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Monday, 28 June 2010
Thursday, 10 June 2010
Tuesday, 8 June 2010
By now London ruled Europe, controlled India and was the base of industrial growth in all of Britain. The City of London was flourishing with the creation of virtual capital – the National Debt – by the help of Dutch Jews who had settled here. But with all this money, London’s urban growth remained organic.
Comparing to London’s ‘refurbishment’ at times of flourish, most notably the Hausmannian re-design of Paris that bulldozed anything in its way to create the circular and all-boulevards-lead-to majestic views of national celebration, London was rather modest despite dreams of grandeur by both developers and royals. Today we can breathe a sigh of relief that many a gaudy plan were never materialized due to their extremely high cost. Planners allowed for the more functional rather than visual mapping of the city keeping the workers’ Soho on one side and the high-priced Mayfair to lay on the other.
Prince Regent was among those with grand ideas that never saw the ground. Regent Street was not designed as the vein that it serves as now, but rather as a line of commercial exploitation – if this is true, then that particular design was one that got stronger with age. The Prince, at the time, was hoping to have Regent Street stretch from Picadilly Circus, through Oxford Circus ending at Regent Circus – as it does today. But along with that were visions of piazzas and colonnades. John Nash, the man credited as planner of Regent’s new London, was responsible for the creamy motives of Portland Place as well as the inception of what is now called the London Zoo, originally called the Zoological Gardens. The Zoo added a new element to city planning: the design towards spaces of public access, areas for relaxation and, ultimately, tourism.
The two new concepts, public spaces and tourism, were deemed successfully accomplished. The Zoo recorded to have had hosted 30,000 visitors in the first seven months. Public parks and gardens were a symbol of newly growing democracy as well as a reborn interest in gardening and horticulture. (I always thought public parks were a sign of an advanced society.)
Nash was also responsible for the idea of housing national art treasures at Trafalgar Square. The National Gallery is not boasted as an architectural feat, but socially fitting and nationally essential, it stands at the head of the biggest square in London. There also stands Nelson’s Column, one of London’s most prized memorials, positioned to face Westminster. Nelson, not a ruler nor a royal, stands as a symbol of pride and defeat against Napolean at a time that lead to London’s biggest surge of urban growth boldly stating that the city is looking to the future of commercial fortitude and metropolitan expansion.
Wednesday, 2 June 2010
Back in 2006, archeologists in Iraq were teaching US Troops about the value and importance of historical sites after damage was made to various locations. Reading about this brought an article I had read a couple of months ago back to mind. Unfortunately (and ironically), the second article was not as thoughtful. It was from a Bahraini newspaper announcing the bulldozing of historical burial mounds in Bahrain, by local Bahrainis. The said burial mounds are among Bahrain’s most valuable sites dating back at least 4,000 years. These mounds were on a list waiting to be accepted by the UNESCO onto the World Heritage Sites list. This is something that would bring Bahrain's heritage into the international arena having recognized the mounds’ global significance. They were bulldozed in order to build private residences and, supposedly, a public park.
No matter how it can be read, American military personnel, quite violent and dehumanizing people by nature of the fact that they are attacking, occupying, forces, at the time discussing the importance of bombing ‘around’ the historical sites in Iraq and training not to damage them is a rude contradiction to the fact that local ‘developers’ in Bahrain have no qualms with the destruction of their own local history. I have always been weary of comparing issues in countries of war to the sprawl occurring in Bahrain or anywhere else. But the fact that ‘war’ is more sensitive to culture (in this very particular case) than the locals of a culture is a jarring reality.
The article on Bahrain made me miserably sad the first time I read it. It made me question the simple logic about it, such as: where is the communication that would prevent this from happening, and how is it that the land of invaluable historical significance is sold to individuals? Seeing the ignorance that surrounds it more clearly by reading stories that illustrate an absolute and shameful contradiction where military troops are taught to respect sites of the grounds of their supposed enemy is a sobering realization. The American soldiers were given playing cards to recognize the sites they are instructed to protect. The article also points out that Professor Ulrich, in charge of training the soldiers in the matter, was hoping to expand his own knowledge of Mesopotamian archeology. Which brings us to the point that education around values of the past must be developed. It is an important topic to add to the local history or even ‘nationalism’ curriculum in Bahrain for students to learn more about the significance of these sites. In Bahrain, it is already an ongoing issue that people lose, by way of neglect and demolition, areas of personal significance, but it really must not be fought when big sites of international significance are being groomed for UNESCO protection. It really is time for Bahrainis to realize that the historical sites are a part of their own country’s history, it is unique and that they should claim these sites, enjoy them, and realize that they are important and are there for them.
Tuesday, 1 June 2010
These pictures were taken at the protest in front of the Israeli embassy at High Street Kensington, London on May 31, 2010. The protest was in response to the attack on a civilians' flotilla attempting to get aid into Gaza.


Matt Hutchison, the person responsible for the delivery of analytics and business intelligence at customer loyalty marketing company ICLP, has been in the data industry for two decades. He gives his perspective on wider industry changes and why he thinks data and analytics is more democratised than ever.
Hutchison, director of business intelligence and analytics at ICLP and the wider Collinson Group, is somewhat of a veteran of the data industry having worked in the field for 20 years.
He has seen a great deal of change and, with most of the transformation having taken place in recent years, he feels that now is a particularly interesting and exciting time to be in the industry, which he says is on the cusp of exponential growth. According to Hutchison, in an interview with DataIQ, the predicted growth rate for the size of the data and analytics industry over the next few years is huge and he attributes this to a lower barrier to entry.
“There was a time when really high-end analytics was just really expensive because of the technology you had to invest. That isn’t the case anymore.” He said that the availability of cloud-based processing “that anybody can access for virtually no money,” as well as open source tools like R and Python that are “really good and essentially free,” have democratised the industry.
He also said that really good visualisation tools are putting analytics and business intelligence in the hands of people that would never have gone near it a few years ago. New techniques in the use of machine learning, in addition to cloud computing, are the cause of a sizeable increase in the personalisation of communications and the customer experience.
Hutchison said that personalisation is fundamental to what ICLP does with analytics and it is looking at ways to make the customer journey more personal, particularly in its airport lounge business. He gave the example of one of ICLP’s global technology clients for whom the business has run the loyalty communications for years.
“In the last six months, we’ve changed and moved away from a traditional segmentation approach to using machine learning. Essentially, we have an algorithm that that selects the optimal blocks of content to send out each customer,” he said.
ICLP communicates with customers twice a week with Hutchison explaining that the machine learning algorithm looks at hundreds of millions of previous transactions and communications and selects the right content to insert into subsequent emails. As a result, its clients have seen an increase in open rates and response. But these are not the only benefits. The automation of the process means that communication activities can be carried out much more quickly with far fewer resources.
Though the first example he gave was in regard to digital communication, Hutchison said that physical retailers can also benefit from personalising the experiences of their customers. He said: “In retail, you also have the ability to interact with someone when they’re in the store. There are various things you can use, like beacons and other tracking technologies.”
Hutchison noted that the tracking technologies can then be linked to historical transaction data or other profile data the retailer might have and then it can synchronise the data sets when the customer is in the store or even on the website. “Again, the capability of cloud computing and machine learning techniques and the algorithm approach to personalisation has enabled us to refine those things much more,” he said.
It is worth noting that, while Hutchison recognises that digital companies have a massive advantage when it comes to adopting personalisation “because everything is much more self-contained and trackable and they don’t have issues with legacy systems,” he thinks that bricks and mortar stores have a great opportunity because they interact with their customers in a different way.
He pointed out that beacons and geolocation technologies allow stores to identify when a customer is walking by. Hutchison himself is a member of retail rewards programmes, including Barclays Blue Rewards, and when walking past certain shops or restaurants, offers are pinged to him. However, he said that these location-based offers are being executed in a “fairly clunky way that is not particularly targeted”.
So, retailers have the opportunity to target their customers more carefully and give them offers that are more applicable to them and therefore of greater value.
With reference to ICLP’s loyalty programmes, he said that many of them run on currency and really interesting things can be done with the value of that currency and the cost of redeeming against it and products. “Being able to flex the numbers around that based on real-time supply and demand, that’s an interesting area coming down the track,” he said.
In terms of the effects of the changes in the industry to his business, Hutchison says two things are making the biggest impact. “The technologies around distributed processing like Hadoop has made the problem of scale go away, but for me the most interesting thing is speed,” he said.
Hutchison is excited by how quickly decisions can now be made, especially in the marketing space where “time is of the essence” and where he has noticed a broader trend towards real-time interactions. He said that the ability to do real-time interactions and personalisations that are very customer-centric is “absolutely fundamental” to the proposition of ICLP and other businesses in the Collinson Group.
“It’s at the heart of it and we’ve invested heavily in both people and technology as a result,” he said. “ICLP is now looking at pricing and supply and demand trends that change pricing in real-time.”
Hutchison is also excited by the Internet of Things and the data streams that come from telematics and wearable devices that are “potentially huge.” He said that ICLP is working with clients to see how they can use fitness trackers, like Fitbits, in interesting ways.
For Hutchison, the key trend has been the democratisation of access to data. He said that accessing, querying and visualising data has moved from being a very small proportion of any company’s business to a much larger proportion, which is a boon for his business. “The amount of people within our clients that we provide meaningful, useful, actionable data to is huge,” he said.


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Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
Week after week and loss after loss there was always some form of an excuse being made for the Giants. Whether it was fluke turnovers, injuries, or just facing better teams.
The public still would believe that the Giants could turn it around at any moment and mostly because they have Eli Manning as their quarterback.
Unfortunately, following their loss to the Philadelphia Eagles this past Sunday, no excuses can be made, this one was on Eli.
The moment the Giants were able to come back and take the lead and things started to look up, Manning promptly threw interceptions on their following three possessions and the game was effectively over.
This very well may be the Giants this season. A injury-plagued, mistake-prone losing team.
They play a prime time game Thursday on the road against the Chicago Bears. This is a game the Giants have no business winning. In the past I would feel this was a game they could steal.
I just don’t feel that way anymore. The Bears defense loves feasting on turnovers and the Bears offense averages just under 30 points a game.
A win in Chicago would be the surprise of surprises but their is little from what the Giants have shown this season to believe it can happen.
ESPN.com rank: 31 (30)
The analysts over at ESPN are echoing my thoughts on this past loss being on the shoulders of Eli Manning. Manning has always had excellent success throwing the ball down field to his receivers.
This past Sunday, his 18.8 % completion percentage of throws over 15 yards was the worst of any quarterback since 2008.
For whatever reason the voters flipped the Giants in the rankings with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who were on a bye. It doesn’t matter much at this point, but it is worth noting that this is the lowest ranking of the three sites.
What were they thinking: What do the Cleveland Browns have to do to start earning a bit more respect. Winners of three in a row, they did move up in the rankings four spots.
The curious fact is that the team that ranks right before them moved up three spots this week. The difference is that team lost this past Sunday. That team is the Dallas Cowboys.
Yes I know they almost beat the unbeatable Denver Broncos, but the fact of the matter is a loss is a loss in the NFL and they all hurt. The Cowboys sit at 2-3, while the Browns are 3-2. Give the Browns some love while they are earning it. It won’t be long before that trend changes.
Foxsports.com: 30 (28)
Coach Billick moved the Giants down two spots which is probably where they belong now. The win-less Pittsburgh Steelers who were on a bye this past week moved a spot ahead of the Giants.
Billick dug right into the source of the Giants problems. He points out that the Giants have one less turnover already this season than the Giants had all of last season.
That is an unbelievably scary statistic and coupled with the Giants horrendous defense is the reason for this 0-5 start. You’d like to think that number can’t possibly sustain all season but there is no sign from the team that it won’t.
What were they thinking: There were a few questionable decisions in Billick’s list this week. But a couple of rankings near the bottom of the list had me scratching my head.
Both the Minnesota Vikings and Washington Redskins were on a bye last week and both of those teams moved up not one but two spots in the rankings. That is a great bye week.
Both of those teams moved ahead of a team that won a game by double digits this week. Yes, the St. Louis Rams beat the unbearable Jacksonville Jaguars, but it is still a win in the NFL and the Rams now have two of them. Which is more than both the Vikings and the Redskins.
The Rams dropped three spots following a win. I can only imagine what would have happened had they loss.
CBSSPORTS.com rank: 30 (30)
Pete Prisco holds firm on his ranking of the Giants this week. However, in his analysis he poses a question that I have wondered as well.
At what point can the finger begin to point towards GM Jerry Reese? Reese has been fantastic at moments for the Giants and drafted what seemed like big hits. However, the shine is slowly coming of those diamonds.
Reese signed offensive lineman Warren Beatty to a big contract this offseason and he has not lived up to it this season. Reese also is the one who continues to ignore the linebacker position, which has been a problem for years.
I like Reese but he is only a couple of misses away from looking for a new job. You only get some many mistakes in New York.
What were they thinking: Prisco’s list is pretty spot on for the most part but I question his placement of a couple of 3-2 teams still ranking to low. Both the Arizona Cardinals and Cleveland Browns are surprising people and winning games.
They both feature very sound defenses and rely on not making major mistakes on offense. Meanwhile the Atlanta Falcons are 1-4 and have not looked good this season.
Having them sit at 21 and not towards the back-end with some of the other disappointing teams this season like the Washington Redskins and Carolina Panthers

domain: news


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It was five years ago that 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot down in the street, sparking the beginning of the national Black Lives Matter movement. But to his mother-turned-activist, Sybrina Fulton, that time feels like only moments ago. “It doesn't feel like five years to my heart. I'm still healing, I'm just a human,” she says to a crowd at Chenery Auditorium last week. Sybrina Fulton was the keynote for the Lee Honors College Lyceum Lecture Series
, which is centered this year around the theme, racial equity, and justice.
The event was comprised of a talk by Fulton, followed by an interview with WMUK's Earlene McMichael, and a Q&A time with the audience. Fulton discussed the death of her son, her new book, Rest in Power,
the possibility of running for public office, and most of all – the thread that tied it all together – calling people to action.
Let me tell you how average I am
“I am not your average speaker,” Fulton begins. “You have to know that I'm not polished, this is not something I went to school for... I'm just gonna be me, I'm just gonna be myself. Let me just tell you how average I am.”
No one here cares a lick about a pristine speech. After a standing ovation, the crowd of 800 sits, some leaning forward, on the literal edge of their seats. Fulton travels and speaks, she says, because she wants people to learn more about her family -- her boys in particular. She has two sons, she says, “one in heaven and one here on earth.” Fulton wants to share her life story and use it as a catalyst for how we can all collectively make change.
Fulton says that before the death of her son, Trayvon, she was just “an average mom with average kids and an average lifestyle.” Prior to devoting her life full-time to activism and her foundation, Fulton worked for the Miami-Dade County Housing Development Agency, helping low-income families access affordable housing. Fulton majored in English and minored in communications in college -- and as much as she says she's not polished, her speaking style reaches the audience in a warm and compelling way.
On February 26, 2012, Fulton's “average” lifestyle was interrupted when her son was shot down in the street. Trayvon's death was blamed on his clothing choice -- the gray hoodie that he wore. “When this happened, I listened to the media tell me about the hoodie -- the cause of his death. As if an article of clothing could cause your death,” Fulton says.
The cover of Fulton's book, Rest in Power,
co-authored with Trayvon's father, Tracy Martin, has the now infamous picture of Trayvon in a hoodie. The hoodie on the book cover is unique in color, though, and is meant to send a very intentional message.
The hoodie is red, white, and blue, because Fulton says, this conversation is happening all over America. “When this happened to us and our family, it happened to the country,” she says.
“I stand before you today – the reason Trayvon was shot was because of the color of his skin,” Fulton goes on. “I could take off a lot of things, but I can not remove the color of my skin.” Fulton goes on to list a host of other moms who know this truth too well, including Tamir Rice's mom and Sandra Bland's mom and Eric Garner's mom.
Fulton has built relationships and become a system of support for other moms who have lost children to gun violence. She says those moms are her heart, “I'm a part of you and you're a part of me.”
Circle of Mothers
Circle of Mothers
is a project of the Trayvon Martin Foundation. Fulton says the idea for it came about from a dream she had. In her dream, she was in a room filled with mothers -- they were all bonding and crying and healing and laughing. “It was so vivid, it was as if it was a reality,” she says. Fulton got up and started writing pages and pages of what she had seen in her dream.
Those ideas sprouted into a foundation that brings mothers to Miami for restoration, coping, and healing. “It's about healing and bonding. It's about empowering yourself because we try to take care of so many things -- as mothers and women we don't take care of ourselves,” Fulton says.
Afeni Shakur, the mother of Tupac Shakur, was the keynote at Fulton's 2014 retreat. Shakur, during her speech
, said that she had never been in a roomful of women who had been through the same thing. The following year, congressperson Maxine Waters joined them, and last year, it was Hillary Clinton who gave a talk at the retreat about gun violence prevention.
In fact, during the 2016 presidential campaign, some mothers from Circle of Mothers were active on the campaign trail. Some of them spoke at the Democratic National Convention in support of Hillary Clinton, and after the election, the mothers spoke at the Women's March on Washington.
“That's important not because I'm a woman, but because it's the right thing to do,” Fulton says. “We gotta just talk to our guys -- understand that if we're doing the same work and then we're coming home and taking care of the kids, you guys gotta give us more credit … and pay us!” she says to laughs and cheers.
Bringing the ugly and uncomfortable to the front
Fulton says that the most difficult thing for her to address with people is the hatred and division that is present in the United States. She says that only by bringing these ugly, uncomfortable issues to the forefront can we make a change.
Fulton says the worst day of her life was the day she buried her son. She recalls sitting at the front of the church, looking at a white casket, looking at her son, who she says, “looked like he was going to the prom.”
“We have laws in place that are not applied fairly to African Americans -- stand your ground is one of them,” Fulton says, referring to the Florida law that protects shooters who kill in self-defense. That law was invoked in Trayvon Martin's case, even though all they found on Trayvon at the time of his death was a candy and a drink.
“It took my son being shot down for me to stand up,” Fulton says. “It took that to make me even want to help people in the manner that I did. I wasn't always a willing participant.”
Black Lives Matter and young people
Fulton says if it weren't for the young people, who stepped out and loud following Trayvon's death, she thinks he would have just been another statistic. “It's an everyday occurrence," she says. College and university students started posting pictures of themselves with hoodies on, calling attention to the shooting.
“The key to everything that is going to take place is our young people,” Fulton insists. She says that it's, quite naturally, time to pass the torch. “I can say that I'm 50 years old and that I can honestly say that we haven't done a good job with police brutality, with gun violence... we haven't gotten this right,” she says.
Young people, she says, are the ones with the fresh, new ideas. And speaking directly to the young people in the audience, she says, “I want you to know that Trayvon was no different than who you are. He should have been given the same opportunities that you're given. An education is so powerful -- not just go to school, but graduate.”
Fulton wants young people to “do something with your fancy degree.” Be an activist, she says. Help people. And don't be afraid. “You're gonna make an impact because you have big dreams and big thoughts and you're innovative and creative and I want you to use those thoughts. Just do it!”
Endless opportunities for adults
Not only has Fulton committed her full-time energy to her foundation, but she is also considering running for public office. She says she is doing research to see in what area she might be most effective. She says that might be local government. or state government. “I'm just trying to figure out which area, or position that I can make the most impact, difference, and changes to,” she says.
Speaking to the parents, Fulton says, “never give up!” She says that there were times that she wanted to give up, but she says that even when things look glum, there is still a chance. “Write a letter, mentor a young person. Just do something,” she says.
“So many people are being shot and killed and nobody is being held accountable for it. It's wrong. It might not be somebody who looks like you, but it's wrong.”
Do your part
Fulton ends the evening by telling the audience, “Do your part.”
“I have to let you know the ugly truth. They have to be embedded in your head. We're talking about your country. We're talking about you. What I'm doing now is I'm doing my part. I'm gonna ask you to do your part. We all make up the fabric of this country. We can't sit back and say the government or community or this leader is gonna take care of it. We all have to take care of it.”
Kathi Valeii is a freelance writer, living in Kalamazoo. You can find her at her website, kathivaleii.com.


As most fish farmers of my generation, I started my career aged 17, as a YTS trainee working at Chalk Springs Fishery, on the Duke of Norfolk’s Estate in Arundel, West Sussex, while attending Sparsholt College in Hampshire.
The site was an old watercress farm that, in 1984, had just started to be converted into a trout farm and fishery. The experience gained here of constructing ponds and lakes, rearing restocking fish and dealing with fisherman would prove invaluable in later life. In 1989 I accepted a job offer to manage a hatchery site at Horn Mill in Rutland. This was an old Water Authority hatchery which had subsequently become privately owned and produced Salmon smolts for a couple of years. This had proved unsuccessful, and in 1989 was bought by Roger Daltrey and became part of his Timpany Ltd group of fish farms. Subsequently, over a period of 7 years we produced up to 2.5 million rainbow trout fingerlings per year, mostly for the large table farms in southern England, and 40-50,000 8-12 oz fish for ongrowing on 2 other farms in the company. In 1997, after several years searching for a suitable site, my wife and I bought 5 acres of land bordering the river Gwash in Ryhall and after a year obtaining planning permission and Environment Agency Licences we began building the farm.
Over 17 years later i am proud of the business we have created and i am constantly looking for ways to improve the quality and service we provide to our customers.


- Press Release
- Nov 26, 2022
2019 FIRST Robotics Competition Returns to Rocket City
FIRST Robotics Competition returns for the fourth consecutive year on Friday and Saturday, March 15 to 16 at the South Hall of the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama. More than 2,000 high school students on 55 teams from 12 states and Brazil will compete against one another in a new robotics game, “DESTINATION: DEEP SPACE.” The FIRST Robotics Competition “Rocket City Regional” is supported by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
Opening ceremonies for the FIRST Robotics Competition begin at 9:30 a.m. EDT on March 15, with qualification matches starting at 10 a.m. on both March 15 and March 16. The Friday awards ceremony will begin at 6:45 p.m., while the Saturday awards ceremony will begin at 5:30 p.m. This event is free and open to the public, with hands-on educational activities provided by sponsors and exhibitors. A livestream of the event will be available at https://www.twitch.tv/firstinspires11.
As NASA goes forward to the Moon to stay, then on to Mars, FIRST Robotics Competition teams will face off on a fictional planet to test their technologies. In “DESTINATION: DEEP SPACE”, which finds teams collecting samples on Planet Primus, two competing alliances will combat unpredictable terrain and weather patterns, making remote robot operation essential to their mission on the planet. With only 2 minutes and 30 seconds until liftoff, the alliances must gather as many cargo pods as possible and prepare their spaceships for departure before the next sandstorm arrives.
In January, each FIRST Robotics Competition team received an identical kit of parts and was given a six-week deadline to design, build and test a robot, with the help of adult mentors. Further details on the game’s rules are available on the FIRST website.
News media interested in covering this event should contact the Marshall newsroom at 256-544-0034 no later than 4 p.m. Thursday, March 14.
The FIRST — “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology” — Robotics Competition is a worldwide program for students in grades 9-12 that inspires the next generation of explorers to pursue careers in the fields of STEM. FIRST also offers the LEGO League, LEGO League Jr. and Tech Challenge science, technology, engineering and math programs for younger age groups. FIRST Robotics district and regional competitions are held across the country during March and April, providing teams a chance to qualify for the 2019 FIRST Robotics Competition Championship events at Houston and Detroit.
NASA and its Robotics Alliance Project provide grants for high school teams and support for FIRST Robotics Competition in an effort to address the critical national shortage of students pursuing STEM careers.
For Rocket City Regional event information, visit:
For more information about Marshall Space Flight Center’s support for education programs, visit:


The two machine sizes specified in the name by the maximum machining diameter (180 mm or 280 mm) allow for high productivity including right spindle machining
Five technological versions for each machine size allow for the perfect choice of your technology from small-scale production to specialized mass production.
The solid base of the machine and the bed ensure high stiffness of the machine
Deformations of mechanical components of machines are verified
using numerical calculation methods - FEM
Dynamics and stability of the axle movement are checked using modern calculation methods
Spindle units provide high machining efficiency
The built-in spindle synchronous motors provide high spindle dynamics and efficient rotary C axis
Line axle support, right headstock or tailstock travels on the track guide, providing high positioning accuracy and interpolated axle movement.
The rigidity of the three-axial version of the upper slide emphasizes the solution with the virtual motion of the Y1 axis, which consists of the interpolation of the real axes X1 and Y 'including the angle of 30 degrees
Programmable movement of the tailstock body reduces unnecessary tampering in the machining process
The choice of modern control systems SINUMERIK 840 sl, GE FANUC 0i and GE FANUC 30i guarantee excellent control and programming comfort.
Machines meet your expectations in terms of ease of use, including integrated workshop programming


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Funsho ArogundadeL-R: Chairman, Senate Committee on Industries, Senator Sam Egwu; Managing Director, British American Tobacco Nigeria (BATN), Chris McAllister; Chairman, BATN Foundation, Chief Kola Jamodu; The Oba of Lagos, His Royal Majesty, Rilwan Akiolu; Special Guest of Honour, His Excellency, former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo; and the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi, during the formal opening of BAT’s West Africa Head office in Ikoyi on Tuesday, 9 February, 2016
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has praised the private sector for their positive roles in economic development and jobs creation.
Obasanjo stated this on Tuesday during the commissioning of British American Tobacco Nigeria head office in Ikoyi, Lagos.
The former president, who was the chief guest at the event, highlighted the important role companies such as BAT play in the economic growth of Nigeria.
He described the commissioning as a major milestone and also a testament to government’s efforts geared towards attracting foreign direct investment.
Tracing the return of BAT to Nigeria, which began with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the government and the company in 2001, Obasanjo said that BAT was among the first companies that heeded his government’s invitation to invest in Nigeria.
“Almost a decade and a half after the signing of the MOU, we are again at BAT to witness another milestone. I’m particularly delighted because this head office building showcases faith in Nigeria and BAT’s continued investment in Nigeria,” Obasanjo stated.
Making reference to the legality of the tobacco industry and the benefits Nigeria derives from the legitimate tobacco industry, Obasanjo said that the health warnings on cigarette packs are conspicuous enough.
“With the warning on cigarette packs, the government and tobacco companies have fully discharged their duties. We cannot sacrifice the huge benefits BAT brings to the economy,” he emphasised.
Earlier, Chris McAllister, Managing Director, BAT Nigeria, said one …Read More
Source:: PM Newspaper


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(by Angel Gonzalez, The Wall Street Journal, WSJ.com) HOUSTON – One year after the BP PLC oil spill, Gulf of Mexico energy output is beginning to show the impact of the Obama administration’s 10-month freeze on deep-water drilling.
Offshore oil production, most of which comes from the Gulf, is expected to average 1.55 million barrels a day this year, down 13% from 2010, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Following the April 20, 2010, blast on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig operated by BP and the subsequent oil spill, the Obama administration stopped awarding permits for deep-water drilling until late February .
The drilling suspension, along with a new, slower permitting process, will result in the loss this year of about 375,000 barrels of oil a day, according to energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie. That is roughly equivalent to one-third of the production in Libya that remains shut down because of political turmoil there.
The setback for the Gulf’s oil and natural-gas fortunes underscores the importance of what are known as development wells in maintaining production. Such wells are drilled in already discovered deep-water reservoirs to extract more oil and natural gas or stem output declines.
“None of those wells have been brought on-line; that’s why we’re seeing the big drop-off,” said Matt Snyder, an analyst with Wood Mackenzie.
The Gulf slump contrasted with booming activity on dry land. Spurred by pricey oil, crude-oil production last year in the U.S. reached its highest level since 2004, driven mainly by producers tapping oilfields in Texas, California and North Dakota. This year, overall U.S. crude-oil and natural-gas production is expected to fall, in part because of the Gulf slump.
The decline in Gulf production highlights the difficulties faced by U.S. energy regulators. After the Deepwater Horizon explosion and ensuing spill, they were charged with ensuring a similar incident doesn’t happen again. Meanwhile, they face a mandate, stated last month by President Barack Obama amid surging oil prices, to help reduce U.S. oil imports by one-third in about a decade. Much of the oil that should allow the U.S. to meet that objective comes from the deep-water Gulf.
Crude-oil prices in New York neared $113 a barrel earlier this month, 33% higher than at the time of the Deepwater Horizon explosion.
Nowhere is the production drop-off more evident than in the fields operated by UK-based BP, which before last April’s disaster had scored an astounding series of discoveries in the Gulf. Those successes, combined with the start-up of several projects, made BP the region’s largest energy producer, surpassing Gulf pioneer and long-time leader Royal Dutch Shell PLC.
BP’s Gulf production now stands at about 300,000 barrels equivalent of oil and natural gas a day, down from more than 400,000 before the spill, according to a company spokesman.
Other producers have also seen output declines, though less severe.
Chevron Corp. said it produced about 260,000 barrels of oil and natural gas a day from the Gulf in 2010, in both shallow and deep water, and estimated the drilling pause cost the company 10,000 to 15,000 barrels a day in production.
Shell, which pumped 220,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day from the Gulf in 2010, estimated it lost 10,000 barrels a day because of the moratorium. During an earnings conference call in February, an executive said Shell expected to produce 50,000 fewer barrels of oil equivalent a day from the Gulf in 2011 than it had projected prior to the spill.
The legal and financial consequences of the spill threaten BP’s role as the Gulf’s deep-water leader, according to industry observers. The company is one of the biggest leaseholders in the Gulf, with more than 600 deep-water blocks. But some producers might be wary of forming partnerships with the oil giant amid uncertainty about how it will be treated by regulators, said Dan Pickering, co-president of Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co, a Houston-based merchant and investment bank focused on energy.
“BP’s profile will absolutely be lower,” Mr. Pickering said.
BP vows to hang in there. At a presentation in February, BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley said the company plans to have four development rigs and one exploration rig resume work in the Gulf this year.
“We remain solidly committed to doing business in the United States. We have a good business there with good prospects, and we will meet our commitments in the U.S.,” Mr. Dudley said.
Copyright 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted here for educational purposes only. Visit the website at wsj.com.
1. What policy did President Obama implement in response to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year?
2. What has been the result of President Obama’s policy?
3. What are development wells? For what purpose are they used?
4. a) Define mandate.
b) What mandate did President Obama make about oil imports from foreign countries?
c) How does the Obama administration’s policy on off-shore drilling make his mandate to energy regulators more difficult to carry out?
5. How has President Obama’s oil moratorium affected the oil output of BP, Shell and Chevron?
6. Read the information/opinion under “Background” and “Resources” below the questions. The media produce many news reports on the negative effects of oil, coal and gas use on the environment. Some of these claims are refuted by those who support the use of these fossil fuels as an inexpensive way to power our cars, homes, and electronic devices. What do you think should be done by the federal government to address the issue of high gas prices? Explain your answer.
Commentary: “Obama Blames Everyone but Himself for High Gas Prices” (from americanthinker.com)
The president’s energy non-policy of funding solar, wind, and [other] power while doing everything to prevent opening new oil fields to exploration and development is not to blame for high gas prices, says the president.
“It is true that a lot of what’s driving oil prices up right now is not the lack of supply. There’s enough supply. There’s enough oil out there for world demand,” Obama said at a campaign-style event not far from Washington.
“The problem is, is that oil is sold on these world markets, and speculators and people make various bets, and they say, ‘you know what, we think that maybe there’s a 20 percent chance that something might happen in the Middle East that might disrupt oil supply,'” he said.
“‘So we’re going to bet that oil is going to go up real high.’ And that spikes up prices significantly,” said the president, who recently launched his reelection campaign.
His comments came as oil prices rallied in New York, rebounding from the previous day’s heavy losses as a weaker dollar boosted demand for dollar-priced commodities.
“We’re now in a position where we can investigate if there’s unfair speculation. We’re going to be monitoring gas stations to make sure there isn’t any price gouging that’s taking advantage of consumers,” promised Obama.
“But the truth is that it is a world commodity, and when prices spike up like this there aren’t a lot of short-term solutions. What we have are medium- and long-term solutions,” he said.
There would have been “short term solutions” if, one of Obama’s first acts as president would have been to open up every available oil field for drilling.
And perhaps the president wants to define “unfair speculation?” Oil, as a commodity, is extremely sensitive to supply and demand. Most analysts believe that “speculation” might add a 10% premium to a barrel of oil but no more. The president is also misinformed about the supply of oil on the world market. As economic recovery proceeds (everywhere but America), demand is going up fast while players like Libya have had to cut back exports significantly. There is no gap between supply and demand, but that’s a tenuous situation. It won’t take much for demand to outstrip supply to the point that actual shortages occur.
Read a previous article on the ban on deep-water oil drilling at studentnewsdaily.com/daily-news-article/drilling-ban-lifted-uncertainties-still-face-gulf.
From a 2008 article “U.S. Policies Put Most U.S. Oil Off-Limits to Drilling“:
- A 2008 report produced at the request of Congress by the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM), said there are 279 million acres under federal management where oil and gas could potentially could be extracted. More than half of it is totally off-limits to drillers.
- BLM’s lead scientist Richard Watson, who authored the report, said: “The total onshore resource is 31 billion barrels. Of that, 19 billion barrels (62%) are currently inaccessible. A little over 2 billion barrels, or 8 percent, is accessible under what we call standard lease terms.”
- If you add in the 85.9 billion barrels of oil that lie offshore, as determined by the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service, there are 117 billion barrels of oil on lands owned or managed by the U.S. government.
- But all expansion of offshore oil recovery is currently off-limits.
- Adding in what’s available on privately held land, the figure rises to 139 billion barrels of oil, according to the government – more than the known oil reserves of Iran, Iraq, Russia, Nigeria or Venezuela, respectively.
- The biggest untapped land-based oil deposit in the United States lies within ANWR, the Artic National Wildlife Refuge, which is currently off-limits.
- “We estimate there is something on the order of 7.7 billion barrels in that one area alone,” Watson said.
- But setting aside Alaska, there is untapped oil on federal lands all across the United States, the government reported, with oil pockets found in Oregon, Washington state, Montana, Wyoming, Florida — even in the Appalachian Mountains.
- “In the lower 48 states, there are about 12 billion barrels onshore,” Watson noted.
Read about oil reserves that can be recovered in the U.S. at: usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1911.
We’ve all heard reasons against drilling for oil in ANWR. Visit a website supporting oil drilling in ANWR at anwr.org.
Read the “Top 10 reasons to support development in ANWR” at anwr.org/topten.htm.


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seriously y'all. if you haven't already made these crispies from deb's recipe, it would be best to stop off for a bag of staypuft and some fresh sweet-cream butter on the way home. they were, quite literally, the only thing I ::air quotes:: cooked last week, and we've since made a second batch (to generously share, since b and I polished off the first pan with very little assistance). what else were we supposed to do with the rest of the box of cereal?
the only addition to the stock original is a thimble-full of salt, and a minute or two added to cook time. oh yeah. and about twice the butter. they come together remarkably quickly, since the mallows melt so easily in the hot butter. there's almost no need for heat once the butter is ready. also, if uncoated parchment is available, use it to press the gooey mass into form. waxed parchment stuck fast to the surface, and silicon spatulas don't create quite the same perfectly uniform surface as pressing with fingers. but if messy hands make you squidgy, go for the spatula.
b, who's no fan of marshmallows (except the crunchy ones shaped like pink hearts, yellow moons, green clover...) and is generally ambivalent to regular crispies seemed pleased, mumbling, "(crunch crunch crunch) what's in these? ::inspecting the specks of browned butter:: they're good! (crunch crunch)"
ripped off from smitten kitchen
makes 16 2-inch squares
4 oz (1/4 pound or 1 stick) unsalted butter
1 10 oz bag marshmallows
heaping 1/4 tsp coarse sea salt6 c. rice krispies cereal (about half a 12-ounce box)
butter (hack off a small corner of the stick before it goes in the pot) an 8-inch square cake pan with 2-inch sides.
in large pot (or smaller pot with light-colored bottom), melt butter over medium-low heat. it will melt, then foam, then turn clear golden and finally start to brown and smell nutty. stir frequently, scraping up any bits from the bottom. do *not* walk away from the pot, or that moment is the one it will turn and then burn. the difference between perfection and starting over is about ten seconds.
as soon as the butter takes on a nutty color, turn the heat off and stir in the marshmallows. residual heat from the melted butter should be enough to melt them, but if it is not, turn it back on low until the marshmallows are smooth and as much of the butter as possible is incorporated.
remove pot from stove and stir in the salt and cereal (tossed together in a large bowl). quickly spread into prepared pan and smoosh into shape.
cool, and cut into squares.

domain: food


How a Document Verification Service
With the help of a document verification service, an organization can verify a person’s identity in a matter of minutes. The process uses technology to extract important information from documents such as ID cards, bank statements, and proof of address documents. The technology can also enhance customer satisfaction by decreasing the turnaround time for document verification. Using a document verification solution can also reduce drop-off rates.


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Emily Post on EntertainingBook - 1994
Mrs. Post tells partygivers and partygoers everything they need to know to make entertaining a joy -- with helpful tips on party planning, invitations and replies, seating arrangements, table settings, serving at dinner and much more.
Publisher: New York, N.Y. : Harper Collins : 1994
Branch Call Number: 642.41 P846e
Characteristics: 130p illus

domain: library


text:
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Messages To Customers
Ramadan Takeaway Menu
Social & Environmental Initiatives
Work With Us
Use tab to navigate through the menu items.
Zambak Turkish Cuisine
We serve a rich variety of authentic Turkish dishes and fresh juices and desserts. We also have some special signature dishes that we serve in a very unique way. We can offer set menus for large groups as well.
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text: This important new volume examines archaeological evidence of Roman colonization of the Middle Republican period. Themes of land use, ethnic accommodation and displacement, colonial identity, and administrative schemes are also highlighted. In delving deeply into the uniqueness of select colonial contexts, these essays invite a novel discussion on the phenomenon of colonialism in the political landscape of Rome’s early expansion. Roman urbanism of the Middle Republican period brought to the Italian peninsula fundamental changes, an important example of which, highlighted by a wealth of studies, is the ebullience of a dense network of colonies, as well as a mix of senatorial tactics and individual initiatives that underpinned their foundation. Whether Latin, Roman, or Maritimae, colonies created a new mesh of communities and imposed a new topography; more subtly, they signified the mechanisms of the rising hegemony. This book brings to the fore the diversity, agendas, and overall impact of a “settlement device” that changed the Italian landscape and introduced a new idea of Roman town.

domain: geography


text:
The Nifty Blogger
Do you have what it takes to be a Seasons Palette official blogger? You and your website will be feature as long as you get to wear the hunt clothes before they are officially released. Wouldn't it be cool to have a VIP access to hunt prizes before anyone else? We know... you'll absolutely love it!
So what are you waiting for? Fill out the application!

domain: hobby


text:
For best experience, use Nutshell app on your smartphone.
1:16 pm on 5 September 2022, Monday
By Raheema Velasco
During President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos first state visit to Indonesia, Palace officials said that there’s no scheduled visit for Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina who was imprisoned on death row for drug trafficking.
In a press briefing, Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles acknowledged that the pending issue is “inescapable,” but they still can’t assure the public that both parties will discuss it.
“For matters that are sensitive in nature, we cannot say more on that,” Angeles said. “We cannot even guess as to why, but because it is of a such sensitive nature, then we proceed with deliberation, if we proceed at all.”
Angeles noted that the President is aware of the issue concerning the case of Veloso, but they cannot discuss more details beyond that.
In 2010, Veloso was apprehended at Audisucipto International Airport in Yogjakarta, Indonesia, for the possession of heroin weighing 2.6 kilograms. She was put on death row six months after her arrest.
Veloso pleaded not guilty and argued that she was tricked and the luggage she used, where the illegal substance was found, was given to her by her recruiters, Maria Cristina Sergio and Julius Lacanilao.
In 2015, hours before Veloso’s scheduled execution, the Philippine government convinced Indonesia to grant Veloso a temporary reprieve as her illegal recruiters Sergio and Lacanilao, surrendered to the Philippine police.
Veloso is now imprisoned in Indonesia for 12 years.
‘DFA will take the lead’
Ahead of Marcos’ state visit to Indonesia, parents of Veloso traveled from Cabanatuan City to Manila to personally deliver a letter addressed to the President through the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW).
The letter is about their daughter’s case, asking Marcos to plead executive clemency to Indonesian President Joko Widodo based on humanitarian considerations.
“Mas lubos po kaming magpapasalamat kung sa lalong madaling panahon ay maiuuwi sa Pilipinas ang aming anak na si Mary Jane dahil wala po siyang kasalanan, at ang pangingibang bayan para lamang mabigyan ng desenteng buhay ang kanyang mga anak ang tangi niyang pakay,” the parents wrote.
(We will be even more grateful if our daughter Mary Jane can be brought home to the Philippines as soon as possible because she is innocent, and her only goal is to give her children a decent life.)
Also, during the press briefing, DMW Secretary Susan Ople said that the department received the letter last Friday and had already forwarded it to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
“By agreement, it will be the DFA who will be taking the lead. It has the institutional memory and knowledge from the start of the case until today,” the secretary said.
Ople emphasized that it is important to have “one speaking voice” in cases that have sensitive dimensions such as Veloso’s.
“The DMW will defer to the DFA and I am sure that Secretary Manalo will be at the appropriate time, open to saying more about this case,” she said.
Meanwhile, during the presentation of the proposed 2023 budget before the House Committee on Appropriation, Foreign Affairs Secretary Manalo stated that Marcos would “most likely” bring up Veloso’s case during his state visit to Indonesia.


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This was another book in a string of books by Koontz that tends to follow the same path. Reminiscent of 'The Husband' this book is about a man, who is unknowingly dragged into a circumstance that he would rahter have no part of but handles brilliantly. Tim Carrier is just another guy having a drink in a friend's bar when he is approached by a man and mistakenly identified as a hit-man. Then a few moments later as he is trying to digest what is has just happened to him, he is mistakenly identified by the real hit-man as the person who has contacted him about a job. This sets Tim on a path of intrigue and danger that a normal mason would be ill equipped to handle. But then Tim is so much more than he appears to be at first glance.
I like how Koontz introduced us to the main characters with very little information about them, and throughout the book adds a few more details at a time, until finally we see who Tim and Linda really are. I enjoyed the book and really liked the way that everything was tied together in the end.
An enjoyable read, by one of my favorite authors, even if he does seem to have mellowed a bit with age. I enjoyed his earlier books that had elements of supernatural, but these books recently, that are basically thrillers, are okay.
While there has only been one Koontz book I couldn't force my way through, his stories tend to grab me and keep me reading ever spare second until I finish it or be enjoyaable, but put downable. This one definetly falls in the first category! From the first chapter, I was hooked. Full of loveable characters that you can't wait to learn more about and a plot that moves so fast you're on page 400 before you realize it!
I'm a Dean Koontz fan, have read most of his books, and believe this is one of his best. The pace is fast, and it's a scary story.
Once again I am amazed at this man's ability to write yet another pageturner and still not be listed as one of the "Seven Wonders of the World" LOL....I loved this book and unlike a box of chocolate was devoured guilt free.
A good friend of mine gave me this book. It was an great read. I think if you liked his last book The Husband. I think you'd like this book.

domain: entertainment


text:
This elegant purple baby dress is just the one you were looking for! The classic mid length ruffled cap sleeve bodice and full, tea-length skirt is executed with the most amazing purple fabric! The elegant purple dress is decorated with sewn-on ribbon flowers and purple sequins. The details on the dress provides that elegance appearance in the pleated waistband and the full hem of the skirt. Adorning the waistband is a sewn in purple sash with three rosebuds and decorated flowing purple ribbons. The waistband is adjustable which can be tied into a big and fancy bow on the back. Thatís not all! A matching purple headband and bloomer, helping to create the most playful and fancy outfit!
- Purple satin baby dress
- Full ribbon flowers and purple sequins
- Ruffled cap sleeve design
- Sewn in floral accent on waist
- Crinoline underneath
- Hidden zipper back enclosure
- Matching headband and bloomer included
- Fully lined
- Dry clean only
- Made in the USA
Please note that these are garment measurements in inches. Allow 1-2 inches between the body and garment for comfort and easement. The length measurement is from the top of shoulder to hemline.

domain: artistic


text:
This article was published on the Progress website, here.
A year ago, probably the only genuinely independent trade unions in the Arab world were the ones created in the wake of the invasion of Iraq. It took the US, Britain and their allies using massive amounts of armed force to bring down a regime that did not tolerate any form of independent thought – and that included trade unions. And for about eight years, the trade union movement in Iraq was the only genuinely independent one in the entire Arab world.
And then last winter, one Arab dictator after another began to fall, and in the wake of those more peaceful regime changes independent trade unions have begun to emerge — first and most importantly in Egypt.
It is against this background that LabourStart, the UK-based news and campaigning website, is holding its annual Global Solidarity Conference in Istanbul this weekend. The conference is being held with the enthusiastic support of the Turkish trade union movement.
That movement, like the one in Iraq, can be a source of inspiration to those who are trying to build new democracies in Arab and Muslim countries that have lived for decades under oppressive regimes.
Activists are converging on Istanbul from more than 30 countries, including Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Palestine and Israel.
Yes, Israel too. Representatives of two workers’ organisations — the giant Histadrut labour federation (its youth section, actually) and a smaller, militant union known as WAC Ma’an — are attending and will make presentations in workshops.
This is not your typical international trade union conference.
The conference theme is “From social networks to social revolution” and some of the sessions will focus on things like using social networks, open source software, online campaigning and labour video. Others will focus on specific countries.
Many workshops will deal with issues that unite trade unionists across widely different societies. For example, it turns out that unions in Iraq, Egypt, Turkey and the USA are all grappling with the issue of labour law reform — so that’s a workshop they’ll all participate in.
The conference will open with a video welcome by Sharan Burrow, the general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation. Presentations will also be made by representatives of four global union federations — these are the bodies that represent tens of millions of workers organised by sector. Even though LabourStart is more of a loose network than a formal institution, it’s clearly at the very heart of the international trade union movement.
The conference will be followed by the annual meeting of LabourStart correspondents, but also by a closed meeting for representatives of the new, emerging independent trade unions in the Middle East and North Africa.
What I hope will come out of this are two things.
First, that the representatives of the new unions in the region continue the work of building a new regional trade union body to replace the rotten, corrupt ICATU – the International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions. ICATU, which is headquartered in Damascus, is now a stinking corpse and needs to be replaced by a genuine federation of real — not state-controlled — unions.
Second, that the diversity of participants should itself be an educational tool. I hope that people will begin to re-think their views about different countries and peoples. That they begin to realise that what unites us is more important than what divides us.
When planning the conference with Turkish unionists, I made it a condition that every trade unionist in every country is welcome to attend. That means — I told them — Armenians, Cypriots, Kurds, Palestinians and Israelis. If we can get a dialogue going between the different unions represented here, even if informally, during the breaks, over coffee — that may be our greatest achievement.

domain: sociology


text:
BLUE TURQUOISE GREEN
In BLUE TURKIS GREEN, sailing expert Mareike Guhr takes her readers on a cruise to the most beautiful and exotic places on the seven oceans. In around 80 color photos, the author's gaze wanders over 168 pages not only above, but also below the surface of the water. In Guhr's stories, her love of blue water sailing with all its ups and downs, as well as the fascination that emanates from the islands visited, becomes clear.
In BLUE TURKISH GREEN from the Delius Klasing publishing house, you will embark on an unforgettable journey together with the author and her 50-foot catamaran and dream of the places where the blue of the sea is most beautiful.
|Circulation:||1st edition 2018|
|Dimensions (LxB):||21 x 24,1 cm|
|Number of color photos:||80|
|Number of pages:||168|

domain: literature


Wall Street ends flat with eyes on earnings
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were little changed on Monday as gains in utilities and consumer stocks offset declines in healthcare, with earnings news separating winners and losers across the board.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> fell 8.02 points, or 0.04 percent, to 21,629.72, the S&P 500 <.SPX> lost 0.14 points, or 0.01 percent, to 2,459.13 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 1.97 points, or 0.03 percent, to 6,314.43.
(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
© Copyright Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved. The information contained in this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of Reuters Ltd.


text:
Flights, hotel stays, and car rentals all have double-digit inflation rates
We have some bad news if you were hoping for a cheap vacation this year. Prices for airfare, hotels, and even car rentals are higher than in previous years, and they’re only getting higher. There have been warnings that domestic travel will get a lot more expensive as we move into summer, but a trifecta of skyrocketing prices for gas, plane tickets, and hotel stays is making budget-friendly travel in the U.S. a real challenge.
Currently, the U.S. is dealing with the highest inflation rate in 41 years.1 Across the board, prices for goods increased by 8.5 percent, but the travel industry was hit especially hard. Airline fares increased 23.6 percent from 2021 prices, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index.2 According to CNBC, perhaps more surprising, tickets are now 20 percent higher than pre-pandemic prices.3 The spike is partly due to the same increasing fuel costs impacting people at gas pumps, but increased demand is also driving prices.
After years of heavily modified travel, people are clamoring to take their postponed vacations, and higher prices won’t stop them. Demand for tickets is up 12 percent from 2019 levels, and in March 2022, $8.8 billion was spent on domestic flights alone.3
Hotel prices are also ballooning, with hotels in resort destinations experiencing a jaw-dropping 34 percent increase compared to 2019, based on reporting by The Points Guy.4 Similar to the airline industry, higher costs for consumers reflect higher operating costs and booming demand. The higher occupancy levels mean “hotels have the opportunity to push rates …”, explained Greg Miller, vice president of lodging and experiential leisure equity research at Truist Securities.4 Outside of popular vacation markets, inflation is still high but more reasonable, with average hotel rates that are 11.7 percent higher than in 2019.5
If you’re planning a trip this year, be prepared for higher costs for all aspects of travel. And consider using some of those loyalty points before they succumb to inflation too.

domain: finance


The Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro Max is a smartphone that comes with a number redmi note 10 pro max of interesting features. This phone has a 3.5mm headphone jack, two-sim card slots, IR blaster, a USB Type-C port, and a dedicated space for a microSD card. However, this device has some flaws, and we will discuss these in more detail later.
For one, the screen is bright. The Redmi Note 10 Pro Max’s screen supports HDR10 and Widevine L1 DRM and 1080p streaming. The device also has a stereo sound system with identical speakers. If you’re a fan of music, then you’ll love this phone’s stereo sound. It’s also very responsive to touch. While the display on the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max isn’t a perfect mirror, it’s still great for listening to music and watching movies.
While the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max is significantly bigger than its predecessor, it’s still a good-sized phone with a huge battery. Although it has the same 5,020mAh battery, it’s now slimmer, lighter, and easier to handle. It also sports a 6.67-inch 120Hz Super AMOLED display and Corning Gorilla Glass 5.
The Redmi Note 10 Pro Max comes with a 108-megapixel camera on the back. Although the camera isn’t as detailed as a high-end smartphone, it gives you a lot of creative flexibility. Moreover, it also has a surprisingly good battery life, and is easy to carry around in your pocket. If you’re looking for a phone that’s good for both work and play, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro Max Mobile is worth a look.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro Max offers a lot of interesting features. It has an excellent display, a high-quality camera setup, and Android 11 out of the box. Xiaomi has improved almost every spec of its predecessor without affecting the price. We recommend the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max to everyone who wants to buy a quality smartphone. It has a wide screen, a powerful battery, and excellent camera.
Xiaomi is still holding flash sales for the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max, and the company is confident that this phone will be available in other markets in the near future. The EU and UK are key markets for Xiaomi, and the Redmi Note 10 series should be available in those markets in the next two months. When it comes to India, the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max comes in three variants. The 8GB/128GB version costs Rs21999 ($300).


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Thursday, March 29, 2012
Not my art: Day of the Dead statuette of Frida Kahlo
This lovely little piece of finery is courtesy of a junior year student aide for one of the 3D Design classes. She did this work for the purpose of fulfilling a passport credit (one of the standard foreign language components here at my school) for Spanish class. It's hard to tell but this little statuette stands only about six inches tall. It was modeled out of scupley clay and then she painted it with acrylics with a few extra embellishments like string (for the braid that you can't see).
It's very significant that I am a fan of this piece of artwork in the first place because I am normally not a fan of day of the dead stuff. Am I unreasonably unyielding to new ideas? Perhaps it's more than I'm bad at employing disinterested pleasure. Still, my lovely student aide brought this little piece to class (it's technically a work-in-progress for her) in an effort to ask me advice on some design decisions she was trying to make and I couldn't help but be completely enthralled by it. The picture above fails to show how well detailed it is (with her sculpting technique and overall attention to detail) and how truly charming it is in real life.

domain: design


text:
4. From Literature to Politics: How Rousseau Has Come to Symbolize Totalitarianism
It was widely believed after WW2 that totalitarianism could be traced back to Rousseau’s rationalistic utopia. This idea conveyed, in particular, by Berlin’s Two Concepts of Liberty and Hayek’s Road to Serfdom, is still popular in some political circles. This article intends, however, to demonstrate that rather than originating from Kantian readings of the Social Contract, the totalitarian interpretations of Rousseau’s work essentially arose from his literary and autobiographical writings. It is Romanticism, and its alleged political and moral deviances, that is indeed targeted through Rousseau.
Copyright (c) 2017 Author(s); Journal of Interdisciplinary History of Ideas
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.


Soweto Gospel Choir will return to the Goshen College Music Center’s Sauder Concert Hall on Nov. 8 at 7:30 p.m.
The Goshen College Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of new director José Rocha, will present their fall concert in the Goshen College Music Center’s Sauder Concert Hall on Friday, Nov. 6. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m.
The Goshen College Choirs will present their first solo concert of the 2015-16 school year with their annual Fall Choral Concert on Friday, Oct. 30. The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Music Center’s Sauder Concert Hall.
Celebrated Norwegian bass-baritone Njål Sparbo will present “The Songs of Edvard Grieg” on Wednesday, Nov. 4, at 7:30 p.m. in the Goshen College Music Center’s Rieth Recital Hall.
Goshen residents are invited to a Mayoral Election Forum at 7 p.m., Monday, Oct. 26 in the Goshen College Music Center’s Sauder Concert Hall.
Concert: Chris Thile Date: Saturday, Oct. 31, 2015 Time: 7:30 p.m. Location: Goshen College Music Center’s Sauder Concert Hall Cost: $44, $39 or $25 Grammy Award-winner, MacArthur Fellow and Mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile, of Nickel Creek and Punch Brothers fame, will present his take on J.S. Bach on Saturday, Oct. 31, at 7:30 p.m. in the … Keep reading »
In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, Goshen College will host a performance of Los Valientes, a live music theatre work, on Tuesday, Oct. 27 at 7:30 in the Goshen College Music Center’s Sauder Concert Hall. The event is free and open to the public.
A magical fall evening of hiking in the dark awaits children and their companions at Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen College on either Friday, Oct. 23 or Saturday, Oct. 24. Guests are invited to drop in at the Farmstead Barn Site between 7—8:30 p.m. for the 26th annual Enchanted Forest.
Goshen College continues its Afternoon Sabbatical series with a Cuban meal at the International Luncheon with Dr. David Ostergren, director of the graduate program in environmental education at Goshen College.
The Zorá Quartet, winners of the 42nd Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, will perform at Goshen College on Sunday, Oct. 11 at 4 p.m. in the Music Center’s Rieth Recital Hall.


On this special episode, we discuss the first studio album by Karan Aujla. We go in depth and discuss the album and also talk about the Punjabi music industry. We were joined by our good friend Harrison, and had a blast making this, probably the hardest we’ve laughed. Thank you for listening, please subscribe, rate and review the show!
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Editor's Note: This product has not yet been tested. The following coverage is based on information provided by the manufacturer or developer.
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THE first dawnings of polite literature in Italy, appeared in tale-writing and fables. Boccace gave a currency and vogue to this species of composition. He collected many of the common
sical foundation, may at first sight appear paradoxical ; but if the subject were examined to the bottom, I am inclined to think, that the wildest chimeras in those books of chivalry with which Don Quixote's library was furnished, would be found to have a close connection with ancient mythology.
We of this nation have been remarkably barren in our inventions of facts; we have been chiefly borrowers in this species of composition ; as the plots of our most applauded plays, both in tragedy and comedy, may witness, which have generally been taken from the novels of the Italians and Spaniards.
The story of JANUARY and May, now before us, is of the comic kind, and the character of a fond old dotard betrayed into disgrace by an unsuitable match, is supported in a lively manner. POPE has endeavoured suitably to familiarize the stateliness of our heroic measure in this ludicrous narrative; but, after all his pains, this measure is not adapted to such subjects, so well as the


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Hell hath no fury like a Reddit moderator scorned. And boy are they pissed right now.
Reddit, the site that is often billed as the front page of the internet, is going through a serious revolt right now. The moderators behind a number of the most popular subreddit pages on the site — which are crucial to Reddit’s traffic and appeal — have made their communities private, thus shutting them off from the wider internet and new users, in protest at the departure of a key Reddit staffer and ongoing poor communications.
Victoria Taylor, the employee responsible for managing Reddit’s popular ‘Ask Me Anything’ interviews and a key to-go person for moderators, was let go today. Reddit confirmed her departure to TechCrunch but said it “doesn’t comment on individual employee matters.” We didn’t receive a reply when we reached out to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian on the matter.
It looks like Taylor’s firing may have been triggered by an AMA with Jesse Jackson which spiralled out of control following questions from Reddit users and Jackson’s replies. That said a now deleted answer on Quora suggests that there may be more to it than that.
Irrespective of why she left, Taylor’s firing prompted Reddit’s entire AMA thread — which has millions of subscribers — to be locked down, leaving the site in a chaotic state.
That situation alone would be bad enough but, this is Reddit, and there’s already vast amounts of tension between the site’s users/moderators and its management, chiefly CEO Ellen Pao. In true Reddit fashion, hundreds of subreddit moderators — who collectively have tens of millions of members/subscribers — revolted by hitting the private switch.
Some of the biggest subreddits ‘going dark’ include:
- /r/askreddit (8.7 million subscribers)
- /r/todayilearned (8.6 million)
- /r/pics (8.6 million)
- /r/iama (8.3 million)
- /r/videos (7.9 million)
- /r/gaming (7.8 million)
- /r/movies (7.5 million)
- /r/technology (5.1 million)
- /r/books (4.9 million)
Plenty more are debating whether to go private or polling their members. Even those that are staying open are making it clear that they are deeply unhappy with recent developments.
For example, here’s the message at /r/askscience, which has over five million subscribers:
Today in AskScience we wish to spotlight our solidarity with the subreddits that have closed today, whose operations depend critically on timely communication and input from the admins. This post is motivated by the events of today coupled with previous interactions AskScience moderators have had in the past with the reddit staff.
This is an issue that has been chronically inadequate for moderators of large subreddits reaching out to the admins over the years. Reddit is a great site with an even more amazing community, however it is frustrating to volunteer time to run a large subreddit and have questions go unacknowledged by the people running the site.
We have not gone private because our team has chosen to keep the subreddit open for our readers, but instead stating our disapproval of how events have been handled currently as well as the past.
This live thread is being updated with the status of other subreddits in real-time, if you are curious to know more.
This situation is a serious one for Reddit. Last month, the site upset many of its most ardent users when it closed down five subreddits on account of “harassing” content contained within them. Those subreddits did violate Reddit’s community policy, but the selective enforcement of the site’s guidelines confused and angered many, since other subreddits — some of which contained arguably worse content — were left untouched while these five were closed.
This time around, it’s hard to side with Reddit in any way. The move to fire Taylor — and perhaps most importantly, fail to inform moderators who work closely with her about the change — seems pretty shambolic. The backlash was inevitable given Reddit’s recent issues, but not all moderators are turning away from the site altogether.
In one open letter, a moderator explains that Taylor’s exit is “merely the straw that broke the camel’s back,” and that the situation underlines the need for genuine changes.
We feel as though Reddit’s communication with moderators as well as with the wider community, has been lacking. This is exemplified by the fact that Victoria was one of the few admins who regularly communicated with moderators… the fact she was dismissed without notice is not only an insult, given that reddit has poorly communicated its decision to dismiss a major communicator, but has also lead to many AMAs needing to be cancelled, which could have been avoided simply by forwarning.
The letter lays out the case for Reddit improving dialogue with moderators, who are a crucial part of the service, through new tools and a proposed moderator mail service.
Reddit’s moderators are making their voices heard. The ball is now in Reddit’s court — but you have to wonder how many more protests this website can take before it buckles.
Update: Writing on a private board for moderators, Ohanian asked for private Subreddits to be made public again. He also pledged to work on improving communication.


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About this sample
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13 min read
Published: Aug 4, 2023
Words: 2569|Pages: 6|13 min read
Behind significant leaders there are various characteristics that lend a hand in their ability to successfully influence others. The purpose of this research was to find out which attributes most play a role in some of history’s most prolific leaders and how great leaders inspire action. These qualities and differences have been backed up with examples of successful people such as Bill Belichick, who have been known to use these characteristics in their accomplishments. As a result of scholarly articles, books, and webpages this research was able to link common qualities that famous leaders have all had in common and what separates average leaders from the best of the best. Characteristics most commonly found in the sources studied were put together to examine which abilities were most important for leaders to become better than average. In summary, it was found that there is a direct link between certain qualities and the success of leaders who have been known to exemplify them.
Keywords: leadership, qualities, success
From the beginning of human history many great leaders have walked this Earth. Each leader carries their own story and uses different traits and styles to get others to follow. In the study of effective leadership, it is important to look at some of history’s best influencers and what they do differently than others to make themselves more successful. From positions as powerful as the president of the United States, to leading a group project for a college class, there are many traits and attributes that help some leaders perform better than others. Everyone may come from their own background and have their own preferences when managing others, but there is no question that some abilities are more important than others when discussing what makes a leader more successful than others. Great leaders show empathy towards others, foster teamwork and collaboration, and operate with a clear vision in mind. They are flexible and able to manage effectively in different situations. They are able to tell others not just what to do and how to do it, but why they should do it. They are seen as inspirational and motivational figures that are trusted by their followers. Great leaders welcome difficult challenges and are able to remain calm to keep their organization headed in the right direction. While all leaders have different styles and tendencies, there are particular skills, abilities, and attributes that separate average leaders from phenomenal leaders.
Before discussing the various traits that make successful leaders, it’s important to first discuss the three major types of skills that leaders must have. According to Management: A Practical Introduction, by Angelo Kinicki and Brian Williams (2018), good managers need to work on developing three principal skills. The first is technical, the ability to perform a specific job. The second is conceptual, the ability to think analytically. The third is human, the ability to interact well with people. (p. 23)
When looking at great leaders, human skills, otherwise known as soft skills, are arguably the most important. These skills aren’t easily mastered as they require practice and experience as we grow older. When looking at what skills are found in the leaders who are above average, soft skills are typically what sets them apart.
One of the most important traits for successful leaders to have is the ability to show empathy. In a broad definition, empathy is when someone connects with others by building rapport in ways such as showing sympathy. Relationships between people that involve mutual empathetic feelings builds trust which is important when working and relying on others. Some great examples connecting empathy and great leaders come in Simon Sinek’s book, Leaders Eat Last. Sinek (2017), starts off his book by giving an example of a U.S. military hero who risked his life to save twenty-two other soldiers. By giving his self-interests up and putting others needs first, the hero showed how the military relies on empathy amongst its members (p. 3-9). The U.S. military is without question one of the best armed forces in the world because it operates on this simple characteristic. In an evolving society where people are more likely to tend to their own self-interests, it is important for great leaders to learn how to establish meaningful relationships in order to build trust.
Bill Belichick, highly regarded as the best NFL coach of all time, has used empathy to get where he is today. Winner of the most super bowls in NFL history, many wonder what separates the New England Patriots head coach from others. In an interview from 2017 between Belichick and CNBC, we quickly gain insight into what he believes is one of the most important things to consider when managing others. According to Suzy Welch (2017), in her article Bill Belichick Reveals His Five Rules of Exceptional Leadership, Belichick states the following:
There are a lot of things that affect what happens on the field that occur off the field. Players have wives and girlfriends. And they have babies. And they have personal situations. They have parents that are sick. All of it runs together. The more you and the organization can help take care of personal situations, the smoother the ship runs on the football end.
Sometimes it’s easy as leaders to become selfish and forget that others have things going on in their personal lives outside of work. Bill Belichick builds strong bonds with his players, knows how to use empathy, and he has proven that doing this leads to success in organizations.
Another important leadership quality is the ability to successfully motivate others. With this, it is not only important to understand the different types of motivation, but how they coincide with people’s needs. One of the hardest parts of being an effective leader is the ability to learn how to work with everyone’s individual needs. No two people are the same, so managers must be flexible and open to working with people in different ways. According to Hersey, Blanchard, and Johnson (2013) in Management of Organizational Behavior: Leading Human Resources, leaders must be able to understand the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and which situations they work best in. Intrinsic motivation is anything that makes us feel good about ourselves such as pride. On the other hand, extrinsic motivation is anything that originates from external factors such as money. While extrinsic motivation is great, intrinsic motivation is typically more successful in the long run. A good example of this is the idea of having a job that pays well, but not actually enjoying the work itself. Leaders who are able to motivate others by catering to individuals wants, needs, and goals are highly likely to effectively manage others.
Situational leadership is best exemplified by none other than New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. In Bill Belichick Vs. the NFL: The Case for the NFL’s Greatest Coach by Erik Frenz (2016), it is proven time and time again that Belichick is incredibly successful at properly using situational leadership. With a long career in the NFL, Bill has worked with different teams, different rosters, and even different rules as the game has changed. However, throughout all the changes that have occurred over the course of his career, his ability to win has remained constant. Belichick has a unique ability to adapt to the circumstances that are in his way, and that is just another reason why he is so great. In a world filled with outside threats, leaders must be able to think on the fly and adjust to different situations.
When it comes to successful leadership traits many people think of the word visionary. From a young age we are taught to set big goals, and then smaller goals to help achieve those bigger plans we have set out for ourselves. Just like we do in our daily lives, setting goals in the business world is important for success. According to Deep Patel (2017), in his article, 11 Powerful Traits of Successful Leaders, “Exceptional leaders have the ability to look into their company’s future and make clear, concrete goals that will benefit their organization. They are confident and optimistic, inspiring enthusiasm in those around them.” Writing down what you and your organization plan to accomplish is one of the first steps to accomplishing great things. In doing so, you and those you are leading are able to come together and see what is planned in the future, and how everyone can work together to achieve it. Relating back to previous examples of Bill Belichick, if he didn’t set a goal for the Patriots to win the super bowl every year, then his teams may have never worked hard enough to achieve such a high prestige. To further prove this idea, we can refer to another book about leadership. According to Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership, by Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal (2017), “Vision is particularly important in times of crisis and uncertainty. When people are in pain, when they are confused and uncertain, or when they feel despair and hopelessness, they desperately seek meaning and hope” (p. 355). Whether you are running one of the top companies on wall street, the team with the most super bowls in NFL history, or even something as small as a Boy Scout troop, you are going to be faced with challenges and adversity. Leaders who establish and share a vision with those around them simply have a better chance at weathering the storm.
Another important quality for great leaders to have is experience. Just like any other position or skill it takes practice to become great at leadership. Managing others and an organization is tough, and many struggle at first. When we think of many successful people, we tend to assume that they were just born naturally gifted. If someone told you to take a step back and think about what Bill Gates and the Beatles have in common, you would probably be stumped. However, it turns out that each of these figures do in fact have something relatable. According to the book Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell (2008), it took famous computer programmers Bill Joy, Bill Gates, and some of the top music artists of all time the Beatles and Mozart nearly 10,000 hours of practice before they reached the peak of their careers that defined their success (p. 35-68). As growing leaders, it is important to understand that it takes patience. Not only do you have to be patient with your own personal growth, but those in your organization as well. Not everything comes quickly, or easy, and great leaders are able to understand that concept.
When looking at what else separates average leaders from great leaders, it’s important to look at what exactly leaders are required to do. In the average day to day operations leaders are required to tell others what to do, and how they accomplish it. As easy as this seems, something crucial is being left out. The missing piece is the ability to not only tell others what they should do and how they should accomplish it, but the reason why they should be doing it. Throughout our lives we’ve almost all been put in situations where we have wondered why we are doing a specific task that we are asked to do. The problem with this is that when we don’t understand the significance of something, we are less likely to put forth maximum effort, and we are less likely to find what we are doing meaningful. In Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, by Simon Sinek (2011), Sinek discusses what he calls the “golden circle.” In this model he has a circle with three rings. On the inside is why, in the middle is how, and in the outer ring is what (p. 37-51). Most organizations can tell their members what they do and how they accomplish it. The stellar ones are able to start with their purpose or the reason they do what they do. This helps employees find work meaningful and gives them something to strive for. Starting with why helps leaders come off as more inspirational as well as it aids in providing a vision for the organization.
It is without question that being in charge of an organization comes with great responsibility. Almost every leader is going to be in put situations where they have to make tough decisions. Great leaders are able to step up in times of need and make decisions that have the best impacts on their organization and its members. In the midst of crisis leaders are able to remain calm and use every great leadership skill they possess to take control of the situation at hand. According to The Leadership Skills Handbook: 90 Essential Skills You Need to be a Leader, by Jo Owen (2017), “Crises and Uncertainty are wonderful opportunities to make a mark” (p. 121). Many leaders are afraid of conflict and the consequences that can come from it. While it should obviously be prevented at all costs, sometimes it is unavoidable. The leaders who step up, take control, and effectively handle the situation are able to leave a positive impact on their organization. It can force members to come together and build strong relationships in order to resolve the issue. In the end, it can serve as inspiration and provide motivation for future problems that may occur.
In conclusion, there are many skills and abilities that are prevalent in successful leaders. When looking at historically famous influencers over the course of history, there are many leadership traits that we find in common. Leaders must not only know how to do the skills of the job, but how to successfully manage others. They must be able to communicate effectively, showing empathy to instill trust and create strong bonds. Great leaders must be able to motivate others and be seen as inspirational figures. They must be adaptable to different situations, and able to stay calm and collected when tough dilemmas stand in their way. Great leaders provide a clear vision for their organization and are able to teach others not only the what and how, but the why. Surely there are many other things to consider when looking at the make-up of effective leaders, but any leader who is able to master these traits is bound to leave a strong impact on those around them.
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domain: psychology