Fast, affordable Internet access for all.
Content tagged with "botetourt county"
As they look back over their accomplishments, the Roanoke Valley Broadband Authority (RVBA) has more than the holidays to celebrate at the close of 2018. In addition to stimulating competition in the region, the RVBA network is attracting more investment and helping local nonprofits operate more efficiently.
For Feeding America Southwest Virginia in Salem, connectivity from RVBA is critical. “Without that Internet connection reliability, it would be very difficult for us to achieve our mission,” says IT Director Eric Geist. The food bank is one of the enterprise customers that the RVBA serves in the region, providing affordable access to organizations and institutions such as nonprofits, businesses, and institutions.
By providing affordable connectivity and services focused on the needs of businesses, the RVBA network has helped drive competition in the region. According to CEO Frank Smith’s research, prices have dropped 25 - 30 percent. The change squares with the RVBA mission to enhance and promote economic development by improving connectivity services and prices in Salem, Roanoke, and the counties of Roanoke and Botetourt. They've seen results in the past three years with greater expectations ahead.
Before the network, the valley was caught in a connectivity “donut hole.” The populations in Salem and Roanoke had access to some cable Internet access and were large enough to prevent the region from obtaining grants to entice providers to upgrade. In 2013, local governments decided to work together to improve connectivity and funded a feasibility study, which recommended an open access network.
After a rocky start and a long period of transition, the Roanoke Valley Broadband Authority in Virginia is preparing for the years ahead. Hoping to snag schools, hospitals, government offices, and Internet carriers with their prices, the Broadband Authority just released its proposed rate structure.
They expect to complete construction of five major sections of the fiber network by early March. Starting in mid-April, customers will have service. The proposed rates are as follows:
- Dark Fiber: $40-$100 per strand mile depending on whether the institution is a nonprofit
- Transport Service (requires a 2 year term): speeds between 10 Megabits-per-second (Mbps) - 200 Gigabits-per-second (Gbps) for $350 - $4,510
- Dedicated Internet Service (requires a 2 year term): 10Mbps - 1Gbps for $550 - $5,687
The full preliminary proposed rate structure [PDF] is available from the Broadband Authority’s website.
The Authority will hold a public hearing on Friday, March 18 at 8:30 a.m. on the rate structure. After the public hearing, the board may request to adopt the preliminary proposed rates. Local news has the rest:
After multiple delays, the much anticipated Roanoke-Salem fiber network in Virginia has its feet on the ground. The network has secured an executive director who will provide greater project oversight and find Internet service providers (ISPs) to operate on the open access network.
Now that the project is under way, it is moving at a rapid pace. The Broadband Authority already secured a contract for $2.9 million to lay the conduit for the fiber optic cable, and crews are already at work. By year’s end, the project should finally be complete.
Two years ago, a completion date seemed far-fetched. The cities of Roanoke and Salem and the counties of Roanoke and Botetourt met to discuss the growing problem of poor Internet access in the region. The area had the reputation for being in a "doughnut hole" - too large to qualify for federal grants but too sparsely populated to attract investment from large telecom providers. The city of Roanoke, for instance, ranked 409th out of 429 US metropolitan areas for basic Internet access.
The Star reports that the Roanoke City Council unanimously voted to work with surrounding communities to form a broadband coalition. We reported Roanoke County, Botetourt County, Salem and the town of Roanoke were in the process forming the Roanoke Valley Broadband Authority. Local community leaders took the first step in Roanoke, where the community has already set $1 million aside for the venture.
The Authority is starting out with support from the local media. A Roanoke Times editorial addressed the situation in the Valley and stressed the importance to act quickly:
There is no time to waste in building a broadband Internet structure that will keep the Roanoke Valley competitive. Without it, the region will wither and watch futilely while others whiz by. They already are.
The board will need to make many decisions with little time to tarry since the region’s capabilities are lagging. Businesses already are encountering hiccups when overloading the existing network. And other regions beckon with faster speeds. The Roanoke Valley is too large and well off economically to have qualified for federal funds and tobacco-relief funds that have brought broadband to rural and struggling areas in Southside and far Southwest Virginia. But it isn’t large enough to attract providers that would build bigger, better networks in order to compete for customers.
The region has no choice but to build its own network. An authority charged specifically with that task should best be able to hire the experts and vet the options so that Roanoke Valley accelerates to warp speed.
Roanoke Valley map from Foundation For Roanoke Valley


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Chiles Rellenos Cooking Class
Learn how to make Chiles Rellenos from scratch – roasted poblano peppers stuffed with a mix of queso fresco & oregano, battered and then dipped in a roasted tomato sauce.
I will host this amazing class at my kitchen studio in Manitou Springs! Join me and learn the authentic recipe from my 'abuelita.'
Details about this class:
- 100% hands-on
- 2.5 hours long
- Recipes will be provided
- You will enjoy the fruits of your work in the end!
- In-person class
- Free parking
- Entrance to the kitchen is located in the parking lot behind the church (free parking)
Masks are required in Manitou Springs.
103 Pawnee Ave, Manitou Springs, CO 80829

domain: hobby


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WHAT IS ACNE
Acne is a disorder of the follicle, evolving from the build up of dead skin cells. This build up causes increased amounts of sebum (oil) to mix together and create a clog in the pore, allowing bacteria to formulate. The acne bacteria feeds off of this mixture which leads to inflamed conditions. There are 4 grades of acne that range from non-inflammatory conditions (Blackheads and Comedones) to inflammatory conditions (Pustules, Papules, Cysts, Acne lesions). Other factors which can lead to these breakouts can be stress, hormonal imbalances, and improper skincare.
ONLY YOURx™ has developed formulas to help target and address acneic and oily skin. ONLY YOURx™ and our DermaSolutions™ system will provide your skin with the proper balance, exfoliation, and hydration to help heal and control acne, while our broad spectrum UVA/UVB protects the skin from the harmful rays of the sun.
- Clinical Salicylic Line
- Clinical Benzoyl Peroxide Line
- Whitening Serum
- Hydrocortisone Ointment
- Oil Free Sunscreen SPF 30
- Sensitive Sunscreen SPF 30

domain: medical


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The Seattle Sounders FC communications department spent much of the week asking players and coaches to describe the club’s rivalry with the Portland Timbers in a single word.
Almost without exception, the chosen word was ‘intense’ — although coach Sigi Schmid put a slight spin on the theme.
“For me to describe the rivalry is just ‘intense.’ ‘Massively intense’ would be two words,’ he said. “But it’s something that we look forward to.”
The Sounders-Timbers rivalry dates to 1975 in the original North American Soccer League. Seattle leads 45-33-12 through all competitions and leagues, and 5-4-4 since the teams moved to Major League Soccer.
Veteran defender Zach Scott is the lone Seattle player who was part of the rivalry dating back to its pre-MLS days in the second division.
And Scott could be a key figure yet again in the Sunday meeting, as he is expected to fill in for central defender Chad Marshall, who is serving a one-game suspension for a dangerous tackle last weekend at Colorado.
On the other end of the spectrum is starting right back Tyrone Mears, who will experience the Northwest derby for the first time.
“He can feel the rivalry,” Schmid said. “He knows what a derby game is all about and what a classic type of game is all about. Now it’s just a matter of going out there and performing. It’s definitely something that is entrenched in the history of the two clubs. It’s also entrenched maybe in just maybe the history of the cities as well.”
Also experiencing Sounders-Timbers intensity for the first time is general manager Garth Lagerwey, who came to Seattle in January after seven years at Real Salt Lake, whose Rocky Mountain rivalry with Colorado doesn’t match the passion of this Cascadia pairing.
“This is the biggest rivalry in the league,” Lagerwey said. “Playing games like this is the reason why I came here. I think it’s a lot of fun. … it’s one of those games — it’s not a playoff game, but it’s a pretty reasonable approximation thereof in regular-season terms. It’s fun. It’s a fun game to play in, the crowd is going to be into it, and I think it’s going to be a good time.”
Sounders forward Clint Dempsey is starting his third season of the rivalry, but he has quickly made his mark.
Dempsey leads all Sounders and Timbers with five goals in the MLS series, including a hat trick in the first meeting last season, a wild 4-4 draw in Portland.
“We have to make sure we play our game,” Dempsey said. “It’s not about me necessarily scoring, it’s about the team winning. If I can contribute in a positive way, whether creating chances, putting in work defensively, getting an assist here or there, or chipping in with a goal, then I’m happy to do that.”

domain: news


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Need a new Wall Calendar for 2019? Head to Amazon and grab the Thomas Kinkade Studios: Disney Dreams Collection 2019 Wall Calendar for just $7.49 (Reg. $15)! Each monthly spread of this calendar features a full-color image such as Lady and the Tramp or Dumbo, along with new images like Beauty and the Beast Dancing in the Moonlight or Cinderella Dancing in the Starlight.

domain: artistic


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If this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can add 1 Level 4 or lower "Magnet Warrior" monster from your Deck to your hand, except "Beta The Electromagnet Warrior". You can only use this effect of "Beta The Electromagnet Warrior" once per turn. During your opponent's turn: You can Tribute this card; Special Summon 1 Level 4 "Magnet Warrior" monster from your Deck (this is a Quick Effect).
Can get 2 of your other level 4 Magnet Warrior monsters from your deck.
Second effect to special summon a monster from your deck can only be activated during your opponent's turn.
Berserkion The Electromagna Warrior
Berserkion requires 3 specific Electromagnet Warrior monsters to summon. But this is actually not as difficult as it sound because Electromagnet Warrior all have the secondary effect to search each other out. Alpha The Electromagnet Warrior even lets you search out Berserkion, while Beta The Electromagnet Warrior searches an extra Magnet Warrior monster when summoned.
If you already have at least 1 Magnet Warrior monster in the graveyard, you can summon an Electromagnet Warrior and activate its second ability during your opponent's turn. Special summon Delta from your deck and send any Magnet Warrior monster other than Delta. You can send your Delta to the graveyard either by letting it get destroyed, or use cards like Enemy Controller to send it to the graveyard and get Valkyrion the Magna Warrior out to the field.
I would be satisfied with like every 5 anniversaries of Yugi Muto’s Birthday we get a login reward of a Beta cause you can only get one ingame legally this way it would reward long time players with profits for sticking with the game

domain: game


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Princess Diana statue commissioned
\"It has been 20 years since our mother\'s death and the time is right to recognise her positive impact in the UK and around the world with a permanent statue,\" the two Princes said in a statement on Saturday.
A statue of Princess Diana has been commissioned by her two sons, Duke of Cambridge Prince William and Prince Harry, 20 years after her death, a media report said.
"It has been 20 years since our mother's death and the time is right to recognise her positive impact in the UK and around the world with a permanent statue," the two Princes said in a statement on Saturday.
"Our mother touched so many lives. We hope the statue will help all those who visit Kensington Palace to reflect on her life and her legacy," BBC quoted the statement as saying.
Diana died on August 31, 1997 in a car crash in Paris when William was 15 and Harry was 12.
The sculpture will be erected in the public grounds of Diana's former residence, Kensington Palace.
The statue will be the fourth London-based monument dedicated to Diana and will be close to the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park and the memorial garden close to Kensington Palace.
An artist will be chosen by a committee of six people, including Diana's sister Lady Sarah McCorquodale.


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By focusing on race above and beyond all else, Progressives have created an army of zealots loced out with race tinted glasses that classify everyone and anyone as a collective member of an oppressed or oppressive group. They have become the Scientologists of the Left.
Pathological Altruism has caused many in Western countries to applaud their own impending doom. By taking altruism to its furthest extreme, Westerners have begun a process that will ensure that they are to be a permanent class of workers who are taxed in order to feed, clothe, and house and demographic that lives on the public dole in some places at rates as high as 90%. What does the West get from displacing themselves and ensuring a hard life for their children? Apparently, they get to pat themselves on the back for being nice to those that will take advantage of their every kindness and weakness.
Part II: The Samnites were herdsmen and warriors who lived in the Apennine Mountains east of Latium. For several hundred years, they positioned themselves as formidable rivals to Rome when that city's power was on the upswing. Theirs is a history of stubbornness and tragedy in equal measures.
Without "cultural appropriation", no culture as we know it today would exist. Every civilization on Earth owes several central aspects of their culture to another civilization who in turn owe aspects of their own culture to another. This is how culture works. This is how civilization works.
Privilege has become a way for the religion of social justice to attack people on the basis that their very existence is an afront to decency. What they don't know is that privilege isn't free and it's certainly not dependent on race. There are traits common to the most successful groups in America that translate to anyone no matter their background. Go by this basic lifeplan and success is likely to follow.
Career politicians on the national level often end up profiting from their positions by means that are legal, illegal, and ethically questionable. They make their money in ways that will leave concerned citizens sick to their stomachs.
For only a few hundred thousand dollars, you too could own a share in Clinton's soul. That's the cost of recieving representation. If you cannot afford to generously donate that amount, you will not be represented by her. Clinton is the tip of the iceberg in terms of state corruption. She is the sloppiest, least scrupulous, corrupt official we have and we should thank her for providing an easy to follow guideline for how a person can make millions of dollars by using her position in the government to dole out favors and conducting diplomacy in the favor of her "customers". We have learned, however, that she couldn't have done it alone.
The regressive ideals of the religion of Social Justice have sought to turn the clocks back over a hundred years to a time of suffocatingly boring and endlessly polite social interaction. The Neo-Victorians are here and they want to control the way you speak, the thoughts you have, and the clothes you wear.

domain: sociology


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For those who haven't been reading me, I am of the belief that Pre-Paid Legal (NYSE:PPD), a publicly traded company, is actually running a pyramid scheme (legal, but not my cup of tea) and a ponzi scheme (potentially illegal, but arguably legal due to the current laws of the land). They are also employing a self-destructive business model and instead of revamping that model and reinvesting heavily in marketing, they spend money on share buybacks to enrich management who are compensated in stock that is sold directly into the share buyback scheme.
They are currently being investigated by the FTC and the SEC, but they are a slippery company. I would hope that the SEC takes notice of the third to the last chart of this review that shows the company, if whose shares are indexed to a fixed point in time, has made absolutely no material gain in value despite using company resources to enrich corporate insiders. As Senator Kaufman said in his recent speech and as excerpted from When the Patina Fades... The Rise and Fall of Goldman Sachs???:
"...fraud and potential criminal conduct were at the heart of the financial crisis".
"transactions as “window dressing,” a nice way of saying they were designed to mislead the public."
... Mr. President, it is high time that we return the rule of law to Wall Street, which has been seriously eroded by the deregulatory mindset that captured our regulatory agencies over the past 30 years...
we must help regulators and other gatekeepers not only by demanding transparency but also by providing clear, enforceable “rules of the road” wherever possible. That includes studying conduct that may not be illegal now, but that we should nonetheless consider banning or curtailing because it provides too ready a cover for financial wrongdoing." [BINGO!]
I addressed this issue when I first wrote about this company last year, see Flim, Flam, Scam: Would a PPD Ponzi and Pyramid scheme cause your wealth to Scram? and A Demonstration of How PPD Management is Destroying the Company.
A Review of Pre-Paid Legal's last fiscal quarter falling membership revenues and share buyback remains a key concern for the company. Total membership revenues in 2009 declined for the first time in the last 17 years, despite an increase in average annual membership fees.
Membership revenues declined to $426.4 million from $436.8 million in 2009 primarily off a decline in total memberships, partially offset by an increase in average annual membership fees to $303 from $301 in 2008. This has been done several times in an apparent effort to boost revenues in what appears to be a failing business model.
Click images to enlarge
Total memberships continue to fall despite an increase in new memberships.
Though the company was able to increase total new members that joined in 2009, higher membership cancellations lead to an overall decline in total number of memberships outstanding at the end of 2009.
Total memberships at the end of 2009 declined 0.7% to 1,547,585 from 1,559,154 at the end of 2008, primarily off a 1.9% increase in membership cancellations to 579,664 from 568,975 in 2008. However, the decline in total memberships was partially offset by a 2.9% increase in new memberships to 568,095 from 552,327 in 2008.
Consequently, total revenues and net income declined for 2009
Total revenues for the company declined 1.3% Y-o-Y to $458.5 million from $464.5 million in 2008, primarily off a 2.4% decline in membership revenues partially offset by a 20.5% increase in revenues from associate services.
Associate services revenues increased 20.5% to $28.4million from $23.5 million in 2008, primarily owing to an increase in associates recruited and higher average associate fee paid (charged).
Source: Company filings
Total cost and expenses increased a meager 0.2% to $367.8 million from $367.1 million in 2008 as an increase in associate services and direct marketing expenses and commissions was offset by a decline in membership benefits, general administrative and other expenses.
Consequently, net income for the year declined 8.4% to $55.1 million from $60.2 million in 2008. However, diluted EPS per share remained constant at $5.04, as the company continued to buy back shares, thus the 8% decline in net income was netted off by 8% decline in shares outstanding (which, of course, served to deplete usable cash even more). It is here that I have a problem. Management should be investing cash into the company to either make the business model more sustainable or to alter the model, but instead is buying back shares, a temporary stopgap at best. What happens when they get to the end of the road? Issue more shares - wash, rinse repeat?
Source: Company filings
Although continuous share buybacks have helped PPD push up its share price, actual equity returns haven't been so lucky, as reflected by a lesser gain in market capitalization, reflecting the fact that the company has actually lost intrinsic value over the last few years.
In essence, PPD is eating itself to to enrich those in the share buyback program. I don't know if this is illegal, but it is definitely not in the best interests of the company. I would think this would be obvious, but maybe I'm just different. Is there anyone at the SEC who is different like me?
Over the years the company has been successful in keeping its share price within a certain trading range - not allowing it to fall much despite what we consider to be a dismal outlook. The Company's share price has increased sharply, considerably more than its total market capitalization. Currently, the price of the shares is trading at 99.74% of their value as of January 3, 2007, while the company's market capitalization is at 69.02% of the market capitalization as of the same date. When adding total returns to shareholders (including any share buy-backs and dividends) there is no notable difference in this observation (see chart below). This reflects a loss in the Company's intrinsic value as illustrated by its total market capitalization (this is my being very, very nice and politically correct, may I add - there definitely is a more direct way of saying it).
Moreover, management and insiders had a vested interest in manipulating price through share buy-backs since the majority share holdings of the company is held by key management members.
According to company's latest 13 D filed, "Based on the 10,045,068 shares of Common Stock reported as outstanding as of February 12, 2010, the aggregate number and percentage of shares of Common Stock beneficially owned by each of the Reporting Persons is as follows: Mr. Smith - 2,579,115 shares (25.7%); Mr. Vassalluzzo - 1,629,515 shares (16.2%); Mr. Fischer - 1,544,415 shares (15.4%); Idoya Partners - 488,434 shares (4.9%); and Prescott Associates - 1,014,675 shares (10.1%)".
Since the company has such thin public float, its share price is easily manipluated through the share buyback program which apparently has served to boost and manage the share price through times of turmoil. So, is the company in the business of selling prepaid legal services or trading stock?
Moreover, the company's management has been liquidating their shareholdings by opting for sale in the share-buyback program. The same can be seen in the related party transactions that the company has disclosed in their 2009 10K. The numbers and amounts are not insignificant! If only the sales associates could be thusly compensated.
Very recently there appears to have been at least one (possibly more) big block sales of shares as well. One must wonder if the insiders doing these trades know something that we outsiders do not. After all, if they do, that would be tantamount to securities fraud. I'm not saying that they do, but if they did.... As stated earlier the company is being investigated by the SEC and the FTC. The ball is in your court, Mr. and Mrs. Regulator.
For those who have not been following my comments on this company, see:
10. PPPPDPPW: Put Purchasing on the PPD Ponzi, Pyramid, or Whatever It's Called...
Disclosure: Short PPD

domain: finance


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Benefits of All on 4 dental implants
Modern dentistry can offer several ways to replace missing teeth, but one stands out as clearly superior in most cases. That is dental implants treatment, which most dentists (and patients) consider the gold standard. However, the cost and lengthy treatment can be daunting for individuals who are missing all teeth in an arch. That is, unless you are considering All-on-4 dental implants. This treatment, available from Washington Street Dentistry in Indianapolis is a minimally invasive full arch restoration.
The All-on-4 difference
As the name implies, this technique only requires four implants to support a full-arch restoration. Benefits include:
- Economical – Fewer implants minimize the cost of treatment
- Efficient – Implants are placed at precision angles to utilize available bone tissue and avoid prerequisite grafting
- Fast recovery – Most people experience minimal post-surgery discomfort and can resume normal activities within a few days
- Amazing smile – Our restorations are beautifully designed for a dazzling, natural appearance
About the procedure
Step one is precision planning. Dr. Church will take impressions, photographs, CT scans, and other diagnostics. He will also discuss your goals and aesthetic preferences. This information is used to plan the implant placement surgery and redesign your new smile.
The next step is complete smile restoration in one appointment. Extractions are performed if needed, the implants are placed, and the temporary prosthesis is attached. You will leave our office with a dazzling smile and fully functional teeth. Once the bone is healed and attached to the implants, your temporary restoration will be replaced with the permanent one. Throughout the process, you won’t have to spend a single “toothless” day.
Why choose All-on-4 from Washington Street DentistryThe key to successful treatment with so few implants is absolute precision in placement and restoral techniques. Dr. Church is an experienced implantologist, member of the ACOI (American College of Oral Implantology), graduate of Misch International Implant Institute Surgical Program, and Fellow of ICOI (International Congress of Oral Implantologists). He is well known for creating spectacular smiles that can last a lifetime. Just call us at (317) 333-6788 for an appointment.
A: These implants utilize a strategic placement of four dental implants per arch. These implants are placed at an angle to engage more of your jawbone and allow for the attachment of tooth replacement options, including implant-supported dentures. The implantation procedure is very similar to how a traditional dental implant would be placed, with one significant difference being that All-on-four dental implants will not require any bone grafting in most situations, like a traditional implant may if an insufficient jawbone is present.
A: Dental implants, whether traditional or All-on-four, are crafted to provide a natural look, feel, and function. Dental implants give our patients the confidence to smile, eat, and otherwise engage in social activity. Because dental implants integrate and fuse with the jawbone, there is no need to worry about them moving or shifting like a denture. Here at Washington Street Dentistry in Indianapolis, Indiana, you can trust Dr. Church to provide dental implants that match a natural tooth’s shape, size, and color.
- They create a beautiful and natural look and provide a perfect option for full arch replacement
- They allow for the quick placement of natural-looking replacement teeth that are fully functional and fixed in place
- Easy to maintain
- They will, over time, allow for the preservation of jawbone and minimize the risk of bone resorption
- They will increase your self-confidence as you will have a smile that you love the look of and which will allow you to enjoy all of your favorite foods
A: All-on-four dental implants require no special treatment and are maintained just like a natural tooth. Simply follow an excellent oral hygiene routine, including regular brushing, flossing, and rinsing. Also, make sure to see your dentist twice a year for a dental cleaning and examination.
A: Because the dental implant procedure is surgical, it is only natural to have some anxiety about the procedure possibly being painful. The great news is that Dr. Church and our entire team will do everything in our power to ensure the entire process is as comfortable for you as possible. Many of our patients tell us that it was much less uncomfortable than they anticipated due to the anesthetics used and how skilled our staff is. Dr. Church will also provide you with a complete set of aftercare instructions to follow at home as you heal from the procedure to ensure your healing goes as planned and with as few complications as possible. We will also talk to you about pain management techniques.
A: We always encourage our patients to bring a friend or family member for support. Not only can they offer you the support and added emotional comfort you may need before heading into the procedure, but they will also then be able to drive you home following the placement of the implants. An anesthetic is involved, so having a safe ride home that allows you to remain comfortable on your way is important. A bonus will be that this friend or family member will be the first to see your brand-new smile.
A: Recovery does vary from patient to patient. While many patients do not experience much discomfort other than from the swelling at the incision sites, this can be a personally unique situation. While the initial healing period takes place, you must follow a soft food diet to allow the implants to heal properly. This process can take a few weeks. Your healing timeline will be discussed with you by Dr. Church prior to your procedure.
A: Unlike other dental procedures, most people with a healthy oral situation will be considered good candidates for the implant procedure. Dr. Church will thoroughly examine you to determine your candidacy. If there are oral health concerns, these may need to be addressed first before being approved as a candidate for the procedure.
A: While the cost of dental implant options like All-on-four dental implants has come down over recent years, it can still be more expensive than other tooth replacement options up front. This decrease in cost is thanks to advancements in dental technologies and techniques. We know that it can be stressful figuring out how dental bills will be covered, which is why we are happy to talk to you about our available payment plans for services. Please discuss this with our team, and we can present a situation that will work for you.
A: When it comes to dental implants, age is not usually a factor in determining if you are a suitable candidate for All-on-four dental procedures. For our younger patients, they need to have reached full jawbone development. The best way to determine if you are a good candidate for the procedure is to call us today for a free consultation with Dr. Church.


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Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey
Cooperation, diplomacy, economy, government, military, regional cooperation, terrorism, war crimes
Angela Merkel, Edi Rama, Gjorge Ivanov, Gordana Jankulovska, Ilir Meta, Nikola Gruevski, Traian Basescu, Vojislav Seselj
Regional media unites, calling the recent terrorism in Paris an attack on freedom of expression.
You must select an option, when voting.


Photographs by Thomas Lohr; Styled by Catherine Newell-Hanson
Hillary Clinton might not be president, but even without the reigning queen of pantsuits in office, suits are still showing up everywhere this fall thanks to everyone from Gigi Hadid to Jennifer Lawrence. Of course, in many cases, these aren't stuffy ensembles you might be expecting: Earlier this month, during New York Fashion Week, Bella Hadid, for one, stepped out in a glittery gold Max Mara three-piece complete with a bra for a shirt, only to step out a week later, this time in Milan, in a matching leopard-print blazer and trousers. She then followed up on both of those ensembles with a simpler black version—this time sans shirt, but plus Matrix sunglasses.
The latter look was in fact quite similar to a black suit that Cara Delevingne wore on the red carpet this summer—a week in which she also wore a wildly weather inappropriate blue velvet suit, and Isabelle Huppert and Aymeline Valade followed suit (sorry) in pastel pink and shimmery gold ensembles of their own.
All that happened around the time Shayne Oliver was reimagining his hotly anticipated version of Helmut Lang, which debuted during New York Fashion Week. While there plenty of suits on hand amidst the bondage-like ensembles and clear briefcases, one in particular stood out: an extremely layered white version which differentiated itself from another all-white suit just two looks before it with a pair of white heels and a newspaper-turned-shopping bag, which the model used to shield his eyes.
Oliver, in fact, had politics on the mind when he was making up his mind about how to re-invent the house. And while he ultimately decided on creating an antidote to what he'd interpreted as the recent hollow politicization of fashion, for some, Clinton has made those types of all-white ensembles bear an unavoidable political significance. Around this time last year, she wore an ivory asymmetrical pantsuit to dominate Donald Trump in the third and final presidential debate, a version of which she defiantly reprised on Trump's inauguration day.
Clinton may be famously divisive, but her look of choice seems to be one thing everyone can agree on: It resurfaced this month thanks not just to the sensually minded Oliver, but to a little girl who hadn't even yet hit double digits, and yet still managed to pull together her own white suit to meet Clinton at a book signing earlier a few days ago, not unlike the one Evan Rachel Wood wore on the red carpet just last week.
Paris Hilton Breaks Down Her 13 Favorite 2000s Trends and Why They're Still Hot:


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The year-old actor's interpretation of Captain Jack Sparrow in the first film in the swashbuckling franchise left bosses baffled, and he admitted they didn't understand the character. He told GQ magazine: "Disney hated me. What's wrong with him? Sparrow's sexuality was brought up in a conversation with Disney's Nina Jacobson - who herself is openly gay, and has campaigned for greater diversity in Hollywood's boardrooms - and Depp was sure "to be irreverent" with his answer. He said: "It was a lady called Nina Jacobson from Disney at the time and she asked me a couple of questions and then said, 'What is it, Johnny? Is he gay?
We've all heard the stories of how Disney execs were worried by Johnny Depp's performance in the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie—that they felt his mumbling, Keith Richards-inspired delivery wouldn't be accepted by audiences. It turns out that was the least of Disney's worries about Captain Jack Sparrow. According to Depp in the latest issue of Vanity Fair , Disney also worried about the character's sexuality:. But the film's phenomenal performance at the box office killed any concerns about Depp's performance on the screen, which calmed Disney down. Skip to main content.
The flamboyant pirate, which Depp says was based on the Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, has become one of the best-known film characters in the last decade, and helped turn the films into a billion dollar franchise. But in an interview with Patti Smith for the January edition of Vanity Fair magazine, Depp said Disney initially "couldn't stand" his version of Sparrow, with one person asking if the character was homosexual. Depp told the Disney executive "all my characters are gay", adding that "really made her nervous". Depp's next role is in the movie The Tourist , in which he co-stars with Angelina Jolie. It opens next month.
The history of one of cinema's bravest and campiest pirates is stranger than you might think, both in-universe and in real life. From the backstory, to the casting, to his impact on a classic theme park ride, there are a lot of odd twists and turns in this swashbuckler's saga. Sing it with us, now: "This is the tale of Captain Jack Sparrow…". At this point, Johnny Depp and Captain Jack Sparrow are so synonymous it's hard to think of pirates without imagining his buccaneer grin and quick wit. If it weren't for him, odds are there would have only been one Pirates movie , and a rather forgettable one, at that.


The electric hydrogen-fueled H24 prototype took part in a race for the first time at Imola, Italy, on Saturday, May 14. Through its subsidiaries Symbio and M...
Thirty years after its maiden victory in the German endurance racing classic, Michelin topped the order at the 50th edition of the Nürburgring 24 Hours with the N°15 Audi Sport Team Phoenix R8 LMS crewed by Robin Frijns, Dries Vanthoor, Frédéric Vervisch and Kelvin Van der Linde. The race permits open competition between tire manufacturers, but Michelin was chosen to equip no fewer than 73 of this year’s starters. It went on to monopolize the final top three, with GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3s sharing the other two podium places. The closing stages were marked by unsettled weather but the MICHELIN Pilot Sport range provided yet more evidence of its versatility, consistency and efficiency around the venue’s infamous 25-kilometer Nordschleife, in front of 230,000 spectators!
It was back in 1992 that Michelin secured its first-ever win around the Nordschleife, with BMW. Three decades and 21 victories on, it was the preferred tire partner of the majority of the teams entered for the German race’s 50
Ten years after its first success with Audi, in 2012, the French firm took the spoils with the German make once again, this time with the N°15 R8 LMS run by Audi Sport Team Phoenix for Vanthoor, Vervisch, Van der Linde and Frijns.
“We even monopolized the top eight places overall this year with four Audis and four Mercedes-AMGs,” reports Pierre Alves, manager of Michelin Motorsport’s endurance racing program.
Although much of the race took place in reasonably good weather, rain swept across the Eifel Mountains to liven things up and make tire selection even more complex with the finish in sight. Indeed, in the closing hours, the front-running cars could be seen lapping the 25.378-kilometer loop on a variety of choices, ranging from slicks, to ‘re-cut’ slicks and wets.
“Despite the challenging mix of conditions, our tires provided further proof of their versatility, performance and consistency to emerge on top again at the Nürburgring, while Michelin Motorsport’s fitters, technicians and engineers worked hard throughout to provide our partners with the best possible service,” adds Pierre Alves. “With one more 24-hour race behind us this year, our focus now turns of course to Le Mans which poses a very different sort of challenge!”
2022 ADAC TotalEnergies 24h Nürburgring – Final positions:
Van der Linde/Vanthoor/Vervisch/Frijns (Audi R8 LMS EvoII), 159 laps
Christodoulou/Götz/Schiller (Mercedes-AMG GT3), +55.276s
Engel/Gounon/Juncadella (Mercedes-AMG GT3), +4m5.519s
Haase/Müller/Niederhauser/Rast (Audi R8 LMS EvoII), +5m12.864s
Giermaziak/Schramm/Beretta (Audi R8 LM3 EvoII), +7m25.468s


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We started our journey to St. Croix Sunday evening by driving away from the house, and then returning two separate times as I remembered items that we forgot to grab. On our way to the airport, we stopped to enjoy dinner with my parents and I was really challenged in being able to trust God. I’m a worrier by nature, and not super fond of flying. But more than that, as we were eating, I was continually checking the news for updates on the protest that was happening at the airport. I continued seeing posts stating that protesters were blocking all entrances to the airport, things were getting violent, and at one point, “cops are shooting with rubber bullets”. I was certain our trip would be off to a rough start. So, I prayed, and I sent out a request for prayer on our Facebook page. Roughly twenty minutes later, there was a post that the protesters were leaving and when we arrived, we were met with a calm, quiet little airport.
We went to check in the four bags that we brought with us, and I discovered the credit card I needed to be able to check them in for free was not in my wallet! On top of it all, there was some mix up with my airline flyer code and I was certain I was going to have to fork over $100 (each way) to get our bags checked. The airline employee was diligent in helping me and we were finally able to get it worked out! We went through security with no problem, and our gate just happened to be right next to the indoor playground.
We were just starting our journey, but already so many prayers had been answered. We flew from Portland, OR to Charlotte, NC. Had a bit of breakfast during our layover and sampled some of Bojangles’ chicken and dirty rice. Then we flew into St. Thomas in the USVI.
We had plenty of time to eat some extremely overpriced lunch and look for coconuts in the palm trees before catching our last flight to St. Croix.
Our last flight was only 15 minutes long, and after roughly 20 hours of travelling, we finally made it to St. Croix! The kids were excellent travelers, and everything worked out perfectly for us.

domain: travel


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Thursday, January 26, 2017
I know that many are very curious as to what in the world is going on next to the Duncan House on the corner of Linden and Polk. You have shown great restraint in hiding your questions about the weird developments taking place there that include a railroad junction being buried in concrete.
Well, it's finally time to talk about what plans we have in store there.
It's to be "Duncan Park" (unless you have a more exotic name) and it's going to be for us residents ......and our visitors.....to enjoy as we learn more about our history, especially the history around the time when our city was as important as any place in the southern part of the U.S. As one military General said, "Richmond and Corinth are now the great strategic points of the war.....".
The plan is to have historic markers (6 more, in addition to the large one already present) situated around the concrete pad where one can read about the different subjects. Of course, a couple are about the Duncan House and the Duncan family members, others give information about things that occurred around town during that traumatic time early in the life of Corinth.
Just this week, Duncan Construction created parking spots, including one handicapped spot; relocated and poured sidewalks, and created a very nice walkway leading from the parking area to the concrete pad.
Any day now, 6 'wayside exhibits'.....historic markers......will arrive, and, as we can, we will install the 6 around the pad. When finished, if desired, a visitor (or resident) can learn a tremendous amount about the city's history during that fateful time.
I hope to bring you information on Duncan Park on a continuous basis for a few days/weeks to try to keep you informed about what and why. Some of the topics I would like to cover:
1. Why a history park?
2. Where did the big green sign come from?
3. What is the story on the railroad junction
4-10 A review of each of the 6 history panels
Hope you enjoy the little spot of history.

domain: geography


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Maximilian Bittner, CEO of resale giant Vestiaire Collective, details his ambitious, industry-shifting ambitions for the fast-growing luxury platform.
In the concrete jungle of Paris’s 15th Arrondissement, hidden between monolithic office blocks and the French Ministry of Defence, the resale giant Vestiaire Collective is sowing the seeds of a fashion revolution.
Founded by a team of six in 2009, Vestiaire Collective is now the largest authenticated luxury resale platform in the world.
The site lists roughly 900,000 items at any given moment to 8 million members in 50 markets around the world. Behind the site, 340 staff work in offices in London, Paris and New York.
We want to connect and curate the world’s most attractive and appealing wardrobes
Roughly 140,000 new members sign up per month, and while the company declines to reveal financial information, in May 2019 it saw 30% year on year growth on the number of products submitted to the site.
The business has seen phenomenal growth and to date has secured more than €116m (£99.5m) in funding – investors include Zadig & Voltaire, Condé Nast International, and finance houses Ventech, Balderton Capital, Idinvest, Eurazeo and Vitruvian.
Now, the business is moving into a new stage of growth. In January, Vestiaire Collective appointed Maximilian Bittner, founder of south-east Asian ecommerce juggernaut Lazada, as its new CEO.
When Drapers meets Bittner, the German native is sitting in Vestiaire’s serene Paris headquarters wearing jeans, white trainers and a trendy Ami sweater, and is ready to take the business to the next level. His ambitions would see the business reshaping retail in a digital, community-driven and sustainable way.
“I wouldn’t be doing something if I didn’t really believe it could and will be an extremely big business,” he shrugs with a coolly relaxed demeanour. “It will be somewhere we can fundamentally change the way we consume. That’s a very exciting prospect.”
The underlying premise of Vestiaire Collective is simple: sellers list unwanted luxury items on the site for anyone to buy. When a shopper purchases a product, it is sent to one of Vestiaire’s authentication hubs for verification by in-house experts. This is part of what makes Vestiaire’s offer unique – every single item sold is physically checked to guarantee authenticity to buyers.
Once completed, the item is repacked and sent to the customer. The seller is charged commission by Vestiaire, typically between 20% and 25% of the selling price, and the buyer is charged an authentication fee – up to 2% of the item’s cost.
Bittner describes Vestiaire as a “treasure hunt” for customers: “We want to connect and curate the world’s most attractive and appealing wardrobes,” he explains. “If we can connect these closets in a way that is trusted and sustainable, then we can really fulfil the need of the time.”
“People are looking for instant gratification, they look for that one thing that is right for them. They want to differentiate themselves and find ways to tell their stories.”
Vestiaire in the vanguard
The business is in a strong position, at the vanguard of the thriving resale sector. Vestiaire estimates that the luxury resale market is growing 21 times faster than the general luxury sector. The general resale market is anticipated to be worth €35bn (£30bn) globally by 2021.
Sites such as US-based platform The RealReal, young fashion-focused Depop and sneaker site StockX have seen huge growth. In May, luxury fashion platform Farfetch launched its own resale pilot, eager to tap into the growing trend.
We’re rewarding the seller who does good versus penalising those that don’t
“Vestiaire Collective was one of the first sites to really offer a counterpoint to the notion that re-commerce was a secondary or even last resort option,” notes Katie Baron, head of retail at trend intelligence company Stylus. “In many ways it reframed reselling as a key part of the luxury sector.”
Before joining Vestiaire, Bittner founded the south-east Asian ecommerce site Lazada in 2012, developing the business into the leading ecommerce player in the market – operating in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore.
In 2016, Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba bought a controlling stake in the business in a deal reported to be worth more than $1bn (£790m) and a year later invested a further $1bn (£790m) to take its stake in the business to 83%.
With his experience building Lazada – a forward-looking, large-scale, mobile-first and logistically sophisticated tech business – Bittner brings operational and scaling expertise that, if he succeeds in his ambitious goals, could well drive Vestiaire to new and impressive heights.
He is staunch in his belief that fashion, retail and luxury are crying out for disruption, and sees his role at Vestiaire as to encourage and drive these changes.
He aims to build on the existing foundations of the business with his own expertise – and ecommerce best practice is an early focus.
You have this incredible emotional connection between the consumers, the sellers and the products
“The brand and its fashion DNA are extremely strong,” he says. “What I bring to the table with the experience that I had building Lazada – is the importance of ecommerce best practice.
“People have a certain expectation level for ecommerce now, educated by the likes of Amazon. Potentially, in the past Vestiaire did not keep up with some of those basic expectations.”
The founder of another, smaller-scale, resale business agrees that Vestiaire has work to do if it wants to match high customer expectations: “Despite positioning itself as a luxury retailer, there are elements of the site that do not give a luxury experience. The quality of the photography can be quite poor, navigation is challenging and delivery is slow. Net-a-Porter offers 30-minute delivery in London, and as a large luxury retailer Vestiaire should be competing with that.”
Bittner has identified user experience (UX), customer experience (CX), search filters, search functions, pricing, logistics and presentation as key areas for improvement.
However, with so much of the end user’s ecommerce experience dependent on the sellers – who take product imagery, describe products and ship items themselves – upgrading the experience is not a simple task. To achieve this Bittner is seeking to “gamify” the ecommerce experience and engage more with sellers – rewarding sellers for good ecommerce practice.
“We need to make the seller understand that providing good customer experience is not just good for us but also good for them,” he says. “Rewarding the seller who does good versus penalising those that don’t. We need to find a way to get you to think: ‘now is a good time to sell’.”
Engagement is another essential component in Bittner’s plans for Vestiaire to drive the site’s sense of community.
“What makes Vestiaire so unique is that you have this incredible emotional connection between the consumers, the sellers and the products,” he says. “We need to empower this through tech.”
He flags chat functions, newsfeeds and seller information sound bites – “wouldn’t you like to know what the resale price of the bag you just bought will be in six months’ time?” – as tools that encourage this, alongside the enhancement of website basics.
“Gamification is everything which makes the ecommerce shopping experience more than just search, add to cart and checkout as easily as possible,” he says. “It brings together that shopping mall culture that my generation grew up with and translates that online.”
A tangent to Bittner’s pursuit of an empowered, engaged community is his mission to integrate the idea of resale into the wider fashion ecosystem. Sustainability is a key motivator for this – in particular, the drive for a more circular industry.
“Increasing the use of clothing is one of the most effective ways to reduce waste and pollution in the fashion industry. This means resale has an important role in making fashion circular,” explains Francois Souchet, Make Fashion Circular lead at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. “Raising awareness is not enough. For customers to adopt circular habits at scale, you have to make it convenient and rewarding.”
“Circularity is not something that we drive by ourselves,” notes Bittner. “We drive through the education of the consumers on the sellers and buyers’ side, but also through the education of brands and retailers.”
“There is a real need to do something, and there is a very real thing people can through our business. We see ourselves as a front runner and pioneer in how consumers can drive the way we can save the planet. Resale is not only a good thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do. Not only are you spending smartly but you’re also saving the planet by buying quality stuff over mass market stuff.”
This desire perhaps explains Bittner’s surprising approach to competitors. He refers to sites such as Depop, The RealReal and Vinted as “brothers in arms” rather than adversaries, driving for the same industry changes. However, he notes there are still relatively few credible competitors in the luxury space.
“We’re seeing more new style models, more categorisation: different models appealing to different customer needs,” he says. “The increased competition is educating the consumers that buying second hand is not only a smart thing to do, but is also the right thing to do from a sustainability perspective.”
Despite its sustainable model, Bittner is frank that other aspects of the business need to be improved. “There is a lot of homework we still need to do around sustainability,” he says. “I would not say we’re best in class in day-to-day operations.”
There is never an end state when it comes to sustainability
The company effectively ships all products twice – once to an authentication hub and again to the customer – as such, shipping optimisation is one priority. The company transports items via air freight, and Bittner highlights package size and shape optimisation as one possible development.
“The company has done a lot of good things, but there are more good things that we could be doing,” he says. “There is never an end state when it comes to sustainability.”
Bittner may jovially refer to resale “brothers”, but he has already made dramatic changes to the business, geared to keep Vestiaire ahead of the pack.
In April, he overhauled the existing commission structure for sellers. Rates were reduced for sellers, and a cap of £1,300 was introduced on items over £6,500. In addition, a small “authentication fee” of up to 2% of an item’s listed price was introduced for buyers. The main motivation behind this was to make the service more “competitive” in its offer by lessening the cost to the seller.
“Our goal is to make the transactions on our platform as attractive as possible for buyers and sellers,” says Bittner. “We shouldn’t get too greedy as a platform. We should encourage the sales.”
In the business itself, he is determined to uphold an innovative and entrepreneurial tech-focused mindset to support growth.
“We need to continuously challenge everything we do and continue innovating,” he says. “Vestiaire was built around an innovation. We need to continue keeping that spirit.”
“The reason I’m in this business, and all my colleagues are all in this business is because we want to change things. Change requires being innovative because the world is changing at a million miles an hour.”
Change requires being innovative because the world is changing at a million miles an hou
He highlights the implementation of new technologies, and the scaling of tech as one aspect that gathers importance as a business grows, and Vestiaire is in the early stages of implementing both AI into its systems and working with blockchain technology.
“Our job as a platform is to build the relevant knowledge to figure out what the right solutions are, the most scalable solutions are and the most transferable solutions are,” he says.
While he is reluctant to reveal details, blockchain has been widely cited as a potential game changer for authentication – allowing products to be traced back to their origin through sophisticated data networks. For Vestiaire, this would take its already impressive authentication guarantee to the next level.
“During the next six months someone could come and eat us for breakfast,” he says. “It’s a constant fight for survival and to stay relevant. If we’re not moving and not innovating, then we’ll be yesterday’s news very fast.”
There is no doubt that Vestiaire Collective is an interesting and innovative business and Bittner is shaping it for a digitally driven, sustainably focused future. In a turbulent and rapidly shifting industry, his lack of complacency and acknowledgement of the business’s flaws is refreshing, and he exudes a pragmatic sense of focus on the task that lies ahead – scaling Vestiaire for the fashion landscape of the future ahead.


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OnRPG is teaming up with Sneaky Games to bring you a powerful Silver Pack to get your roster up and running in the one of a kind turn-based MOBA, Arena of Heroes!
Arena of Heroes is A Free Turn-Based Tactics Game on Mobile, PC, and Mac. Two sides consisting of player guardians select heroes and do everything they can to destroy the enemy base. Each team consists of 4 heroes in the primary mode (other modes in the works!). Players must out-think their opponents and utilize the synergy of their heroes to counter and control the map, pushing into the enemy’s base for ultimate victory.
The Silver Pack Includes:
Unlock four heroes: Rathbone, Carmen, Evron, Doombeard
Unlock two skins: Fallen Tempest and Cyborg Max
In-Game Silver Founder Badge
To get your key you have to follow these instructions:
- If you are not yet a member of OnRPG please sign up here.
- Enter your OnRPG username and password below to get your key.
- The key will appear at the bottom of the page. Copy & paste it to a safe place as you may not be able to retrieve it once closing your browser!
To Redeem your Key:


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Bighorn & Keys to the Gate by Black Sheep & Prodigal Sons
Hand carved and painted cold-cast porcelain bighorn charm, three hammered keys on ring, sterling beads, braided artificial sinew and “Praying Hands” charm on a 26 inch oxidized sterling ball chain with 13 links.
Included with your order is the option to customize one of the included key charms with a 2 character metal stamping. We can stamp any combination of letters and numbers. Once you’ve placed your order, please email your stamping request to firstname.lastname@example.org.
Made-to-order. Ships in 5-7 business days.


The gossip magazine was closely followed by the financial advisory weeklies My Money (錢潮), Marbo Weekly (萬寶) and Business Weekly (商業周刊). And once again the fashion magazines Sugar (甜心), Beauty (美人誌) and Elle came out winners in the monthly magazines top-10 category.
Sun, Jan 23, 2005 - Page 19 News List
Kingstone celebrates the best of 2004
The popular local book chain celebrated its `Best of 2004' in Taipei earlier this week and, once again, translated international bestsellers came out top
By Gavin Phipps / STAFF REPORTER
This story has been viewed 3721 times.
Comments will be moderated. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned.
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1US group warns of ‘storm’ to hit South China Sea
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3KMT to hold congress on ousting Hung
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President of the National House of Chiefs, Togbe Afede XIV has described the clean-up exercise of the banking sector by the government through the Bank of Ghana as ill-managed.
According to him, the Securities and Exchange Commission failed in its regulatory supervision of the sector which in turn resulted in the ruin of various banks.
“I’ve said it before that the process was not managed well. If you have crossed indebtedness among several institutions, you want to open their books and see where you can do set-offs in the first place. Otherwise, if I owe you GH¢10.00, you also owe someone GH¢9.00, who also owes someone GH¢8.00, if I fail to pay you, you are in trouble. If you fail to pay the other party, he is in trouble. So, if suddenly, all of us are collapsed, we all are gone,” as qouted by Citi Business News.
Togbe Afede XIV said this speaking on Citi TV’s Point of View segment last week.
He added, “on the other hand, if we examine all our books, it will be realized that if Togbe pays you the GH¢10.00, everybody else is covered; then through set-offs, Togbe becomes the only person who goes, not all of us. I think there were a lot of mistakes in the way it was was handled. So, by the time probably they realized, it was too late to do it differently; so, they saw many companies that collapsed.”
Meanwhile, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has earlier said that most of the collapsed banks and financial institutions that became insolvent due to the financial sector clean-up exercise were found to be ‘ponzi’ schemes.
He explained that before the takeover of the collapsed banks by the Bank of Ghana, some managers and directors of the banks were literally bankrupt yet were taking depositors funds and loaning them back for regeneration.
As part of its efforts to restore confidence in the banking and specialized deposit-taking sectors, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) embarked on a clean-up exercise in August 2017 to resolve insolvent financial institutions whose continued existence posed risks to the interest of depositors.
The clean-up saw the revocation of licenses of 9 universal banks, 347 microfinance companies, 39 micro credit companies or money lenders, 15 savings and loans companies, 8 finance house companies, and two non-bank financial institutions.
The move by the central bank was a comprehensive assessment of the savings and loans and finance house sub-sectors carried out by the BoG in the last few years after it identified serious breaches.
Support Us at Radio Tamale by following Us on facebook Radio Tamale 91.7
Contact our newsroom on: whatsapp (+233 245238248) or email: firstname.lastname@example.org


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Woman killed on I-55 while live on Facebook, police say
A 26-year-old woman was struck and killed by a car while trying to retrieve her cellphone on the interstate, Jackson police said.
Ashlee Sims was broadcasting live on Facebook while traveling on Interstate 55 near Briarwood Drive about 9 p.m. Tuesday, police said. She was seen on the video opening the window and apparently her phone flew out of the car.
Sims got out of the car to find her phone, which kept recording. A few minutes later, Sims was hit by a car. She died at the scene, police said.
The crash is under investigation, police said.

domain: law


Kano State government has explained that over 9,000 birds have been killed since bird flu reappeared in the state two weeks ago.
The Director, Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dr. Shehu Bawa, who made the disclosure yesterday in Kano, said that the birds were killed in two poultry farms that had been infected with the disease in the state.
According to Bawa, “As I am talking to you now, only two farms were hit by the disease and the farms had since been depopulated. We killed 500 birds in the first farm, while 8,500 were killed in the second farm.”
Bawa said the ministry would intensify surveillance and disinfection of other farms to check the spread of the disease and would continue to sensitise farmers on the need for them to ensure clean environment.
He urged Federal Government to pay compensation to farmers who lost their birds in 2015, as the affected farmers were yet to receive anything from government.
He emphasised the need for government to compensate the affected farmers in view of the economic situation in the country.
“The payment will greatly assist in checking the spread of the disease as they (poultry farmers) would promptly report any outbreak of the disease to government since they know they would get compensation,” Bawa said.
The director added: “Even if they are not fully compensated, Federal Government should assist the affected farmers to alleviate their sufferings.”


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It’s a must to be ready for unexpected events to occur when walking your dog. Consolation is a primary necessity not only for me and for my dog as nicely. This Pet Stroller has a paw rest included. And identical dog stroller to each curious puppy, your buddy may wish to peep out and see what’s going on exterior too. This is why you get a 3-position canopy with this thing.
The stroller’s primary advantage lies in its revolutionary braking system. Compared to its predecessor, you only have to press the pedal, and the stroller stops fully. This dog stroller is helpful for these wanting a quick approach to stop their pets from getting into dangerous areas.
The medium-sized VIVO Three Wheel Pet Stroller supports pups up to 30 lbs. simply. Its impressive weight restrict means that you would be able to put two large canines inside with none problems. Make your life and that of your pet extra small pet stroller snug, whether you’re going to the shopping center or for a stroll whenever you buy this pushchair. The chair is supplied with giant 6″ wheels.
Bells and Whistles: This stroller for canines consists of a sturdy metal body that folds with a push of your foot to collapse for simple storage, and contains a large undercarriage and three pockets for storage, in addition to a cup holder. It additionally has a reversible handlebar and comes with two machine cleanable pads for the floor of the stroller.
Moreover, it comes with a number of window feature for air flow and to offer pets a good view of the environment. Pet parents were also quick to appreciate the handy options added just like the cup holder and the storage compartment beneath the carriage. Equally necessary are the rear security brakes and the seatbelt leashes to secure pets even when the cover just isn’t zipped up. Though some pet dad and mom favor the three-wheeled version, some claim that this four-wheeled version is more secure and smoother to maneuver.
Effective Plans For Dog Stroller – A Closer Look
Medium strollers are ideal for canines as much as 30-45 kilos. They don’t seem to be too small and not too huge. You would also fit two smaller canine into a medium-sized stroller. Small Canine: Small canines are likely dog stroller to get drained easily. And if you are going for a public occasion, the chances of them being trampled upon go even greater. Subsequently, to protect them from fatigue or any damage, you need to use a stroller.
Do you need to develop the vary of locations to take your canine for a stroll? Well, it’s best to get the IPS-01 All-Terrain Pet Stroller. Because the title suggests, that is an all-terrain stroller that options massive eight″ wheels so that it could actually glide easily over totally different surfaces.
Understand that some dogs may want to spend their recovery or old age lounging within the solar and being carried to a small potty patch Submit dog stroller-operation or sick dogs may not need to go out on a bumpy stroller experience, and the jostling would possibly feel unhealthy on arthritic joints.
It can be used for running, for the reason that handlebar top is 40″. It ought to be famous that they are fairly mushy, perfect to feel totally snug when taking your pet for a stroll. The canopy spreading won’t ever hamper the out there place for the pet. It is among the finest canine strollers for climbing. Priced at a reasonable charge, this is likely one of the finest picks we vouch for.
A number of Home windows for Breathability, Roomy Design with zippers for straightforward entry and breathability to protect your pet from insects and supply adequate air flow. Without a variety of choices in the case of large canine strollers (and even fewer of top quality), you might be shocked to find this stroller nonetheless maintains a rating on Amazon of 4.three stars.

domain: pet


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Kerry Packer was once the world’s biggest and most famous casino gambler. But he often told his son he didn’t take risks in business. James, on the other hand, hardy ever plays the tables, but is happy to lay down billions of dollars of his own money to build new casinos around the world.
His new plan to build a six-star Crown Towers casino/hotel on Perth’s Burswood peninsula for $568 million is just the latest example. But it’s not the only place he’ll be spending money. He’s also planning a $1 billion luxury casino/hotel for high rollers in Sydney as a joint venture with the owners of The Star casino, and is in talks with Belle Corporation in the Philippines to build and run a $580 million casino in their new Manila resort.
And Packer’s chances of hitting the jackpot are looking better and better.
Yesterday, Crown secured approval from the Western Australian government for the Perth hotel. This morning, it announced an agreement with Lend Lease to have the new Sydney casino in the Barangaroo redevelopment. And today also, James got the thumbs-up from the ACCC to raise $1 billion in cash by selling his share of Foxtel and Fox Sports to the Murdochs’ News Ltd.
Get Crikey FREE to your inbox every weekday morning with the Crikey Worm.
Really, it couldn’t be going better. Even the owners of The Star, Echo Entertainment, have rolled over, the Packer camp is claiming, and are now saying they’re happy to let him have their licence for the new Sydney casino and be part of a joint venture. So it’s looking more and more like it will happen.
But why the rapid burst of spending? And why does Australia suddenly look so attractive?
Strangely enough, the answer to both questions may lie in Macau, where Packer’s two casinos, the City of Dreams and Altira, have recently started to mint money after many years of losses. Packer’s joint venture with the Ho family, Melco Crown, is now pulling in revenue of around $1 billion a quarter and churning out around a fifth of that, or $200 million a quarter in cash and $100 million in after-tax profit. So it’s time to start spending some of that money and putting it to work.
But it’s getting harder for Packer and his fellow casino operators to invest in Macau. Melco-Crown’s recently acquired Studio City development, which has been on the drawing board for five years and would be even bigger than the City of Dreams, has still not got government approval for the 400 gaming tables it needs to make the project viable. And officials are making it clear that they want to slow the pace of growth. There is also talk of restricting the number of visitors to the former colony.
Consequently, casino operators like Las Vegas Sands, Wynn Resorts and Crown are looking to spend their money elsewhere.
Packer’s pitch for spending billions in Australia is that the country needs the tourist dollars and jobs that new casinos will bring. And this may well be true, given that so many other Australian businesses seem to be struggling. But his real motives are perhaps a bit less altruistic. One of the great attractions to Crown of bringing in more Asian high rollers is that it spreads the risk of having a whale like James’ dad break the bank by winning $10 million in a night. The other of course is that Crown makes a motza from this business and would love to have more of it. Certainly, it has proved to be more recession-proof than just about any other economic activity.
We can only hope that James’ new ventures will spread the wealth around, rather than taking money off those who can’t afford to lose. Maybe the multibillionaire tycoon should reread his own Melco-Crown’s annual report, which promises faithfully to: “Share our resources with the less fortunate in society and encourage our staff to engage in community services to spread laughter, love and care.”
We really love that. It’s even got us going.


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Top 5 Health Benefits of Nature Exposure
Spending time in nature can lower cortisol levels and reduce stress
Nature exposure has been shown to improve mood and reduce symptoms of depression.
Boost Immune system
Exposure to natural environments can enhance immune function and reduce inflammation.
Spending time in nature can improve sleep quality and duration.
Being in nature can increase physical activity and improve cardiovascular health.

domain: biology


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Apparel companies are weighing their options in the wake of a factory collapse in Bangladesh that killed more than 500 people, choosing between improving facilities there or pulling out of the country altogether.
Continue Reading Below
But even before last week’s incident, brands were already showing cold feet over maintaining production in Bangladesh.
Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), the world’s largest licenser, revealed on its website this week that in March it put a stop to production of branded merchandise in Bangladesh, following a factory fire last year that killed 112 people.
Boxes of licensed sweatshirts set to be shipped to Wal-Mart’s (NYSE:WMT) stores were found at the factory that had a fire. Walmart said the products were moved there for storage without its knowledge.
Other clothes makers are instead looking to maintain Bangladesh’s extensive garment industry and ensure the country’s facilities are up to par.
The country, which has about three million people working in the sector, is the world’s second-largest apparel exporter after China. Last year, Bangladesh recorded more than $18 billion in apparel exports, which comprise 80% of the country’s total exports.
Joe Mimran, the designer behind Loblaw’s discount clothing brand Joe Fresh, said at a press conference that remaining in Bangladesh will help the industry tackle safety issues.
“I believe we can do more good and drive lasting change by staying in Bangladesh, and we are committed to doing that,” Mimran said, according to Reuters.
The top executive at Loblaw, Canada’s largest grocer, said the company plans to keep operations in Bangladesh while taking steps to improve factories. Joe Fresh clothing was made in the building that collapsed.
“I am deeply troubled. I am troubled that despite a clear commitment to the highest standards of ethical sourcing, our company can still be part of such an unspeakable tragedy,” Executive Chairman Galen Weston said.
Weston criticized other companies for their “deafening silence,” adding that as many as least 30 international retailers had goods manufactured in the collapsed building.
Meanwhile, representatives from major retailers like Walmart and J.C. Penney (NYSE:JCP) met near Frankfurt, Germany, for a meeting aimed at garnering support for plans to make existing buildings safer.
The collapsed building was constructed without mandatory safety permits, and the mayor of Savar, outside Dhaka, was suspended. Police arrested the building owner and the owners of the five factories housed in the building.
Like Disney, Walmart took action after last year’s factory fire, announcing last month it would donate $1.6 million to start fire safety training for Bangladeshi workers.
Walmart did not respond to a request for further comment.
A spokesperson for Target (NYSE:TGT) said the retailer reduced the number of factories it works with in Bangladesh by nearly 50% over the past several years and consolidated business with factories that have committed to better safety standards.
“This consolidated factory base also enables us to better and more closely monitor the factories we use,” the spokesperson said.
In addition, Target uses internal auditors who make unannounced checks in Bangladesh to ensure vendors meet certain standards, while the company has an expanded auditing process specifically for Bangladesh. According to the company, its audit length in Bangladesh is the longest for any country from which it sources.
Like Target, Nike (NYSE:NKE) said it did not have production in the building that collapsed.
“Bangladesh has been on our high-risk country list, so unlike many suppliers we have kept our footprint there very limited,” a Nike spokesperson said.

domain: economics


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Witness Australia’s most respected Indigenous artists come together to celebrate the essential role Uncles and the ‘Songman’ have played in over 40,000 years of traditional and contemporary Australian Indigenous Cultures.
WhichWay Uncle, a Waxing Lyrical style music-based conversation will be launched at Brisbane Powerhouse as part of the 2015 Queensland Music Festival program of events throughout July.
Getano Bann, Joe Geia and Bunna Lawrie combine more than 100 years of songwriting experience and storytelling in an inspirational show of musical collaboration and cultural wisdom. Joining them are a host of other talented Australian Indigenous musicians and leaders including Bob Weatherall, Glenn Skuthorpe and Troy Brady.
WhichWay Uncle will also contain the opportunity for the audience to participate in a Q&A session with these inspiring Indigenous cultural leaders.


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Every incentive travel trends study puts at the top of the list – unique, local, authentic experiences. I met the Kiwis in Queenstown, New Zealand “this summer” (early January) and sampled a bunch of seen-nowhere-else activities.
New Zealand has flights from San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Houston. The 12-hour flight from LAX to Auckland was surprisingly easy – departing LAX at 11 pm, so it was easy to sleep (a fairly solid 7 hours for me).
The confusing aspect is the time zones. You cross the dateline, so NZ is one day ahead and minus 5 hours from CST. I left Dec. 29 and arrived Dec. 31, losing one day of my life forever.
From Auckland, Air New Zealand flies 1 hour 50 minutes to Queenstown, which is a beautiful little airport in a small town of 30,000 people.
Enough about travel. The big story of Queenstown is the unique, local, authentic experiences. They’ve got more of them in one place than any incentive travel destination.
TSS Earnslaw and Walter Peak
It’s difficult to pick a #1, but if you force me to choose, this was my favorite. The beautiful scenario on Lake Wakatipu, a deep lake with mountains rising high above. Unique 100-year old steamship, powered by a ½ ton of coal. A little history, the ship was originally a local freighter. Local culture lessons with the sheep farm tour, followed by a walking tour of beautiful gardens at the homestead. And then, finish off the tour with a delicious Kiwi BBQ lunch.
For the guys (or “mates”), the high-speed jet boat is a big adrenaline rush. Shooting through the canyons at 50 mph while narrowly avoiding the massive rock faces makes the brain zoom… “This feels dangerous. The driver has strong skills. No dents on the boat. He said the boats cost $600,000. Was that USD or NZ dollar? He must be safe, or they’d fire him. Prince William and Kate were in the pictures. Their security said it was safe. Hey, this is a blast!”
Milford Sound Scenic Cruise
Rudyard Kipling described Milford Sound as the “eighth wonder of the world.” The best way to enjoy this full-day incentive travel activity is coach-cruise-fly. I recommend Real Journeys NZ (email me, I can share a good contact). It takes 9 hours for three distinct, amazing experiences.
The luxury motorcoach takes 4-5 hours from Queenstown, which feels surprisingly quick while enjoying the scenic countryside, a few stops for postcard-perfect photos, and the little town of Te Anau.
The 1-hour 40-minute scenic cruise on Milford Sound is the bucket list activity – or unique, local, authentic experience (the subject of this blog). It is a mix of the Canadian Rockies, their emerald lakes, and the Na Pali coast of Kauai. However, the Canadian Rockies and the Na Pali coast are their own, one-of-a-kind experience for a President’s Club.
Then, the flight back is the speedy return, offering another magnificent view of the south island. The locals always ask: “fixed-wing or heli?”
Drives to Scenic Arrowtown or Glenorchy
I recommend one more local, authentic experience that was much better than expected. Arrowtown is a quaint, old, little mining town. The primary activity is shopping and walking on Main Street (technically Buckingham Street). Most “mates” don’t enjoy the shopping, but my sweetie did, and I enjoyed the change of pace.
Glenorchy is another tiny town, but this is more about the scenic drive along Lake Wakatipu. Think of it as New Zealand’s version of Maui’s road to Hana. The New Zealanders say it’s Lord of the Rings territory. To clarify, I heard “Lord of the Rings filmed here” for 6-7 places, so you realize the trilogy used most of the north and south islands at some point.
More Authentic Queenstown Incentive Experiences
After four full days, I ran out of time, so I hope to return one day soon with an incentive trip! See these below – plus the Kiwi’s say their wineries and golf courses are splendid too.


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Kollaboration — one of the biggest platforms for highlighting AAPI talent — brought a weekend full of empowering Asian American artist, singers, songwriters, writers, entertainers, filmmakers and influencers to Los Angeles this past November.
Since 2000, Kollaboration has provided a platform for young Asian Americans to showcase their talent onstage. Beginning with one show in Los Angeles, it has now spread to 15 shows in 13 cities across North America.
“I’m proud that we’ve been a gathering place and a stepping stone of growth for the API creative community and the API community at large,” Kollaboration Executive Director Minji Chang said in an email previously. “I believe that the movement we’ve been building over the years, in all its shapes and forms, all the successes and failures, has had an intangible but priceless impact on the API identity.”
I had a chance to catch 3 out of 4 of their events the first weekend of November.
THURS 11/2: We Own The 8th x Kollaboration Music Showcase
FRI 11/3: Asian AF x Kollaboration Comedy Night
SAT 11/4: Kollaboration Empower Panel/Conference
SUN 11/5: Kollaboration Star Finale 2017
Check out my recap of Kollaboration’s Empower Weekend 2017 below:
Featuring: Samica Music, Dante Basco, AJ Rafael, Melissa Polinar, Tim Atlas, Jennifer Chung, JR De Guzman, Matt Almoldiel, Alex Luu, Perry & Danielle, among others.


WALTHAM, Mass. — In the span of five weeks, the Boston Celtics have transformed themselves from a tired group that looked beaten into an energetic juggernaut serenaded by chants of "Beat L.A.! Beat L.A.!"
Tonight, the Celtics can complete one more stage in their improbable metamorphosis. A victory over the Orlando Magic in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals would send the Celtics to the NBA Finals, where they likely would face their old rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers.
"This is for all the marbles," small forward Paul Pierce said Sunday at the team's practice facility. "When you go into the playoffs, you don't want to look back and say you played on a team and took these opportunities for granted. I think we're making the most of this team and these moments."
Like Pierce, the other Celtics players contend that they ramped up their intensity level once the postseason started. But those statements hardly explain how a club that went .500 over its last 54 regular-season games turned into a team that eliminated the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers and now can sweep the Magic out of the playoffs.
Magic coach Stan Van Gundy sees a dramatic difference between the present-day Celtics and the group that lost three of four regular-season games to the Magic. Orlando played its last regular season-game against Boston on Feb. 7, and since then, Celtics power forward Kevin Garnett's right knee that required offseason surgery has improved.
"Even by the All-Star Game he wasn't at full strength," Van Gundy said. "He was struggling to move."
Pierce also has recovered from an infected right knee, a sprained left foot and a sprained right thumb — ailments that occurred after the team started the season 22-5.
All year long, Celtics coach Doc Rivers said he would not use his older players in games if they were hurt. "We're looking for the long-term," Rivers said before the Celtics faced the Magic on Christmas Day.
Those words seem prophetic now.
"We had the best record in the NBA for that short time and then we let it go," Rivers said Sunday. "But there was a reason why we let it go. Now we are healthy and we're playing better."
The team's younger players — point guard Rajon Rondo, center Kendrick Perkins and power forward Glen "Big Baby" Davis — have made strides in recent months. Rondo was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team for the first time in his career, and in this postseason he has emerged as perhaps the league's top player at his position. Garnett and Pierce even said Sunday that Rondo has developed into the team's leader.
With the youngsters' development, and the addition of big man Rasheed Wallace, the current Celtics arguably possess more talent than the 2008 team that Ray Allen, Garnett and Pierce led to the NBA title.
The Big Three acknowledge that they are reaching the latter stages of their careers. At 32, Pierce is the youngest of the group.
"The window isn't too far away from closing," Pierce said.
Right now, however, that window is ajar. This postseason has yielded some of the team's most intense practices of the year.
"When the playoffs come, it comes with deliberate detail to what you're doing, who you're playing against, their guys, their teams," Garnett said. "So, playoffs are a better time for basketball just because of that."
Read Josh Robbins' blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog and e-mail him at firstname.lastname@example.org. Subscribe to our Orlando Magic newsletter at OrlandoSentinel.com/joinus.


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The beneath is from a latest version of the Deep Dive, Bitcoin Journal’s premium markets publication. To be among the many first to obtain these insights and different on-chain bitcoin market evaluation straight to your inbox, subscribe now.
Illiquid supply continues to hit multi-year highs, adding nearly 371,000 bitcoin since the deceleration in May. Even with the recent price drawdowns sparked from long liquidations and market sell-offs, illiquid supply continues to increase signaling that more long-term holders are adding bitcoin over the last few months.
As a proportion of circulating provide, illiquid provide is 76.13% and slightly below the all-time excessive of 76.26% additionally seen again in Might. Illiquid provide proportion of circulating provide has been a strongly correlated relationship with worth during the last yr.
The illiquid provide tendencies additionally present that the latest drawdowns had been largely pushed by the derivatives market and never a lot the spot market. With each main bitcoin correction, there was a big deceleration in illiquid provide trying on the illiquid provide 30-day change. Usually it is a 30-day change in illiquid provide at or beneath -1%.
A 1% change of illiquid provide at the moment could be 143,942 bitcoin price simply over $7 billion at a $49,000 worth. We might count on a extra important, spot-driven bitcoin correction to come back with a decelerating illiquid provide, which hasn’t been seen over the previous couple of months.


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France’s Health Minister Olivier Véran delivered a message via his Twitter account over the weekend, advising against taking anti-inflammatory medicines (ibuprofen, cortisone, etc) to treat Covid-19 symptoms, as they could be an aggravating factor for the infection. His advice for those with a fever was to take paracetamol instead. Patients already on anti-inflammatory drugs for other illnesses, or anyone with any questions, are advised to seek advice from their doctor.
⚠ #COVIDー19 | La prise d’anti-inflammatoires (ibuprofène, cortisone, …) pourrait être un facteur d’aggravation de l’infection. En cas de fièvre, prenez du paracétamol.
Si vous êtes déjà sous anti-inflammatoires ou en cas de doute, demandez conseil à votre médecin.
— Olivier Véran (@olivierveran) March 14, 2020
Public health interventions like this, with directives specifically citing which OTC medicines to take or not take, are rare and so the story was picked up by major news outlets in the UK (Guardian), USA (New York Times) and elsewhere. According to a report in The Local, Véran’s tweet prompted several members of the public to ask for the source of his reasoning on not taking ibuprofen to treat Covid-19 symptoms. The main concern appears to be that anti-inflammatories have an “immunosuppressive effect“, plus the background in France is that medicines agency ANSM has already removed medicines containing paracetamol, ibuprofen and / or aspirin from the self-selection list in January 2020 to reinforce the advisory role of the pharmacist and guarantee safe use.
Meanwhile, the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on sales and availability of painkillers in other markets is already becoming evident, with UK retailer Boots imposing a limit of two items per customer on cough & cold and pain medicines and US marketer J&J reporting a spike in demand for its Tylenol range and other self-care products. In the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, and India’s decision last week to restrict the export of some ingredients (including paracetamol), there have been fears of shortages and disruptions to supply chains, but J&J said it did not anticipate a shortage of Tylenol and that it was taking all possible measures to maximise availability of its consumer healthcare range.
The good news is that we have extended the campaign entry criteria and deadline for our 2020 Marketing Awards! Coinciding with the new event dates, the Awards will now be presented on 30 September during our 31st European Conference in Athens on 29 September–1 October 2020. If you’re proud of your latest campaign or brand, ensure that you enter before the new deadline of 14 August! For more information on entry criteria, contact firstname.lastname@example.org without delay.


By Pritam Roy(26 Nov 2011)
The story is supposedly based on the life of South Indian Sensation Silk Smitha, Silk was a make-up artist who became an extra and then one of the most wanted heroines of the early 1980's. Chronicling the meteoric rise and steep fall of the erstwhile screen sensation, The Dirty Picture is set against the colorful and entertaining backdrop of the South Indian film industry, which was dominated by the male superstars in the 80s.
The quintessential siren, Silk, knew her audiences and it didn’t seem like anything would stop the ambitious superstar, till it did, in the form of unrequited love. To the world and her fans, Silk was the queen of sensuality. But at heart, she was just like any other woman yearning for love in a ruthless world. The movie is about the tragedy behind the mask of the sex symbol who provided titillation to thousands of viewers but died a lonely and tragic death.
Balaji Motion Pictures, the producers however have denied that the movie is based on Silk Smitha's life.


text: Dimensions: Approx. 9.5 cm wide 9.5 cm high 3.5 cm Material: white clay + blue and white transparent glaze Use and cleaning method: General ceramic cleaning method can be used. Because each piece is hand-kneaded, there will be some slight differences. This is also unique to each piece. Please consider this feature before purchasing.


Mitt Romney isn't done yet. The former governor of Massachusetts, who made an unsuccessful run for the Republican presidential nomination this year, appears to be getting ready for another campaign in 2012.
The Boston Globe took a look at the expenditures made by Free and Strong America, a political action committee Romney started with the express goal of helping other Republican candidates. The Globe found, though, that "only 12 percent of the money has been spent distributing checks to Romney's fellow Republicans around the country."
So where has the money been going? According to the Globe, "to support Romney's political ambitions, paying for salaries and consulting fees to over a half-dozen of Romney's longtime political aides... he spent $244,000 on contributions to congressional and other candidates between April and the November elections. He has spent more than twice as much on staff salaries and contracts to hire professional fund-raisers, who are compiling contributor lists that will serve Romney well in a future presidential campaign."


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Posts Tagged Oklahoma State Parks
It’s almost 2014! And, what better way to greet the New Year than to be close with the nature? Once again, for the third year in a row, Oklahoma State Parks will be opening their doors on New Year’s Day with free guided hikes for those who love to commune with nature.
State Parks that will be offering free hikes are Foss State Park, Keystone State Park, Lake Eufaula State Park, Lake Murray State Park, and Osage Hills State Park.
Anyone who wants to join should bring along water, snacks, binoculars, and a camera if they desire. Hikers are encouraged to wear comfortable shoes and weather appropriate clothing. Park staff and volunteers will be leading the hikes, which will range from less than a mile to more than three miles in length.