text:
By contrast to the stage history, in literary criticism there was no lag time, no temporary preference for other dramatists: He also declared the History plays to be the true English epic.
And there I rest my shaky and conveniently mutually supportive case. They smooth across seams and deny them without obliterating them. Form, in other words, allows him to draw some assuagement from the very source of the agony itself.
To attempt criticism of the sonnets is, to an unusual extent, to be challenged to make oneself vulnerable, to Critics of shakespeare a kind of creative therapy, as one goes back and forth from such textual gaps and indeterminacies to the shifting, vulnerable self, making the reader aware of the inadequacy and betrayal of words, as well as of their amazing seductiveness.
The facts about his reputation can be surmised from fragmentary evidence. Why should we approach the sonnets any differently?
Ouditt then identifies the problems inherent with these approaches. There is a sense in which men are all fools of time.
When the sonnet tries, however, by virtue of its formally structured argument, to create a consciousness that seeks to understand and so to control this awareness, the reader encounters lines or individual words that may undermine even the temporary satisfaction of the aesthetic form.
Harris studies the portrayal of Cressida. What is he up to? Opinion of Shakespeare was briefly shaped in the s by the "discovery" of the Shakespeare Papers by William Henry Ireland.
Erickson outlines the development of feminist criticism in America, and argues that there is a stark contrast between what he views as prefeminist criticism, beforeand feminist criticism after I saw, I confess, some good Critics of shakespeare and some handsome women, which was all my pleasure.
None of this was accomplished by flailing "innovation", and this, I think, is the real poetic miracle of the sonnets. Yet the language so lovely! They consist of poems first published in as Shake-speares Sonnets. I feel this must be right. We need a great many facts in his biography; and we should like to know whether, and when, and after or at the same time as what personal experience, he read MontaigneII.
It is not a good sign for the taste of a nation when that which it admires meets with favor only at home. Ultimately it asks from the lover the nolo contendere of commitment: Britain[ edit ] In the 18th century, Shakespeare dominated the London stage, while Shakespeare productions turned increasingly into the creation of star turns for star actors.
These were wildly competitive affairs. Unpredictability and change are at the heart of the sonnets—but it is a continually shifting heart, and one that conceives of human love as definable only in terms of such change and finitude.
When one falls in love with a much younger person, does one inevitably feel the insecurity of a generation gap? In the two hundred years since Petrarch, the sonnet had developed into an instrument of logic and rhetoric. The same consideration applies also to the remarkable case of William Shakespeare of Stratford.The growth of Shakespeare's reputation is illustrated by a timeline of Shakespeare criticism, from John Dryden's "when he describes any thing, you more than see it, you feel it too" () to Thomas Carlyle's estimation of Shakespeare as the "strongest of rallying-signs" () for an English identity.
Books shelved as shakespeare-criticism: Shakespeare After All by Marjorie Garber, Shakespeare: The World as Stage by Bill Bryson, Shakespeare: The Invent.
The tragedy of too many college courses on William Shakespeare these days is that students may be learning more about literary criticism than the Bard himself. “The fact is, even if you sign up for a course with ‘Shakespeare’ or ‘Faulkner’ in the title, there’s absolutely no guarantee.
Shakespeare: These scenes in their rough native dress were mine, But now improved with nobler lustre shine; The first rude sketches Shakespeare's pencil drew, But all the shining master strokes are new. This play, ye Critics, shall your fury stand, Adorned and rescued by a blameless hand.
Shakespeare criticism of the 20th and 21st centuries has seen an extraordinary flourishing of new schools of critical approach.
Psychological and psychoanalytic critics such as Ernest Jones have explored questions of character in terms of Oedipal complexes, narcissism, and psychotic behaviour or, more simply, in terms of the conflicting needs.
"Shakespeare Illustrated, a work in progress, explores nineteenth-century paintings, criticism and productions of Shakespeare's plays and their influences on one another." Contains: Bibliography, Pictures, Commentary.Download

domain: literature


text:
Hydric Soils: Chester County, Pennsylvania
- U S Department of Agriculture
- This data set includes all soil map units that are defined as Hydric in the SSURGO data base. The SSURGO data set is a digital soil survey and is the most detailed level of soil geographic data developed by the National Cooperative Soil Survey. The information was collected by digitizing maps, by compiling information onto a planimetric correct base and digitizing, or by revising digitized maps using remotely sensed and other information. The SSURGO data set consists of georeferenced digital map data and computerized attribute data. The map data are in a full county format and include a detailed, field verified inventory of soils and nonsoil areas that normally occur in a repeatable pattern on the landscape and that can be cartographically shown at the scale mapped. Sometimes a special soil features layer (point and line features) is included. This layer displays the location of features too small to delineate at the mapping scale, but they are large enough and contrasting enough to significantly influence use and management. The soil map units are linked to attributes in the Map Unit Interpretations Record relational data base, which gives the proportionate extent of the component soils and their properties.
- State of Pennsylvania
- Geoscientific Information
- Temporal Coverage:
- Contributed by:
- Pennsylvania State University

domain: geography


text:
Case Study of An Individual with Adult Separation Anxiety
Researching Treatments Using cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), counselors aim at making the patient suffering from adult separation anxiety disorder to regain their control over any reaction to external stimuli and stress.
According to the research, CBT was very helpful to those patients, who might have secondary anxiety disorder, dependency on alcohol and other substances, and depression (Weilding, 2012). This technique helped patients suffering from adult separation disorder to identify thoughts that affect them during separation causing anxiety. After patients had successfully identified these thoughts, they were taught on the techniques used to develop a plan for dealing with the ones. James used CBT to help Anne deal with the fear of being separated from her husband, Frank. Anne stated that she always felt stressed, when she did not hear from her husband for more than twelve hours (Weilding, 2012). It was because she felt that maybe he might have been killed or was lying injured in a remote place.
Whenever her husband was free, Anne skipped her normal duties and tasks to avail herself of an opportunity to spend more time with him. It made Anne miss a lot of things, since she would rather spend every minute with her husband than do other things that affected her life (Weilding, 2012). In case her husband happened to go for any business trip, Anne spent sleepless nights wondering whether her husband was safe. In some instances, thoughts came into her mind that maybe her husband would meet another woman and fail to return home. It made Anne cry every time, whenever her husband went on business trips.
Using CBT, James told Anne to keep a diary daily, where she would record all anxiety attacks and thoughts about her husband. It was in an attempt of helping her know how to identify anxiety reactions and thoughts as soon as they occurred. After this, James taught Anne how she could challenge and understand anxiety reactions that affected her due to the separation from her husband (Wielding, 2012). Anne was made to understand that all fears, which she sometimes had, were unrealistic. It forced her to identify false assumptions causing anxiety at all times, whenever she was separated from her husband. CBT was successful, and she learnt of new ways of coping with her fears.
Priyamvada, Kumari, Prakash, & Chaudhury (2009) also used cognitive behavioral therapy to treat an Indian patient suffering from anxiety disorder. He was 27 years old and suffered from social phobia that resulted from anxiety. He was not married being the youngest child in his family. The patient said that his confidence was low, and he was always afraid of being in any crowd. He had negative thoughts many times, feeling inferior in comparison to other people and disliking interacting with them in the community (Priyamvada et al.
, 2009). Conducting the study on this patient, the researchers identified that his mother was overprotective towards him being a young boy. In addition, his father was a dominating figure in their family, who did not like being told to do anything by any other person. It made the patient be afraid at all times, when he was growing up. He always depended on other people for the completion of simple tasks.
The patient started avoiding crowds, since he was afraid of interacting with other people. It made him develop low self-esteem, since he thought people were avoiding him. Whenever the patient interacted with others in public, he sweated a lot. The researchers used several therapeutic packages in order to offer treatment to this patient. Some of them included systematic desentization, cognitive restructuring, Jacobson’s progressive muscular relaxation technique, psych-education, and exposure and response prevention technique (Priyamvada et al.
, 2009). They had conducted cognitive behavior therapy on the patient for about 15 weeks. The goal of these sessions was to prepare the patient for facing all situations that he avoided due to anxiety. In addition, the researchers wanted to modify all negative thoughts that he had into positive ones. After seventeen sessions of cognitive behavior therapy, the patient felt a significant improvement.
His self-esteem rose as compared to the one before therapeutic treatment. Moreover, the level of guilt and the feeling of anxiety also decreased. The patient started attending social gatherings, and all negative thoughts that he had about himself were modified. Therefore, he could live a normal life just as other people in society. Michael helped Washington deal with the fear of being separated from his wife using exposure therapy (Neudeck & Witchen, 2012). Washington owned a business in Arizona.
His wife was a marketing manager in one of the firms. Her work required her to travel in order to market new products introduced by the company in neighboring states. Washington hated it, whenever his wife went on these business trips. He sometimes felt nauseated and hard to concentrate, whenever being separated from her for more than one day. At one time, Washington advised his wife to consider quitting her job to spend more time together. However, they both agreed that she needed that job to pay for their daily expenditures.
Using exposure therapy, Michael helped Washington overcome adult separation anxiety disorder and systematically confront the fear of being separated and losing his wife. At first, he was taught on how to face the latter and could predict instances when it would occur. After all exposure therapy sessions, Washington was successful in controlling these fears, making them less threatening (Neudeck & Witchen, 2012). Maldonado, Neri, Calafell, & Salazar (2009) conducted a study in order to establish whether virtual reality exposure therapy can be used to treat school phobia. It was because they discovered that the latter made students have an excessive fear of events, such as public speaking, doing school examinations or being bullied by other classmates.
It caused students to perform poorly in classes or consider the option of dropping out of school. The researchers selected eighteen participants, who had school phobia to participate in their study. The virtual reality environment facing the participants of this study helped to reduce the nature of phobia related to school largely (Maldonado et al., 2009). It was built considering all triggers to anxiety found in the school environment. Exposure therapy lasted for about eight sessions.
Six of them concentrated on relaxation training and providing exposure to students by using virtual reality and imagery.Case Formulation Developing Case Analysis The failed marital relationship between E. D. and his wife made the former develop depression. According to the research by Bech & Alford (2009), a person may develop such a state after undergoing through stressful life events. The latter include breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend.
Students may become depressed when they fail a class. In case this happens, they may lose their self-esteem and sometimes drop out of school. A person may also become very depressed, when someone close to him/her dies. The researchers also established that children, who had undergone child abuse, had a very high possibility of becoming depressed as compared to other students (Lam, 2012). When a child witnesses domestic violence between his/her parents, there is also a very high possibility of developing depression, because he or she grows up to become an adult. Couples, who separate or divorce, may also face such a state.
An employee may also become depressed after losing a particular job, where he has obtained his income. Considering the case of E. D., he became depressed due to being separated from his wife, with whom he had spent a lot of time. In addition, he was separated from his children, whom he loved very match.
Psychologists have established that when a person becomes depressed, he/she starts feeling very sad, miserable, unhappy, and down. In case the symptoms continue to worsen, the patient may start developing extreme sadness, frustration and anger, and may eventually become ill. E.D. stated that he felt angry in many instances.
It could be contributed by depression caused by being separated from his family. E.D also underwent child abuse, when he was young. Although he stated that physical abuse received from his physical brothers was normal, it could have contributed to him developing depression. Depressed patients exhibit several symptoms, namely, they are always agitated, or may become restless and irritable (Lam, 2012). In addition, they may have difficulty in concentrating on one thing, and become isolated and withdrawn.
In some instances, patients may have a dramatic change in their normal appetite, making them gain or lose more weight as compared to their previous one. Such patients may also have trouble sleeping or end up sleeping for more hours than before becoming depressed. In addition, they sometimes have extreme guilt issues. Some of the depressed patients have feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. When E.D.
explained how he felt through the phone, he stated that he was sad, anxious and had stress of restlessness and anger. These are the symptoms of depression described above. During the first session, E.D. confirmed that he remembered having anxiety when he was a child.
According to medical experts, anxiety is a severe disorder that may cause a person to become extremely nervous and to have a fear while performing certain tasks (Barlow, 2008). Several factors may cause anxiety. Researchers have established that environmental factors may contribute greatly to it. One of them is a trauma originating from such events, as the death of a loved one. E.
D. lost his mother when he was only four years old. She died from heart failure. This event could have traumatized E.D.
making him develop anxiety. In addition, he underwent physical abuse being a child. His brothers used to beat him. It could be among the factors that caused E.D.
to develop anxiety when he was a child.School stress may also cause a person to develop extreme anxiety. According to E.D., truancy was an issue throughout his high-school years.
One of the reasons that could have made him develop truancy was stress received while he was at school (Simpson, Neria, & Schneir, 2010). In addition, he stated that he could not relate well with other students. A poor relationship in his high-school years might have caused him to develop anxiety. E.D.
might also have been having stress in his university years, since he could not develop a meaningful friendship. Anxiety could have resulted from this, since he distanced himself from other people. E.D. also reported to psychologists that he had anger management problems.
Patients with such disorder cannot control their feelings of rage. In addition, they do not know how to control anger and frustration emotions, if they happen to affect them. Medical experts argue that patients, who have anger management problems, hold their anger for a very long time (Adams, 2008). It causes them to have a risk of developing health problems, since they may be affected by high blood pressure. In some instances, patients may be angry over a particular issue for more than five years.
It may be caused by something that has happened in the past, because people remember this issue. Such patients may also get angry over anything affecting them. Some get irritated about anything. Issues, which other people find to be petty, offend them. These patients may also allow their anger to control them.
Due to this, such people try to look for things that will make them become angry, since they feel at peace when being angry over something or with someone (Woodruff, 2008). As a result, they may engage in constant violence. Patients with anger management issues may sometimes have intense anger to the extent that their vision starts being blurred. They may also have difficulty in breathing. Anger management problems could have caused the failure of the marriage between E.D.
and his wife. According to the former, they had been happily married for twenty years. They had grown-up kids, and it suggested that their marriage was previously successful. However, E.D.
said that his anger had caused all major problems that recently affected their marriage leading to the failure. Since E.D. could not manage his anger, he ended up becoming depressed.

domain: medical


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Monika Bilic, Nutritional Sciences
Student Name: Monika Bilic
Country of Origin: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Undergraduate Department: Nutritional Sciences
Why Nutritional Sciences?
I chose nutritional sciences because nutrition is a quickly evolving field, and there is always something new and exciting to be learned. With media articles published daily about which foods are trendy and which are linked to diseases, my nutritional education helps me to make sense of the research behind these articles and to separate fact from fiction. I've always been interested in the physiological effects of various foods and nutrients, and thus, nutrition was the best choice for me.
Future Education Plans and/or Career Goals.
My education in nutrition has exposed me to a plethora of research being done at the University of Toronto and nearby world-renowned hospitals. I hope to one day delve into research, either through getting a masters in nutrition at the University of Toronto, or first by going to medical school.

domain: food


This week I have started using a new app called “Tonara”, which helps to motivate students to practise at home.
I set them assignments, with how many times a week and how long each day to aim for.
When students use the app, they select which assignment they are going to work on and start a timer. The app then listens for the piano playing and records how long they play for. Students are then awarded points as they play, and if they hit the goals I have set, they receive extra points as well.
Within the chat function, I can record audio of how the songs / exercises should sound so they can listen at home and know what they are aiming for. If they aren’t sure if what they are doing is correct, they can record themselves playing and send it to me for my feedback.
I can send them motivational stickers as well, and there is a chat function which enables them to ask me questions if they aren’t sure of something.
As students come for their lessons this week, I am sending their individual log in details and link to download the app home in the lesson notes.
There is also a leaderboard for students who are motivated by competition!
I hope that students (and parents) will make use of this app. The base app is free. There is a paid version that offers more functionality, such as being able to play along to a recording of the song / exercises and the app being able to compare the two and give feedback on accuracy. That has the potential to be a massive boon to students who are serious about progressing. For now, I would just be happy if those students who don’t practise at all between lessons start doing so!


Bluetooth speakers can easily be plugged in by people who have little or no tech knowledge at all and they are fairly simple to operate. These devices can automatically save a play list or a movie and play it when you control it using your smart phone. If you want to make sure that the Bluetooth speakers that you have invested in are good then take the bluetooth lautsprecher test so that you make the right choice and pick out speakers that work well for your home.
Bluetooth speakers are easily controlled using a smart phone or a laptop. These speakers can fit into any corner and do not look ugly since they have no dangling wires. They are neat and sleek and can match any decor. You can choose to carry Bluetooth speakers along with you while travelling to make it more fun, or have an outdoor party with just your smart phone and Bluetooth speakers. These devices can help you save on a lot of space and can be an ideal choice for those who have smaller homes or want a budget home theater system. Bluetooth speakers cost half of what you might have to spend on a home theater system and work just the same.
These speakers are the new generation sound bars which have taken over the market drastically. All leading speaker brands are now producing Bluetooth speakers in order to keep up with the market demands.
There are a number of brands available which produce Bluetooth speakers today. The better the quality or brand the better the sound output. If you are planning on investing in Bluetooth speakers make sure you do some research on the various companies which deal in Bluetooth speakers and check for reviews. Go in for one which is recognised in the market.


text:
The views in these blogs are those held by the individual blogger and do not necessarily reflect the views of Everton Football Club.
It was a great weekend for Shane Duffy and Yeovil, whose hopes of avoiding the drop from the Championship were boosted with a vital victory at Blackpool.
The centre-back played the full 90 minutes as the Glovers secured a 2-1 win at Bloomfield Road.
Duffy was in a direct battle with his Blues teammate Apostolos Vellios, who was making his second appearance...
All of Everton’s on-loan youngsters saw action for their temporary clubs last week.
Of the seven players out on loan, six have remained on these shores and of those, four made immediate debuts for their new clubs.
In the Championship, Shane Duffy has been at Yeovil for the season but the Irish centre back was on the receiving end of a...
Player Recovery: Insights From Everton's Nutrition Partner
Everton and nutrition partner THE PROTEIN WORKSTMmade English Football history earlier this year when together they created the first bespoke recovery formula ever used by a Premier League club. But while the exact formulations are very complex and remain a closely guarded secret at Finch Farm, there are some key principles that...
Shane Duffy scored just his second ever goal in senior English football on Saturday afternoon to help Yeovil Town earn a precious point against Reading.
John Lundstram also found the net in the same game – but unfortunately it was his own as the Royals claimed a 1-1 draw in a tasty contest at the Madejski Stadium.
Duffy, making the 25th appearance...
Matthews Pennington and Kennedy helped Tranmere pick up a vital three points before being recalled to Everton. The duo had been on loan at Prenton Park since January but are now back at Finch Farm to aid the Under-21s' league run-in. Both started the 3-1 win at home to Coventry City, with Pennington having a say in the opener. Racing up from right-back,...
Matthew Pennington and Matthew Kennedy were the only two Everton loanees in action over the weekend.
The duo, who are both enjoying spells with Tranmere, played in Rovers’ 2-2 draw away at League One relegation rivals Bristol City on Saturday.
Tranmere showed character, twice fighting back from falling behind to earn a precious point in their battle against the drop.
Central defender Pennington...
Such is his pleasant personality, one would not be hard-pressed to precipitate praise and words of positivity from Roberto Martinez.
But when the Spaniard offered the description of Leighton Baines as an ‘icon’ of Everton this week, he wasn’t producing an overstatement.
Indeed, given the news regarding Baines’ long-term future, and the confirmation of a new four-year contract, there was every right...
Our new manager Robert Martinez has been playing in British football since he came to Wigan from Spain in 1995.
Having left the sun behind for the more ‘changeable’ weather of Lancashire, Roberto has since played league football for five different clubs before moving into management.
And during his time as a player he has lined up with a number of...

domain: news


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Hospital Council of NW Ohio
The Hospital Council of NW Ohio’s “Pathways” program is helping to ensure that at-risk women receive the care they need to achieve a healthy birth weight for their babies.
The Pathways Program’s Unique, Incentivized Payment Program is Lowering the Incidence of Low Birth Weight Babies
In the early 2000s, leaders in Lucas County, Ohio realized that their county’s rates of low birth weight babies were distressingly high. Three zip codes in the county had particularly high concentrations of low-weight births, some near 20 percent. This was problematic for at least two reasons. First, low-weight babies are prone to all sorts of health problems. Second, and relatedly, low weight babies typically mean higher medical costs for the parents and, through Medicaid, for the state. Although various prenatal services were available to low-income women in these three zip codes, too many were not taking advantage of them due the many barriers (transportation, lack of childcare) that make access difficult. In response to this problem, a group of partners got together to create a collaborative solution that could connect at-risk women to the care they needed. The result was the Lucas County Low Birth Weight Initiative, also known as the Pathways Program.
The Initiative engages six organizations under the leadership of the Hospital Council of Northwest Ohio. The partners are Mercy, Neighborhood Health Association, Toledo-Lucas County Health Department, ProMedica Toledo Hospital, the East Toledo Family Center, and the Providence Center.
Pathways’ model is threefold: identify at-risk women, connect them to care, and measure the outcomes. Its lies in its creative use of existing community health care workers active in the target neighborhoods. “There are a lot of people in the community whose job it is to work with the prenatal population, so [we said] ‘Let’s overlay Pathways on top of it,’” Jan Ruma, the Initiative’s director, explained.
Through a HUB operated by the Hospital Council of Northwest Ohio, the initiative connects pregnant women identified by community health workers to needed medical and social services. “[We] really focus on the connection piece—dealing with the social issues and barriers to get them to their appointments,” said Ruma.
In order to ensure that the initiative’s ultimate goal of reducing the rate of low birth weight was achieved, the collaborative established a unique, incentivized payment system for the community health workers. The system is based on specific outcomes, Ruma emphasizes. “We focus our payments on outcomes, not on process, and we have agreed-upon payment points.” Those payment points include:
- Enrollment into the Initiative: The goal is enrollment in the first trimester whenever possible, so this means finding women early in their pregnancy. However, enrollment at any time to connect a pregnant woman to prenatal care is known to have a positive impact on the birth outcome. Health workers received a payment when they enroll in a new woman.
- Prenatal visits: Payment is received when the community health worker assists the pregnant woman to attend each of her prenatal and Maternal Fetal Medicine and ultrasound appointments.
- Healthy birth weight: If a healthy birth weight is achieved—that infant is at least 5 pounds and 8 ounces—the community health worker receives another payment.
- Post-partum care: A further payment is issued if the health worker connects the mother and her new baby to ongoing healthcare once the baby is at home.
- Connection to social services: Each time a pregnant woman is successfully connected to a social service which removes a barrier to a healthy birth outcome, the community health worker receives a payment.
By using this outcomes-based payment system, the initiative has seen success from the onset. “At first we weren’t sure if the [target] population wanted to be helped; however, it turned out that this wasn’t a barrier at all,” Ruma says. “At one point we had to stop enrollment because we had so many good outcomes and couldn’t pay for them.”
Since the HUB became operational in late 2007, it has served more than 1215 at-risk pregnant women, and reduced low birth weight rates among at-risk women from 15.1 percent to 6.7 percent in 2011. At the onset of the program only 30-40 percent of the women received post-partum care, but now 81 percent of women are receiving post-partum care. Moreover, of all of the babies that the organization has served, only 5 percent have had to spend time in the (expensive) neonatal intensive care unit.

domain: sociology


text:
Eduardo Antonio Parra
Eduardo Antonio Parra (Leon, Guanajuato, 1965) is the outhor of two story collections, Los limites de la noche and Tierra de nadie. His stories have received numerous national prizes, and they have been published, along with his essays, in various journals and magazines in Mexico. This is his first publication in English.
No Man's Land|
In the no-man's-land of Mexico's far north-harsh desert landscapes, bruising border towns, urban wastelands and fantastical rural villages-migrants, campesinos and travelers find themselves lost between reality and delirium, tragedy and...

domain: library


text:
Understanding Drug Rehabilitation
Effective, evidenced-based drug rehab can help people recover from drug addiction. Addiction is a multifaceted condition, and quitting usually requires more than our good intentions or willpower. Substance abuse can change the brain in ways that make it hard to quit; even for people who want to.
How do I know if need drug rehab?
Admitting that you have a drug problem is quite difficult for many people. It’s difficult to accept and even harder to let others know that you may need help. However, if you never take that brave first step, you’ll be heading down a path of self-destruction that may have dreadful consequences for you and those you love.
Common signs that may indicate the need for drug rehab
You know or feel that something is wrong – When you start to feel that your alcohol or drug use is a problem, then it is time to get help. Whether it’s a small nagging feeling or something more obvious, don’t ignore it.
Your family and friends say that you have a problem – If the people that care about you and know you well, have expressed concern about your drug or alcohol use, don’t be too quick to write them off. Even if you don’t agree or feel that they’re exaggerating, consider the possibility that you might have a problem.
You’re hiding your use from the people close to you – Whatever reason you have for hiding your use of drugs and alcohol, always translates into abuse. Some people claim to be recreational users, and yet are secretive about how much they use—this is usually a red flag that you have a problem.
You use alcohol or drugs to deal with stressful or painful situations – This is sometimes referred to as “self-medicating”. Whenever we use substances as a coping mechanism, it means that there’s a problem. Using drugs or alcohol this way turns into a vicious cycle because as you feel better after using, it reinforces the pattern.
Your overall performance has declined – If you’re experiencing a deterioration in your performance at school, work, or in your other life activities, it’s a strong sign that your drug and alcohol use has become a problem. In most cases, it is gradual and difficult to spot, but sometimes it can happen fast.
Additional signs and symptoms of drug abuse include:
- Memory problems
- Mood swings
- Neglecting responsibilities
- Antisocial behavior
- Frequent injuries or accidents
- Lying and evasiveness
- Changes in sleep or appetite
- Neglecting personal hygiene
- Borrowing money or selling your possessions to buy drugs or alcohol
What are the underlying causes of drug addiction?
Co-Occurring Disorders: Also called a dual diagnosis or dual disorder, a co-occurring disorder is when a person has a mental health condition and a substance abuse disorder at the same time. Co-occurring disorders are often the underlying cause of addiction.
Studies show that people who have a substance abuse disorder are more likely to suffer from co-occurring mental health conditions and vice versa. Below are some of the top co-occurring disorders:
- Eating disorders
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD)
Biology: The genes that some people are born with can be partially responsible (50%) for their addiction. Other factors like gender, ethnicity, and certain mental disorders may also increase a person’s risk of substance abuse.
Environment: Where we grew up, how we live, and the environmental influences in our lives can sometimes be responsible for addiction. Factors like peer pressure, stress, early use of drugs, and parental guidance can affect a person’s drug or non-drug use.
Development: Genetic and environmental factors combine with important developmental stages in a person’s life to influence addiction. Even though drug use at any age can result in addiction, starting early increases a person’s chances of becoming addicted to drugs or alcohol. This is especially bad for teens whose brains are still developing, making them more prone to risky behaviors.
What are proven treatment methods used by drug rehab centers?
Scientific research on addiction treatment is usually classified into different types based on the treatment approach. However, no matter the categorization of each treatment, detoxification, and medically supervised withdrawal, is often viewed as the first stage of treatment.
Detoxification is the process by which the body cleanses itself of drugs and is best for managing severe instances of drug use. Detoxification alone is not effective at treating behavioral changes but is generally a great first step toward recovery. It is often accompanied by unpleasant side effects and can be managed with medications.
Inpatient – Long-Term Residential Treatment
Inpatient Long-term residential treatment is provided 24 hours a day in a non-hospital environment. Addiction is seen as a social and psychological deficiency, and the treatment focuses on helping patients become more responsible, accountable and productive. The treatment is structured and comprises of activities created to help residents examine their beliefs, ideals, and the negative patterns of their behaviors so that they can create and adopt new ones.
Outpatient – Short-Term Residential Treatment
Outpatient treatment programs cost less than inpatient treatment and are more suitable for people with jobs or a large social support system. In many outpatient treatment programs, group counseling is a vital component and can also be used to treat patients with medical or other mental health disorders.
The program was initially designed to treat alcohol dependence, but during the cocaine epidemic of the 1980s, it was used to treat other types of substance abuse. The original model included a 3-6 weeks hospital inpatient care, which was followed by an extended outpatient treatment in a self-help group. A well-structured outpatient program will help reduce the risk of relapse once the patient leaves the residential setting.
Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) and Recovery
Medication Assisted Treatment utilizes cognitive-behavioral therapy and medications to help in the treatment of patients with substance abuse disorders. Research has revealed that people who go through detox without the support of medication may suffer a higher risk of relapsing. The treatment plan will usually include medication that will stabilize the patient, making further treatment and help more effective.
Read more about Detox
- Medications Used in Drug Detox
- Step-by-Step Guide to the Detox Process
- Dangers of Cold Turkey Detox
- Does Insurance cover detox?
The importance post-treatment support after drug rehab
It is important to view substance abuse treatment from the perspective of long-term care. Person-centered treatment, focusing on the underlying issues that cause addiction reinforces long-term recovery outcomes for patients that include a transitioning stage through different levels of care.
The best treatment will meet the patient where they are at every point in their lives, thereby giving them the best treatment at all stages. Personalized drug rehab will support you for the long-term and prepare you for reintegration back into regular life.
There are different types of long-term recovery methods:
A sober living home is a type of long-term care treatment center that offers a more intense recovery experience and allows patients limited freedom. Residents usually move freely in and out, as long as they follow the rules of the home. For example, a sober living home may ask its residents to return at a certain time every day. This creates structure and responsibility— an important step in addiction recovery.
Read more about Sober living >>
- Transitional living benefits
- A typical day in a Sober living house
- How long do you stay in sober living?
Many rehab centers also use group therapy settings as part of their long-term treatment plan and as a social reinforcement system. It helps re-integration by offering a peer to peer discussion platform that promotes a drug-free lifestyle. Research has revealed that when group therapy is used in combination with other treatment plans, positive outcomes are achieved.
Another common long-term treatment method is one that focuses on the prevention of relapses. Because relapse is a process that starts weeks or even months before the actual event, a long-term treatment plan will focus on the emotional, mental and physical well-being of the patient.
How to find the best Drug Rehab center
If you or any of your loved ones are addicted to drugs, the next step is to get professional help to turn your life around. Finding the right rehab center can be frustrating, but knowing what to look for will help narrow down your list. Several different factors should be considered before you pick a rehab center:
- How serious is your condition? If you are struggling with serious substance abuse and frequently use drugs, you may want to opt for an inpatient program to get the most intensive treatment.
- Do you have any special needs? For those who have a disability, or perhaps your diet or other lifestyle choices make it necessary for you to be classed as a special needs patient, choose a facility that will suit your needs.
- How much can you afford? Money is a factor. In fact, it may be the number one consideration because the best inpatient facilities will charge you a fee for enrolling. Before choosing a rehab center based on cost, you must consider the amenities, length, of stay, location, type of program etc. These are all the variables that should help you make an informed decision.
- How far can you travel? The most suitable center may be far from home. You may want to consider leaving your home and surroundings if environmental factors are part of your problem.Is Out-of-State Treatment the best option for you? >>
To start your search for a suitable drug rehabilitation center, know the right questions to ask:
- What is the average length of stay?
- What is the cost?
- Are staff members properly certified?
- Is the facility accredited?
- How long has your facility been in business?
- Are there follow-up programs to help prevent relapse?
- What is the staff to client ratio?
- Is there a certified Medical Director on staff?
- Is there a waiting list?
- How is the safety of clients addressed?
The ‘best’ choice for you will be dependent upon your individual circumstance. If you need help and want to narrow down your choices, simply call the facility and get answers to your questions.
Getting Help for Drug Addiction is the First step to recovery
There are a variety of options available those in need of drug rehab. Here at Futures of Palm Beach, we take a highly proven comprehensive approach to recovery. Quality care is given to all patients and their families while we provide counseling and various forms of therapy. No addiction is irreversible, but there is hope for every situation when our expert staff works to find and address whatever the underlying cause was for using the drug in the first place. If you or someone you know needs care, please call us now to learn more about how we can start the recovery and healing process immediately.


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THE THREE SCROOGES: A TRIPLE FESTIVE FILM REVIEW OF CHARLES DICKENS’ 1843 NOVELLA: A CHRISTMAS CAROL. REVIEWS BY SANDRA HARRIS. ©
A CHRISTMAS CAROL- 1951. DIRECTED AND PRODUCED BY BRIAN DESMOND HURST.
STARRING ALASTAIR SIM, GEORGE COLE, PATRICK MACNEE, MERVYN JOHNS, KATHLEEN HARRISON, HERMIONE BADDELEY, MICHAEL HORDERN, MILES MALLESON, HATTIE JACQUES, ERNEST THESIGER AND GLYN DEARMAN.
DISNEY’S A CHRISTMAS CAROL- 2009. DIRECTED BY/CO-PRODUCED BY/ SCREENPLAY BY ROBERT ZEMECKIS.
STARRING JIM CARREY, GARY OLDMAN, COLIN FIRTH, BOB HOSKINS, CARY ELWES, FIONNUALA FLANAGAN AND ROBIN WRIGHT PENN.
A CHRISTMAS CAROL- A MUSICAL VERSION- 2004. DIRECTED BY ARTHUR ALLAN SEIDELMAN.
STARRING KELSEY GRAMMER, JENNIFER LOVE HEWITT, JANE KRAKOWSKI, JESSE L. MARTIN, GERALDINE CHAPLIN AND JASON ALEXANDER.
I guess I’d better get something straight right from the start. My favourite film version of Charles Dickens’ super-popular Christmas book will always be the one with The Muppets and Michael Caine in it, the 1992 version.
Michael Caine is the best he’s ever been, playing the famous miser who gets taught a stern lesson by three spirits on Christmas Eve a long time ago, and Jim Henson’s iconic puppets really help to drive home the message of Christmas to the viewers, who will all be in floods of tears by the end. Whaddya mean, speak for myself? I am speaking for myself, haha.
But just because I have a favourite movie version of the perennial Christmas phenomenon (trust me, it’s a freakin’ phenomenon!) doesn’t mean that there aren’t a load of other brilliant film adaptations out there too. I’ve picked out three great ones for us to look at today, all telling the same basic story but in different ways.
Does everyone know the story? It’s been filmed umpteen times and parodied about as often, so there’s probably not a soul alive today who hasn’t seen some version or another of Dickens’ probably most commercially successful work.
It’s true that if Dickens were alive today, he’d surely be able to retire on the immense royalties and the film rights that derive from this book alone. A CHRISTMAS CAROL would be his pension plan, in the same way that the song MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY would be for the band SLADE or I WISH IT COULD BE CHRISTMAS EVERY DAY for WIZZARD. Sure wish I could get me some of that yearly Crimbo action…!
Anyway, Ebenezer Scrooge is an old moneylender living alone in gloomy chambers in pre-Victorian London. He is notoriously mean and heartless to the clerks who work for him and to the poor families who are obliged to borrow money from him.
To the rich fat-cat businessmen with whom he consorts, he’s a joke and a figure to be despised and pitied. His stinginess and penny-pinching are legendary throughout London. Not something you want to be known for, really, is it?
Things change forever, however, when Scrooge is visited by three spirits one lonely Christmas Eve. Well, it’s four spirits, really, as he receives a visit from his long-dead business partner Jacob Marley initially, Marley serving to kind of pave the way for the Big Three who’ll come along later as foretold.
The three spirits, the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, show Scrooge terrifying visions from his, well, you know, past, present and future that serve to scare the miserliness out of him forever. He does a complete about-face and, from that night forward, it was always said of him that ‘he was a man who knew how to keep Christmas well.’ Oh, the wonderful quotable quotes!
Alastair Sim is superb as the crotchety Scrooge in the 1951 film. He plays literature’s most famous miser in a wonderfully understated but utterly realistic way. This is quite a grim version, and the bit where the charlady Mrs. Dilber (a fine performance from actress Kathleen Harrison) boasts about taking down the dead Scrooge’s bed-curtains and stripping the corpse of its nightshirt would really put the willies up you.
‘Bed curtains? Do you mean to say that you took ’em down, rings and all, while ‘e’s a-lyin’ there…?’
The bit at the end, though, where Scrooge puts things right with the poverty-hardened old biddy would gladden your heart. Alastair Sim is almost maniacally happy as he gallivants about, delighting in his second chance, and the shock on Mrs. Dilber’s face is a sight to behold.
Especially when he does an impulsive handstand while wearing only his nightshirt and she gets to witness wiv ‘er own two eyes the wondrous image of his meat and two veg in all their unclothed glory. Not exactly a vision for a respectable woman to be seeing, now is it?
Funny though, lol, to see Mrs. Dilber’s utterly horrified face. She finks ‘e’s gone stark staring mad, she does. She wouldn’t be at all surprised if the men in the white coats came for ‘im and carted ‘im off ter Bedlam.
Miles Malleson (a much-loved Hammer Horror actor) is a superb choice for the role of Old Joe, the mercenary scallywag who buys the bed-curtains from Mrs. Dilber for a good price because he’s always had a ‘soft spot for the ladies.’ Harrumph.
George Cole, star of MINDER in his later career, has a heartbreaking scene in this film as the younger Scrooge with a lovely full head of dark curly hair. Attending his beloved sister Fan’s deathbed, he leaves before she can extract a very important promise from him. His premature leave-taking leads Scrooge to make the same kind of mistake his own father made with him, Scrooge, and it will take a long, long time to put right.
Ernest Thesiger (THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, THE OLD DARK HOUSE) has a cameo role here as the undertaker who is waiting to see to Jacob Marley’s corpse even before the old fellow’s breathed his last.
‘Ours is a very competitive business, you know.’
Hattie Jacques (the CARRY ON films, SYKES the comedy series) also has the briefest of cameos (now you see her, now you don’t) as Mrs. Fezziwig, the buxom wife of Scrooge’s first employer. She looks lovely and young in her dusky-pink dress, dancing with her husband and laughing her head off in the spirit of the season.
I myself have a colorised version of the film that came free with the now defunct NEWS OF THE WORLD and was introduced by the actor Patrick MacNee, who actually has a small part in the film. While the colour is lovely and muted and not at all garish, I imagine the black-and-white version to be even more atmospheric.
All those marvellous scenes where the snow is falling silently on the quiet Victorian streets! Just imagine seeing ’em in black-and-white. It’d be really something. This Alastair Sim version of the film is the one I feel most captures the Victorian feeling of Charles Dickens’ wonderful old book. The shops, the lights, the snow, the housewives scurrying along with their baskets and bonnets, rushing to grab a Christmas goose before they’re all sold out; it’s like stepping into another world.
The DISNEY version from 2009 is surprisingly good, surprisingly grim and surprisingly scary. I know one or two adults who freaked out when Jacob Marley’s long-dead jaw broke free from its cloth confines and flapped about like a pair of ladies’ bloomers on a clothes-line in a gale-force wind. If anything, it seems that death and dying were even grimmer in Victorian London than they are today. Shudder.
Scrooge’s house and bedchamber are terrifyingly dark and shadowed and Jim Carrey, an actor I don’t otherwise care for over-much, does an outstanding job as the voice of the miser. Imagine his fear when he’s interrupted by the ghost of his former friend and business partner while he’s huddled over his meagre supper on that fateful Christmas Eve:
Scrooge: ‘Speak comfort to me, Jacob!’
Jacob Marley: ‘I have none to give.’
Heh-heh-heh. Tough titties, in other words.
The animation in this version is fantastic. I myself love the way that the characters closely resemble the actors who are voicing them. For example, Scrooge’s nephew Fred is played by Colin Firth and he not only sounds like Colin Firth, he’s the spitting image of him too, which is kind of funny.
The rotund and cheerful Bob Hoskins is the rotund and cheerful Mr. Fezziwig, who gives the best Christmas parties in London, and Gary Oldman plays the quiet Bob Cratchit in whose breast hides a terrible suffering. Maybe the words ‘Tiny Tim’ might ring a bell with you guys?
All the good quotes are in there too, everything from: ‘There’s more of gravy than of grave about you!’ and ‘If they are going to die then they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population!’ to ‘These are the shadows of the things that have been; that they are what they are, do not blame me.’
Oh, and don’t forget ‘It’s a poor excuse for picking a man’s pocket every 25th of December’ and ‘The spirits have done it all in one night; of course they have, they can do anything they like!’ Such brilliant lines, and all infinitely quotable.
I’ve even heard some people say that this DISNEY version of the film is the most accurate re-telling of the story they’ve seen. Whether it is or it isn’t, it really is surprisingly good, and everyone in my family always bursts out laughing when Scrooge actually steals the pennies off of the deceased Jacob Marley’s eyes with the words that just about sum up his utter stinginess:
‘Tuppence is tuppence!’
The musical version starring Kelsey Grammer is surprisingly good fun too. The songs are great craic altogether and the man we’re probably more used to seeing as Frasier Crane from both CHEERS and FRASIER and as the voice of criminal mastermind Sideshow Bob from THE SIMPSONS does a splendid job as the legendary meanie.
Scrooge makes the huge mistake in this version of throwing away the love of a well-tasty Jennifer Love Hewitt as Emily, a top bird the likes of which you probably didn’t get too many chances with in Victorian London.
He also refuses to help his former employer, the aforementioned Mr. Fezziwig, he of the simply splendiferous Christmas bash, when old Fezziwig’s business is in trouble. Given the kindness shown to Scrooge by old Fezziwig and his plump wife, this refusal to help old friends does not reflect Ebenezer in the best of lights, sadly.
I like this version too because it gives us an insight into what very obviously caused Scrooge’s terrible miserliness with money and his deathly fear of poverty. It’s probably no wonder that he turned out as he did but still, there’s such a thing as taking things too far, you know. He might do well to remember that, the little dickens…!
This version has a sexy blonde scantily-clad Ghost Of Christmas Past in it, by the way, who was leg-bombing away to beat the band a good decade before Brad Pitt’s gorgeous missus Angelina Jolie cottoned onto the trend.
The various Ghosts Of Christmas Future have been scaring the manners into kids since the cinema was invented, and I myself have always loved the Ghost Of Christmas Present, who never drops in without bringing enough festive food with him to feed an army. Now that’s the kind of guest you want round your gaff of a dark and dreary Christmas Eve.
‘Come in and know me better, man!’
Well, that’s it. Only six days left till Christmas Day, 2018. Better go and get some provisions in. Do you happen to know if the poulterer’s in the next street still have the big prize turkey in their window? They do? How marvellous! I’ll just nip round and get it for Christmas dinner. It looks like it might be pretty heavy, though. Fuck it anyway. I’ll just shop online like I always do…
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY OF SANDRA HARRIS.
Sandra Harris is a Dublin-based novelist, film blogger, poet and book-and-movie reviewer. She has studied Creative Writing and Film-Making. She has published a number of e-books on the following topics: horror film reviews, multi-genre film reviews, womens’ fiction, erotic fiction, erotic horror fiction and erotic poetry. Several new books are currently in the pipeline. You can browse or buy any of Sandra’s books by following the link below straight to her Amazon Author Page:
You can contact Sandra at:


Optical Transient SCP 06F6
This pair of NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope pictures shows the appearance of a mysterious burst of light that was detected on 21 February 2006, brightened over 100 days, and then faded into oblivion after another 100 days. The source of the outburst remains unidentified.
The event was detected serendipitously in a Hubble search for supernovae in a distant cluster of galaxies. The light-signature of this event does not match the behavior of a supernova or any previously observed astronomical transient phenomenon in the universe.
NASA, ESA and K. Barbary (University of California, Berkeley)
About the Image
|Release date:||6 January 2009, 18:20|
|Size:||3000 x 2400 px|
About the Object
|Type:||• Early Universe : Star : Evolutionary Stage : Supernova|
• X - Miscellaneous Images/Videos
Colours & filters
|775 nm||Hubble Space Telescope|
|850 nm||Hubble Space Telescope|


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Breadman Ultimate Recipes
These recipes are based on using the Breadman Ultimate Bread Machine. If you have a different machine, these directions may not work for you. The ingredients may not fit into your bread pan, the directions for choosing the loaf would be different etc... but for those of us that use the Breadman Ultimate, these are great recipes!
This is a great whole wheat bread recipe but be sure to use Bread Flour on this one!
This is an easy French bread recipe.


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Good morning, afternoon and Evening,
The trailer for Homeworld 3 has been released and basically confirms the game is on its way.. unfortunately there is no release date yet.
Homeworld 3 is published by Gearbox and is developed by BBI (Blackbird Interactive)
BBI's main headquarters is located in Vancouver Canada, they were founded by the original creators of the Homeworld series and went on to develop Homeworld Remastered Collection and Homeworld Deserts of Kharack. Unfortunately at the time when THQ went bankrupt, BBI and Gearbox went on a bidding war for the IP which was originally owned by THQ and BBI lost the bid however Gearbox allowed BBI to develop the future games anyway. Thank gawd for that since we would all rather the Homeworld games be made by the creators and not the guys who dished out Duke Nukem Forever and Alien Colony Marines.
Here is the trailer below, enjoy fellow Homeworld fans.

domain: entertainment


The past several months have been a whirlwind for the show business, with many big names being accused of sexual misconduct. One of the many influential presences in the business was that of John Lasseter, who is (was?) the head of Disney Animation and Pixar Animation Studios.
The executive, well-known for his work on films like Toy Story and Cars, was accused of “grabbing, kissing, making comments about physical attributes,” and creating an all-around hostile work environment.
On the heels of these allegations, Lasseter went on what was called a “six-month sabbatical,” with many thinking that was the cover story for him getting canned. Now, we have a bit of an update.
According to THR, on Thursday of this week, Disney Animation Studios will gather for what they’re calling a “Day of Listening.” There, some HR reps will facilitate a discussion of workplace concerns. But, according to one source close, they believe that the real reason behind this “day of listening” is to see if anyone would accept Lasseter back, and they think that him coming back is a stretch — especially with a brand like Disney.
We’ll have to wait and see what the future holds, but things over at Disney Animation and Pixar are sure to change very soon.
Do you think Disney should allow John Lasseter back? Let us know your thoughts down below!
Don’t forget to share this post on your Facebook wall and with your Twitter followers! Just hit the buttons on the top of this page.


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In May 2020, Epic Video games made available Grand Theft Vehicle V for no cost on the Epic Video games Retail store, a offer that proved to be so well known it took down the retailer for more than eight several hours. And many thanks to paperwork identified as portion of the Epic v. Apple demo, we now have an idea of just how well-known the offer was: according to an inside Epic slide, it introduced additional than 7 million new end users to Epic’s on line market.
You can see the slide beneath, which also demonstrates how several new buyers other freebies introduced to the Epic Games Keep. When other video games like Subnautica and Civilization 6 drove a good number of signups (just below 1 million and 2.5 million, respectively), absolutely nothing comes close to the 7 million men and women who joined for GTA V.
But even even though GTA V brought a tidal wave of new end users, the Epic Games Retail store nevertheless has a extended way to go to catch up with its key competitor, Steam. Epic exposed on Wednesday that the Epic Games Retailer has 58 million monthly lively consumers, but that is a very little fewer than fifty percent of the far more than 120 million monthly active gamers that Valve final described are on Steam.
As Protocol noted, Epic described 56 million every month lively buyers in December 2020, which implies that the system has only jumped 2 million consumers considering the fact that then. That’s a slower charge of development than the retail outlet has seen in the earlier — by comparison, regular monthly active people jumped from 32 million in December 2019 to 56 million in December 2020, or an common of 2 million monthly energetic customers extra per month.
Despite the slower expansion, Epic still looks pretty committed to its system. Together with the news of the platform’s 58 million month-to-month lively customers, Epic introduced a shut beta for self-publishing on the Epic Game titles Keep. When self-publishing is obtainable to all, it could possibly open the floodgates for more developers to host their online games on Epic’s shop, which could provide in new people.
And other files from the Epic v. Apple demo explain an Epic initiative named “Project Moonshot” with a objective of acquiring the Epic Video games Retail store to $1 billion in gross income by investing in “major launches, free online games, and critical sale(s).” It seems most likely we’ll proceed to see big pushes from Epic like the GTA V freebie and Borderlands 3’s initial Epic Video games Retail store Computer system exclusivity at start (which Epic paid $146 million to secure, the documents expose) to catch the attention of players to its system.

domain: game


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SANTA CLARA, Calif. — October 27, 2016 — Hortonworks, Inc. ® (NASDAQ: HDP), a leading innovator of open and connected data platforms, today announced that Lenovo Group Ltd. (Lenovo), a multinational technology company, is using Hortonworks Data Platform (HDP®) to manage its robust big data analytics platform, as well as Hortonworks Professional Services to provide expert global support.
Lenovo is in the midst of a transformation from a product to a customer-centric company. Understanding the customer journey and providing a real-time connected experience is at the core of this transformation. The company collects vast amounts of data from various journey touch points and leverages machine learning algorithms to deliver personalized experiences in real-time. It needed a partner like Hortonworks that could help it scale and achieve this business objective.
“We wanted to align ourselves with the leading 100% open source distribution and wanted our partner to be focused on service while the community focus on the product. We are also taking advantage of Hortonworks’ international reach, which provides our global team with localized opportunities with expert developers,” said Ashish Braganza, director of global business intelligence, Lenovo. “My business is time to market. I once came across an executive spreadsheet so complex it took eight people a month to produce it. I saw the opportunity, and now we drive all of our insights to be delivered daily and for a fraction of the cost.”
Since 2013, Lenovo has committed to a Big Data initiative aimed at leveraging the global surge of data to drive its business. Lenovo’s Global Business Intelligence team developed a hybrid cloud-based platform, Lenovo Unified Customer Intelligence (LUCI Sky), which has scaled to over a petabyte of data in just a few years’ time. This analytics platform, powered by HDP, delivers actionable insights from a myriad of global sources in a matter of seconds. Lenovo’s business intelligence team is now focused on real-time data profiling and anomaly detection, including identifying marketing risks and opportunities. The company’s data lake captures clickstream data, surveys, financial transactions, and even social data.
“Lenovo’s business depends on its ability to make fast decisions powered by actionable intelligence,” said Matt Morgan, senior vice president of global marketing, Hortonworks. “We look forward to supporting the growth of Lenovo’s business by delivering the critical data insights it needs to maintain a higher level of service and support for customers.”
Hortonworks is an industry leading innovator that creates, distributes and supports enterprise-ready open data platforms and modern data applications that deliver actionable intelligence from all data: data-in-motion and data-at-rest. Hortonworks is focused on driving innovation in open source communities such as Apache Hadoop, Apache NiFi and Apache Spark. Along with its 1,800+ partners, Hortonworks provides the expertise, training and services that allow customers to unlock transformational value for their organizations across any line of business.
Hortonworks, Powering the Future of Data, HDP and HDF are registered trademarks or trademarks of Hortonworks, Inc. and its subsidiaries in the United States and other jurisdictions. For more information, please visit www.hortonworks.com. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.


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We custom paint helmets in any design you choose. Now everyone will know which helmet is yours.
We can personalize your helmet to include your name if you wish. Maybe his and hers helmets.
Custom painted helmets make great gifts, too! Prices for custom helmet painting starting at $375.
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We specialize in making common helmets interesting, utilizing the finest paint products that will withstand harsh elements and rough wear. Our artists can create a custom helmet paint job that will amaze those who have the opportunity to examine its detail and remarkable artistry. Our painstaking custom helmet painting process is well worth the results.
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domain: artistic


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Make a web presence for the leader fin-tech company.
The majority of brands in the Hard Tea category appear to have a homogeneous brand look – often masculine, loud, and unrefined. The Swan Dive founders approached Branding Agency with a refreshing vision to disrupt the hard tea market.
—Glasfurd and Walker
Branding & Art Direction
Easy-to-manage website UI samples.
A theme of refreshment surrounds the design, and the Italian-influenced typography and relaxing color palette create a system that beautifully reflects the rejuvenating nature of the beverage. While the design is quite minimal, the typography and swan dive illustration work together powerfully, creating intention and detail and allowing the white space to continue the feeling of liberation
Send us an email,
to discuss a new project.
We’re a team of creatives who are excited about unique ideas and help fin-tech companies to create amazing identity by crafting top-notch UI/UX.


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- File Size: 1737 KB
- Print Length: 552 pages
- Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
- Publisher: Fantastic Books Publishing (June 21, 2018)
- Publication Date: June 21, 2018
- Sold by: Amazon.com Services LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B07DL88674
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
- Word Wise: Enabled
- Lending: Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,360,899 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
The Lords of Midnight (Chronicles of Midnight Book 1) Kindle Edition
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There are some small weaknesses that are, to my understanding, caused by adherence to the original game and its writer: many of the plot elements and some smaller details are rather clearly drawn from Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. These include the overall aim of destroying an evil magical item, but also others that I'm not going to mention because they might spoil some of the twists and turns of the story - but you'll recognise them easily and they sometimes kick you out of the story for a moment. Also the beginning of the novel feels like a long introduction (many beginnings) before the story actually starts moving along, but I suspect this is also a feature of the original game - setting up the game board, so to say.
The author's language is a great fit for the style of the story, and the use of archaic spelling here and there strengthens the feel of fantasy nicely. It is obvious that the writer loves the original game and has done a great work to bring the story alive to others who want to revisit it - and also people like me who a drawn to the story for other reasons.
I was compelled, of course, to go back to the game to play it with all the context I had gathered. This time better understanding each decision, each move.
I had the starting point of having played the game to get my interest for the book. But did it stand on it’s own? I do firmly believe so as it is based on a pretty rich universe, one that draws you in with its epic and mystical setting. And it does help how Drew Wagar’s words weave a story that leaves me wanting to come back for more.
Thank you Drew and Chris for giving us this after so much time. Can’t wait for Doomdark’s Revenge next!!!
What we DO have is a fun piece of writing - along the lines of RR. Martin or Raymond Feist.
The preceding is a compliment.
I was surprised at the quality of the writing. The story was nothing fresh, yet, it was enjoyable. Cliques were used, but, used well. I look forward to the next book in this series, and, will take a look at his Shadeward work.
Best book purchase of my year so far.
What it is, though, is a perfectly entertaining and relaxing read, a happy distraction from more serious works. The course of the fighting is well described (it's the classic "good guys assemble to battle the dark lord" story) and the story hangs together well. My only real complaint is that very occasionally the mock-medieval language used in the book can start to grate.
I am very much looking forward to the next book in the story, not least because the plot in the game-series became much more original after the first episode, so this should be the case for the second game also.
Top international reviews
Originally released for the Sinclair Spectrum 48K in 1984, ‘The Lords of Midnight’ was a unique and innovative mix of roleplaying and strategy elements that involved exploring a vast free roaming landscape whilst attempting to enlist various characters to assist you in your objective of defeating the forces of the Witchking. A major reason for its lasting reputation is the uncanny ability it possesses to draw the player in and engross them in the characters and atmosphere of the world without providing huge amounts of information.
With a well-established world full of much-loved characters, ‘The Lords of Midnight’ provides a stronger foundation for a novelisation than most video/computer games. However, novelising such a cult game comes with obvious risks and a need to satisfy long term fans. As such this novelisation might easily have gone wrong. Fortunately, though, it doesn’t and it successfully manages to recreate the rich atmosphere and feel of the game.
It is clearly written by someone who has actually played the game extensively and who understands the characters and their motivations. Within the events of the novel most readers will probably recognise various tactics and stratagems that they themselves have employed. The author also manages to successfully dovetail the two different ways to complete the game, the roleplaying quest and the militaristic wargame campaign.
Several characters from ‘Doomdark’s Revenge’, the sequel to ‘The Lords of Midnight’, also make an appearance in the novel. Some of this is orientated at setting them up for a possible novelisation of ‘Doomdark’s Revenge’, but Tarithel rightly, as the daughter of the Lord of Dreams, plays a major role. The novel also makes use of some conceptual elements that never actually materialised in the game. The main one of these being the portrayal of Utarg.
The novelisation also manages to succeed in being an entertaining work of fantasy in its own right and can easily be enjoyed without the need to have played the original game.
I’m a lifelong Lords of Midnight fan and have been so pleased to read this. It satisfies both my own need for it to be fantastic, and the more noble desire that it should seem to me to be an accessible fantasy book that future generations might enjoy in its own right.
Drew satisfied the former and to me, at least, it seems has achieved the latter.
It is no mean feat to take the oh-so-familiar tale, replayed millions of times by the thousands of us in our misspent youths, and craft a story that captivated me from beginning to end. We are canny old campaigners, who know every corner of the Land of Midnight and have won and (more often) lost the War of the Solstice in every manner imaginable. We are hard to please. I am invigorated by his vision. The Wise chose well!
The Fan Version.
I’ll be honest, I loved this book. Having played the original game since it was released on the ZX spectrum, this took the bare bones of the story that was in my head and fleshed it out to make the Land of Midnight come alive. It also did so without ruining the memories of those original playthroughs.
The main issue with the game is the ‘Lords’ of Midnight themselves. Due to limitations of the game at the time, they were just stats on a character sheet. What the Author has done is manage to bring these stats to life as believable characters, in addition to adding a couple of extra characters who are more sympathetic to modern sensibilities.
What I also liked is that characters from the game’s sequel, ‘Doomdark’s Revenge’, have been weaved into this story, (as well as parts of the original novellas included in the game) thus setting up the story to flow into the sequel. I’m sure that I didn’t loose that many Lords in the game that fall in the novel but it did set up some nice twists that I was not expecting in the story myself.
It manages to hit everyone of my nostalgic needs in a story I’ve been waiting for since the novelisation was ‘promised’ over 30 years. So, if you loved the original games, this is a story that can be considered the ‘Cannon’ without it ruining your own experiences and I thoroughly recommend it.
(If you want a bad example of a book of a video game, then look up the Baulder Gate’s novels which felt that destroyed the characters that were beloved in the game).
The Non Fan version.
The main problem with this novel is not the novel itself but Lord of the Rings. The original game was created as a pastiche / tribute to Tolkien’s work and so had a very similar themes. Although the author makes a valiant effort to give it a separate twist, you do have the feeling that you’ve read this story before.
Coming at it from the point of view of a player who has roved over the lands of Midnight in the game that this is based on I would say this really brought the place to life. Bits of the lore being added in based on landmarks from the map from the game for example really helped give a depth to the story for example.
There's not much more I can add that hasn't been said already. This nostalgic forty something was very happy when a book of one of his all time favourite games was announced that it was going to be written and I'm pleased to say it turned out really well. Go buy it!
The book is based in the land of Midnight, and is a captivating tale of good verses evil. It contains a good balance of characters, a well written plot line and some excellent scene setting. The book took me back to the Land of Midnight that I enjoyed all those years ago when playing the game.
I plan on purchasing one of the first physical copies as soon as it is available in September, as this is a must for my bookcase.
I've waited 34 years for this book and it certainly doesn't disappoint - Drew has proved himself a wordsmith of the highest calibre once again. All I need to add is a personal comment to Drew and tell him to:
"Crack on with the next instalment of Doomdark's Revenge, I don't want to have to wait another 34 years!"
Having read several of Drew's previous books, I continue to find his prose writing style engaging and can't wait to finish work and get back to finishing the book!
The land of Midnight has been under the control of Doomdark for many years. Thanks to him, the land endures an unending winter, its people only managing to eke out an existance. His powers are wrapped up on his Ice Crown, an item that no ordinary man may hold, and the Ice Fear he sends out sees the bravest warrior quail. Now, with the Winter Solstice approaching, his powers are at theirgreatest. Divisions have grown between the two races that live there, the Fey and the Free, and nowadays they keep pretty much to themselves. Luxor, a minor Lord of the Free, had fought bravely in the last war against Doomdark, a victory that weakened the Witchking somewhat. However, the Free are well aware it's only a matter of time before Doomdark regroups and tries once more to crush all resistance.
Early in the book, Luxor is summoned to the Tower of the Moon for a meeting with Rothrorn the Wise. It's a summons he cannot really ignore - none of the Wise have been seen in many years, all of them hiding locked within their Towers. The Wise are powerful, respected, possibly feared a little - but they're not popular, having failed to provide any assistance in the fight against Doomdark. The messenger who brought news of the meeting was Corleth the Fey, who'd fought alongside Luxor in the last war against Doomdark. They'd clearly been close once, although things have cooled somewhat since as the Fey and the Free have drifted apart. Luxor, his squire Morkin and Corleth travel together to the Tower of the Moon, none of them knowing what to expect.
The meeting brings news that was was both unexpected and unwelcome. It appears that Rorthrorn, alone out of of all the Wise, is willing to help on this occasion. Doomdark is ready to bring Midnight to heel, and his armies are already moving outwards - worryingly this is much sooner than the Lords of the Free had expected and they're not properly prepared. There is, however, a litle good news. Luxor, to his own surprise, is the last in line of the House of the Moon - one of the great houses of Midnigt from days of old. He will therefore be able to use the Moonring, one of the Midnight's ancient War Rings. It gives him the power of command over those loyal to him, allowing him to see what they see and to communicate with them, no matter what distance between them. More than that, he learns that Morkin is actually his son, the product of a liasion with a Fey lady. Part free, part Fey, the Ice Crown therefore has no power over Morkin and, as a result, he will be able to destroy it. The War of the Solstice has begun, and Luxor, Morkin, Rorthron and Corleth will each play a key role.
This is a book I enjoyed hugely, though part of that probably springs from the affection I had for the game and the nostalgia it inspired. I suspect that the majority of people who pick up the book will be like me, people who enjoyed playing the game at a younger age. (Reading the book, though, did give me a few hints on general game-play too; I haven't actually played it in quite some time, but I'd be tempted to re-visit it now). I'd imagine, though, that your average fan of the fantasy genre will also enjoy it. The game originally came with a short novella, setting up the scene before starting to play. It's been a while since I read it, but I suspect there were a few tweaks for the book. (There seemed to be a certain level of distrust between Luxor, Rothrorn and Corleth at the start of this book that I don't remember picking up on in the novella. Morkin's first meeting with Fawkrin also came much later here than it did there). Beyond that, there were a few surprises. I'd always taken a simple, straightforward view of the characters - I'd pictured all of the Fey and the Free as being brave, honourable, noble and good. The Utarg, meanwhile, I'd seen as being proud and independent, but essentially a decent sort. That isn't necessarily how they're all portrayed in the book. There's a new character for the book too, one who wasn't in the game : the Lady of Silence, who was a great addition. Wagar has pictured things a little differently to how I did as a teenager - for example, physically, the Utarg is very different to how I pictured. Farflame, meanwhile, has now become my favourite character. Absolutely recommended for fans of the game.
Best of all for me, it portrays the war and the quest in a realistic manner, in a way that the game couldn't. Once you'd played the game through a few times, it became far too easy and the quest was necessarily possible by just finding the correct route. The book reads more like my first attempt, a desperate rush to defend against hugely superior forces.
The quest is far more complicated than the game and features all of the characters from the book, e.g Lorgrim, Fawkrin and Farflame. Unlike the game, the quest in the book requires ALL of them, along with Lake Mirrow, rather than just one. It makes for great reading.
If you're not a fan of the game, I'm not sure how this would read. The enjoyment for me came from seeing the game characters and places brought to life. Great work, can't wait for the Icemark installment!
The story follows very closely the plot of the computer game (it's a surreal experience finding the story so closely following the routes that I used to take), adding character to the Lords, a depth to the locations and brining in an interesting political overlay. Most, if not all, of the computer game Lords and supporting cast get a look-in and there are a few surprises with how their characters turn out.
Really well written book, steering away from the typical fantasy style of speech and writing which can sometimes make novels hard to follow whist keeping it appropriate for the setting.
Well worth the 34 year wait, victory has certainly gone to The Free.
Similarities to Lord of the Ring can not go unnoticed however, this is a story that flows constantly forward unlike Lord of the Rings and it's never ending side stories.
Drew has a writing style that is like the story, flowing, and also very descriptive. I felt the cold of the frozen landscape of Midnight just from his choice of words.
This book can be enjoyed by all ages and is highly recommended. It is fun to read and I constantly had that, just one more chapter voice in my head when I tried to put it down.
I cannot wait for the next installment to arrive, Doomdark's Revenge.
I purchased nearly all of the books by Drew Wagar on the strength of this one. I have now read 3 of his books and all have been fantastic, I am about to start his Shadeward Saga.
Thanks for the great stories Drew, see you in the black o7
This book is a wonderful novelisation of the game, but really works as a stand-alone novel. Characters from the game who you'd know as just a little sprite and some derived statistics are brought to life by Drew's writing. There are subtle references to the game in the text which are welcome nods to the game, but not intrusive if you haven't played.
The true test is this: just finished it... and now I want to read the sequel!
So it was a great relief and pleasant surprise to pick up very quickly that Drew Wagar was painting the world and the characters very much as I remembered them and imagined them to be. The book added more and more detail to the world of Midnight and its inhabitants that was illuminating, new, and yet to me felt just so 'right' for the world that even the new aspects and depth almost seemed familiar at the same time.
All this made the book a sheer joy to read and did get me breaking the game out again, albeit not from a cassette on an 8-bit machine!


text:
Instead of sharding the zones, their plan is to shard the entire continent at launch. In Classic WoW, there are no dynamic spawns and questing in starting zones would quickly become annoying, so it's understandable that the game is all but fun when there are no mobs to kill, but layering will also cause you to see new players, every time you sign in to the game, which is a clear downside of the tech.
Blizz stated in a watercooler that they're using the 1.12 database as a starting point. I don't think it's a stretch for people to assume that most game features and mechanics will be in their 1.12 state. The kind of stuff I would expect to see reverted would be numerous AV changes, but I seriously doubt class mechanics are going to be reverted. I'd be surprised if the threat changes that ruin pre-naxx encounters are reverted.
1. Vue d'ensemble de la classe Voleur 2. La meilleure race pour Voleur 3. Astuces leveling pour le Voleur 4. Les poison du Voleur 5. Addons pour Voleur 6. La meilleure spé pour le leveling 7. La spé alternative : « Frontstabbing » 8. Rotation optimisée pour le leveling 9. Stats conseillées pour le leveling 10. Liste des meilleures épées 11. Liste des meilleures dagues
The most important thing you should note is that there are no official beta keys. Blizzard opens the gates to their betas by granting access to your account — not sending you a beta key. If you’re in the beta, you’ll be able to download and play the WoW Classic client from your Battle.net launcher. If not, you aren’t in the beta. It’s easy to be tricked into thinking you’ll get a beta key from an email that looks like it’s from an official Blizzard address, but don’t believe their lies — they’re all fake.
Unlocking the Nightborne is a fairly straightforward process and, if you’ve been playing Legion, you’ve probably done most of the work. For starters, you’ll need to complete the main Nightborne storyline in Legion in order to unlock the “Insurrection” achievement. Completing these quests will go a long way toward earning you the Exalted reputation you’ll need. If you’re not quite there, then you’ll need to grind out Suramar world quests, though it shouldn’t take too long.
FYI: If you’re returning to WoW after an extended absence prior to patch 5.0.1, it’s possible that you’ll have more than the maximum pet limit and/or more than 3 of a kind. However, this will be the only time that you’re allowed to surpass these limits. You will have to pare down your collection, eliminating your duplicates, in order to add new pets.
Combat is turn-based and there is no time limit on each round in a PVE Pet Battle. You can take your time to determine which spell to use next. Some pet abilities have multiple round cooldowns, while others can do extra damage if certain conditions are met. Be creative and have fun testing which combination of attacks works best against different wild pets!

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