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It’s been over 2 years since my last brain injury and my life is pretty much at a screeching halt. I sat patiently the first year and thought well I’m just going through the motions and it will get better, well here I am 2 years later and it hasn’t got any better, probably worse. I’m getting really tired of being a prisoner in my own body and mind and I have no escape or relief which is literally eating me alive. I sit here everyday and watch my life pass before my eyes and see everyone having fun and enjoying their summer, camping, swimming and doing all the things I used to love that I am no longer able to do and it’s really depressing me heavily. I’m in pain all day, chronically fatigued, the floor feels like it’s dropping out from under my feet everytime I stand up, my heart goes into arrhythmia or palpatates for no reason and the shittiest part of it all is all the meds they want me to take give me horrible side effects. I finally just got on Medicare for disability and am able to try other forms of treatment but I’m not able to get myself there because I feel so Terrible I can barely leave my house. Everyone in my life has abandoned me or given up on me and I cannot get the help I need anymore to get to the Dr or to these appointments. I really get why people with brain injuries are so suicidal because they feel so hopeless and everyone looks at you like it’s all in your head. Lately feeling like being dead would be much easier but everytime it’s on my mind I either pray really hard, think about my dog or my mom both which are in horrible health and how much they need me or if it gets really bad and this might sound super morbid or fucked up, but I force myself to look on Google at people with gunshot wounds to their heads who failed to kill themselves and it seems to snap me out of it real quick like, do I really want to have that happen to me and have to live like that for the rest of my life? I normally don’t post in any groups or on forums but I just happened to check my old email and saw an update on here and figured what the hell can it hurt. Not sure if this will get seen or if I even posted this right but I’m really low right now and needed to get this off my chest.
Hey Ryan, I have to agree with you, the acceptance bit is the hardest part of this bloody awful journey. Some days that acceptance seems easy, other days… …it’s absolute hell. The understanding (or lack of) from others outside of this reality is a torment in itself. They seem to be getting on with life, where mine has stagnated. As for the medical fraternity, ohh don’t get me started, I have lost all faith in them EVER having the answers. They tell me that after a year the body has fully healed, so everything has healed and now I’m OK, but I’m not. They are scientists and in science A+B=C, no matter where in the world you go A+B=C. All of their textbooks tell them A+B=C, if you break your leg, it affects your leg, 8weeks in plaster, which everyone can see and your leg is healed. But we are not in the textbook, we haven’t got a broken leg, we don’t have an injury people can see, we have a broken brain and as the saying goes " If you’ve seen one brain injury, you’ve seen ONE brain injury…" No two BI’s are the same. So trying to label us and place us in a single box is impossible. Personally, I’ve had numerous BI’s and 6 neurosurgeries and no two have had the same symptoms, nor results. The dr’s like things to fit into nice, tidy boxes, but I don’t fit their boxes and because I don’t fit or conform to their boxes they label my issues as psychological as if I’m in this position by my own choice. Who the hell would choose this??? Not I that’s for damn sure.
Ryan, I know this ‘hellish route’ we are on is far from easy and others maybe all too quick to make judgements, but to be honest with you, the only people who truly know are people who have been here. Come talk to us because we truly know.
Ryan, how are you doing this evening? I am hoping you are feeling better. I want to give you this link, in case you are not. I will apologize if I am being too forward, I think there are times in life when we all need someone to talk to. I have started seeing a counselor pretty often myself.
Is there any kind of Medicaid transportation in the area where you live? I was wondering if there was, if they could possibly help you with your dr appointments?
I am sure your mom and your dog do need you and I imagine they would both be devastated if you were no longer around.
I felt a lot like you are describing, as far as being so tired all the time, the chronic fatigue stuff. I felt like I could sleep 23 hours a day. That has gotten a lot better, but I don’t push myself, or I try not to, because when I do, I will get a migraine and its not worth it. Its been 15 years, I have good days and bad days, and we are all different but I can say I am in a better place than I was in even 5 years ago.
My heart goes out to you, I pray you are feeling some better tonight.
Please let us know how you are.
Just want to let you know that you are not alone. It’s probably how you feel most of the time, but just the fact that you are reaching out to others is a good sign. The most important thing you can do for yourself is keep busy. Staying inside is not going to solve anything. But, by going out, even if you go for a walk does more good and helps to clear your mind.
Ryan, i am 22 years post TBI, and i went through a time like you describe. We survived when many don’t. Sometimes it feels like that’s a bad thing, but trust me, every day is better. Yes, there will be days you’ll feel like this letter describes, but when i was in your situation, i decided consciously not to react that day. The next day i was past that day. There was always another day with much the same life, but it is easier everyday. When you are feeling down, come here and talk to us please. We are a board for talking about your life.
I used to feel like that all the time. I still have days I feel like that. Hang in there. Having tbi is definitely not a walk in the park and many of us felt like that a long time and still feel that way sometimes
. If it helps any it took up to my third year before my head quit hurting all the time. (By all the time I mean worst migraine of your life 24/7, many of the things you talk about too like being dizzy)
It didn’t take until my fourth year until I could handle really going outside at all. (August will be my 5th year).
You definitely aren’t alone. Please come talk to us whenever you need to. I know it’s hard but don’t be afraid to reach out.
I know none of that is a big help but we do care here.
Sorry for the late response guys and thank you all for being so kind. I try to remind myself that every day is a new day but some days are worse and drag me into the never ending abyss. The hardest part in all of this is losing the people you thought really loved and cared for you because they look at you and think you aren’t trying, it’s like just because I look like a normal guy on the outside doesn’t mean I’m normal on the inside. And I always seem to get well your not trying hard enough, your not doing what it takes especially when it comes to meds but for me meds make me worse and I have all kinds of horrible side effects. Everyone’s answer is always why don’t you just pop this pill or that pill, believe me if I could find that magic pill that didn’t make me feel worse and gave me any relief and a chance at my old life id eat them like to tacs. I truly believe that is the hardest part about being a tbi survivor is all the judgement and everyone Thinks they have an idea what it’s like but they don’t even know unless they have been through this hell. I’m trying to harness all the bitterness and negativity towards me and my situation to drive me to get better so one day when I’m finally able to get out and get back up on that horse I can prove all the doubters and nay sayers that they were wrong and weren’t meant for the greatness I have to offer. Either way I keep pushing forward it’s all I know how to do. I truly believe God gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers and has chosen me for a reason, may it be to learn from this and help others or to just change the way I thought before all this happened. I look back at my life before and think, man all that shit i used to bitch about was just that pitty little shit and now the only thing that matters is, health, family and love for all things big or small. I figured I’d write this because I’m having a better day and wanted you guys to know the real me and not just the brain damaged downer. With that said thank you all again for your love and support I will continue to update my progress and try to support you all the way you have myself.
For me, I have to say, that ‘losing people’ bit was/is difficult. And as I said, if we had an injury others could see, ie a broken leg in plaster, there would be no question of the impediment. People are very quick to judge, but usually they only judge from what thy can see. Often I have people tell me “Ohh you look like shit…” I tell them what they can see is minimal, they want to have a look from my side. The ‘shit’ they can see is nothing compared to my reality. Many think they know, they don’t. They think they have good advise “Just take some paracetamol…” they may mean well, but I find it very condescending. For me paracetamol is a bit like having a sugar tablet, stuff all use at all.
The ‘letting go’ of our old life is another massive battle, one that, even now 4-5yrs on from my last major incident, I still battle with. I figure that if I have a problem with it how can anybody else grasp it. Some people make comments with the best of intentions, but I’d like to take them out the back and slap them upside the head and explain just how ignorant and arrogant their comments are, as if any of us choose to be in this predicament. But I can’t do that, so I force a smile and say ‘thank you for that’, when what I want to say is “IDIOT”.
This is a long, hard road and we know it like others never will.
I hear you. Also it might not be.
Ryan_O, thanks for the update. I’m glad you were having a better day when you posted this, and I hope things are still better.
I understand about the pills as well as the people who just don’t understand this. It gets old. That’s why I love having this board to visit, its nice to talk to others who really understand.
Here I am a few days later back in the thick of the shit. Is it just me or does anyone else have major problems throughout their whole body? Ever since my last head injury, I have major gastrointestinal issues from ulcers, to Ibs to all sorts of other crap from cramping to bloating. And then there is my heart skipping beats and going into arrhythmia, no and hr any rocketing for no reason at all and shortness of breath. I’ve had major testing done and they cannot seem to find the cause of all this other than my gastro issues. I’m at a loss for what to do next I just don’t know how much more of this chaos I can take. It’s like right now I feel like my guts are being twisted between 2 crocodiles and my testing he is 120bpms which isn’t life threatening but enough to make me feel like I’m going crazy and gonna crawl out of my skin. I had gastro issues in the past bit never heart issues, never stomach problems this bad. And all this crap does is makes my anxiety a milliom.times worse and i feel like I’m being attacked from all sides. Is this just me that this happens to? It’s so scary and it sucks because my support either doesn’t believe this is happening to me or just thinks I’m a whiner and that further makes me want to flip out. I feel like I’m spinning out of control literally.
The brain is like the CPU (Central Processing Unit) of a computer, it controls EVERYTHING. It was once explained to me that a BI can often be compared to opening the box of your computer and throwing in a hand full of metal filings, the result being that there will be short circuits all through the system. I too have had issues with arrhythmia, I saw my pcp, who wrote my symptoms off. I told him I wanted to see a cardiologist, he reluctantly agreed. The cardio gave me a monitor for 24hrs which showed very little, BUT whilst I was seeing him to return the device I started having palpitations then and there in his treatment room. He got out his stethoscope and listened and sure enough he then agreed there was an issue and has given me medication to assist and it has helped. I still get the palpitations but nowhere near as often.
I can guarantee you that you are not the only one whose issues get written off as psych related, mine did for many years. It wasn’t until the medicos could do a test and the results showed that there was an issue that the finally listened, but this took me going and getting a 2nd, 3rd and 4th opinion before it was acknowledged. The medical referrals needed to see a specialist often stated “psych issues” so there was a prejudicial opinion before I started. For this reason I changed my pcp and did not disclose the former psych diagnosis to remove the perceived prejudice.
Ryan, it is very easy/simple to be standing on the outside making judgements. But when you are the one living this it ain’t that easy nor simple. My only recommendation is don’t give up and don’t be taking the judgement of others to heart, honestly, they truly have no idea. It may take a bit to find a dr who will listen but there are some out there who are willing to take our a challenge such as yours and mine. After years of hunting I’ve been lucky enough to find one, so I know they are there, but as I say, it did take years to find a good one.
Yes, it seemed like a lot of things went haywire with me also. Not anywhere near as much as you though. My thyroid was out of whack, this was shortly after the 2 brain surgeries. Its hard to get drs to actually listen to us, it seems. I think some drs saw on my chart that I had had 2 brain surgeries and just wrote me off as being nuts. I might be crazy, but I had things wrong with me that other drs were able to find and fix.
Don’t give up. There is someone out there who can help you. Its just finding the right one. Personally, I have had better luck with nurse practitioners and physican assistants than mds for some reason, but that’s just me. They are the ones who have sat down and listened to me and been able to figure things out. The mds, mainly, just acted like I was an idiot and sent me on my way.
I find it really disappointing the number of us who have difficulties with the medical profession. Initially I thought it was just me and as this has been an ongoing issue, I came to simply accept it as just ‘me’, but I am seeing more and more that it ain’t just me. It makes me wonder why this has not been addressed. I have to agree with you Aly that it does seem that it is the Dr’s at the top of the field who seem very quick to pass judgement and personally I’d think that they should be the first to acknowledge the reality that we face, but this most definitely is not the case. The simplest answer is to label us all as nuts, and with one or two maybe mental issue are a contributor, but surely when the figures start getting into double digits, it would be worth them investigating. I have queried Dr’s previously and, to put it mildly, they did not like that, asking me if I intended to sue. I have never and will never sue, hell in my view if they didn’t operate I’d be dead, plain and simple. I’m looking for answers not money. But it seems that doubt over my intentions restricts their willingness in assisting me to find a solution and that #$%^%$# me off no end. I wonder, how do we get this addressed for the whole neuro community? We are not crazy, we have genuine, bona fide issues. Labelling us all as bonkers is not an acceptable answer.
I want to start off by saying I like how you spell your name. It is like a symbol of who you use to be and the line into the hole of who you are now. The line between your name and the O feels heavy. The torment within appears like alienation, depression, self-doubt, and paranoia. It also appears you feel life is mocking you, others mock you and if you once were in love with someone this failure to love mocks you. Failure appears to be mocking you. From my experience this mocking experience, even feeling like God is mocking me, creates a tormented consciousness. Death, for me, was a final solution to the ongoing problem of life. I used to welcome death as a chance to merge with nothingness and to do away with this painful self-consciousness.
What touches me about your writing is your realness. From your writing you appear to feel utterly defective, and yet I want to suggest you let go or release how you may feel mocked by your failures, even the failure of your own body. My body also no longer produces sufficient energy for my body functions, mitochondria disease, (mitochondria is a parts of the cell that combine the calories we consume with oxygen and turn this combination into energy which runs everything in our body). It is complex system with reference to the autonomic system, adrenal gland, blood sugar and everything else. It is like everything inside the body is out of balance and the body sighs deeply.
This deep sigh is difficult and yet hidden in it is courage. I am not speaking of courage to just drag yourself through each day and to toughen yourself up. Rather true courage arises in the heart when we can learn to be present and deeply grounded to the moment. This courage is tremendous support and gives inner strength naturally. This courage draws on inner qualities of strength. It is like spring water, supportive, fresh, real, and vital. I write this because I feel this courage is in you or you could not write about your hopelessness so directly. Your courage is how you express that there is nowhere to hide from the hole.
So if you feel the hole is mocking you, everyone and everything else is also mocking you, maybe tap into your inner springs of courage. Your courage I feel in you is a high achievement and I say this because you appear to know what it means to look to someone else for help. Your name even appears to symbolize this courage, like the courage to put yourself on the line between you and the hole. And I realize this is hole is difficult and this hole has unconscious roots of wanting to tell me fuck off mister, but your courage, even in your mass of contradictions, is above and beyond external difficulties and appears to be moving against inner doubt.
Courage is your supportive presence Ryan and for some reason something within appears to recognize this courage cannot be harmed. I am not able to grasp this energy I feel in your spirit, where everything seems to have gone wrong and yet your courage is there. There is freedom here, inner springs of courage, and your inner essence is felt and experienced. This place within you is beyond my words and I just want you to know I am pleased to be part of your courage, beyond the limits of the sky and it cannot be lost.

domain: psychology


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Postmates CEO Bastian Lehmann has set ambitious goals.
At a conference in May 2015, Lehmann touted the 2 million deliveries his on-demand-anything startup had reached and said profitability was possible by 2016. That June Postmates raised $80 million in a series D round that valued it at $450 million, and a few months later Lehmann said the San Francisco company would seek funding again beginning in January.
But 2016 has proved a sobering year. Postmates has yet to become profitable and long ago pushed its target date to 2017. In the meantime it has struggled to recruit and retain workers, to integrate restaurants and stores into the platform, and to make the low margins of delivery viable. Postmates aims to be an affordable convenience but so far its efforts to make instant gratification cheap have come up short. In August, Quartz reported that Postmates was alienating many consumers with high fees and misleading price estimates.
Behind the scenes, Postmates has also had trouble securing the additional funds it has chased for the better part of this year. Sources familiar with the matter told Quartz that Postmates has been in talks to raise a Series E round of at least $100 million, a figure that has also been reported by Bloomberg and TechCrunch. The funding is being led by Founders Fund, the venture-capital firm co-founded by Peter Thiel and an existing Postmates investor. It would value the company at around $450 million, the same as its series D valuation, sources said.
Even at that price, Postmates has had a tough time finding interest on the terms it hoped for, and has packed the round with deal-sweeteners such as warrants, the sources told Quartz. A warrant is a type of derivative that gives its holder the right to buy or sell another security—typically equity—at a preset price before it expires. Postmates’ proposed funding terms for this latest round contain “substantial” amounts of sweeteners, the sources said.
Such arrangements can quietly make deals more attractive to investors in order close a round without forcing a startup to officially drop its valuation, a move usually perceived as a sign of faltering. In such situations, it’s often “a game where everyone knows the pricing has gone down—but it’s almost like the emperor’s new clothes, no one wants to say it,” explains Aswath Damodaran, professor of finance at NYU’s Stern School of Business. Startup employees with options or shares in the company often suffer the worst dilution of the value of their holdings under these circumstances.
Postmates did not respond to multiple requests for comment. One source familiar with the matter described the funding round as “oversubscribed,” saying that “means having to drop investors, or ask investors to invest less, in order to hit the capital that the company wants to raise.” It’s unclear whether the round remains open.

domain: news


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Alan Beck, a chiropractor and little league coach in Lakeside, Calif., is suing one of his own players.
Beck claims that a 14-year-old player threw a baseball helmet in the air after scoring a run that won a game (video below).
Beck's lawsuit states the player "carelessly threw a helmet, striking Plaintiff's Achilles tendon and tearing it."
He is now suing the teen player's family for $500,000 in pain and suffering, plus $100,000 in legal bills.
"At first I thought it was joke," Joe Paris, the player's father, told UPI. "Now, I think it's absurd. I've already spent over $4,000 and we haven't even been in a courtroom yet."
"There's a good chance that whoever responds to this lawsuit will be able to get it dismissed," legal expert Bill Portanova told KCRA. "[Beck] willfully signed onto potential contact because baseball is a contact sport."

domain: sports


The Tesla Model 3 continues to make up for most of the company’s EV sales and EV markets around the world.
Data from 2020 shows that 72% of Tesla’s total deliveries and 12% of the global EV market are the Model 3. Since its release in 2017, it has been dominating in EV sales.
The Model 3 was Tesla’s first affordable vehicle. Despite its lower price, it still offered a wide range of performance specifications. As a result, it has become the company’s most popular car and the most preferred electric car around the world.
Data from EV Sales show the Model 3 sold three times more than its second-place contender – the Wuling HongGuan Mini EV. While Tesla’s vehicle made up to 12% of the global market sales, Wuling only made 4%.
With this achievement, the Model 3 won the Best Seller award its third consecutive year.
Even though the Model Y was only released part way into the year, it was enough to take fourth place on the list with nearly 80,000 sales.
The demand for affordable EVs increases around the world – and the Model 3 has been easily filling that need.


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Clarity Composite Fencing Aluminium Bottom Rail - 45mm x 1830mm Charcoal
Click or tap the image to open in fullscreen
The bottom rail is placed in between two fence posts before any fence boards are slotted in place in order to provide a robust support for the composite fencing system.
Charcoal is one of the darkest shades of decking that we offer, it features a blend of clean lines and dark tones, creating a contemporary look that will last for years to come.
For a full guide on how to install our composite fencing, see our installation instructions.

domain: design


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Russian DTH service Raduga TV has been referred to the country’s ministry of justice for operating without a valid licence, after action was taken by regulator Roskomnadzor.
Raduga TV, a joint venture between Modern Times Group and Continental Multimedia, was fined RUB40,000 (€895) for operating without a licence in October, but appealed.
However, he regulator took the step of referring the matter to the justice ministry, which could instigate criminal proceedings, ahead of a decision by the appellate court, according to local reports.
DalGeoKom, the operating company for Raduga TV, reportedly said that the company had repeatedly asked for a new licence but that it had not been granted, while Roskomnadzor said that it not received the necessary documents.
Roskomnadzor has accused Raduga TV of operating without a licence granting the right to broadcast TV signals using limited radio frequency resources. However, Raduga TV is broadcast via Asia Broadcast Satellite’s ABS-1 spacecraft, which does not use Russian frequencies.
ICYMI: RDK4 now available, Humax unveils new RDK voice assistant box and gateway digitaltveurope.com/2020/10/27/rdk… https://t.co/hcy679stLg
27 October 2020 @ 20:00:00 UTC
ICYMI: ‘Exceptionally low’ English Premier League PPV figures could cause u-turn digitaltveurope.com/2020/10/27/exc… https://t.co/S0VjCnobEl
27 October 2020 @ 19:00:01 UTC
Reports emerge of fruitless talks merger between Australia’s Seven and ViacomCBS-owned Network Ten… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
27 October 2020 @ 18:38:00 UTC


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Institutional investors purchased a net $11.9 thousand shares of EQR during the quarter ended March 2016, and now own 100.19% of the total float, a percentage that is typical for companies in the Real Estate Investment Trusts industry.
Mutual fund holders
Largest Quarterly Institutional Transactions
Latest Institutional Activity
HEITMAN REAL ESTATE SECURITIES L... Bought 1.7 Million shares of Equity Residential
CBRE CLARION SECURITIES LLC Bought 1.5 Million shares of Equity Residential
THE VANGUARD GROUP, INC. Bought 1.4 Million shares of Equity Residential


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Menlo Equities has completed the acquisition of four Digital Realty data centers in Silicon Valley. The firm acquired the facilities for a combined $108.8 million. First, it acquired a facility at 4650 Old Ironside Drive in Santa Clara for $35.8 million. The facility has 124,400 square feet of...
Site: Menlo: 34 St Martin
Company: Menlo Equities
Country: United States
Region: North America
- Menlo Equities acquired the building in June 2019
- Lincoln Rackhouse acquired the building in May 2016 and is ColoSpace's landlord.


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It’s no shock to us that Lady Gaga’s Super Bowl performance would hit headlines this week. Lady Gaga’s halftime performance didn’t have any of the overt political statements that most of us were expecting, however, it did include a message about inclusion.
Gaga kicked off her fiery halftime show at the top of Houston’s NRG Stadium singing ‘God Bless America’ before she transitioned into ‘This Land Is Your Land’. She then jumped from the roof and concluded her intro performance by quoting from the Pledge of Allegiance, ‘One National under God, with liberty and justice for all’.
Lady Gaga then erupted into her main performance which included a medley of her greatest, well-known hits from ‘Just Dance’, ‘Poker Face’, ‘Telephone’ and many more. Her performance was no disappointment and made the headlines this week. She made it clear that she wanted to highlight a message of acceptance by choosing to sing lyrics from her ‘Born This Way’ song, ‘No matter gay, straight, or bi, lesbian, transgendered life/ I’m on the right track baby/I was born to survive.’
The performance ended with a special shout out to her biggest fans, her parents, which gave an emotional end.
Since her performance at the Super Bowl, Lady Gaga has received extreme criticism about her body. She decided to fight back with the following statement, ‘I heard my body is a topic of conversation so I wanted to say, I’m proud of my body and you should be proud of yours.’ Trolls have commented online by saying Gaga looks ‘fat’ among lots of other things.

domain: celebrity


text:
Location: Austria > Austrian Alps > Grossarl
Ranked #8 of 13 hotels in Grossarl
Price Range (Based on Average Rates): $$
- Official Description (provided by the hotel):
- This hospitable, family-run hotel in a typical rural style offers an exceptionally beautiful location amidst the wonderful mountains of the Hohe Tauern. All rooms at Hotel Viehhauser have a balcony with beautiful views of the valley and the mountains. You can also enjoy fantastic views from the hotel’s terrace. Half-board is included in the price and comprises a rich breakfast buffet and a 4-course dinner with a choice of main course and a salad buffet. A cake buffet is also offered every day. ... more less
- Reservation Options:
- TripAdvisor is proud to partner with Booking.com, Priceline and BookingOdigeoWL so you can book your Hotel Viehhauser reservations with confidence. We help millions of travelers each month to find the perfect hotel for both vacation and business trips, always with the best discounts and special offers.

domain: travel


text:
Logistics specialists leap into international trade
Published 4:08 pm, Monday, April 21, 2014
As end users, your average American citizen may not give a lot of thought to how all the components of his or her car, computer or clothing came together to be purchased at a local store. But in a global economy, all our lives are touched by international trade, said Margaret Kidd, San Jacinto College instructor in International Business and Logistics.
Moving products and goods around the globe is a science that requires people trained to work as different links in a long chain.
"We are positioning students to work in arenas such as maritime transportation, global supply chain management, purchasing, trade compliance, customer service, consular offices, documentation, warehouse and inventory management, and more," Kidd said.
Houston, with its port and thriving oil and gas industry, is positioned for huge growth in logistics careers, and companies are gobbling up their graduates "like serving pancakes to hungry teenagers," she said.
"The majority of our students are employed before they leave college," she said. "It's more of an anomaly if they don't have a job at the end."
San Jacinto College offers a two-year associate of applied science degree in International Business and Logistics at the North Campus, in addition to a 30-hour certificate of technology and an 18-hour occupational certificate. Kidd said San Jacinto also has an articulation agreement with the College of Technology at the University of Houston's Department of Information and Logistics Technology that allows the bulk of credit hours earned to be transferred toward a four-year degree.
"What attracts me to the field is very much the idea of achieving the American dream," Kidd said. "In this industry, it can happen. It's not who you know, it's the ability to work hard. Go-getters and self-starters, people who are motivated and seek challenges will do well."
Other helpful attributes are the ability to wear many hats, to work well with a diversity of people and communications skills, Kidd said.
"Many of these employers need bilingual workers," Kidd said. "It's a huge asset to have more than one language. In terms of most valuable second languages for international business here in Houston, I would rank Spanish, Portuguese and Mandarin as the top three. Next, I'd add Hindi, Arabic and Vietnamese."
Kidd said the industry is anticipated to grow 15 percent over the next decade nationally, but locally may be even faster. People in these careers can earn anywhere from $17 to $87 an hour depending on specialization, education and career arc.


text:
Title: Hotels - Vacation and hotel information from Marriott Hotels - Official ...
Description: When you're on vacation, selecting the right hotel makes all the difference. ... You can find hotels using any combination of hotel name, partial name, brand, ...
Approx. monthly SE traffic: 11.59M
Approx. monthly SE traffic cost equivalent: $25.50M
Average cost per click
Number of monthly searches for this keyword
Number of monthly searches for queries containing this keyword
Broad Searches: 4.40K
(Average cost per click) * (Number of monthly searches for this keyword)
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University College of Bahrain (UCB) has successfully upgraded their Campus Wi-Fi to a state of the art Cloud managed Campus Wi-Fi from Cisco –Meraki.
The project included upgrading the wired and wireless networks across the entire campus and was completed in less than a month by Kanoo IT, a division of the E.K. Kanoo group of companies.
Students and staff alike will instantly be able to access superfast virtually isolated networks through their desktop, laptop, tablet or mobile devices. This includes giving students full access to the University’s suite of online resources on all their devices, such as Google Apps for Education, OpenClass, Coursesmart, Grammarly, amongst others. In addition the Internet will be opened up for families and friends too.
Sh. Abdulla Khalid Al-Khalifa, Executive Director for Technology & Innovation, said, “Deployment of Cisco Meraki cloud Wi-fi in UCB was a great experience for both wireless users and IT admin team since it provides high density coverage across the campus with a lean IT admin team to sustain the rapid growth of wireless devices in our campus in this BYOD era. Kanoo IT demonstrated the lead role of a seasoned integrator to implement a secure, cost effective, scalable and easy to manage cloud managed Wi-Fi solutions.”
“Kanoo IT is proud to be associated with University college of Bahrain in this strategic initiative. Wi-Fi management from anywhere in the world is a new concept and we are excited to introduce the solution for the very first time in Bahrain,” said Mr. Waleed Kanoo General Manager, KANOO IT.
The new network will be available for students and faculty as a pre-launch starting this week.
For more info please contact:
Copywriter, Marketing & Communication
Marketing & Communication Department
Ebrahim K. Kanoo
Tel: +97317262262 Ext: 566
Sunday, July 27- 2014 @ 10:19 UAE local time (GMT+4) Replication or redistribution in whole or in part is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Mediaquest FZ LLC.


text:
by Gro Pro Premium Pots and Containers
These unique pots allow for proper root training and air pruning with strategically placed ventilation channels and offer a unique container shape. They prevent spiraling and root burrowing, which causes plant instability. Using these great pots will increase the overall health of a plant’s root structure, allow for greater stability when transplanting and increase nutrient and water uptake.
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domain: hobby


text:
: Battleground Series
US Civil War Titles
Other related areas:
Games : Video Games : Computer Platforms : Windows
Web site listings:
Epinions - Battle of the Bulge
Modern Battles Club
A club for online play of "Squad Battles: Vietnam", "Squad Battles: Tour of Duty", "Middle East '67", and "Fulda Gap '85".
Scenario Design Center
"Designed to provide you with utilities and ideas to create custom scenarios for use with all the Battleground games",
The Real Unofficial War Game Page
Run by John Tiller, the designer of Talonsoft's Battleground series. Includes a scenario editor that you can download.
The Unauthorized Battleground Forums
Discussion forum set up in response to "Talonsoft's heavy-handedness by deleting even the most minor critiscm or complaint and outright banning of people [from its own forum]".


text:
LOS ANGELES — After practicing in the morning, both Utah and Ohio State spent part of Monday at Disneyland, “The Happiest Place on Earth,” participating in a cavalcade down Main Street in Downtown Disney and enjoying the rides on an overcast, brisk, rainy afternoon.
But there’s a specter lurking in the background, like a Disney villain — COVID-19.
College football has seen a few bowl games canceled already due to the spike in Omicron variant cases.
That’s not a fate that the Utes or Buckeyes want to see for this year’s Rose Bowl. Both programs are doing what they can to ensure that the game is played.
“I’m confident. I’m hoping that everything will continue on this course. We seem to be doing okay as a team, knock on wood, and expecting Ohio State to do the same,” said Utah coach Kyle Whittingham. “Hopefully, the Rose Bowl will go off with no hitches.”
What’s been his message to his team?
“Stay safe, as safe as they can. Wear a mask and do everything intelligently. Don’t put yourself in bad spots,” he said. “We’re all vaxxed but one player that’s not. Out of the entire staff and players, every single guy is vaxxed with the exception of one. We feel like we’re in a pretty good place.”
OSU coach Ryan Day acknowledged that a couple of players on his team have isolated cases “but not key contributors.”
Day has also addressed the virus issue with his team.
“They’ve done everything we’ve asked this year. A high majority of our team is vaccinated,” he said. “We talked about this new spike and the different precautions we need to take. Being in Southern California, we have to be really smart with it. We’ve talked about it. We’re trying to stay as vigilant as we can.”
“I’m confident. I’m hoping that everything will continue on this course. We seem to be doing okay as a team, knock on wood, and expecting Ohio State to do the same. Hopefully, the Rose Bowl will go off with no hitches.” — Utah coach Kyle Whittingham
Wide receiver Britain Covey said the Utes are taking precautions.
“Our team is taking everything seriously. We try to wear masks, we do whatever we can. This is what we’ve been aiming for for years now,” he said. “If it’s going to be canceled, it’s not going to be on our part. We’ve talked about it as a team. We’re just trying our best.”
Whittingham said that the precautions being taken now are “very similar” to what they were during the season.
“The mask requirements are a little different here in Southern California than back home,” he said. “But we’re adhering to whatever the protocol is and Pasadena is different from other places in California. We’re following the guidelines and hopefully we stay healthy.”
One event scheduled for this week has been canceled due to COVID concerns. Both teams were supposed to attend Lawry’s restaurant and participate in Lawry’s Beef Bowl this week but instead, Lawry’s is planning to package and deliver takeout meals for both teams.
“Everyone’s been really safe as far as COVID protocols. This team has done a great job of being smart and not putting ourselves in positions where we could be knocked out for COVID reasons,” said Utah linebacker Devin Lloyd. “We’ve got our masks on right now and I think everyone’s complying with COVID protocols. I’m not too worried about that. I’m just focused on preparing for Ohio State.”
During the teams’ trip to Disneyland, there appeared to be plenty of smiles, albeit some were hidden by masks.
Covey has a special affinity for the world famous theme park in Anaheim, a place he’s frequented many times during his life.
“I love it. My teammates make fun of me because I’m so antsy right now. I just want to go on the rides. I’m the biggest Disney nerd of all time,” he said. “I used to come to every ride. I know where all the hidden Mickeys are in the park. I kept getting mad at my teammates that acted like they weren’t excited for Disneyland.”
Running back T.J. Pledger was one of those that teased Covey, and told him he would be leaving the park right away.
So Covey told Pledger that he’ll change his mind one day.
“Man, wait ‘til your little girl grows up. You’re going to be so excited to take her on the teacups,” Covey said he told Pledger. “I’ve always loved Disneyland, since I was little. I’m so excited to have kids and take them on these rides.”
No. 6 Ohio State (10-2)
vs. No. 11 Utah (10-3)
Jan. 1, 3 p.m. MST
Radio: ESPN 700
Helping the players work hard to prepare for the game while enjoying the experience is a balance that Whittingham wants to strike during bowl week.
“It’s challenging but that’s something we’ve talked about as a team. The key to these bowl games is being able to balance the activities and the pageantry of the bowl with the preparation and getting ready for the game,” he said. “You have to be able to separate the two. When you’re on the field and in the meeting room, you’ve got to be all business. When it’s time to have a good time, have a good time. But when it’s time to work, you gotta work.”
Said Covey: “You definitely have to compartmentalize bowl games because I feel like you’ve earned the right to enjoy this experience, not just say, ‘We’re here for a business trip.’ In the season, the reason why you travel out is to win a game. It’s a business trip. But here, it’s like a business trip with benefits. You’ve earned the right throughout the season to enjoy these things. It just comes down to being able to compartmentalize it. You put your head down when you need to and enjoy it when you can.”
“When we go into our meetings and into practices, it’s all football. The team has been talking about that for a while now,” said quarterback Cam Rising. “We’re also here to also have fun and enjoy the events that go on. I’m happy to be at Disneyland right now.”
And the Utes will be happy to get to the Rose Bowl Game Saturday without any problems.
“We’re here and we appear to be healthy, knock on wood,” Whittingham said. “We’re just marching forward. Hopefully neither team will experience any setbacks. Hopefully the game goes off as scheduled.”


Bill Ridout Blog: Offhand Shooting Part II
Once you have established the proper load for your rifle and have it sighted in, the next step is to learn to shoot it offhand. Let me say to begin with that I do all my offhand shooting to become more proficient at squirrel hunting. Just about every shot I take while squirrel hunting is offhand.
The first thing you have to master is muscle control. For offhand target shooting, I stand at roughly 90 degrees to the target with my feet about shoulder width apart. My right hand supports the forearm of the rifle ( I am Left handed) with my forearm vertical. This offers the maximum stability with that arm. I take a couple of deep breaths and let out about half the last one as I am aiming at the target. When the sights are aligned with the target, I touch the rifle off.If you don't get the right sight alignment within fifteen seconds, take the rifle down and start over.
It has been said that good offhand shooting is thirty percent equipment, thirty percent muscle control, and the rest is mental. The real experts will tell you that the mental part is the hardest to master. Try to not think of anything except the shot you're trying to make. One thing that really works for me is to think of a song you really like and mentally play that song, that forces you to not think of other things while you are shooting.
The real experts will also tell you to leave off caffeine as that will elevate you heart rate. I could not live without my coffee so I have never tried that. It is important to keep your heart rate as low as possible. it is a fact that the most accurate shots are fired between heartbeats, so keeping the heart rate low is important.
Last but not least, get plenty of practice. Do your best with every shot.


text:
Public Utilities Commission holds hearings on Duke's proposed rate hike
Current rate hike increase request unrelated to streetcar project
As the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio holds public hearings across the Tri-State about Duke Energy’s proposed rate hike, some residents are asking what those rate hikes are for and how much of an increase they may see on their bills.
Among the questions, whether Duke will pass on the cost to relocate lines and equipment for the streetcar project.
WLWT took those concerns straight to Duke and asked for answers.
Duke says it hopes is not to pass on those costs, but if that mass transportation rider, or provision, isn't approved, customers could still foot that bill.
If the rider is approved by the public utilities commission, it would open the way for Duke to recover costs of relocating infrastructure in one of two ways. The money would come from the local government or from Duke customers who live within city limits
That would be in addition to the current hikes Duke is seeking.
As far as what the rates mean to your utilities bill, Duke says a typical customer will see a 5.1 percent increase for electricity, which means an additional $6.50 on your bill. For those who have natural gas, there will be an additional 6.1 percent increase or $8.21 increase to your bill.
If the rate hikes pass, they'll be coming to your Duke bill this year.


text:
The con is at the Penn Pavilion Plaza, across the street from Madison Square Garden. Saturday and Sunday.
I'm staying at the Hotel Martinique. I had no idea this block has a little Koreatown on it! I am Korean, but my neighborhood in Chicagoland has no Korean restaurants. Now I can walk down the street and get kalbi at 4am. Amazing.
It's almost like someone designed this area for me. There's a 24 hour fresh mart kitty corner from the hotel, lots of Korean clubs and restaurants, an Irish pub, a kebab cart (still open at 2am!), and one block south is the Empire State Building. This is kinda sweet.
Anyhow, hope to see you at the con Saturday. Sorry about not giving everyone the proper heads up.

domain: geography


- Press Release
- Feb 5, 2023
Science with Integral – five years on
With eyes that peer into the most energetic phenomena in the universe, ESA’s Integral has been setting records, discovering the unexpected and helping understanding the unknown over its first five years.
Integral was launched on 17 October 2002. Since then, the satellite has helped scientists make great strides in understanding the gamma-ray universe – from the atoms that make up all matter, giant black holes, mysterious gamma-ray bursts to the densest objects in the universe.
The atoms that make us
Surveying the entire galaxy looking for the radioactive isotope aluminium 26 with Integral, scientists have been able to calculate that a supernova goes off in our galaxy, once every 50 years. According to Integral, something is creating a lot of gamma rays at the centre of our galaxy – the suspect is positrons, the antimatter counterparts of electrons. Scientists have been baffled as to how vast numbers of such particles can be generated every second and how these sources would be distributed over the sky to match the gamma-ray map.
The densest objects in the universe
Within months of operation, Integral solved a thirty-year-old mystery by showing that the broadband gamma-ray emission observed towards the centre of the galaxy was produced by a hundred individual sources. A catalogue of close to 500 gamma-ray sources from all over the sky, most of them new, was then complied.
Scientists now know that a rare class of anomalous X-ray pulsars, or magnetars, generates magnetic fields a thousand million times stronger than the strongest steady magnetic field achievable in a laboratory on Earth. These sources show, unexpectedly, strong emission in the Integral energy range. Integral revealed that a sub-class of X-ray binary stars, called super-giant fast X-ray transients, previously thought to be extremely rare, is actually common in our galaxy. The satellite has also discovered a completely new class of high-mass X-ray binaries, called highly absorbed X-ray binaries.
Giant black holes
Integral has seen about 100 of the brightest supermassive black holes, the main producers of gamma radiation in our universe, in other galaxies. But while looking for them in nearby galaxies, surprisingly few have been found.
They are either too well-hidden or are only present in the younger galaxies which populate the more distant universe.
Using Earth as a shield
Galaxies throughout the universe are believed to be responsible for creating the diffuse background glow of gamma rays, observed over the entire sky. Integral used the Earth as a giant shield to disentangle this faint glow. Making the measurements possible was a technological and operational feat.
The data will help understand the origin of the highest energy background radiation and possibly, provide new clues to the history of growth of supermassive black holes since the early epochs of the Universe.
Although not designed to be a gamma-ray-burst ‘watchdog’, scientists realised that Integral could perform this task if assisted by sufficiently powerful software. ESA set a new record for speed and accuracy with the Integral Burst Alert System on 3 December 2003 when a burst was detected, localised and astronomers were alerted in 18 seconds.
The event, called GRB 031203, was faint and close, in cosmological terms, which suggests that an entire population of low energy gamma-ray bursts has so far gone unnoticed.
On 27 December 2004 Integral was hit by the strongest flux of gamma rays ever measured by any spacecraft and it even measured radiation that bounced off the Moon. The culprit was a magnetar, SGR 1806-20, located 50 000 light years away on the other side of our Milky Way. Thanks to this outburst, astronomers now think that some gamma-ray bursts might come from similar magnetars in other galaxies. Integral has also been able to take images of gamma ray bursts, while the telescope was not pointed in the right direction. This was done using radiation that passed through the side of Integral’s imaging telescope and struck the detector.
Christoph Winkler, ESA’s Integral Project Scientist says “Integral has indeed played a major role in modern gamma-ray astronomy. So much has happened in the span of five years but much more is still to come.”
For more information:
Christoph Winkler, ESA Integral Project Scientist
Email: Christoph.Winkler @ esa.int


text:
Professor and Department of Architecture head J. Meejin Yoon has been awarded the 2016 Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) Teaching Award of Excellence. The jury cited Yoon’s “innovative and critical pedagogical approach to integrating new ideas, techniques and technologies into her teaching and research. This approach is supported by excellence in academic leadership, scholarship and professional practice.”
Yoon’s academic and professional work, as a principal of Boston-based Höweler + Yoon, investigates the intersections between design, technology, and public space. At MIT, Yoon organized 4.110J / 4.S64 / MAS.330J (Design across Scales), a course taught with Professor Neri Oxman in which students from across the Institute explore relationships among design, science, and technology while developing methods for collaborative design research. Yoon also led efforts to create a Design Minor in the Department of Architecture that will open to all MIT undergraduates in fall 2016.
Award recipients in other categories include Virginia San Fratello and Ron Rael, Charles Eastman, Andrew Payne, and the Centre for Information Technology and Architecture at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. ACADIA is an international network of digital design researchers and professionals focused on the role of computation in architecture, planning, and building science.
The awards ceremony will take place during the 2016 ACADIA International Conference, “Posthuman Frontiers: Data, Designers, and Cognitive Machines,” at the University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning in Ann Arbor October 27-29.


text:
Stansted Must Be Sold
30 March 2011, 09:32 | Updated: 30 March 2011, 09:40
The Competition Commission has told airport operator BAA that it must sell Stansted.
BAA has also been told it must also sell either Glasgow Airport or Edinburgh Airport.
The Commission ruled that BAA had to sell Stansted and one of the Scottish airports back in 2009, but the operator appealed.
Despite BAA's legal challenge, the original ruling has been upheld.
The Commission says that the decision is "the right one for passengers and airlines".
More follows later.


FWA 320 | 400
MODELS 320 | 400
The Versatile mechanical front-wheel drive tractors are designed to provide a new level of comfort, power and visibility. For almost 50 years Versatile tractors have been built for reliability, durability and serviceability and the new era of tractor models continues to uphold these standards while increasing functionality and operator convenience.
- Cummins Engine developing 320 + 400hp
- 40km/h Powershift transmission
- 10” Touch screen data monitor
- Controlled traffic ready
- Quick hitch linkage with 8410kg lift capacity
- No AdBlue + DPF
- Industry’s Largest Cabin
- Row Crop or Broadacre wheel configurations
- DANA front axle with suspension
- Trimble GFX750 Precision Ag System (RangePoint Ready)
25 YEARS OF VERSATILE
Familiarise yourself with the Versatile range.
The QSC 8.3-litre engine (9 litre QSL in the VE400) combines productivity and power with fuel efficiency. Using Cummins advanced in-cylinder technology, the QSC maintains performance, dependability and durability while operating cleanly and efficiently. Advanced electronics enhance engine performance, with better torque and faster throttle response.
Smooth Powershift Transmission
Upshifting and downshifting is as easy as the push of a button. Models are equipped with an 16 x 9 UNIVANCE full powershift transmission that has been refined for smooth shifting, particularly when under load. An innovative design that features large helical cut case hardened gears on roller bearings ensures the operation is durable, smooth and quiet.
Hi Flow Hydraulics
The closed centre load sensing hydraulic system provides ample capacity for implements that demand high hydraulic flow by providing pressure and flow on demand. When no hydraulic power is required, the system goes into low-pressure standby to conserve energy, providing more power at the drawbar. Fingertip controls manage the hydraulic functions and hydraulic flow is increased or decreased using the on-screen display.
The new Deluxe Cab is a high-end full-featured cab that provides the operator with every imaginable comfort for long working days. A semi-active air-ride suspension seat and the training seat are both standard in this configuration. In addition to the connectivity options available in the standard cab, the Deluxe Cab has an 110v AC power outlet and a 5-volt integrated USB port.
10″ Touchscreen Data Monitor
The 10″ Parker console is now standard on all models, allowing an easy to use tractor display at your fingertips. The new console also moves the information from the dash cluster to the armrest.


text:
The other shoe dropped Monday on Tyler Chatwood.
The Rockies moved the right-handed starting pitcher to the 60-day disabled list while he recovers from an injured elbow.
Chatwood was pulled last week during the sixth inning of a game at Arizona. He was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a flexor strain with inflammation in his pitching elbow — the kind of worrisome injury that can sideline a pitcher for an entire season if there’s a tendon tear. But after consulting with team doctor Thomas Noonan, Chatwood and the Rockies felt relieved, manager Walt Weiss said.
Chatwood probably will be out six to eight weeks before beginning a rehab assignment. “He could use the time,” Weiss said.
The Rockies are now without two of their top five starting pitchers who entered the season. Brett Anderson also is on the 60-day disabled list because of a broken finger suffered at San Francisco last month.
To replace Chatwood, the Rockies added relief pitcher Nick Masset to the big-league roster Monday. He took the spot of infielder Ryan Wheeler, who was optioned to Triple-A Colorado Springs.
That gives the Rockies one extra pitcher (13) and one fewer infielder (six). Weiss said he’s eager to see what Masset can bring to the bullpen.
“He’s been away from the game for a few years at the major- league level,” Weiss said. “He’s fought through some tough stuff to get back here.
“But he’s been in the heat.”
Masset signed as a free agent in February after missing 2013 because of shoulder surgery. He last played in the big leagues with Cincinnati in 2011, finishing with a 3.71 ERA in 75 games.
“I feel like my old self,” Masset said. “No matter what situation they put me in, I’ll be playing like it’s the end of the game.”
Cuddyer update. Michael Cuddyer, the Rockies’ injured right fielder, will travel with the team to Texas this week and begin game-like work, Weiss said.
Cuddyer, who hasn’t played since April 17 (hamstring injury), felt optimistic about his recovery for the first time Sunday, Weiss said.
Back in action. Vinny Castilla, a former Rockies all-star third baseman and now a special assistant to the general manager, will play in the Hall of Fame Classic on May 24 at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, N.Y.
“Every team sends a player (there for what is) kind of like a legends game,” Castilla said. “I’m excited about that. I hope they put me at third base.”
Rangers’ Robbie Ross (1-2, 3.86 ERA) at Rockies’ Juan Nicasio (3-1, 4.19), 6:40 p.m. Tuesday, ROOT; 850 AM
Among the Rockies’ starting pitchers, Nicasio has a team-low eight walks in six games this year. He’s been able to eat innings, going seven strong in two of his victories. That includes an impressive effort last week in a win over the Mets — he allowed only three hits — at Coors Field. “I was throwing sliders for strikes,” Nicasio said after that game. “But (the game plan) worked because I had command of my fastball. I was keeping it down.” That is the mantra of the Rockies’ rotation this year: Keep the ball down.
Wednesday: Rockies’ Jorge De La Rosa (3-3, 5.11 ERA) at Rangers’ Colby Lewis (2-1, 4.22), 6:05 p.m., ROOT
Thursday: Rockies’ Franklin Morales (3-1, 5.05) at Rangers’ Matt Harrison (0-0, 4.35), 6:05 p.m., ROOT
Friday: Rockies’ Jhoulys Chacin (0-1, 7.20) at Reds’ Johnny Cueto (3-2, 1.31), 5:10 p.m., ROOT
Nick Groke, The Denver Post


text:
As I start writing this piece on my iPhone, I’m on a train to a new city, a new job and a new life. Seems fitting. When I started MacRabbit more than fifteen years ago, smartphones didn’t exist, nor did fast wireless internet on a high speed train. I was a high school kid drowning in boredom and wanted the world to be a more beautiful place.
It was an exciting time. Aqua set the trend for all design, so everything was shiny, glowing and bright. I had worked to earn a white iBook 500 and was hugely excited to play with Mac OS X after lusting over it for so long. Communities like MacNN were teeming with talent, and I could only hope to one day produce the art that made the rounds on those forums. MacRabbit was essentially my personal blog back then, an outlet to post icon packs and desktop pictures. A simple website with a cute logo that said “hello”.
The fog of time makes it tricky to reconstruct exactly how I went from there to cobbling together my first app. Programming was a dirty word because nerds were the epitome of uncool, but something about ASS (the appropriately acronymed AppleScript Studio) allowed me (with my oldest internet friend Mike handling all the Cocoa parts) to hack together DeskShade, a freeware app that covered your desktop icons so you didn’t have to clean up. At one point with an update around my birthday, I asked everyone who loved DeskShade to send a card. Two people did, and one included a jar of jam. Later it would dawn on me that these were the most amazing humans in existence, but at the time kid-me focused on the discrepancy between downloads and birthday cards. I concluded that postal mail was not an accurate measure of interest, that I wasn’t all that altruistic in keeping DeskShade free and that a price had to be paid for the incident — literally. Before school started again, I learned Cocoa to release my first commercial software: DeskShade Plus. Turns out charging money actually serves as a promise of utility, and many more gave it a try. MacRabbit the Big Business was born, at least doubling my allowance.
Detailing the 15 years afterwards would read like an autobiography, so I’ll be brief. Half your life shouldn’t fit into a blog post, anyway. I left for university in a city where I could discover who I was, while my virtual life kept the creative juices flowing. I was considered part of the Delicious Generation, a term that still makes me laugh. I won an Apple Design Award, which would have been a mind-blowing experience if I had actually gone to accept it (they didn’t explicitly say I’d win and it meant taking two extra exams over the summer). I fell in love. There were tears, there was laughter. The Mac conquered the design world far and wide, and MacRabbit grew with it. I burned out writing my master’s thesis. I got back up, but became too dependent on work to define myself as a person. Success and tailwinds, failure and a tiny bit of horrible luck, personal reflection — it all flew by. Now I’ve arrived here, where I am ready to say goodbye to my baby. MacRabbit was a kid’s dream, but today it becomes a man’s fond memory.
There are many people I would like to thank, and some I should but won’t. Thank you for helping me make beauty, and for being a team, and for teaching me hard and painful lessons, and for changing the sheets when the cat shat the bed. Thank you for telling me it’s okay to lick your wounds. Thank you for the patience and the endless chats. Thank you for making amazing things with the tools I built. Thank you for giving a boy purpose, and letting him realize there’s a fire deep inside him. Here’s to life, the non-stop train it is, and the places it takes us.

domain: artistic


The Eton 1000 is a luxurious sprung mattress designed especially to move with the contours of Adjustable Beds.
The pocket springs offer premium comfort and individual support of the spine, eliminating roll-together.
With a polycotton top layer and a lightweight, breathable and chemical-free Egyptian cotton cover.
- Available in three sizes – 2’6″, 3′ and 4′
- Choice of firm or standard comfort to suit your sleeping preference
- Approx. 20.5-22.5cm /8-9″ deep


Lata Mangeshkar songs. Lata Mangeshkar is an all time most popular Indian playback singer. She is respected by the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, Bharat Ratna 2. Padma Vibhushan 1. Padma Bhushan and many more awards.
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SAvIND: With series in the bag, will visitors alter playing XI in 6th ODI? Virat Kohli drops a hint
Indian captain Virat Kohli says his team might test its bench strength in the sixth and final ODI against South Africa on Friday but asserted that intensity won’t be lacking despite the match’s dead-rubber status.
India secured their first ever series win in South Africa across formats on Tuesday when they beat the hosts by 73 runs in the fifth ODI.
“After this series is wrapped up we’ll sit down and think about where to improve. For now, 4-1 feels great. We want to win 5-1, for sure, but there might be a scenario for a few more guys to get a chance in the next match,” Kohli said.
“But the ultimate priority is to win and we’ll do anything we can to win,” he added. The performance of Kohli and wrist spinners Kuldeep Chahal and Yuzvendra Chahal stood out but the captain said the series win was the result of a team effort.
“I’m very pleased, it was another complete performance from us,” he said referring to on Tuesday’s win. They (South Africa) had the pressure of losing this series and we knew that. Ever since the third Test in Johannesburg, it’s been a good time for us. It’s been a collective …read more


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2X more blooms than most popular container mixes*
30% less watering than most popular container mixes*
Contains coconut husk fibre for easy wetting and superior water retention
*In similar conditions for plant of equivalent size
It is enriched with organic fertilizer containing essential nutritional elements vital for plant growth and root development.
Also recommended for growing vegetables and herbs in containers.
Specially created for planting annuals in flower boxes, patio containers and hanging baskets
Veranda® Container Mix
Coverage and Application Rate
One 30-litre bag can be used approximately for one 40 cm (16 in) or 7 planters in 25 cm (10 in) or two 60 cm (24 in) long window boxes.

domain: agronomy


text:
A national pro-life organization is outraged after three major American newspapers rejected a pro-life ad as “too controversial.”
The Chicago Tribune, USA Today, and the LA Times refused to run an advertisement created by Heroic Media.
The ad features a hand holding a 20- to 24-week-old baby with the quote, “This child has no voice, which is why it depends on yours. Speak Up.”
Heroic Media Executive Director Joe Young said he was shocked and angered that the media outlets were willing to talk about the issue but were unwilling to show the reality of life at 20 weeks.
“I am disturbed that these papers would run article after article promoting the notion that abortion is a victimless act without consequences,” Young said. “The fact remains, children who are unique individuals – never again to be duplicated – are being killed in the most violent way imaginable and they feel the excruciating pain of that death.”
The newspapers took issue with the image of the baby.
“It seems as though it is okay to talk about the issue in general, but when you actually put a face to the discussion, then it becomes controversial,” Young said.
Last week after the House passed the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, Heroic Media put out a statement requesting that the pro-life community contact their senators and encourage them to consider and support the Act.
“Americans deserve to know the truth about the children sentenced to die for no fault of their own and that we have a chance to spare some of them through this legislation,” Young said.
The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act prevents an abortionist from performing an abortion at or after 20 weeks, based on empirical scientific medical evidence that proves that unborn babies can feel pain. Science shows that at eight weeks after fertilization, the unborn child reacts to touch, and at 20 weeks, the unborn baby responds to what would be felt as pain.
The image shows a 20- to 24-week-old baby in a person’s hands. Heroic Media’s goal was to show what life looks like at 20 weeks. The non-profit organization has resubmitted the ad with a different image, now one of a 20-week-old baby in utero.
The Chicago Tribune has now agreed to run the ad with the second image as long as Heroic Media indicates that it is an advertisement.
“Our hope is that the American public begins to advance this debate with both the mother and child in mind,” Young said.
Heroic Media is a non-profit whose mission is to educate the public in general and reach women facing unplanned pregnancies with life-affirming alternatives through the use of mass media, such as television commercials, internet outreach, and billboards.
“This issue, the late-term killing of developing children, is one that should be addressed in the U.S. Senate, and we encourage our fellow citizens to let their Senators know our desire to see that happen,” Young said.
Stories like the one you just read transform hearts and minds.
For example, one of our followers, Ross, messaged us and commented:
“I began to question my pro-choice views after reading articles about Live Action…Live Action is primarily responsible for my becoming Pro-Life through their well-thought-out, scientific information and the emotionally and uplifting stories of real people with real experiences in saving the lives of their children regardless of what others might say.”
Knowledge is power and CAN open eyes to SEE the truth. And, YOU can provide the spark to transform someone’s mind, just like Ross.
The DAILY publishing at Live Action News is only made possible through generous people, like you, who give $5, $10, or $25.
Your gift today will not only keep these stories coming in 2020, but also help us open more eyes and change minds to be fully pro-life and save lives.
Will you join us in creating a world where the killing of preborn children is unthinkable and support Live Action News by making your tax-deductible gift today?


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The deity is one of many small apsaras, or heavenly beings, attached to the mandorla of an over-life-sized statue of Amida Buddha. The robe and surface of this example have retained much of their gold leaf. For another apsara from this set formerly in the collection of the Osaka businessman Muto Sanji, see London Gallery, ed., Buddha's Smile: Masterpieces of Japanese Buddhist Art, exh. cat (Tokyo: Okura Shukokan, 2000), pl. 33.
Three more apsaras, possibly from the same group, are illustrated in Anne Nishimura Morse and Nobuo Tsuji, eds., Japanese Art in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Tokyo: Kodansha, 1998), vol. 2, pls. 29-31, pp. 184-85. One, said to be from the mandorla of the Amida at Kofukuji, Nara, entered the museum collection in 1912.


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Advices › Silverlight kindle fire
Users interested in Silverlight kindle fire generally download:
It's a .NET framework plugin for writing and running interactive mobile and web apps. It enhances your video streaming experience and can be launched in different OS and popular browsers.
Kindle Fire Video Converter is a great tool which helps to convert video formats to mp4 video format. It is expert at converting HD videos and SD videos with perfect output quality and high conversion speed. Also is provided presets for iPad, iPhone and Kobo Vox.
Installs as an add-on for Visual Studio 2010 and provides tooling for Microsoft Silverlight 4 and RIA Services application templates and libraries.
This utility was created for people who wish to read Amazon eBooks directly from their PCs. The application comes as an alternative to buying and using a Kindle device for reading the books you purchase from the Amazon store.
Amazon Kindle For PC brings you a straightforward interface, comes with a powerful search tool, and automatically syncs the last pages your read across various devices.
SilverX is a free utility that allows developers to convert web flash content to Microsoft Silverlight. It only supports Flash in ‘swf’ format for conversion. And it just takes selecting the flash file, plus the destination where to save the resulting Silverlight file.
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domain: library


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I made a test batch of candied cranberries for a thanksgiving snack and they got mushy and wet after a day in the fridge. Do you think I can leave them out for a day to get super dry? Any suggestions are appreciated. I cooked them in simple syrup and rolled them in sugar.
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domain: food


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Customer reviews of our Moving Announcements and Moving Cards
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COURTLAND, Ala. – More than 1.1 million people who live in Alabama have received at least their first COVID-19 vaccine shot with 700,000 Alabamians completely vaccinated.
While vaccination rates continue to rise nationwide, and COVID-19 deaths continue to decline in Alabama, public health professionals and the NAACP in rural Lawrence County are raising awareness about certain risk groups.
“It’s the 18 to 35 age group that’s being infected in the hospitals right now and it’s very important that that age group get vaccinated because they get sick and then they can take it home to their elderly parents, grandparents and other people,” said J.E. Turnbore, Lawrence County’s NAACP president.
Although modest, the free vaccination clinic at First Missionary Baptist Church in Courtland intends to encourage folks to get vaccinated who might be on the fence about it – such as the age group Lawrence County NAACP’s president is referencing.
“With things opening up now, young people are getting back out, congregating in large groups,” Turnbore said. “It’s very important that this age group gets vaccinated.”
The Morgan County Health Department helped out with Saturday’s Moderna vaccination clinic in rural Lawrence County.
“The risk of getting the COVID-19 vaccine, you can have your minor symptoms like a cold, cough, kind of like with the flu vaccine,” said Ashley Cohen, who’s a registered nurse. “You can have body aches that typically don’t last over 24 hours.”
Another goal of Saturday’s vaccination clinic was to offer an avenue for folks who work a 9 to 5 to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
“That’s really important,” Cohen said. “I’m really appreciative that they opened up this clinic today for people who work those hours.”
Folks who were vaccinated against COVID-19 Saturday in Courtland, are scheduled to return for their second shot on May 22.

domain: medical


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Dream about handbag is a sign for an important message from a divine power. You are longing for the comfort of home or of more familiar surroundings. Your goals are finally within reach. Your dream states your potential that has yet to be unleashed. Life is passing you by if you do not jump in and participate in it.
Handbag represents the need for kindness and compassion. You are dwelling in the past. You are experiencing a dilemma in your life. The dream suggests the finishing touches in your life that brings about fulfillment and completion. You bring peace and harmony to a situation.
Handbag in dream refers to a need for spiritual cleansing and rejuvenation. You may be overlooking something important. You will enjoy calmness and peace after a period of much chaos and problems. This dream suggests your quest and exploration of your subconscious mind. You may be feeling threatened.
Dream about handbag is about strength and personal power
You are in a relaxed state in your relationship. Some important and significant stage in your life may be coming to an end. This dream is a signal for your aspirations for wealth and status. You may receive some recognition and prestige.
Handbag is a message for trustworthiness, strength and resilience. You are effectively taking advantage of some situation. You are expending your energy on fruitless endeavors. The dream is a sign for a feeling of exposure and invasion of privacy. You are dealing with some emotional issue as graceful as you can.


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As the economy continues to shrink the Treasury are looking for ways to prop up the disastrous GDP figures. Now they think they have found the answer.
‘Writing government reports is a multi-million pound industry. I can’t imagine why we have never seen it before. We need to to take a closer look at it and maybe privatise it so it can become more tax efficient’, said one insider.
For further information on the issue, please see pages 45-78, 182-209 and appendices IV through to VIII.

domain: finance


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The Roman Empire
Courtesy of The Lebanese-American Association http://www.laa.org/tours/romanempire.htm
The greek And Roman empire :
Alexander the Great captured the
city of Tyre in 332 B.C. after an eight-month siege. When the city fell, almost all its
inhabitants were sold as slaves and Tyre lost its importance on the world stage. After
Alexander's death, his empire -- the entire ancient civilized world -- was split among his
The Roman Empire started expanding its powers into the Middle East. In the area known as The Levant. The Levant was already a prosperous trading colony and it was recognised as the gateway between the East and West. Spices, silks, dyes and precious stones were traded there. The Romans quickly recognised the strategic significance of places like Beirut, Tyre, Sidon, and Byblos, both from commercial and military stand point. Soon the entire region became part of the Roman Empire.
Phoenicia came first under Ptolemaic control, then under Seleucid control. When the Seleucid
dynasty fell to the Armenians, the rising empire of Rome stepped in and restored Seluecid control.
When the Seleucids fell into anarchy, Rome assumed direct control. Rome incorporated Phoenicia as part of Syria. The obscure city of Berytus (Beirut) began rising to prominence after the Roman emperor Augustus granted it Roman colonial status and Herod the Great financed lavish building projects there.
During Roman rule, the Phoenician language died out and was replaced by Aramaic as the
vernacular tongue. Greek became the language of literature. Important Lebanese writers included
Philo of Byblos, Porphyry of Tyre and Iamblichus of Chalcis. Porphyry played a key role in
spreading Neo-platonic philosophy, which later influenced pagan and Christian thought.
Under Roman rule, Berytus (Beirut) became the most famous provincial school of Roman law. Two of Rome's most famous jurists, Papinian and Ulpian, were natives of Lebanon and taught as professors of law in the school. Their opinions took up more than a third of the compilation of Roman law commissioned by the emperor Justinian I in the 6th century A.D.
Berytus' importance in Rome lasted until a series of earthquakes, a tidal wave, and fire in the
mid-6th century destroyed it.
In 608-609, Persian King Khosrow II pillaged Syria and Lebanon. Between 622 and 629, the
Byzantine emperor Heraclius won back the territory. But then in the 630s, Arabs who were
members of the new religion of Islam conquered Palestine and Lebanon. The old Phoenician cities
offered only token resistance to this new conqueror.
After a succession of different rulers, the Phoenicians became part of the Roman Empire in 64 BC when Pomey the Great conquered the territory of modern Lebanon and governed it as part of the province of Syria.
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AChristianity was firmly ramaic replaced Phoenician as the main language and by the 4th century established. During the early years of the Christian era, when theological differences bred numerous break-away sects, Lebanon became a refuge for religious minorities fleeing persecution. In the 7th century, the Christian sect that was later to become the Maronite church settled in the northern districts of the Lebanese Mountains to avoid conversion to Islam. The geographical inaccessibility that made Lebanon attractive as a religious refuge also appealed to Muslims; the Shiites found a haven there during the 9th century and the Druzes in the 11th century. The mosaic of differing beliefs in Lebanon gave each religious group a certain amount of autonomy in specific areas, but hampered unity for the region as a whole.
"Plutarch (A.D. 46-120), a priest of the Pythian Apollo at Chaeronia, Boeotia, wrote a treatise called On Isis and Osiris. During the Roman period Byblos was associated with Egypt in myth and ritual. This was seen in the myth of Isis and Osiris. The Byblian episodes of this myth appear nowhere in native Egyptian literature of any period and were obviously added to the myth in the Hellenistic age as part of the general syncretism of this age. In Plutarch's account the search by Isis for Osiris' body brought her to the shores of Byblos." - Nina Jidejian, Byblos Through the Ages
Some of the inhabitants of Byblos maintain that the Egyptian Osiris is buried in their town, and that the public mourning and secret rites are performed in memory not of Adonis but of Osiris. I will tell you why this story seems worthy of credence. A human head comes every year from Egypt to Byblos, floating on its seven days' journey thence; it never varies from its course but goes straight to Byblos. The whole occurrence is miraculous. It occurs every year, and it came to pass while I was myself in Byblos, and I saw the head in that city." - Lucian, The Syrian Goddess
"Herodotus (4.42) says that the Pharaoh Necho II, who reigned c. 615-595 B.C., determined to see if Africa could be circumnavigated. Accordingly, he commissioned a number of ships manned by Phoenicians for the task. These sailed down the Red Sea and down the east coast of Africa. Every year they settled for a while on the coast, cleared a strip of land, planted a crop and, when they had harvested it, continued on their journey. In the third year they sailed through the Pillars of Hercules and back to Egypt again. They reported that as they sailed around Africa they had the sun on their right. Herodotus refuses to believe this possible 'but perhaps others may.' For us of course this is conclusive proof that such a voyage was made. It is another instance of how Herodotus' dedication to recording exactly what he had heard, irrespective of whether he believed it or not, has given proof of an event which he described.
"Herodotus (4.43) also mentions a
Carthaginian called Sataspes, who, because he had used violence against a maiden, was
given a choice by the Great King Xerxes of being impaled on a stake or of sailing around
Africa. He elected to attempt the circumnavigation but lost heart after many months at
sea. He returned to 'civilisation' and reported that 'at the farthest point he had
reached, the coast was occupied by a dwarfish race' and 'whenever he landed, they left
their towns and fled to the mountains; but his men did them no wrong, only entering into
their cities and taking some of their cattle. The reason why he had not sailed around
Libya was, he said, because the ship stopped and would not go any further. Xerxes however
did not believe this and Sataspes was impaled by the king's orders in accordance with the
"Sataspes may have reached Cape Palmas. He may have been caught in the doldrums off the Cape Verde coast of Senegal and hence unable to proceed further. Some of the Arab voyagers down the west coast of Africa in medieval times reported that at a certain stage they could go no further.
"Herodotus and possibly Hanno report dwarves in West Africa. Sataspes' dwarves have been identified as early Bushmen, still found in South Africa but which may have been found further north 2500 years ago. Pygmies were also found in the Cameroons." - Ciaran Branigan, "The Ciccumnavigation of Africa"

domain: history


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Coupeville farmers meeting to focus on future of Whidbey agriculture
Farmers from Snohomish County will help guide a discussion on the current problems facing farms at an upcoming gathering of farmers and government officials on Whidbey Island.
The meeting is the second such gathering, and will be held next week in Coupeville.
“The future of agriculture on Whidbey will be shaped by collaboration between farmers, consumers and our political leaders,” said Karen Bishop, a farmer and the director of the Whidbey Island Conservation District.
“We feel this must be a coordinated effort and we want to explore with the community how to work toward this,” she said.
Farmers and political leaders will meet from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday, June 30 at the Au Sable Institute, 180 Parker Road in Coupeville for the Family Farms Forum II. The presentation is entitled, “Partners for Economic Success: Farmers and Local Government.”
Local farmers and supporters of island agriculture will get insights on partnering with government from past and present members of Snohomish County’s agricultural advisory committee. Farmers and experienced council members Linda Nuenzig and Mark Craven will share their experiences on the value their advisory body brought to the farming business.
“Our county’s partnership has been successful because we hit the ground running,” Nuenzig said.
She said Island County can do the same.
The number of farms raising crops and livestock across the island is increasing and so are the ideas on how to promote them to a wider audience.
At the same time, many local farmers are feeling pinched by county policies that no longer seem to accommodate farm-based business development.
In addition, representatives from community research groups for meat processing, branding and agritourism will highlight their progress.
Olivia Forté-Gardner, agricultural educator at Washington State University Extension, said this is the right time to talk about mutually beneficial partnerships.
“Farmers here are thinking creatively and are already taking action to turn our local agricultural economy around,” she said. “Having a voice for sustainable farming in local policy is really important.”
For information, call 360-678-7992.


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Known for his portraits of Taos artists – his award-winning book, Taos Portraits garnered him accolades and acclaim, his sculptures made from metal and wood, are gaining traction in the Art World, exposing him and his work to a far broader audience, but his journey from behind the lens to his recently completed studio, where he makes these intriguing flat, yet optically dimensional forms, is a story unto itself.
Paul first started taking photographs after enlisting in the U.S. Navy. While stationed in Japan, O’Connor bought his first camera, an Olympus OM-1 35mm. Endless rolls of clouds and sea scapes followed as Paul found himself drawn to the horizon line, his lens focused on the vast expanse of the big sky and cloud formations; the infinite space that would forever inspire his art in all of its outward manifestations.
1982 Paul received an honorable discharge from the NAVY and returned to California. He began working for a building contractor remodeling homes on the famous Malibu Colony Beach, where he’d paddle out and surf during his lunch breaks. At the same time, he was attending Santa Monica College taking evening classes, working on an Associate of Arts degree.
Paul then received a timely scholarship to attend Pepperdine University to continue his studies full-time. During his last term before graduation, Paul needed to take one more Elective Course and decided on Beginning Photography.
One of the first assignments in that course was to do a portrait of someone in their environment. Paul turned his lens on Ron Davis, the renowned artist, then living in a home architect Frank Gehry had designed for him, in the hills of Malibu. This was to become the first of many portraits of artists in their environs that Paul would take in the years to come.
Upon graduation with a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics in 1987, Paul went on to Pasadena Art Center to study Photography. On an assignment photographing a model in Santa Barbara, Paul met Tizia who was there on the set. His one day shoot turned into a two-week stay. They were married within months.
Having recently met artist Jim Wagner in Malibu, where he was showing his work, Paul was invited to visit him in Taos, where he lived. The couple decided to take the drive to New Mexico and look up Jim. The impact of the landscape and community on them was immediate. So much so, that they found themselves renting a place on La Loma Plaza on the third day of their visit, and never left.
One of the first people they met here was the architect, builder and visionary Mike Reynolds. Paul struck a deal to do the photography for Mike’s first book, Earthship I, in trade for a set of plans and began building the couple’s house on Hondo Mesa.
The Following year Ron Davis bought land down the road from them and began building a number of Navajo Hogan style buildings that became his new home and studio. Ron made a shift from large abstract expressionist paintings to sculpture, and hired Paul as his full time studio assistant while making a new body of work.
The time spent working for Ron was an early inspiration for Paul’s own creative process, which has been informed by so much more to date; exposure to several other great artists, nature – sea and sky – space, time and his own meditation practice have all culminated in the work he is currently engaged in making.
In 1990, the O’Connor’s welcomed their daughter Sophia into their lives and shortly thereafter, Paul began taking the photographs that would become the seed for Taos Portraits, edited by Bill Whaley.
O’Connor’s first show was in 1991 at the Philip Bareiss Gallery. The show’s title was Taos Characters, 25 portraits of Taos artist in black and white silver gelatin prints.
Between 1996 and 2004 the O’Connors moved to France, where Tizia is from, to educate their daughter in the French school system. They purchased a 1927 Dutch barge in Holland and navigated it down to Toulouse, France. This became their home for the next eight years. While remodeling the boat from stem to stern, Paul would make wall hanging sculptures with the scrap metal and wood.
Returning to Taos in 2004, Paul continued shooting portraits of artists, had several exhibitions and finally in 2012, produced his book of 60 select images, titled Taos Portraits. The book won top awards in four categories from the New Mexico/ Arizona book awards. Although he continues making portraits, Paul felt a chapter had closed with photography being the sole expression of his creative energy and allowed himself to turn to making sculpture full-time.
He built a new studio to enable himself to work on the pieces freely without interruption, and his first exhibition of his sculpture took place in 2016, again at the Philip Bareiss Gallery.
In the process of making these squares and hexagons, Paul “discovered” another critically important element, the addition of a black hole that became an integral part of these pieces. Symbolic of a fundamental element of Paul’s spiritual practice, the hole represents stillness, silence and spaciousness.
The response to that show was overwhelming. The pieces all sold and Paul returned to his studio, energized and inspired. A year later, his hard work has more than paid off. After an introduction made by a mutual friend, Paul found himself not only with world-class representation, but his work included in prestigious Art Fairs (this past week at the Armory Show in NYC.), traveling to Miami’s Art Basel next in December, and points beyond, thanks to his Art Dealer Vivian Horan Fine Art in NYC.
Meanwhile, Paul continues to make portraits of artists living and working here in Taos.
“Once I have a few more ready, I’ll have another show,” he says. “At the Bareiss Gallery, of course.”
For now, however, his eye is focused on that infinite horizon that has inspired his creative journey all along, and continues to inform the work he makes, whether in the darkroom or the studio.
For more information about Paul O’Connor and his work, please visit his sites linked below this post.
All photos thanks to Paul O’Connor, including the NYC selfie, the selfie taken for the recent Harwood Museum Selfie show.
O’Connor’s piece included in the current Armory Show in NYC, also thanks to Paul O’Connor.
Caveat: Paul O’Connor is a frequent (photographic) contributor to taoStyle and yours truly contributed a few profiles to Taos Portraits, and has collaborated with the artist (and Bill Whaley), on other writing assignments.