POST STATUS: Lot of calculations below. Still early days in the checking process. Could be errors. Caveat emptor!
This Thursday’s Powerball has a $120 million Division 1 prize pool. It’s huge – the second biggest Division One prize in history. Over 175 million tickets will be sold, at a total cost of $213 million, equivalent to seven tickets for each living Australian.
But should we play? The answer might surprise you. There are three main levels of Powerball naivety, and then one bonus level.
DADS AND ODDS
I care about Powerball mostly because my dad plays it now and then. He’s an educated man with a successful career behind him, but likes the idea of a big prize.
The first thing to know is the odds of winning Division One with a single entry are small. Really really small, as the next chart shows. Division Nine, by contrast, is up for grabs.
Powerball is owned by Tabcorp and each week they lavish a lot of attention on the Division One prize, but it is not given away each week. Far from it.
DIVISION ONE DROUGHT
The last six draws have all gone by without a Division One winner. Such streaks are not uncommon. Around three-in-four draws end without anyone winning Division One and so the big prize is won roughly once a month:
Division One was won:
- 10 times in 2019,
- 14 times in 2020, and
- 13 times since the start of 2021.
The next chart shows grey lines when the Division One prize was not won, and jackpotted to the next week.
This matters, because the prizes underneath Division 1 are nothing to write home about. Division 9, which you have a one-in-66 chance of winning, averages just a smidge over $10. As the next chart shows, even Division 2, which you have just one chance in seven million of winning, regularly pays out a middling $100,000. Often even less. Most of these other prizes are simply not worth getting excited about.
It’s all about Division One.
The jackpot structure of Powerball makes each week different. Which got me thinking. Maybe, just maybe, Powerball could sometimes have positive expected value. Right? They do a bunch of draws where the Division 1 prize doesn’t go off. Those must have been very profitable. Perhaps that’s how they make their money? And if the prize builds up high enough, to a high jackpot, those weeks could have positive expected value for a player. Maybe, if you played only in certain circumstances, you can expect to come out ahead, on average?
EASY VICTORIES: KNOW YOUR EV.
We need here a very brief introduction to the concept of Expected Value, which I will call EV. It’s a tremendously useful concept, and a simple one: Your expected payoff is the chance of winning multiplied by the payoff. And the expected value is the expected payoff minus the cost.
For example, if you give me a $2 prize for calling a coin toss correctly my expected payoff is $1. If you charge me $1 a try, my expected value is zero. If you lift the prize to $2.10 , my expected value turns positive.
Knowing EVs is really powerful: They tell you what to do. If an EV is positive, you should play that game or do that thing as much as possible. If they are negative, you should run away.
You have a negative EV if you play roulette at the casino. At Roulette, the combination of the chance of winning and the prizes are designed to give the player a negative EV and the casino a positive EV. It’s a great game for them, in the long run, and a terrible game for us. If you repeatedly play games with negative EVs you will end up losing big.
The EV concept is applicable to real-life situations too, not just games. Investing well depends on estimating EVs, for example, and different postgraduate degrees might have different EVs too. You can extend expected value to any domain where chance or uncertainty is present.
For us, the EV is the main thing we need to know to decide whether to play Powerball. (Assuming, for now, you don’t just love the anticipation of holding a ticket in your hand and setting your mind free to dream).
GETTING RICH ON THE LOTTERY?
How do we figure out the expected payoff of a Powerball draw? Let’s look at the smallest draw this year, with a $3 million Division One prize. For a rough estimate we can simply multiply the odds of winning each division by the prize. The next chart shows the results of that calculation.
As you can see, Division 9 is doing most of the heavy lifting here. Your one-in-66 chance of getting back around $10.20 is worth a little over 15 cents. The one-in-134 million chance of winning $3 million is worth only 2.2 cents!
After you subtract the $1.21 cost of entry the EV is very very negative. You definitely shouldn’t play for such a small jackpot.
WHAT ABOUT THE BIG PRIZES?
With a bigger Division 1 Prize, maybe your EV goes up? Sure does. Once again we use a simplified technique – multiplying the chance of winning by the advertised prize. Lo and behold, the higher the prize the bigger the expected payoff.
This is a potentially exciting graph if you’re not careful.
Because the next draw, this Thursday, has a Division One prize of $120 million. That would seem to change things. A one-in-134-million chance of winning $120 million is worth 89.5 cents for Division One alone. The lower divisions are consistently worth about 40 cents of expected payoff. Add those to the 89.5 cents and you have an expected payoff of $1.30 – higher than the cost of the ticket! The EV looks to be positive.
“IS IT WORTH PLAYING THIS WEEK?!”
A few years ago I found myself asking this exact question about a Powerball draw with a big Division One prize. My back of the envelope calculation told me the EV was positive and I should play.
What I soon learned is if multiple people win Division 1, they split the prize. Your odds of getting a winning ticket are the same, but if you share it, your payoff is split. As the next chart shows, Division One has gone off 34 times in the last few years, and it has been shared between multiple winners on 4 occasions.
Here’s the problem:
The number of tickets sold rises as the Division One jackpot rises. And the higher the number of tickets sold, the more chance of multiple division one winners.
You can see the effect in the chart above – three of the seven largest Division One prizes had multiple winners. So the simple calculation I was using above – chance of winning multiplied by advertised prize – is misleading. It’s wrong.
It doesn’t take into account the risk someone else out there has the same winning numbers, is there for your giant cheque ceremony, steals your limelight, splits your pot and rains on your parade.
Check out the $150 million prize in 2019. You think you’re playing for $150 million – the good people at Powerball HQ encourage you to think that – but as lightning strikes and the one-in-134-million chance you have the winning numbers becomes reality, you also discover your lusted-after prize is actually a mere $50 million. (Sure, $50 million is nice, but it’s no $150 million, is it?)
This is the point that got me really excited: I wanted to quantify this. If there is a relationship between advertised Division One prize and the number of tickets sold, and a relationship between tickets sold and the odds of multiple winners, could we therefore calculate a more realistic EV for each draw? I wanted to do this ever since the $150 million jackpot back in 2019, but it was only this year – once I learned to use R – that doing so became possible.
I scraped data from the internet that let me calculate the number of entries in every Powerball draw in the last 20 years. Here’s data from the last four years, showing that entries rise dramatically when the Division 1 jackpot rises. The red line is a model of a linear relationship.
Is that red line satisfying? Not really. Might the relationship be non-linear? Maybe! The yellow line in the next graph is a smoothed version of the points.
Your chances of splitting Division One go up and up the more people enter. And that changes everything.
THE THREE LEVELS OF NAIVETE
There’s three main levels of Powerball naivety here.
- One is not realising the pot can be split if multiple people have the winning numbers.
- The second is not realising the positive relationship between tickets sold and Div 1 prize: Just because multiple winners are rare, doesn’t mean they won’t happen for the big prizes!
- The third one is not recognising that the relationship is non-linear, so your chance of splitting the prize is rising most dramatically when the jackpot is highest .
This latter point is important. Powerball draws with Division One prizes below $110 million can’t possibly have a positive EV. The odds are too bad and the prizes are too low. But draws with high Division 1 prizes – such as this week – could in theory have positive EV. The bend in that yellow line may be helping prevent that theory from becoming reality.
DOING THE MATHS
The maths here were tricker than I first realised – I only solved it after cracking out the Poisson distribution. The odds of winning Division One are low. But enough Australians buy Powerball tickets that when the prize gets big, there’s a strong chance of multiple winners.
This graph shows exactly that. Pay attention to the falling white line – that’s the odds of nobody winning the jackpot, and it dips below 50% when the jackpot is around 80 million. When the Division One Prize is just over 100 million, the odds of there being one – and only one – winner peak. After that they are falling. Somewhere north of $150 million the odds of there being 2 winners will be greater than the odds of 1 winner.
This chart also reveals that the $150 million Division One prize pool from 2019 that was split by three people was actually a little unusual. The odds of there being three or more winners that day was only a little over 20 per cent. It was actually more likely to jackpot than be split by three people. Just a good reminder that the odds aren’t everything!
Just for fun, here’s the odds of multiple winners in Division 2. I include this graph because it shows even more clearly how the chance of a division having a small number of winners dissipates when the prize gets high. (And also because it looks cool and swoopy.)
Your odds of getting the winning number don’t change when there are multiple entries. But your expected payoff from getting the winning number does change.
As more people enter the lottery, your EV must fall. This is not the kind of lottery where you can trust your instinct (and this is perhaps the most important reason for this blog post – to help people overcome that instinct!).
The way entries rise with the Div One prize pool suggests some people may be taking that instinctive, naïve view. The higher the jackpot, the more this matters – the more the naïve view takes you further and further from the reality. This week, for example, with the high prize, knowing you may split the pot is more important than ever. The expected number of winners is 1.3, meaning a hefty chance someone else will have their mitts on your novelty cheque.
I set out to calculate the true EVs given the odds of sharing the prize.
I spent ages hoping the highest EV would be for a Division 1 prize that was not a record high, rather than the highest one. I wondered if there was a tipping point where so many people entered the lottery that despite the higher jackpot you had extra reason to stay away. Perhaps the sweet spot with the least-negative EV would be $120m or so. That would have been a cool, counter-intuitive result!
But no, the dominant factor in the EV remains the Division One prize (at least at the prize levels we have seen offered so far). As you can see in the next graph, the $150 million prize back in 2019 (orange bar) is the one with the highest expected value.
Notice something? Even accounting for the chance of multiple winners, that $150 million draw had positive EV!
So here’s the final bonus level of Powerball naivete: scorning lotteries altogether. It’s a good reminder to keep an open mind. If this week’s Powerball jackpots (probability of there being no winner is ~ 27%) next week could (maybe, just, barely) be worth playing.
HOW MUCH DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE TO ACCOUNT FOR MULTIPLE WINNERS?
At the lower jackpot levels, not much. The gap between the naïve EV (simply multiplying the odds by the advertised prize) and the true EV is highest for the bigger jackpots. Which may be why many people respond so strongly to higher jackpots – they are using a naïve estimate of their EV, failing to realise – as I once did – that the prize can be split.
This next chart shows how the naive EV and true EV diverge:
For this Thursday’s draw, we can expect 175,000,000 entries, some of whom may naively suspect their EV is higher than the ticket price. But actually it is lower, because the expected number of Division One winners is 1.3. That eats away at the Division One prize you can expect to take home.
WHO WANTS A JACKPOT?
The lottery company really wants the prize to jackpot. Not just because their profit on this week’s Powerball draw is $120 million higher if the prize does not go off! After all, they do need to send that prize on to next week. What they crave is the free word of mouth that comes with an even bigger jackpot next week.
I guarantee there will be Powerball mania next week if this week’s draw jackpots and they can offer the biggest prize in history. It will be on the news, people will be whispering about it at the watercooler, and newsagents will have their first reason to smile in years.
I also hope this Thursday’s Powerball jackpots. Because then we can collect more data on the number of tickets sold when there is a $150 million+ prize! There has only been one in history and I’d like a bigger sample.
Could it jackpot twice more? The chance of a $150 million prize jackpotting is so low it hasn’t happened before. There have only ever been three draws with a Division One prize over $100 million and they have all been won. We don’t even know what the prize level above $150 million would be. $200 million? $180 million? Something else?!
WHAT YOU SHOULD DO NOW:
I remember one drunken night at a Chinese restaurant being cajoled to join a Powerball syndicate for a huge jackpot. The memories of the details are dim but the memory of the excitement is vivid. We didn’t win though. I think people get genuinely revved up when powerball ticks over $100m, and they go buy tickets.
If your mates are trying to convince you to join them in buying a ticket this week – and you don’t want to waste your money – please feel free to send them this post. “If we all hold off buying this week,” tell them, “the chance of a jackpot is higher! Let’s wait for next week…”
POSTSCRIPT. All this was done in R. R is
the major source of my nightmares a free open-source coding language for doing statistics and making graphs (and a few other tricks).
I’m what they call “self-taught.” That term may sound cool but what it means is a huge number of people taught me, rather than just one. I owe massive debts to generous people whose advice and counsel I found on Stack Overflow, Twitter, Runapp, Youtube channels and blogs. Thank you. Errors are mine.
Code is posted on my Github. I’m still in beginner mode and very open to feedback on the code – please feel free to take a look and add yourself to the huge group of people who’ve helped me learn .


Tuesday, March 28, 2023 | 8:00 PM
Glenn Gould Studio | 250 Front St West, Toronto ON
A historical-musical journey from the romantic era featuring music from Brahms, Schumann and Liszt to the music of the great cinema by John Williams, Nino Rota and Ennio Morricone with pianist Elena Matteucci and violinist Sebastian Zagame, from Italy, for one night only.
Register at their EventBrite link HERE.
To learn about advertising opportunities with Classical FM use the link below:


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Feed your cat in style with this Melamine Printed Cat Bowl. The durable cat bowl features a non-skid bottom and a fun all-over pattern to make mealtime more fun. Durable melamine, non-skid bottom.
- MULTI-USE: Perfect cat bowl, suitable for storing dry cat food or wet cat food/canned food, goodies and water.
- SAFETY: Cat bowl is made of safe 5A food-grade melamine material and does not have BPA, is non-toxic, non-allergic and tasteless, bright colour, and smooth surface, and is durable, strong and non-friable. Easy to clean, dishwasher safe
- NON-SLIP DESIGN: Anti-slip silicone pad design at the bottom of this pet food bowl protects floors from scratches and prevents slipping when your pet is having food, with no annoying noise while using (different from stainless steel bowl).
- SHALLOW DESIGN: Shallow depth and angles make it easy for a cat to get food, prevent beard fatigue and keep his or her face clean. The white bowl can hold about 200ml (8oz)
- BEAUTIFUL DESIGN: Cute fashion like cat shape bowls, shiny, and tactile, no matter where you put it, it is your home decoration, an eye-catching product.
Size – 200ml Capacity – 14cm x 4cm
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domain: pet


"What the president's campaign did was focus on certain members of his base coalition, give them extraordinary financial gifts from the government and then work very aggressively to turn them out to vote, and that strategy worked."
On Aug. 5, Chris Cillizza at The Washington Post announced he was playing with a "somewhat controversial idea" that Mitt Romney should be the favorite to win the presidential election. Debatable, maybe. But controversial? Well, yes. It violates the pro-Obama mandate of our national press corps.
Pro-abortion Group Uses Zika Virus to Pressure 2016 Frontrunners to Support Their Agenda | Cortney O'Brien


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Norse Atlantic has announced more additions to its growing schedule. The carrier will take off from London Gatwick Airport on 12 August – two months after the first long-haul routes from Olso begin.
Norway’s latest low-cost long-haul carrier, Norse Atlantic, was founded in February 2021. The carrier launched with a similar USP and a clear goal – to succeed where predecessor Norwegian Air Shuttle (commonly known as Norweigan) failed, as they were forced to axe long-haul operations and undergo intensive restructuring efforts in 2021 due to heavy financial losses.
Norse Atlantic is due to start operations this June and announced its first four routes across the U.S in April. It was expected that the airline would announce more routes in the coming months as June approached.
Norse Atlantic will operate two London Gatwick flights a day using Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
Initially, the carrier will fly Oslo – Gatwick – JFK (John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York) and back. But this may change once Norse Atlantic receives its UK air operator’s certificate.
Passengers can book via Gatwick’s website or Norse Atlantic’s website and return tickets are available from £255.
To clarify, Norway-based will operate Gatwick – JFK and back, Oslo – Gatwick and back. London Gatwick serves as a kind of UK hub for the Norwegian carrier from Oslo.
The addition of London Gatwick to Norse Atlantic’s schedule pushes its total confirmed routes ahead of its June launch to six. As previously reported by Travel Radar, Norse Atlantic announced its first four routes in late April to popular destinations across the U.S such as Orlando, Los Angeles, Fort Lauderdale, and (of course) New York’s JFK from Oslo.
Bjorn Tore Larsen, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Norse Atlantic, was pleased that Norse was offering a connection between London Gatwick and JFK:
“Customers now have an affordable option allowing them to book a last-minute trip or a holiday of a lifetime with an airline that offers choice and flexibility.”
London Gatwick has struggled during the pandemic – the airport was forced to close one of its terminals (the South Terminal) in June 2020 and only reopened again this March. On a mission to improve demand and recover financially, it is not a surprise that Gatwick’s chief executive Stewart Wingate was “delighted” to welcome Norse Atlantic to London. Wingate continued:
“It’s always great to see a new tail on the airfield but the arrival of a new airline following the turbulent past two years for the industry, and one that will be offering fantastic long-haul routes across the Atlantic, is particularly exciting news. Passengers across London and the South East will now be able to benefit from another transatlantic service from Gatwick, with Norse offering excellent value for money for those flying out for a dream holiday, or important business trip, to New York, one of the world’s most famous and dynamic cities.”
Will you be travelling with the new carrier once it launches? Let us know your thoughts on this story in the comments below.

domain: news


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Glee star Lea Michele may have been in plenty of episodes, singing her heart out but she has finally decided to try her hand at the music scene for real. Lea is preparing to release her debut album and has revealed how the record is full of original songs, rather than covers.
Michele told Jay Leno, “It's funny because I get asked a lot if I'm doing covers. If you think that there are actually covers that we haven't done on Glee that I could then put on an album... We've done everything! Pretty soon we're just going to have to start doing opera and stuff on the show. No, it's all original pop music [on my album] and I'm really, really excited about it.”
Lea also talked about her enjoyment of being in the studio and rubbing shoulders with the likes of Beatles legend Ringo Starr. However, it has not all been glitz and glamour, as an incident with a spray tan and an over excited dog proved.
Michele added, “I put my feet up to take a nice little lunch break and one of the managers had their dog, and the dog jumped up on my lap. He went over to pick up the dog and the dog peed all over me. Which wouldn't have been so bad - I wiped it off - but because I didn't wipe off the spray tan yet it left pee streaks all over my legs!”
Lea Michele was announced as the new face for L’Oreal Paris back in September.

domain: entertainment


text:
Welcome to the Guild Forums of The Army of Light
The only Book Club in Tamriel! We're a guild of casual and social friends in the Ebonheart Pact on The Elder Scrolls Online, The Secret World, and a few other games.
Free forum : A guild for the SWTOR OT.
For all members of the Knights of Avalon guild.
This is the main forum for the guild.
Free forum : This forum is for Anime guild members from ExalosMS
Hakuna Matata is a private guild hosted on Woon-RO Reloaded. Entry is restricted only to members and requires one of the guild master's approval before any forum content may be accessed. Any unauthorized registrations to this forum will be ignored. I
Where Nalini Singh's fans can meet, greet, and talk about her books!
The Customizers and Builders Guild is a group of Lego enthusiasts specializing in original creations and minifigure customization. Formerly known as the Clone Army Builders Guild.
The Star Ponies forum is a middle ground for all players who are apart of, or interested in, the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic themed guilds of Star Wars The Old Republic.
Free forum : Guild Wars Alliance Forum. Guild Wars Alliance Forum

domain: game


text:
To better understand the issues of the celebrations of the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, on November 9, 1989, we have collected twelve articles published in "The World" in recent days.
Germany and the European Union celebrate this weekend the 30the Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, November 9, 1989. In a series of articles and in a supplement to be found on newsstands, "The World" tells the hopes and upheavals that followed the fall of the "Iron Curtain" , the uncertain legacy of the reunification of Germany and the consequences of the disappearance of the Soviet Union.
Here are the main texts gathered here. Good reading.
- The winding paths of European reunification
Decryption. Enlargement has been a geopolitical success for the countries of the Union even though relations between East and West generate frustrations, rivalries and misunderstandings.
- Fall of the Berlin Wall: Let's not miss a funeral
Editorial. Even though Europe is in crisis today on several issues, we must not forget that the fall of the Berlin Wall first and foremost marked the end of communism as a totalitarian regime.
- The legacy of reunification continues to fragment German identity
Decryption. The claim of an identity distinct from that of the West is more and more present in the debates. A majority of East Germans consider themselves as second-class citizens, while the far right is progressing.
- Berlin, 1989: The Maestro and the Wall
Story. The world republishes an article dated 1997, in which the great Russian musician Rostropovich returns to these historical hours.
- Nine maps on the persistent gap between the former GDR and the rest of Germany
Decoders. On income, unemployment, demographics or election results, the border is still visible between the two Germanys.
- "On November 9, 1989, a piece of the Berlin Wall fell …" A Night of Happiness
Archives. On the night of 9 to 10 November 1989, our special envoy was attending this historic moment of opening of crossings between East Berlin and West Berlin.
- The history of the Berlin Wall: from war to fall
Video. Maps, the eyes of historians and archival images tell the story of the Wall, from its origins to the images of the night of November 9, 1989.
- In 1989, 100 Deutschmarks for the citizens of the GDR: welcome gift and bitter-sweet ticket to the unknown
Story. Less spectacular than the images of the fall of the wall, on November 9, 1989, the blue note given to every Eastern citizen by the West German government deeply marked those who received it. As a ticket to the consumer society.
- Georges Mink: "The populist elites perceive the EU as a new Moscow"
Interview. The French-Polish sociologist explains how some Eastern European policies exploit "memory games", at the risk of provoking new fractures in Europe.
- Andreï Gratchev: "In 1989, nobody was prepared for this upheaval"
Tribune. Although he had worked to make it possible, Mikhail Gorbachev was taken aback by the fall of the Wall. This finally led to his own political fall, explains his former advisor.
- Adam Michnik: "In Poland, with Solidarnosc, the Berlin Wall cracked"
Tribune. The labor union has "Discredited the Communist Party" and in its wake, millions of Poles demanded freedom and the return of their national identity, recalls the journalist and former activist.
- "Loyalty at any price" by Sonia Combe: intellectuals loyal to the East German dictatorship
Delivered. The historian Sonia Combe analyzes the tormented relations that a number of thinkers maintained with the communist power.
To read more articles on the same theme, click on this page.

domain: library


text:
By Michael Holden
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's anti-European Union party has scooped up support from voters traditionally loyal to Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives after the government announced plans to allow gay couples to marry, three polls showed on Sunday.
A large number of Conservative lawmakers as well as the Church of England oppose the plans for same-sex marriage announced on Tuesday, although the move is generally popular across the country.
UKIP, which wants Britain to exit the EU, has pledged to exploit Conservative divisions over the issue and polls showed its support reaching new highs, putting it in third place ahead of Cameron's junior coalition partners the Liberal Democrats.
Both a ComRes survey for the Independent on Sunday and Sunday Mirror newspapers and the Observer paper's Opinium poll had the Conservatives on 29 percent, 10 points behind the opposition Labour Party, with UKIP on 14 percent.
A third poll by Survation for the Mail on Sunday newspaper had the Conservatives on 30 percent, Labour on 38 percent and UKIP again with 14 percent. All three surveys had the Liberal Democrats trailing in fourth on 9 percent or less.
"The Conservatives are leaking votes to UKIP - one in five of the party's 2010 voters say that they now intend to vote UKIP," said Andrew Hawkins, chairman of ComRes.
"There is good evidence that many UKIP voters are erstwhile Conservatives on the rebound: large proportions are negative about David Cameron and (finance minister) George Osborne on the economy, and about Mr. Cameron's handling of gay marriage."
UKIP polled more votes than the centre-right Conservatives in two recent elections for parliamentary seats, partly helped by Britons' discontent at government austerity measures along with a growing anti-EU sentiment shared by many within Cameron's party.
Despite success in elections for the European Parliament, UKIP has never won a seat at Westminster and commentators say its rise in support is likely to hurt the Conservatives at the next election in 2015 rather than lead to an electoral breakthrough.
"Unless we see some really substantial change from the government and the Labour party ... with a U-turn on Europe, open-door immigration, gay marriage and other things, then there's no reason to think that this level of support for UKIP can't be maintained," its leader Nigel Farage told Sky News.
He hopes UKIP's opposition to gay marriage will contribute to this, and argues that current laws which allow gay couples to form civil partnerships conferring the same legal rights as marriage are sufficient.
While polls indicate a majority of Britons do support the change, they have also shown far fewer of those who voted Conservative at the last election in 2010 are in favor.
Political analysts have suggested the gay marriage plans are a way for Cameron to broaden his party's support and burnish its liberal values. However the Survation survey found two-thirds of those it polled thought he was supporting gay marriage to win "trendy votes" rather than because he thought it was right.
(Editing by Rosalind Russell)

domain: sociology


Cloud technology is exciting and the possibilities surrounding the technology are expanding each day. Will cloud finally reach the sea? Cloud coverage for the marine navigation industry is almost inevitable. It really is just a case of when, not if. TIMEZERO is currently developing a tool that will circumvent pricey satellite internet provider fees.
Cloud technology would still open up a list of possibilities to marine navigation software. Let’s take a look at some of these!


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- Volume 18 Issue 1
DOI QR Code
Single-dose Intramuscular Injection Toxicology of Danggui Pharmacopuncture (DGP) in Sprague-Dawley Rats
- Sun, SeungHo (Department of Internal Medicine, College of Korean Medicine, Sangji University) ;
- Jeong, JongJin (Department of Internal Medicine, College of Korean Medicine, Sangji University) ;
- Park, Sunju (Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Korean Medicine, Daejeon University) ;
- Lee, KwangHo (Department of Acupuncture & Moxibustion Medicine, College of Korean Medicine, Sangji University) ;
- Yu, JunSang (Department of Sasang Constitutional Medicine, College of Korean Medicine, Sangji University) ;
- Seo, Hyung-Sik (Department of Ophthalmology, Otolaryngology, and Dermatology, Korean Medicine Hospital, Pusan National University) ;
- Kwon, KiRok (Research Center of the Korean Pharmacopuncture Institute)
- Received : 2014.11.17
- Accepted : 2014.12.15
- Published : 2015.03.30
Objectives: The purpose of the study is to assess both the approximate lethal dose and the single dose intramuscular injection toxicity of Danggui (Angelica gigantis radix) pharmacopuncture (DGP) in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Methods: The experiments were conducted at the good laboratory practice (GLP) laboratory, Biotoxtech Co., which is a laboratory approved by the ministry of food and drug safety (MFDS). The study was performed according to the GLP regulation and the toxicity test guidelines of the MFDS (2009) after approval of the institutional animal care and use committee of Biotoxtech. Single doses of DGP were injected intramuscularly into the rats in three test groups of 6 week old SD rats (5 male and 5 female rats per groups) in the amounts of 0.1, 0.5, and 1.0 mL/animal for groups 2, 3, and 4, respectively, and normal saline solution in the amount of 1.0 mL/animal was injected intramuscularly into the rats (5 male and 5 female rats) in the control group. Observations of the general symptoms and weight measurements were performed during the 14 day observation period after the injection. Hematologic and serum biochemical examination, necropsy, and a local tolerance test at the injection site were done after the observation period. Results: No death was observed in three test groups (0.1, 0.5 and 1.0 mL/animal group). In addition, the injection of DGP had no effect on general symptoms, weights, hematologic and serum biochemical examination, and necropsy. The results from the local tolerance tests at injection site showed no treatment related effects in the SD rats. Conclusion: The results of single dose intramuscular injection of DGP suggest that the approximate lethal dose is above 1.0 mL/animal for both male and female SD rats and that intramuscular injection of DGP may be safe.
acupuncture;Angelica gigas nakai;Angelica gigantis radix;herbal medicine;pharmacopuncture;single-dose toxicity test
- Korean Pharmacopuncture Insitute. [Pharmacopuncturology: principles and clinical application]. Seoul: Elsevier Korea LLC; 2012. Chapter 1, Definition and history. p. 3-4. Korean.
- Park YC, Lee JS, Kim MH, Kim DY, Lee SD. [Pharmacological action and toxicity of Angelica sinensis]. Korean J Orient Med Prescr. 2011;19(2):93-108. Korean. http://ksci.gplusit.co.kr/ksci13/mng/mng_0410.jsp?ref_seq=DHOCBS_2015_v18n1_56_003&art_seq=DHOCBS_2015_v18n1_56&vn=%EC%A0%9C18%EA%B6%8C1%ED%98%B8&artpage=56-62
- Han JH, Kim KY. [Korean traditional pharmacology]. Seoul: Euiseongdang publishing INC; 2004. Chapter 20, Defiency-tonifying medicinal. p. 479-83. Korean.
- Kim YK, Cho KH, Shon YH, Choi HK, Kim SY, Lim JK, et al. [Chemopreventive potential of Angelicae gigantis radix aqua-acupuncturesolution]. Yakhak Hoeji. 2000;44(3):283-92. Korean.
- Park KH, Kang SK. [Studies on the analgesic effect of aqua-acupuncture with angelicae radix extract solution to mice]. KyungHee Univ Orient Med J. 1984;7:261-71. Korean.
- Ahn JC, Moon JY, Lim JK. [Antioxidant effect of AGR (Angelicae girantis radix) aqua-acupuncture solution in vitro]. The acupuncture. 1996;13(2):254-62. Korean.
- Hwang HS, Ahn BC, Park DS. [The effects of Angelicae gigantis radix aqua-acupuncture by density on immune response induced by radiation in mice]. The acupuncture. 1994;11(1):113-29. Korean.
- Lee SJ, Koh HK, Kim CH. [Effects of aqua-acupuncture with saiviae radix and angelicae radix extract solution on the acute anemia induced by loss of blood in rats]. KyungHee Univ Orient Med J. 1991;14:381-36. Korean.
- Park SH, Kang JH, Jung YS, Kim GW, Koo BS. [The effect of an essential oil fragrance from radix Angelica sinesis on differentiation and proliferation of neural stem cells of rat]. J of Oriental Neuropsychiatry. 2009;20(4):63-77 Korean.
- Song BK, Jeon YC, Kim SA, Shim AN, Seong KM, Lee EJ. [The effect of intravenous injection of the water extract of Angelica gigas nakai on gliosis in the middle cerebral artery occlusion rats]. J Pharmacopuncture. 2011;14(3):5-17. Korean. https://doi.org/10.3831/KPI.2011.14.3.005
- Han SG, Lee BR. [Effects of Angelica gigas nakai herbal acupuncture into hyolhae (SP10) of brain ischemic injury induced by intraluminal filament insertion in the rats]. The acupuncture. 2004;21(2):1-20. Korean.
- Sun Y, Tang J, Gu X, Li D. Water-soluble polysaccharides from Angelica sinensis (oliv.) diels: preparation, characterization and bioactivity. Int J Biol Macromol. 2005;36(5):283-9 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2005.07.005
- Kim SJ, Song BK, Lee EJ, Kim HK, Kim JK. [Effects of radix Angelicae gigantis and resina ferulae on the relaxation of smooth muscle and expression of iNOS]. J Korean Oriental Med. 2000;20(2):60-7. Korean.
- Kim YJ, Hwang CW. [An experimental study on brain damage and cardiovascular system effect of Angelicae gigantis radix extract]. J Korean Oriental Med. 2000;21(4):37-47. Korean.
- Kim KS, Song YJ. [Effects of aqua-acupuncture with radix Angelicae gigantis and radix astragali on the blood in the liver damage rats with CCL4]. The acupuncture. 1996;13(1):1-10. Korean.
- Yan R, Ko NL, Li S, Tam YK, Lin G. Pharmacokinetics and metabolism of ligustilide, a major bioactive component in rhizoma chuanxiong, in the rat. Drug Metab Dispos. 2008;36(2):400-8 https://doi.org/10.1124/dmd.107.017707
- Barlow S, Schlatter J. Risk assessment of carcinogens in food. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2010;243(2):180-90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.taap.2009.11.004

domain: medical


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Stress levels are observed to drop significantly when people color or create art, even something as basic as that. The Reflections Of Bergen Paint By Numbers Painting Kit is a fantastic tool for expressing your imagination on canvas. With this kit, you can start painting on your own because it includes everything you need.
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domain: hobby


Amidst the frenzy and politicking that has come to define much of Donald Trump’s presidency, whether it be the buzz surrounding the 35 day government shutdown or the latest Twitter fight, there exists the resurgence of a political “tendency” that has existed throughout history: that of populism. Populism generally refers to a political sentiment wherein…
Her sold-out presentation, held in Memorial Auditorium, touched on her lifelong career as a teacher and her thoughts on Stanford’s role in tackling the country’s educational challenges. Following her talk, Biden sat down for a Q&A moderated by Jim Shelton, former Department of Education Deputy Secretary.
For colleges across the country, including Stanford, the future of Title IX is uncertain as the Trump administration seeks to radically alter many of the guidelines that governed college campus sexual assault cases under former President Barack Obama.
Michael Tubbs ’12 M.A. ’12, the youngest ever and first African-American mayor of Stockton, has received Stanford’s first Ira D. Hall Under 30 Service Award, a new honor recognizing commitment to the community among black Stanford alumni.
Delivering the fifth annual Stephen H. Schneider Memorial Lecture, John Holdren Ph.D. ’70 discussed the elevated role of science policy in the Obama administration and his worries about climate change policy under President Donald Trump.
President Obama’s already-activated decision to very actively involve himself and many supporters in the political rumble and tumble under President Trump is another reason enabling and supporting a fresh perspective on who President Obama is.
My problem with Obama isn’t the more traditional, pointed kind that I can tie to a real issue, policy or decision. I have those too, but this one is more persistent, more vague, and it’s partly our fault. My problem with Obama is that we like him too much.
An Obama presidency, no matter what his policies amounted to, did the one thing the black community has been striving to do for centuries: uncap the limits of our potential.


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Mercy Thompson's life is not exactly normal. Her next-door neighbor is a werewolf. Her former boss is a gremlin. And she's fixing a VW bus for a vampire. But then, Mercy isn't exactly normal herself.
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: At last a book that doesn't resort to porn instead of plot. Comment: In this book, Mercy Thompson is the save-the-world kind of girl, but she does it without becoming a martinet and walking all over people who care about her! What a concept! Her character is unique as well, being the lone "skinwalker" who turns into a coyote in a world of bigger, more powerful weres and other creatures.
The supernatural creatures in Patricia Briggs' book are interesting and unique - vampires and werewolves and fae with a strong culture and facinating interaction. The characters are extremely well developed and the plot just zips along. I wish I had happened upon this series when there were about 10 of them out - waiting for the next book is going to be hard! Customer Rating: Summary: Kim Harrison fan Comment: I bought this book because I am a Kim Harrison fan. The paranormal world in this book has the same positive qualities of the Rachel Morgan series. It was not my favorite paranormal book, but I liked it enough to buy Book 2. It's definitely worth a try. Customer Rating: Summary: Just enough to whet my appetite Comment: I absolutely enjoy stories about vampires, werewolves and supernatural creatures. I was a huge fan of Laurell K Hamilton's Anita Blake until the author decided to give her a sex life; indeed, a very active one which has made Anita under the mercy of her raging hormones. I have been looking for something similar to quench my thirst for dark urban fantasy. While Patricia Briggs is a new author for me, I decided to give this series a whirl after reading the great reviews. I am certainly glad that I did.
Mercedes Thompson is the heroine and narrator of the series. To the unknowing, she is simply a law-abiding citizen who operates her own garage. But to the preternatural community, she is what they call a Walker, a coyote with shapeshifting powers and uncanny sense of magic. Thus, she immediately recognizes the young werewolf that approaches her for work. Although it isn't wise to be around an untrained werewolf, Mercy senses his extreme anxiety and offers him a job. It doesn't take long before danger comes to her doorstep as Mac's background is revealed. And Mercy knows that she must enlist the help of her sexy neighbour who also happens to be the local Alpha. But shortly after Adam welcomes Mac to his pack, he is attacked by those who hunt Mac and left badly injured. Mercy has no choice but to take him to her adopted clan in Montana where the Marrok, the leader of all North American werewolves, lives. Not only do we get to meet other key players in the series, but we also learn about Mercy's childhood and her failed relationship with Samuel.
The plot gets complicated as Briggs brings in a whole heap of characters, vampires and werewolves alike, who all have an interest in solving this mayhem that has terrorized the werewolves of the Tri-Cities. I believe that this is where the author particularly excelled in, for instead of sending my head spinning, I was actually intrigued by these characters that hold promise for future stories. The characterization is good and the plot flowed smoothly ensuring a fast-paced and action-packed read. Mercy is a very likeable and believable heroine who comes across as modest, vulnerable and endearingly stubborn. I look forward to reading more about her world and the creatures that she shares it with. Customer Rating: Summary: I really liked it! Comment: I'm not usually into Fantasy, but was looking for books, and saw a lot in this category, and decided to try this one. As I started reading, I wasn't sure in the first 20 or so pages if I would like it (I usually read SF more than fantasy), but then I was hooked. I couldn't put it down, and ordered the next two books in the series. Customer Rating: Summary: Good entertaining book... Comment: So I always check a rating before buying or reading a book. You are always going to have those one or two people that really dislike books that get great reviews and then whine that they bought the book because of their reviews. So I always make a point to read those reviews AFTER I have read the book to ensure that I am able to form my own opinion about the writing. In this particular case, I really enjoyed this book. There was quite a bit of filler in the book that others felt unnecessary, but I feel that some filler is needed to ensure that the character and her habits are developed to give us a better sense of the character. I feel this book does well and doesn't go overboard. I personally feel that sometimes by putting in these mundane activities, it allows us to have a break from the action and helps humanize the character a bit. She can't be off fighting all of the time. Everyone needs to sleep and eat sometimes. If these things were omitted, someone would complain that the character was unbelievable because she never slept, or took a crap, or whatever people complain about.
Anyway, I personally enjoyed the book thoroughly. I read it all in one sitting. I will defiantly be purchasing the next books in the series as well. I really enjoyed the writing of this book. In most dark fantasy novels, the heroine is always making mistakes and bad choices - Mercy definitely has good instinct and she follows them. This is the first werewolf/shape shifter book that I have read. I really enjoyed the concept and I enjoyed that the heroine was a little more rough, harsh, and not overly girly. This is a character that I can see actually holding her own. I also enjoyed how the character didn't do anything super human - she has a good self-defense base, but overall didn't do anything unrealistic (she didn't get captured and fight a room full of men that obviously had her out-muscled, beat them all to a pulp, and walk away unscathed).
So, my verdict is - if you are looking for the next great American classic, look elsewhere. BUT if you want something entertaining to allow you to have an escape from reality for a few hours and like this genre this book may be for you.

domain: literature


As the XR industry continues to develop ways to accelerate consumer and enterprise adoption, it’s all about gaining knowledge and network. And the timing is right to examine product and business models, given VR’s early phases.
With that backdrop, VRX 2019 is coming to San Francisco in December to examine XR’s commercial impact. To do that, it has assembled A-list speakers from HTC to Exxon Mobile to Paramount — a roster that represents both supply and demand sides of the XR equation.
AR Insider has partnered with VRX, which means a $100 discount for Artillery PRO subscribers. Contact us to find out more. Meanwhile, you can see more about speakers here, the conference agenda here, register here and more details from the conference organizers is below.
Disclosure: As a media outlet, AR Insider frequently partners with industry events, which involves cross promotion (terms are here). No money changes hands for editorial coverage (past examples) such as this post. Disclosure and ethics policy can be seen here.


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Separate names with a comma.
Discussion in 'GBAtemp & Scene News' started by JPH, Mar 27, 2008.
Finally! The first real amazing sports game with innovative support for the wiimote!
Are there any reviews out for this yet? I saw the commercial in the UK with Michael Owen and Iain Wright, looks like a lot of fun
**Edit 8.6 on IGN? Seem's like it's pretty good!
is a multi6 release, the game support portuguese
Downloaded it last night, so I'm going to try it after my work
Played the series since PES3, so I'm hoping to get surprised in a nice new gameplay way
Seeing how its the european PAL release i bet it works on pal
cant wait to play this game later today.
Lots of the gameplay has improved ever since i played iss pro back on the psx, and the wii has taken the gameplay to a whole new level apparently
480p? hope so..
Hehe. Just poking fun at the newbs that heckle about it, rather than waiting for confirmation patiently.
Cool, now if it only would work on my NTSC Wii, I could play it in Italian !
Forza ITALIA !
Yeah... Most of us would have to import a TV set, as 50hz support in models sold here is virtually unheard of.
Is this the place where i can thank god for this incredible innovative/ next gen release!
Well,.. thanks anyways!
I always believed in you!
Only defending feels a bit out of control, but i know thats tricky to balance such things, next release should make defending 2 times as easy as offending imo,.
an enjoyable game of soccer ... all systems considered over the last 25 years.
Haven't had this much fun since International Soccer on the C64, which was fun for completely different reasons.
International Soccer (1983) for those of you who missed those wonderful years ...
just came on the site to check if this has been released
will be downloading today for definate
Well im old enough to remember Match Day on the mighty ZX Spectrum....*I still play it every now and then with ZXDS bwd )
Burning it right now, I so hope it works on my system !
match day 2 was great, with the power bar for that made it easy to do back passes. But then a few years later I was spending whole summer's playing Sensible Soccer tournements with friends. Looking forward to trying this...
tjis game is hot.. been playing for about 2hrs and it gets you very involved.kept losing track of my cursor while getting carried away but its brilliant
agreed, this game is amazing, admittedly i have always been a fifa man all my life but this game is a whole new experience altogether. if you are having a hard time getting used to the control, perservere, do all the tutorials. i have been playing champions road all day, and i assumed i was nearly finished, boy was i wrong, i still have loads to do, and i cant wait. if only they had the real names, would be the perfect game
I've played this game a couple of time in the past 2 days. I don't know, controls are very weird.
I don't like the fact that there are all those arrows and signs on the pitch.
I'd like to have (every game!) gamecube controller support!
btw - is there a save game with already edited players/teams?
i thought the same thing but the more you play the more you get used to it and realise how great and accurate the new controls work.
i was annoyed with the defending, but then i worked out how to do it properly.
There are some moves that are taught later in the game that may increase your enjoyment: drag defending helps a lot (drag player back with A to block player and then hold Z to tackle), sliding tackles are done by holding Z and shaking the nunchuk, chip the keeper by up flicking the wiimote when the keeper rushes you. offside trap - flick wiimote towards the opposing goal. one-two passing: drag with A, hold then release B
similar question to raylene, has anyone seen a ppf to an edited player/team roster


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I have often referred to this in my training courses and people generally nod their heads in agreement. Today I would like to question the idea of the ‘thought leader’ and ask if it has an influence on our thoughts?
Lets look at the process of becoming a ‘thought leader’, firstly get enough knowledge, the process can be likened to becoming an expert which is generally considered that 10000 hours of practice will provide enough understanding. What is important however is that you never become a guru but rather a catalyst for further discussion and learning. A catalyst is the person who stimulates the conversation and once the conversation has started, then only moderates if need be.
When we are able to ask effective questions of ourselves and others, we are on the road to becoming a thought leader. Thought leadership involves taking ideas – normally conventional ones and challenging them in unconventional ways so that we achieve different and extraordinary ideas. Collaboration between like minded thought leaders often results in innovation.
We need more thought leaders, we need ‘thought leaders’ that are experts, but we also need the ChangeMakers that regardless of how much they know are willing to challenge the norms and ask the questions that become catalysts in getting ‘thought leaders’ that have not yet emerged to become in involved in the conversations.
In short the conversations are happening with or without you, but it would be so much better when influential thought leaders from the fields respective to the conversations are involved.
This is your invitation to get involved.
Image courtesy of thaikrit at FreeDigitalPhotos.net


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On first read, I was a bit sad to read how Omega has managed to streamline and automate so many of its manufacturing tasks. Even oiling can now be performed by a machine–gasp! Final assembly is still done by hand, by a handful of dedicated watchmakers in Switzerland.
What this article hints at, but largely misses, is the larger change taking place in the Swiss watch industry as the Swatch Group has decided to phase out selling ebauches through its ETA subsidiary. For many years, ETAs Valjoux 7750 movement, for example, has powered the insides of many high end brand’s chronographs. Breitling, for example, has stepped up their game and now produces at least one of their chronograph movements in house. Girard-Perregaux has done the same.
Words cannot emphasize how monumental this change will be for the industry. It’s an exciting time, however. As each manufacturer brings design and production back in house, it will usher in an era of unprecedented creativity and technological advances to the venerable mechanical wristwatch. We’re on the cusp of that now. It will be exciting to see this develop over the rest of the decade. It also raises a whole host of after sales servicing and parts availability concerns that the industry has been largely unwilling to fully address. As thing stand now, when these new in house movements need servicing 10, 20, or 30 years down the road, you won’t be able to take them to your neighborhood watchmaker for a Clean, Oil, Adjust. Rather, you’ll be tied to the manufacturer’s authorized serviced centers with their inflated rates and inflexible policies. More on this topic another day.


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Brookdale Senior Living: 52-Week High Recently Eclipsed (BKD)
Shares of Brookdale Senior Living (NYSE:BKD) traded today at $33.69, breaking its 52-week high. So far today approximately 1.7 million shares have been exchanged, as compared to an average 30-day volume of 1.8 million shares.
Brookdale Senior Living (NYSE:BKD) has potential upside of 8.3% based on a current price of $33.36 and analysts' consensus price target of $36.12. The stock should discover initial support at its 50-day moving average (MA) of $28.30 and subsequent support at its 200-day MA of $27.81.
In the past 52 weeks, Brookdale Senior Living share prices have been bracketed by a low of $24.42 and a high of $33.69 and are now at $33.36, 37% above that low price. The 200-day and 50-day moving averages have moved 0.23% higher and 1.44% higher over the past week, respectively.
Brookdale Senior Living Inc. operates senior living facilities in the United States. The Company offers its residents access to a full continuum of services across all sectors of the senior living industry. Brookdale Senior operates independent living facilities, assisted living facilities, continuing care retirement communities, and a skilled nursing facility.
SmarTrend recommended that subscribers consider buying shares of Brookdale Senior Living on February 6th, 2014 as our proprietary SmarTrend analytics indicated a new Uptrend was in progress when shares hit $28.79. Since that recommendation, shares of Brookdale Senior Living have risen 14.0%. We continue to monitor BKD for any potential shift so investors can protect gains and will alert SmarTrend subscribers immediately.
Keywords: 52 week high/lows brookdale senior living

domain: finance


This is the period of the whole lot digital. A easy search can deliver loads of details about brands, merchandise, and every little thing inside seconds. So, as an Search engine optimization agency, it’s crucial that you identify a robust on-line presence for your clients. To improve their visibility in the SERPs and to drive extra sales, they need to get help from Web optimization software for https://gusevlife.com/ companies. Nevertheless, the world of Search engine marketing gives a variety of solutions however the important thing point here is to seek out the most fitted one for you. So, now it’s time to explore the best Website positioning tools for companies.
It is a multipurpose, yet easy, analytics instrument. It really works on a number of totally different social networks, so there’s lots of value in it overall. Use their analytics to grow your channel by discovering potential viewers, getting a better rank on your videos, and more. In case you have a enterprise, then you can too use the tool to find influencers for advertising purposes.
Hootsuite is a favored choice among businesses, creators, and entrepreneurs because it supplies various priceless options. For YouTube, users can monitor their site visitors, analyze their analytics, promote their content material, and get actual-time notifications and recommendations. To make sure you learn the way to make use of this software, Hootsuite has a variety of online resources.


They Must be Crazy
They Must Be Crazy is a new Afrobeat band based in Lisbon. The project is formed by Portuguese and Angolan musicians. With a powerful section of woodwinds, and a rhythm section that sounds like one, they can create a groove with their own personality. Finally, the Angolan singer, the voice of the family, with his infinite energy is able to leave any audience crazy with euphoria, dancing to the sound of this Celebration!
The influences are clear. His music ranges from AFROBEAT to AFRO-FUNK, also traveling through WEST-AFRICAN, and the genre started by FELA KUTI as a guide for his compositions.


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Lane's Transfer, Inc./ Lanes Transportation, LLC
With over 40 years in the trucking business, the staff of Lane’s Transportation is not just about moving freight. We’re here for our customers. Doing our part to ensure professional transportation of their products, no matter how large or small and no matter the distance. Lanes Transportation Services, LLC is proud to be a woman-owned Freight Brokerage.
Lane’s Transportation offers cost-effective solutions for all your transportation needs. Whether your shipment is regional or needs to travel anywhere in the lower 48 states of the U.S., into Canada or Mexico we will work to find you the most efficient, cost-effective and safe way to move your products so they arrive on-time and on budget.

domain: geography


Seven Reasons Why Mobile Connectivity Is Crucial for Inspectors and Officers in the Field
Public works staff in the field can do their job better by taking advantage of mobile technology. Remote access to permitting and code enforcement software and other digital workflows allows your team to work more efficiently and accurately. And when your team performs better, your residents and staff are happier and can enjoy the community to the fullest.
Here is why you should give your in-field staff mobile access.
1. Access important information in real time
No matter their location, your team can access permitting and code enforcement software and other digital workflows to make more informed decisions and take action quicker, which can help to improve overall efficiency and effectiveness.
2. Improved collaboration with colleagues in the office
With the ability to access digital records from anywhere, field staff can easily communicate with their colleagues, share information, and receive real-time updates, helping prevent miscommunication and misunderstandings while improving the overall quality of work.
3. Ability to immediately input data
Mobile connectivity allows field staff to collect and input data quickly and accurately. By using mobile devices to collect data on-site, staff can avoid errors and reduce the risk of data entry mistakes, avoiding costly delays and mistakes.
4. Improves safety
Field staff can quickly and easily identify potential hazards, track their progress in real time, and receive updates and alerts as needed, helping identify potential dangers and take appropriate action to protect themselves and others.
5. Save time
Digital workflows with mobile access can help automate many processes, such as data entry and reporting, which can help to free up staff time for more critical tasks. Plus, back-and-forth trips to the office are reduced, maximizing productivity.
6. Seamless Connectivity to Other Applications in the Field
Going digital with mobile optimization allows staff in the field to connect to additional applications like codification and citizen relationship management for optimal productivity and end-to-end project management.
7. 24/7 Resident Access
Code Enforcement, Permitting, and Licensing software optimized for mobile provides a central hub where residents and businesses can access municipal licenses and permitting services 24/7 from any mobile device, helping foster civic trust and satisfaction — all without visiting a local government office.
Click here for more information on deploying mobile technology for Code Enforcement, Permitting, and Licensing.


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5 edition of The Call of Africa found in the catalog.
August 2, 2005
by Outskirts Press, Inc
Written in English
|The Physical Object|
|Number of Pages||60|
Presenting a completely Free African Birds Sounds compilation app with high quality sounds and songs of birds found in Africa! Featuring the African Emerald Cuckoo,Black, White Casqued Hornbill, Black Throated Apalis Yellow Longbill and many more birds! Bird Sounds can be played by tapping on a bird picture. All sounds can be saved as Ringtones, Notifications and Alarms by long pressing on a. The call of Africa episode 3 The call of Africa Episode One: Africa is calling Episode Two: Gateway to Africa Episode Three: First impressions Episode Four.
12 hours ago Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole has thus seen no significant changes to the overall level of democracy, economic management and governance. For . The call of africa safaris added 30 new photos to the album: Liuwa Plains in Western Zambia. J A fantastic experience with lovely friendly people, safe environment and hot water showers (new).
The Call of Africa The Call of Africa. Arrived at Heathrow and met our tour guide Angie Carpenter who handed out our itinerary for the Zimbabwe leg our our tour. The International Bulletin of Mission Research recently published its ten outstanding books in Call for Papers: Broadening Themes and Methodologies in Research and Writing of History and Christian Mission Theologies. This is a “Call for Papers” on behalf of the journal RELIGIONS, New Book: Handbook of African Social Ethics.
The Bible in Africa
Rome, the Caesar and the pontiff
Memorial of the House of Representatives and Legislative Council of the territory of Orleans in behalf of the inhabitants thereof
Green from the ground up
DODs payment of defense contractors public relations expenses is costing millions of dollars
Home life in Holland
Government and the governed
Sea road to Mull.
Detente: the Soviet viewpoint; East-West relations after Helsinki.
A Workshop on information technologies and personal privacy in Canada.
Africa The Wake-up Call is a book about the “hunters” and the “hunted.” The hunters are Africa’s exploiters, slavers, colonizers, and neo-colonizers, and the hunted are the African people who survived against severe odds.
In this book former African Union Ambassador to the United States Her Excellency, Ambassador Arikana. The Call of Zulina by Kay Marshall Strom is book one of the Grace in Africa series. Living in Africa inGrace Winslow has been raised with all of the finer things in life; education, beautiful clothing, and a luxurious home, but she's lacking the one thing that matters most: freedom/5.
Strom, evangelical Christian author of 34 books and an activist against modern slavery, takes an indirect approach to calling attention to that issue with her newest fiction title, the first of three planned in the Grace in Africa series, set in West Africa in /5(48). The Call of Africa (Spanish: La llamada de África) is a Spanish war film directed by César Fernández Ardavín and starring Irma Torres, Ángel Picazo and Gérard Tichy.
It is set in in Spanish agents operating out of Vichy-controlled Mauritania attempt to sabotage a strategic Spanish Spanish and their native Moroccan allies are able to thwart by: Jesús García Leoz. Artist - The call of Africa (Full Documentary) by New Atlantis Full Documentaries.
Algo más que un juego (Parte 1/5) by New Atlantis Full Documentaries. A senior Prince from the areas in West Africa, where many of the slaves came from, wrote a book.
Our people in the Americans wanted information about their identity. This book has the answers. The Bible is the Black Man's History book is all about providing irrefutable evidence that no one can dispute. It addresses the void in black history. Out of Africa is a memoir by the Danish author Karen book, first published inrecounts events of the seventeen years when Blixen made her home in Kenya, then called British East book is a lyrical meditation on Blixen's life on her coffee plantation, as well as a tribute to some of the people who touched her life there.
Call for proposals for a collective book on COVID in West Africa. Aug Challenges and prospects of the COVID pandemic in West Africa: contribution of the humanities and social sciences.
The Coronavirus disease (COVID) pandemic will undoubtedly remain one of the historic global crises that has raised both health and. Book One, Kamante and Lulu: "The Ngong Farm" and "A Native Child" Book One, Kamante and Lulu: From "The Savage in the Immigrant's House" to "A Gazelle" Book Two, A Shooting Accident on the Farm: "The Shooting Accident" to "Riding in the Reserve" Book Two, A Shooting Accident on the Farm: From "Wamai" to "A Kikuyu Chief".
Along with publishing a first book by an emerging new African poet each year, the Africa Book Fund has also committed to publishing a collected edition of “a major living African poet” each year, and this year it is Gabriel Okara, the only person who could ever be called both “the elder statesman of Nigerian literature and the first.
the Medieval Civilisations of Africa, Africa Traditional Economies, Spread of Christianity and Islam in Africa, African Reaction to Colonial Rule, the Rise of Nationalism, Decolonisation of Africa, Wars of Liberation in Africa and finally The Independent Africa. The book is appropriately referenced with Bibliography and Index.
About Call of Africa. Call of Africa is a spacious guest house located in a private game reserve, immersed in the African bush. We offer accommodation for eight or more guests in four bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms, air-conditioning and mosquito nets.
It is taken from the sample pages of the African history book: "The Call to The Hebrews." End of Section sample page. Continue. MORE PAGES. End of Section sample page. Do you wanna see images of the Bible authors.
The black history book you are reading provides heaps of. Call of the African Fish Eagle - Sony DEV5 - Filmed by Greg Morgan - Zandvlei Cape Town - 17/6/ The book presents one by one the different groups of Black Jews from western central, eastern, and southern Africa, and the ways in which they have used and imagined their oral history and traditional customs to construct a distinct Jewish identity.
The purpose of the book is to review the processes and immensely complex interactions which. The Call of Bilal is a penetrating account of the rich diversity of Islamic religious practice among Africana Muslims worldwide.
Covering North Africa and the Middle East, India and Pakistan, Europe, and the Americas, Edward E. Curtis IV reveals a fascinating range of religious activities--from the observance of the five pillars of Islam and.
The Call of the Mild and his first book Of Moose and Men are two of the best books I have read in the past ten years. This book helped me grow in my faith in a deeper way.
I really am going to have a hard time waiting for Torry to write his next book. Read more. 3 people found this s: Out of Africa tells the story of a farm that the narrator once had in Africa. The farm is located at the foot of the Ngong hills outside of Nairobi, in what is now Kenya.
It sits at an altitude of six thousand feet. Experience an African safari with Call of Africa We provide unique safari experiences throughout Africa for every budget. With over 35 years in the safari business, we provide reliable, affordable and safe safaris lead by experienced guides. Based in Cape Town, we have specialist local knowledge of all the premier safari destinations in Africa.
These stories are adapted from a forthcoming book, The Call of Africa which hope to inspire and open the eyes for anybody thatâs ever wondered what its like to be a young white girl living and breathing this magical continent in the aim of making a difference. Sal Bolton is a professional actress and attended the CWF Studio Film Academy, London.
Search the world's most comprehensive index of full-text books. My library. The Call of the Wild, Jack London's Klondike Gold Rush-set adventure, New Zealand, and South Africa—banned the book for being obscene.
Canada did .It’s about African fairy-like creatures (called Kuzoolies) who travel the world with the help of a magical app to help the children of the world with their everyday problems – bullying, making friends, monsters, anything!
The book is in black and white, but color versions of some of the illustrations from books 1 and 2 are shown below.


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My students need access to books, specifically these 17 new titles including "Wonderstruck" and "My Brother Sam Is Dead", to maximize reading success.
I became addicted to books at a very early age. I want my students to have that same love of books. However, financial limitations in our community have restricted many students access to books.
We live in a beautiful area of Arkansas-lakes, rivers and mountains surround us.
Unfortunately, our beautiful area is plagued by poverty. Poverty brings with it many negative effects in a child's life: lack of food, abuse, drug abuse, and illiteracy in the parents. Through all of these situations the students are still eager to learn; they want to broaden their world knowledge. Many of them use reading as an escape from their home life.
The books I have chosen will give students to read new titles by excellent authors. They will have quick access to these books in our classroom library. Having multiple copies of these books will allow us to engage the students in literature circles. Lit circles give students an opportunity to analyze and discuss a book in a peer group and help them build educational relationships.
Many of our students have very little at home and because our district is poor, as well, they sometimes get the "short end of the stick" in supplies at school.
By building a classroom library rich in titles I aim to change that. I hope to open doors for students through reading that they never thought possible.
Expand the "Where your donation goes" section below to see exactly what Mrs. Gilley is requesting.See our finances
|Chomp • AKJ Books||$12.57||4||$50.28|
|Close to Famous • AKJ Books||$5.17||2||$10.34|
|Dark Life • AKJ Books||$5.17||1||$5.17|
|Dead End in Norvelt • AKJ Books||$11.83||4||$47.32|
|Drawing from Memory • AKJ Books||$13.31||1||$13.31|
|The Elephant Scientist • AKJ Books||$13.31||1||$13.31|
|Flesh and Blood So Cheap • AKJ Books||$14.79||2||$29.58|
|Flyaway • AKJ Books||$12.57||1||$12.57|
|Glory Be • AKJ Books||$12.57||4||$50.28|
|How to Survive Anything • AKJ Books||$9.58||1||$9.58|
|Inside Out & Back Again • AKJ Books||$12.57||1||$12.57|
|May B. • AKJ Books||$11.83||1||$11.83|
|The Mighty Miss Malone • AKJ Books||$11.83||1||$11.83|
|George Vs. George • AKJ Books||$12.54||1||$12.54|
|Wheels of Change • AKJ Books||$14.02||1||$14.02|
|Wonderstruck • AKJ Books||$22.19||1||$22.19|
|My Brother Sam Is Dead (Trade) • AKJ Books||$5.17||2||$10.34|
Our team works hard to negotiate the best pricing and selections available.View complete list Show less


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The great issue of this time, one that requires our urgent attention and complete resolve is wisely responding to this insistence on the part of some individuals to decree, dictate or deprive large numbers of people of their right to choose what they wish to believe, practice, and value when it comes to living their life in a manner that provides them with meaning, purpose, and security.
This propensity by some to coerce, deceive, ignore, suppress and even kill others because they might view the world differently is and has always been a most terrible injustice between equals no matter the geographic region, race or religion. It is unquestionably, disordering to the larger society and blatantly dishonoring to people of all faiths everywhere.
Each of the major religious traditions has at one time or another throughout world history been guilty of committing offenses: Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jew, Muslim, and others.
If abuse, hatred, violence, and at the furthest extreme murder is able to be rationalized, justified, and sanctioned under the guise of religion then clearly that which was once thought to be divine is no longer present in the heart, mind, and soul of its representative and thus it may be said, that person has moved as far away as possible from the notion of what is honest and true.
What can and should be done in response to this forbidding barbarism in my estimation is “to slay the dragon”. To accomplish this will require the formation of an Army of Saints from all religious and non-religious traditions to defeat this “Mad Dog” that has become poisoned by its own self-importance and ill-regard for the ‘sanctity of spirituality’.
The notion that one is simply not a good enough Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jew or Muslim unless one does as another says or has been taught to do is an archaic holdover from time periods in which fear and repression ruled the day or people were landlocked and likely to be hugely apprehensive of strangers, disinterested in having dialogue with others, or possibly unwilling to invite new discovery and information into the realm of possibility. This by choice is not the world that the majority favors living in.
Today, it is much easier for us to be made known to each other yet with the possibility of never actually meeting face-to face. I have learned to delight equally over our sameness as well as our differences. These are a few of the wonderful human treasures that will continue to propel our collective consciousness and serve to reinforce our interconnectedness as we move forward into an ever-expanding future.
It seems unthinkable to me for us to reverse this trend without inviting a repeat of the same societal mistakes of the past. I am fully aware that my freedom can never be guaranteed that is until all others are afforded the same and in equal measure.


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A survey of over 8,000 commuters in 20 cities across 6 continents yields an alarming result. By and large, commuters in emerging economies face traffic conditions that are far worse than those who live in the U.S. and Europe.
Sep 10, 2011 The Infrastructurist
Taking full advantage of residential density in Norway's capital, director André Chocron turns Cold Mailman's hit single "Time is the Essence" into a fantastic audiovisual experience.
Sep 10, 2011 ArchDaily
For better or worse, cities mimic each other, making replicas of great landmarks down to unique light fixtures. The Infrastructurist selects top 5 cities that do the job well. Not surprisingly, Shanghai earns the title as the hallmark of knock-offs.
Sep 9, 2011 The Infrastructurist
Cargohopper is a transportation system in Utrecht, the fourth largest Dutch city, that aims to replace freight trucks entering the city core. Electric trucks powered by solar panels take cargo from freight trucks to retailers in the city.
Sep 7, 2011 Treehugger
Beckholmen, an island off Stockholm, has been an industrial and shipping center since the 1600s. Today, the city is looking at ways to revitalize the island while preserving the industry that has dominated it for so long.
Sep 7, 2011 POLIS
After complaints about blocking the sidewalk and creating litter, the City of Istanbul has been cracking down on street dining, gutting the food industry in the process.
Sep 6, 2011 The Guardian U.K.
With high scores in five broad categories, Melbourne, Australia received the highest spot in livability rankings from The Economist's research unit.
Sep 2, 2011 TheCityFix.com
Google Maps searches include a pinpoint of what the search engine has determined are the centers of cities. One artist has built sculptures of those pinpoints in their real-life locations.
Aug 31, 2011 Architizer
In Frankfurt's main shopping district, the Zeilgalerie shopping mall brightens up the night with thousands of programmable LEDs built into its new facade.
Aug 28, 2011 The Architect's Newspaper
Plans are moving ahead to convert Berlin's Tempelhof airfield into the city's newest park.
Aug 25, 2011 The Wall Street Journal


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Next week, Strong Towns founder and president Chuck Marohn will be in Akron, Ohio to talk with Akronites about our prescription for bottom-up, incremental change in cities: an approach we call Neighborhoods First.
Our cities and towns are too often seduced by the promise of transformative, silver-bullet investments—but the highest-returning investments we can make in our neighborhoods are often far smaller, far more numerous, and all around us. By observing how neighbors live their lives, by asking them where their daily struggles are, by getting out on the street and discovering what is actually going on, any local government can discern what the community’s pressing needs are.
A portfolio of incremental projects, each building on observed needs and past successes, is the basis of a solid, long term investment strategy for communities of any size. It is an approach that fits into every budget. And most importantly, you can get started right now.
At 7 p.m. on Monday the 29th, Chuck will give the Neighborhoods First presentation at the Rialto Theatre on Kenmore Boulevard. There will be time for Q&A after the presentation, which is free and open to the public.
The next morning, there will be a follow-up walking tour of the Kenmore neighborhood. This is a chance to take the insights from Monday's talk and look at how to put them into action in Akron, observing places that could benefit from "small bet" investments.
Walking tour participants can meet at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday the 30th, at the office of the Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance (located inside Freedom Tax Service) at 1014 Kenmore Blvd.
If you're in Akron, we hope you come out to meet with us and talk with us. This is really about you. It's about identifying and celebrating the kind of bottom-up work that can really help places like Akron grow stronger.
A Rebounding City is the Perfect Place to Put Neighborhoods First
Akron earned the moniker "Rubber City" because of its flagship industry, epitomized by companies like Goodyear. But the name is also a perfect reflection of the promise to bounce back from hard times. And Akron's recent history has given it an advantage that might look at first glance like a disadvantage: the city doesn't have a lot of excess resources to burn.
A city whose coffers are overflowing can dump money into Orderly but Dumb projects without carefully examining the underlying approach or assumptions, or attempting to measure the ensuring return on investment. (Which is not to say they should, of course—it’s still pretty dumb—but they can, at least for a while, spend without really thinking about the future.)
A city strapped for resources, on the other hand, has to be Chaotic but Smart, letting pressing public needs guide incremental investments, and constantly reassessing where the biggest bang for the buck is.
A city that is gaining population can go full-bore into the Growth Ponzi Scheme: it can neglect existing neighborhoods while directing new growth to a spread-out, horizontal development pattern. Again, this isn’t particularly smart, but but it is seductive for many cities, as the "shiny and new" growth produces a short-term infusion of cash, while saddling the public with enormous long-term infrastructure liabilities. Akron has its own checkered history with Ponzi-esque growth, but that model is increasingly understood to define the city's past and not its future.
A city that is losing population and has a surfeit of vacant homes does not have that option anymore. Akron's existing neighborhoods are where it needs to turn its attention.
Akron can't dump money on its problems. Akron has to be resourceful. Akron has to be scrappy. Akron has to leverage citizens' passion as the starting point for change, and use public resources as the force multiplier.
Here's some good news: this is how you build a strong town for the long haul.
Here's some better news: a lot of great stuff is already happening in Akron. And we applaud it.
Here are just two brief examples of the Strong Towns approach in action in Akron:
1. Making Kenmore Boulevard More People-Friendly
In the summer of 2017, a group of residents took some chalk and flimsy lawn furniture and arranged it along three blocks of Kenmore Boulevard. They strung a few lights around an empty stretch of grass and stuck some bikes on the sidewalk. They left all of this around for a few days, then took it down. They hosted a few musical performances and invited residents to make a mural—which was cute—but the whole thing was exceedingly temporary…. Or was it?
The premise of the work done by Better Block, the organization brought in to execute this demonstration, is to show people what's possible when you prioritize human activity on a neighborhood street over the fast movement of traffic. A temporary, low-cost experiment can create the momentum for permanent change... and that's exactly what has happened in Kenmore. Fast forward to September 2018, when the City of Akron completed a "road diet" that has made Kenmore Boulevard safer for both drivers and pedestrians, and a more hospitable environment for the continued growth of the city's most vibrant commercial district outside of downtown.
2. Building Community in Middlebury
In Akron's Middlebury neighborhood, the fledgling community development organization The Well has taken over and renovated the former First Presbyterian Church building into a home for its own offices, several other nonprofits, and community event space with a shared-use kitchen. In the summer of 2018, a lot behind The Well's building became the setting for Middlebury Wednesdays, where food trucks, live music, and the Hapi Fresh Farmer’s Market brought the community together.
This kind of effort doesn't directly create jobs or put people in vacant houses, but it's a hugely important part of the work of putting neighborhoods first, because it fosters the kind of shared commitment to a community that can break the cycle of neighborhood decline. The Well's Zac Kohl hopes that Middlebury can follow the example of Oswego, New York, where the revitalization of a struggling neighborhood is underway, thanks to a critical mass of neighbors who have committed to renovating a critical mass of houses.
You can check out the rest of our Akron coverage for more examples of how the city is benefitting from an incremental, strategic, bottom-up approach to building on its existing assets.
And if you're local to Akron, we hope to see you at the Rialto on the 29th!
(Cover photo: Stephanie Leonardi via AkronStock)


NASHIK: Hundreds of tribals from Nashik marched to the offices of the tribal development commissioner and the district collector on Tuesday demanding forest land rights
The labourers and the tribals, whose claims under Forest Rights Act
(FRA) were rejected, demanded that the land claims be settled at the earliest and through easier means of identifying the tribals and the labourers. The tribals had gathered under the banner of the Satyashodhak Gramin Kashtakari Sabha
The tribals were asked to produce several documents including birth and caste certificates to authenticate their claims. The tribals have never prepared any kind of records for their lands. "There is no chance that they will be able to submit such documents. The applications which have already been submitted have not been decided upon for over a year," Karansing Kokani, who was leading the morcha, said.
The sabha presented a memorandum to resident district deputy collector Jitendra Kakusthe and discussed the issues. Kakusthe has assured to look into the matter.


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How do you feel about KardiaChain today?
Vote to see community results
KardiaChain price today is $0.021890 USD with a 24-hour trading volume of $3,245,044 USD. KardiaChain is down 4.36% in the last 24 hours. The current CoinMarketCap ranking is #288, with a market cap of $44,869,450 USD. It has a circulating supply of 2,049,800,000 KAI coins and a max. supply of 5,000,000,000 KAI coins.
Kardiachain is a public blockchain platform focused on Interoperability and providing hybrid blockchain solution/infrastructure for enterprises and governments in Vietnam and other countries in South & East Asia.
We are working with major services providers (enterprises and government) to decentralise their existing solutions. Our approach helps KardiaChain reach millions of users without the immense cost of educating the market.
Our Dual Node technology allows cross-chain communications between any public and/or private blockchain regardless of protocol. This provides easy-to-adopt solutions for institutional clients.
|24h Low / 24h High|
|Market Dominance||No Data|
|Fully Diluted Market Cap||$109,448,360.46|
|Yesterday's Low / High|
|Yesterday's Open / Close|
|7d Low / 7d High|
|30d Low / 30d High|
|90d Low / 90d High|
|52 Week Low / 52 Week High|
All Time High
Aug 18, 2020 (5 months ago)
All Time Low
May 11, 2020 (8 months ago)
|Circulating Supply||2,049,800,000 KAI|
|Total Supply||5,000,000,000 KAI|
|Max Supply||5,000,000,000 KAI|


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Learn details on getting started with Node.js. This guide will get you set up, and help you access the modules you'll need to do real things. It also covers parsing, asynchronous callbacks, and creating a basic HTTP server. Get started with Node!
Explore this interactive guide to managing the biggest problem in IT -- the rampant growth of enterpise data. Click through to access comprehensive content produced by InfoWorld editors and contributors on crafting a flexible primary storage tier, modernizing backup infrastructure, improving log file analysis, and more.


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IN JANUARY, Star Cruises — a Hong Kong-based cruise line under the Genting Hong Kong umbrella — announced that its flagship, the Superstar Virgo, was to use Manila as its home port from March to May.
This was a very welcome development for a country whose tourism industry is playing catch-up with its neighbors and it was the first time in recent memory that such a well-known cruise line has set its sights on the Philippines as a homeport.
For three months, the line’s 18-year-old flagship would be shuttling Filipinos and international passengers from Manila to Laoag, Ilocos Norte to Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and Hong Kong before returning to Manila.
But while this is the kind of break that the country needs — it welcomed close to six million international visitors last year compared with Indonesia’s 12 million international visitors and Malaysia’s estimated 27 million international visitors — it was a fact that the ports are not yet ready to handle a cruise ship which can regularly handle close to 2,000 tourists and more than a thousand crew members.
“We were pitching Manila as a home port, maybe three years down the line when the infrastructure is ready but Star Cruises was adamant that they would home port in Manila this year,” Maria Corazon G. Jorda-Apo, director IV of the market development group of the Department of Tourism (DoT), told reporters during the inaugural cruise which ran from March 19 to 24.
It was a vote of confidence, she said, that such a large cruise operator was insistent that they use Manila as a home port. It was a sign that the market — if not the infrastructure — is ready for a full-fledged cruise industry.
Star Cruises is the third-largest cruise operator in the world (after Carnival Corp. and the Royal Caribbean Cruises) and certainly the largest in Asia.
THE CURRENT CRUISING INDUSTRY
Last year, the country welcomed 72 port calls. This year the number is expected to reach 117 port calls and with it an estimated 122,000 passengers.
Compared to other Asian ports such as Singapore and Hong Kong, which welcomed 374 and 200 port calls in 2014, the Philippines still has a lot of catching up to do. The DoT is banking on improving the industry as it is one of the nine product portfolios identified in the DoT’s National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP) 2016-2022 which aims to “enhance the competitiveness of the country as a tourist destination in the Asia Pacific region,” according to a press release.
Other portfolios are nature-based; cultural, sun and beach; MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions); leisure and entertainment; diving and marine sports; health, wellness and retirement; and, educational tourism.
“As a key element of our strategy, we are determined to build new dedicated cruise facilities, most especially in Manila. A superior cruise port and terminal in the capital, with its extensive airlift and ground facilities, will create a compelling reason for large ships to spend time in the Philippines,” said Benito C. Bengzon, Jr., undersecretary and heads the Cruise Development Committee for the Philippines in the press release.
In March, Mr. Bengzon, Jr. represented the Philippines in signing an agreement with Royal Caribbean Cruises which “will be providing all the necessary technical and financial support towards the building of a purpose-built terminal either in Caticlan or Boracay,” said a press release.
The construction of the terminal is said to “further open Western Visayas to the global cruising market,” specifically the “Turquoise Triangle” — a sea route connecting popular destinations in the area such as Boracay and Puerto Princesa.
“We foresee that by the end of the Duterte administration, we would see the realization of the first dedicated cruise terminal… Our ultimate goal is to be as seamless as possible and to gain competitiveness as a major cruise hub in Asia,” said Ms. Jorda-Apo in a release.
The upgrading of other harbors, piers, and terminals would increase the carrying capacity, making it possible to welcome bigger ships carrying as many as 5,000 passengers, she added.
THE INAUGURAL MANILA CRUISE
Superstar Virgo arrived in Manila on March 19 and will stay until its final voyage on May 23. The route encompasses what the company called “Jewels of the South China Sea”: Manila-Laoag-Kaohsiung-Hong Kong.
BusinessWorld together with a handful of other media were invited to the inaugural voyage and what welcomed all the thousand or so passengers were incredibly long lines the moment they entered Pier 15 of the Manila South Harbor.
It was evident from the get-go that the pier wasn’t equipped to handle crowds such as this, and lines for the baggage drop snaked from the small covered area to the roundabout causing heavy traffic.
It took more than 30 minutes for a bag to be dropped and tagged, and for people to move from baggage to check-in.
The check-in area where passengers get their access cards (which function as a room card and a charge card onboard the cruise ship) and get cleared by immigration officers, was a large air-conditioned tent, but since the crowd was so big, it became unbearably hot and one passenger was reported to have fainted.
Ms. Jorda-Apo said that it was Star Cruises that set up the air-conditioned tent after an ocular inspection revealed that aside from the small — albeit air-conditioned — waiting area, Pier 15 had nothing else to offer.
It took about three hours from baggage drop to boarding.
The ship, which was supposed to leave the port by 6 p.m., left by 6:30 p.m.
It wasn’t a very good start for a cruise, but according to subsequent passengers this reporter talked to, the company apparently made enough adjustments to decrease boarding time to around 30 minutes or so.
The six-day/five-night trip itself was quite uneventful unless one counts the long queues to the complimentary restaurants: the Mediterranean (an all-day dining buffet restaurant), the Genting Palace (a semi-fine dining restaurant which serves Western cuisine), and the Pavillion (a semi-fine dining restaurant serving Chinese cuisine).
Of course there are other dining options onboard if one is willing to pay: Noble House, which serves Chinese cuisine; the fine-dining Palazzo which serves Italian fare; Samurai, which serves Japanese cuisine; the Taverna which is a poolside snack bar; and Taj, which offers Indian cuisine.
On the second night, the media members decided to dine at Samurai because the lines for dinner at the complimentary restaurants were too long, and for about HK$150 we enjoyed a fine Japanese teishoku meal (set meal) which consisted of Wagyu beef cubes, salmon sashimi, and a few pieces of shrimp and vegetable tempura. It was the best dinner we had on the trip, so it was definitely worth it.
It might seem a chore, lining up for food every time, but after a few nights and crowded meal times, it was easy to establish a routine — either take breakfast early at around 7 a.m. or settle for brunch at the Mediterranean.
In fact, the Mediterranean was always the answer if one run out of patience waiting for a table to open at the Genting Palace and Pavillion, and it offered adequate dish options.
Aside from food choices, the 13-storey cruise ship also offers solid entertainment options — some free and some pay-per-view (the adult shows such as Brazilian Bombshells in the Galaxy of the Stars club/bar must be paid for, while the Lido Theatre performances are free).
It should be noted that most singers/musicians are Filipino while the dancers are mostly Caucasians.
For those who are not interested in watching the performances or who would like to enjoy a leisurely cruise, the Library is a good refuge and it also has faster Wi-Fi than most parts of the ship. (Wi-Fi is a paid add-on and a 72-hour connection will set one back HK$255.)
Taking a dip at the pool with its three huge water slides and Jacuzzi is also an option, as is getting a massage or a salon treatment or a bit of retail therapy as the ship has a well-stocked Duty Free center on deck 8.
There’s also a “High Seas Gala Night” where people get to dress in their cocktail finery and dine in style. Do note that reservations in the participating restaurants should ideally be made on the first night of the cruise because seats get taken up fast.
The Gala Night affords passengers upgraded fare and a little performance from the staff — it was fun until you are ushered out of the restaurant because they need to prepare the room for the second batch of diners.
Basically, every creature comfort is on this ship, some for free and some for a sum.
The rooms are, of course, smaller than the usual hotel rooms and it would definitely feel cramped if more than two people share a single room. Balcony rooms, like the one this writer was billeted in, are a bit roomier but would still make two people very close — close enough to be very good friends (if they aren’t already) or hate each other as there’s little wiggle room, especially in the bathroom.
For the most part, the sea was calm though we experienced rough seas on the way to Kaohsiung and then to Hong Kong, therefore it is imperative that one brings enough motion sickness medicine.
The almost 20-year-old ship, while still a beauty, is beginning to show its age — from the worn patches on the carpet to the old bathroom fixtures — but it’s definitely not shabby. Yet.
Once the ship reaches the ports on its route, passengers can opt to explore the destinations on their own or buy an excursion for about HK$300 or so and are able to choose their own itineraries.
Each stopover takes around seven to eight hours.
In Laoag, passengers are taken to the Currimao port via boats (a 20-minute trip) and from there continue on to Laoag and see the Paoay Church (the 300+-year-old Baroque church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and go for a ride on the Paoay dunes.
Or one can continue on for another hour or so to Vigan, Ilocos Sur, another UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a town known for its Spanish Colonial architecture.
At Kaohsiung, an industrial municipality in south Taiwan — which looks like a cross between the Manila’s Chinatown and an earlier version of Makati City (sans a lot of skyscrapers) — one can see the Love River (a 12-kilometer stretch which got its name from a pair of lovers who jumped to their deaths in the 1940s), and the remnants of the Dutch occupation through former forts such as Fort Provintia (now named Chikhan Tower) which was built in 1653 but was destroyed by an earthquake and rebuilt in the 19th century.
Hong Kong, of course, needs no introduction as “Asia’s Global City” is familiar to most Filipinos. It is home to a famous shopping district Tsim Sha Tsui which contains the Harbor City mall complex, the first-ever Peninsula Hotel, and the Avenue of the Stars, modelled after the Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, which pays tribute to famous Hong Kong stars.
In all, it was quite an experience — sleeping in a ship decked out to the nines and waking up in another country — and it wasn’t all that costly either as rates start at $758 per person for a twin sharing room (not including the mandatory $100/night gratuity and visa charges if applicable). One can visit three destinations for less than $1,000 and the package comes with complete full-board meals, entertainment, and lodging.
And even though the Virgo is still in Manila (its last voyage is on May 23), Star Cruises, according to Ms. Jorda-Apo, has been so happy with the reception that they are already planning on coming back in December for a five-month home port stint.
So for people who are still on the fence or weren’t able to book their cruise for the first round, the Virgo is coming back soon.