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domain: pet


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After a couple of very full days, we decided that day 9 will be more relax and just do some visiting. So our plan was to drive to Taupo, which is about 1,5 hours from Matamata where we were staying, for some sightseeing and then stop at Rotorua on our way back for some luge fun.
The Huka Falls are an impressive phenomenon of natural hydropower with more than 220,000 litres of crystal blue water per sec barrelling over 11meter high waterfall. The Falls are responsible for 15% of New Zealand’s electricity.
The view is mesmerizing and you can feel the power of the water rolling down those volcanic rocks.
There are a number of walking and biking trails along the rive some which will bring you down to Lake Taupo. Unfortunately, we were quite tired, so we walked along the river for around 20 minutes and then went back to the car. We had a nice picnic on one of the benches, and then we drove to Taupo.
Taupo is as they say “the heart of New Zealand’s North Island”. The place has a lot to offer, from amazing landscapes to hike, ancient forests, hot springs, volcanos, winter ski fields and alpine deserts. No matter the season you’ll find a tone of things to do. But since we only had a couple of hours we settled for a nice walked along the Lake.
I’m not sure if it was because of the season, the time of the day or the pandemic slowly coming our way but it was really quite, and we really enjoyed looking at the still water and some birds that seemed comfortable with our presence.
We then sat in one of the cafés for a nice coffee, and we made our way to Rotorua for a bit of fun.
On our way to Matamata, we stopped at Skyline Rotorua for some fun. The Skyline is a place on a hill where you can do different activities like luge, sky swing, zip line, mountain bike etc. There is also a restaurant where you can sit and enjoy the view while having a meal or a drink.
We stayed and enjoyed the view for a bit, and then we tried the luge. I have to say it was so much fun! You get into this luge like seats that have two handles for steering and for breaks and you go down the little route full of bends! You can either choose to go slowly and enjoy the view around you or you can go full speed for the adrenaline junkies.
The tricky part was going up again. You have to use those ski lift chair and when you have a fair of height like me well…. let’s say it wasn’t my favourite part of the day.
After that, we made our way back to our car and drove back to our place.
Day 9 was a very chill and easy day, but we still got to see some amazing sceneries and have a good adrenaline kick.
4 thoughts on “New Zealand Diary Day 9 – Taupo & Rotorua Luge”
Huka Falls … the color of that water… WOW!
I didn’t even know Huka Falls existed but now I feel like I MUST visit them, because holy shit! They are gorgeous!
Aw so happy to hear you found out something new! You must visit them. And if you like hiking or biking I’m sure (didn’t get the chance to do it myself unfortunately) the trails along side are worth it!
Oh, hiking is one of my favorite things to do on the planet, so I’m pretty sure that’s all I’d do on this trip!

domain: hobby


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made in britain
An exquisite mice on ears of corn pendant made from solid sterling silver with 24 carat gold layer (5 microns thick) for artistic effect.
This highly detailed pendant will not fail to delight the discerning Nature lover. The gold and silver combination is truely effective and individual, drawing out the detail beautifully. The 24 carat gold layer is 5 microns thick for maximum quality.
The 18 inches chain is also made of 24 carat gold on sterling silver.
Should you require matching mice earrings, please take a look at our earrings' listing.
All our pendants carry a 10 years guarantee and come in a branded black pendant box.
These delightful mice have been made by Simon Kemp who is a member of the British Jewellers Association.
This pendant is made from solid sterling silver then layered with a thick 24 carat gold (pure gold) layer for stunning effect. It can be cleaned and polished with the 'silver cloth' or 'gold cloth'.

domain: design


Monday, February 24, 2014
(Detroit, MI) -- Visitation services are set this weekend for Angelo Henderson. Henderson was a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist before embarking on a decade long radio career on WCHB in Detroit. Henderson died last Saturday at his home in Pontiac of natural causes at the age of 51. He also was an ordained minister and activist who co-founded the city crime-fighting organization Detroit 300.


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(Poughkeepsie, NY) – Michael Kaminski, President and CEO of Hudson Valley Hospice announced that Teresa Holstein, RN, BSN, CHPN, has joined the organization as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Kaminski stated that “ I am extremely pleased that Teresa has joined Hudson Valley Hospice. She has extensive hospice experience, at both the clinical and management levels, which will ensure that our programs will be able to serve an increasing number of patients who deserve the benefits of our hospice care services.”
With over a decade of healthcare and hospice experience, her career spans community, university, hospital system based programs with an average daily census of 400 to 530 patients. Holstein recently served as the Hospice Director of BJC Hospice in St. Louis, Missouri, where she focused on revamping the clinical education, orientation and quality programs, in addition to the hospital liaison team and processes. Prior to that she served as the Hospice Director at Evergreen-Health in Kirkland, Washington, where she focused on the admissions, education, and regulatory compliance programs. She shared that “Hudson Valley Hospice is a leader in hospice and palliative care across several state and national benchmarks, this illustrates the strong commitment to supporting our patients and their families through the end-of-life journey. It is my privilege to join this extraordinary team in their mission to enhance the quality of life for all we serve.
Teresa graduated magna cum laude with a BA in Communication and summa cum laude with a BS in Nursing, both from Cleveland State University, and is a member of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society. She has served on several national and state hospice committees, including her current terms on two National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization committees.
About Hudson Valley Hospice
Hudson Valley Hospice is the premier provider of end-of-life care in Dutchess and Ulster Counties, providing compassionate care, programs, services and support to over 620 individuals, and their loved ones, who are faced with a life-limiting illness. Our clinical staff includes Hospice and Palliative Care Certified Registered Nurses, Board Certified Physicians, Nurse Practitioners, Social Workers, Home Health Aides, Spiritual Care Chaplains, Grief and Bereavement Counselors and Volunteers. Medical equipment, oxygen, medications and loaner tablets for our in-home telehospice program are also provided. Hudson Valley Hospice goes beyond the basic government mandated requirements of hospice care and also offers Music Therapy, End of Life Doulas, Pet Therapy, Reiki and more. Everything we do is geared toward providing the best quality of life for patients during their final months and weeks, whether they are at home, in a nursing home, in a hospital, wherever they call home. To learn more above Hudson Valley Hospice, please call 845-485-2273 or visit www.hvhospice.org.
Hospice is a benefit of Medicare, as well as many insurance plans. Donations to Hudson Valley Hospice Foundation help to support those who may be uninsured or under-insured and provide for non-formulary drugs, tablets for our telehospice lending program, equipment, programs and services and more. To make a donation, visit us at www.hvhospicefoundation.org or call 845-240-7609.

domain: medical


Above photo: U.S. Vice President Joe Biden walks past the barricades on Mykhailivska Square in Kiev, Ukraine, on April 22, 2014 Sergei Chuzavkov—AP
Pretty much everything about Ukraine is murky and unreliable these days, and that’s before you take into consideration any of the meddling by outside powers playing carelessly with their Slavic pawns. Viewed in their darkest light, the events of the past 20 months (and the past 20 years) reflect an East-West death spiral that is now accelerating, and from which none of the engaged parties show any desire to disengage.
The civil war in eastern Ukraine has continued fitfully since September, when the parties signed a ceasefire known as the Minsk Agreement. The ceasefire has often been more honored in the breach than the observance, but overall it has led to considerably less bloodshed, especially among civilians, than the previous six months’ fighting. In the spring of 2014, the level of killing escalated sharply, at U.S. urging, when the newly-installed coup government in Kiev chose to attack rather than negotiate with the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk and People’s Republic of Luhansk (now joined in the self-proclaimed federal state of Novorossiya). So far, only the Republic of South Ossetia has recognized these Ukrainian “republics” as independent countries. Only Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Nauru recognize South Ossetia, which declared its independence from Georgia in 1990, but secured it only in 2008 with the help of Russian intervention.
By comparison, the much smaller Republic of Kosovo, which declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, quickly secured that independence thanks to American and NATO military intervention, illustrating the double standard applied by the international community to questions of “territorial integrity” and “sovereignty.” Landlocked Kosovo, population about 1.8 million, is now by108 UN member countries, including the U.S., Canada, most of Europe, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and Yemen.
During the summer of 2014, the Ukrainian military captured much of the territory of the Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk and other separatist-held areas, but at significant cost to the civilian population. An estimated 2.8 million ethnic Russians have emigrated from Ukraine to Russia during the past year. The Ukrainian army’s advance was halted by Russian military support to the Republics that Russia denies it provided, just as the U.S. and other NATO countries deny the support they have given Ukraine. The two Republics now hold about 3 million people and have access to the Black Sea along the southern border.
Does anyone really want a settlement in Ukraine?
In advance of the then-pending high level international meeting in Kazakhstan, each side was claiming the other had increasingly violated the ceasefire with small-arms fire, mortar shelling, and rocket attacks in recent days. An unnamed AP reporter has reported seeing Ukrainian rockets fired at separatist positions. Now that Ukraine and the outside powers have scrapped the peace talks, the Ukraine government has claimed that a separatist rocket killed ten civilians in a bus at the Donetsk airport, a key battlefield for months now. Unconfirmed, this report is somewhat credulously reported by Reuters and The New York Times, among others, while the Los Angeles Times awaited independent verification.(This is one of the memes of the Ukraine conflict, a war crimethat each side blames on the other while people in the outside world believe the truth is what supports their political bias: another version of the same story played similarly in October.)
Ukraine initiated the January 15 peace talks only to have Ukraine effectively scuttle the opportunity. The self-contradictory sequence of events seems to have gone something like this: Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, the billionaire chocolate oligarch, announced in late December that he’d be meeting in the Kazakh capital of Astana on January 15 with French president Francois Hollande and Russian president Vladimir Putin as well as German chancellor Angela Merkel. As of January 10, these countries had yet to confirm such a meeting. Meanwhile, Merkel met with Ukrainian prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, America’s guy-in-Ukraine, and then threw doubt on whether the January 15 meeting would happen at all, or whether there would be any other meeting to continue working toward keeping Ukraine from collapsing into a failed state.
In other words: when Ukraine’s president announces a peace talks, Ukraine’s prime minister meets with a key player and the peace talks get called off. Who’s in charge here? According to the Ukrainian constitution, both have governing authority – sort of. There is no constitutional mechanism for resolving tension between these offices when the office holders choose to butt heads (as happened earlier with President Viktor Yushenko, a central banker whose policies enraged Communists and oligarchs alike, and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, an enraged natural gas oligarch). This structural dysfunction built into the Ukrainian constitution is one reason Ukraine has been unable to govern itself effectively for more than a decade, during which it has become a world-class kleptocracy.
Why does Merkel set conditions she knows are impossible?
In establishing her “reasons” for blocking peace talks, German chancellor Merkel created a cover story that sounded vaguely credible, but made no sense to anyone who understood that the terms she called for were, at best, years away from being achieved, if they were achievable at all. As the Times reported it: “Merkel made clear that the entire Minsk agreement needs to be fulfilled before European Union sanctions against Russia can be lifted.” The American choice for Ukrainian leadership, Yatsenyuk echoed Merkel’s word cloud, but added his own obviously self-serving priority: sealing the border between the Republics and Russia.
The Minsk agreement reflects a peace proposal first put forward by Ukrainian president Poroshenko in June 2014. There are only four material signatories to the Minsk agreement: Ukraine, Russia, and the Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. The agreement was reached under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the only other signatory. One unstated presumption of the agreement is that the Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk will be re-integrated into Ukraine with all their rights intact. The Minsk agreement comprises 12 unprioritized points, each of which is an aspirational goal for both sides, even though some elements can be achieved only by one side or another:
- Bilateral ceasefire
- OSCE monitoring of ceasefire
- Decentralization of power under law to be passed by Ukraine
- Permanent OSCE monitoring of Ukraine-Russia border
- Release of all hostages
- Amnesty for separatists, Ukraine to pass law
- Continue inclusive national dialogue
- Improve humanitarian condition of Donbass
- Local elections consistent with Ukraine law
- All sides withdraw illegal and mercenary military forces
- Adoption of Donbass recovery and reconstruction program
- Protect all participants in consultations
In effect, the Minsk agreement is a somewhat messy 12-step program designed to help those people who, along with their friends and relatives, remain addicted to uncontrolled outbursts of internecine violence. Call it “Ukraine-anon.” Like any 12-step program, the participants typically need the support of those close to them if they are to succeed in improving their lives. When someone like Angela Merkel, who is outside the formal process, colludes with someone supposedly within the process to undermine the process, the process will likely be sabotaged. That appears to be what happened, at least for the short run.
Given the sketchy quality of the Minsk agreement, using it as a standard for international behavior is irrational, or deliberately dishonest and hostile. The agreement calls, for example, for early local elections, which the Republics held, after the elections in the rest of the Ukraine in the fall of 2014. The Republics’ elections were widely denounced in the West as a violation of the Minsk agreement, even though Ukraine had failed to pass the law under which they were supposed to be held.
Until the West stops assaulting Russia, calls for peace are a bad joke
Merkel’s position, reflecting that of Prime Minister Yatsenyuk and his American sponsors, is deceitful and destructive. To suspend the peace process until the Minsk agreement can be fully realized is to knowingly prolong hostilities for an uncertain number of years. To make EU sanctions on Russia dependent on fully implementing the Minsk agreement is to give Ukraine a veto on the EU. The agreement cannot be fully implemented until Ukraine adopts the appropriate laws, and there’s little to persuade Ukraine to do that other than its own motives. If Ukraine fails to pass the promised laws, Merkel would have the EU continue to punish Russia, which seems to be what the game has been about for over 20 years already.
Russia and Ukraine appear to be at a tipping point, and conceivably the delicate balance in those and other affected countries could last for a long time. Or others, including the United Nations, could act to help stabilize the region and to ameliorate the economic and human rights damage that threatens to continue unchecked. More likely, the U.S. and Europe will continue their policies of deliberate destabilization until the day when it all implodes and Washington will point a finger and say: “See what Russia’s done now?!”
There are many straws blowing in that wind, and for now it looks like an ill wind blowing no good. A sampling of those straws:
* The Ukraine Freedom Support Act of 2014 passed both houses of Congress unanimously, without debate and without a recorded vote. The president signed it into law on December 18th. The 17-page bill is a model of cold-war-style duplicity cloaking a virtual declaration of global war in the rhetoric of high principle, imaginary threats, and sloppy grammar:
It is the policy of the United States to further assist the Government of Ukraine in restoring its sovereignty and territorial integrity to deter the Government of the Russian Federation from further destabilizing and invading Ukraine and other independent countries in Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia.
Among other things, the bill authorizes the president to impose seven pages of further sanctions on Russia, interfere in Russian democracy and civil society, expand American propaganda broadcasting in the region, expand non-military support to Ukraine and to initiate $350 million in military aid to Ukraine over the next three years. The bill’s last section says it is not to be “construed as an authorization for the use of military force.”
When President Obama signed the bill into law, the White House issued a statement having the president say, in part, with all due sanctimony and duplicity:
My Administration will continue to work closely with allies and partners in Europe and internationally to respond to developments in Ukraine and will continue to review and calibrate our sanctions to respond to Russia’s actions. We again call on Russia to end its occupation and attempted annexation of Crimea, cease support to separatists in eastern Ukraine, and implement the obligations it signed up to under the Minsk agreements.
* Ukraine is an impoverished country approaching economic collapse. The new Ukrainian finance minister, Natalie Jaresko, is an American citizen who managed a Ukrainian-based, U.S.-created hedge fund that was charged with illegal insider trading. She also managed a CIA fund that supported “pro-democracy” movements and laundered much of the $5 billion the U.S. spent supporting the Maidan protests that led to the Kiev coup in February 2014. Jaresko is a big fan of austerity for people in troubled economies.
* Writing in the New York Review of books for January 7, billionaire George Soros sees Europe and the United States dithering toward failure not just for Ukraine, but for Europe. Soros doesn’t challenge the official view of “Russian aggression” or “attempts to destabilize Ukraine” and the rest of that propaganda line that underpins sanctions. Challenging conventional wisdom, Soros focuses instead on the current, inherent, unaddressed, and enduring instability from maintaining a kleptocratic state:
… the old Ukraine is far from dead. It dominates the civil service and the judiciary, and remains very present in the private (oligarchic and kleptocratic) sectors of the economy. Why should state employees work for practically no salary unless they can use their position as a license to extort bribes? And how can a business sector that was nurtured on corruption and kickbacks function without its sweeteners? These retrograde elements are locked in battle with the reformists.
Essentially, Soros argues that reforming Ukraine into an honest modern state that offers opportunity and reliable justice will be at least as effective a response to Russia as the current continued hostility and half-hearted efforts in Kiev. To achieve this, he posits a $50 billion aid package, when the EU is having a hard time managing $2 billion. His view is openly idealistic:
By helping Ukraine, Europe may be able to recapture the values and principles on which the European Union was originally founded. That is why I am arguing so passionately that Europe needs to undergo a change of heart. The time to do it is right now.
Right or wrong, this is visionary, and the world of conventional wisdom is not buying it. The U.S. and the EU seem determined to continue taking the familiar and comfortable actions they know will fail in the same old ways.
* Perhaps the most vivid sign that the failures of the past foreshadow the failures of the future is the rise of Senator John McCain to the chairmanship of the Senate Armed Services Committee, where he will sometimes be able to exercise near-veto power over the White House’s constitutional authority to conduct foreign policy. In a fawning verbal lap dance in the N.Y. Times of January 13, Sheryl Gay Stolberg characterizes McCain’s apparent inability to learn from failure as his being “untamed.” The reporter allows that McCain is “bellicose,” but frames his responsibility to the nation and the world as a question of whether he will “make war or some accommodation with the White House.” McCain is on record to increase Pentagon spending and to keep the Guantanamo prison camp open, and speaks with open bitterness about the president’s failure to give him a phone call. As Stolberg says about McCain: “If he had his way, the United States would have ground troops in Syria, more troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a steady supply of arms going to Ukraine.”
Evan as the Ukraine ceasefire was taking effect after the Minsk agreement was signed, McCain was calling for the U.S. to arm Ukraine for defence against a “Russian invasion” that he sees as part of Putin’s plan to “re-establish the old Russian empire.” McCain also called for the U.S. to send military “advisors.”
Maybe the future won’t be dominated by the struggle between those who are satisfied with just a little war on Russia’s border and those who want a whole lot more war because that’s all they know. We’ll see, no doubt. And for now, the unheeded warnings of former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev continue to fall on unhearing ears, and unseeing leaders on all sides grope their way into “a vortex with no way out. How long can the present balance of instability last?”
William M. Boardman has over 40 years experience in theatre, radio, TV, print journalism, and non-fiction, including 20 years in the Vermont judiciary. He has received honors from Writers Guild of America, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Vermont Life magazine, and an Emmy Award nomination from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.


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So as I hinted at in my last blog post, I will head down to Argentina to climb Aconcagua. I leave tomorrow morning, and hopefully will be back in one piece at the end of the month. In case you want to know what I will be up to, you can check out this link (look for “Aconcagua January 2009″, should be a link once our trip starts in a few days), which should lead you to any updates we manage to send out about our trip. Also, I am posting below the proposed itinerary so that you get an idea for what it takes to get up and down this thing. See you all back in Feb!
Update: We successfully made it to the top and back! Will post more info later!
Jan 5: Arrive in Mendoza. Our staff will meet you at the airport and transport you to your hotel;
Jan 6: Sort Gear and visit the Permit Office in Mendoza, private transport to Pentitentes (2720 metres/8,900 feet) sleep in hotel;
Jan 7: Drive to Punta de Vacas. Walk 8 kilometers/5 miles, to Las Lenas (2,700 metres/8,800 feet). Easy trail walking; mules carry baggage. Camping;
Jan 8: Walk 18 kilometers/11 miles, to Casa de Piedra (3,200 metres/10,500 feet). Easy trail walking; mules carry baggage. Camping;
Jan 9: Walk 15 kilometers/9 miles, to basecamp, “Plaza Argentina” (4,200 metres/13,800 feet). Trail walking; mules carry baggage. Camping;
Jan 10: Rest in basecamp;
Jan 11: Carry loads for acclimatization safety to Camp 1 (5,000 metres/16,400 feet). Walking on scree and through melted ice mixed with rocks. 4-6 hour hike. Return to basecamp;
Jan 12: Rest day in basecamp;
Jan 13: Return to Camp 1, spend the night there;
Jan 14: Carry loads for acclimatization safety to Camp 2 (5,900 metres/19,400 feet). Walking on scree and through melted ice mixed with rocks. 6-7 hour hike. Return to Camp;
Jan 15: Return to Camp 2, spend the night there;
Jan 16: Rest in Camp 2; prepare for summit attempt;
Jan 17: Climb Traverse to connect with normal route at Independencia to Summit (6,962 metres/22,835 feet). Descend via upper Normal Route and traverse back to our Camp 2;
Jan 18, 19, 20: Extra days for further summit attempts, weather, and additional acclimatization;
Jan 21: Descend to Plaza Argentina;
Jan 22: Descend to Las Lenas camp, walking 33 km;
Jan 23: Return to Mendoza in transport and have celebration dinner, stay in hotel.
Jan 24: Depart Mendoza and head home.

domain: geography


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Regulation and Oversight
Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC, was recently appointed as the sole reinsurance intermediary for the newly formed California Wildfire Fund, currently administered by the California Earthquake Authority.
US Department of Labor (DOL) suspension of a regulatory procedure employers have used for years to get expedited DOL review of their applications to fund employee benefits through their captive insurance companies is continuing, while regulators are circulating new captive benefit funding requirements.
Treasury has issued proposed regulations on the insurance exception to the passive foreign investment company rules. This article focuses on only one of the aspects of the regulations, albeit a very important one for captive insurance companies-the active conduct requirements.
Governor Phil Scott signed legislation on June 10 to enable InsurTech experimentation and innovation in Vermont. Among other things, the insurance and securities bill (S. 131) creates an InsurTech "sandbox," which will allow more research and development in this area with specific guidelines.
Swiss Re Capital Markets recently issued its first catastrophe bond under the new insurance-linked security (ILS) regulatory regime in Singapore.

domain: news


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So, if you exist in Australia and necessitate to frolic online, guess the Olympia online casino! The obtain incentive is deserving its center in au.The IGA regulates the activities of online play companies in Australia.

domain: entertainment


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It Was Me All Along by Andie Mitchell
I very much was able to understand the character Andie Mitchell and her relationship with food and the things that happened during her life that would set off her eating/binging. I have had smaller weight issues but have found that I will eat to stay awake to watch a program will eat when I’m angry, will take two of anything when one was sufficient. I went on weight watchers twice so far in my life, which is not so much like that which Andie went through but I was able to look at her life and see some similarities. The story gave me some tips on how to stop some of my eating issues and I plan to put them in place.
A heartbreakingly honest, endearing memoir of incredible weight loss by a young food blogger who battles body image issues and overcomes food addiction to find self-acceptance.
All her life, Andie Mitchell had eaten lustily and mindlessly. Food was her babysitter, her best friend, her confidant, and it provided a refuge from her fractured family. But when she stepped on the scale on her twentieth birthday and it registered a shocking 268 pounds, she knew she had to change the way she thought about food and herself; that her life was at stake..
It Was Me All Along takes Andie from working class Boston to the romantic streets of Rome, from morbidly obese to half her size, from seeking comfort in anything that came cream-filled and two-to-a-pack to finding balance in exquisite (but modest) bowls of handmade pasta. This story is about much more than a woman who loves food and abhors her body. It is about someone who made changes when her situation seemed too far gone and how she discovered balance in an off-kilter world. More than anything, though, it is the story of her finding beauty in acceptance and learning to love all parts of herself.
ANDIE MITCHELL is a writer, recipe developer, and lover of cake. Her popular blog, CanYouStayForDinner.com, shares the inspiring story of her successful weight loss and continued passion for good food. She lives in New York City, where she is the social media director for ShriverReport.org.

domain: library


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Our favorite aerospace exploration organization will finally fulfill a 1958 recommendation from the National Academy of Sciences by sending the Solar Probe Plus into the Sun's atmosphere. It will be the first time any craft visits a star -- previous data have been collected from at least millions of miles away. Why the personal visit? Two main reasons: to determine why the sun's corona is millions of kelvin hotter than its visible surface, and to learn more about how that solar wind we've been hearing so much about lately gets accelerated. Look out for answers to these and other burning questions (we're getting started early!) sometime before 2018.
NASA going to the Sun, Jay Leno readies 'hot' jokes for coming years
All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.


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Father & Daughter
a dynamic duo
A beautiful bond that should never be broke. This father-daughter duo has started their most ambitious project yet, all thanks to the great camaraderie & love that they share for Art.
"My vision for Artini came to life after completing the wall mural in Joia's Fabulous Pizza & Martini Bar. The idea was to make an easy, safe place to have drinks and do something creative without the clean-up. Creating Art while drinking Martinis, and eating gourmet pizza, all for one price, was something I wanted everyone to enjoy. My daughter came up with the name and design for Artini. We both share the same passion for Art and now I want to do something different with my artistic talents while bringing out creativity in others. I’m a certified Art Teacher and Counselor that enjoys
bringing out other peoples artistic talents.
- Wayne Shaw

domain: artistic


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Late in the evening of August 6, the video of Patricia Bautista, estranged wife of Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Andres Bautista, was uploaded on Youtube publicly. She claims that her husband “might” have amassed nearly P1 billion worth of ill-gotten wealth. Few hours after, on the front page of the Philippine Daily Inquirer ran the headline “Wife says poll chief has ill-gotten wealth,” shocking the nation.
While it started as another high-profile marital trouble, sometime after, administration-linked bloggers started connecting it with the 2016 national elections, and claiming that Chairman Bautista’s unexplained wealth was proof that the recent elections had been rigged to favor certain candidates for national posts.
Suspended lawyer and now blogger Trixie Angeles highlighted that Patricia’s counsel mentioned that “Chairman Bautista has links with Smartmatic and personally met with them in Washington, DC.” Another blogger RJ Nieto of Thinking Pinoy came up with a little more complex explanation, linking Chairman Bautista to Mar Roxas of the Liberal Party. He explained that Patricia “suspects” that Chairman Bautista received referral fees from Divina Law and that the “former DND Sec. Avelino Nonong Cruz, a staunch Mar Roxas ally, is (or was) a high profile client of Divina Law,” urging the public after to “connect the dots.”
The question of whether Bautista’s alleged undeclared assets are ill-gotten or illegally acquired or simply the fact of his under-declaration in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) are of course matters that need to be explained by him convincingly. As a public official and head of one of the most important and sensitive constitutional agencies, he must be above reproach and suspicion.
Connecting, however, this controversy to the 2016 elections and to the whole Comelec is another matter. Now, as insinuated by Nieto, are there enough dots to connect Bautista’s alleged undeclared assets with the integrity of the elections?
Questions on results include Duterte’s votes
We need to start by laying out the facts. First, policy questions relating to elections are not just decided by the Comelec chairman. Unlike the executive department, where matters are solely decided by the President, the Comelec is a collegial body, composed of the chairman and 6 other commissioners, voting equally. All decisions relating to elections – from the choice of election technology to the approval of the voting precincts – need to be decided by at least the majority of the 7 members of the en banc.
From the operations perspective, an automated election is ran by a 5,000-strong Comelec bureaucracy in close coordination with the chosen election technology (Smartmatic for the 2016 elections), implemented by more than 300,000 school teachers, secured by the whole manpower of the Philippine National Police and the armed forces, watched over by election watchers, observers, and watchdogs in every voting precinct, and participated in by more than 50 million voters.
To implement a successful nationwide cheating scheme, both these aspects – policy and execution– must be dealt with. Cheating in an automated election system is not as simple as padding numbers as in the days of manual elections. To have a numerical impact in a national contest, a cheating scheme has to be repeated in a massive scale that it can potentially be messy and too risky because it is easily detectable.
It is also not enough that numbers are increased or decreased, any scheme chosen also has to be defensible in an election protest proceeding that maybe filed by losing candidates. The paper ballots and their scanned copies will always be there and can be revisited in an election protest proceeding. There are also security and transparency features embedded at every level, from voting to canvassing, meant to make fraud or attempts to commit fraud easily discoverable. For example, precinct-level election results are printed in 30 copies and publicly distributed before transmitting them electronically, allowing interested parties to run independent canvassing and tallies parallel to Comelec’s.
My point is simple: elections are way too bigger to be rigged just by the chairman or even by the en banc. While they make decisions and sets policy that affects the whole automated election system, it will take a massive web of collusion and conspiracy to hack or compromise its integrity.
There is also no incentive for Smartmatic to compromise its own system. It is a global business operating in many countries. What it earns in the Philippines is but a small part of its global election-related business. From the perspective of business, it does not make sense to compromise its global brand, potential business deals, and established goodwill for just a little more income. Any scandal which would put in question the integrity of its election machines is bound to be disastrous for the company. Elections are trust-based and perception is everything.
In the course of this debate, critics and politicians aligned with the President have claimed that this issue of electoral integrity in relation to Bautista can be surgically confined to closely contested positions, conveniently exempting the President and other elective officials who won overwhelmingly in the last elections.
This is a very poor argument born of a very poor understanding of how automated elections work. This is no longer a manual election, where incidents are severable and fraud can possibly happen in isolation. In an automated election system employing a single type of machine running in a uniform software and produced by the same company, a technological vulnerability in one component indiscriminately affects the whole.
A compromised automated election system can bear only compromised results. In the same way that a poisonous tree bear poisoned fruits, a poisoned automated election system will only yield poisoned results. No lead is too overwhelming or no amount of votes can cure a poisoned election. A poisoned mandate is no mandate.
The chairman is not the Comelec
Even assuming that a Comelec chairman has that power to compromise the elections and make a particular candidate win, that’s not Chairman Bautista.
He came to the Commission in 2015, a total stranger to automated elections. Unlike his predecesor Sixto Brillantes Jr, who is one of the pillars of the country’s election law practice, Bautista is an outsider. Not just an outsider in the sense of not rising from the ranks within the Comelec, but someone who is a stranger in the election practice. He was plucked from the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), the quasi-judicial agency created by former President Corazon Aquino to recover ill-gotten wealth accumulated during the Marcos regime. While he has past stints with the PPCRV, Comelec’s citizens’ arm, he has zero practical experience in the election practice, election management, or in election technology.
Perhaps knowing his own limitations, he unloaded right from the very start a huge chunk of administrative work traditionally assigned to the chairman to either the executive director or his fellow commissioners. The same thing happened in Comelec’s preparation in the last election – Chairman Bautista took a back seat. Apart from presiding regular en banc meetings, where policy directions could have been decided, the only concrete election-related project that Chairman Bautista actively pushed in the last elections was the “mall voting,” which was unceremoniously cancelled at the last minute due to serious questions on its legality and other logistical issues.
Overall, while Chairman Bautista is seen generous in terms of bonuses and employee benefits, to many close observers, he is a poor and detached manager. His very own office was notorious for delays, tattered with factions and in-fighting, and infamous for its regular stream of resignations. Later, the same organizational mayhem spilled to the Commission en banc. He lost control of its steering wheel right at the get-go. Some personalities in the en banc were either too strong for him (or he is too weak for them) – a dysfunction which eventually lead to that controversial June 23, 2016, leaked memorandum from all his 6 commissioners castigating him and calling him out for his “failed leadership.”
It is under this organizational scenario that Baustista has been accused of singlehandedly rigging or influencing the elections or facilitated the victory of some candidates. Many of us immediately dismissed these fanciful allegations not because we could vouch for the integrity of Chairman Bautista, but because of the fact that everyone privy to the preparations know that he neither has the actual power, the influence, or simply the balls to make it happen.
Unfortunately, accusations, regardless of how flimsy or speculative, when peddled in an environment of credulity, may not only be taken as gospel truth, but can easily be twisted by opportunists to advance their political motives.
As much as we are interested in uncovering the truth about Chairman Bautista, we have to be circumspect in dragging the Comelec into the whole mess. Bautista, himself, should have distanced himself from the institution right from the start.
In the end, we must remember that Comelec is way bigger than Chairman Bautista, his wife, and their marital troubles. They will soon fade away in the limelight, forgotten and filed in our consciousness as another marriage gone bad. But institutions like Comelec will still be there, bruised, and limping once again. – Rappler.com
Emil Marañon III is an election lawyer who served as chief of staff of former Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. He completed his LLM in Human Rights, Conflict and Justice at SOAS, University of London, as a Chevening scholar. He is legal consultant in several election protests, including Vice President Leni Robredo’s.

domain: law


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It is located on the Tianming Mountain northwest of the Ninghai County.
You may take a coach at the Ningbo South Coach Station to Ninghai, get off in Meilin and take a medium-sized bus there to the Nanxi Forestry Center.
It is one of the three famous hot springs in China. It is surrounded by the well-known Tiantai Mountain and Siming Mountain.
It has green mountain and water with luxuriant woods and rippling stream all the year around. According to the mensuration, geothermal water in this area is not only plentiful with moderate temperature, but also clean, transparent and of high grade, containing several trace elements. After people take a bath in the hot spring, they will have their skin moisturized and feel refreshed.
The hot spring also has remarkable curative effects for diseases, such as all kinds of skin diseases, arthritis and cardiovascular diseases as well as diseases regarding the nerves and digestion.
The summer here, whose temperature is 3-5℃ lower than that of Hangzhou and Ningbo, is a tourist, summer, recuperation, vacation and leisure resort unwonted in East China.
Questions and Answers About Nanxi Hot Spring of Ninghai
Jared Van de Geest 2012-11-28
Hi there, I am planning on going to the springs this weekend.Would you recommend taking a train from Ningbo to Ninghai then a bus up to the springs?Where can we find this bus and what times does it leave?Also what would the cost be for a taxi from Ninghai to Ningbo or is there a late bus to take from Ninghai to Ningbo?What are the opening and closing hours?What accomodation do you recommend for in Ninghai?Thank you for your time
Hi Jared, yes, there are bullet train from Ningbo to Ninghai. From Ninghai to the springs, there is no direct transport. You can take bus from Ninghai Bus Station to Shenzhen Village first(about CNY10/PP). Then take a taxi to the springs(about CNY20). Sorry, I didn't find the exact opening and closing hours for the bus.
For accommodation, you can stay in Ninghai Spring Hotel or Nanyuan villa.
Whitney Liao replied on 2012-12-02
Hi. Is there any day tour from Ningbo city to Nanxi Hot Spring of Ninghai.please provide detail of the day tour if any.Can I take a train to Ninghai, than take a taxi to the hot spring.what Is the ntrance fee?
You could take the bus from Ningbo South Bus station to Meili then connect the taxi to Nanxi Hot Spring, the entrace fee for the spring is CNY128 per person. It is said that there is direct bus operated from Ningbo city to Nanxi Hot Spring in winter (Dec. -Feb.), but no confirmation for this year yet.
Karen guest replied on 2012-10-11
we are planning a week-end to ninghai hot springs. Is that area ok for bikers? Is there any charming place where to stay?
Ninghai Spring Hot is 75km from Ningbo city, even it is called as the one of three best Spring hot in China, few foreigner or Chinese in other province know it. I did not find there is any suitable place for biking or hiking, but learing from the pictures and other travelers' travel stories, i think it is a nice place for relaxing.
Karen Karen Yang replied on 2011-03-08
Hi, is it possible to know which is the closest hotel to this plac? I 'd like to go there next week but I have found a lot of site and nobody can't tell (or doesn't want) which is the nearest hotel t this hot sring. thanks
Hello. You can try Ninghai Hot Spring Summer Resort (宁海天明山温泉大酒店), which is a four-star hotel located within the hot spring area. Uusally there are hotels or guest houses located inside or near hot spring resorts, so you don't need to worry about the accommodation.
If you need tour services or have further inquiries, feel free to send us an email to email@example.com, we will reply within 24 hours. Mia Yang replied on 2010-11-17
Hi, I be in Ningbo on 16-18 Dec, is it advisable to go over from ningbo to nanxi hotspring? Also what is the best way of transportation to take.
It will be quite coldto visit to the Nanxi Hotspring scenic spot in winter. This place is good for summer recuperation, vacation as its temperature is 3-5℃ lower than that of Hangzhou and Ningbo.
If you want a try in winter, you may take a coach at the Ningbo South Coach Station to Ninghai, get off in Meilin and take a medium-sized bus there to the Nanxi Forestry Center.
Grace Wang replied on 2010-11-02


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domain: food


text:
Lately I have been spending time within the pages of To Kill a Mockingbird. It’s not my first time to read the Pulitzer Prize winning novel. This might be my fourth or fifth. Between reading the novel for a book club and reading it in preparation to make use of it as a read aloud with A and S early next school year, I am reading for curriculum – for historical setting, thematic elements, symbolism and life lessons- just as much as for narrative enjoyment. From spending time in quiet reflection adjacent to Atticus and the Mobile Register to racing past the Radley place behind Scout with my jeans rolled up, I have been reflecting on the significance of Harper Lee’s story for myself.
Jem. Calpurnia. Mr. Heck Tate. Maudie Atkins. Tom Robinson. Reverend Sykes. Mrs. Dubose. Lively characters with much to say to us even today. While it is widely recognized that Atticus Finch was a good father doing his reticent best in solitary and difficult times, I have also come to a more personal conclusion: Atticus Finch could have successfully raised a child with Asperger’s.
Aunt Alexandra’s vision of my deportment involved playing with small stoves, tea sets, and wearing the Add-a-Pearl necklace she gave me when I was born; furthermore, I should be a ray of sunshine in my father’s lonely life. I suggested that one could be a ray of sunshine in pants just as well, but Aunty said that one had to behave like a sunbeam, that I was born good but had grown progressively worse every year. She hurt my feelings and set my teeth permanently on edge, but when I asked Atticus about it, he said there were already enough sunbeams in the family and to go on about my business, he didn’t mind me much the way I was.
To Kill a Mockingbird, chapter 9, p. 89
The beauty of Atticus’ statement to Scout is in his acceptance of her. No only does this make me smile for its understating qualities but also for Aunt Alexandra’s usage of the word “sunbeam.” Atticus’ connotation of the word seems substantively different. Not only did Atticus “not mind” her differences, but he did the hard work as a parent to help her stand out against her society insomuch as she was standing on her own two feet. He didn’t mind her wearing overalls. He didn’t mind her being addressed as Scout, instead of her given name Jean Louise. He didn’t mind her running around half wild with an awkward neighbor boy and no girls for friends. He didn’t mind her swearing, not really, because he understood it was for attention and want of expression (and incidentally a last-ditch ploy to avoid school). These were unequivocal traits which made Scout stand out as an oddity in polite, accepted Maycomb society.
How is all this important to me? Because he wears the baseball cap 24/7. Giggles uncontrollably at things no one else finds even slightly amusing. Uses archaic phrases. Recites stories from memory that at times have little to do with the flow of conversation. Interjects tidbits of trivia on baseball, presidents, car models, world countries, etc. apropos to goodness knows what. Why should I find this difficult or offensive? Like Atticus I am learning to accept. Whereas he fought the battle of Aunt Alexandra and Maycomb County, I fight my own internal battle. Hard pressed between how I feel others may perceive him and how I should just let him be. My own quirky sunbeam.
“First of all,” he said, “if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view – ”
“-until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”
chapter 3, p. 36
Atticus teaches Scout and Jem to take stock of another’s perspective multiple times in the novel. He offers this advice concerning those he genuinely cares for like Miss Caroline or Mr. Cunningham, and for those he does not, such as Bob Ewell. We need more empathy, more walking around in each other’s skin, more children who can say, “I don’t agree with you, but I understand why you think that way.” More people who are strong enough to wield grace and patience. Not condoning immoral behavior but a loving spirit and empathy for someone else’s struggle.
Atticus had said it was the polite thing to talk to people about what they were interested in, not about what you were interested in.
chapter 15, p. 164
Empathy and theory of mind can be difficult for people on the spectrum. Difficult, but not impossible.
Atticus pushed my head under his chin. “It’s not time to worry yet,” he said. “I never thought Jem’d be the one to lose his head over this – thought I’d have more trouble with you.”
chapter 11, p. 113
As a member of our bookclub noted, Atticus never blatantly tells the children when it is time to worry. He teaches by example through a forbearance that supersedes worry and despair. Through these words he gives credence to the seriousness of the situation, but allows them to know that someone is sharing their concern. He is listening.
Isn’t this what we all desire, for someone to say, “Yes, I hear you are scared. Yes, those are legitimate worries. Let’s deal with this together.”? Unfortunately, fear and anxiety can be the primary emotion for people on the spectrum. Atticus might have been able to successfully parent his way through these daily struggles with an Aspie son or daughter.
Certainly I am not proposing that Jem or Scout were intended to have Asperger’s. They were precocious, yet neuro-typical. Nor am I proposing that acceptance, empathy and anxiety are things exclusively children with Asperger’s need to learn, but as I have often heard expressed: People with Asperger’s struggle with the same issues everyone else does, only more so.
Summer, and he watched his children’s heart break. Autumn again, and Boo’s children needed him.
Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough.
chapter 31, p. 294

domain: literature


text:
New Year... New Me?
Every December, many people feel a palpable sense of excitement regarding the start of the upcoming new year. After all, new beginnings come with new opportunities for change as well as new opportunities to relegate any mistakes to “the past.” From my vantage point, these sorts of sentiments were never stronger than at the end of the crisis-filled 2020.
The irony is that the division from one year to the next is largely psychological. Does anything truly change when the calendar ticks over from December 31 to January 1? Or, when spring rolls around on March 21, can we suddenly put away our winter clothes and step into our spring wardrobes? (As if, in the current work-from-home era, that’s not just a different pair of sweatpants…but I digress).
Despite the artificial nature of these temporal divisions, recent research co-authored by my UCLA Anderson colleague, Professor Hengchen Dai, has indicated fresh starts hold a certain sway over people’s motivations and actual behavior.1
I’m going to guess that this idea of our behavior changing with the onset of a fresh start resonates with you. When, for instance, was the last time you told yourself you were going to modify a behavior that needed changing? Did you decide to start a new diet, workout plan or financial budget on a random Wednesday in August? No, of course not! If you’re like most people, you probably decided to make a change when some sort of “fresh start” rolled around.
In fact, in earlier work, Professor Dai and her colleagues found that Google search terms for “diet” increased following dates easily construed as fresh starts (e.g., New Year’s Day, the start of a new week or new month).2 And, they found the same pattern for visits to gyms as well as sign-ups for a website that aims to help people create and stick to goals.
I should note these results are merely correlational, leaving open the question of whether a fresh start can cause someone to pursue a positive goal, or if this isn’t just some coincidence. In follow-up work, though, Dai and colleagues induced a fresh start type of mindset by asking research participants to think about an upcoming date in fresh start terms (e.g., the first day of spring), versus just another date (i.e., March 20).3 The participants reminded of a fresh start were almost four times more likely to sign up for reminders about personal goals they were pursuing.
These findings are fascinating because any time we find evidence that subtle environmental cues can change motivation, it means we might be able to harness these cues to make changes in our own lives. And that’s exactly the notion Dai and her colleagues recently reported in an unpublished experiment.
Working with human resources departments at four universities, the researchers generated a set of mailers sent to employees who weren’t enrolled in their university’s retirement savings programs. One employee group was asked whether they would like to start saving now or at some future time (e.g., in two months). Another group was asked if they would like to start saving now or after some future event (e.g., after Thanksgiving). And a third group received the experimental treatment: They were asked if they would like to start saving now or “after your next birthday.” Because the framing of this last message directly invoked the mindset of a fresh start, it produced the biggest uptick in actual savings behavior among university employees!
Why, though, would these fresh starts and the promise of their arrivals have such impact? One possible reason is that big temporal landmarks like a new year, new season or new decade can serve to create a mental separation from who we once were and who we are now. Such divisions in time can allow us to put our past failures solidly into the past, thereby increasing our optimism about all we can accomplish now that we have shed those old identities.
Fresh starts, then, can prompt us to finally go for it and step into the shoes of our more desirable selves. The evidence thus far, however, has primarily come in the form of messages that make fresh starts salient, messages sent by marketers and researchers. This begs the question of whether we can fully employ fresh starts in our own lives to help us make desired changes. I certainly think so.
When it comes to our finances, we are quite good at creating mental accounts for losses and gains even though all money is fungible. I think we’re similarly skilled at creating mental accounts for our old selves and our new selves, making fresh starts that much more powerful.
There’s a chance fresh starts may backfire if we put too much pressure on ourselves, though. For instance, I could imagine telling myself that I’m finally going to start working out five times a week because, hey, it’s a new year! That guy who used to work out only twice a week is the “old me,” and that’s not me now. But if I failed in week 3 of the new year, would that negatively impact my self-esteem such that I’d be more likely to abandon the pursuit altogether?
Alternatively, as Professor Dai recently told me in an email, when it comes to fresh starts, “People may be so excited about pursuing new goals that they become overly optimistic about what they could do afterwards (e.g., in a new year). If they set too high a goal due to overoptimism, they may fail too soon and not be motivated to try again.” Because of these possibilities, I speculate that fresh starts may work even better when coupled with a healthy dose of self-compassion for any potential failures that arise when pursuing new goals. Sure, it’s a new year, but despite my best intentions, the old me may still be present. If I want to truly move past his mistakes, I may need to acknowledge that I’ll continue to make some of the same ones.
1 Hengchen Dai and Claire Li. “How experiencing and anticipating temporal landmarks influence motivation.” Current Opinion in Psychology 26 (April 2019): 44-48.
2 Hengchen Dai, Katherine L. Milkman, and Jason Riis. “The Fresh Start Effect: Temporal Landmarks Motivate Aspirational Behavior.” Management Science 60, No. 10 (2014): 2563-2582
3 Hengchen Dai, Katherine L. Milkman, and Jason Riis. “Put Your Imperfections Behind You: Temporal Landmarks Spur Goal Initiation When They Signal New Beginnings.” Psychological Science 26, No. 12 (2015): 1927-1936.
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domain: psychology


CJOB News Team reporting
A 17 year-old man and 15 year-old girl have been charged with attempted murder following the severe beating of a 23 year-old who was left for dead in a garbage dumpster.
It happened sometime Saturday morning when police were called to the 500 block of Spence Street.
The victim was found in critical condition and an investigation led police to a 17 year-old man and 15 year-old girl who are now in police custody.
Police say more arrests are possible and the victim and the suspects are known to each other.


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February 22nd in history:
Another legendary sports event happened on this date in 1980: the “Miracle on Ice,” in which the U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team surprised the world by beating the Soviets, 4-3, in the semi-final round of the Winter Games. The Americans went on to win the gold against Finland in the games at Lake Placid, New York.
Actor Kirk Douglas once served as royalty at a winter carnival in Lake Placid. During the week of the Miracle on Ice game, Douglas was hosting “Saturday Night Live” in New York, featuring NBC announcer Don Pardo, born on this day in 1918. Pardo has been the SNL announcer for most of the show’s run, and also worked on the original versions of “Jeopardy” and “The Price is Right.” He broke the news of President Kennedy’s assassination on WNBC-TV in New York in 1963.
David Letterman was getting ready to move his talk show from NBC to CBS when it was announced on February 22nd, 1993 that CBS had bought the Ed Sullivan Theater, to keep Letterman’s show in New York.
On this day in 1964, the Beatles returned to England after their famous first visit to the U.S., which included three straight appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” The band had pre-recorded its performance which would be seen on “Sullivan” the next night.
February 7th in history:
On February 7th, 1962, the U.S. began an economic embargo on Cuba, which remains in effect today. The embargo came in response to Cuba’s allegiance with the Soviet Union in the Cold War.
The Soviet government made a major policy change on February 7th, 1990, when the Communist party gave up its monopoly on power in the nation. Less than two years later, the Soviet Union would be disbanded.
And the band which eventually recorded “Back in the USSR” made its first official visit to the USA in 1964. The Beatles arrived at JFK Airport in New York on February 7th for their first American tour, including appearances three weeks in a row on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
February 5th in history:
Three veterans of “Saturday Night Live” share a February 5th birthday: Christopher Guest (born 1948), best known for directing and/or acting in mock documentaries including “This is Spinal Tap” and “Waiting for Guffman”; Tim Meadows (1961), whose most famous SNL character was “The Ladies’ Man”; and Chris Parnell (1967), alias Dr. Spaceman on “30 Rock.”
Parnell was born on the same day in ’67 that “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” debuted on CBS. The often-controversial variety show hosted by Tom and Dick Smothers was a launching pad for talent such as frequent SNL host Steve Martin and “Spinal Tap” director Rob Reiner.
Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and director D.W. Griffith combined their talents to launch a film studio on this date in 1919…United Artists. United Artists had big hits with the Beatles’ first two movies, “Gilligan’s Island” and the James Bond franchise.
In the opening scene of the 007 movie “Goldfinger,” Bond battles a drug lord from Mexico. February 5th is the anniversary of the Mexican constitution, adopted in 1917.
A different milestone for Central America was the development of the Panama Canal. On February 5th, 1900, the United States and Great Britain signed a treaty to create the canal, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
January 3rd in history:
Flying machines didn’t succeed until the 20th century, when we finally got other pioneering inventions like the electric watch. The Hamilton Watch company put its first electric watch on sale on this date in 1957.
Exactly 20 years later — January 3rd, 1977 — pioneering home computer maker Apple Computer was incorporated.
And a pioneering record producer who did some work with Apple Records, and the Beatles, celebrates a birthday. George Martin was born January 3rd, 1926.
December 8 in history:
John Lennon was the only Beatle who did not appear on “Saturday Night Live” during his lifetime. Ringo Starr is the only Beatle who has hosted SNL, and that happened on December 8th, 1984. Ringo’s monologue featured a duet with “Sammy Davis Jr.” (played by Billy Crystal).
November 9 in history:
The new German government that replaced the monarchy did not please one Adolf Hitler. He and hundreds of Nazi party members attempted an overthrow of the Bavarian government in 1923 with an uprising known as the Beer Hall Putsch. The revolt was put down by police in the streets of Munich on November 9th.
The Communist government of East Germany which came after Hitler’s reign during World War Two was starting to fall apart in 1989 when it bowed to pressure from the public and allowed people to pass freely through the Berlin Wall. After that announcement on the 9th of November, Germans began breaking down the wall which had divided the free and Communist portions of Berlin since the 1960′s.
The 1967 military comedy “How I Won the War” featured John Lennon of the Beatles as an English soldier serving in WWII. A photo of a short-haired Lennon in his soldier costume appeared on the cover of the first Rolling Stone magazine, issued on this date in ’67.
October 9 in history:
The Washington Monument opened to the public on October 9th, 1888…40 years after construction began. The project was halted for many years because of a lack of funding and the intervention of the Civil War. The observation deck 500 feet above the ground was the highest man-made tourist spot in the world…for only seven months, until the Eiffel Tower opened in Paris.
The Eiffel Tower was built for a world’s fair celebrating the centennial of the French Revolution. The guillotine became a symbol of the Revolution, and was the official method of execution in France for almost 200 years. On this date in 1981, France ended beheadings by guillotine as it abolished the national death penalty.
“You’d better keep your head, little girl” is a line from “Run For Your Life,” a song by John Lennon about a man warning his girlfriend not to cheat on him. John’s more uplifting tunes include many love songs written with Paul McCartney, and solo songs such as “Imagine.” Lennon was born October 9th, 1940. It’s also the birthday of another man named John who performed with a famous British rock band of the Sixties…John Entwistle of The Who (1944).
September 28 in history:
The battle which ended the American Revolution began on September 28th, 1781. The British surrendered three weeks into the Battle of Yorktown in Virginia.
“Revolution” was the flip side of the Beatles’ single “Hey Jude,” which became the number-one song in America on this day in 1968, replacing “Harper Valley P.T.A.” ”Hey Jude” stayed on top of the charts for two months.
The Beatles led the “British Invasion” of American popular music when they first appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1964. Sullivan was born September 28th, 1901…the same day and year as his long-time boss at CBS, network founder William S. Paley.
September 25 in history:
On September 25th, 1513, explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa became the first European to see the Pacific Ocean from the east, while traveling on the Isthmus of Panama. Balboa claimed the ocean for the king and queen of Spain.
On this date in 1981, Sandra Day O’Connor took office as the first female justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
ABC was the first U.S. network to hire a woman to anchor the evening news, when it teamed Barbara Walters with Harry Reasoner in 1976. Walters was born on September 25th, 1929.
And the first weekly TV cartoon show about living celebrities debuted on ABC on September 25th, 1965. On “The Beatles” series, the animated adventures portrayed the band members as they looked in 1965. But during the four years that “The Beatles” aired on network TV, the show did take note of the band’s changes in appearance and musical styles.
August 15 in history:
The Sistine Chapel, featuring elaborate paintings by Michelangelo and other artists, is a popular showplace at the Vatican. It’s named after Pope Sixtus the 4th, who consecrated the chapel on this date in 1483.
“The Wizard of Oz” had its Hollywood premiere on August 15th, 1939, at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.
Ed Sullivan introduced the Beatles at their Shea Stadium concert in New York on this date in 1965. More than 50-thousand fans attended, with tickets priced from $4.50 to $5.65.
The advance ticket price was $6 a day for the Woodstock Music Festival in New York state, which drew much more than 50-thousand music fans. Woodstock began on August 15th, 1969, and lasted until the early morning of August 18th.
And two popular TV stars of the 60′s were born on this date in 1925…Rose Marie of “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” and “Mannix” star Mike Connors.

domain: history


Browsing by Subject "damage"
Now showing items 10-14 of 14
Numerical homogenization for composite materials analysis: comparison with other micro mechanical formulations (2015-04)
Restricted access - publisher's policyThis work presents a two-scale homogenization procedure to analyze three dimension composite structures by FEM. The theory implemented is compared with other micro-structural formulations: micro models and serial parallel ...
(Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, 2013-05-13)
Open AccessTo numerically simulate a failure process, damage models can be used. In order to avoid mesh dependency problems of local damage models, nonlocal models are employed. The use of nonlocal displacements is an efficient ...
Reduced kinematic formulation based on the strong discontinuity method for reinforced concrete components (CIMNE, 2015)
Open AccessDamage models, developed in the last decades, insure a continuous description of the fracture process zone in quasi-brittle materials but fail at representing fine information of the cracking features such as openings and ...
(Centre Internacional de Mètodes Numèrics en Enginyeria (CIMNE), 2014)
Restricted access - publisher's policyThis work investigates systematically strain localization and failure mechanics for elastoplastic damage solids. Two complementary methodologies, i.e., traction-based discontinuities localized in an elastic solid and strain ...
Restricted access - publisher's policyCable-stayed bridges are highly statically redundant, light and flexible structures. This complexity highlights the role of the structural system identification (SSI) method in the calibration of the actual properties of ...


The likes of The Strokes, The Black Keys and Lil Wayne are also set to perform at the music festival this June.
Eminem and Arcade Fire have been unveiled as the headliners of this year's Bonnaroo music festival, just two days after the Canadian rockers beat the rapper to claim the Album of the Year prize at the Grammy Awards.
The Strokes, The Black Keys, Lil Wayne, Mumford & Sons, Robyn, Big Boi, Robert Plant & Band of Joy, Scissor Sisters and Alison Krauss are also among the top acts due to hit the stage during the four day event, which will take place in Manchester, Tennessee from June 9 to 12. Tickets for the 10th annual festival go on sale online on Saturday, February 19.
Eminem won two prizes at recent Grammy Awards, Best Rap Album and Best Solo Rap Performance. Meanwhile, Arcade Fire snatched Album of the Year.


text:
A game for two players who move their 16 pieces according to specific rules; the object is to checkmate the opponent's king; SYN. chess game.
Board game originating as early as the 2nd century AD. Two players use 16 pieces each, on a board of 64 squares of alternating color, to try to force the opponent into a position where the main piece (the king) is threatened and cannot move to another position without remaining threatened.
The Fédération Internationale des Echecs (FIDE) was established 1924. Leading players are rated according to the Elo System, and Bobby Fischer (US) is considered to be one of the greatest Grand Masters of all time with a rating of 2,785.
Chess originated in India, and spread to Russia, China, Japan, and Iran, and from there was introduced to the Mediterranean area by Arab invaders. It reached Britain in the 12th century via Spain and Italy. The first official world championships were recognized in 1886.
Poznata i veoma stara igra na dasci sa 64 polja i sa po16 crnih i belih figura (pronađena u Indiji, a u Evropu donesena iz Persije).


text:
The party the night before at Woods' house was huge!
I had to prey myself away to make sure I made it on time to the hair and make up chair.
In the end a great weekend spent with Rock Stars, models, artists and a-like.
Images © Jocelyn Bain Hogg
Hats by Cosmo Jenks


Diana Rigg was what feminism truly ought to beby Madeline Grant
Losing someone from a bygone era also means losing a vital reminder that things can be done differently. Perhaps that's why Diana Rigg's death last week left me strangely bereft. For she was not just a great actress who lit up everything she was in. She embodied a distinctive spirit that has become vanishingly rare. Maggie Smith, Helen Mirren, Joan Collins and Joanna Lumley are cut from the same joyous cloth; sexy, witty, dizzyingly intelligent – and in later life, mischievous grandes dames.
Watching The Avengers, which made Rigg a household name, is like stepping into a stylised pop-art poster. It presents a surreal England where everyone drives sports cars, the women are invariably gorgeous, with perfectly flicked-up eyeliner, the men stylish and charming. This gloriously over-the-top world hardly reflects the 1960s, which for most people were more gloomy than swinging, but it does mirror a more culturally carefree time.
Everything feels less serious. But behind the fun and froth is a feminist message. The film noir era often pitted women as men's intellectual equals, but it usually came via femme fatale tropes – murderess, manipulator or plain old bitch. Yet the female stars of The Avengers were pioneers in being simultaneously beautiful, intelligent and likeable. Driving around in her Lotus Elan, Peel quips haughtily to John Steed: "Apart from me, you're the best driver I know." Her fearsome intellect (in one episode she records a genius-level IQ), wit and self-assurance are as integral to her sex appeal as the leather catsuits and knee-high boots.
Granted, the 1960s had its share of basic female characters; numerous Plenty O'Tooles for every Pussy Galore or Tracy Bond, but compared to the fluttering glamour puss or gingham-frocked housewife heroines of the 1950s, this was remarkable. And unlike more explicitly "feminist" modern fare, the effort never feels laboured.
Diana Rigg famously didn't suffer fools gladly, winning pay disputes and running rings around George Lazenby behind the scenes of On Her Majesty's Secret Service. She gave hilarious interviews, talking of chain-smoking and younger lovers, and offering genius one-liners (asked about one theatre role requiring nudity, Rigg insisted there was nothing sexy about it - her bare bottom, she added, looked like "a piece of old cod").
Today's thesps are laboured, either striving for the faux-everyman persona or boring interviewers witless with solemn musings on "My Craft". Contemporary feminism has become similarly worthy and dull: a talking shop for often deeply privileged people to lament perceived slights. You simply cannot imagine someone like Rigg a victim.
The endemically sexist world that created Rigg and her ilk was of, course, radically different from ours. Perhaps dealing with such adversity helped make them, hence they have become a vanishing breed. Yet to me they will always represent what feminism ought to be – bold, assertive, refusing to wallow in self-pity. Paradoxically, it's this manifest confidence – intellectual, social, physical – that has disappeared, to be replaced by something more suspicious and meaner of spirit. Or perhaps it's simply less fun. After all, you know a night out with Diana Rigg would be unforgettable.


A rugged, whitewater river flowing northward through deep canyons, the New River is among the oldest rivers on the continent. New River Gorge National River in West Virginia encompasses over 70,000 acres of land along the New River, is rich in cultural and natural history, and offers an abundance of scenic and recreational opportunities.
Partnerships, like all activities of the federal government, must operate within the legal framework established by Congress in statute. Partnerships also must comply with applicable regulations and policy guidance. As a result, both federal and non-federal partners should understand the legal underpinnings of the partnership, to enable an efficient, effective, and legally compliant partnership. This portion of the website is designed to provide a very basic introduction of the federal law affecting partnerships, to enable both partners to understand how the law affects the partnership. It is not designed to answer the complex and varied legal questions raised by partnerships, but rather to alert employees and potential partners to issues that may arise. Bureaus should consult the Solicitor's Office regarding specific questions about the application of federal law to the partnership.


text:
I needed to share this great Fortune article about Wells Fargo. Owning 630 shares, at around 30 dollars/share, it currently represents my biggest portfolio position.
It’s funny I just thought that it also represents Warren Buffett’s biggest position, he increased his positions by a bit over 5% in 2011 while I increased them by a bit over 50% during that same year. It’s not the first time we add at the same time, recently I bought a small Tesco position just to learn a few days later that he added on the same date. I bought Harley Davidson in the last quarter of 2008 to later read in February 2009 that he lent them 600 millions at 15% interest rate (quite higher than their recent 2.7% 5 year notes issuance). I remember how pleased I was to hear that he loved to invest in companies whose customers use the company name in their tattoos, isn’t that a loyal customer ? I bought quite a lot of BNI in the 60′s (also back in 2008/2009), while he was also buying it, frenetically must I say, he was even selling puts against it (yes he uses options, at least of the vanilla type). Some months later he bought the whole company for 100 dollars per share. It was one of the biggest and fastest profits I ever made (let’s hope for more). Every time something like this happens it makes me feel great. But we do not coincide in all, for example I recently sold BYD China, I bought it just after he did in October 2008. I think he still owns it, at least there is no official information saying the contrary (yet), but I would not hold BYD having the amount of debt that it has and being so dependent on Chinese government subsidies and policies. So after thinking of all this I must say thanks to Warren Buffett, not only he inspired me to develop a framework and mindset to do the job I currently do and love (managing my money) but he also made me earn money !
Oups… the paragraph above ended up spontaneously being much longer than what I initially expected, my original idea was just to mention that it is worth reading the Wells Fargo article I referred to at the beginning of the post because it gives a lot of specific qualitative information about management and the company culture. It is hard to find articles of that type.

domain: economics


text:
Name's Tobias Genberg (a.k.a. Lorceroth). I'm addicted to dragons, caffeine and I really enjoy creating things.
I'm a developer and hobbyist 3D-artist mainly interested in 3D-graphics, music, programming, gaming and technology.
# General Data
Current residence Uddevalla, Sweden
Music of choice All kinds of music, but mostly metal of all kinds, orchestral music and soundtracks from movies and games
Favorite style of art Cartoon and concept art
# Creative Toolbox


text:
A lovely handcrafted lightly hammered copper flower pendant with sprinkles pattern and a rose made of precious metal clay which once fired is 99.9% pure silver. The pendant comes on a 45 cm sterling silver chain. The pendant is polished to a high shine which catches the light as it moves. Due to the handcrafted nature of the jewellery each piece is unique and may vary slightly.
Length: 3 cm
Width: 1 cm
The pendant comes with a 45 cm sterling silver chain. If you prefer a different chain length please let me know.
Free UK shipping
Processing time: 2 to 4 days
All items are dispatched by Royal Mail. Approximate Delivery times:
UK: 1 to 2 days
EU/Non EU: 5 to 10 days
Rest of the World: 10 to 20 days (depending on your in country customs dept)
♡ OTHER PRODUCTS OFFERED BY SILVER WAVE JEWELLERY
To browse through the full range of jewellery offered by Silver Wave Jewellery please click here: https://www.silverwavejewellery.com


To protect interfaces from impact by mobile handling equipment such as fork lift trucks and slave pallets, heavy duty crash barriers can be installed around the equipment.
Barriers are of a heavy duty design and are supplied with an average height of 490 mm.
They consist of a replaceable steel impact plate and columns with base plates.
The base plates are anchored to the floor using shock absorbers to reduce potential damage.
The steel impact plates are provided with slots for simple fixing to the columns.


text:
LAST weekend, Llanelli’s MP Nia Griffith convened a meeting to discuss a Women’s Institute natural heritage project to preserve, protect and plant urban trees. The project aims to reverse the declining trend in urban tree cover, three quarters of which has been lost in Wales since 2010.
The Women’s Institute (WI) aims to plant one tree for every member of their organisation. The meeting on Saturday brought together representatives from the Woodland Trust, Natural Resources Wales, Tree Sisters, Parc Howard Association, Llanerch Residents, Incredible Edible Carmarthenshire and other organisations to discuss how to make progress towards this goal in Llanelli and surrounding areas.
Angela Thomas, who is coordinating this project for the Llanelli area, explained: “A recent survey has shown that the vast majority of WI members are concerned about climate change.
“This tree project is a very practical way that we can help mitigate the effects of climate change, as well as having a more immediate impact on local areas, by improving the quality of air in our towns and reducing flood risk.”
Ms Thomas is working with fellow WI members Cllr Mair Stephens, who is Chair of the Federations of Wales committee and Julie Joliffe, who spoke at Saturday’s meeting alongside Jerry Langford from the Woodland Trust. They are working with councils and schools to find land and volunteers for tree-planting, using a digital database to record all plantations of new trees and other findings such as tree health and local infrastructure.
Nia Griffith MP said: “It was great to see so many people at our meeting with the Women’s Institute last weekend, and so much enthusiasm for this project to green our towns and cities with trees.
“There is lots now for us to do to make things happen. Community groups can apply to the Woodland Trust for trees, councillors can identify land where trees can be planted and we can all survey trees in our local area and feed information into the Treezilla and OPAL websites. If you are interested in getting involved, please do get in touch with me or the local Women’s Institute.
“We are lucky in Carmarthenshire that we can enjoy so much greenery, but, as is so often the case, if we don’t look after things, we are in danger of losing them. The public have already shown their huge support for parks like Parc Howard, but we need to look at the wider urban area. There is no doubt that this urban tree project will help to reduce pollution, flooding and asthma.
“Inevitably as time passes, some trees have to be removed because they have become a safety hazard or have got too big and are threatening the foundations of buildings, so we need proper strategies to plant more and incorporate appropriately-sized trees into new developments.”

domain: sociology


Ausa surprises at Intermat Paris with its new model Dumper 601 AHG, distributed by ITT Bobcat Of Barcelona
AUSA, the world leader in compact off-road commercial vehicles for loading and moving materials, is once again breaking ground with the "Dumper 601 AHG", a novelty that is sure to set the trend in the company's future designs.
Among its strengths are:
- Dumper 601 AHG is the first dumper on the market with hydrostatic transmission and self-locking differential on both axles, which allows for unrivalled off-road traction.
3 automatic operating modes:
Eco mode: for greater effectiveness with less consumption
Star&Stop System: switches off the engine when not in use.
Transport Mode: Increases engine power for faster travel times.
- Full Visibility System: An innovative security system consisting of two cameras with night vision, 8 proximity sensors and TFT display in the driver's seat
This advanced technology gives the driver a complete view of the outside of the machine, allowing him to control the front and rear of the machine outside the viewing angle.
- Digital display on the dashboard: allows access to any machine detail at any time: liquid levels, revolutions, speed, etc.
Find out more about the new Ausa Dumper at www.bobcatof.com
Or at https://www.itt1878.es/
Or come and see us directly at ITT Bobcat Of
Carrer de Sant Marti 72-74, P.I Roca, 08107, Martorelles Barcelona - Catalonia.


text:
Fashion designer Sean Byrne sells his ready-to-wear collection in stores in London and LA and provides a bespoke service for clients in his Dublin studio.
Where do you shop?
Anywhere that’s handy and where I can get decent fresh stuff. Tesco for meat and the market garden in Stillorgan for amazing fresh vegetables and herbs.
Can you list the contents of your weekly shop?
Tins of tuna
Describe your typical breakfast
Coffee. I drink a pint of water with that super green synergy stuff in it – it’s gross. Then I have a couple of eggs and some chicken or whatever meat’s in the fridge. I’ve a really good personal trainer called Martin Weafer who trains me in Flyefit Dundrum so he keeps me on the straight and narrow most of the time!
Describe your typical lunch
If I’m organised it’s usually a lunchbox with leftovers from the previous night’s dinner. Today it was brown rice with an Asian-style stir-fry beef. I throw a few cashew nuts on it as well.
I tend to avoid carbohydrates after 6pm so it’s usually meat and vegetables of some kind. That’s if I’m being good – for example a few nights ago it was a kebab in a tray! Still no carbs though!
I keep a protein shake in my bag which I have if I’m hungry, a few nuts too and a hoof load of water.
Is there anything you won’t eat?
Humble pie! Joking! I wouldn’t touch oysters – they give me the creeps.
What would you cook to impress someone?
French onion soup, duck a l’orange and creme brûlée for dessert.
What is your guilty food pleasure
A cheese and onion crisp sandwich on white bread with an inch of butter on it.
What is your ultimate comfort food?
Good vanilla ice-cream. Actually － I’d eat any aul’ ice-cream!
What is your favourite takeaway?
Sweet and sour soup and a house special with curry sauce and fried rice from Aroma takeaway in Stillorgan (formerly Jumbos).
Have you tried any diet fads in the past six months?
That weird colour group diet but it confused me too much!
What would be your Last Supper?
Seafood chowder with crusty bread, steak with a few different sauces and chipper chips swimming in salt and vinegar. For dessert I’d choose bread and butter pudding.
As with an ever-growing number of Irish people interested in health and fitness, Sean’s weekly shopping list reflects two sides to his lifestyle. On the one hand, he’s clearly aware of the importance of eating whole, fresh, one-ingredient foods to support his fitness goals. He focuses on plenty of complete protein foods plus vegetables and salads. Many people see their best results in the gym from sticking to a very simple eating plan of protein and non-starchy veggies with minimal dressings, sauces, salt, sugar and added processed foods.
But on the other hand, Sean appreciates the need for treats and to reward his hard work and generally healthy lifestyle, so he also adds crisps and dark chocolate to his shop. It’s unrealistic to expect people to make positive food choices 100% of the time, so following the 80/20 rule is something I generally encourage for the average active person. It really just means eating fresh, unprocessed food for 80% of the time, leaving 20% ‘wiggle room’ for treats and meals out. Plenty of people like to eat well Monday to Friday and then enjoy a night out or a treat meal at the weekend without doing much damage to a healthy lifestyle.
Dark chocolate is a better option than milk or white as it tends to be lower in sugar and higher in antioxidants, plus the richer flavour usually means than a little goes a long way. There are also some delicious sugar-free options available now, and brands using coconut sugar or maple syrup instead of refined sugar, so it’s worth shopping around for high-quality brands if dark chocolate is a regular treat.
It’s great to see that Sean is aware of getting his greens in and drinks a green powder concoction every morning. This helps to support energy levels and provides plenty of essential vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. If he has the time, he may want to add some spinach or broccoli to his breakfast for the extra boost of fibre. Protein is important to eat at breakfast to maintain stable blood sugar levels for the morning and to help you feel full for longer, but animal protein is devoid of fibre and adding some veggies in would help to bulk out his morning meal more.
For lunch, Sean usually brings in his own leftovers. This is a fantastic habit to get into, as it really saves time and can work out at much better value for your wallet and your health than buying pre-made sandwiches, wraps or salads. It helps you to control exactly what you’re eating and Sean chooses a great balance of brown rice with protein, veg and some healthy fat from the cashews. Picking brown rice over white boosts your intake of fibre and certain B vitamins and helps to sustain energy levels for longer as it’s a slow-release complex carb. Again, adding plenty of veggies to his stir-fry will help him to achieve his recommended daily intake.
Sean’s dinner tends to be a simple and low-carb combo of meat and veggies unless he’s enjoying a treat meal. Again, this is often a great option for people as an evening meal as we don’t usually require the injection of energy that a carb-rich meal would give you so close to bedtime.
Sean’s snacks generally reflect his lifestyle too, with nuts and protein shakes his main options. Choosing raw, unsalted nuts is the best way to enjoy them, and walnuts are a particularly rich source of essential omega-3 fat.
Sean does enjoy his treats and guilty food pleasures, but as his day-to-day diet is balanced, healthy and nourishing, those ‘cheat foods’ are a great way to reward positive health and lifestyle choices. Well done Sean.


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Benefits of Spraying Water on Your AC Condenser
To keep your AC running well at all times, air conditioning maintenance is very important. One of the things you can do is spraying water on your AC condenser. Some people may doubt this task questioning about its safety but its a safe and recommended service. Let’s look at this maintenance service and why it helps.Here at Worlock Air Conditioning, we understand that maintenance has very many benefits such as it ensures that your AC performs at optimal levels, it reduces electrical consumption and also, it ensures comfortable and uninterrupted service when you need it the most. Of the many AC maintenance services, condenser maintenance is one of the most crucial since the working of the HVAC system depends on it.
It Helps to Increase AC Efficiency and Reduce Energy Costs
In hot weathers, that’s when you need your AC system the most. However, keeping your AC running for a very long time may come with high bills in terms of energy costs. One of the best maintenance steps to reduce your energy bills is to spray water on it and trigger the process of evaporation cooling. How does this work? It works just the same way sweat works to cool our bodies. When sweat evaporates from the skin, it leaves a cooling effect. An AC collects hot air from the inside of your home and dumps it on the outside. If you spray water on the condenser, it reduces the temperature of the outdoor air and thus increasing the efficiency of the AC.
Most people don’t know this maintenance step but it’s an energy conservation technique that can be very handy in not only maximizing the efficiency of the AC system, but also increasing its lifespan further. Something as simple as spraying water on the condenser can help the air conditioner perform better and last longer.
It Ensures that Your AC is Clean and in Excellent Condition
As the AC condenser sucks in outdoor air to generate enough airflow to cool your home or office, lots of debris may be stuck in the vents. Particles such as pollen, twigs, dust, and other types of things may need to be cleaned off to ensure that nothing hinders the working of the system. If the dirt gets stuck in the condenser coil, the AC will run but it will not be cooling anything. The compressor will start getting very hot and the end result will be the death of the compressor. For this reasons, the condenser should be kept clean and free from dirt at all times when the AC is running.
The process of cleaning is fairly easy and all you need to do taking a normal hose and clear out the debris with the help of medium pressurized water spray. By keeping your the condenser clean, you’ll have your AC running in the best condition possible. A clean condenser is one of the best ways to save electricity while running your air conditioning system.
There are many things that can make your AC work harder and cost you more money, such as extremely hot outdoor air and debris on the condenser coils. By taking the time to make simple maintenance tasks such as spraying water and the condenser, you can increase its efficiency and save more money.