reality of the butterfly tree (Jaguar Woman). Enter the Dreamtime with her, where she emerges in medieval England as Catherine, and encounters the Grandmother, who offers to show Andrews how to make her life one of goodness, power, adventure, and love (The Woman of Wyrrd).
Not all these stories describe the author's own spiritual experiences. Meet Sin Corazön, an initiate into the Sisterhood, whose husband abandons her. She nearly succumbs to her inner dark power and unleashes her rage on men and the Sisterhood (Dark Sister). Andrews also writes about the elder women of the Sisterhood: their loves, their lives, their losses (Tree of Dreams).
Andrews shows us how to channel our own spiritual and intellectual energy and balance the need for love with the desire for power (Love and Power). She takes the reader on numerous spiritual journeys that inevitably uplift.
|Publisher:||Penguin Publishing Group|
|Product dimensions:||5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.60(d)|
About the Author
Lynn Andrews is the author of nineteen books, including the New York Times bestsellers Medicine Woman and Jaguar Woman. A preeminent teacher in the field of personal development and spirituality, she is the founder of the Lynn Andrews Center for Sacred Arts and Training.
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Praise for Lynn V. Andrews
“Lynn Andrews continues to write of her apprenticeship to the Native American shaman Agnes Whistling Elk in this companion to her earlier Medicine Woman. The most remarkable element of this book is its ability to communicate a sense of both the physical and spiritual lessons that Andrews has learned during her stays with the Cree Indians.
“Her previous book detailed her initiation into the teachings of the Sisterhood of the Shields, a secret society traditionally the sole province of Native American women, and in this account she continues her education, revealing in the process why she felt compelled to return to Whistling Elk for further study.
“Both books are notable not only for the glimpse they provide of an unfamiliar culture, but also for Andrews’s quietly powerful style and the humility with which she opens herself to new and often seemingly alien experiences.”
—Booklist (American Library Association)
“We are lucky that the likes of Agnes Whistling Elk still exist, and that one such as Lynn Andrews has had the opportunity to experience the ways of a medicine woman and has lived to write about it. Andrews’s books are a glimpse into a world of the miraculous and the eternal, and intimate a true understanding of the extraordinary laws of nature.”
“A beautiful study of an unfamiliar culture . . . excellent reading.”
—The McCormick Messenger, McCormick, SC
BOOKS BY LYNN V. ANDREWS
The Woman of Wyrrd
Love and Power
Tree of Dreams
The Power Deck
Teachings Around the Sacred Wheel
This book is dedicated to my mother Rosalyn and my daughter Vanessa whose love and understanding have made my journey possible.
With special appreciation to Twila Nitsch Yehwehnode of the Seneca Nation and Paula Gunn Allen for being the medicine women that they are.
With great thanks to John V. Loudon, my editor, whose thoughtfulness and dedication have helped me tremendously.
THE MOON IN YOUR HANDS
If you take the moon in your hands and turn it round
(heavy, slightly tarnished platter) you’re there;
if you pull dry sea-weed from the sand and turn it round
and wonder at the underside’s bright amber, your eyes
look out as they did here,
(you don’t remember)
when my soul turned round,
perceiving the other-side of everything,
mullein-leaf, dogwood leaf, moth-wing and dandelion-seed under the ground.
—H.D. [HILDA DOOLITTLE],
from The Selected Poems of H. D.
This is a true story. Some of the names and places in this book have been changed to protect the privacy of those involved.
I am a woman.
The last several years of my life have been spent on a spiritual quest. My path led me first to many male teachers. Each of them, in their own way, gave me startling insights into my own nature. Still, something was lacking. I knew I wanted to learn from a woman—for me, that was the only way. I was lucky. After a series of extraordinary events, Agnes Whistling Elk, a Native American Medicine Woman living in Manitoba, Canada, became my teacher.
When I first met Agnes, I asked her if she thought it was strange for someone from Beverly Hills to be sitting in her quiet cabin in Manitoba asking for help.
“There are always helpers and signs to point the way for anyone who is willing to follow them,” she said. “Unknowingly, for the first time in your life, you have followed your true path. No, it is not surprising that you are here. Many omens have spoken of your coming, and I would be surprised if it were any other way. You know that enlightenment is arrived at in a different way for a woman than for a man.”
I asked Agnes if she taught men the same as woman. She laughed and said I should discover that answer for myself. “Teach the next ten men you meet how to have a baby.”
Spirit Woman (previously published as Flight of the Seventh Moon) describes how Agnes initiated me into my womanliness and selfhood. Through a series of visions and ceremonies, she took me around a circle of learning, and gave me a working mandala, a shield that I can carry in my everyday life. Within the experiences of my rite of passage is the ancient wisdom of woman. My story is like the story of all women involved in search. Our situations are different because we all are unique, but our source of understanding is the same.
Agnes has never told me what I must learn. She has simply put me into situations where I must grow and change to survive. Medicine Woman tells of how Agnes guided me through the four aspects of my beginning work. Much of this involved making me physically strong, because she feels that there must be a balance between spiritual learning and physical endurance. Agnes also placed me in situations where I learned to balance the male and female elements within me. Much of that training had to do with the search for the sacred marriage basket. Finally, she taught me about making an act of power or an act of beauty in the world. For me that was writing a book. I learned that the reason for an act of beauty is to create a mirror for yourself so that you can begin to know intimately who you are. Agnes also made it very clear to me through paranormal events, my travels to Canada, and the work in dreaming that it is very important for us to be lifted out of our mechanical existence so that real change—perhaps even transformation—has a chance to occur. Our structures and beliefs must be suspended so that something new can be heard.
I once asked Agnes what she thought about the biblical expression, “many are called but few are chosen.” She laughed and said that we are all called and we all are chosen if we simply have the courage to step into the unknown. I have written so that you may also share in the ancient traditions as memorized by Agnes Whistling Elk and the Sisterhood of the Shields.
The Sisterhood of the Shields is a secret society based in the ancient traditions of woman. Although its membership has long been limited to Native Americans, the energy changes on our planet have made it necessary to initiate women of other races. We share our knowledge collectively, between tribes and nations, in an attempt to bring balance, wisdom, and a more complete view of truth to the land.
Protector-of-Children Shield: South
Sometimes I go about pitying myself,
and all the time
I am being carried on great winds across the sky.
—OJIBWAY, adapted by Robert Bly
from the translation of Frances Densmore
I stood at the entrance to the Beverly Hills Hotel. The warm wind from the south rippled like clean silk on my skin. The air smelled of honeysuckle and I took a deep breath, trying to relax. I was nervously waiting for Hyemeyohsts Storm, the author of Seven Arrows and medicine man from Montana, and two film producers from New York who wanted to make a film based on my book, Medicine Woman. The thought of seeing Hyemeyohsts again relieved some of my anxiety. I glanced up at the ominous black clouds overhead and wondered what could be keeping him so long.
As I waited for the valet to take my car, I gazed at the hotel’s sixteen-acre parkland. The pool, cabanas, and fabulous guests—kings and queens, movie stars, business executives—made the hotel very special, and ordinarily I would have been happy to be here. But today was different. I was on my way to Canada to stay with Agnes Whistling Elk, the Cree Indian woman who had become my teacher. I had rented my home a few days early, and planned to stay at the hotel in the interim.
As the valet took my car and bags, I was distracted by the arrival of a flesh pink Cadillac Seville, from which a gorgeous girl emerged. All eyes were riveted on her, and no wonder—her outfit was flesh pink, and so was her tea-cup poodle. That’s Hollywood, I thought ruefully. A limousine with license plates that read “FATHER” had also pulled up to the hotel, but with much less fanfare. As I watched from behind a tall pillar covered with ivy and flowers, all the doors to the limousine suddenly burst open at once, as if they had a mind of their own. No one got out for a moment, and then there was a flurry of activity as uniformed attendants scrambled to help an elderly gentleman out of the back seat and into a waiting electric wheel chair. I didn’t recognize him, but he seemed somehow familiar. He had a distinctive way of lifting his gnarled hand and impatiently directing everyone. He was almost growling at his embarrassed young chauffeur, who tripped and nearly fell over the wheelchair as he lifted it up over the curb.
As the distinguished gray-haired gentleman rolled past me, he suddenly swerved, brushing my leg and sending me tumbling toward the flower bed. I could hear the pansies being crushed beneath my high heels and I swung my arms around wildly, trying to keep my balance.
A hand grabbed my elbow. It was Hyemeyohsts, who had rushed up just in time to steady me. I lifted my foot out of the newly watered garden and removed my mud-covered high heel. One shoe on and one off, I hobbled my way into the hotel lobby with Storm, where I excused myself and went into the powder room. As I stood in front of the sink wiping the dirt off my high heel, I caught the reflection of a medium-tall blonde woman in a white silk dress staring at me from the mirror. I hesitated, peering at her image. She kept going in and out of focus. With a start, I realized I was looking at myself. My head ached.
I sat down on a pink velvet stool in front of the mirror and tried to clear my vision. Waves of nausea passed through me. I shook my head and watched the unfamiliar blurred image in the mirror. I looked awful and felt even worse. I felt like a patient coming out of anesthesia, who wakes to see unfamiliar walls and feels frightened and helpless. I wished Agnes could tell me what to do.
Agnes Whistling Elk is my teacher. This Native American medicine woman has many truly formidable qualities. She is old, yet often appears young and agile. For several years she has been dedicated to teaching me how to use the ancient wisdom of woman.
Agnes is often assisted by a medicine woman named Ruby Plenty Chiefs. Ruby is more gruff and often times rude. She makes me feel unsure of myself, and seems to reflect my own inner fears. She seems egotistical. But her powers are also formidable, and her every move has a purpose.
My training, as I see it now, had to do with breaking the cultural limitations imposed upon me—and, by inference, imposed on all women. When I told Agnes of my intention to write Medicine Woman, she warned me of the struggle I faced:
“You are writing about the ancient power of woman, about a teaching that has been nearly forgotten. There are some people who will fight against your message, but it is so necessary that it be heard that you must try. You are a white woman from a glamorous city, and they will find it hard to believe.”
Agnes believes deeply in the need to restore the balance between male and female energy on her beloved mother earth. She feels that we live in a time of vision, a time when the people of the earth are once again ready to hear many secrets that have long been hidden. This is a time of cleansing and breaking away. We can destroy our earth mother or learn to live in harmony with her. To learn to live in harmony in this day, both men and women must reeducate their femaleness. Agnes sees that it is the woman in all of us that needs to be healed and reborn.
It was in seeking to recapture this female energy that I encountered my adversary, Red Dog, who had stolen it, in the form of a sacred marriage basket, for himself. He is a white man who sought out Agnes in order to restore the female balance in his own consciousness. But Agnes is a hard taskmaster, and Red Dog was cruel. When he tried to take all the power for himself, Agnes cut him off and he became not a shaman but a sorcerer, who turned toward evil instead of love. I was and am more frightened of Red Dog than of anyone on earth.
My reverie was suddenly broken by a familiar voice. “Lynn, listen to me. You are in grave danger, and something must be done.” I heard Agnes’s voice so clearly in my head that I looked around for a moment to see if she were there. But there was only a well-dressed young woman washing her hands at the sink and the sound of “Strangers in the Night” on the piped-in Muzak.
“You have no shields, no protection. You are wide open and asking for attack. If you don’t want Red Dog to attack you, you must learn to make shields.”
“Shields?” I wondered, fear crawling up my spine.
“Yes,” she said, answering my thoughts. I closed my eyes. I could almost see her sitting at the wooden table in her cabin, an intense look on her ancient Indian face, her long grey braids brushing her red Pendleton shirt. “You see, your light is growing on the other side and you’re attracting all kinds of influences—good and bad—like moths to a flame. What is born into the physical world also exists in the spirit world.”
I thought to myself, “What kind of shields?”
Again she answered, “The kind of shield that allows only the thought forms of light to enter and returns all darkness and destruction to the sender.” Then she repeated slowly, in a far off voice in my mind. “Back to the shooter. You’re in trouble because you stole back the marriage basket and defeated Red Dog. You wouldn’t stand in front of a bobcat and ask him to leap on you, would you? You’d protect yourself, wouldn’t you? Well, you’re in a lot more danger than that! When you achieve a dream, you take that dream to the Spirit House for the Kachinas, the Keepers of the Great Dream, to manifest. So why didn’t you ask them for protection?”
“I didn’t know I was supposed to,” I said, as if I were actually talking to her.
“Protection is always the first thing you ask for.” She sounded impatient. “The second thing is direction. I didn’t think you were that stupid.”
“What do I do, Agnes? Will you help me?” I asked out loud. The woman washing her hands looked at me strangely and left quickly.
Agnes started to laugh. “Lynn, you’re playing the part of Poor Cow again, indulging in your own lack of courage.” And then her voice was gone.
I felt exhausted. Was Agnes’s voice a delusion? I had been in a trance. How long had I been in the powder room? It seemed like days. I glanced at my watch. Only minutes had passed. I hurried down to the lobby, still feeling quite ill.
“Hey, Lynn, are you okay?” Storm asked, obviously very concerned.
“Yes . . . I feel a little weak, that’s all. Probably need something to eat.” I must have looked awful, because he grabbed my arm and steered me across the red-carpeted foyer, his eyes never leaving me for an instant.
We sat down in the Polo Lounge and ordered lunch. The first thing I was aware of was the loud volume of voices. I felt again as if I were coming out of a haze. As it cleared, my senses were heightened. The noise level was incredible. I had to blink my eyes against the light that reflected off the highly polished silver on the tables and the expensive jewelry on the patrons. I shook my head to clear it. Hyemeyohsts still held my arm. He reached over gently and took my chin, turning my face towards him. “What’s going on with you?” He sounded alarmed.
“Hyemeyohsts, I’m feeling terribly ill.” A quick movement from across the room caught my eye. There he was again—that old man in the wheelchair. For a moment, the room seemed too quiet. Two well-dressed men appeared—one older and one younger. I realized they were the two men we had come to meet. “You must be Lynn Andrews,” said the younger one.
I was too dizzy to get up, so I extended my hand. “Mr. Stevens, how are you? This is Heyemeyohsts Storm.” I smiled thickly. They must have thought I was drunk.
“And may I present our money man from New York—Jack Portland,” the older gentleman smiled, and they both sat down. Jack looked at me a long time and then said, “Lynn, I’m going to invest in your film idea, so let’s just get that out of the way. I agree to all the terms we discussed on the phone. My lawyer will call your agent tomorrow, okay?”
“What I really want to talk about are your book and your experiences.” He settled back in his chair with the customary assuredness of someone who commands attention. He adjusted his protruding abdomen back under his belt, and cocked his head to one side. “About all this stuff concerning sorcery and Red Dog. We all know there is no such thing as sorcery, let alone. . . .” As he spoke, a brilliant shaft of light cut into the room from one of the high garden windows. Flecks of dust in the air made it glow, lighting Jack’s grey hair like a halo. Suddenly, images of that incredible confrontation with Red Dog two years earlier came flooding into my mind.
Following Agnes’s instructions, I had gone to Red Dog’s cabin to steal back the powerful marriage basket. Thinking I was alone, I reached for it. Just then, he appeared out of nowhere. Red Dog had enormous power, and, as he too lunged for the basket, great fibres of light shot out from the basket, connecting him to it. The tricks of light in the Polo Lounge seemed to bring that moment back in full force. Jack shifted in his chair. The light from the window bounced off a spoon and glared into my eyes.
Jack continued, “And what’s all this crap about luminous fibres? I’m pretty gullible, but how do you expect me to believe that the sorcerer dissolved into an old man as you cut the last one? That must have been a metaphor, right?”
Now, as I looked at Jack, the shaft of light was behind him once more. I felt it odd and synchronistic that he wanted to discuss those final moments when I stood face to face with the one I most feared.
Suddenly, I was even more nauseated. I tried to breathe deeply, collecting myself with all the energy I possessed. A terrible pressure was building in my head and my vision was blurring. For a moment I could hear the winds of Manitoba blowing through the room of Red Dog’s cabin, and I heard the low, ferocious growl of his voice.
“I insist that you admit to us that there is no such thing as sorcery,” Jack demanded. I started to double over in my chair with a stomach cramp. The seizure passed unnoticed, and the two men busied themselves ordering hors d’oeuvres and more drinks.
Across the room, I noticed the man in the electric wheelchair, bathed in a pool of light. He was wearing an immaculate and magnificently styled black pin-striped suit. He kept running his fingers slowly through his thick white hair, apparently enjoying the feel of it. His profile was oddly familiar. I squinted at him, wondering what it was that attracted me to him. I saw him run his hands over the wheelchair, and then I looked at his feet and gasped. Hyemeyohsts grabbed me as I started to shudder. The old man was wearing beaded leather mocassins. The cut glass beads were glinting in the sunlight. Slowly, the man turned and looked at me squarely. There was something bestial in his eyes.
“His feet, . . .” I stammered to Hyemeyohsts. “Red Dog.” At the pronouncement of this name, I doubled over in pain. I clutched at my legs, and felt something attached to my calf. “Hyemeyohsts . . . my leg . . . on my leg!” Storm bent down, knocking over the remainder of his drink. An old turquoise trade bead was actually embedded in my leg! I frantically tore at it, it fell and skidded across the floor. I heard dark winds howling in my head. I began to cough violently. “I’m choking to death,” I managed to say. I could hardly breathe.
“Hey, what’s the matter, Lynn?” Jack asked. People were staring at me with pity and contempt. I must have been quite a sight. The maitre d’ and Hyemeyohsts assisted me past the curious customers to the elevator. The two producers just sat there, helpless. As the elevator rose, I could feel myself sinking. I remember seeing the number “16” on my room door, and then the great banana leaves printed on the walls seemed to flutter and blur. I was in a cold sweat as Storm lay me back on my bed and closed the drapes.
“Where is your medicine bundle?” he demanded.
“In that leather bag.” I pointed to my pile of bags in the corner of the room. Hyemeyohsts ripped open the zipper and pulled out my red medicine blanket, which I had tied with leather thongs. He deftly unrolled it and brought me my gourd rattle, tearing the feather off the stem. He helped me to a sitting position and handed the feather to me.
“Lynn, now you must eat this eagle feather or you will die. Red Dog has laid the swirls of death upon you. This feather is the only power I can think of that can save you.”
I took the small feather without question and began to chew. It sounded like I was crushing bones. Waves of nausea coursed through me. I was convulsed in pain. I chewed and chewed, determined to hold on to life. The phone kept ringing until Storm took it off the hook. People kept pounding on the door. I heard an ambulance wailing in the distance. What a grotesque way to die, I thought. When the feather was completely swallowed, Hyemeyohsts handed me a glassful of some bitter liquid made from the contents of his pouch. “Drink,” he ordered, holding me up in a semi-sitting position. I gagged it down and then I collapsed.
I fell into a thankful sleep. My dreams that night appeared from the most healing part of my being. While I was dreaming, I was aware of being tended by merciful energies in the form of stars. My attention was being focused on a tiny blue-white point of light that existed both within my heart and in space. It had an enchanting quality, and yet I felt it within, as the most powerful part of myself.
I awoke at dawn the next day and sneezed from the stench of stale smoke that permeated the air. The ashtray was filled with cigarette butts. Storm was sitting cross-legged on the floor near my bed, his eyes closed, his breathing even. The ravages of room service lay next to him. I was glad he was there for me: He slowly opened his eyes and smiled with such a tender expression that I started to cry. He got up and sat down on the edge of my bed. He looked pale and exhausted. His eyes conveyed clearly that I had nearly died and that he was grateful for my survival. He stroked my forehead gently.
“Lynn, why didn’t you tell me that you had no protection?”
“I assumed I did. Well, actually I hadn’t given it much thought.”
“Lynn, you have taken the woman power of one of the most powerful sorcerers alive and you haven’t given ‘much thought’ to protecting yourself?” He shook his head ruefully. “You novices in medicine are all the same. You are unaware of the real powers of the world even though you’ve availed yourself of them.” He leaned forward and took my hand firmly. “Don’t you know that Red Dog is going to try to kill you? He nearly did succeed.” Storm’s frustration with my stupidity was mounting. He got up and paced, murmuring something I couldn’t make out. Then he whirled around and loudly whispered, “You’re as wide open as a parking lot. You aren’t even wearing your earring. Look, my friend, you must learn immediately how to shield yourself. Your Agnes is the only one who can help you. She is the only one who can save your life.”
“I have some business to attend to, and then I’m going to give her the book about all of us,” I said weakly. “In a few days.”
“Lynn, you are being given the opportunity to become a medicine person, a person capable of seeing and knowing and piercing through all the layers of illusion. You must be a warrioress. Your growth is a process and you may not cut out any step of the journey. Accept the lessons, harsh as they may seem to you. See how identified you are with approval and disapproval. Stop seeing yourself through everybody else’s eyes and use your own. Learn to perceive the world from your original starting point.” I remembered my dream of the blue-white star. I recalled the words of my father, who said, “I hope after I’m gone that you find someone who cares enough to lovingly correct you. The whole world waits to be lovingly corrected.”
We both sighed in unison. I felt a deep feeling of connection with this man and his words. We were one.
* * *
After two days of rest, I left for Manitoba, feeling strong again. I landed at Winnepeg in bright sunshine, rented a car, and began my journey to the reserve. From the town of Crowley, it seemed no time at all before I pulled up to Agnes’s cabin. I was excited. I grabbed my book and small suitcase and gathered up the grocery bag filled with cigarettes, white bread, bologna, and other foods I knew she liked. As I approached the cabin, wondering if Agnes would be home, the door burst open and out came Agnes, Ruby, and July, Ruby’s apprentice, a beautiful Cree woman in her twenties. They were all laughing and bumping into each other like puppies.
“You’re late,” Ruby said smiling. “We’ve been expecting you for hours.” Agnes laughed at the surprise on my face. July ran to me and took the groceries. She looked at me quizzically and said, “What took you so long, Lynn?”
I was amazed. “There’s no way to get a message to anyone out here. How did you know I was coming?”
“Oh, Red Dog phoned ahead to warn us.”
They all laughed and hugged me.
“We’re having venison tonight in your honor,” Agnes said.
I was touched by their warm welcome. I took a deep breath. It all felt so good. For the first time in months I gave myself permission to relax.
Inside, Agnes handed me a paper cup. “Here’s some tea for you.” Steam was rising from it. There was a moment of silent expectancy, and then I carefully placed my book in the center of the table and waited for their reactions.
“What’s that? Even though I’m blind, I can see that you’re really full of yourself,” Ruby said sharply, as she pointed at the book. Agnes and July looked from one to the other with shrugs.
“That’s the book I wrote,” I said proudly. “I brought it to read to you.”
“What’s it about?” Ruby asked.
“It’s about you and Agnes and July and Red Dog and the marriage basket and. . . .” I stopped myself. “It’s about all of us!” I was beaming with delight.
“What! You never told me you were going to write a book about me.”
Agnes laughed. “Ruby, we don’t tell you everything.”
Ruby looked affronted. “Agnes, you never told me Lynn was writing a book. Oh, I would never have helped you had I known. I would never have loaned you the Mother Rattle.”
“Come off it, Ruby. That was my rattle, anyway,” Agnes said.
I became alarmed at the sudden turn of events. “Hey, what’s happening? I thought you’d all be really happy about the book.”
“Well. . . .” Ruby fingered a scab on her left elbow. “I’d like to hear what you’ve got to say in your book.”
“Ruby, eat some dinner,” July said, putting a plate of venison in front of her. “Come on, it’ll make you feel better.”
“Listen, don’t tell me what’ll make me feel better.” She swatted a fly on the table and angrily stabbed the meat on her plate with her fork. Each time I tried to speak and tell them about my experience with Red Dog, Ruby held up her hand to silence me, as if she knew what I was going to say.
I couldn’t believe Ruby’s outrageous behavior. She was ruining everything. I regarded her suddenly, not as the powerful medicine woman I had written about, but as a spoiled, petulant child determined to ruin the party.
Agnes sat down to eat. Between bites she poked at the book with her fork. A small piece of fat struck to the front page, staining it. I quickly wiped it off as best I could, but the stain remained. My irritation was mounting. This certainly was not the reception I had expected. I withdrew and pictured myself having a good stiff drink at home with civilized people.
Agnes read my expression. “Come on, Lynn, we’ll have a real civilized supper and you read to us from your book.” Listlessly, I opened to the first page and began to read. The joy of sharing this event was snuffed out for me. Nevertheless, I read on for two whole chapters without looking up even once. I suppose I would have continued, but Ruby was groaning and moaning, holding her belly. I was thoroughly distracted. She finally let out a long belch. That was it. I slammed the book shut.
“Ruby, what’s going on?” I asked, looking at her with undisguised disgust.
She whined, “You didn’t make me out to be a very nice person—which I am. People will get the idea that I’m an old hag. I’m quite attractive for a lady of my age, don’t you think? Agnes? I’m certainly much more attractive than Lynn made out.” Ruby fluffed her hair for the imaginary photographers and tossed her head like a young girl.
“Yes, Ruby, but look at what she did to me,” Agnes piped in. “I’m in good shape for my age, too!” Agnes sucked in her gut and strutted around like a proud turkey. I had to laugh in spite of my anger.
“Why are you making fun of me?” I asked.
“The least you could have done is say that we’re only middle-aged.”
“Yeah,” Ruby chimed in.
Why were they doing this? Were they ridiculing my own vanity? I was disturbed by the thought.
“Actually, Lynn, it seems like you’re favoring Agnes in your book. It’s a good thing you aren’t my apprentice. I’d feel downright betrayed. You make us both appear old, mean, and tricky.” In fact, that was just the way I was experiencing them at that precise moment. Then, with the tone of a proper little girl, Ruby said coyly, “You know we’re just as nice as we can be.”
I noticed July tip-toeing out the door, apparently unseen by the two old women. They were both preening themselves and strutting back and forth, wringing their hands in an absurd demonstration interspersed with yells to each other and to me. I sat watching in utter disbelief. My feelings were hurt. I felt totally confused. Suddenly, Ruby stopped her shenanigans and turned to face me. She walked over slowly and scanned me with her hands, holding them about two inches from my body. She closed her eyes.
“Lynn”, she said, “you use your body as if it were a rag tied onto the tail of your consciousness.”
Agnes joined in her laughter and peered at me with her face contorted, poking and plucking at my clothes. I felt assaulted in every way. Ruby sat down, her attitude changing to one of mock concern.
“I’m sure Agnes, your great teacher, has warned you that you are in extreme danger now.”
“Well, yes, sort of, but what do you mean?” I looked at Agnes for an explanation.
“I was going to get around to that.” Agnes looked a bit sheepish.
“Get around to what?” I asked impatiently. Anxiety began creeping up my groin into my stomach. I started to ask Agnes about hearing her voice at the hotel. I needed desperately to tell her about my near brush with death.
But Ruby interrupted me every time I tried, and waved her hand for silence. “Ha, Now you’re in the greatest danger you’ve ever been in.” She leaned forward and whispered, “And you may not survive!”
Agnes suddenly looked very serious.
Ruby glared at Agnes. “I should never have asked you to help me get back at Red Dog.”
“You could never have done it without me,” Agnes said.
This was all too much. I couldn’t control myself. “I feel like a pawn!” I cried out.
“What’s a pawn?” Ruby asked innocently.
“It’s a piece on a chessboard that doesn’t have much power.”
“That’s you all right,” Ruby acknowledged.
“I’m outraged. You’ve used me and tricked me. Why?” I felt like I was going to choke.
Agnes quietly sat down, cocked her head, and watched me go through my turmoil.
I finally took a breath. “Agnes, what’s happening, what aren’t you telling me?” I was exploding from sheer frustration!
“Ho! You’ve stepped into this circle of power, and what did you think would happen?”
Ruby gruffly shoved back her chair. “Where’s July?” She walked around the cabin, and then abruptly said, “I’m leaving,” and stomped out. A moment later, she poked her head in the door and said, “See you,” and left.
It took me a moment to gather my courage again to ask, “What am I doing wrong? I’ve done as you told me. I thought that my act of writing this book was a form of protection—revealing some of your teaching—bringing these secrets out of darkness into light.” My voice sounded as if it were coming from a deep well.
“You’ve got to start using your head, Lynn.”
“I thought I was, Agnes,” I said weakly. “I thought you’d be happy about the book.” I felt about five years old. “I thought that’s what you had instructed me to do.” I was on the verge of crying. Agnes got up and poured some more tea. For a moment, she almost looked tender, and then she walked over and patted me rather hard on the head.
“But I thought the marriage basket was going to fill me up?”
“Nope. It makes you complete in a way. But that’s just the beginning.” Agnes sighed. “You’re my apprentice. It is law that I must help you. Unfortunately,” she grinned at me, “I don’t have the knowledge you need at this turn of the road. . . .”
“Oh, that’s delightful. Now you tell me.”
“Ruby can help you.”
“Oh, great. The blind leading the blind.” I thought of Ruby’s insolence and shivered. “She’ll never help me. Can you get her to help me?”
“Why not?” I panicked. “She’s your friend!”
“She’s not my friend. I’ve never liked Ruby. She’s a medicine woman and I respect her. I respect the work she does. Aside from that, she’s the most egotistical old bat I’ve ever known.”
“But she’s your best—”
Agnes interrupted me. “I’ve given away a lot to her. You’d think she’d help me. But when the chips are down, Ruby will really put it to you. I don’t like her apprentices much, either. July is all right, but Ben and Drum are. . . .” She made a thumbs down motion. “Ruby’s let her power go to her head.”
“Ben and Drum? You must be kidding!”
Agnes’s face was as serious as could be.
“Agnes, how did they become Ruby’s apprentices?”
“Ben and Drum were left without a teacher after you took the marriage basket away from Red Dog.”
I was shocked.
Agnes continued. “They first came to me and I ran ’em off because I just don’t like men apprentices. For me to teach a man, I have to reverse everything. Got no use for them. But Ruby . . . she’s a certain kind of medicine woman that has the kind of power they need.
“I saw them coming up the road one day. They were very nervous and made tobacco offerings to me. They had several good blankets, so I let them come on. Drum gave me the tobacco. I said, ‘What is it you want from me?’ I had to receive them because that is the law. Drum said, ‘We want you to teach us and initiate us into your way.’ I said, ‘I can look at both of you idiots and tell that my heyoka road, the teachings of the Sacred Clown, or the Contrary, is not for you. If you want my advice, you should go to someone else. Maybe someone down south. Maybe Colorado. But if you want real power, go and learn from Ruby.’ They made quite a fuss when they heard that suggestion. They wanted me, because you, as my apprentice, had defeated Red Dog, their teacher. They had been Red Dog’s devoted apprentices until you took back the marriage basket and stole away his woman power. No, he will not be the same until he has regained his balance. And that will take a long time. Maybe age will get him.”
“Agnes, why do you use the term heyoka—isn’t that a Lakota word?”
“I use the word heyoka because my teacher was part Cree, part northern Cheyenne, and part Lakota, and her teacher was Lakota. I traveled a long way from home to learn from her; it was a long time ago. I speak many Indian languages and Lakota is one. I learned the heyoka way in her tongue. She was the only one who could help me when my daughter went to join the ancestors. I was in great pain then. I understood very little. Because I learned much from my Lakota and Cheyenne grandmothers about medicine, I use many of their words in my work, as does Ruby. Their language has great power and dignity for me.”
“I like the sound of it, too.”
“I know you do. I can see that it affects you deeply. It should, you once spoke Lakota.”
“What do you mean?”
“I can’t tell you. You need to remember on your own. It will mean much more to you. But the language sound will take you back to that place of forgetting and remembering, to a happy life you once had on the plains long before the white man came.”
I bit my lip. Agnes’s soft voice and words made me suddenly want to cry. I looked away. Agnes took my chin in her hand and turned my face toward her. She made me look at her.
“Oh, I can see you laugh, but I can’t watch you cry?” Tears rolled down my cheeks and she held me for a moment.
Agnes studied my face. She continued, this new, gruff attitude returning. She picked up her teacup and placed it on the very edge of the table. “To get back to what I was saying, I would teach you anything and everything I know, but your needs have put me in a funny position.” She flicked her paper teacup off the edge of the table. It fell soundlessly on the floor. Agnes leaned forward. “Ruby and I have always drawn from each other as worthy opponents. Now we’d better all be careful. That lady is capable of anything. Particularly if you really need something from her.”
Excerpted from "Spirit Woman"
Copyright © 2007 Lynn V. Andrews.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.


helped convince Charlevoix County to purchase the Beaver Head Lighthouse with Networks Northwest. In an historic announcement, County commissioners who attended the year's picnic spoke of the vision of working with Beaver Island Historical Society to keep the property and 3rd oldest lighthouse on the Great Lakes a viable and enjoyable place for the public to enjoy.” In 2018
The Beaver Island Historical Society, in collaboration with Charlevoix County and Networks Northwest, raised funds to bring a group of historical preservation experts to the island in the summer of 2022. Eastern Michigan University's Historic Preservation Graduate Field School assesses the preservation needs of the Lighthouse in summer 0f 2022. Students did minor repairs and cleanup, but more importantly, drew sketches and laid plans for the next group of students from EMU that will continue to work on the project over the next four years. Listed on the National Historic Register of Historic Places since 1978, the lighthouse is important nationally and historically and of great importance to the tourist industry on the island. In 2021, over 6000 visited the lighthouse.
Charlevoix County and Networks Northwest continue to debate what to do with the lighthouse and have considered input from the community about its future.
A bed and breakfast, a volunteer lighthouse keeper retreat and possibly, a dark sky interpretive center or park as the Beaver Island Dark Sky Project Committee is striving to include the lighthouse in its plans for a dark sky sanctuary.
Whatever happens to the property is dictated by the original contract which states it must made available for use by the public. The 171-acre grounds are enhanced with public restrooms, a walking path to the fog building and a staircase to the beach. Beaver Island is a bucket-list destination for lighthouse lovers who can visit Beaver Head Lighthouse and Whiskey Point Lighthouse and also can charter visits to White Shoals Lighthouse and Squaw Island Lighthouse. Also, visitors arriving from Charlevoix can pass the Charlevoix Lighthouse on the ferry trip to the island. All lighthouses are places that matter, Beaver Head Lighthouse is one carefully preserved by dedicated community of volunteers. To learn more about the Beaver Island Historical Society's mission to Preserve and Share the Unique History of the Archipelago please visit https://www.beaverislandhistory.org/
Photo below is a display that was placed at the museum for the EMU students to view about the history of the Beaver Island Lighthouse School. Below right, Cynthia Pryor gave an overview of the history of the Stone Circle.


It is worth mentioning that the pace of corona infection is very fast in the state. On Thursday, 6,133 new corona infections have been identified in the state, which is a record in cases found in a day. On Thursday, the maximum number of 2,105 new corona infections have been identified in the capital Patna.
Meanwhile, there is a steady decline in the recovery rate in the state. The recovery rate in the state has fallen to 89.79 percent. The number of active patients of Kovid-19 in the state has increased to 29,078.
If you have any concerns or complaints regarding this article, please let us know and the article will be removed soon.


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Subject:Porcelain vase age and origin
Posted By: Joakim Sat, Apr 24, 2021 IP: 2a00:801:72a:9c01:1d
I bought this porcelain floor vase at a local auction. It’s about 50 cm tall. The auctioneer listed it as Japanese, 19th century. I wanted to ask the porcelain experts here if you agree with the vase being 19th century and if so, perhaps someone could estimate during what part of that century It was made? If there are suggestions of possible origin (city or maker etc.) I would also be very grateful!

domain: artistic


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Honestly, I'm here to create dope designs & comfy clothes. I’ve always desired becoming apart of the fashion industry, so I created my own family oriented streetwear brand. The inspiration derived from my wife and sister’s experiences as it relates to shopping for small children. Their concern was how difficult it was to find clothing that was stylish and good quality, yet affordable, which helped incite the mission of Big Bleu.
Bleu means “RARE” in French and I'm here to provide that 3-in-1 (style, quality, AND affordability) RARE experience. So sit back and enjoy the show.
"People who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do." -- Rob Siltanen

domain: design


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The comfortable contemporary design of the “Maier-Walnut” upholstery collection features plush boxed seating and back cushions giving you the comfort you desire while helping enhance your home’s décor with exciting jumbo stitch detailing and tufted accents that embrace the modern style. Frame constructions have been rigorously tested to simulate the home and transportation environments for improved durability. Corners are glued, blocked and stapled. Stripes and patterns are match cut. All fabrics are pre-approved for wearability and durability against AHFA standards. Cushion cores are constructed of low melt fiber wrapped over foam.
- Finish: Walnut
- Material: Nylon (5%) and Polyester (95%)
- Contemporary Style
- Cushion cores are constructed of low melt fiber wrapped over foam
- Overall Product Dimensions: 21.5" H x 36.5" W x 36.5" D
- Product Weight: 41 lbs
- Leg Height: 3"
Furnished Over 1 Million Homes Since 1997...
I was very satisfied with One Way Furniture Service. I have referred them to many friends, family, and customers. Thank you. Kathy A. Eisele, Boston, MA
Product Review - Ashley Furniture - Maier - Ottoman
Ashley Furniture has a long history of providing quality craftsmanship in their line of exquisite furnishings. We carry sophisticated and unique furniture collection to suit your budget, personal taste and requirement. You will also be provided with bedroom, living room, kitchen, dining room among many others. Ashley Furniture
Weight & Size
Reference - Sku: 4520108 - Ashley Furniture - Maier - Ottoman by Ashley Furniture


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Want a colorful Microphone panda keyboard theme? Install and decorate your keyboard with an exquisite Microphone panda keyboard theme now!
Please read before installing the Microphone panda keyboard theme
1. Please install Panda Keyboard first (this theme is not supported on other keyboard apps). Tap on the "APPLY" button to complete installation.
2. Panda Keyboard supports emoticon input, you can send emojis to your friends.
3. Panda Keyboard supports all languages in the Language center.
4. Enjoy a different keyboard theme every day with amusing emojis.
The Microphone panda keyboard keyboard theme includes Microphone panda keyboard background colors and Microphone panda keyboard themed buttons, the keyboard's design is a combination of cool microphone and music keyboard elements. You can enjoy this wonderful blend of cool microphone and music keyboard for FREE!
This Microphone panda keyboard themed Android keyboard includes cute emojis that are pre-installed. It also have the attributes of both colorful and 3D, so if you are a big fan of colorful and 3D, you will love this WWW Microphone panda keyboard keyboard theme.
The Microphone panda keyboard theme not only allows you to personalize your Android keyboard with Microphone panda keyboard elements, but also offers a whole new and enjoyable typing experience.
The superb musical keyboard background further brings out the Microphone panda keyboard aspects of this keyboard theme. Furthermore, the Microphone panda keyboard keyboard theme uses Microphone panda keyboard themed buttons and colour schemes to add more style to the overall design.
The Microphone panda keyboard theme displays the beauty of avant-garde design and a theme that you will truly fall in love with. The theme supports all Android devices and brands such as Sony, Huawei, Microsoft and many more. Download and install the Microphone panda keyboard theme now to enjoy chatting with friends while enjoying a colorful and 3D typing experience.
Features of the Microphone panda keyboard theme:
1. Swype input
2. Clipboard (Copy & Paste)
3. Number Row (Add a row of numbers on keyboard)
4. Quick Punctuation Input (Add a row of symbols on keyboard)
5. Resizable Keyboard


When customers are asked to provide the most accurate description that they associate with DEUTZ, the majority of them answer state-of-the-art engineering. Years of experience went into the approach that DEUTZ practices today – it combines yesterday’s craftsmanship with today’s fit and function.
Year by year, DEUTZ has been crafting superior solutions for its customers and now we treat it as a machine manufacturing giant with over 140 years of experience. Its craftsmanship in every detail and individual approach toward the needs of each customer has earned its place on the global arena.
DEUTZ’s expertise and efficiency serve as a stable background for the manufacturing of diesel engines, cooling systems: air, oil, and water; and engines for such applications as mobile machinery, agricultural machinery, automotive, marine, etc. It goes without saying that DEUTZ’s technologists.
Reliable service worldwide
Due to reliable business partnerships, DEUTZ is now represented in 130 countries. Its global reach makes it flexible and innovative,
thereby providing extended opportunities to its new and existing customers.
Master’s touch everywhere
DEUTZ delivers know-how value by using advanced technologies. To ensure the highest level of operational reliability, all the products are subjected to thorough testing and quality control. If you require further assistance, our staff is available for you 24/7 as we aim at establishing long-lasting relationships with our customers wherever on the globe that they are located.
This is what is in it for you:
Starting with the early development stages to final testing procedures, DEUTZ is unwavering in its commitment to delivering superior results. Each client that chooses DEUTZ as a machine manufacturing company, finds it beneficial in a few ways:
– Affordable solutions
– Products are designed to withstand heavy-duty use
– Ease of maintenance
– 24/7 after-sales support
– Extended product warranty
DEAUTZ has become the choice of many and has managed to successfully address their needs.View our products


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Design your ebooks, worksheets, and checklists to be interactive PDFs using Adobe InDesign! This InDesign tutorial will teach you the basic steps to create your own clickable, fillable PDFs.
Quick Tip: Working with Text Wrap and Fit Content Options in Adobe InDesign - Tuts+ Design & Illustration Tutorial
I don't use InDesign much, but this is good to know!
Learn InDesign Basics: Layouts, Type and Images - Skillshare
InDesign text formatting shortcuts, by Alma Loveland from Nicole's Classes
Adobe InDesign Tips I Wish I'd Known When Starting Out
27 Fantastic Adobe InDesign Tutorials to Learn
How to Create Interactive Forms with Adobe InDesign
99designs Shortcut Cheat Sheet: Adobe InDesign
Adobe Indesign Tutorial
Quick Tip: Eleven Tricks That Will Help Your Workflow in InDesign


HIKVISION IDS-9632NXI-I8/X DeepinMind Series NVR
The DeepinView Series iDS-9632NXI-I8/16S NVR features Hikvision’s important new technology, deep learning-based analytics, which filters false alarms in behavior detection by recognizing human and vehicle targets.
Connect Up to 32 IP Cameras
Up to 16-ch 1080p Decoding Capability
Up to 16-ch Perimeter Protection
Up to 8-ch Video Stream Face Recognition, or up to 16-ch Recognition for Face Picture
Up to 8-ch Video Structuralization


Francesco Akira made his debut at tonight’s NJPW Hyper Battle event, confronting El Desperado.
After Desperado successfully defended the title against SHO, Taiji Ishimori came out and challenged Desperado for a title match. Before Desperado could reply, the lights went out. When they came back on, Akira was in the ring. He directed his attention to Desperado, telling him that he would see him at Best of the Super Juniors while holding a lighter. After he left, Desperado accepted Ishimori’s challenge.
A vignette was uploaded to NJPW’s YouTube account last month showing Will Ospreay promoting a new junior heavyweight by the name of Bruciare, which means “burn” in Italian.
Akira, 22, is best known for his run in All Japan Pro Wrestling, winning the World Junior Heavyweight Championship once and won last year’s Jr. Battle of Glory tournament. He last wrestled for the company in September of last year and since has worked in Europe, including Revolution Pro Wrestling.


New BMW M5 Competition launched in India at Rs 1.62 crore
The BMW M5 Competition will be imported to India via the CBU route.
BMW has launched the new M5 Competition facelift in the Indian market. It is priced at Rs 1.62 crore (ex-showroom, India).
The new BMW M5 Competition now comes with a number of updates and revisions over the previous model. This includes a new twin L-shaped LED DRLs integrated with the brand’s laser LED headlamps, smoked LED tail lamps, new 20-inch M-light alloy wheels, black inserts on the rear bumper and black chrome tailpipes. Along with this, the new M5 Competition also comes with its kidney grille, ORVM caps and rear spoiler all finished in gloss black. The performance sedan features black M5 Competition badging all around as well.
On the inside, the BMW M5 Competition facelift is offered with premium leather upholstery options. The M5 Competition comes with M-multifunction seats with the illuminated M logo. Other M-specific parts include the seat belts, footrest and steering wheel.
There are plenty of other standard features as well. These include electrically adjustable seats with memory function and seat heating, electric sunroof, four-zone climate control, automatic tailgate and rear-seat entertainment system.
The facelifted BMW M5 Competition also comes with a 12.3-inch fully digital instrument cluster, a 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment unit with wireless Apple CarPlay & Android Auto, wireless charging, heads-up display and an M-mode selector; among others.
Powering the new BMW M5 Competition is a 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 petrol engine. It produces 616 BHP and 750 NM, paired with an 8-speed automatic transmission. BMW claims that the M5 Competition can accelerate from 0 – 100 km/h in just 3.3 seconds.
Customers of the BMW M5 Competition will also gain exclusive membership to the ‘BMW Excellence Club’. It will offer programs such as bespoke travel, the high life, grandstand and other BMW privileges.
The BMW M5 Competition will be imported to India via the CBU route. It rivals the likes of the Mercedes-AMG E63 S.
Source: Read Full Article


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A Controversial World Cup
Helen Lenskyj, Professor Emerita at University of Toronto, works as a researcher, writer, public speaker and community activist. She is a well-recognized Olympic Industry critic and, having published several books on the subject, is perfectly placed to provide comment about the potential pitfalls of the upcoming World Cup tournament.
Any country that hosts a World Cup or Olympic Games can expect a kind of reverse ‘Midas touch’ effect. From a social justice perspective, everything a sport mega-event touches turns out badly.
The trend continued as sport sociologists and historians developed critical analyses of every aspect of the Olympics and World Cup and, with many academics taking on the role of public intellectual, their work has had an impact in raising general awareness of the pitfalls of hosting these events.
Yet, if we were to believe the western mainstream media, it’s always ‘other’ countries, and rarely ‘our own’, that experience these problems: human rights abuses, corrupt bidding processes, worker exploitation, political opportunism, budget overruns … the list goes on.
In the current geopolitical climate, Russia is an easy target for criticism as the country prepares to host the 2018 FIFA Men’s World Cup. It has all the elements guaranteed to generate controversy: escalating racist and homophobic football hooliganism, terrorist threats, labour abuses and deaths, anti-gay discrimination enshrined in law – all this with a man widely viewed as a dangerous dictator at the helm.
Add to this the fact that Russia is persona non grata in the world of sport because of alleged state-sponsored doping dating back to 2011, on a scale that hasn’t been seen since East Germany’s 1970s program. Meanwhile, the global anti-doping campaign is a dismal failure, and countries that take the moral high ground regarding Russia routinely find their own athletes embroiled in doping scandals.
Countries are on equally shaky ground when they moralize about homophobia in Russia. As critics pointed out during the 2018 Commonwealth Games, widely commended as ‘the inclusive games’, 70% of its member countries criminalize homosexuality. Globally, gay relationships are illegal in 76 countries, and same-sex marriage is permitted in only 25 countries. When Australia held a plebiscite on the issue in 2017, close to 40% voted to deny same-sex couples the right to marry. In other words, Russia is not exactly an outlier.
While the world media are demonizing Russia, FIFA and the IOC – the institutions that have recently made a practice of awarding these events to totalitarian regimes – often escape scrutiny. In 2007, the IOC selected Sochi for the 2014 Winter Olympics, and in the next few years FIFA followed their bad example, awarding the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. These decisions sent a clear message: prioritizing brand recognition and sponsors’ marketing targets over ethics and values, the IOC and FIFA welcome bids from countries that persecute LGBTQ people and brutally suppress anti-government dissent, countries with no protection for migrant construction workers, and flagrant disregard for the environment. In fact, it’s easier to host a sport mega-event in a dictatorship than in a democracy – fewer pesky roadblocks like free speech, a free press, freedom of assembly, environmental protections, and unionized workers.
‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it’ is a warning that bid committees, organizers, journalists, and taxpayers would do well to heed. Is it really so difficult to remember events of the past 20 years? A few examples: IOC’s and FIFA’s bribery and corruption scandals; ongoing incidents of bribery and quid pro quo deals years after IOC’s ‘reform’ efforts; displacement of poor and homeless people in every Olympic and World Cup host city/region; and crackdowns on free speech and freedom of assembly, even in western democracies like Australia and Canada. In the race to host sport meg-events, winners are usually losers.
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Emerald Publishing has announced that it will offer a grant of £10,000 to the University of Lincoln to conduct an interdisciplinary research project and help with the dissemination of the research. Launched in October 2019, the grant exists to find an innovative project that promotes action towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals, through collaboration of …Read Article
As the new year dawned, the open access landscape was already in full discussion as cOAlition S requested feedback on their proposed framework for transformative journals. Here I explain our position on this framework and our aspirations for the future. At Emerald we are committed to providing a leading service for open research, in a …Read Article

domain: politics


Just some more thoughts to previous answer:
What is Kernel or Kernel Method ?
Kernel or Positive-definite kernel is a generalization of a positive-definite matrix.In linear algebra, a symmetric n × n real matrix M is said to be positive definite if zTMz is positive for every non-zero column vector z of n real numbers. Here zT denotes the transpose of z. kernel methods are a class of algorithms for pattern analysis, whose best known member is the support vector machine (SVM).
What is SVM ?
From wikipedia: "In machine learning, support vector machines (SVMs, also support vector networks) are supervised learning models with associated learning algorithms that analyze data and recognize patterns, used for classification and regression analysis. Given a set of training examples, each marked as belonging to one of two categories, an SVM training algorithm builds a model that assigns new examples into one category or the other, making it a non-probabilistic binary linear classifier. An SVM model is a representation of the examples as points in space, mapped so that the examples of the separate categories are divided by a clear gap that is as wide as possible. New examples are then mapped into that same space and predicted to belong to a category based on which side of the gap they fall on.
In addition to performing linear classification, SVMs can efficiently perform a non-linear classification using what is called the kernel trick, implicitly mapping their inputs into high-dimensional feature spaces."
Kernel methods owe their name to the use of kernel functions, which enable them to operate in a high-dimensional, implicit feature space without ever computing the coordinates of the data in that space, but rather by simply computing the inner products between the images of all pairs of data in the feature space. This operation is often computationally cheaper than the explicit computation of the coordinates. This approach is called the kernel trick.
Algorithms capable of operating with kernels include the kernel perceptron, support vector machines (SVM), Gaussian processes, principal components analysis (PCA), canonical correlation analysis, ridge regression, spectral clustering, linear adaptive filters and many others. Any linear model can be turned into a non-linear model by applying the "kernel trick" to the model: replacing its features (predictors) by a kernel function.
Radial basis function
The (Gaussian) radial basis function kernel, or RBF kernel, is a popular kernel function used in support vector machine classification.
The Fisher kernel, named in honour of Sir Ronald Fisher, is a function that measures the similarity of two objects on the basis of sets of measurements for each object and a statistical model. In a classification procedure, the class for a new object (whose real class is unknown) can be estimated by minimising, across classes, an average of the Fisher kernel distance from the new object to each known member of the given class.The Fisher kernel is the kernel for a generative probabilistic model. As such, it constitutes a bridge between generative and probabilistic models of documents.
The polynomial kernel is a kernel function commonly used with support vector machines (SVMs) and other kernelized models, that represents the similarity of vectors (training samples) in a feature space over polynomials of the original variables, allowing learning of non-linear models.
Intuitively, the polynomial kernel looks not only at the given features of input samples to determine their similarity, but also combinations of these. In the context of regression analysis, such combinations are known as interaction features. The (implicit) feature space of a polynomial kernel is equivalent to that of polynomial regression, but without the combinatorial blowup in the number of parameters to be learned.
The RBF kernel is more popular in SVM classification than the polynomial kernel. The most common degree is d=2.
Thus the answer to question which kernel to use is:
(1) Try simplest one first and then swith to more complex ones - as overfitting is danger
(2) Learn from other worked examples, for similar data types. This may be quick solution, many times


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Play with friends online or offline.
1. Online Multiplayer – Play against other players across the world.
2. Offline Mode – Play without internet connection.
3. Single Player Campaign – Play through the campaign solo.
Free Fire Top Up Diamond Tunisia19.500 DT – 78.000 DT
Choose from over 20 weapons including shotguns, sniper rifles, assault rifles, machine guns, rocket launchers and more.
1. Story Mode – Fight through the story line with different characters and unlock new weapons along the way.
2. Survival Mode – Survive waves of enemies until you reach the end of each level.
3. Deathmatch – Kill your opponents before they kill you.
Earn achievements and unlock new game modes.
- Intense Action – Play through the story mode and fight against other players online.
- Unlock New Weapons – Collect new weapons throughout the game and use them to take down your foes.
- Multiplayer Online Battle Arena – Fight against other players online in deathmatch and survival modes.
- Customize Your Character – Choose between three unique characters and customize them with different skins and accessories.
- Replayability – Each mission has multiple endings so you will never run out of things to do.
Customise your character’s appearance and choose their loadout before each match.
If you’re looking for a fun multiplayer shooter then you’ve come to the right place! This game is perfect for anyone who loves fast paced action games. You’ll need to think quickly and make split second decisions while fighting off waves of enemies.
Fight against other players in multiplayer matches.
In addition to the main campaign, there’s also a survival mode where you must fight off waves of enemies until you reach the end of each level. There are three different classes available to choose from, each with its own unique weapons and special abilities.

domain: hobby


| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
December 12, 2014
Contact: Robbie Wilbur
MDEQ Issues Water Contact Advisory for Turtle Creek in Flowood
(JACKSON, Miss.) –The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) issued a temporary water contact advisory Friday for a section of Turtle Creek in Flowood. The advisory extends on Turtle Creek from Pinebrook Circle, where it crosses Turtle Creek between East Pinebrook and West Pinebrook, to Spillway Road.
MDEQ recommends that people avoid water contact recreation such as swimming, wading, or fishing in these waters. People should also avoid eating fish or anything else taken from these waters until further notice.
The advisory is issued due to a damaged manhole that allowed sewage to escape the system and enter the creek. The City of Flowood is repairing the manhole and is staging pumps to prevent any material from entering the Ross Barnett Reservoir. MDEQ staff has begun to monitor bacteria levels and water quality and will revise the advisory as needed.
(see attached map for advisory location)


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The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) is a member of the World Bank Group. Our mandate is to promote cross-border investment in developing countries by providing guarantees (political risk insurance and credit enhancement) to investors and lenders.
Our guarantees protect investments against noncommercial risks and can help investors obtain access to funding sources with improved financial terms and conditions. The Agency derives its unique strength from the World Bank and from its structure as an international organization whose shareholders include most countries of the world. This enables us to provide an umbrella of deterrence against government actions that could disrupt projects, and assist in the resolution of disputes between investors and governments. We also add value through our ability to offer clients extensive knowledge of emerging markets and of international best practice in environmental and social management.
- MIGA will help countries and companies respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and its wider economic impact.
- The Agency is committed to playing its full part in delivering the World Bank’s twin goals and supporting the World Bank and IFC in meeting their capital package commitments.
- The Agency will increase its proportion of guarantees in IDA countries and Fragile and Conflict-Affected Situations (FCS) and guarantees in support of Climate Finance.
Four Strategic Directions
To deliver on these targets, MIGA's FY21-23 Strategy will pursue four directions:
DEEPEN IMPACT IN IDA COUNTRIES/FCS
MIGA will continue to serve all client countries while deepening impact in IDA (low-income) countries and Fragile and Conflict-Affected Situations (FCS).
COMPLEMENT MARKET CREATION
MIGA will continue to complement market creation through the Cascade approach and the Financing for Development agenda.
TAKE LEAD ON GLOBAL ISSUES
MIGA will demonstrate leadership on applicable global issues such as climate change, gender and knowledge/ advocacy on the power of guarantees.
IMPROVE THE BUSINESS MODEL
MIGA will continue to improve its robust business model.
In FY21-23, MIGA will also focus on three areas, all of which will help execute the four strategic directions:
i. MORE INNOVATION & NEW PRODUCTS
MIGA will increase its innovation and new product applications while paying due attention to the additional risks which these may add to the Agency’s portfolio.
ii. CLOSER COLLABORATION WITH OTHER WBG MEMBERS
MIGA will foster closer collaboration with the World Bank and IFC to leverage their expanded upstream work, which will generate more investable transactions.
iii. DEEPER PARTNERSHIPS WITH OTHER MDBS & ECAS
MIGA will strengthen actionable partnerships and collaboration with other Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) to tackle development challenges through the application of complementary and comprehensive products and solutions.
As a multilateral development agency, MIGA only supports investments that are developmentally sound and meet high social and environmental standards. MIGA applies a comprehensive set of social and environmental performance standards to all projects and offers extensive expertise in working with investors to ensure compliance to these standards.

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What to expect
A trendy, fun pizzeria with simple but delicious food. Seasonal and local produce is sourced to give the menu an authentic touch.
All pizzas are served on a ten-inch base made from a house recipe, and topped with a tomato sauce, also specially prepared in-house. The pizza selection ranges from the basic margherita to the meaty spicy sausage with mozzarella, padron peppers, pecorino. Mains are filling so for antipasti olives are adequate. Also, be sure to leave room for pudding as the salted chocolate caramel tart is divine.
There is a good wine list and the usual selection of beers and cocktails but the real emphasis is placed on the food.
The interior design pays respect to the building's industrial roots, with concrete walls and exposed beams, pipes and pillars. Perfect for creative types or Shoreditch hipsters. Pizza parties are also on offer, which would make a cool alternative to a more formal celebratory dinner.
Where to find it
Housed on the ground floor of the Tea Building, located on the corner of Shoreditch High Street and Bethnal Green Road in East London
Get in touch
56 Shoreditch High Street, E1 6JJ 020 7729 1888 www.pizzaeast.com

domain: food


[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics is expected to announce the final results of its probe into the fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 within the year, industry sources said on Nov. 29.
On Nov. 11, the Korean tech giant launched a new round of investigation to find out the cause of several fires and explosions related to the bigger-screen phone together with product safety authorities and experts both in Korea and the US.
Right after the first recall issued in September, the company pinpointed faulty batteries produced by its sister firm Samsung SDI to have caused the accidents, replacing them with those produced by China’s ATL. But after some reports of replacement phones catching fire, the company decided to withdraw the phone from the market in October.
Since its August launch, some 4.3 million Note phones, including 2 million inventories at telecom carriers and retailers, were sold globally.
While recalling the phones for safety reasons, Samsung has continued its own investigation into the exploding phones. Batteries are considered the ignition point but diverse factors are believed to have caused the explosions.
The probe results are expected to affect Samsung’s Galaxy brand ahead of the crucial launch of the flagship Galaxy S8 early next year.
Sources say the reuse of returned phones whose disposal would cause huge financial and enviornemntal costs is also dependent on the probe results.
“We are considering all possibilities to find out the exact cause of the accidents,” a Samsung official said.
By Lee Ji-yoon (firstname.lastname@example.org)


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The shape of HAL‘s shell ensures plenty of freedom of movement and the slightly flexible plastic makes many different sitting positions possible – even sideways and astride the chair. Because of this, HAL facilitates dynamic, ergonomic seating.
The selection of bases, shell colours and fabric covers opens up a wide range of choices. HAL can be used in all kinds of environments – in the office, as well as in public spaces and in the home. Combining the chair with the matching HAL Table, which was developed at the same time, is also an option.
Dimensions (cm): Width: 47 x Depth: 49 x Height: 79 x Seat Height: 43cm
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Atomic has one of the largest product portfolios of furniture and lighting manufacturers in the UK.
We constantly research the latest developments in furniture and lighting and can source products on request.
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Our website only features a representation of the designs available, so please contact Atomic if you have any specific
Atomic has an experienced team with an unrivalled knowledge of contemporary furniture and lighting.
If you require any assistance with a retail purchase or information for a domestic or commercial project please contact us.


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domain: chemistry


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YMCA enables people to develop their full potential in mind, body and spirit. Inspired by, and faithful to our Christian values, we create supportive, inclusive and energising communities where young people can truly belong, contribute and thrive.
The Nomad Trust Charity Shop based on Moorland Avenue is celebrating...
This week marks the 31 st birthday of The Nomad Trust; officially registered on 2 nd May 1986, the trust has offered accommodation support... read more
04.05.2017 • By YMCA Lincolnshire
Local Youth keep moving forward – Parkour’s formal recognition as a Sport
Members of The Showroom Parkour Club are looking to the future with excitement after Parkour, the discipline of movement, has now been officially... read more
11.04.2017 • By YMCA Lincolnshire
LoveYourBike Cycling event brings community together
Organised by YMCA Lincolnshire and Access Lincoln, the LoveYourBike event aimed to engage with the local community and encourage them to get out... read more
13.03.2017 • By YMCA Lincolnshire
YMCA Lincolnshire & The Nomad Trust raises over £16,500 for homeless people
YMCA Lincolnshire & The Nomad Trust raises over £16,500 for homeless people as part of the national YMCA Sleep Easy Week Local people... read more
06.03.2017 • By YMCA Lincolnshire
YMCA kits out Lincoln EST Junior Football Club following devastating fire.
YMCA Lincolnshire have provided a local youth football club with team hoodies, as well as a trip to The Showroom Activity Centre, following the... read more
27.02.2017 • By YMCA Lincolnshire
YMCA Lincolnshire is urging local residents to fill the final places for...
The event will take place in the grounds of the iconic Lincoln Cathedral from 7pm on Friday 3 rd March 2017. YMCA Lincolnshire is one of... read more
20.02.2017 • By YMCA Lincolnshire
Local homeless charity, The Nomad Trust, challenges community to take on...
The Run for All Lincoln 10K will take place on Sunday 2 nd April, and the charity - which operates the county’s only emergency night shelter - is... read more
10.02.2017 • By YMCA Lincolnshire
YMCA Lincolnshire's 2017 Sleep Easy event has been confirmed for Friday...
#SleepEasyLincoln2017 is YMCA Lincolnshire's annual fundraising event, where we challenge you to spend a night sleeping rough, so others' don't... read more
11.01.2017 • By YMCA Lincolnshire
Musical Duo Mollie and Will to #buskforbeds this Thursday
Musical Duo Mollie and Will to #buskforbeds this Thursday Renowned Lincoln based musicians, Mollie and Will, will take to the streets this... read more
20.12.2016 • By YMCA Lincolnshire
YMCA Lincolnshire Invites You to our Community Christmas Cracker!
YMCA Lincolnshire are really excited to announce our festive, family-friendly Community Christmas Cracker celebration event The event is to be... read more
28.11.2016 • By YMCA Lincolnshire
Local Youth Jumping for Joy at return of Parkour & Freerunning Club
Excitement is building for hundreds of young people across Lincoln, as YMCA Lincolnshire and The Showroom Activity Centre’s Parkour & Freerunning... read more
31.08.2016 • By YMCA Lincolnshire
YMCA Lincolnshire calls on community to vote for its ‘Young Leader’...
YMCA Lincolnshire is asking local people to vote for one of its inspiring young people ahead of a prestigious national youth awards ceremony... read more
10.08.2016 • By YMCA Lincolnshire
YMCA Lincolnshire calls on community to give them their vote ahead of...
YMCA Lincolnshire is asking local people to give them their backing ahead of a prestigious national youth awards ceremony hosted this autumn by TV... read more
10.08.2016 • By YMCA Lincolnshire
Open Day celebrates Lincoln Daycare Centre’s 10th Anniversary
YMCA Lincolnshire’s Woodlands Daycare Centre, based on Whitethorn Grove in Birchwood, will be holding an open day event this weekend, celebrating... read more
02.08.2016 • By YMCA Lincolnshire
YMCA’s Cornhill Community Day brings in National Award Votes
YMCA Lincolnshire’s Parkour Club, based at The Showroom Activity Centre on Tritton Road, are chasing support of the local community to be named... read more
19.07.2016 • By YMCA Lincolnshire
JUMP AND PLAY WITH LINCOLN YOUTH CLUB NOMINATED FOR MAJOR NATIONAL AWARD...
YMCA Lincolnshire’s Parkour Club is chasing votes after reaching the finals of the prestigious National Lottery Awards. The freerunners, based... read more
12.07.2016 • By YMCA Lincolnshire
Lincoln’s White Collar Boxing – Hitting Homelessness Hard
Lincoln’s premier martial arts club, Lincoln Fight Factory, has announced details of its upcoming White Collar Boxing charity event, in support of... read more
04.07.2016 • By YMCA Lincolnshire
New Nomad Charity Shop to open in support of Lincolnshire’s Homeless
Lincoln based Homeless Charity, The Nomad Trust, will open the doors to their second shop in the city this weekend. The new Charity Shop, based... read more
04.05.2016 • By YMCA Lincolnshire
#ThisGirlCanJump - Girls Only Parkour & Freerunning to launch at YMCA...
Funding Approved for Girls-Only Parkour & Freerunning Club YMCA Lincolnshire and The Showroom Activity Centre are really excited to announce... read more
25.04.2016 • By YMCA Lincolnshire
‘Overwhelming Support’ for Rough Sleepers’ Night Shelter
The 18th March 2016 saw YMCA Lincolnshire & The Nomad Trust's annual Sleep Easy event take place at Lincoln Cathedral. Staff, Volunteers and... read more
19.04.2016 • By YMCA Lincolnshire
Sainsbury’s Staff visit The Nomad Trust Night Shelter
Sainsbury's Staff visit The Nomad Trust Night Shelter The morning of Tuesday 12th April saw a team of Volunteers from Sainsbury's visit The... read more
12.04.2016 • By YMCA Lincolnshire
The Showroom Parkour & Free-Running Club receives £10,000 of new equipment.
YMCA Lincolnshire & The Showroom Activity Centre's most successful youth project, The Showroom Parkour Club, is going from strength to strength,... read more
07.04.2016 • By YMCA Lincolnshire

domain: news


AdBlue- to reduce pollutant emissions- ZUWA offers complete sets for save and simple
Reducing the environmental impact – a mayor target. New trucks are equipped with SCR catalytic converters. Urea is added to the Diesel fuel. ZUWA’s tanks and tank systems, pumps and fuel transfer kits for AdBlue support you in fueling your vehicle in a save, simple way.


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You’ve heard about the prince who battles the mighty dragon to rescue a princess locked in the tower. The little girl with the red hooded cloak or black dogs who prowl the forest and moors. Just beyond the hedge is another world full of magic, mystery, and wonder. The talented authors found within these pages… Read more »
An eclectic mix of international, award-winning authors alongside tomorrow’s rising stars weave their magic through “other worlds” in both poem and prose. Step through the barrier of what was to that place just before what is to be.


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AirBridgeCargo details plans for new 747-8F fleet
AirBridgeCargo Airlines will take six months to realize the full economic benefits of operating its first two Boeing 747-8 freighters on core routes between China, its Moscow hub and Europe, according to executive president Tatyana Arslanova — an admission that it will take time to fill the new capacity on a trade lane that remains soft. ABC achieved a load factor of 71 percent across its scheduled network last year.
Group revenues of parent company Volga-Dnepr increased 10 percent to $1.74 billion in the first 10 months of 2011 on a like-for-like basis. Uplift was 14-percent higher at 372,500 tonnes, with ABC contributing 104,960 tonnes, and the group increase in freight-tonne kilometer terms was 8 percent.
“We’re swimming against the stream,” Arslanova said during a Frankfurt ceremony to mark the delivery of ABC’s second stretch freighter. But a 75-percent fall in profit to $59.3 million, although partly a result of Volga-Dnepr Group’s investment strategy, also reflects the battle for yield.
Arslanova said the new aircraft, which take the carrier’s total fleet to 12 747 freighters, brought a double-digit improvement in unit costs against its 747-400s. The operating economies they offered meant they would be deployed primarily on the Beijing and Shanghai routes.
However, the Moscow-Chicago route via Amsterdam, launched in April 2011 and currently supporting three flights per week, could be a candidate for an upgrade when a third 747-8 joins the fleet in September.
ABC’s first trans-Atlantic service was well balanced eastbound and westbound, commented Wolfgang Meier, executive vice president of sales. Trans-polar or trans-Pacific flights were “always on our agenda, but it’s a quantum leap for us,” Meier added. “We’re not sure if it will be in 2012 or 2013.”
There is some uncertainty as to the exact extra payload the 747-8F can carry. Analysts have claimed the aircraft ended up eight to 10 tonnes heavier than first expected, limiting its payload and range, though Boeing 747 program manager Elizabeth Lund has said improved performance from a redesigned wing more than compensates for this.
The plane is 5.6 meters longer than its predecessor, giving four additional main-deck and three more lower-hold pallets; this translates to a 16-percent higher revenue cargo volume. In weight terms, Boeing promises a maximum 140-tonne payload. A senior ABC executive at the Frankfurt event said the carrier had already flown 135 tonnes and claimed that ongoing adjustments by the manufacturer could theoretically improve this to 145 tonnes in the coming months.
Arslanova said that increasing utilization was the greater challenge facing ABC, since the aircraft usually spent four hours on the ground at Russian airports. A further limitation was the company’s strategic decision not to mix crews between 747-400s and 747-8s, she added.
More capacity is on the way, however. ABC will phase out its last two Boeing 747-200 Classics this year, but two more 747-8s are scheduled for delivery in 2013, completing its firm order for five aircraft, and it has options for five more. ABC projects that its tonnage will increase by 15 percent in each of the next three years, but Meier said it was not “artificially throwing capacity at the market.”
The company is trying to take advantage of China’s “Go West” policy and introduced thrice-weekly service to Chengdu, previously served only as a charter destination, in March. The city boasts a thriving high-tech industry and Zhengzhou, seen as a major production hub for the future, has also been added. Chongqing joins the schedule from this summer, taking ABC’s mainland China destinations to six from three a year ago.
Meanwhile, the carrier launched a weekly service between Beijing and Hannover, Germany, at the beginning of April. Kuehne + Nagel is the anchor customer and automotive parts comprise the main freight transported, as Volkswagen operates a production plant in Hannover.


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2019 農曆新年現場演出節目 – 張惠妹、安那與艾怡良現場節目
Come on a Cantonese Comedy Adventure with top Hong Kong comedians Vivek Mahbubani and Tim Chan!
Ring in Chinese New Year with nine of the hottest Ge Tai stars in an evening of witty banter, groovy songs and festive entertainment!
Get ready for an unforgettable stage performance from legendary Chinese superstar Na Ying as she arrives at Resorts World Sentosa for an explosive 2019 solo concert!
Back for its 3rd edition, enjoy street food favourites from 15 Michelin-listed establishments such as Tai Wah Pork Noodles, Burnt Ends, Shisen Hanten and Rolina Traditional Hainanese Curry Puff, all under one roof.
Mark your calendars: for one night only, veteran husband and wife singing duo Yu Tian and Li Ya Ping arrive at the Resorts World Theatre to bring you all their biggest hits in one fantastic concert!


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David Paul Morris/Bloomberg News
Driver turnover at large truckload fleets rose in the second quarter as the market for experienced drivers remains tight, American Trucking Associations reported.
The turnover rate at large truckload fleets rose 2 percentage points to 99% in the second quarter, the highest level since the third quarter of 2012. The turnover rate is slightly above the annual rate of 98% in 2012.
“The continued improvement in the freight economy, coupled with regulatory challenges from the changing hours-of-service rule and CSA will only serve to put a further squeeze on the market for drivers,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said in a statement.
Turnover at smaller truckload fleets with less than $30 million in annual revenue remained unchanged at 82% from the previous quarter.


The business of Vista Aerospace Solutions, LLC is certification and we provide turnkey Supplemental Type Certificates (STCs) and other certification solutions for Part 23, Part 25, Part 27, and Part 29 customer programs for a range of products and solutions for major design changes on aircraft. Vista staffs a dedicated team of FAA DERs who are experts in systems integration, installation support, testing at the component and aircraft levels, and in providing comprehensive certification solutions for a wide range of aerospace products to thru timely delivery of FAA STCs and FAA Parts Manufacturer Approvals (PMAs) to our customers. Our certification services range from type design approvals for smaller projects to full interior reconfigurations for larger programs for the electrical, mechanical, structural, and weight & balance DER specialties.
Vista provides FAA STCs for Part 23, Part 25, Part 27, and Part 29 customer programs and performs comprehensive DER inspections for wire routing and EWIS for compliance with Part 26 requirements. Vista also validates foreign STCs through the bilateral agreement procedures and offers services to obtain foreign certifications (EASA, TCCA, CASA, CAAC, JCAB, and others) concurrent with FAA STCs for any size project, complexity or scope for all customer programs.
Vista fully manages all programs and ensures close certification coordination with the FAA and other regulatory authorities to support each customer.
- Management of all certification and engineering deliverables from beginning to end of project
- Coordination of FAA designees for inspections, testing and all certification related activities
- Efficient, cost-effective and accountable certification services for any size or scope of project


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So true!! Buy yourself something nice . . . today!!
say something interesting.
This applies to every aspect of life. The first thought to me though was my wardobe :)
This Pin was discovered by LaurenConrad.com. Discover (and save!) your own Pins on Pinterest.
"I like my money where I can see it. Hanging in my closet."--Carrie Bradshaw
Fashion is art and you are the canvas. http://www.queenclothing.co.uk/
fashion quotes marc jacobs How to Stylize Your Instagram like a Fashion Boss
To me, clothing is a form of self-expression - there are hints about who you are in what you wear. - Marc Jacobs | Lookbook Store Fashion Quotes
Exactly. Take your designer bags and shove them. I'll take my hard work ethic, integrity, love and passion.


Around the country, attitudes about retirement are shifting.
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Learn a little about worldwide currency in this fun infographic
In this article, explore the benefits of the Federal Student Grant Program.
When you take the time to learn more about how it works, you may be able to put the tax code to work for you.


Hello dear readers! In this installment of The Auto Professor, we're trying out a new format: An interview! Meet Seth Erdman...
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Researcher says NHTSA star rating system gives public false sense of security PHOENIX – Millions of Americans will kick off summer road trips this weekend. But an auto [...]
J.D. Power dependability vehicle ratings and The Auto Professor’s Auto Grades rely upon totally different data for different purposes. J.D. Power has been collecting data on customer satisfaction [...]
Consumer Reports best cars reports provide different information for car buyers than Auto Grades. Consumer Reports best cars reports was recently published in its 2019 Auto Issue, containing [...]