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Archive for Digital Archive
In 1788, twenty years after sailing into the Pacific with Captain Cook, Joseph Banks turned his attention to the next riddle of geographical science: the exploration of Africa. In St. Albans Tavern in London, Banks and the other members of the elite Saturday Club drafted a proposal of action:
Resolved: That as no species of information is more ardently desired, or more generally useful, than that which improves the science of Geography; and as the vast Continent of Africa, notwithstanding the efforts of the Antients, and the wishes of the Moderns, is still in a great measure unexplored, the Members of this Club do form themselves into an Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Inland Parts of that Quarter of the World.
The Saturday Club acted quickly. It endorsed the resolution, established an Association, put together an expeditionary fund, and commissioned John Ledyard (also a veteran of Cook’s voyages) to cross the African continent from east to west. Ledyard arrived in Egypt ready to complete the “efforts of the Ancients” but was struck down by illness in Cairo. He died before his boots got sandy.
Ledyard’s death was a disappointment to the Association, but it couldn’t have come as much of a surprise. Africa had proved itself resistant to European efforts for over three centuries. The first forays into Africa began badly. In 1446 Portuguese mariner Nuno Tristão took twelve men up the Gambia River in pursuit of Africans and riches. Tristão was attacked by Gambian tribesmen and killed along with half of his party.
The Portuguese learned from Tristão’s mistake. When they returned to West Africa, they abandoned their plans to explore and conquer the interior, preferring to set up outposts or “feitorias” on the coast from which they could trade with African kingdoms of the interior.
Other factors inhibited exploration as well. The inhospitable conditions of the Sahara made overland expeditions difficult. The great rivers of Central Africa seemed more promising, but they were filled with cataracts that made it impossible to travel far by boat. Malaria felled Europeans who traveled inland, and sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis) not only attacked humans but horses. The horse, so effective as a weapon of war for Europeans battling the Incas in the New World, proved useless in European efforts to dominate Central Africa.
Despite Africa’s importance in the Atlantic economy as a source of slaves and gold, then, it remained poorly understood in Europe. As a result, it remained a place of mythical and geographical speculation: on the source of the Nile, the riches of Timbucktoo, the Gold Mines of Ophir, the trans-continental mountains of Kong, and the mysterious Mountains of the Moon.
This explains the power of Africa in the Western imagination even late into the nineteenth century. For writers and artists, Africa became a canvas upon which almost anything could be painted. In Anglo-American literature, Africa found a home in the work of dozens of writers including H. Rider Haggard (King Solomon’s Mines, She), Joseph Conrad (The Heart of Darkness), and Edgar Rice Burroughs (Tarzan). Interestingly, the Africa of these works was background rather than foreground, a region made dark (morally, racially, and geographically) so as to better illuminate its protagonists — Allan Quartermain, Charles Marlow, Lord Greystoke — as they found adventure and enlightenment.
How such ideas were projected upon the surface of maps is the focus of Princeton’s excellent online exhibition, To the Mountains of the Moon: Mapping African Exploration, 1541-1880. Created by curator John Delaney, To the Mountains of the Moon offers a history of Africa as seen through European eyes.
As one might expect, early Renaissance maps of Africa were colorful, fantastical documents. What they lacked in credible information they compensated for with a rich palate of speculation. On Sebastian Münster’s 1554 map of Africa one finds the home of the mythic Christian hero, Prester John, as well as a tribe of one-eyed giants, the dough-faced Monoculi, who sit above the bight of Africa.
Nineteenth century maps added precision and sophistication. Gone are the mythic tribes and gold mines of early maps along with the chatty notes in Africa’s margins about river currents, astronomical observations, Biblical figures, and anything tangentially related to the continent.
Yet the later maps leave out Africans too. If Prester John and African cyclops are not representative of Africa’s peoples, at least they show it to be a place of human action and habitation. While some nineteenth century maps — by John Tallis and Victor Levasseur — present ethnographic scenes in the margins, others — such as William Winwood Reed’s Map of African Literature — shows the continent as a white text, tabula rasa, for the names of European explorers. “LIVINGSTONE” stretches across Central Africa from Mozambique to the mouth of the Congo River. Which of these maps – Munster’s or Reed’s – shows the greater distortion?
Despite the excellent maps and essays, the menus of the exhibition are not very clear. It’s easy to get lost and miss a map or two on the way out. This didn’t stop Stanley. It shouldn’t stop you.
At times I think about getting rid of my laptop, dumping it into the trash or tossing it over the guardrail on I-84. It works perfectly fine. But its role in my life increasingly bothers me. It feels invasive, a tool that has become a crutch, mediating almost all of the activities of my life: my communications with students, friends, and colleagues, my meeting place for committees, spreadsheet for calculating grades, library for reading newspapers and searching archives, store for ordering books, entertainment center for films, sports pages, and blogs.
I find myself thinking — dolefully, wistfully — of paper and pencil, of writing notes on index cards, thwacking out papers on a typewriter, writing letters on rough-edged stationary, reading books slowly and deliberately on my couch rather than gutting them like fish on the deck of a ship.
Most of all, I don’t like what my laptop does to the way I think. I used to spend a great deal of time tunneling in on subjects, digging into the arcana of history like a wood bore. Now I feel I spend a great deal of time skittering over subjects, a flat rock thrown over a calm pond. I cannot place all of the blame on my laptop. It comes from having too many things to do.
Being too distracted is a lament common to Americans and Europeans since the 18th century. Do our lives benefit from the conveniences of modern life? Or are these conveniences a subtle gloss that separates us from the vibrancy of raw experience? A laminate that protects us from the authentic life? Or, as Thoreau puts it:
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear… [Walden, ch. 2]
I think Thoreau draws this dichotomy a bit too starkly. My feeling is that all of life is authentic; experiences are real no matter how mediated they are by technology or modern convenience. Still I’m not letting my laptop completely off the hook. For all of its impressive powers, the networked computer is crack cocaine for the skittering mind, the gateway drug of associational thinking.
Still, I won’t throw it away. First, it doesn’t belong to me and I would have to pay back my dean. Second, it has brought me into contact with fascinating people and amazing places, a New World of information that I absorb in bits and pieces.
Ok, enough deep thoughts. Here are some new links I’ve uncovered in my skittering hops across the pond.
Google recently worked out a deal with Life Magazine, scanning decades of photos and putting them in a historical archive online. This is a fabulously rich collection of twentieth-century images, particularly in the field of exploration. Try out, for example, terms such as expedition, voyage, underwater, capsule, and planet. You can also search Google for life photos directly – just enter your search term followed by “source: life”. When this returns a list, specify “images” in the tab at the top.
The Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library offers a much smaller set of archival images, five to be exact. But the five images in question, European maps of discovery from 1520-1792, are too rich to be missed. Each map offers a snapshot of European geographical knowledge of the world, from the shape of continents and novel modes of map projection, to elaborate cartouches showing the lifeways of native peoples.
Finally two sites I just learned about today. The first is Big Dead Place, an online journal devoted to Antarctica, edited by Nicholas Johnson, author of a book of the same name published by Feral House Publishing in 2005. Johnson has some great interviews and analysis of South Polar exploration.
For an impressively massive list of all things Antarctica, also check out Dr. Elizabeth Leane’s Representations of Antarctica which breaks up the subject into categories of fiction (juvenile and adult), short stories, poetry, films and television, as well as literary and cultural criticism.
Congratulations to Maurice Isserman and Stewart Weaver, winners of the 2008 Banff Mountain Book Award for Mountaineering History. Their excellent book, Fallen Giants: A History of Himalayan Mountaineering from the Age of Empire to the Age of Extremes , does not merely chronicle the harrowing ascents and colorful personalities of high-altitude climbing. It also offers a look at mountaineering as a cultural project that blossomed in the 19th and 20th centuries. (In the interest of full disclosure, I am friends with Stewart and an acquaintance of Maurice).
David Chaundy-Smart, editor of Gripped Magazine, states:
Tilman speculated that a chronicle of the “fall of the giants” of the Himalayas would not be as interesting as chronicles of the failed attempts. He never anticipated that Maurice Isserman and Stewart Weaver would eventually paraphrase him in the title of an exhaustive and entertaining history of Himalayan mountaineering. This is a standard-setting work that credibly accounts for the struggle to summit the 8000 metre peaks with a seamless discussion of politics, economics and the development of climbing technique backed by a mind-boggling list of sources.
If this isn’t enough to satisfy your Himalayan appetite, visit the Pitt Rivers Museum’s Tibet Album. Here you’ll find a collection of British photographs in Central Tibet from 1920-1950. The collection totals 6000 photographs by Charles Bell, Arthur Hopkinson, Evan Nepean, Hugh Richardson, Frederick Spencer Chapman, and Harry Staunton among others. Taken together with Everest expedition photos of the Bently Beetham Collection (listed in my links and profiled here), one gets a vivid picture of British-Nepali-Tibetan encounters in the early 20th century.
You can also find the journal of Cecil Mainprise, medical officer of General Sir Francis Younghusband’s expedition to Tibet in 1903, dutifully published in blog form by his great nephew Jonathan Buckley.
Reading all of this material may give you a bit of altitude sickness. Best to descend for a while and acclimatize. I’ll be here with more after the New Year.
Gertrude Bell and Sir Percy Cox, Mesopotamia, 1917
My students are usually pretty good at the why questions of history. Why did the French revolt against their King? Answers include “Peasant frustration.” “Anger at the monarchy.” “Expensive bread.” It’s the when questions that cause students trouble. Why did the French revolt in 1789? What particularities of this historical moment led to the great unraveling of the French Monarchy?
This pattern holds true for discussing women in history, or more specifically, the actions of women travelers and explorers. Why did Annie Peck climb the Matterhorn (1895)? Or Fanny Bullock Workman the Himalayas (1899-1912)? Why did Mary Kingsley canoe her way up the Ogawe River in Africa (1895)? Or Nelly Bly circle the globe in 72 days (1889)? Student answers usually come in some variety of “They had to prove something to the world.” Ok, fair enough. But here is the more interesting question: Why did they all feel the need to prove it at the same time?
Mary Wollstonecraft certainly felt she had something to prove. Enlightenment novelist and historian, philosopher and feminist, Wollstonecraft authored A Vindication of the Rights of Woman a full 136 years before Britain fully granted women the right to vote in 1928. But living at the end of the 18th century, Wollstonecraft is something of an outlier in women’s history, a person whose beliefs and actions were at considerable remove from the rest of society. Peck, Workman, and Bly, by contrast, were part of a large social movement that extended across the Atlantic, a movement that gleefully assaulted the idea of a “separate spheres” for men and women.
In this sense, Gertrude Bell was a women of her time: born in Britain, Oxford educated, Bell was an omnivorous learner and traveler, fluent in Persian, Arabic, Turkish, and German. She voyaged around the world twice and took up a passion for mountain climbing in the Alps all before “settling down” in the Middle East as archeologist, author, and British political agent during the First World War. She collaborated with T.E. Lawrence to draw up the modern political map of the Middle East including Jordan and Iraq. Yet Bell remains hard to categorize. Sitting at the center of British political activity in the Middle East, Bell also served as honorary secretary of the British Women’s Anti-Suffrage League.
Bell left 1600 letters, 16 diaries, and 7000 photographs, all of which are in the possession of the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Now the University Library has begun a four-year project to put these materials online. Here for example is Bell’s description of her ascent of the Aiguille du Géant in the Alps:
Demarquille was frozen. I gave him my big woollen gloves. My hands were warmed by the rock work, but I continued to shiver, though not unpleasantly, almost until we returned to the foot of the Aiguille. We crossed a bit of snow and turned to the left under the Aiguille where we found a hanging rope – it was just about here that a guide was killed a fortnight ago by lightening, after having accomplished the ascent by a new road up the N face said to be easier than the old. The first hour or so was quite easy. Straight up long slabs of rock with a fixed rope to hold by. Then a flank march which was rather difficult; the rocks from here to the top of the NE summit are extremely steep. At one point my hands and arms were so tired that I lost all grip in them. A steep bit down, a pointed breche and a very steep up rock leads to the highest summit where there is a cairn.
The Gertrude Bell Archive is a work in progress. Not all of the materials have been scanned. It does not have keyword or full-text search capabilities. Still it deserves to be filed as a bookmark in your growing list of exploration archives.
For more on women explorers, see posts on
Before I starting working on the frost-bitten, scurvy-riddled, dog-eating world of Arctic explorers, I researched more inviting places, such as Valparaiso Chile, “the Vale of Paradise.” In the 19th century, Valparaiso was a popular port for European and North American voyagers, a place for crew to load up on provisions, repair hullwork, mend sails, and dive into debauchery before the long sail across the Pacific.
The U.S Exploring Expedition stopped here, as did the U.S. Astronomical Expedition, and even HMS Beagle, disembarcking a sprightly young, recently-graduated Charles Darwin into town for some quick surveys of the Cordilleras before heading out into the Pacific (with a minor port-of-call in the Galapagos on the way). My masters thesis “Describing the Vale of Paradise: Valparaiso Chile in the Years after Humboldt” looked at the way these various scientific expeditions talked about Valparaiso, and more importantly, how they rendered it in images.
Darwin did not leave much in the way of illustrations of the town, but the Beagle’s draughtsman, Conrad Martens did. Martens’ landscapes are quiet, almost languid, places, a world apart from the pulse-pounding wind-swept, volcano-erupting landscapes of his fellow Romantics. As I sat in the stacks of the Wisconsin Historical Society looking at these far away places, they gave me a feeling of Darwin’s world…an imperfect impression to be sure, but a feeling nevertheless. Thanks again to the Beagle Project Blog, great conduit of all things Darwin, I have learned that Martens work is now available for all to see at the Cambridge University Library’s website. They have scanned two of the four extant Martens sketchbooks made from the voyage. They include, be still my heart, lovely Valparaiso.
Mary Kingsley, African explorer, ca 1890
For me, graduate school was a happy time, of long days in the archives and long afternoons in the Ratskeller. To be fair though there were also moments of fear: fear of discovering some document that would blow apart my thesis like a howitzer shell. Or worse, fear of finding some book that supported my thesis, indeed supported it so closely that it would render my project superfluous, a poor knock-off of the original. Neither of these happened, though I did have my queasy moments of discovery in the card catalog.
“Der Bücherworm” by Carl Spitzweg, 1850
I calmed my fears by mastering the ways of the database: Historical Abstracts, America: History and Life, the Making of America, Poole’s Periodical Database, Periodical Content Index, Dissertation Abstracts International, the American Periodical Series, etc, etc etc. Database companies market their products as tools for research and networking. And indeed they are. But for the paranoid graduate student, databases are used as radar, informing them when another scholar is flying too close. Happily those days are gone. But I still get a warm, cozy feeling inside when I find a good database. It is researcher’s version of a hot toddy.
Such was my feeling last night when I found AfricaBib, a set of three databases about Africa, the most exciting of which is Women Travelers, Explorers, and Missionaries to Africa. The databases are a thirty-year labor of love by research librarian Davis Bullwinkle who started working on the project in 1974, using, no doubt, index cards. As the project grew, Davis began to upgrade to a computer filing system, one designed by the precocious computer-whiz son of a colleague. After Bullwinkle retired in 2008, the database was taken over by the African Studies Centre (ASC) in Leiden, the Netherlands who keep it up to date. The database currently boasts 1800 items. What does this mean in terms of finding material on women explorers? Playing around with the database last night, I entered “Mary Kingsley” into the keyword search. It pulled up 109 records, including published dissertations, scholarly articles, books, and online essays. Very impressive. Nice work Davis.
In his book New Lands, New Men, William Goetzmann describes the 18th and 19th centuries as the “Second Age of Discovery.” The First Age of Discovery, kicked off by the Mediterranean powers of the 15th century, developed maritime routes to Africa, Asia and the Americas. Best known of these early discoverers is Christopher Columbus who sought to extend Spanish dominion, proselytize natives, and bring home piles of loot, objectives followed by his 16th and 17th century successors.
By the 18th century, however, the goals of exploration had changed. Empire and commerce still had their place in voyages of discovery, but they increasingly made room for other, secular objectives such as natural history, ethnography, and natural philosophy, changes that reflected new attitudes about knowledge and learning back home in Europe.
Captain James Cook, who led three expeditions to the Pacific in the 1760s and 1770s, became the poster-child of Enlightenment voyaging. Of modest birth and education, Cook was not himself a philosopher of nature. But his command of three discovery expeditions – to study the transit of Venus, discover the extent of the Antarctic continent, and investigate the possibility of a Northwest Passage – set the benchmark for scientific expeditions to come over the next century. Cook’s chronicles and those of his men of science (Joseph Banks and Johann Forster) provided models for the expeditions of Jean-Francois de la Perouse (France), Alessandro Malaspina (Spain), and Charles Wilkes (United States) among others.
Cook’s serendipitous discovery of the Hawaiian Islands in 1778 (which he named the Sandwich Islands) was also, ultimately, the cause of his demise. After a series of quarrels with Hawaiians of the Big Island, Cook was killed in a skirmish with islanders on the beach of Kealakekua Bay.
The National Library of Australia and the Center for Cross-Cultural Research have developed an impressive website on Cook’s legacy, South Seas: Voyaging and Cross-Cultural Encounters in the Pacific. Focusing on Cook’s first voyage, South Seas offers accounts from Cook, Joseph Banks, Sydney Parkinson, and John Hawkesworth. A world map of Cook’s route allows the viewer to zoom in features of interest, identifying the dates of Cook’s passage, landfalls, as well as diary entries for dates mentioned. A set of four “Cultural Atlases” offer maps and descriptions of the native peoples which Cook visited in Tierra Del Fuego, the Society Islands, Botany Bay, and Endeavour River. South Seas also offers some indigenous histories and European reactions to Cook’s voyage.
There are a few “links to nowhere” on South Seas. Perhaps the project ran out of funding before it was fully completed. But even in its unfinished form, there are gems here for the student of Enlightenment voyaging.
Also on Cook see:
The Historical Record of New South Wales on Google Books
Many of the full text books on South Seas are also available on Google Books for viewing or download


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NEPI Rockcastle has established itself as the leading owner and operator of retail assets in the CEE region, helping to uphold communities and economies in nine countries.
INNOVATION, EXPERIENCE, EXCELLENCE
The past 30 years have often been described as the golden age of growth for Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), the region having flourished with the emergence of traditional market economies following the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Between 1996 and 2017, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia between them recorded an average 114 percent growth in GDP per capita. By contrast, Europe’s ‘big five’ economies – France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK – managed just 27 percent growth in this same metric during that period.
It is no surprise, therefore, that CEE has become one of the most attractive regions for investment globally, its industries and economies continuing to thrive.
Enter NEPI Rockcastle. The largest and dominant retail real estate group in Central and Eastern Europe, it is a company that has come to epitomise the aforementioned prosperity, having grown 15-fold in the past eight years.
“The evolution of the business in recent years has been very exciting,” explains Mirela Covasa, the firm’s Chief Financial Officer and an individual that is able to recall its impressive rise having originally joined the enterprise back in 2012.
“Real estate accounts for approximately 50 percent of global assets and the industry is constantly evolving in terms of policy, technology, investment complexity and risk. It is a highly dynamic and engaging setting – especially in rapidly growing markets such as those in Eastern Europe where we operate – which challenges everyone working in this field.
“NEPI Rockcastle has achieved a lot in the past decade. Our coverage has expanded from being solely Romanian to CEE-wide, and we are now present in nine countries.”
MAPPING A MONUMENTAL ASCENT
The organisation initially started out in 2007 when New Europe Property Investments (NEPI) invested South African capital in Romanian real estate, doing so with the mandate of creating a portfolio of individually selected assets that offered long-term sustainable rental growth.
“This comprised investments in offices, and then in shopping centres as we realised the potential that retail real estate had in converting Romania’s impressive GDP growth into shareholder wealth,” Covasa adds.
“With more experience came a better understanding of the market, and we started making significant improvements to our assets, first through management initiatives such as enhancing the tenant mix and offering more entertainment options like cinemas and skating rings, and then through more complex projects like extensions and the redevelopment of properties.”
This emphasis on diversification and upgrades led NEPI to its first landmark greenfield project – Bucharest’s Mega Mall.
With a gross leasable area of 75,800 square metres and built area of more than 200,000 square metres, it quickly became one of the capital’s and indeed country’s largest constructions aside from infrastructure developments, acknowledged as a commercial and social hub for the highly populated surrounding neighbourhoods.
“We also started expanding into other CEE countries, initially Serbia and Slovakia, and then the Czech Republic, Croatia and Bulgaria,” Covasa continues. “By 2015, we had obtained our investment-grade rating, which allowed a significant shift in our funding policy from secured, asset-based debt to unsecured, group-level funding.”
Such distinct headway in turn opened a number of new doors for the company, particularly in the way of investment opportunities.
It began to further expand its portfolio with flagship malls in capital cities, acquiring Arena Centar, the largest shopping mall in Zagreb, Croatia, and the Serdika Center and Paradise Center – the top two shopping locations in Sofia, Bulgaria.
“The most significant milestone in our history to date, however, was the successful merger between NEPI and Rockcastle in 2017,” Covasa claims.
Here, the South African entity joined forces with a Poland-focussed group, Rockcastle, that had a similar investment strategy and shareholding base. The assets, expertise and knowledge of the two were combined, creating the market leader in CEE’s retail real estate.
The CFO continues: “Our Polish portfolio now includes the Bonarka City Center, Krakow, Galeria Warminska, Olsztyn and Karolinka Shopping Centre, Opole, and the merger also resulted in a credit rating upgrade to BBB, which bolstered our access to capital markets and decreased the cost of funding.”
EXPANSION UNDERPINNED BY EXPERTISE
Indeed, the pace of progress has not slowed in the near three years since the successful completion of this merger either.
In the past three years it has proceeded to delve across borders once again into Hungary and Lithuania as well as reinforce its position in Romania and Poland, investing into existing centres and new assets such as Promenada Sibiu – a flagship development and major tourist attraction in one of Romania’s most affluent cities.
“In 2018 we also finalised our first greenfield development in Serbia, Promenada Novi Sad, after only 16 months of work,” Covasa states. “This is the largest mall in Serbia, located in the country’s second largest city which will be a 2021 European capital of culture. The mall serves a catchment area of more than 600,000 people.”
Indeed, the sheer size and breadth of NEPI Rockcastle’s portfolio is a key differentiator of the company, providing the platform for sound, consistent long-term growth prospects and a leading investment rating. Many of its assets are dominant in their individual catchment areas with limited or no competition, and are located in geographically diverse areas that are generally densely populated.
In fact, 97 percent of its assets can be found in cities with catchment areas of more than 150,000 people, with 45 percent based in capital cities and Krakow, which is of a similar size.
Its investment strategy has been crucial in facilitating this climb. Yet it is not the only way in which the company continues to stand out from the crowd, it also bringing unrivalled expertise and industry knowledge to the table.
With more than 12 years’ experience in retail real estate, NEPI Rockcastle has mastered the intricate and specialist nuances of successful asset management, leasing and development, underpinned by a best-in-industry workforce and exceptional track record.
“We have a holistically integrated platform, a team with expertise covering all areas of real estate finance, development and investment, and understand the CEE retail markets inside out, as is illustrated by our first-class indicators,” Covasa states confidently.
“Our dynamic leasing strategy, managed by our in-house team, delivers constant and seamless cross-border dialogue with anchor tenants, and these strong relationships bring notable market entries throughout our portfolio.”
To say that this vast experience makes the company conservative or static, however, would be false. Its consistent reinvestment strategy into refurbishments and expansions reflect its proactive mindset, the firm also always on the lookout to bring successful brands on board and implement progressive retail real estate concepts.
Further, the company consistently adapts its business model in line with changing consumer preferences, currently focussed on improving its portfolio in the way of food outlets, entertainment options and general user wellness in the aim of positioning its assets as pillars of communities.
Likewise, the emergence of ecommerce is undoubtedly a challenge to retail real estate, yet it is one that NEPI Rockcastle is embracing and overcoming proactively.
“Our response to ecommerce is omnichannel-focussed,” Covasa affirms.
“Lower ecommerce penetration, highly popular shopping centres and less high street outlets in Central and Eastern Europe create the perfect opportunity to successfully combine offline and online retail, providing customers with the best of both worlds.
Monitoring tenants’ sales and effort ratios, replacing low-performing tenants with exciting new stores, and integrating online and offline by implementing online shopping pickup points and concept stores are all examples of our efforts.
“The assimilation of online delivery into the physical retail environment, through click-and-collect, delivery points and the integration of retailers’ operations with customers’ habits, also results in higher footfall and increased sales due to upselling. And we host events like light shows, TED talks, stand-up comedy, fashions shows, rooftop parties, food truck events, culinary performances, exhibitions and science fairs to back this up and increase community integration.”
CONTRIBUTING TO COMMUNITIES
Ongoing asset development and operational changes are not the only ways in which NEPI Rockcastle provides benefit to the populations that it serves.
While Covasa is happy to admit that it is highly rewarding for the company to see how these efforts contribute to growing local economies and truly impact people’s lives in a positive way, corporate governance is an alternative way in which the company delivers this in a socially responsible manner.
Indeed, it has been a major focus for the company in recent times. The firm has vastly improved its corporate governance, recognised by Sustainalytics – a leading independent provider of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) research and ratings – which appraised its ESG risk as low.
Likewise, FTSE4GOOD Index, which measures the performance of companies demonstrating strong ESG activities, included the company in its latest listing.
“We are committed to being a responsible corporate citizen, focussed on long-term sustainable growth,” Covasa comments. “We consistently invest in improving our buildings’ energy efficiency. All properties have good access to public transport, and we encourage green transportation alternatives such as bicycles by providing adequate facilities.
“Communities are a key stakeholder, and we focus on three main pillars in order to contribute to healthier and more responsible ecosystems, thus improving people’s lives.
These are social and health, the environment and educating communities. We organise hundreds of activities for our customers, and we also partner with local and international NGOs by donating or designing and implementing community programmes.”
The company’s HR strategy also makes a difference, this time to the benefit of the its own employees.
“This includes targeted training programmes which empower people to add value in their current roles and help the organisation to adapt more quickly to changing business environments,” the CFO adds.
Indeed, owing to continual results in its operational endeavours, the company looks set to be able to further make inroads in the way of CSR and employee empowerment moving forward.
The company’s highly impressive 2019 financial results, published February 20, 2020, are reflective of this.
12 years on since its inception and three years since the completed merger, its assets continue to prosper and bolster the company’s already sound business profile, helping it to maintain strong liquidity, a growing pipeline and the opportunity to further capitalise on attractive opportunities in the markets in which it operates.
“We have achieved our targeted results in a competitive market,” Covasa says proudly.
“Net operating income grew 16 percent by comparison to the previous year, and this translated into a growth of 6.6 percent in dividends per share. Tenants turnovers and footfalls increased, and the value of our assets was over €6.2 billion at the end of the year 2019.
“We also maintained our investment grade rating, issued €1 billion unsecured Eurobonds and extended debt maturities, while our loan-to-value ratio remained prudent at 32 percent, and liquidity improved.”
With such impressive performance in mind, the future looks incredibly bright for NEPI Rockcastle.
Moving forward, the company will continue to improve its portfolio in an attempt to maximise returns for its shareholders and other stakeholders, as well as focus on honing its investment and development strategy in line with changes in the market.
Indeed, the global outbreak of COVID-19 may have some adverse effects, many of which have already come to fruition across industries of all kinds. Yet Covasa is still able to end our conversation on a confident note, iterating that the core assets of this company are strong and stable.
She concludes: “We expect to open several new projects, including finalising a new mall in Targu Mures, Romania, and are considering investments in other real estate sectors, including mixed-use projects. We are also developing a green framework, aimed at improving asset efficiency and attracting environmentally friendly financing.
“Are we optimistic? Absolutely. We have a strong business profile, strong liquidity and a highly experienced team of professionals who are constantly seeking new opportunities. We are confident that our skills and expertise will contribute to consolidating our position within the CEE – the region which registered the highest growth rate in Europe.”

domain: geography


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Latest Trade Me data shows tight Hamilton rental market
In a week when Stats NZ published data showing that Hamilton’s population growth is outstripping that of local rival Tauranga, the latest rental market data for Hamilton further emphasises just how tricky it is to find a rental in the city of the future.
The data below is for 3+ bedroom houses in NZ’s 4th largest city and by any measure the market is very tight indeed.
Those searching for a home, to rent or buy, will be paying close attention to Housing Minister Chris Bishop’s promise of a ‘comprehensive plan to solve NZ’s housing crisis’ due in March.
Source: Trade Me

domain: news


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After the phenomenal success of Dear J, it was announced at a live event for Dear J that AKB48 member Itano Tomomi will release yet another solo single. Her 2nd solo single will be released on April 27th, but nothing else about the single have been revealed yet.
I’m not really sure how I feel about this. No one can deny regular Senbatsu Member Tomochin’s popularity. However, Tomomi is hardly the best singer in AKB48. Don’t get me wrong, I really did enjoy Dear J. More than enjoyed it, I absolutely love the song! And I should probably be way more excited about her releasing a 2nd single, but I just can’t be 100% excited because if the song was sung by a different AKB48 singer I would probably like it even more than I do now. I don’t know it’s just sad that she’s only getting to release solo singles because of how popular she is, while better singer who are less popular don’t get the same opportunity. I realize that’s how the idol business works. But it still kinda hate it. However, if it actually liked Tomomi more, or it was a member I liked more, I’d probably be super excited. I guess I’m no better than anyone else. XD
No doubt, as soon as the previews for the song are released I’ll be all over that.


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Listed below are the US Patents. In many cases there are corresponding foreign patents.
Belt Conveyors for Bulk Materials, Sixth Edition, published by Conveyor Equipment Manufacturers Association (CEMA), Naples FL, 2005. (Editor and Chair of the CEMA Book Committee)
FOUNDATIONS3: The Practical Resource for Total Dust & Material Control, Swinderman, R. Todd, Larry J. Goldbeck, and Andrew D. Marti,published by Martin Engineering, Neponset IL, 2002.
FOUNDATIONS2: The Pyramid Approach To Control Dust and Spillage From Belt Conveyors, Swinderman, R. Todd, Larry J. Goldbeck, Richard P. Stahura, and Andrew D. Marti,published by Martin Engineering, Neponset IL, 1997.
Conveyor Transfer Stations: Problems And Solutions, Sabina, William E, Richard P. Stahura, and R. Todd Swinderman,published by Martin Engineering, Neponset, IL, 1984.
FOUNDATIONS: Conveyor Transfer Point Design and Construction; Swinderman, R. Todd, Steven L. Becker, Larry J. Goldbeck, Richard P. Stahura, and Andrew D. Marti,published by Martin Engineering, Neponset IL, 1981.
“Bulk Material Science and Improving Power Plant Coal Handling,” R. Todd Swinderman, P.E. and Andy Marti, Energy-Tech.com, September 2008
“Cost Effective Technologies to Control Dust and Fugitive Material” in Bulk Solids Handling “Open Pit Mining Edition 2005, November 2005.
“Wear Life of Polyurethane Conveyor Belt Cleaners,” Bulk Solids Handling, October 2000.
“Belt Cleaners, Skirting and Belt Top Cover Wear,” Bulk Solids Handling, November 1995.
“Engineering your belt conveyor transfer point,” Powder and Bulk Engineering, July 1994.
“The Conveyor Drive Power Consumption of Belt Cleaners,” Bulk Solids Handling, May 1991.
“Considerations on the use of repaired polyurethane wear parts,” Mining Engineering, March 1991.
“Using flow aid devices to create combined-flow silos,” Powder and Bulk Engineering, November 1990.
“Using the Concept of Combined Flow in Bulk Solids Handling,” Plant Engineering, May 1986.
“Martin Engineering: A Company Profile,” Bulk Solids Handling, March 1985.
New Conveyor Architecture White Paper, 2/15/09 for PRB Coal Users Group, May 12-14, 2009 Rosemont, Illinois, Dust Accumulation Resistant Conveyor Structure
“Advancements in Systems for Washing and Drying Conveyor Belts,” presented at 2006 SME Annual Meeting, St. Louis, March 2006; published in Bulk Material Handling by Conveyor Belt #6, SME, 2006.
“Cost Effective Technologies to Control Dust and Fugitive Material,” presented at BeltCon 13 Conference, South Africa, August 2005.
“A Standard for the Specification of Belt Cleaning Systems Based on Performance” SME Annual Meeting 2004, Denver published in. Bulk Material Handling by Conveyor Belt #5, SME, 2004.
“Opportunities for Improving Conveying in Lignite Mines,” Lignite Days, Belchatow, Poland, April 2002.
“Conveyor Belt Impact Cradles: Standards and Practices” presented at 2002 SME Annual Meeting, Phoenix, February, 2002. Published in Material Handling by Conveyor Belt #4, SME, 2002.
“Air Supported Conveyors for Bulk Solids,” presented at Bulk Transport 2001, New Orleans, November 2001.
“Opportunities for Improvement in Conveying for Open Cast Mines,” Mining Indonesia Conference 2001, Jakarta, Indonesia, November 2001.
“Conveyor Belt Impact Cradles: Current North American Standards and Practices,” Seventh International Conference on Bulk Materials Storage, Handling & Transportation, Wollongong Australia, October 2001.
“The New CEMA,” Seventh International Conference on Bulk Materials Storage, Handling & Transportation, Wollongong Australia, October 2001.
“Conveyor Belt Wear,” MIBRAG Technical Luncheon, November 1996.
“Cleaner and Safer Conveyor Belt Technology, Presentation to Distributors, October 1996.
“Belt Cleaners and Belt Top Cover Wear,” Fifth International Conference on Bulk Materials Storage, Handling & Transportation, Wollongong Australia. August 1995.
“The State Of The Art in Conveyor Transfer Points,” National Convention of Thermal Power Engineers, India, January 1994.
“Power Requirements for Conveyor Accessories,” Fourth International Conference on Bulk Materials Storage, Handling & Transportation, Wollongong Australia, August 1992.
“Combined Flow: Considerations on Design of Silos and Selection of Flow Aid Devices,” Powder & Bulk Solids Conference and Exhibition, Chicago, June 1990.
“A Preliminary Investigation into the Effects of Air Cannon Discharge on Concrete and Steel Structures,” IFAA Technical Paper, 1987 co-author.
“Combined Flow – An Economically Viable Alternative for 100% Live Storage,” Chemical Processing Conference, New York, NY, 1985.
CEMA 550 – Committee chairman for updating the standards for the classification of bulk solids.
CEMA 575-2000 – Committee chairman for writing new standard on impact cradles.
“Dust Eliminated by Belt Cleaners,” July 2008
“Air Tensioners vs. Spring Tensioners,” March 1991.
“Power Requirements for Belt Cleaning Devices a Quick Method,” January 1991.
“DURT, The Movie,” 20 Minute noncommercial video on the problems of dust and spillage in bulk material handling. 1989.
“Additional Power Requirements for GUARDABELT® Systems,” May 1988.
“Conveyor Transfer Stations Problems and Solutions,” 1988.
“Application and Mounting of Air Cannons,” July 21, 1987.
“Measurement and Control of Spillage and Leakage at Conveyor Transfer Stations,” January 1986.
“A Review of Flow Aids and Mass Flow,” 1984.


text: For that finishing touch. Tate and Lyle's icing sugar is essential for making glacé or butter cream icing. Simply mix the icing sugar with water to produce a glossy glacé icing perfect for any size cake. For butter cream icing simply cream the soft butter first. Ideal for use with butter cream icing, dusting cakes and glace. Each pack is 3kg. There are 4 packs in each 12.2kg wholesale bulk pack.

domain: food


text:
Labour party ‘hypocrites’ for putting ‘political correctness ahead of equality and British culture’, claims a UKIP MEP after men and women sat in separate rows during an event in Oldham.
The meeting, organised by the party’s Friends of Bangladesh group, was held ahead of Thursday’s crucial by-election in Oldham.
Critics believe splitting up the sexes at the party-run event was ‘shameful’ and accused Labour of compromising British values to win votes.
UKIP’s North West MEP Louise Bours said: “Once again Labour has put baffling political correctness ahead of equality and British culture.
“To the majority of British people these segregations are unacceptable, and Labour should not have gone ahead with the meeting under such circumstances.
“By proceeding with this blatant illustration of inequality and division Labour has either compromised their ethics for the sake of votes, or they didn’t have any to begin with.
“It is utter hypocrisy. After the child abuse scandals of Rochdale, Rotherham and elsewhere due to political correctness, I think we can be confident Labour has always had dubious ethics.”
The photographs of the event in Oldham West and Royton, where one in five voters is from an ethnic minority, shows Asian men and women sitting in separate rows.
— Debbie Abrahams (@Debbie_abrahams) November 29, 2015
A Labour party spokesperson has since rebutted UKIP’s accusations, claiming that the imposition of gender segregation is ‘absolutely untrue’.
They added that UKIP are ‘clutching at straws’ because they are unable to answer the ‘real issues facing voters in Oldham’.
Image courtesy of the BBC via. YouTube, with thanks.


text:
Malin Akerman talked to OnTheRedCarpet.com about how she came to have her tongue in Tom Cruise's ear in their new film, "Rock of Ages."
"That actually wasn't in the script," Akerman told OnTheRedCarpet.com of the aural kiss. "It was when we choreographed the scene that that happened. So I think it started with the music and the stellar cast and the fact that I was going to be able to sing in this. Then of course, [the love scene with Tom Cruise] was one of the most hilarious moments for me, ever, in a scene I've done - just all the silliness that we had to do in the scene when he's on his knees, singing into my butt, I mean come on - it's amazing!"
In the musical movie adaptation, Akerman plays Constance, a journalist who intends to write an expose on "icon of rock" Stacee Jaxx (Cruise) but ends up sleeping with the rocker while singing a duet of Foreigner's "I Want To Know What Love Is."
"That was such a cool part of making this film - getting to actually be able to sing the songs yourself and such an epic song! [It was] so much pressure to do a good job on it and I was certainly impressed by Tom's voice because I had no idea he could sing at all - that was really exciting," Akerman said of her duet with Cruise.
Akerman said that her love scene with Cruise wasn't very romantic, but she enjoyed it for comedy's sake and said their kiss was "like two dogs licking each other."
"I met Tom about a year before we did this movie because I was doing a movie with his wife," Akerman said, referring to the 2010 film, "The Romantics." "So, of course everyone gets excited when they meet Tom, because he's such a legendary actor, but having gotten to know him over the year? it was more just 'Oh my God, I'm getting to act with this amazing actor' and I mean, he brought it. Whenever he's on, it's done, your game just goes up here, it's amazing."
The 34-year-old actress had her first starring role opposite Ben Stiller in "The Heartbreak Kid." She also had roles in "Wanderlust," "27 Dresses," "The Proposal," "Couples Retreat" and "The Watchmen." The Sweden-born actress is the lead singer in the band The Petalstones and married the band's Italian drummer Roberto Zincone in 2007.
"My mom was actually an aerobics instructor, so music filled our home at all times ," Akerman said of the era. "The music I was listening to at that time was probably like Cyndi Lauper, Madonna and Michael Jackson. Having said that, once I turned 12, in the early '90's, once I discovered rock 'n' roll, it was over. It was Bon Jovi, it was Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Metallica, Nirvana - that was it. For the rest of my life."
"Rock of Ages" is based on a Broadway musical, which included tracks from "hair metal" and '80s rock legends such as Twisted Sister, Poison, Whitesnake, Foreigner, Journey, Joan Jett and Def Leppard, which released the title song "Rock of Ages" in 1983.
"Rock of Ages" is slated to open in theaters on June 15, watch a trailer below.
Reporting by Cari Skillman of KABC Television, parent company of OnTheRedCarpet.com that also produces the entertainment show "On The Red Carpet"(check for local TV listings).

domain: celebrity


Day center services' pros, cons debated in Springfield
Concept is working in Decatur
Brian Kearns sat with his back to the television reading a mystery novel at the UTurn Life Center in Springfield last week.
Kearns, 58, is staying at the winter warming shelter run by Helping Hands. He spends his days riding his bike through the city, reading at the library or spending time at UTurn.
“Even during the day, there’s not really any place to go once you get put out in the morning,” said Kearns, who is applying for Social Security after a hip replacement left him unable to work. “You can end up sitting outside all day, which is just as bad as not having a place at night.”
He returns to UTurn because of the people there, including founder The Rev. Willmar Cohen.
Cohen started the center six years ago, which now shares part of the building on Washington Street with Helping Hands. It’s open six days a week, mostly in the afternoons.
The facility has two restrooms and a large kitchen, where volunteers cook breakfast on Sunday mornings.
Cohen offers coffee and water, and serves meals on the weekends when many of the other breadlines or soup kitchens are closed. It’s an effort to not duplicate services.
“If there is a place that does those things, why reinvent the wheel? Just refer them to that place and we don’t have to do that,” Cohen said.
He estimates that 75 people visit the center on a weekly basis. But he’d like to expand the $60,000-per-year operation to serve more people and hire a full-time case manager.
“I believe if we can expand and get a social worker and get to know them, we can help a lot more of them,” he said.
Some agencies working with the homeless in Springfield have said the city needs a larger center with access to laundry facility, showers and a place to get mail. It also would provide an opportunity for a more coordinated approach to address homelessness in the capital city.
But many housing policy experts say that finding people a permanent place to live first instead of meeting emergency needs is the most effective long-term solution.
Soy City solution
In Decatur, a mental health organization has run a day center for the homeless and those with substance abuse or mental illness for more than a decade. City officials and agencies say it fills an important need.
Residents of Decatur may not know there are people without housing in their city, because many hang out at the Oasis Day Center instead of downtown or in Central Park, said the center’s director, Todd Tuggle.
Over three months during the summer, more than 1,000 people visited the center. It has restrooms and a shower, and a washer and dryer available to regular clients.
A nurse practitioner and medical assistant provide basic medical care weekly through a partnership with the Community Health Improvement Center.
The 11 staff members refer clients to the help that is available, free meals, job-training programs and shelters that have open beds. They can assist clients in getting a state identification card, which is necessary to access food stamps, Social Security and many other services.
The key, Tuggle said, is that people experiencing homelessness, substance abuse or mental health issues have a place to go consistently.
He and his staff build relationships with them, understand what their needs are and what help they will accept.
“If Oasis wasn’t here, there wouldn’t be a centralized spot where someone would know them all,” Tuggle said.
A federal grant of about $300,000 through the Social Security Administration covers three-quarters of the budget. Funding from the United Way of Decatur and Mid-Illinois and Decatur Township, as well as private donations, make up the other $100,000.
The city of Decatur doesn’t provide any funds, but is supportive of the center.
“It’s been a benefit to the residents that need help. It’s filled a gap,” said Richelle Irons, Decatur's director of neighborhood services.
Find housing first
One reason there is a demand for emergency services like the Oasis Day Center, according to Housing Action Illinois policy director Bob Palmer, is that there is a lack of affordable housing.
Creating a drop-in center is helpful in addressing an emergency need, but it’s not enough for a permanent solution, he said.
He supports the model where agencies find clients a permanent place to live, then offer mental health counseling, job training or other services as the best approach for a long-term solution to chronic homelessness.
“That’s the best long-term solution, rather than creating more shelters or transitional programs,” he said.
“In theory, I very much believe that’s true. Unfortunately, we are so far from having enough affordable housing that we need to keep providing emergency services as we continue to expand the amount of affordable housing available.”
Jeff Mueller, who runs the men’s shelter at the Salvation Army in Decatur, said he was against the housing-first strategy for a long time.
“There are a lot of chronic mental health issues,” he said. “From a safety standpoint, you don’t want to put them in a house or apartment before they’re ready.”
But this year, Mueller tried something different. He partnered with Tuggle and other Decatur-based organizations to identify chronically homeless families and individuals. The intent was to get them a permanent place to live.
The Oasis Day Center played a key role in helping to find and identify people who have been without permanent housing for a year or longer.
“There is an awareness and centralization of those folks that would be considered chronically homeless because they come here,” Tuggle said.
They identified 26 families and helped get about half of them housing.
“They’re doing well, but what it takes is follow-up and after-care services,” Mueller said. “We have to have the staff and funds available for that.”
'See what it's like'
The Oasis Day Center sits across the street from a union hall and next to a church a few blocks from downtown Decatur.
The location is within walking distance of the Salvation Army shelter, Good Samaritan Inn soup kitchen and other agencies, which is important in keeping the services accessible, Tuggle said.
In an effort to keep the clients and staff safe, the center has strict rules against drinking alcohol on the premises and hanging out outside. This also is important in keeping up good relationships with the neighbors, Tuggle said.
“They get tired of it sometimes. But for the most part, we keep up good relationships,” he said.
Palmer, the Housing Action Illinois official, said neighborhood relations is a challenge for shelters and supportive housing complexes across the state.
He can point to many examples of communities struggling with where these facilities might go. In Lake County, there is a lawsuit pending in a dispute over a 14-unit supportive housing project in a Lake Zurich neighborhood that some residents object to.
Public processes that engage residents and agencies can help ease the tension, Palmer said, but it’s not a panacea.
Back in Springfield, Kearns said people experiencing homelessness should be more involved in the decision-making of how and where services are provided.
“Decisions get made by people who have no clue what’s going on,” Kearns said. “Have the people that make the decisions come by the shelter, see what it’s like, know the people, listen to them. They’ll find out, not everyone has that stereotype.”
Cohen said he plans to meet with Springfield officials this winter to talk about expanding UTurn Life Center.
“I think we can be a lot more successful if we have people on a daily basis and build that trust,” Cohen said.
-- Contact Mary Hansen: 788-1528, firstname.lastname@example.org, twitter.com/maryfhansen.


text:
After a roller-coaster performance in the first seven games of the PBA Governors Cup, Rain or Shine decided to switch import, parting ways with Dior Lowhorn and bringing in former Colorado State standout Greg Smith.
Guiao felt the import change was necessary at this point, considering that they couldn’t seem to get the spark they needed from the wide-bodied Lowhorn, who is in his third PBA tour of duty.
With Smith, who is expected to make it within the 6-5 import height limit, the Elasto Painters have someone who can score inside and outside, is athletic and can run up and down the floor.
“I just saw him in practice today and ang first impression ko, mukha namang mabait, mataas naman ang basketball IQ and he can give us the quickness that we want because he wants to run up and down the court,” Guiao told FOX Sports on Tuesday.
The fiery Rain or Shine mentor said the 25-year-old Smith is in game shape since he’s coming off a stint with Fuerza Regia in the Mexican pro league.
The American forward has also played in Brazil, Israel, Latvia and Argentina.
“We’re hoping it’s in the import and malalaman naman natin yan kasi dalawang magkasunud na laro naman kami,” said Guiao.
Smith will make his PBA debut on Friday against streaking Mahindra, before Rain or Shine faces NLEX on Sunday. – Richard Dy
Follow this writer on Twitter: @richava
Photo taken from Youtube – Greg Smith CSU Rams Highlights


text:
Frederic Edwin Church book. This is the largest project thus far undertaken on Frederic Edwin Church: a comprehensive scholarly catalogue of his works of art still at Olana State Historical Site, his former home in upstate New York.
Frederic Edwin Church book. Divided into sixteen chronological sections, it covers 736 drawings, paintings, and prints, spanning nearly sixty years of his life.
Chicago Distribution Center. The National Council of American-Soviet Friendship and Art in the Shadow of the Cold War. Bailey. Art Is Not the Archive. Mobility for the Masses: The Reception of Thomas Hovenden’s Breaking Home Ties. Siting Childe Hassam.
Carr, Frederic Edwin Church: Catalogue Raisonné of Works of Art at Olana State Historic Site, vol. I, New York, 1994, pp. 203, 206. Exhibited. In the present work, Church integrates imagery from the mountains and lakes of Vermont and Maine into a magnificent panorama of placid waters and fertile forests under hazy, distant peaks and a dramatic, colorful sky. Perhaps particularly inspired by Bigelow Mountain in Maine, the vista resembles a sketch of that location from August 1852 in the collection of the Olana State Historic Site.
Gilian Wohlauer, New England Quarterly show more.
Carr, Gerald L. Frederic Edwin Church: Catalogue Raisonné of Works of Art at Olana State Historic Site Cambridge University Press, 1994. Carr, Gerald L. Olana Landscapes – The World of Frederic E. Church New York: Rizzoli, 1989. Fels, Thomas Weston and Kevin J. Avery Fire and Ice; Treasures from the Photographic Collection of Frederic Church at Olana New York: Dahesh Museum of Art, 2002 Purchase this book online
Frederic Edwin Church. catalogue raisonné of works of art at Olana State Historic Site. Olana State Historic Site (Hudson, . There's no description for this book yet.
Frederic Edwin Church. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. Sponsored by Friends of Olana, In. Classifications.
Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900) - artwork prices, pictures and values. aregrateful to Dr. Gerald L. Carr for preparing the following essay. Carr's forthcoming book on Frederic Edwin Church and Lebanon has been accepted for publication by American University of Beirut Press. A chance, congenial encounter at Beirut, Lebanon, prompted this, Frederic Edwin Church's first full-fledged Near Eastern studio venture.
Find nearly any book by Gerald L. Carr. Get the best deal by comparing prices from over 100,000 booksellers
Find nearly any book by Gerald L. Get the best deal by comparing prices from over 100,000 booksellers. Frederic Edwin Church: Romantic Landscapes and Seascapes. ISBN 9780974162171 (978-741621-7-1) Hardcover, Adelson, 2008. (1994). Frederic Edwin Church: A Catalogue Raisonné of Works of Art at Olana State Historic Site. New York, Cambridge, and Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. (2000). New York: Berry-Hill Galleries. (2007).
Carr's forthcoming book on Frederic Edwin Church and Lebanon has been accepted for publication by American University of Beirut Press. Church painted this work during his only transatlantic journey, November 1867 to June 1869

domain: artistic


I heard Roberto Mancini is going to quit Inter Milan at the end of the season.
Mancini made his announcement shortly after Fernando Torres’ goal saw the Serie A leaders get knocked out of the UEFA Champions League by Premier League Liverpool at the San Siro to seal a 3-0 aggregate defeat.
Club president Massimo Moratti must be wondering if anyone out there is interested to take on the role as Inter Milan manager in the summer. I’m sure Moratti has already begun to consider who would fit the role.
I’m guessing Inter will be looking for someone who is out of contract, so there is no compensation to pay; possibly a tactical genius who builds team success from a strong defensive framework, and someone who may have already suggested he would be looking for a top job in Serie A.
I wonder if Massimo Moratti is narrowing the shortlist down to certain nationalities? Portugese for instance.


text:
On Thursday, Zoe Lofgren unveiled sweeping legislation to overhaul the immigration court system by moving the courts outside the executive branch and making them an independent entity. Currently, the courts are housed within the Department of Justice. Under Lofgren’s bill, immigration courts would be restructured under Article I of the Constitution, turning them into an independent system.
The proposal is intended to insulate immigration courts from politics, preventing presidents and attorneys general from using the courts to shape their immigration policies.
The plan by Lofgren also aims to alleviate a crushing case backlog — approaching 1.6 million cases — that hampers the entire immigration system. The bill would allow the immigration court system to establish its own budget and empower its judges to control their own dockets and compel agency action that is withheld or delayed.
The issue of independent immigration courts has attracted lawmaker attention for years. In the last half decade, both Democrat and Republican-led committees have hosted congressional hearings on the challenges facing U.S. immigration courts.
However, as immigration has grown increasingly partisan in recent years, many Republican lawmakers have lost interest in forging compromises on the issue. The bill’s introduction follows the busiest year at the southwest border in recorded history, with border agents logging more than 1.7 million encounters with migrants in fiscal 2021.
Lofgren’s proposal is backed by the American Bar Association, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the Federal Bar Association and the National Association of Immigration Judges.

domain: sociology


text:
The MCRU Research Laboratory Tech Lead’s primary function is to provide the infrastructure and logistical support to conduct adult and pediatric human clinical research trials, in accordance with institutional and health center guidelines. The applicant will adhere to regulatory compliance, and demonstrate knowledge of a diverse protocol portfolio associated with MCRU’s research support services. This will include understanding protocol structure, and interpretation of the study to comply with the study parameters.
• Collaborate with the APD to understand, develop, and implement tools to assess study complexity, workload issues, budgetary needs and staffing patterns.
• Lead by example to demonstrate dedication to superior customer service and satisfaction, showing compassion, flexibility and creativity to accommodate participant and/or customer needs.
• Provides oversight of daily laboratory operations
• Onboards new staff members, provide performance coaching and complete performance evaluations, approves payroll and time off requests.
• In partnership with the APD and Faculty Director, may manage hiring, dismissal, and disciplinary actions related to MCRU laboratory personnel
• Prepares regular evaluation metrics, updates leadership on performance, suggests best practice for improving laboratory service function.
• Represents and markets lab services unique to MICHR to the greater institutional community
• Maintain knowledge of laboratory software capabilities, investigate updates and impact to lab workflow.
• Has extensive knowledge of lab equipment (CVC and DF), manages repairs (or arranges repair) and maintenance of lab equipment. Maintains contractual agreement with vendor in partnership with MICHR finance lead.
• Maintain OSHA and Joint Commission standards at both the CVC and DF location.
• Accurately maintains and regularly submits billing reports for lab services rendered.
• Works with the APD and Institutional QA/QC staff to implement a quality assurance/quality control process with staff to assess study and regulatory compliance, data quality, compliance with research billing activities,sample management, and lab practice.
• Works with study teams to develop lab protocols and reference sheets to facilitate individual research studies.
Staffing Responsibilities (30% Allocation)
• Staffs bench (30% of allocation)
• Demonstrates proficiency of processing, shipping and handling of research specimens.
• Demonstrates quality control of research specimens
• Demonstrates the ability to troubleshoot study team problems with collections, kits and/or specimen issues
• Demonstrates proficiency of data entry/ database maintenance
• Demonstrates proficiency of managing clinical trials specimen and data collection, processing, and distribution
• Demonstrates the ability to adhere to deadlines while ensuring specimen collection is performed quickly and effectively within the standards operating procedures
• Demonstrates proficiency to work aseptically
• Demonstrates proficiency to work and maintain GMP and GLP/GCP
• Demonstrates proficiency to assist in billing
• Demonstrates the ability to be accountable for success as well as errors
• Demonstrates the ability to work effectively and function as a team within the lab and the unit
• Demonstrates proficiency to development and modification of protocol – specific SOP’s
• Demonstrates the ability to complete other duties as assigned prioritizing and executing daily laboratory workflow to ensure the MCRU Core lab is performing to a high standard implemented by the Laboratory Supervisor/ Michigan Institute of Clinical Health and Research
• Prioritizes lab staff duties in response to lab function and workload demands.
• Maintains a close working relationship with MCRU Program Director and the Office Coordinator to strategize execution of protocols.
• Promotes teamwork within the lab and across departmental and institutional groups.
• Synthesizes staff schedule/location and approval of schedule variation requests.
BA or BS in science related field with at least 2-3 years lab experience is required. Must have 3+ years of recent research and related clinical trial experience; a sound and in-depth understanding of clinical research; extensive experience with diverse portfolio of sample management; demonstrated ability to function independently as well as in a team environment; and to interact and communicate effectively with the research team. A minimum of three years’ supervisory, or lead experience is needed in a research or health care environment
Understand compliance issues related to human subject research, knowledge and application of Good Lab Practice (GLP) guidelines. Under FLSA, incumbents in this position meet the criteria for exempt status.
At least 5 years lab experience is preferred.
Flexible hours, and rotating Saturdays.
CVC and Domino's Farm
Michigan Medicine conducts background screening and pre-employment drug testing on job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent job offer and may use a third party administrator to conduct background screenings. Background screenings are performed in compliance with the Fair Credit Report Act.
Michigan Medicine improves the health of patients, populations and communities through excellence in education, patient care, community service, research and technology development, and through leadership activities in Michigan, nationally and internationally. Our mission is guided by our Strategic Principles and has three critical components; patient care, education and research that together enhance our contribution to society.
Job openings are posted for a minimum of seven calendar days. This job may be removed from posting boards and filled anytime after the minimum posting period has ended. (originally posted 11/6/17 through 11/20/17)
U-M EEO/AA Statement
The University of Michigan is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.

domain: biology


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CSX identifies track defect in Bradenton
BRADENTON, Fla. (WWSB) - The City of Bradenton confirms that CSX transportation has discovered a track defect in a railroad crossing.
CSX Transportation identified the defect in the railroad crossing at 9th Avenue West, between 5th Street W and 6th Street W. The city states that this will necessitate a track closure to make necessary repairs. The track will be closed at the area indicated in the map below beginning next Tuesday, March 28 at 6 a.m.
Crews estimate a reopening by Wednesday, March 29.
This is a total closure meaning no traffic will be allowed across the track until the work is complete. That will require traffic to be retoured. Signage will be in place marking detour routes.
Copyright 2023 WWSB. All rights reserved.


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In a news release dated June 25, 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug management authorized the first medication derived through the Cannabis sativa plant: epidiolex. 1
Epidiolex is definitely a solution that is oral of (CBD) which are approved for the treating specific forms of epilepsy. It’s the very first drug that is FDA-approved the treating seizures in Dravet Syndrome. Additionally it is approved to treat Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome.
This begs the concern: can cannabis-derived CBD help offer relief for those of you struggling with other seizure problems? Further individual medical trials are necessary to answer this concern with certainty. But this approval provides a cure for those experiencing treatment-resistant epilepsy.
What Exactly Is Epilepsy?
Epilepsy is really a main neurological system condition involving irregular mind activity that outcomes in seizures.


Stepping up to stardom
How winners are handling their finances
Step Up or Step Out season two winners are making wise choices in spending their R80,000, while last year's winners, Stunners, thought sharing R50,000 of the R60,000 prize money among themselves was the best thing to do.
The e.tv dance show finale was held in Johannesburg on Sunday.
This year's winners, Tembisa Revolution from Tembisa in the East Rand, took home a whopping R80,000. Each crew member was also given a scooter.
Group leader Moses Moeng said they were planning to empower each member with skills.
"We understand that we must be disciplined and have decided to send each member of the group to further their studies," Moeng said.
"We all have matric, and going to school to learn about business is the only way the group can grow."
Tembisa Revolution is also using their fame to motivate children in their local schools.
Stunners were from Orange Farm. The group was this year's guest-host during the show's finale. Stunners spokesman Thabang Leshoro said they bought uniforms for the group with part of the R60,000 they won last year.
"After buying the uniforms, we shared the rest among the five of us - each getting R10,000," Leshoro said.
Tembisa Revolution have already received invitations to perform at different shows.


It appears that drinking everyday isn’t so bad after all. (Who woulda thunk it?!?)
Read the story below:
Moderate alcohol consumption may help prevent heart disease, Canadian researchers said after reviewing dozens of studies conducted over three decades, adding to the evidence that drinking can offer health benefits.
People who have one drink or fewer each day are 14 percent to 25 percent less likely to develop heart disease compared with those who don’t imbibe, according to an analysis of 84 studies conducted since the 1980s. Moderate amounts of alcohol consumed daily increase the levels of so-called good cholesterol in the body, a separate review of 63 studies found.
The results, published today on the British Medical Journal’s website, bolster those of previous trials. Two or three drinks a day may prevent people from having heart attacks or strokes after undergoing heart-bypass surgery, Italian researchers said Nov. 14. Men in Belfast who drank most of their alcohol on weekends had almost double the risk of heart disease compared with French drinkers who spread consumption over a week, according to a study published last year.
“There may now be an impetus to better communicate to the public that alcohol, in moderation, may have overall health benefits that outweigh the risks” in some patients, wrote the researchers, led by William Ghali from the University of Calgary.
Alcohol provides benefits regardless of the type of spirit, the researchers said. One drink containing 15 grams of alcohol a day for women, and two drinks for men, is good for health, they found. A standard drink, such as 12 ounces of beer or 5 ounces of wine, contains about 13.7 grams of alcohol, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
The research was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Program of Research Integrating Substance Use Information Into Mainstream Healthcare and the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment.
Well you know the old saying…..a drink a day takes the pain away!


ETH Zürich & Microsoft study: Demystifying serverless ML training
Serverless computing is a new type of cloud-based compute infrastructure originally developed for web microservices and IoT applications. As it frees model developers from concerns about capacity planning, configuration, management, maintenance, operation and scaling of containers, virtual machines and physical servers, computing without server has grown in popularity with machine learning (ML) researchers in recent years.
Additionally, the benefits of serverless computing have also sparked interest in its adoption for data-intensive workloads such as ETL (extract, transform, load), query processing, and ML, where it can significantly reduce costs. Riding this trend, a research team from ETH Zurich and Microsoft recently conducted a systematic comparative study of distributed ML training on serverless infrastructures (FaaS) and serverful infrastructures (IaaS), with the aim of ” identify and understand the system tradeoffs involved in distributed ML. training with serverless infrastructures.
Serverless computing is offered by leading cloud service providers such as AWS Lambda, Azure Functions, and Google Cloud Functions. Although researchers are increasingly choosing FaaS for ML inference, it remains unclear whether FaaS is a good choice for ML training. This “training platform as a service” paradigm is appealing to both industry and academia, and AWS now offers serverless ML training in AWS Lambda using the SageMaker and AutoGluon platforms.
The paper Towards the demystification of serverless machine learning training begs the question: When can a serverless infrastructure (FaaS) outperform a VM-based “server” (IaaS) infrastructure for distributed ML training?
The team summarizes their contributions as follows:
- Systematically explore the algorithm choice and system design for FaaS and IaaS ML training strategies and describe the trade-off between a diverse range of ML models, training workloads, and infrastructure choices.
- Develop an analytical model that characterizes the trade-off between FaaS and IaaS training, and use it to speculate on the performance of potential configurations used by future systems.
The team uses LambdaML – a FaaS-based ML system prototype built on Amazon Lambda – to investigate the tradeoffs involved in forming ML models on serverless infrastructures. With this approach, a user specifies training configurations such as data location, resources, optimization algorithm, and hyperparameters in the AWS web UI. AWS then submits the job to a serverless infrastructure that allocates resources based on user demand. Training data is partitioned and stored in AWS S3, and each “worker” (running instance) maintains a copy of the local model and uses the LambdaML library to train an ML model. The LambdaML training pipeline has five stages: load data, calculate statistics, send statistics, aggregate statistics, and update the model.
Researchers are exploring four major aspects of LambdaML implementation: the distributed optimization algorithm, communication channels, communication models, and synchronization protocols. They focus on two distributed optimization algorithms, Distributed Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) and Distributed Alternate Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM), and use a storage service such as S3 or ElastiCache as a communication channel. The team uses AllReduce and ScatterReduce as communication models and designs a two-phase synchronous protocol that includes a merge and update phase.
LambdaML performance was evaluated by comparing the different design options referenced above using the Higgs, RCV1, and Cifar10 datasets. The team implemented GA-SGD (SGD with gradient mean), MA-SGD (SGD with model mean), and ADMM in addition to LambdaML, using ElastiCache for Memcached as the external storage service.
From the empirical results, the team concluded that FaaS can be faster than IaaS, but only under a specific regime, i.e. when the underlying workload can be made efficient in terms of convergence and quantity. of data communicated. They also note that while FaaS is much faster, it’s not that much cheaper. A valid idea in all scenarios is that even when FaaS is faster than IaaS, it is generally comparably priced.
Overall, the results confirm that LambdaML provides a fair comparison between FaaS and IaaS systems, taking a significant step forward in demystifying serverless ML.
The paper Towards the demystification of serverless machine learning training is on arXiv.
Author: Hecate He | Editor: Michael Sarazen, Chain Zhang
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Verne Troyer, the actor best-known for portraying Mini Me in the “Austin Powers” trilogy has died. He was 49.
The news of the actor’s death was reported on his Instagram account on Saturday afternoon.
“It is with great sadness and incredibly heavy hearts to write that Verne passed away today,” a post to the account read.
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I was going to rate this 2 stars, but some people ate it. I made this for the first time on Easter. I'm glad I warned everybody that I was experimenting with a new recipe! It says to put the fried onions on before putting it in the oven. I put them on after it had been in for 15 minutes and I'm glad I did. After 10 minutes,they were very dark. Besides this, I made it as the recipe reads. I found it bland and I agree with others that the cheese was unnecessary. At the end of dinner, I noted that guests had eaten everything on their plate EXCEPT for the green beans. Nobody wanted to take any of the leftovers home. That told me all I needed to know. Will go beck to the traditional dish next year.
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I was going to rate this 2 stars, but some people ate it. I made this for the first time on...


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Published in News
Outsourcer lays off outsourced staff
Failed performance review
Outsourcer Tata Consultancy Services has fired 500 of its employees after a performance appraisal showed that they were not meeting expectations.
A company spokesman, Pradipta Bagchi, said that those who could not meet the performance requirements of his company were asked to look for another job commensurate with their abilities. Tata has a high attrition rate of 12.2 percent, but is one of the lowest in an industry plagued by high employee turnover.
Bagchi claimed the latest move was not unusual and it is part of our annual performance exercise. Last month, the Mumbai-based company cut a variable component of the pay package that was linked to its performance, for the first time in two years.
Last week, IBM fired 700 entry-level trainee programmers across India based on their performance in aptitude tests.


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Is Rash A Sign Of Covid In Babies. Sepsis, a type of systemic infection that can damage the organs ; Data from the app shows that most children testing positive for covid had symptoms such as fatigue, headache, fever, sore throat and a loss of appetite.
Few had rashes in the mouth and on their feet. He says the symptoms they are seeing in children include fever, cough, rash, and peeling skin. Sepsis, a type of systemic infection that can damage the organs ;
Table of Contents
Doctors Warn That A Rash Could Be A Sign Of Kawasaki Disease Which Has A Range Of Symptoms Including High Fever, Inflammation Of The Eyes,.
Covid rashes can occur alongside other covid symptoms across all age groups. Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing; Sign of a coronavirus infection.
Of The 88 Corona Positive Patients Being Treated, 20% Developed Skin Rashes.
A rash, abdominal symptoms such as stomach ache, diarrhoea, being sick, a high temperature for more than three days; Red or purple toes (or fingers) swelling on the toes (or fingers) a small amount of pus If your child has covid toes, you may see:
If A Child Has Been Exposed And Is Not Showing Symptoms, They Recommend To Quarantine And Keep Them.
The researchers also said 15 per cent of. Sepsis, a type of systemic infection that can damage the organs ; The difference is that children typically have milder symptoms.
To The Best Of Our Knowledge, This Is The First Report Of The Appearance Of The Rash In Pediatric Patients With And/Or.
No appetite, difficulty feeding in infants. He says the symptoms they are seeing in children include fever, cough, rash, and peeling skin. However, some people may experience less common symptoms.
Loss Of Taste Or Smell
Babies are showing an unusual symptom of coronavirus, alongside the known high temperature and cough, many parents report noticing mottled skin. The novel coronavirus is still quite new, and scientists are learning more about it every week. Data shows 42 per cent of child covid patients are now younger than one, up from 31 per cent in waves of earlier variants.


text: Sourced from the seas of Australia, Saxa® Iodised Table Salt is ideal for baking, cooking and seasoning. Simply twist the top to pour or sprinkle over any meal. Table Salt is suitable for seasoning both savoury and sweet recipes, with a finely ground texture that disperses quickly. Saxa® Table Salt is a kitchen essential with a shaker bottle that allows for easy use and storage. Perfect for seasoning salads, cooked meats, sandwiches and poached eggs.


Whispers are the most intense form of communication. We whisper when we share sensitive information, when we tell a secret, or when we’re feeling a certain type of way about someone. Case in point, Farrah Abraham, who shared a lot this past season on Couples Therapy but when it came time to really reveal her true emotions and let things out, her voice rarely rose above a whisper.
Farrah might be happy to hear about Whisper, an amazing free app that allows anyone to share their most private confessions anonymously. So if you’re too shy to reveal your most personal details in therapy or need to vent but don’t have Dr. Jenn’s private number, channel your emotions through Whisper.
Each week, VH1 will partner with Whisper to ask their users about the relationship issues they’ve had similar to what the cast of Couples Therapy are going through. If your “Whisper” is chosen, Dr. Jenn will offer up some sage advice in a digital video series. Throughout the season, anonymous fan Whispers and Dr. Jenn’s videos will be featured throughout VH1 channels and even on air during episodes 6-10 of Couples Therapy. Start submitting your Whispers now…we can guarantee that you’re not the only one with secrets. See what we mean below. Read more…
There are some women who have proudly appeared in music videos and are known for that. And there are some women who would NEVER. Morgan Hardman falls into that second category…a fact that we learned when the Love & Hip Hop Hollywood star abruptly halted this interview when the subject was even brought up. Watch Morgan, who has experience behind the camera as a director, storm off when asked if she’d ever appear in front of the cameras, and be sure to tune in to Love & Hip Hop Hollywood when it premieres Monday, September 15tha at 8PM ET/PT.
The cast of Love & Hip Hop Hollywood seem to know everything that’s going on in L.A. and have an opinion on all the gossip that makes the rounds. When the cameras recently caught Teairra Mari, she was asked her opinion on the rumor that Future cheated on Ciara with his stylist. Teairra’s opinion? If it’s true, it’s bulls**t. And if it’s false, it’s also bulls**t. “If he did do that, then I think that that’s a bunch of bulls**t because I love CiCi, and I love any woman that’s being a good, strong woman for a man and a wifey. And if he didn’t do it and if that’s just a rumor, I think that that’s also bulls**t…People should just mind their own business.”
One of the biggest conflicts on season two of Couples Therapy was between Nik Richie and Courtney Stodden and Doug Hutchison. Nik’s issues with the couple flared up again when they shared the stage again recently, and in this week’s sneak peek for part two of the Couples Therapy With Dr. Jenn Reunion, he explained his discomfort. “Being 16, 17 with a 50-year-old dude…that to me was, and still is, child molestation. And we condoned that, and that still bothers me.” Read more…
Most of the past casts of Couples Therapy would probably tell you they were hesitant to join a show that would expose some undesirable or uncomfortable aspects of their relationships. And yet to see them all now, having grown from the experience and living a more positive life — with or without their partner fro the show — it’s a testament to how the series has shaped their lives.
We asked the couples who participated in this week’s Couples Therapy With Dr. Jenn Reunion what advice they have for the incoming cast of season 5, and they had some solid suggestions on how to get the most from it. In a word: HONESTY.
Couples Therapy With Dr. Jenn season 5 premieres on Wednesday, September 10 at 9PM, immediately following part two of the reunion special.
Amid all the mayhem and insanity at the Love & Hip Hop Atlanta reunion taping, there were some moments of calm and reflection (usually into the makeup mirror, if we’re being honest). Check out some of our favorite candids we took before the taping and during down time on the stage. It’s always kind of fascinating to see who’s hanging out with whom, who twerks in their dressing room, and who’s just there to have fun!
[Photos: Lauren Weissler for VH1]
Does Bambi ever worry that Scrappy will leak a sex tape? She might now, after learning that Scrappy took some naked photos of her on his phone…what else has he been doing when she wasn’t looking? Read more…


Suede feel trench coat with wet look and tie belt.
The Safari Faux Suede Trench will be a definite favourite for years to come. The classic trench is made even more WOW with the two new season prints!
* Classic trench design with lapels
* Front & back storm flaps
* Full length set-in sleeves
* Functional side pockets
* Raw edge finish
* Self tie belt & belt loops
* Straight hemline
TAN REPTILE PRINT: MAIN: 90% Polyester, 10% Elastane LINING: 90% Polyester, 10% Elastane


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- Newell Brands said Wednesday "nearly all" its resin suppliers in Louisiana and Texas are shut down.
- The maker of Rubbermaid storage containers and other household products now expects higher resin costs in the final half of 2017.
- CEO Michael Polk said his company still plans to "sustain increased investment" through the end of the year despite the higher prices.
Shares of Newell Brands are down more than 4 percent in midday trading Wednesday after the company said Hurricane Harvey threw off its manufacturing supply chain in Louisiana and Texas.
The maker of household goods such as Rubbermaid storage containers and Coleman grills released a statement saying continued shutdowns of "nearly all of Newell Brands' resin suppliers" in the two states are unexpectedly driving up costs.
"We expect these conditions to persist through the fourth quarter of 2017 and resin inflation to now build, rather than contract as previously forecast," CEO Michael Polk said.
Most of Newell Brands' Louisiana and Texas facilities declared "force majeure," and are not operating. The company is beginning to supplement the gap in its support through other U.S. and overseas suppliers, but said it is doing so "at a significantly higher" cost than it anticipated.
Newell Brands lowered its earning per share guidance for the year as a result of the hurricane, to a range of $2.95 to $3.05 from a range of $3 to $3.20.
Despite the disruption and increased costs, Polk said the company will "sustain increased investment" in the last two quarters of 2017 to improve "share momentum."
Through Tuesday, Newell Brands stock was up 9 percent this year, according to FactSet.


text: Hi everyone! Salem is a 16-year-old black cat who was recently diagnosed with diabetes on the 16th of February after going for an eye infection. It seems that she had for a big majority of her life. But because she wasn't brought to vet regularly for the 11 first years of her life(she lived at my Mother-in-law's), it was never diagnosed. She got fat after her accidental pregnancy when she escaped the house for a couple of weeks before she got spayed. She is a fat, lovable kitty who is always hungry, and adores my Boyfriend to pieces! Salem also tolerates our other cat, who gets a bit too jealous when we give her attention. Even though we gave him ton and half just a few minutes earlier She is now on Lantus, and we give her 3-4 IU per day. She eats Purina DM, but we are going to switch in the next week to Friskies. DM is way too expensive for our student budget. Her infection turned out to be a cherry eye, which is unusual for a cat, and even more unusual in an older cat.

domain: pet