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Afghanistan is in the throes of a major food shortage caused by the sudden stoppage of funds by foreign agencies. India, which has historical ties with the war-torn country, should rally a global support for the suffering Afghans
Afghanistan under the Taliban is faced with a crippling crisis the extremists, perhaps, never realised before. The country is struggling to cope with a major food shortage caused by the sudden stoppage of funds supply from foreign agencies, which must be addressed by the
world community before it is too late. The crisis is the result of the stoppage of much of the financial aid the country had been getting till the US-backed government was there in Kabul.
United Nations Development Programme (Asia) Director Kanni Wignaraja said a few days back that the sudden dramatic withdrawal of international aid was an unprecedented fiscal shock Afghanistan has been suffering from after Taliban rule was re-established as a result
of a long struggle of over two decades.
This has led to a situation when lives of nearly 23 million Afghans — over 50 per cent
of the country’s population — including 3.2 million children, are threatened, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP). There is an opportunity for India, which has historical relations with Afghanistan and has already spent a lot on rebuilding of that country, not only to come forward with more
economic aid to save the Afghans in distress, but also with a plan to persuade the global community to ensure that the people of the war-torn country should not suffer if Taliban factions have recaptured power in Kabul. This is the best way to make China less attractive for the Afghans as also to compel the Taliban to mend their ways to become dependable for the outside world.
Experts are of the view that the Taliban rulers today are not what they were when they first established their government in 1996-97 in a confusion-filled scenario. They are now battle-hardened, reformed politicians, serious about successfully governing their country with a
clear-cut objective of putting Afghanistan back on the road to socio-economic recovery. Therefore, the world community, instead of putting a spanner in the works, should facilitate the task of rebuilding the country destroyed by the circumstances beyond anyone’s control.
There is a major human crisis which must be tackled effectively. Any kind of contribution to get people engaged in economic activity is bound to promote peace and stability in Afghanistan and beyond. Yet, in the midst of all that is going on there, the world needs to have a close look at outside forces like Pakistan that may be in search of opportunities to play negative politics.
The recently held Delhi Regional Security Dialogue on Afghanistan, mainly aimed at discussing the evolving security scenario and its regional and global ramifications, could not avoid expressing concern over the worst socio-economic and humanitarian crisis faced by Kabul. The unanimously agreed declaration issued at the end of the dialogue underlined the need to provide “urgent humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan”.
The Delhi declaration also had it that “humanitarian assistance should be provided in an unimpeded, direct and assured manner to Afghanistan and that the assistance is distributed within the country in a non-discriminatory manner across all sections of the Afghan society.”
The participants in the regional dialogue, held in New Delhi at the initiative of India’s National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval, included the NSAs from Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. China and Pakistan, not
surprisingly, preferred to stay away.
The declarations that Afghanistan’s territory should not be allowed to be used for terrorism and efforts must be made to prevent radicalisation of society are bound to get support from one and all. But the prevailing circumstances demand that the global community, as
its top priority, must also focus on saving millions of Afghan lives, including those of children, which may be lost due to an acute food shortage in the landlocked country if timely help remains missing.
Realisation has ultimately dawned on Pakistan, which has at last listened to saner advice for allowing the transportation of 50,000 tonnes of wheat plus life-saving medicines to Afghanistan from India through its land route, part of the blocked humanitarian assistance
worth Rs 5 billion, but this is not enough. More needs to be done to save the threatened lives in Afghanistan.
The prevailing food crisis in Afghanistan will become more acute as winter fully sets in when most parts of the country will be snow-bound, difficult to be accessed by anyone engaged in humanitarian activities.
In fact, the WFP and UNICEF (the United Nations Children’s Fund) had warned as early as in October that “one million children are at the risk of dying from severe malnutrition without immediate life-saving treatment” in Afghanistan. A horrible situation, indeed! The
continuing drought and the situation that has emerged after the Taliban takeover of the
country have worsened the already grim scenario there. Afghanistan is headed for famine-like conditions if the world does not act fast to save innocent lives.
According to the WFP’s Deputy Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, Anthea Webb, “The drought (second drought in less than three years) has reduced the amount of food that people can grow; so crops are down by 40 per cent. Jobs have evaporated, and food
prices have gone up. And so, all combines to be a perfect storm for people who were already very poor and on the edge prior to the events of August (when the Taliban recaptured power in Kabul).”
It is believed that much of Afghanistan’s financial difficulties can come to an end if the
US de-freezes Kabul’s nearly $9.5 billion in assets belonging to the Afghan Central Bank. But the Joe Biden administration argues that it cannot allow a Taliban-led government to access the seized money mainly because the Taliban still remains on the US Treasury
Department’s “sanctions list”. This is what the Americans describe as a “technical” factor that comes in the way of Afghanistan’s national funds being out of bounds for the Taliban government.
If this “technical” factor is removed immediately, it may save Afghanistan from the catastrophic consequences it is likely to face under the prevailing circumstances. The ultimate beneficiaries will be the people of Afghanistan. It is not the people’s fault if Taliban
factions happen to be ruling the roost. Such gestures may make the Taliban undergo a major transformation to the liking of the global community.
“If the current situation prevails, the Afghan government and people will face problems and will become a cause for mass migration in the region and the world which will consequently create further humanitarian and economic issues,” Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan
Muttaqi recently said in an open letter aimed at shaking the conscience of Washington DC. The letter clearly told US Congress members to make the Afghan assets accessible to Kabul, otherwise economic turmoil in Afghanistan could lead to trouble abroad. He made an appeal to the US again a few days back, seeking release of Afghanistan’s seized funds
by ending the black lists and the sanctions at a meeting in Doha (Qatar) with the US Special Representative for Afghanistan.
The new government in Kabul is unable to get sufficient financial aid from abroad primarily because no country has so far recognised the Taliban’s rule there. Not even Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Pakistan which were among the few countries which had come forward to
establishing diplomatic relations with the Taliban administration in 1996-97.
The world cannot afford to keep quiet while millions of Afghan lives remain endangered. A way must be found to ensure that the flow of foreign funds to Kabul is again there as a humanitarian gesture. The cause of peace and stability in the world also demands it.

domain: sociology


text:
Pet Carrier Transporter Bag
Introducing our Cat Carrier Bags for Small Cats or Dogs, the perfect solution for transporting your furry friend safely and comfortably. This soft-sided backpack is designed with your pet's comfort in mind and is the perfect size for small cats or dogs.
The carrier bag has a window mesh design that allows your pet to enjoy the scenery and fresh air while keeping them safe and secure. The window mesh also allows for ventilation, ensuring that your pet stays cool and comfortable during transportation.
Measuring 44cm by 28cm by 28cm in size, this Cat or Dog Carrier Bag is spacious enough to accommodate your pet comfortably, and the soft-sided design provides a cozy space for them to rest. The bag comes in three colors: black, grey, and purple, allowing you to choose a color that suits your style.
The backpack straps are designed for comfort and adjustability, ensuring that you can carry your pet for long periods without experiencing any discomfort. The carrier bag also features a sturdy handle for easy carrying and an interior safety leash to ensure your pet stays securely inside.
This Cat Carrier Bag is perfect for taking your pet on outdoor adventures, hiking, camping, or even a quick trip to the vet. Its lightweight design and ease of use make it an essential accessory for any pet owner.
So if you're looking for a safe, comfortable, and stylish way to transport your furry friend, look no further than our Cat or Dog Carrier Bags ideal for Small Cats or Dogs. It's the perfect way to ensure that your pet is always by your side and ready for any adventure!

domain: pet


text:
Two Super Shifters… on top of each other? Why would we do that? And what are those rubber bands for? Thanks to Karthik and others on CD for the inspiration behind this!
R******* & P***?
My Guess, The rubber bands are for an anti back-drive mechanism.
You are missing one of the gears, so you obviously don’t plan on using the shifting half. But why do that is the question…
EDIT: I just noticed that the other gear has been switched to something else as well. I’m going to go with Adam Bochek, an anti back-drive mechanism. Which would be great for hanging…
I’d like to buy a vowel Ken, A.
I’m guessing you’re using the dog gears from the super shifters for a ratcheting kicker mechanism? That doesn’t look like something I’d want to sit in front of for too long.
I just have to say that I really love gears, and super shifters have a lot of gears. It looks awesome.
Ra****** & Pa**.
By the way, I was looking into the exact same thing on McMaster last night.
Yes there is.
Ratt & Pa.[/quote]
Is there an ‘e’?
Ratet* & Pa. Anyone want to take a guess for 100?
Can I get a “W”?
Are those ratchets and pawls from McMaster?
The McMaster ones run a little pricey. We bought 3 sets of the 3" ratchets and pawls for each. Its about 50 per ratchet and 40 or so per pawl.
Bottom of this page.
And the ratchets happen to be 3/8" thick, which works out petty well
or for people on budgets you could buy this…
cut it in half and hold the handle solid :rolleyes:
Ding ding ding! And David is the winner!
So, I am guessing you using these for a hanging winch or some sort. But why two? I have absolutely no idea.
Thankfully, they sell a lot of winches that has ratchets built into it, so we don’t need to use ratchets and pawls in our gearbox.
You roll your eyes, but it’s been done.
I was rolling my eyes over the idea of spending that much for a ratchet and pawl system that most likely took more work to implement.
And i know its been done, we’ve done it
its right on the end of that cable winch

domain: hobby


text:
El Sistema USA
STATUS: In Distribution
El Sistema USA is a feature documentary that is tracking a handful of kids in a diverse, impoverished community in West Philadelphia as they participate in Play On, Philly, a classical music program.
EL SISTEMA USA (working title), our film documentary currently in progress, tells the story of what happens when a visionary young musician from Atlanta starts a unique youth orchestra program in a diverse, struggling community in West Philadelphia -- connecting kids, teachers and families in a way that transforms them all.
Three years ago, Atlanta-born trumpet player Stanford Thompson found his inspiration in El Sistema, the phenomenally successful Venezuelan social rescue program that uses youth orchestras to bring transformation to impoverished communities. Following his training at the Curtis Institute of Music, Stanford spent a year at the New England Conservatory studying all things El Sistema -- which included a life-changing visit to Venezuela itself. Then, in 2010, Stanford returned to Philadelphia to found the Play On, Philly! program.
In our third year of filming, we continue to pursue our various characters and storylines. We see Zebadiah, a 14 year old Trinidadian-American. Bright, quirky and cautious, Zebadiah had led an isolated life before joining POP, shuttling back and forth between school, where he was a solitary figure, and home to his mother and grandmother, who rarely ventured outdoors. His father had returned to Trinidad just as Zebadiah began POP, and Zebadiah seemed veiled and unhappy. Now in high school while remaining connected to POP as a mentor to the younger players, Zebediah is clearly blossoming into a confident, engaged young person.
We have been watching 12 year old Raven being raised by her two grandmothers. Whether she is playing her violin, dancing around the auditorium or attempting to conduct her friends in a makeshift ensemble, her high spirits prevail -- and sometimes get her into trouble. At times she has been punished by her teachers for her smart mouth, getting moved to the back of the ensemble, or getting excluded from a beach excursion, or from an exciting concert at City Hall. Raven nearly quit POP on several occasions, but she has soldiered on, becoming swept up in the music in spite of herself -- eventually earning her way back to the front row of the string section. Her mother’s early death, when Raven was only a year old, is a constant shadow across her multigenerational family; Raven seems to be putting all her complex feelings into her violin.
What makes Stanford Thompson run? This is the question hovering over this dynamic, driven young man who works so hard and sleeps so little. The youngest of 8 children, Stanford grew up in a family where everyone was expected to pull their weight and excel in their activities. Stanford brings this rigorous sense of high expectations to the sometimes unruly kids in the POP program. He is occasionally stern with them, but the very intensity of his demands seems to elicit the extraordinary progress the POP kids are making. Halfway through Year Two, the ensemble was already playing a movement from a Brahms Symphony at Philadelphia’s Verizon Hall, under the baton of the celebrated maestro, Sir Simon Rattle. The Philadelphia audience came to its feet; at that moment, El Sistema had truly come to the city of Philadelphia. This dizzying trajectory reflects not only the POP kids’ hard daily work, but also Stanford’s own drive and vision.
Shooting in verité scene-based style, our Director of Photography, Claudia Raschke-Robinson, intimately follows the growth, struggles and breakthroughs of Play On, Philly’s! participants. As the months pass, we see our characters ever more embedded in their music. Our Philly-based production team, with its deep roots in the community, is accumulating material that will make EL SISTEMA USA as engrossing as the classic Chicago documentary HOOP DREAMS; as thought-provoking as the British documentary series SEVEN UP.
As we continue to film in Philadelphia this year, our story engages ever more deeply with the lives of Raven and Zebadiah, their families and their community – while we also learn more about what makes Stanford Thompson drive himself to the point of near- exhaustion. We see their struggles and triumphs, their good days and bad days. The longer we spend filming our story, the more we show how the challenges and successes of the participants in Play On, Philly! begin to transform their lives.
My father, Leonard Bernstein, believed with all his heart in the power of music to transform the lives of young people. I wish he’d lived long enough to see El Sistema – a Venezuelan youth orchestra program that is bringing social transformation to thousands of disadvantaged children, all around the world.
Two years ago, El Sistema arrived in a tough neighborhood of West Philadelphia. We’re telling the story of the kids, the teachers and the community as the music begins to change all of their lives. Leonard Bernstein isn’t here to see what’s happening, but you are. I hope you’ll join us on our amazing journey.
Jamie Bernstein - Producer
JAMIE BERNSTEIN is a writer, narrator and filmmaker. Inspired by her father Leonard Bernstein’s lifelong compulsion to share and teach, Jamie has devised multiple ways of communicating her own excitement about classical music. In addition to “The Bernstein Beat,” a family concert about her father modeled after his own groundbreaking Young People’s Concerts, Jamie has also written and narrated concerts about Mozart, Copland and Stravinsky, among others. Jamie travels the world as a concert narrator, appearing everywhere from Beijing to Caracas to Vancouver. Most recently, she has been creating and narrating scripts for the New World Symphony’s Discovery Concert series. In addition to writing her own scripts and narrations, Jamie writes articles and poetry, which have appeared in such publications as Symphony, DoubleTake, Town & Country and Musical America Worldwide. She also edits “Prelude, Fugue & Riffs,” a newsletter about issues and events pertaining to her father’s legacy. More about Jamie’s multifaceted life can be found on her website: jamiebernstein.net
Elizabeth Kling - Producer
ELIZABETH KLING is an editor and producer working in the film and television industry in New York and Los Angeles for over 20 years. She began her editing career in New York working with Robert Altman and went on to edit many films such as Zebrahead and Imaginary Crimes directed by Anthony Drazan, Georgia directed by Ulu Grosbard and Addicted to Love and Practical Magic for Griffin Dunne. She edited the documentary, Andy Warhol: Made in China directed by Lee Caplin and was Contributing Editor on Errol Morris’s The Thin Blue Line. Elizabeth was Editor and Associate Producer for HBO’s acclaimed series Deadwood, and Lionsgate’s Crash. She edited the pilot for HBO’s Big Love and AMC’s The Killing. She was Executive Producer for the feature film, Handsome Harry directed by Bette Gordon, and is currently producing Border Crossing directed by Bette Gordon. Elizabeth has also taught at Columbia University and the Sundance Film Lab.
Claudia Raschke-Robinson - Director of Photography
CLAUDIA RASCHKE-ROBINSON is an award winning cinematographer. She has photographed independent feature films and documentaries for over 20 years. Her background training is in dance, martial arts and fine arts. Notable documentaries include Oscar-nominated God is the bigger Elvis (HBO) Peabody Award winning documentary Black Magic (ESPN), A Sea Change (Discovery),What’s Your Point, Honey? (Lifetime), Mad Hot Ballroom (Paramount), Oscar-nominated My Architect (add’l DP), Oscar-nominated Small Wonder (add’l DP), Oscar nominated Sister Rose’s Passion (add’l DP) as well as indie features like Kiss Me Guido, Walking in the Sky, Frame of Mind.
Jonathan Oppenheim - Editor
JONATHAN OPPENHEIM’s editing credits include SISTER HELEN and CHILDREN UNDERGROUND, a film he co-produced, which was nominated for an Oscar. He edited the classic documentary feature PARIS IS BURNING, awarded the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. Oppenheim also edited and co-produced THE OATH, a psychological portrait of Osama bin Laden’s former bodyguard, which premiered at Sundance and Berlin. Among Oppenheim’s other credits are: YOUSSOU NDOUR: I BRING WHAT I LOVE, the story of the great African singers’ attempt to transmit moderate Islam through music, OUT OF THE SHADOW (PBS), which describes a woman’s life with her paranoid schizophrenic mother, CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE (PBS), a cinema verite look at three Arab-American New Yorkers in the wake of 9/11, and PHYLLIS AND HAROLD, an exploration of a failed 60 year marriage. He is the editor and co-producer of the soon to be released BEFORE AND AFTER DINNER, a film about Andre Gregory, avant garde theater director and co-star of MY DINNER WITH ANDRE. He has been a story consultant on many films which include, How to Survive a Plague, Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, Paul Goodman Changed My Life, An Encounter with Simone Weil, These Birds Walk, The Unmaking of Spiderman, American Promise and The Light in Her Eyes. In 2011, Oppenheim lectured on the art of documentary editing at The New Museum and mentored Eastern European filmmakers at the Ex Oriente Lab in Prague. He was recently interviewed for the book, First Cut, More Conversations with Film Editors (Gabriella Oldham, University of California Press, 2012). He has been both an Advisor and a Fellow at the Sundance Institute Documentary Edit and Story Lab and has made presentations to film students at NYU, Yale and Columbia.
Connect With The Filmmakers:
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domain: artistic


text:
I am recommending we roll the short leg of our Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM) recovery position out two weeks and to a higher strike to generate more income and capture more potential appreciation.
Note: No action is needed on the TSM Jan 2023 (1/20/23) 70 Calls at this time.
Current Stock Price: $89.65
Cost Basis: $118.99
- Buy to close 4 TSM Aug Monthly (8/19) 90 Calls for around $0.55 each ($2.20 total)
- Sell to open 4 TSM Sep Week One (9/2) 92 Call for around $1.24 each ($4.96 total)
- Set initial credit limit at $0.69 ($2.76 total), but adjust as needed to roll today
New Cost Basis: $116.23

domain: economics


text:
Five Minute Friday
That means 5 minutes to write on the topic that Lisa Jo picks
Leave the mistakes as they lay.
Typos and bad grammar…ok I can’t leave the bad grammar, but you get the jest of it.
This week? Roots
Bloom where you are planted.
Where God has you.
So your Roots go deep.
Transplanted from the city to the country just shy of 10 years ago.
Our kids were 3,5,10, and 11.
There Roots will be here.
In the country.
Someday there will be grand-babies crawling around.
Their Roots will be country, too.
They will grow in the clean country air just like their parents.
Their Roots will be deep.
Blossoming where they are planted.
Right where God has them.
By jove I think she’s got it! Whew! Tried to leave you a comment earlier but it wasn’t working.
Love that you are in the country and one day maybe that will be in my cards, too…! Your kids and grandkids will have amazing roots! 🙂
Thank you for your help on Jetpack. You saved me!
Oh, the country… I moved from the country to the city 3 years ago. I miss the quietness and the familiarity. My roots may be pushing through concrete, but they are still digging deep.
Yes. Bloom where you are planted. Thank you for stopping by, Stephanie!
There is something about country that seems our roots can go deep and spread. Figuring out what roots look like in all kinds of seasons and spaces.
Stopping by from five minute friday.
Thank you for stopping by, Melanie!
LOVE this — “Bloom where you are planted”. yes!!! Thank you for this post and sharing your heart.
Thank you for commenting. I pray I blessed you in some way!
“Blossoming where they are planted.
Right where God has them.”
I love this! It reminds me to appreciate right here, right now…maybe this is exactly where He always intended for me to be. Thank you.

domain: geography


text:
mission of the Wetlands Program is to promote the protection, management,
restoration and creation of wetlands to ensure a high quality of life for
present and future generations.
IDNR assists in the coordination and development of scientifically sound state wetland policies, programs, and research. We strive to protect, manage, and restore healthy wetland environments within Illinois by balancing natural resources and human needs.


Kūkūwai | Preschool (2-3.5 years)
How does Kūkūwai reflect the Preschool Room?
We have been gifted the name of Kūkūwai for our room and we will be guardians of the pukeko and the raupo. Kūkūwai is the name for wetlands and as a room we have identified this as an important local feature that draws us to living in this area.
We will work actively to protect the people, environment, knowledge, culture, language, and resources important to Ngāi Tahu for future generations.
We acknowledge the wetlands are a home for many bird species, particularly providing protection to the pukeko. Within the wetlands the raupo is home for the pukeko, it offers shelter and protection to them. In Preschool we offer a homely and safe environment for all our tamariki. The raupo is a vital plant in this habitat. The raupo was an important food source for the Māori and has been used as a survival food in many countries. The top of the yellow spike hand shaken lets loose edible pollen which was made into bread. The starchy rhizome was eaten raw or boiled as a vegetable.
Once the pukeko feels safe and confident, they are ready to explore and are known for their bold scheming and determination. The adults nurture their eggs and their young just as we, the kaiako, nurture and care for our preschool tamariki. A safe, stable and responsive environment supports the development of self-worth, identity, confidence and enjoyment together with emotional regulation and self-control. As both bird and tamariki build their skills and knowledge they are ready to explore further and extend their experiences in the wider world around them.
The colours we use throughout preschool will reflect our local features. The raupo is a rustic brown and the pukeko a vibrant turquoise and the wetlands a deep shade of green.
Kūkūwai / Preschool (Wetlands) and they will be kaitaiaki (guardians) for Pukeko and Raupo (bullrush).


text:
The Veterans Affairs Central Iowa Health Care System in Des Moines has announced the award of a contract for grounds maintenance for the VA campus in Knoxville.
Keywords: Brenda Davis, Crossroads Hall, Dave and the Boys, Dave Lovell, VA
The legislature is considering zeroing out the budget for the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at ISU. Is this a good idea?
call: (641) 842-3161 | (641) 628-8672

domain: news


text:
U.S. Ski Team Development Coach, Bryan Fish breaks down the steps athletes should go through at the beginning of a new training season, as well as how to gradually get back into training after spring.
Welcome to a new year of cross-country ski training. Before you start anything, I recommend going and getting a general screening that would include both a clearing from your doctor as well as going through a blood screening and a functional movement screening.
That will help outline and understand what your unique limitations may be so that you can safely train through the whole year.
As we start the new year, the first thing we really want to focus on is setting a good baseline and what that means. After you do your testing and get a good establishment of what your limitations are – go back and start from scratch. That means basic functional movement, focusing on general strength, doing activities that are broad-based without weight, really making sure that the body is reset for the next year.
General endurance training is really important. You still may have snow in your community. If so, take advantage of this opportunity so that you can go out and ski and continue to improve your technique. If not, focus on general activities such as running, biking, going for hikes, going for paddles, those sorts of things. Make sure you not only reset the body but also reset the mind so that you’re ready to do specific training in the future.
As it comes to recovery, this is a real important time to focus on a great deal of recovery. That does not however mean that you don’t do any strength or any intensity. At no point of the year do you want to do zero of any type of training. You just want to reduce.
So again, strength should be very functional, no weight, lots of activities, intensity. Maybe do it every couple of weeks just to keep a baseline so that all that intensity that you’ve built up from the year before and the season you just came off of is still developed and continued on into your next year.
Related Post: Training Periods for Cross-Country Skiers

domain: health


To settle your nerves, you should understand that there are good reasons for replacing your old boiler with a more modern equivalent most probably it’s the cheaper option of going about it especially because there might be very minimal alteration to the existing pipes even better, you can save on money, time or renovations in your house on the other hand, there are a few reasons.
Interior plumbing & heating ltd is a private corporation, with offices and fabrication facilities located at 782 laval crescent, in beautiful kamloops, b.c known in the trade as iph, we have been actively conducting business in the interior of british columbia since 1949 our areas of expertise encompass all aspects of mechanical installations and we believe, with our experience over the past 60 years, that we offer a superior level of.
Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review. On behalf of pocklington methodist church i am writing to thank you for your very prompt attention in repairing the leak in the cold water pipe feeding the wash hand basin in the disabled toilet i phoned your office at 08:15 to report the leak and your engineer was at the church by lunchtime. Have you considered converting.
I absolutely hate getting into the shower after working a long day outside and finding that the drain is clogged, again! i have long hair and i use a hair catcher to catch as much as i can, but some inevitably gets past that then the scum from shampoo and conditioner starts to build up around that, creating clogging issues gross! Is southeast michigan’s premier plumbing repair and drain service.
They fixed our gas lines in our home the lines were undersized and detoriated asap came in and removed the old lines and brought everything up to code the company was a pleasure to deal with. Overall, a smart thermostat paired up with an efficient gas boiler is a great way to save money and trial out the new and exciting iot technology. Oil-fired boilers send oil through a combustion chamber that then.
Electric boilers offer a wide array of features, which make them a favourite choice of boiler since they are powered by electricity, electric boilers produce almost no carbon monoxide, gas leaks and back drafting. Electric boilers work under the same principle as traditional gas boilers, other than the fact that.
Should you need to arrange a service call or change a service appointment, we can immediately access our computerised database and bring up on screen your system's service history and installation details. Homebase is sold for £1 by its aussie owners putting thousands of jobs at risk. Water, decyl glucoside, fragrance, phenoxyethanol, viable culture blend, benzisothiazolinone, sodium hydroxide, propylene glycol, glycerin. The experienced.
Arrived within an hour of calling them super nice & wanted to fix problem best and most affordable way cleaned up after work even gave me free quotes for a few other things 5* service!". Baxi boilers benefit from a sedbuk a-rating for efficiency and are simple to use and compact in size their boilers not only meet but exceed the latest european standards for energy efficiency, safety and emissions if you choose a baxi boiler you can be safe in the knowledge.
Vehicle activity affecting drains in derbyshire. Modern boilers are able to make the most of condensing technology this means that the boilers are able to make better use of the heat energy they generate. Know your enemy, flush ’em away. We prepare for all kinds of contingencies in life, but few people are prepared for.
A combination boiler is not ideal for a household where there are multiple people who might want to use hot water simultaneously a combi boiler is ideal for providing hot water from one source at a time. All attending companies will complete a survey of your property first and will advise of any extra costs, if any, before going ahead with any work so there’s no need to worry about getting a bill you weren’t expecting you are not obliged to.


text: Country Fair operates a chain of more than 70 convenience stores throughout northwestern Pennsylvania, western New York and eastern Ohio. The company offers a variety of grocery, deli and gasoline products. Its food service department offers a variety of items, including breakfast sandwiches, pizzas and grilled products, as well as hot and cold beverages. All its stores feature ATMs. The company provides breakfast and Southwest bagel meals, as well as weekly specials. It offers garden, chef, Caesar salad, chicken, steak, seafood and tuna salads. The company offers Country Fair gas cards, which enable customers to get a discount on every gallon of gas. Country Fair supports various nonprofit organizations and helps them in fundraising.

domain: food


The Zipato RGBW Bulb 2 with dimmer makes home lighting more fun and comfortable. With Zipato RGBW Bulb 2 you can control colour and intensity of home lights from the convenience of your smartphone, or other Z-Wave enabled controller.
The bulb has separate warm white, cold white and colour LEDs. This allows you to create both colorful light environments and regular white lighting, which is easily customizable from an iOS or Android smartphone.
You can easily adjust the white light temperature according to your needs - cool white for lighting and warm white for a more comfortable environment. When connected to the Home Automation Z-Wave Controller, users can configure coloured lighting, automatically create different scenarios and various status displays - for instance the alarm system is armed, energy consumption is higher than average, or just fit for a better mood.
Using the RGBW Zipato LED bulb will bring more joy and comfort throughout your entire home.
- Frequency: 868.42 Mhz
- Power supply: 100-240VAC 50 ~ 60Hz
- Power consumption: 9.5W (equivalent to a 60W incandescent bulb)
- Luminous flux: 806 Lumen
- Beam angle: 240 °
- Lifetime: 25,000 hours
- Colour rendering index: 80
- Power Factor: 0.7
- Colour Temperature: 2700 - 6500K
- Transmission distance: 50m free field, 30m indoor
- Operating Temperature Range: 0 ° C to + 50 ° C
- Storage temperature: 0 ° C to 50 ° C
- Certificate: CE, RoHS, UL


text:
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This book reports on advanced concepts in fuzzy graph theory, showing a set of tools that can be successfully applied to understanding and modeling illegal human trafficking.
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This book covers a wide range of applications and uses of simulation and modeling techniques in polymer injection molding, filling a noticeable gap in the literature of design, manufacturing, and the use of plastics injection molding.
This book offers an essential introduction to the use of various modelling tools and simulation techniques in the... Læs mere

domain: literature


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04 Apr Online Pharmacy Education
Online Pharmacy Montreal
The FDA has compiled a list of sources the place you possibly can verify whether or not a pharmacy is backed by state licensure. If you’re uncertain about whether or not your pharmacy complies with these necessities, you can at all times go to the NABP listing of verified on-line pharmacies and verify its certification standing. PillPack sends a month-to-month medicine record detailing all of your meds and their pertinent doses, along with colorful photographs of each different pill in order to help you differentiate your treatment. Their packet design is particularly helpful for sufferers with visual impairments and those that should take a number of medications a day, since PillPack makes use of massive and distinct labeling for every of them. You can discuss to pharmacists and buyer representatives by way of e-mail or chat through your PillPack net account. As a bonus, the pharmacy presents an iOS app where you can access your full medication list, set reminders, and request new meds or modifications to the instances listed on the packets. Even higher, Costco Pharmacy treatment just isn’t restricted to Costco members, in order that anyone can benefit from their discounted prices.
Their platform is just as simple to make use of as their e-commerce site but does require a fast signal-up earlier than first-time use. If you need to transfer your prescriptions from your old pharmacy, Capsule will handle the method inside in the future. Any physician can prescribe to Capsule, and you don’t must arrange an account before they send in your medication order. Insurance just isn’t accepted, and all floor delivery is free when you sign up for their monthly newsletter. Shipping is also free for all prescription orders and all over-the-counter orders over $15.
1mg Online Pharmacy Job
Outside the office, Nicole may be found making an attempt new eating places , taking an occasional barre class and cheering on the Cincinnati Bengals. Proposals to permit the importation of medicines unnecessarily enhance the chance of counterfeit, adulterated medicines being delivered to Americans.
Online pharmacies supply better pricing than offline stores, with elevated entry, lower transaction and product costs, convenience and larger anonymity for shoppers. They offer accessibility to individuals with limited mobility and folks in distant areas. These provide medialerts , discounts, doorstep delivery within a short while, and validation of prescription by way of licensed pharmacists. Information about substitutes and adverse results is also available on these sites. Consumers believe that the medicines they receive https://iisce.org/cialis-kaufen/ from online pharmacies are comparable to medicines bought in the “brick-and-mortar pharmacies.” Notwithstanding their popularity, these pharmacies take pleasure in a justifiable share of controversies. The controversies gained media consideration after the anthrax circumstances in 2001 which noticed individuals ordering ciprofloxacin and not using a prescription. Use of “cyber doctors,” the allotting of medicine with out prescriptions, and the import of prescription medications are simply the tip of the iceberg.
Online Pharmacy Resources
International shoppers sometimes buy drugs online from online pharmacies in their own international locations or these situated in different countries. Of those that do not require prescriptions, some ask the customer to fill in a well being questionnaire with their order. Many medicine available at legitimate online pharmacies are produced by nicely-identified producers corresponding to Pfizer, Wyeth, Roche, and generic drug makers Cipla and Ranbaxy of India and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries of Israel. However, it remains tough for a affected person to ascertain whether a web-based pharmacy is legitimate. Medicines obtained from rogue online pharmacies include no ensures concerning their id, history, and supply. A study in three cities in the Netherlands found that over 60% of the consumed sildenafil was obtained from unlawful sources.


“Five years ago, the Harvard Graduate School of Design’s Just City Lab published The Just City Essays: 26 Visions of Inclusion, Equity and Opportunity. The questions it posed were deceptively simple: What would a just city look like? And what could be the strategies to get there? These questions were posed to mayors, architects, artists, philanthropists, educators and journalists in 22 cities, who told stories of global injustice and their dreams for reparative and restorative justice in the city.
These essays were meant as a provocation, a call to action. Now, during these times of dissonance, unrest, and uncertainty, their contents have become ever more important. For the next 26 weeks [starting June 15, 2020], the GSD and the Just City Lab will republish one essay a week here and at designforthejustcity.org. We hope they may continue conversations of our shared responsibility for the just city.
We believe design can repair injustice. We believe design must restore justice, especially that produced by its own hand. We believe in justice for Black Americans. We believe in justice for all marginalized people. We believe in a Just City.”
Cities in Imagination
By David Maddox
Resilience is the word of the decade, as sustainability was in previous decades. No doubt, our view of the kind and quality of cities we as societies want to build will continue to evolve and inspire new descriptive goals. Surely we have not lost our desire for sustainable cities, with ecological footprints we can afford, even though our focus has been on resilience, after what seems like a relentless drum beat of natural disasters around the world. The search for terms begs the question: what are the cities we want to create in the future? What is their nature? What are the cities in which we want to live? Certainly these cities are sustainable, since we want our cities to balance consumption and resources so that they can last into the future. Certainly they are resilient, so our cities are still in existence after the next 100-year storm, now due every few years. And yet…as we build this vision we know that cities must also be livable. Indeed, we must view livability as a third indispensable leg supporting the cities of our dreams: resilient + sustainable + livable.
But we have to hope that justice hasn’t gone out of style. Because while resilience is the word of the decade, we’ve struggled with just cities for a much longer time. Largely we have come up short.
So this imagining needs a fourth leg. These are the cities of our dreams: resilient, sustainable, livable, just.
We can imagine sustainable cities—ones that can persist in energy, food and ecological balance—that are nevertheless brittle, socially or infrastructurally, to shocks and major perturbations. That is, they are not resilient. Such cities are not truly sustainable, of course—because they will be crushed by major perturbations they’re not in it for the long term—but their lack of sustainability is for reasons beyond the usually definitions of energy and food systems. We can imagine resilient cities—especially cities that are made so through extraordinary and expensive works of grey infrastructure—that are not sustainable from the point of view of energy consumption, food security, economy, or other resources.
We can imagine livable cities that are neither resilient nor sustainable.
And, it is easy to imagine resilient and sustainable cities that are not livable—and so are not truly sustainable.
Easiest of all is to imagine cities of injustice, because they exist all around us. The nature of their injustice may be difficult to solve or even comprehend within our systems of economy and government, but it’s easy to see.
The point is that we must conceive and build our urban areas based on a vision of the future that creates cities that are resilient + sustainable + livable + just. No one of these is sufficient for our dream cities of the future. Yet we often pursue these four elements on independent tracks, with separate government agencies pursuing one or another and NGOs and community organizations devoted to a single track. Of course, many cities around the world don’t really have the resources to make progress in any of the four. Continue reading on designforthejustcity.org…


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HAMPDEN – Maine Senator Susan Collins visited the United States Postal Service Processing Center in Hampden Wednesday.
The senator thanked the employees for their work in helping to maintain mail delivery, an essential service during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Collins also pledged to obtain funding for the postal service, which is in danger of running out of money later this year.
Collins said for a state like Maine, the lack of mail service would be a catastrophe.
“As a rural state, we are heavily dependent on the postal service” said Maine’s senior senator “there’s not going to be some for profit company that’s going to step in and serve the rural areas of our state.”
Collins co-wrote a bipartisan letter urging senate leadership to include emergency funding, additional borrowing power and debt forgiveness for the postal service in the next COVID-19 package, in order to be able to pay the salaries of it’s employees in the fall.


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Robbie, a friend of Pledge to Humanity, left for the central coast of Haiti last week, an area that was spared from the devastation of Hurricane Matthew. A group of Pledge to Humanity moms donated two suitcases full of school supplies to be distributed to school children in the region. We were blessed with a few photos[…]
The girls made delicious cookies and distributed them to Loaves & Fishes Martinez and to teachers at Stone Valley Middle School.
“Today we had another great opportunity to help provide kids in need with new toys. White Pony Express is an amazing organization that provides new or like new clothes and toys to kids in need in lower income areas. Today we were able to assemble brand new dolls for our communities most needy. Our teen[…]


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BEIJING, CHINA: At least five patients at a traditional Chinese medicine hospital in China were accidentally infected with HIV, officials said Thursday, as authorities moved to censor online discussion over the incident.
A technician at the Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine re-used a tube employed in an earlier medical exam for an HIV-positive patient, the province's health and family planning commission said in a statement on its official website, calling it a "severe violation of procedure".
The local centre for disease control confirmed that five patients were infected, it added, without offering further information about the total number of patients the technician may have exposed to the virus.
The government body had been notified of the situation by the hospital on January 26. It did not explain why no statement was issued in the interim period, nor did it specify when the infections occurred.
Revamp: ‘AIDS programme undergoing overhaul’
It was not clear what those who were accidentally infected were originally being treated for.
As of Thursday afternoon, the hospital's website had been taken offline. No hospital representatives could be reached for comment.
Most Chinese-language media reports about the accidental HIV infections had been deleted by Thursday afternoon, leaving only the short government statement in online circulation.
Many critical comments on social media had been removed.
"It's really a disaster. I can't imagine the accident happened in one of the best hospitals in Hangzhou," said one of the few posts still remaining on the Twitter-like Weibo platform.
Treating disease: HIV/AIDS training session for doctors held
One user "shocked" by the incident noted that posts about it were rapidly being deleted and that major Chinese news outlets had disabled comment and forwarding functions on their online reports.
Calling the censorship disgusting, the user added: "I think people have the right to know the truth."
In a 2015 report China told the UN that it had 501,000 cases of HIV/AIDS as of the end of 2014.
News of the accidental infections comes days after China announced plans to double the number of AIDS patients it treats with TCM as part of a broader push to increase the use of the ancient practice in the country's medical system.
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ


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Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) along with numerous project partners have embarked on a four-year study to help better understand current population trends, habitat use and impacts of human disturbance on bald eagles along the state’s most densely populated corridor.
The Front Range corridor of northern Colorado is an area that is experiencing rapid human population growth — up 18 percent since 2000. Amazingly, this densely developed area also contains a high concentration of bald eagles. In CPW’s raptor-nest database, as of 2020, there were more than 90 breeding pairs of bald eagles in this corridor from the Denver metro area to the Wyoming state line.
“The reason we are focused on this area is the concentration of bald eagles along the Front Range, juxtaposed with the concentration of humans and human infrastructure along the Front Range,” said CPW Avian Researcher Reesa Conrey.
Populations of the American bald eagle — the bold national symbol of the United States — have quadrupled since 2009, according to a new report by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its partners. However, eagles did not always thrive in this urban corridor. By the end of the 1970s there were only three known bald eagle nests in Colorado with none on the Front Range. Bald eagle populations declined in the early- to mid-20th century due to pesticides (primarily DDT), human disturbance, land conversion and loss of trees for nesting habitat.
Thanks to protections implemented for the species and DDT being banned for general use back in 1972, the slow recovery process started. In Colorado, that rebound has accelerated over the past few decades, concurrent with human population growth along the Front Range. The bald eagle was delisted from Endangered Species Act protection in 2007, although they still are protected by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under both the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. CPW classifies the bald eagle as a Tier 2 “Species of Greatest Conservation Need.”
NEW RESEARCH PROJECT
Researchers, biologists and volunteers from CPW, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies (BCR), along with numerous city and county agencies have been working together for years to monitor Colorado’s bald eagles to better understand their environmental needs and disturbance tolerances. These partners are coming together to help with this new research project that launched in the second half of 2020 and is expected to have management implications to help conserve bald eagles in a region that will continue to see rapid human development and land use conversions.
The study is expected to last four years and will be the most comprehensive bald eagle monitoring project ever done by CPW.
“We are looking at nest sites along a gradient of human activities and disturbances from urban to rural areas,” Conrey said.
Researchers will mark a sample of bald eagles nesting along the northern Front Range with GPS-GSM transmitters. The transmitter data will allow them to intensively monitor habitat use and eagle movements year-round, during both the breeding and nonbreeding seasons. At the same time, staff and a large number of dedicated volunteers will continue to monitor reproductive effort and success by conducting observations at nest sites. As of July 2021, they have tagged seven eagles.
“The transmitters that we are using for this project are different from what typically have been used,” said CPW Avian Researcher Reesa Conrey. “Previous generations of wildlife transmitters required biologists to use antennae to pick up the signals or they connected to satellite networks. But these transmitters connect to the cellular communications network. It allows our transmitters to be lighter in weight. That reduces potential stress on the eagles and it was a good choice for us in the Front Range because we have a lot of cell towers in this area.”
VOLUNTEER & VIEWING OPPORTUNITIES
Bird Conservancy of the Rockies
BCR’s Bald Eagle Watch (BEW) program has a volunteer citizen science network that monitors nesting bald eagles along the Front Range and elsewhere. The program has been steadily increasing its number of citizen volunteers as well as its scope and intensity of monitoring. They are CPW’s major partner on the project and their volunteers are monitoring most of the nests in the project area and providing data for the project.
You can also just enjoy watching them, such as those in LaVern M Johnson Park, along the cliffs. Get out and view your local bald eagles in winter (when we have both resident and wintering birds) or spring/summer by using binoculars or spotting scope to keep your distance and keep the birds safe. If a bird modifies its behavior in response to you, then you are too close.
CPW is an enterprise agency, relying primarily on license sales, state parks fees and registration fees to support its operations, including: 42 state parks and more than 350 wildlife areas covering approximately 900,000 acres, management of fishing and hunting, wildlife watching, camping, motorized and non-motorized trails, boating and outdoor education. CPW’s work contributes approximately $6 billion in total economic impact annually throughout Colorado.


» Properties & Applications
Inflatable rubber dams are variable dam barriers with a number of advantages over traditional constructions. The simple construction design with no movable parts (such as swivel joints) along with a plain shape of the concrete structure ensure low maintenance requirement of the dam. Any forces created are distributed evenly in the concrete foundation easing the reinforcement planning and the mounting on an existing dam structure. Mounting is possible on any vertical, inclined or twisted dam walls or curved or bent dam crests. What is more, due to their low construction height, rubber dams integrate harmoniously into the landscape. Repair and/or exchange of the rubber bladder is generally completed within a few days or weeks. Rubber dams are low-cost, adaptive and reliable barriers offering numerous application options.
Air-filled rubber dam on Lake Britton (USA)
Rubber dams can be used for a variety of purposes. When used for hydropower purposes, rubber dams retain the water for optimal use of the power-generating turbines. In coordination with the turbine’s capacity utilization the rubber dam allows to maintain the retention set point in a large variety of discharge scenarios. In addition, rubber dams are used to extend the storage capacity of existing dams. In this way the turbine capacity may be increased quickly and at low costs.
Precise water level control is very important when the dam is used for navigation (shipping) purposes. Rubber dams ensure that the retention set point is observed with narrow tolerance. For this use the automatic control system developed by Floecksmühle has proved especially effective.
Water-filled rubber dam on river Maas (France)
Rubber dams work as relief dams when used in the context of flood protection, for instance by integration in a dike. Thus polders or flooding areas may be flooded in a controlled manner. Due to their quick and easy operation as well as robust construction type, rubber dams also find application as mobile flood protectors. In the context of coastal protection rubber dams are used as storm tide barriers.
In the agricultural area rubber dams are used for retaining water for ground irrigation. Other applications are water storage for the direct watering of plants. Especially in regions with long dry periods rubber dams can be put to use for extending the water storage capacity so water supply is ensured on a continuous and economic basis.
Rubber dams also allow to separate sea water from fresh water in coastal regions. The bladder may be used with fresh water as well as sea water and brackish water. A special design also permits damming from the downstream side. This is the reason why rubber dams have proved efficient also as a barrier against sea water intrusion in agricultural coastal regions.
Rubber dams are used in sewage systems for water regulation, waste water retention and for rinsing the sewer system.
In combined sewer systems, part of the water from heavy rains must be stored to ensure that the sewage plant’s capacity is not exceeded. By installing an inflatable gate, the sewage duct can be used as an intermediate reservoir.
Requirements such as operational safety, adaptability to the sewer, dirt-proof and corrosion-proof design and remote controllability are all fully met by rubber dams.
Due to their flexibility and high operational safety, rubber dams can be used for a very large variety of purposes. Other possible applications are water sports, ecological water scene structuring, provision of cooling water and urban planning. Rubber dams can be customized to almost any particular application.
Air-filled rubber dam for irrigation purposes
Use of rubber dam in the sewage duct
» Structure & functional principle
Rubber dams are hydrostatic structures provided with a bladder of textile-reinforced rubber screwed to the dam structure which creates a tight inner space.
3D design of a water-filled rubber dam
The dam may be water-filled or air-filled. In either case a balance is created between the internal pressure of, and the water load on the bladder. By varying the filling volume the height of the bladder and thus the retention and discharge sections are adjustable to the relevant retention requirements.
3D design of an air-filled rubber dam
The pumps and valves are controlled from a power house. The appliances required for water-filled systems are located in underground shafts and for air-filled systems in an over ground power house. Using the respective control system the retention set point is adhered to reliably. The duration of Inflating and/or deflating is adjustable.
The filling medium is supplied to the rubber dam by pipes connected with the control system. As soon as the rising water level in the retention zone exceeds the retention set point, the bladder is gradually deflated until complete depletion, thus clearing the full dam opening. Vice-versa, as soon as the water level decreases the bladder is inflated. In this way the upstream water level is kept constant at the specified retention set point.
The choice of the appropriate filling medium depends on the requirements of the individual project. A number of criteria have to be considered at the planning stage.
|Air-filled rubber dams
|Water-filled rubber dams
|Even overtopping when operating at 95%-100% of the maximum bladder height
|Even overtopping in every operating mode
|V-shaped dent is formed when bladder is deflated below 95% to 90% of the maximum bladder height
|Spans can be controlled individually
|Spans can be controlled individually
|Setting times for inflation and deflation within 5 to 30 minutes (depending on size)
|Setting times for inflation and deflation from 1 to 4 hours (depending on size)
|The filling medium is ambient air
|The filling medium is generally river water (measures for improving the water quality might be required)
|No icing of filling medium in winter
|Efficient measures against icing required in the cold season
|Calculation of discharge is possible for 95% - 100% of the max. bladder height
|Calculation of discharge is possible because of the Floecksmühle system for measuring the bladder height (in the range of 25% - 100% of the max. bladder height)
|Longer service life of the dam in hot regions due to less heating of the membrane
|Lower loss of filling medium in the case of damage to the bladder
|Dimension of dam structure
|Width of depleted bladder: approx. 1.8 x bladder height
|Width of depleted bladder: approx. 2.4 x bladder height
|Small pipe diameters
|Larger pipe diameters
|Control system of compact design requires little space, especially in costly underground structure
|Control system must be located in shafts next to the rubber dam
|Control system not required to be located directly next to the rubber dam
// Air-filled rubber dams
The bladder of this type of rubber dam is filled with air. The dam is kept erect only by the air pressure inside the bladder. For inflating the dam, the compressor located in the power house on the riverside feeds air into the bladder through a control pipe.
The inflating bladder is completely air-tight, including the side wall sections, impounding the upstream water as the filling proceeds.
The deflation process is carried out by electrically or pneumatically controlled valves. Additionally, all valves can be operated manually. In the case of small dams the entire control system may be housed in a thermally insulated and heated control cabinet.
Functional principle of an air-filled rubber dam
The rubber dam is equipped with a number of sensors ensuring safe operation, precise setting and permanent monitoring of the dam operation. The sensors measure the water level in the retention area and the internal pressure of the bladder. Besides, the interior of the bladder is monitored for possible condensate formation or intrusion of outside water. The internal pressure of the bladder is measured separately for each span. Therefore separate measuring pipes are provided leading to the control house.
Air-filled rubber dam in Los Laureles (Honduras)
Up to a deflation of approx. 95% to 90% of the maximum bladder height, air-filled dams behave in a way similar to water-filled dams. When depleted further, a V-shaped dent forms involving higher overtopping of the dam. As a consequence, air-filled dams are not overtopped as evenly as water-filled dams. This may have advantages as well as disadvantages depending on the site location. The control system developed by Floecksmühle ensures strict observance of the retention set point also for air-filled rubber dams.
As a general rule, rubber dams may be used in locations where the downstream water is retained. When there is no downstream retention, the air-filled bladder is fixed to the dam body with one upstream fixing line. If the retained downstream water reaches up to the non-overtopped dam, a second fixing line may be necessary.
Overtopped air-filled rubber dam in Tolosa (Spain)
// Water-filled rubber dams
In water-filled rubber dams the water pressure in the bladder is created to the principle of communicating vessels as a water column in a regulating shaft connected with the inside of the bladder by a pipeline (inlet/outlet pipe). The height of the water column in the regulating shaft determines the internal pressure and thus the height of the inflated bladder.
Functional principle of water-filled rubber dams
The water bag – and thus also the bladder – are filled by one or more filling pump(s). The water is taken from the supply shaft which is generally connected with the upstream water by one or more pipes. The bladder is inflated by feeding water into the regulating shaft. As soon as the pressure inside the bladder exceeds the sum of external forces (bladder weight and water load), the bladder starts to prop up. The inflated bladder retains the water in the retention area.
Water-filled three-span rubber dam on the Maas river (France)
The crest of water-filled rubber dams is always horizontal, even when filled only in part. Therefore the overtopping water flows very evenly across the dam.
The measured parameters include the water level in the retention area and on the downstream side as well as the bladder height if required. As a consequence, water-filled dams make it possible to calculate the discharge rate in a certain range. In this way the discharge rate may be accounted for in the control system as a control parameter.
// Inflatable gates in sewage water systems
3D-design of an inflatable sewer gate
Inflatable sewer gates are installed in sewage ducts of combined sewage systems.
In combined sewage systems, rain water and wastewater are channeled together to the water treatment plant. As the collector duct and the water treatment plant are designed for a limited capacity, part of the sewage water from heavy rains must be stored temporarily to ensure that the water treatment plant’s capacity is not exceeded.
The installation of inflatable sewer gates allows the use of the existing sewage duct as an intermediate reservoir. The discharge volume passing across the inflatable sewer gates can be regulated in such way that the capacity of the connected sewage treatment plants is not exceeded. Inflatable sewer gates are generally designed as air filled rubber gates. Depending on the design, the complete cross section of the sewage duct can be closed.
Inflatable sewer gates offer several advantages:
- They can easily be installed in existing sewage water systems.
- The simple design of inflatable gates requires low maintenance.
- Electro-mechanical components can be installed in easily accessible operating shafts.
- Existing sewage ducts can be used as buffer reservoirs for sewage water.


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Have you noticed that the blog looks a little different? It has been redesigned to use a dynamic template. This template is suited to look best on smart phones and tablets to make it even easier for you to access blog content. The same great content is still there.
We are looking for someone to resign the header banner to fit better with the new look and feel. Please let us know if that might be you! Contact Melissa Haberman or Jayme Jarrett for more info!

domain: design


The topic the Greensboro City Council discussed the longest at the Tuesday, March 7 meeting was once again the homeless population.
The discussion began with Councilmember Zack Matheny noting that in the past two weeks two homeless men have died on the streets downtown. He said, “We don’t need to do better. We’ve got to do something.”
Matheny said, “Fundamentally health and human services are the responsibility of the folks across the plaza. It is a county function.”
He added, “I believe that as a city we have invested above and beyond what any city in the country has done.” Matheny said that since 2016, Greensboro had spent about $100 million in an attempt to help the homeless population. He asked, “What do we have to show for this investment.”
Councilmember Sharon Hightower, who is on the Continuum of Care (COC) and the Homeless Task Force, said, “Government moves slowly, period.”
According to the Guilford County website: “The Guilford County Continuum of Care (Guilford CoC) is the planning body in Guilford County, North Carolina that coordinates the community’s policies, strategies and activities toward ending homelessness.”
Matheny responded, “Tell us the process. If I see someone in need, what do I do?”
Councilmember Tammi Thurm said, “We asked that question two years ago and there was no answer then and there is no answer now.”
She said, “I understand that the Homeless Task Force is working on a big plan and it takes time, but what do we do in the interim?”
Thurm added, “We need a response other than we are waiting for the Homeless Task Force to come up with an answer.”
Mayor Nancy Vaughan said, “We’ve been running around doing shelter things when we should be doing housing things.”
She said, “When we invest money in temporary shelters, we are taking it away from long term housing.”
Vaughan added, “The fact is, when I ask questions I don’t get answers from the COC. We need to get an update on who is doing what.”
Hightower defended the COC and the Homeless Task Force and said the key was “coordinated entry.” She said, “We’ve got to look at something long term. Something sustainable.”
Thurm said, “Coordinated entry doesn’t work if the requests for help are ignored.”
All pass the buck BS. Another SNAFU that you voted in. If an accurate number…100 million spent since 2016….for what? Audit time don’t you think?
That’s odd. When I inquired to Matheny about what I considered to be a retaliation strategy on the part of my apartment community which left me homeless and, eventually, indigent, he did nothing to assist me. HE needs to do something…anything…like following up on concerns to avert this kind of behavior.
They gave them some shelters in the Pomona ballfield, not their toney neighborhoods and forgot about them. Govt, especially Dems, destroy people and the economy, if y’all hadn’t noticed. If they didn’t foster racism and poverty, they’d have no party.
ps what is worse than a racist? A condescending white self professed liberal!
You can throw money at this until you turn blue but the facts are that some folks want this life style and no matter how much resources you throw at it these folks simple do not want another life style. Some of this is drug related, some is mental issues and some we will never understand. There may not be any one solution. I believe that the ones that want to turn it around are the ones that should be focused on, the hard core that do not want to change are not going to. Was downtown last week, saw several folks asleep in doorways, saw two individuals in a cussing match, one giuy was arguing with himself another lady was high on something. This was all in a two block area. It is a sad situation but dumping money on top of money is not the solution. This council thinks that all things can be solved by spending tax payer money but they can not.
Some folks dont WANT housing? They just want to be homeless? Sometimes i FORGET that ppl actually BELIEVE that rhetoric. In reality, anyone who says to YOU “i just want to be homeless”, has given up WASTING THEIR TIME TALKING about it – because they know that what they need simply does NOT exist. Thats why the majority of the elderly homeless live in their cars to BUY MEDICINE!
How is it possible they spend a hundred million dollars and all they’re doing is literally attracting more transients to the area.
They jump at the chance to increase cost and taxes for working people so they can throw money at others who contribute nothing.
A good start would be to ban panhandling and enforce public drunkenness as well as loitering laws.
I think instead of calling them the city council a better time would be the city idiots. I can’t believe people in Greensboro keep electing them.
Mandate Mayor and Matheny could take low cost solutions like unlocking public restrooms overnight or maybe spending on actual city functions instead of streetscapes and Performance Arts Palaces surrounded by ten foot high fences. Area Churches that ignore the issue are complicit as well. Also all the regulations about where folks are allowed to temporarily shelter could be relaxed or removed. But instead please cue up ” Send in the Clowns”.
Just more government waste! Imagine if they’d taken that $100 MILLION and used it to build, own, and operate beautiful, mixed income housing all over the city. That would increase the number of affordable units in and help keep rents down for all of us! It would also return a profit that could be reinvested in more affordable housing! So tired of Government and these politicians WASTING so much when they could be investing it!
Sounds like a Govt SNAFU to me.
I have a simple solution: Rehab or jail.
Or, on second thought, we can bus them all to the center of NC liberalism: Chapel Hill.


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Lietkabelis Panevezys has added Gyorgy Goloman to its roster, the club confirmed on Thursday. Goloman (2.11 meters, 26 years old) arrives from Szombathely, where he averaged 10.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 47 Hungarian League matches last season. He is set to play in the 7DAYS EuroCup for the first time in the 2022-23 campaign.
Lietkabelis inks forward Goloman
Goloman made his professional debut with Egis Kormend of his native Hungary in the 2013-14, but then played college basketball at the University of California for the next four years. He represented Westchester of the G-League in the 2018-19 campaign before briefly spending time with Yokohama and Yamagata of Japan. The next season saw Goloman suit up for Charleroi of Belgium, and last summer he returned to Hungary to play for Szombathely.


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Sat on the toilet of a work placement for a national newspaper, I discovered that I would be leaving my pursuit of writing for their weekly magazine behind, as I discovered I was unexpectedly pregnant with my first child.
With the Pandemic exposing the gender disparities between the sexes, the ingrained gap between men and women was transparent whilst also showcasing all the powerful roles women can play as frontline staff and the often overlooked ‘lesser’ roles – it has been a time to reflect just how much we need to value women.
But the good news is that more women are aspiring to pursue careers in STEM, Coding and are feeling much more ambitious in their careers thanks to the rise in flexible and home working.
The report, released by FutureLearn and YouGov, also found that women have taken more of an active interest in further learning.
I am one of these reinvigorated cohort of women who have been studying further qualifications and pursuing the career (of writing magazine features and creating digital content about the communities I am from with a focus on wellbeing…) I “gave up” (halted/paused) when becoming a young mum. With more optimism now that you no longer need to be ‘office-based’ or worse still, relocate out of my family bubble of Yorkshire.
Even LinkedIn recently launched an option for ‘stay at home parents’ to explain the vital role parents and carers play in life and work!
Some parents attempting to return to work have opted for the title “homemaker” – a label that LinkedIn provided on the networking site to explain career gaps. Others have improvised, using makeshift titles like “Family CEO” or “Chief Home Officer”.
But there’s still a way to go after years of systemic inequality and stigma.
Resulting in many of us not having the same confidence as men to even identify ourselves as leaders due to the fact that we do not fit the status quo.
Our circumstances and opportunities are often different to men. And we hold ourselves back, through feeling the so-called ‘”mposter Syndrome.” Whilst it’s not technically a syndrome it is a common feeling of ‘inadequacy’ that a lot of women feel when breaking through ‘glass ceilings.’
This feeling can be deeply ingrained and it’s not about genetics but the society we live and breathe. Consciously and subconsciously we limit ourselves but even when we realise this we get scared to ask for support, as always feel the need to prove and justify our worth.
This can often lead women to fulfil the ‘unwanted’ roles in leadership and in all parts of society as we can feel uncertain about negotiation and asserting our own path.
This vicious cycle for some ‘ambitious’ women like me then leads to us criticising ourselves for not having a voice, not speaking up or dumbing down what we have to say or trying to sound too clever.
I know that as a young working mum-to-be in the media I tried to conceal my pregnancy from certain clients for fear of losing freelance work. Also, the ability to work flexibly has always been important for me personally to manage my health, family and to work smart… and I believe this should be available to all!
Presenti-ism in the workplace costs employers a lot more than absenti-ism i.e. people show up unproductive and slog hours in an office to prove their worth.
This is why we need allies of all sexes and to join together. We were asked some of these thought provoking questions in a power hour talk by Oxford Leadership Project hosted by Wakefield Community Foundation’s Women’s Network:
“Which of these has been your biggest frustration in your career so far?”
- Unable to see yourself as a leader?
- Imposter syndrome?
- Unable or unwilling to ask for help?
- On the edge of a glass cliff?
- Kept under a glass ceiling?
- Unsure about negotiating for yourself? Being unsure about negotiating for yourself
One theme which was a prevalent is this notion of ‘imposter syndrome’ that I am sure a lot of us are experiencing as we merge from three lockdowns… not sure how or where we will fit in.
Women’s Fund founder Barbara Paterson, MD of Paterson Consultancy Ltd, says: “Everyone experiences moments of self doubt where they question their confidence and competence.
“This can sometimes be a good thing and stops us from becoming arrogant and reckless. If we have unrealistic expectations of our capabilities and set standards way too high we can feel like an imposter if we can’t achieve perfection. We become afraid of making mistakes and this can often stop our ability to stay open minded and keep learning.
“The mindset we choose has an important impact on how we approach problems and see our achievements. Living with a growth mindset (defined in Carol Dwerk’s book “Mindset”) means we believe there is always a solution to a problem we may just not have got there yet!”
Some of the topics we spoke about (before I had to rush off for the school run!):
- See yourself as a leader: unable to see yourself as a leader
- Imposter Syndrome: Not recognising the skills you have and not saying things until you’re sure
- Unable to ask for help/support
- “Go get the brews” or disassociate from other women
- On the edge of a glass cliff: E.g. Women find themselves in roles nobody else wanted because they’re difficult jobs E.g. Teresa May Brexit Negotiation
- Glass ceiling: unable to speak due to lack of confidence – blame ourselves for not speaking up but actually wasn’t all my fault


text:
Product Name:Haloacid Dehalogenase-Like Hydrolase Domain Containing 1 Human Recombinant
Catalog Number: LTP3147
Product Size: 20µg
Transportation method:Shipped with Ice Packs
Uniprot ACC#: Q08623Enzymes
Amino acid sequence: MGSSHHHHHH SSGLVPRGSH MAAPPQPVTH LIFDMDGLLL DTERLYSVVF QEICNRYDKK YSWDVKSLVM GKKALEAAQI IIDVLQLPMS KEELVEESQT KLKEVFPTAA LMPGAEKLII HLRKHGIPFA LATSSGSASF DMKTSRHKEF FSLFSHIVLG DDPEVQHGKP DPDIFLACAK RFSPPPAMEK CLVFEDAPNG VEAALAAGMQ VVMVPDGNLS RDLTTKATLV LNSLQDFQPE LFGLPSYE.
HDHD1 Human Recombinant fused with a 20 amino acid His tag at N-terminus produced in E.Coli is a single, non-glycosylated, polypeptide chain containing 248 amino acids (1-228 a.a.) and having a molecular mass of 27.4kDa. The HDHD1 is purified by proprietary chromatographic techniques.
Formulation:The HDHD1 solution (1mg/ml) contains 20mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH8.0), 20% glycerol,0.1M NaCl and 1mM DTT.
Physical Appearance:Sterile Filtered colorless solution.
Purity:Greater than 95.0% as determined by SDS-PAGE.
Stability:Store at 4°C if entire vial will be used within 2-4 weeks. Store, frozen at -20°C for longer periods of time. For long term storage it is recommended to add a carrier protein (0.1% HSA or BSA).Avoid multiple freeze-thaw cycles.
Synonyms: Pseudouridine-5'-monophosphatase, 5'-PsiMPase, Haloacid dehalogenase-like hydrolase domain-containing protein 1, Haloacid dehalogenase-like hydrolase domain-containing protein 1A, Protein GS1, HDHD1, DXF68S1E, FAM16AX, GS1, HDHD1A.
Usage:LifeTein's products are furnished for LABORATORY RESEARCH USE ONLY. The product may not be used as drugs, agricultural or pesticidal products, food additives or household chemicals.


text:
Little pre flight Cabernet and a new book 😊🍷
Little pre flight Cabernet and a new book 😊🍷
The Outsider is everything I want in a book - a great mystery, really interesting characters, and a hint of the supernatural. The story begins with the horrific death of a child, and the arrest of a local coach and hero for his murder. There is a multitude of evidence for his guilt, but video footage shows him 70 miles away at the time of the murder. I was kept guessing throughout, there was no let up of tension, and I loved it.
Dang I like to be scared. I‘m a weirdo. And this one definitely evokes the heebie jeebies, the checking of closets, under beds... maybe the shower. Don‘t judge. 😂😂 Not the best King book ever but a solid addition to his canon.
Not a bad view to be reading the latest SK.
This book sucked me right in, I just simply couldn't put it down! (Thanks to bad IBS forcing me to stay home, I didn't have to 😅) My first Stephen King and I'll definitely pick up more books written by him. It was so good, though the last 100 - 150 pages were a little less in my opinion, it was still a great read.
King is my favorite author in terms of consistency and he is responsible for my favorite series, The Dark Tower. This book was filled with many of those things that I love so much about King‘s writing- remarkably deep character development, his ability to make me care about the characters, the horror and vividness of the imagery. My only issue is that the story felt short somehow and the ending didn‘t feel as complete as I had hoped it would.
The Outsider by Stephen King is a brutal and suspenseful tale that centers around an unspeakable crime.
With various eye witnesses, fingerprints, and DNA matches, the case seems pretty cut and dry. However, the police soon begin to question their original convictions once they find that the suspect has a solid alibi...
So I am an absolute fan of the early works of Stephen King, like the 70s, 80s and early 90s. But I think he just went downhill from there. This book is a huge exception. It is so good, well-written, complex and scary, it reminded me of the time when he actually was the King of horror (no pun intended). If you like horror, you should give it a go!
Stephen King appears to have created a new kind of monster in this book. I‘ve always liked King as a writer and I did enjoy this book. The only quibble I have is the story is set in Oklahoma, which seems a little odd. Good characters, as usual, and a good story. He includes a character from another book and she fits in fine. I am happy that the monster isn‘t a vampire or a zombie. 4 out of 5 stars.
Check out this schedule!! #LoftWordplay
This was my first Stephen King book. Shocking since all I read for the most part is thrillers, murder mysteries, etc. I kind of had no clue what to expect going in. Once I realized where the storyline was headed it was losing me. I don‘t enjoy those types of things and I‘ll leave it at that so I don‘t give anything away. While I semi struggled to get through the last quarter of the book I still enjoyed it for the most part.
I‘ve been a fan since Carrie came out in paperback. Started this afternoon, and finished before dinner in one great rush. He is a wonderful storyteller, and the pacing was perfect. And when Things went sideways, one of my favorite characters (Holly from Mr.Mercedes)rides in like the calvary. This is so the kind of story King does so very well; human and supernatural. Last library book completed so now I can start the new Marlon James!
Kitty is not amused that she has to share my lap with a book.
Running very late to work because I just *had* to finish this. At the end of the day this book was all good creepy fun, very enjoyable, but nothing spectacular. Yet I couldn't put it down. If there's one thing King is good at, it's keeping the pages turning!
Started this chunkster last night. I'm liking it so far.
I am absolutely LIVING for Will Patton's narration of this book! He has me so into it!! Anyone read this one yet?
Didn't get as much read as I wanted yesterday. But today I'm fully prepared to get to 24 hours today. It's still possible. #24b4monday
I might have gone a little crazy with the book bingeing this weekend.
A companion novel to the Bill Hodges trilogy, this book gives us more of King's brand of detectives and more Holly Gibney, whom Patton gives an excellent voice to. Technically a stand alone, but you'll get much more out of the second half if you read Mr. Mercedes.
Absolutely loved it! Reminded me of why Stephen King was one of my favorite authors back in my younger days - this was the first time in 20 years I‘ve sat down with one of his books. It didn‘t disappoint. I love how his novels really make you ponder the darker side of human nature.


text:
The decision to divorce is never an easy one. It can cause enormous emotional stress and life-changing legal decisions.
The Everything® Divorce Book, written in plain, understandable language by former Judge Mary L. Davidson, prepares you for the legal and emotional challenges that lie ahead, with information and advice that will help you relieve your fears and make the best decisions for you and your family. The author draws on her sixteen years of experience in family court law to give you an advantage in the courtroom and prepare you for your new life.
Expert advice includes:
·Making the decision to divorce
·Selecting the right lawyer
·Determining custody of children
·Evaluating mediation and arbitration programs
·Surviving pretrial stages and hearings
·Interpreting and executing the judge’s ruling
The Everything® Divorce Book unravels and simplifies this complicated process so you can get through it with your sanity intact.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Mary L. Davidson is a former district court judge who has presided over more than 500 divorce trials. She has been a member of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers since 1979. Judge Davidson lives in Minneapolis, MN.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Book Description Paperback. Book Condition: New. Brand New! We ship daily Monday - Friday!. Bookseller Inventory # 1EY82M007KB4
Book Description Everything, 2003. Paperback. Book Condition: New. book. Bookseller Inventory # M1580626696
Book Description Everything, 2003. Paperback. Book Condition: New. Never used!. Bookseller Inventory # P111580626696
Book Description Everything. PAPERBACK. Book Condition: New. 1580626696 New Condition. Bookseller Inventory # NEW7.2134223

domain: law


Again, a cumulative update arrives to solve failures inWindows 10 April 2018 Update, which arrives under the compilation number17134.81with the knowledge patchKB4100403.
NOTICE:It is recommended to disconnect all USB peripherals that are connected to the computer, since in the previous cumulative some users (included me) suffered an infinite boot loop, so the solution is to disconnect everything before restarting or shutting down to install the update, However, it is unknown if this problem is still present in this new cumulative but it is better to prevent to avoid suffering a boot loop in our notebook.
The list of changes is as follows:
- It solves a problem in Internet Explorer that can cause communication between websites to fail in certain asynchronous scenarios with multiple visits to a web page.
- It solves a reliability issue that may cause Microsoft Edge or other applications to stop responding when a new audio endpoint is created while audio or video playback starts. It solves additional problems with updated time zone information.
- It solves a problem where subtitle configuration is retained after the update.
- Fixes a problem with power regression on systems with NVMe devices from certain vendors.
- It solves a problem that can cause Windows Hello to fail on certain hardware you have from GPU.
Did you install this cumulative problem without problem? Leave us your comments
. pc (t) software (t) windows 10 (t) updates (t) cumulative (t) april 2018 update


text:
nicenothings® is a multidimensional art practice that uses patterns and lines to create visual mazes that mimic the textures of the natural world.
—the weeds grow where the oceans sleep
completed on june 21st 2019, this piece came to life over the course of 9 long beautiful days. it was painted completely freehand by brush with no plan or guideline. the pattern is meant to capture the dividing and flowing forms of seaweed. this project was made possible by vancouver mural festival and a few dedicated volunteers & friends.
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Take a Walk on the Wild Side: The Caribbean Best for Nature-Loving Couples
By Melanie Reffes
Best known for the beaches, cocktails at sunset and couple-time in a swaying hammock, the many countries that make up the Caribbean are remarkably diverse with plenty of variety that is tempting for twosomes. Check out our nature island primer, leave the sun lounger on the sand and take your sweetie to the hills and the mountains, rainforests, gardens, bird sanctuaries and caves; you can always go back to the beach tomorrow.
Go Green in Grenada
A siren’s call for adventure-lovers, Grenada is where you’ll find countless hiking trails, waterfalls and wildlife that live in the rainforest. On the Atlantic side, start at the La Sagesse Nature Center with nature trails that wind through steamy forests and windy hills. High up in the mountains, Grand Etang Forest Reserve is where to go for hiking, birdwatching, river tubing and meet and greets with critters like mongoose and Mona monkeys. A natural wonderland hosting four of the island’s tallest peaks and waterfalls that empty into pools for swimming, hikes range from an easy 30-minute jaunt to more rigorous treks that can take several hours. www.grenadagrenadines.com
To hike with the like-minded, Island Routes ‘Rainforest Hike Mount Qua Qua Tour’ is a good bet for unrivaled panoramas of the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. With bottle water, sunscreen, insect repellent and snacks tucked inside a backpack, hands-free climbers snap photos of monkeys taking five and hummingbirds sipping nectar from the wild blossoms. http://islandroutes.com
Just north of Venezuela, Tobago is the more laid-back of the dual-island nation that includes Trinidad. On record as the ‘Western Hemisphere’s ‘oldest protected rain forest’, Tobago’s Main Ridge Forest Reserve covers two-thirds of the island and is home to nearly 300 species of rare bird like the Yellow Thrush and the Blue-backed Mankin. A mile from the northeast shore and even more laid-back than Tobago, Little Tobago was once home to a cotton plantation and today is one of the premier seabird sanctuaries in the Caribbean. For couples who enjoy bird watching, Peter Cox Wildlife Tours offers day trips to see dozens of nesting species that live on the 250-acre island. Equipped with spotting scopes and binoculars, guides accompany tourists on glass bottom boats that make the 20-minute trip across the Atlantic from the fishing village of Speyside.
Along the way, you’ll pass Goat Island where according to local legend the large white house that sits in the middle was the former home of Ian Fleming who wrote the James Bond spy thrillers. On dry land, tour-goers keep buy ativan 1mg their eyes peeled for green iguanas, leaf-toed geckos and colorful birds like Red-billed Tropics with their chalk-white feathers and Tropical Mockingbirds often heard singing in the night. Taking tourists on nature treks for more than 30 years, Peter Cox says his tour company upholds stringent eco-friendly standards, “Our guides do not use tape recorders and laser lights to call the animals as we pay very close attention to human impact on the island.” For those who like to eat local, make time on the way back for a stop at Jemma’s Seaview Treehouse Kitchen that was built in a treehouse and is island-famous for broiled lobsters and a wedge of the Chef’s Tobagonian mac ‘n cheese layered with slices of breadfruit. http://petercoxnaturetours.com/home/
Au Naturel in Nevis
For an exhilarating mountain high, Nevis Adventure Tours offers ‘Up and Down’ to Nevis Peak; an active volcano that stands proud at 3,232 feet above sea level. With a few challenging sections, the 4-5 hour trail travels up and down the same side of the slope with views on a clear day to Montserrat, St. Kitts and Antigua. For more experienced hikers, ‘Up and Over’ is a longer climb over the mountain and for history buffs, ‘Russell’s Rest Nature Hike’ is moderately challenging starting at the ruins of the 300-year old Russell Plantation and continuing on the Atlantic side through the rainforest that is home to monkeys, cocoa trees and waterfalls. www.nevisadventuretours.com/tours/
Catering to adventurers who like to be pampered, ‘Summit and Spa’ at the Four Seasons Resort Nevis starts with a hike to the top of Nevis Peak and wraps up with a fragrant massage that coddles the body with brown sugar, coconut and nutmeg. www.fourseasons.com/nevis. Early risers at the Nisbet Plantation Beach Club – and others who ask nicely- can tag along on the ‘GM Hike’ that sets foot at 7 a.m. The ‘General Manager’ and ‘Good Morning’ endorphin-pumper is a 5-mile loop up a gradual incline that passes through pastures humming with chickens, goats and donkeys. https://nisbetplantation.com
For the Birds in Anguilla
Founded in 2010 by an American ex-pat who now calls the British island home, Nature Explorers Anguilla is the brainchild of avid birdwatcher and expert photographer Jacqueline Cestero who takes tourists beyond the beaches and swanky resorts. The first ecotourism company on the island, the most popular excursions are bird watching tours to the offshore cays and wetlands where Brown Boobies nest, Black-necked Stilts and Laughing Gulls breed and tour-goers keep their eyes open for pink flamingos and hummingbirds with unique spiky head feathers. “One of my favorite spots is Dog Island,” said Jacqueline Cestero, referring to the furthest outlying cay, “this is the ‘Galapagos of the Caribbean’ with nesting seabirds including 113,000 pairs of Sooty Terns.” In the wake of last year’s hurricane that took a toll on the islands natural resources, Nature Explorers Anguilla is donating all proceeds from its 2018 tours. “I will derive no income from the tours this year, all will go towards mangrove restoration on the western end of the island,” adds Jacqueline Cestero. www.natureexplorersanguilla.com
Caving in Curacao
While many nature buffs prefer to get their fix above ground, exploring a cave is just as exciting. A hidden treasure on the west coast, Blue Room is an underwater cave accessible only through a narrow opening. Popular with snorkelers and scuba divers, the dome half-filled with clear water is a kaleidoscope of various shades of blue and green and the go-to for cavorting with schools of glassy-eyed sweeper fish. On the eastern side of the island, Bika’s Caverns are home to bats although they prefer to flutter near the top of the caves that are separated by pockets of sunlight. Tours traverse the caves and to the lookout with mesmerizing 360 degree views of the island. Asked to explain the name of the caves, Terence Ching, project coordinator at Stichting Uniek, a group that protects the island’s environment likes to quote local lore, “it is said that Bika, a female slave, was the paramour of the land owner and after he passed away he left the land in her name.” www.curacao.com/en/
A world away from the beaches and the baguettes, the petite French isle, just over 4 hours by plane from New York, is a treasure trove of natural wonders bordering the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Caribbean Sea to the west. Nicknamed the ‘Isle of Flowers’, fans of bright blooms make a beeline for the Jardin de Balata; a short drive from the capital city of Fort-de-France. www.jardindebalata.fr/welcome
To see the biggest and oldest tree in the Lesser Antilles, head to Habitation Céron, also called the ‘Remarkable Garden’, where you’ll find a three-century-old Zamana tree with branches that span the distance of a city block. To hang with hip tourists from France, Les Trois-Ilets is a small town popular for forest walks, Sunday picnics and exploring the mangroves on a kayak. It’s also the birthplace of Joséphine, Napoléon, Bonaparte’s first wife, and where you’ll find her childhood mementos and a love letter written by Napoléon at the Pagerie Museum.
And there’s the mountain. Rising to nearly 4,600 feet above sea level, Mount Pelée is an active volcano that blew its top in 1902 blanketing the city of St. Pierre in a veil of toxic ash. Named for the French words for ‘bald mountain’, hiking the steep cloud-shrouded hill via one of 3 trails takes a lot of fortitude and although you can climb on your own, an escorted trek is recommended. http://us.martinique.org
Glowing in Puerto Rico
It is a mystical glow-in-the-dark experience seen in only five bioluminescent bays in the world: one in Jamaica, one in Vietnam and 3 in Puerto Rico; Laguna Grande, La Parguera and Mosquito Bay. Courtesy of millions of microscopic marine organisms that light up when they’re touched, the water looks a giant glow stick especially dramatic from a kayak when your hands touch the waves surrounding the boat. With every stroke of a paddle, swirls of color with lots of blue-green lights sparkle in the dark. Specializing in day trips, San Juan-based PR Fun Tours offers a 2-hour Bioluminescent Bay Kayak Tour to Laguna Grande. Under the watchful eyes of trained guides, two-person glass-bottom kayaks – perfect for couples – enter through a mangrove that is part of the Cabezas de San Juan Nature Reserve in Fajardo on the northeast coast. “Very few people, even Puerto Ricans, are aware of our little known, bioluminescent lagoon,” said Erik Moccabee, owner, PR Fun Tours, “it’s best to go on a moonless night when we cover the kayaks with giant canvas tarps to block out any light including that coming from the bright stars.” https://funtourspr.com
Snaking around Saint Lucia
With vistas only a handful of locales can rival, ascending to the top of Gros Piton at 2,619 feet above sea level is a bucket list mainstay and although there are plenty of guides to take you there, it’s the nature-path-less-traveled on the southeast coast that is worth checking out. One of the islands national treasures, Maria Islands is accessible only to visitors who arrange a tour with the National Trust. Solo excursions are not allowed.
Less than a mile from Pointe Sable, the twin islands (25-acre Maria Major and 4-acre Maria Minor) is a protected ecosystem 20 minutes by boat from the shore. As un-touristy as it gets with no frills and no amenities, tour-goers are encouraged to pack their own picnic lunch, sunscreen and snorkel gear. Not for the squeamish, the islands are also home to creepy crawlers like the world’s rarest snake called the Saint Lucia Racer that slithers between the rock crevices and the Whiptail lizard with its speckled blue tail. www.stlucia.org/