The PC master race phrase was first coined, as far as I can tell, by the famously vitriolic host of Zero Punctuation, Yahtzee Crowshaw as a dig at PC gaming. Since then the phrase has gained popularity as a form of insult, joking self-reference or a form of smug self-congratulation. All of this, however, has caused me to muse on what makes the system so much more interesting to me than my PS3 as time has gone on. It’s basically everything else besides my vita in what I game on, and in this blog I would like to examine why the system has become so useful to me. Make no mistake, this is not a PC MASTER RACE LOLZ sort of blog wherein I wonder what anyone could possibly see in consoles. Fanboyism is not a console exclusive if comments sections are any indication, but the point of this blog in particular is to create something of a personal examination of the system and its benefits/warts.
Bugs, quirks, and software
A PC is a wonderful thing, and when everything goes right it’s wonderful-hell as I will argue later, to me it’s one of the best gaming experiences you can have.
Unfortunately due to the nature of PC being so fragmented and fraught with variation, bugs and issues are inevitable. Because the PC is a computer-shocking I know-you’ve got to deal with all the standard issues that are inherent in computers even when not designed for gaming. This means dealing with viruses, malware, and even the computer just not running as well due to reasons you will never figure out-leading to a reboot and possible loss of information. You’ll also have to navigate to find files if your PC decides to put the files somewhere random, or if it decides to randomly split the locations where it keeps some files and keeps others, which varies from game to game.
That variation also means that bugs in games can be rampant, and if you haven’t updated all of your drivers recently then you might be in for a bad time-or, paradoxically you might be in for a bad time if you stay current. I recall one instance where no matter what game I played, the system would return to the home screen randomly. From Shovel Knight to random other games, this issue plagued me-until I installed an older version of my current driver, which fixed the issue immediately. Add in day one drivers being needed as well as patches and it can create a tightrope of getting the best performance if you don’t pay attention to a certain aspect of your rigs software.
Other random effects can mess up otherwise good ports, like how a certain tessellation effect in Tomb Raider 2013 caused horrible graphics fuck ups until I turned it off-because for some reason the game left it on by default…even after a year or so. And speaking of ports, actually….
Shitty PC ports and Disrespect
As time goes on and with the rise of Steam Refunds one can only hope this drops in frequency, but somehow I sincerely doubt it. Its telling that Capcom was pleasantly surprised at their recent Dragons Dogma PC port-a port that was praised for how well put together it was, and how it improved on the game significantly-selling so well. Good ports generally tend to sell well, as Durante noticed in a recent PC gamer article yet some companies still seem to think lazily shitting out a PC port with almost no work put into it is a good idea.
Last year saw the release of a new Mortal Kombat game that by a decent amount of accounts, had lots of issues going on with it and was eventually dropped from being supported on the PC. WB also graced the PC market with Batman Arkham Knight, a game so broken and flawed that it’s literally impossible to fix, and that WB actually took down for a few months to try and repair the damage. They then put it back up…..and admitted it was unfixable, and some people noticed the game had barely been changed at all, which backed up that statement.
Even this year, Namco Bandai released a port that was panned as bare bones and minimum effort-probably didn’t help that it was a port of a port of an inferior version of the GameCube version of the game-which is why it was especially damning on Namco Bandai that it took less than three hours for Durante to fix some of the games issues, and 14 minutes to fix its resolution lock. Poor PC ports are nothing new, and while bad ports are not exclusive to PC-hello Payday 2 and Firewatch-it happens frequently enough on PC to make one take notice. So much so that a popular PC gaming channel, Totalbiscuit, has an entire series called port report, seeing if games are good or bad ports.
But I think that the bad porting also comes from a place of contempt that companies have openly stated they possess for PC from time to time. Ubisoft is notorious for its poor quality PC ports, and open disdain for the PC platform-even though it makes up a large part of their revenue. They’ve dropped the graphical fidelity of games like Watch_Dogs and The Division to keep parity, bitched about how PC gamers are mostly pirates, and so on. Add in their shitty DRM service, UPlay, that is made completely redundant by steam existing and them now adding in EVEN MORE DRM to their games-ala Far Cry Primal installing Denuvo, and then leaving it on your computer even if you uninstall Primal-and it’s hard to believe they’ve warmed up to the system very much.
Even the wretched PC port of Arkham Knight used Denuvo as well, a DRM that has been accused from hurting performance to allegedly causing damage to certain PC components, though keep in mind those are just allegations. Denuvo is also DRM that comes to us courtesy of the former SECUROM team-one of the most hated DRM systems of the olden times. Hell, it’s in lots of other games too that weren’t highly publicized, if Wikipedia is telling it true. FIFA 15, Lords of the Fallen, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Battlefield Hardline, MGS V, Mad Max, FIFA 16, Star Wars Battlefront, Just Cause 3, and Rise of the Tomb Raider are all listed as using the program. And this is despite the fact that not only does steam exist for all but a few of these games, but that the games got cracked anyway, even if it took longer.
And while I won’t say that I don’t understand DRM-piracy is an issue and one that certainly can be costly to a company-using so much of it and punishing paying consumers with a program alleged to cause issues is irritating to the extreme. Especially when it’s not going to stop pirates anyway, with even Denuvo telling Eurogamer "Every protected game eventually gets cracked," even if it is taking longer. As others have argued, some people will pirate no matter what you do-punishing people willing to pay and never pirate isn’t going to do much for your reputation-especially if the DRM is shit, like UPLAY.
Hardware and cost
PC rigs are expensive, depending on the time you buy components and what components you decide to add. My rig can still run games full settings, was built in 2012 and has ended up costing me around 1000 dollars total. With consoles sitting around 400 dollars, that’s an expensive jump in price point-and one that requires more work in the user’s part, as I’ll explain below, should they want the potentially best price to power ratio.
My first PC was pre-built by a friend, and my second PC was built for me by a friend with my active input. This means I have never had to assemble a PC before, so when two of my fans went busto I had to roll up my sleeves and try to get past my anxiety to fix em. And fix them I did, while also learning that the PC wasn’t quite as intimidating as it first appeared-but this occurred after several years of owning the rig.
Some PC gamers who do mess with the guts and whatnot might scoff, but to someone completely unfamiliar with building a PC, they can be quite intimidating. Yes, there are pre-built rigs but a decent amount of PC gamers consider building to be the ideal way to go about it. It’s also cheaper in most cases, and allows you to go more modular/have a better upgrade and customization factor. Alienware computers look kind of nice, but they’re really expensive products that have a worse price to power ratio and ones that will most likely come with bloatware, as opposed to a fresh install. Steam machines fall into a similar category, seeming pretty expensive, running an OS that might actually degrade performance to some degree, and potentially having far less modularity. Though comparing the two companies, I find Steam machines to be a worse deal than Alienware seems to be because I don’t live in mirror universe where having a gaming desktop in the living room or hooked up to a TV is heretical.
There are better resources for doing this than ever, but it’s damn intimidating to snap together all those wires and parts when they cost so much and when you don’t know much about PC components. It’s also a lot of work and research to put into a machine, as compared to a simple little system you go and buy premade-and one that requires less troubleshooting on the consumers part if something fucks up. If your PS4 fucks up, you can go to Sony. If your PC fucks up, it can be a variety of issues causing the issue with your computer and you’re basically on your own to figure it out unless you take it to a computer shop, but there’s not really official support due to the custom nature of the rig. If something goes wrong, you’re generally going to have to do the troubleshooting and research-as I did when a fresh reboot of my OS made me have to dig out my motherboard CD and reinstall my network driver.
Another downside to PC is size and portability factors being worse than consoles. If you’re limited on space, a big ol PC rig is not going to eat up a small amount of space-especially if it’s a larger size case like mine. A console is more compact and lighter, and takes up relatively less space-my PS3 takes up a shelf in a low cabinet, while my PC is taller than the cabinet. And then there’s the portability of the system to be concerned. Because the PC is large, heavy, and expensive, moving it is a nervewracking and cumbersome affair. Consoles aren’t exactly balls of down feathers, but there’s less stuff to unplug, less weight to worry about and thus they’re easier to take to different places. One might wonder why that matters, but speaking as someone who lived in a dorm for a bit and then had to bring the PC home it can be pretty cumbersome.
And there’s part one, going through all of the issues I have with the PC. In our discord chat we talked about some marketplace issues, but I think I’ll save that for a later comprehensive blog on that topic. As with previous blogs I have far more to say than I thought I did, but such is the nature of the beast. Feel free to join me for my next blog, wherein I talk about things I like about the PC platform, and share your reasonable opinions down below!


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So maybe it doesn’t look like a bridge to you.
It didn’t to me either, but that was the first thing my wife saw, and I liked that.
I just finished rereading The Legend of Bagger Vance by Stephen Pressfield (stay with me here) and there’s a lot in that book that isn’t about golf. In fact, the book isn’t really about golf at all, golf is just the vehicle for the meaningful stuff. I also found out that the book was based on the Bhagavad Gita.
There’s a lot of talk in the story about finding your authentic swing. And of course, your authentic swing is what you have to find in life, whether it’s your golf game, your painting game, your relationships, or your own spiritual journey.
I feel like I’ve been honing in on my authentic painting swing for the past year. I’ve come close in my career, but never as much as recently. And like Rannulph Junah, the protagonist in the story, I found it, then got in my head and lost it, and have come back to it now with greater understanding. I don’t find my painting path, my painting path finds me. And then I get out of the way and allow it to paint through me.
Kind of like getting on a ride at a theme park.
Oh, and the field of flowers or the bridge? It makes absolutely no difference. That’s head stuff that happens after the fact. I present the painting with a name that serves as an identifier, with some reference however tenuous, to the imagery so the title can be a useful tag.
4 thoughts on “The Red Bridge”
I was really moved by your narrative. I think I’ll read Pressfield’s book. Thanks.
Thanks for the comment. It’s a worthwhile read. The movie: pretty light fluff with some references to the book.
Actually, can you send me a copy? Thought i had it but don’t
I only have it in paperback, and I want to go through it again & highlight it.

domain: hobby


Rollable multicolor display using electrically induced blueshift of a cholesteric reactive mesogen mixture
Abbreviated Journal Title
Appl. Phys. Lett.
LIQUID-CRYSTALS; Physics, Applied
Electrically controllable blueshift of the reflection band in a planar cholesteric reactive mesogen cell is observed. The responsible mechanism is electric-field-induced Helfrich deformation [J. Chem. Phys. 55, 839 (1971)]. The modified director configuration can be solidified by photopolymerizing the reactive mesogens when a voltage is applied. The correlation between the director configuration and optical properties is validated by the scanning electron microscope photos and the transmission spectra of a planar and an undulated cholesteric film. With masked curing at different voltages, a rollable multicolor display is demonstrated. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.
Applied Physics Letters
"Rollable multicolor display using electrically induced blueshift of a cholesteric reactive mesogen mixture" (2006). Faculty Bibliography 2000s. 6720.


Levante, Ghibli Updates and Quattroporte Were Confirmed by Maserati
Sept. 17, 2015, 9:54 a.m.
It seems that the Frankfurt Motor Show 2015 will have a bunch of Maserati models to demonstrate. The world famous Italian automaker brought the improved versions of their Ghibli and Quattroporte sedans to the currently running Frankfurt motor show. Maserati's executives also confirmed the previously delayed Levante. The long-anticipated SUV will finally debut by the end of the first quarter of 2016.
It means that Maserati aficionados will be able to look at the Levante SUV during the upcoming Geneva motor show or even earlier during the 2015 Detroit Auto Show. The Levante's commercial launch is expected several months later after the demonstration.
Speaking about the Maserati's lineup, finally the automaker added to it Euro VI homologation standards for all current gas engines that are also equipped with double-turbocharged V6 currently used both by the Quattroporte and Ghibli sedans, including the V8 engine implemented in the Quattroporte. Such implementations helped to achieve a 12 % reduced fuel consumption, along with decreased emissions.
Maserati introduced the updated diesel engines that were implemented with AdBlue catalytic reduction tech. The efficiency numbers of the 3.0-L diesel V6 of the Ghibli sedan remain unchanged though they manage to produce 275 horsepower. It means that finally the European continent will receive clearer diesel engines thanks to Maserati.


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The Southern-inspired breakfast and lunch cafe, Another Broken Egg, has closed in the Casa Linda Plaza after about 10 years in business, a spokeswoman for the chain said Monday.
The eatery shut its doors Feb. 25 because the owner could not agree on lease terms with the property owner, Edens, said Jan Barnett, chief marketing officer for Another Broken Egg.
Barnett said she did not know if owner Chris Harwood would reopen the cafe in a new location. The restaurant still has three locations in the area, including Dallas proper, Southlake and The Colony.
Another Broken Egg called it quits about two months after the Maddox Shop closed in the same shopping center. The custom bra and upscale lingerie shop had operated at the location since 1961. Owner Mark Snyder told the Dallas Morning News in December that the shop closed because increasing rental rates at the plaza were too high.
Harwood and Edens did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Click to sign up for the Advocate's weekly news digest and be the first to know what’s happening in Lakewood/East Dallas.

domain: news


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“During my tour of the exhibit, I learned how Canadians just like us are making a difference by turning their personal interests and strengths into opportunities to create global change…It was remarkable to discover how various Canadians’ simple notions have become widespread solutions to combating global poverty!” Read more about the impression the tour left during its stop at the Ismaili Centre in Toronto.
Find out how Together: An Exhibition on Global Development is inspiring conversations on global development in communities across the country:
The University of Waterloo’s official student newspaper paid a visit to the Together Exhibit during its stay hosted by Conrad Grebel University College. 34 percent of attendees who took the Global Citizenship quiz discovered they are best suited to use their skills of leadership and communication in the fight against global poverty.
Ridley College and their neighbours were invited to participate in the Together mobile exhibit when it rolled into St. Catherines on October 19th and 20th. Students had the opportunity to engage on Canadian’s roles in global development as well as discuss how they too could become active in the process.
Together: An exhibition on global development has welcomed close to 15,000 visitors in the past six months, in over 30 communities in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada. Throughout the tour, the exhibit has sparked discussion on Canada’s contribution to global development and how Canadians can take action to alleviate global poverty.
We are now planning for 2016 and want to hear where you think our exhibit should go! The exhibit will start in British Columbia in the spring and will then travel to Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario.
Help us spread the word and ask your friends this question: Where would you like to see the Together exhibit go in 2016?
Use #AllForChange or submit your idea here!
Keep your eye on our tour schedule to see if we were able to include your suggestion!
Together: An exhibition on global development has finished the eastern leg of its cross-Canada tour, traveling to six provinces and reaching close to 15,000 people since it launched in Ottawa in April! During the six month tour, the exhibit made 42 stops in close to 30 communities.


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From aging oxen to 3D printed steaks we go to Spain to explore the future of meat and Sophia makes a Compound Butter to elevate a less expensive cut of meat. Plus, Sophia explores meat-free proteins with a Vegan Butcher and a Venezuelan street food vendor makes a statement with his “Trump Burger”.
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domain: food


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Israeli President Reuven Rivlin sent a request on Oct. 13 to Russian President Vladimir Putin in an attempt to pardon an Israeli-American woman who was caught in possession of cannabis. Naama Issachar, 26, was caught with 9.6 grams (a little over a quarter ounce) of cannabis in her luggage and now faces hard time in a Russian prison.
Issachar was merely transferring at Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow during a trip from India to Israel. Issachar said she accidentally left the cannabis in her bags after traveling overseas the past three months.
Issachar was sentenced to sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in jail by a Russian court on Friday. Israeli authorities believe the sentence is quite harsh, given how medical cannabis is embraced in Israel.
“Naama made a grave mistake and has admitted her crime, but in the case of a young woman with no criminal record, the severe sentence handed down will have a deeply destructive impact on her life,” Rivlin wrote in a letter to Putin. “I am appealing to your mercy and compassion with a request for your personal intervention to grant her an extraordinary pardon.”
Moscow, on the other hand, is reportedly seeking a deal to prevent the extradition of Aleksey Burkov, a Russian citizen who has been held in an Israeli prison since 2015. But Israeli officials said there is no possible way to prevent the extradition, because a supreme court ruling has already been made.
Russia is among the countries with the harshest drug possession laws. According to a report from the Council of Europe, Russia holds the title for the highest number of people per capital imprisoned for drug-related crimes out of all European countries. In addition, Russia is prone to censorship about anything cannabis-related, including Wikipedia entries about the historical use of cannabis.
Israel partially decriminalized recreational cannabis use, with a reemphasis on treatment instead of criminal charges. For now, Issachar remains at the mercy of Russian authorities until a deal is made to set her free.


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NGOs get Cabinet nod to set up community radio stations
"CRS licence applicants will have to have a track record of at least three years," information and broadcasting minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi said. He said the CR stations to be operated by the NGOs should be designed to serve a well-defined local community and have an ownership and management structure, reflective of the community these radio stations seek to serve.
"It is aimed at providing a strong and vibrant community radio system to enhance pluralism and to sustain diversity of cultures and languages. The community radio will not include newscasting and current affairs programmes and this will be dealt with comprehensively by an inter-ministerial group represented by ministries of home affairs, defence, rural development, Panchayati Raj and human resource development," he said.
The minister said this decision had been taken after considering the recommendations of the group of ministers headed by agriculture minister Sharad Pawar. The Cabinet also authorised the information and broadcasting ministry to finalise the terms and conditions and detailed procedures for issuing licences for community radio.
In another decision, the Cabinet relaxed criteria for Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP). It would also include the drought prone districts identified under Prime Minister's package for agrarian distress, he said. "The relaxation will help complete ongoing projects," he said.
Besides the identified drought-hit districts, the AIBP project would be extended to drought-prone and tribal areas and states with lower irrigation potential as compared to the national average.
The Cabinet also removed the distinction of fast track projects, reforming and non-reforming states and release of grant special category states. The relaxed criteria will help achieve the targets as envisaged under Bharat Nirman Programme, Mr Dasmunsi said.
(This article was originally published in The Times of India)


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Lahore: Pakistan allayed fears of latest taking part in situations whereas bowling coach Waqar Younis says stopping the usage of spit on the ball didn’t make a lot distinction to the bowlers' efficiency.
In a press convention on the video hyperlink, Waqar Younis, the bowling coach of the nationwide cricket workforce in Derby, stated that it was a bonus to reach in England earlier than the sequence, good preparations are underway, the efficiency of all because of the massive variety of cricketers within the squad. Having the chance to check, not solely the latest sequence of this expertise but additionally away? Future competitions, together with New Zealand, will profit, everybody's kind and health will likely be in sight.
He stated that the gamers fought laborious in coaching and observe matches, that they had an opportunity to return on the sphere after an extended break, ranging from zero, the pacers are coming to Radham, Wahab Riaz, everyone seems to be into account, anybody Not out of the race, three seamers will likely be fed or four is simply too early to say something, the temper of England's pitches has modified in comparison with the previous, we’ve to see how the August season is, we are able to add 2 spinners relying on the state of affairs.
Waqar Younis stated that after the usage of spit on the ball was stopped there have been fears that there could be issues, now the situations have been assessed, the West Indies are watching the sequence very fastidiously, we suspected that the bowlers didn’t spit the ball. Will be very troublesome, all through the profession bowlers will likely be troubled with out what they’re accustomed to, however the hair can be completely different, we seen that regardless of the sluggish pitch, Duke's ball was bent and swinged, I used to be stunned
He stated that Mohammad Abbas is skilled, there isn’t any doubt within the expertise of Naseem Shah and Shaheen Afridi, each are studying quick, proper now their comparability with the duo of Joffrey Archer and Mark Wood will not be right, tempo in all 4 bowlers. Yes, the Pakistani duo has much less expertise however the abilities are a bit higher. It could be unsuitable to anticipate efficiency from them like Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. Both of them are nonetheless younger however transferring in the direction of steady enchancment. And proceed to carry out for Pakistan for a very long time. However, watching the younger pacers jogs my memory of my youth. When they get wickets, my blood will increase.
He stated that the efficiency of bowlers together with Shadab Khan shouldn’t be judged by the scorecard of the observe match, the spectators wouldn’t be watching what a coach sees on the sphere, the pitch behind the efficiency not trying a lot better. And there are a lot of different causes, it additionally must be seen at what stage the bowler bowled, the way forward for the league spinner is vibrant and he’s in good rhythm, the great factor is that we’ve every kind of weapons for choice, we Not focusing on a single England batsman, the opposing workforce has to take 20 wickets to win a Test match, every of our bowlers could have their very own plan in order that they’ll take most wickets.
Waqar Younis stated that England has the benefit of dwelling floor however we’re hopeful that they’ll carry out in addition to previously. Expectations are connected to Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq who’ve skilled these situations, disappointing their supporters. Will not.
To a query, the bowling coach stated that he hopes that Shoaib Malik will come right here and get health and kind, Virat Kohli's health is superb however our gamers together with Babar and Shaheen will not be much less, we are going to set our requirements, health improves. All the cricketers in England are working laborious for.


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Apollonius of Tyana, by G.R.S. Mead, , at sacred-texts.com
But besides these letters Apollonius also wrote a number of treatises, of which, however, only one or two fragments have been preserved. These treatises are as follows:
a. The Mystic Rites or Concerning Sacrifices. * This treatise is mentioned by Philostratus (iii. 41; iv. 19), who tells us that it set down the proper method of sacrifice to every God, the proper hours of prayer and offering. It was in wide circulation, and Philostratus had come across copies of it in many temples and cities, and in the libraries of philosophers. Several fragments of it have been preserved, the most important of which is to be found in Eusebius, and is to this effect: "Tis best to make no sacrifice to God at all, no lighting of
a fire, no calling Him by any name that men employ for things of sense. For God is over all, the first; and only after Him do come the other Gods. For He doth stand in need of naught een from the Gods, much less from us small mennaught that the earth brings forth, nor any life she nurseth, or even any thing the stainless air contains. The only fitting sacrifice to God is man's best reason, and not the word * that comes from out his mouth.
"We men should ask the best of beings through the best thing in us, for what is goodI mean by means of mind, for mind needs no material things to make its prayer. So then, to God, the mighty One, whos over all, no sacrifice should ever be lit up."
Noack tells us that scholarship is convinced of the genuineness of this fragment. This book, as we have seen, was widely circulated and held in the highest respect, and it said that its rules were engraved on brazen pillars at Byzantium.
b. The Oracles or Concerning Divination, 4 books. Philostratus (iii. 41) seems to think that the full title was Divination of the Stars, and says that it was based on what Apollonius had
learned in India; but the kind of divination Apollonius wrote about was not the ordinary astrology, but something which Philostratus considers superior to ordinary human art in such matters. He had, however, never heard of anyone possessing a copy of this rare work.
c. The Life of Pythagoras. Porphyry refers to this work, * and Iamblichus quotes a long passage from it.
d. The Will of Apollonius, to which reference has already been made, in treating of the sources of Philostratus (i. 3). This was written in the Ionic dialect, and contained a summary of his doctrines.
A Hymn to Memory is also ascribed to him, and Eudocia speaks of many other (καὶ ἄλλα πολλά) works.
We have now indicated for the reader all the information which exists concerning our philosopher. Was Apollonius, then, a rogue, a trickster, a charlatan, a fanatic, a misguided enthusiast, or a philosopher, a reformer, a conscious worker, a true initiate, one of the earth's great ones? This each must decide for himself, according to his knowledge or his ignorance.
I for my part bless his memory, and would gladly learn from him, as now he is.
153:* The full title is given by Eudocia, Ionia; ed. Villoison (Venet.; 1781), p. 57.
153: See Zeller, Phil. d. Griech, v. 127.
153: Præparat. Evangel., iv. 12-13; ed. Dindorf (Leipzig; 1867), i. 176, 177.
154:* A play on the meanings of λόγος, which signifies both reason and word.
154: Psyche, I. ii. 5.
154: Noack, ibid.
155:* See Noack, Porphr. Vit. Pythag., p. 15.
155: Ed. Amstelod., 1707, cc. 254-264.

domain: library


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This is a typical media reaction to the August 25 story about research by Johns Hopkins Medicine on emergency room temporary staff.
The story begins, “Temporary staff members working in a hospital’s fast-paced emergency department are twice as likely as permanent employees to be involved in medication errors that harm patients.”
Similar coverage made my jaw drop. ERE.net followed the Johns Hopkins Newswise release to the letter: Temporary ER Staff Poses Increased Safety Risk to Patients.
The Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog bungled it even more badly: Temporary Emergency Room Staff Members Pose Increased Risk of Medical Errors.
For the record, the article was originally published online in November 2010 with the heading “Are Temporary Staff Associated with More Severe Emergency Department Medication Errors?” The research results appear in the July/August 2011 issue of the Journal for Healthcare Quality.
Here’s a better headline for this story: Training, Onboarding of Temporary Staff Is Especially Critical For ER Heads.
Or, just this: Managers, Don’t Blame The Temps.
The third paragraph of the original article says:
“The Hopkins team cautions that while it may be easy to blame the temps themselves for the errors, the problem is probably more diffuse and complex. ‘A place that uses a lot of temporary staff may have more quality of care issues in general ,’ says Julius Cuong Pham, M.D., Ph.D, an assistant professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine and emergency medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the study’s leader. ‘It may not be the temporary staff that causes those errors but a function of the whole system.’”
So if a highly qualified temporary nurse, for example, makes a critical mistake because of the unfamiliar surroundings or lack of understanding about the ER’s policies and procedures, who should assume the responsibility?
Maintaining a functional, skilled temporary workforce is a viable strategy for many companies in many industries. If a company reaps the cost-saving, flexibility-enhancing benefits of that workforce, the company leadership – not the temp workers – must ensure that all employees are properly onboarded and trained according to company standards.
For the staffing industry, story leads like these are not doing us any favors. And we’ve got to be paying more attention to them.
By and large, we never hear about temporary workers underperforming in, really, any industry. Yet with headlines like the above, we unwittingly encourage the perception of skilled, professional, hard-working temporary staff as second-class workers - a cheaper, less-effective alternative to the real thing.


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Press TV, Stockholm
Members of the anti-Iran terrorist cult MKO attacked the reporter and news crew of Press TV while they were covering an exhibition held in Stockholm, Sweden, highlighting the group’s crimes.
The exhibition turned chaotic after the cult members violently assaulted the Press TV crew and other participants.
Press TV crew, reporting on an exhibition showcasing MKO bombings and assassinations in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, was viciously attacked by unruly supporters of the group.
Listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community, the notorious group has the blood of 17,000 Iranians on its hands.
After being driven out of post-revolution Iran, the MKO based itself in Camp Ashraf in Iraq, where members were forced to pledge allegiance to its leader Masoud Rajavi, and demonstrate that with cult-like behavior. For women that meant divorcing their husbands and marrying him.
Many families spent years on the fringes of the camp begging for their children to be released but to no avail. The camp was later dismantled in the wake of the US invasion of Iraq.
Until 2012 the MKO was on the US terrorist list. It was also blacklisted by the EU until 2009. Since being removed the new leader of the cult, Maryam Rajavi, has forged close relationships with western officials.
From what unfolded on the streets of Stockholm today it is shockingly clear that the EU has become a safe haven for the MKO, which attacks journalists with little fear of retribution.

domain: sociology


ONC chief sees Carequality patient data exchange in action
Vindell Washington, MD, the National Coordinator for Health IT, visited healthcare clinics and a long-term care nursing facility in St. Louis Oct. 25 to observe data exchange across different EHRs and record locator services.
The exchange took place via the Carequality Interoperability Framework.
SSM Health – including the St. Louis-area outpatient center that Washington visited – uses an Epic EHR to receive patient files from multiple community partners who use NextGen, athenahealth, MatrixCare with Kno2 interoperability services, and eClinicalWorks with Surescripts’ National Record Locator Service.
Carequality announced live exchange in August, with 3,000 clinics and 200 hospitals live and ready for exchange. Today, the effort has grown to more than 150,000 clinicians across 11,000 clinics and 500 hospitals live and able to share health data records, regardless of the technology network, said Dave Cassel, director of Carequality, in a statement.
More than 50,000 care documents have been exchanged so far.
"What’s happening here in the St. Louis area is being replicated around the country," Peter Schoch, MD, vice president of Value-Based Care & Payment for SSM Health St. Louis, said.
"The exponential growth we’re seeing is a credit to the diverse stakeholders from across healthcare who came together and developed the framework specifically to be able to scale nationally and very quickly, by leveraging the existing investments and technologies of our implementers," Cassel said.
He explained that connectivity among diverse health systems and EHRs is possible because Carequality delivered the necessary legal terms, policy requirements, technical specifications, and governance processes.
To date, the framework has been adopted by 15 healthcare organizations with dozens more reviewing it for adoption, according to Cassel.
Washington observed health data sharing at Midwest Nephrology Associates, Inc., SSM Health, and Mount Carmel Senior Living, all in St. Louis.


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Stress relaxation of compacts produced from viscoelastic materials
Porosity expansion of tablets as a result of bonding and deformation of particulate solids
Compaction mechanism and tablet strength of unlubricated and lubricated (silicified) microcrystalline cellulose.
Tensile strength of tablets containing two materials with a different compaction behaviour.
Tableting Properties of Experimental and Commercially Available Lactose Granulations for Direct Compression
AbstractLactose granulations (125-250 μm) were prepared from two different β-lactose monohydrate powders and one roller dried B-lactose powder respectively, by wet granulation with only water as a…
Effect of magnesium stearate on bonding and porosity expansion of tablets produced from materials with different consolidation properties.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BULK-DENSITY AND COMPACTIBILITY OF LACTOSE GRANULATIONS
THE EFFECT OF DRY GRANULATION ON THE CONSOLIDATION AND COMPACTION OF CRYSTALLINE LACTOSE
Improvement of dissolution of poorly soluble drugs by solid deposition on a super disintegrant. II. The choice of super disintegrants and effect of granulation


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I've discussed this in other threads that could maybe be found via search but I will repeat my steps here:
1) Use the detail tool
because it's a nice way to establish the demarcation of the area to show as enlarged (typically bathrooms) but leave the detail bubble without any text.
2) create a new plan view
for enlarged plan (with layers and scale, etc as needed).
3) Place the enlarged plan view in your layout and choose it as an auto text reference
(I do this by selecting and using the contextual menu).
4) Now place some text (using the text tool) in the detail bubble and use the auto text reference as the text.
There's probably fancier ways to do it but this works and keeps everything linked.
Nattering nabob of negativism
(2022 MBP M1 still in the box)

domain: design


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A searchable list of all AoM cheats and cheat codes from the latest verion of the game on PC / Mac (Steam and non-Steam). The cheats in this list include those from AoM: Titans and AoM: Extended Edition.
To use cheats in AoM, hit ENTER on your keyboard to bring up the console, then type in a cheat code (in capital letters), and hit ENTER again to send it.
Cheats that are exclusive to The Titan DLC are labelled with the The Titans badge, and those from the Extended Edition are labelled with the Extended Edition badge. Most of these exclusive cheats are located at the bottom of the list.
Start to type a cheat code into the search box below to search for a specific cheat. Additionally, type the name of a DLC to filter all cheats from that DLC (e.g. "The Titans"), or a more specific term such as "gold" (to search for cheats that give you gold), "god power" (to search for god power cheats), etc.
TROJAN HORSE FOR SALE Copy
This cheat code gives you 1,000 more wood.
JUNK FOOD NIGHT Copy
This cheat gives you 1,000 food.
ATM OF EREBUS Copy
Erebus' ATM clearly has a lot of money in it, every time you use this cheat you gain an extra 1,000 gold.
MOUNT OLYMPUS Copy
This cheat gives you full favor for your civilization (works for Greeks, Egyptians, Norse, and all other civilization types).
LAY OF THE LAND Copy
This cheat reveals the entire map.
UNCERTAINTY AND DOUBT Copy
This cheat code will hide the map after using the "LAY OF THE LAND" cheat.
THRILL OF VICTORY Copy
If you want to outright win, this cheat is for you - using this will win your current game.
CHANNEL SURFING Copy
This cheat ends your current scenario and moves you forward to the next one in your campaign.
L33T SUPA H4X0R Copy
Note that H4X0R is a zero (0), not an O letter. This cheat will enable instant building, so you won't have to wait for construction to complete.
LETS GO! NOW! Copy
Note that after "LETS GO!" there are two spaces, not just one. This cheat code speeds the game up.
CONSIDER THE INTERNET Copy
This cheat code slows the game down.
DIVINE INTERVENTION Copy
This cheat skips the cooldown time on all God Powers that you have previously used, allowing you to use them again without waiting.
PANDORAS BOX Copy
This cheat will give you a set of random God Powers each time you use it.
WRATH OF THE GODS Copy
This cheat gives you the following God Powers: Lightning Storm, Earthquake, Meteo and Tornado.
GOATUNHEIM is an interesting cheat to say the least - it will give you the Goatunheim God Power, which is only obtainable by using cheats. The Goatunheim power, when used, turns all units on the map into goats.
FEAR THE FORAGE Copy
This cheat will give you the Walking Berry Bushes God Power, a god power that can only be granted with cheats. This god power will turn berry bushes (max 10) into walking berry bushes that are hostile towards enemy buildings and units.
BAWK BAWK BOOM Copy
BAWK BAWK BOOM is a cheat code that grants you access to a God Power that is only accessible via cheats - the Chicken Storm. The Chicken Storm causes "explosive chickens" to fall from the sky onto the targeted area.
I WANT TEH MONKEYS!!!1! Copy
This cheat code spawns lots of monkeys at your Town Center, they will provide food when they die. Note that this is not a god power - the monkeys are spawned as soon as you use the cheat code.
WUV WOO Copy
This cheat spawns a flying purple hippo that leaves a trail of rainbow behind when it moves.
TINES OF POWER Copy
This cheat spawns the Forkboy unit, which is only spawnable with cheats. The Forkboy is an Infantry unit which will fight in battles.
O CANADA Copy
This cheat spawns the Lazer Bear unit, which like the Forkboy unit, can only be spawned with cheat codes. The Lazer Bear unit will fight in battles, and is one of the most powerful units, having 1,120 hitpoints and attacking with lazer beams.
ISIS HEAR MY PLEA Copy
This cheat code gives you all of the heroes from the campaign (Fall of the Trident).
SET ASCENDANT Copy
This cheat will instantly reveal all animals on the map.
IN DARKEST NIGHT Copy
Each time this cheat is used, your game will cycle through to the next lighting setting: sunset, night, morning and midday.
RED TIDE Copy
This cheat turns all of the game's water red (assumably as-if it were blood).
MR. MONDAY Copy
This cheat gives the Titan AI 1,000% handicap.
ENGINEERED GRAIN Copy
After using this cheat code, all of your herd animals will be instantly fattened.
ZENOS PARADOX Copy
This cheat code will give you a random selection of god powers. This differs from the PANDORAS BOX cheat as the "random selection" includes god powers exclusive to AoM: The Titans. The Titans
TINFOIL HAT Copy
This cheat will randomly assign new ownership to all of the units on the map. The Titans
This cheat gives you an instant titan. The Titans
RESET BUTTON Copy
This cheat code will instantly deconstruct all buildings that are currently on the map. The Titans
ATLANTIS REBORN Copy
This cheat gives you all of the heroes from AoM: The Titans' campagin (The New Atlantis). The Titans
This cheat code spawns a Bella unit at your town center, which is only obtainable via cheats. The Bella unit is a dog with 5,000 hitpoints, and very powerful. The Titans
This cheat gives you 100,000 of each resource, increases build and research speeds by 10,000%, gives you the maximum possible population cap, and allows you to cast an unlimited amount of god powers (no cooldown). Extended Edition

domain: game


Chorley FM HQ
The Explorer Scouts came in to Chorley Fm in a change to our regular programming. The Scout’s from Chorley, completed their media training as part of a 3 year funded project from Chorley Council. Working alongside Onside (Chorley Youth Zone)
The group and some 150 other young people from schools and uniformed organisations have taken part in the course, sampling the world of broadcast media
On the 17th March the Scouts took to the airwaves and interviewed local charity “Stars and Cars” Who kindly came in to talk about the work they do with Deran House
Colin from Stars and Cars also brought in a Star Wars storm trooper helmet which the youngsters had great fun with.
The Scouts were aged between 14 -16 years of age and they did a wonderful job asking questions live on air.
The show began at 7.20 and ended at 8.45
Chorley FM welcomes charities and other non profit organisations to get involved with the station. As a community station run entirely by volunteers, we offer voice in the town of Chorley
To find out more please email email@example.com


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About the Photo
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domain: entertainment


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Cyber Threat Intelligence: More Threat Than Intelligence?
This article proposes that commercial cyber intelligence products have multiple flaws which make it unreliable for use by the U.S. government, and that it falls upon the government to address those flaws in the following ways:
- Examine cyber threat intelligence for indicators of deception.
- Differentiate between bad actors in an attack.
- Invest in developing human assets who are in a position to corroborate or deny what the technical indicators present as possibilities.
- Exclude other possibilities until one remains.
“Hit anything that doesn’t look like a knife until it does.”(1)
Back then and continuing through at least 2011, the conventional wisdom was that cyber threats fell into two buckets: Financial crime was attributed to Russian hackers and intellectual property theft was attributed to the Chinese government. There was no allowance made for mercenary hacker groups who we now know were active during that time frame (3), or from Russian criminals (Russian Business Network) operating from Chinese IP space in 2007, or for cyber espionage operations run by France or Israel (4). Threat intelligence generated during the “two buckets” era was shared with the FBI and other agencies, and the FBI at least didn’t (and still doesn’t) have the time or resources to vet the source of the intelligence.
To put it simply, there are four things missing from the overwhelming majority of cyber threat intelligence generated from the private sector; things which are fundamental to generating a reliable analytic product:
DeceptionConducting Military Deception (MILDEC) operations in cyberspace is already a priority for Russia’s FSB according to Taia Global contacts in the Russian blackhat community. The FSB regularly recruits blackhats for contract work, and one of the standing orders is to leave evidence pointing to an entirely different government as the perpetrator of the attack (5). This is relatively easy to do since 95% of threat intelligence is based upon technical indicators (6) such as:
- Keyboard Layout
- Malware Metadata
- Embedded Fonts
- DNS Registration
- Remote Administration Tool Configuration
All seven of these indicators can be easily spoofed by a savvy attacker, which the FireEye report properly notes in the Introduction. Take the Keyboard Layout, for example:
“FireEye researchers have found that many aspects of malware campaigns have the earmarks of being typed on a Mandarin (GB2312) keyboard used in China. In a similar vein, North Korea’s KPS 9566 character set can help identify the campaigns that emanate from that region. This method of tracing the origins of an attack is not foolproof. In theory, a Russian national could employ a North Korean keyboard to disguise his or her identity and whereabouts, for example. (7)”The problem with focusing solely on technical indicators is that the attacker controls all of them; therefore you see what the attacker wants you to see. Unfortunately there is little investment in recruiting human assets to corroborate signals intelligence when it comes to cyber attacks, so investigating agencies and the private sector are in the highly vulnerable position of letting the attacker control all of the evidence that they have to go on.
DifferentiationThe responsibility for the Sony breach of November 2014 has been assigned to North Korea by the U.S. government. However, Taia Global researchers found that the native language of the attackers was most likely Russian, not Korean; that Russian hackers had breached Sony’s network, and still had access 60 days after the destruction of 80% of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s network (8).
Technical analysis of a network will fail to differentiate between multiple bad actors operating simultaneously. No one mentioned Russian hackers until Taia Global published its findings. That’s because the White House with input from the intelligence community decided within days of the attack that the responsible party was North Korea (9), and then went about finding ways to prove it, which is the antithesis of sound intelligence analysis. Differentiation cannot be done when the analytic process doesn’t allow for it. The fact is that none of the publicly available evidence provided by the FBI rules out other perpetrators as being responsible. The NSA’s classified evidence can’t be vetted however whatever that evidence is, it failed to disclose that Russian hackers were in the network at the same time as the North Koreans.
CorroborationCyber threat intelligence is primarily signals intelligence, however there are multiple examples of Signals Intelligence getting it wrong, such as the second Gulf of Tonkin attack, the lack of WMDs in Iraq, and the Yom Kippur war to name a few. There must be more of an effort made to acquire human assets such as blackhat hackers who can corroborate the evidence provided by technical indicators. Minus such corroboration, the degree of trustworthiness of intelligence gained through signals intelligence alone is highly suspect.
ExclusionHow does an investigating agency rule out other suspects in a computer network attack? It must have the ability to differentiate between hacker groups and/or nation states, which is extremely difficult without consulting human assets who were either involved themselves or know someone who was. Yet, the ability to exclude other parties from a finding of responsibility is a necessary part of generating reliable threat intelligence. More resources should be provided to the Central Intelligence Agency to fulfill this part of their mission even if that means cutting the NSA’s share of the budget to make that happen.
The Private Sector
“Must be nice to be a Threat Intelligence company.”
“Can anyone disprove this?”
“Run with it. (10)”
The private sector isn’t trained to do intelligence collection and analysis, nor do they have any oversight or suffer any consequences for bad practices or mis-attribution.
There are numerous reasons why government agencies should question the quality and value of intelligence generated by the private sector.
It has no skin in the game.
If the private sector is wrong about attribution for any given attack, there are no consequences. They just move on to the next report.
They are profit-driven.
Private threat intelligence companies generate intelligence as a sellable product. For many years, blaming an attack on China was guaranteed to get them a mention in the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal, which in turn brought in new customers. Blaming an attack on Romania might merit an article in an industry blog like Dark Reading, which wasn’t nearly as desirable.
They’ll never have an “intelligence failure”.
The U.S. Intelligence Community has suffered many intelligence failures, and for the bigger ones it usually results in the forming of a commission and a subsequent report with recommendations on how to avoid another failure. While this is embarrassing for the agencies involved, it has the important benefit of improving their sources and methods for collection and analysis. The private sector will never have that experience, therefore they can run with whatever evidence they want in a way that will maximize profits for their stockholders.
ConclusionThe U.S. government is overly dependent upon the private sector for cyber intelligence and needs to make investments to off-set this dependence.
The U.S. government should receive attack data from the private sector solely as raw information that requires vetting and all-source analysis. It should never take private sector intelligence reports at face value without fully examining the evidence and watching for a plethora of cognitive biases including the all-too-prevalent confirmation bias.
NOTES:1) Spijk Selby quoting Jacob Maheu, “Horseshoe Knives”, December 28, 2013: http://rockyhillforge.com/2013/12/28/horseshoe-knives/
2) Private correspondence between the author and a former Northrup Grumman employee whose team generated the intelligence and gave those briefings between 2005-2008.
3) Su Bin criminal complaint: http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/chinahackcomplaint0711.pdf
4) “The Report to Congress on Foreign Economic Collection and Industrial Espionage”, p. B2: http://www.ncix.gov/publications/reports/fecie_all/Foreign_Economic_Collection_2011.pdf
5) Private IM chat between the author and Russian hacker Yama Tough.
6) “Digital Bread Crumbs: Seven Clues To Identifying Who’s Behind Advanced Cyber Attacks”, A FireEye White Paper
7) Ibid., p.4
8) “New Evidence Shows Russian Hackers Have Access To Sony’s Network”, The Taia Global blog, February 4th, 2015: https://taia.global/2015/02/new-evidence-shows-russian-hackers-have-access-to-sonys-network/
9) “New Agency To Sniff Out Threats In Cyberspace” by Ellen Nakashima, The Washington Post, 10 Feb 2015: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/white-house-to-create-national-center-to-counter-cyberspace-intrusions/2015/02/09/a312201e-afd0-11e4-827f-93f454140e2b_story.html
10) Tweet by Steve Tornio on Feb 10, 2015: https://twitter.com/steve_tornio/status/565158646628499458


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A new and natural way of tackling cat anxiety and stress in all pets
Several years of research and trials have resulted in a unique formula using low concentration Valerian essential oil, blended with Vetiver, Sweet Basil, and Sage
Locate the plug diffuser in room where your pet spends the most time.
Ambient and constant slow release makes Pet Remedy all the more effective.
Can be used for all pets including birds and reptiles.
Starts to help instantly and will help with separation anxiety, bonding, fireworks, new home, bereavement, new pet in home, and any other stressful situation.
The amazing Essential Plug In Diffuser from Pet Remedy contains a natural attractant which helps distract pets from environmental stress.
In times of anxiety or stress in our pets the nerves tend to get over stimulated, which will lead to many symptoms of stress.
The Essential Calming Diffuser has blends of essential oils which help to naturally relax anxious and stressed pets.
Pet Remedy works by providing a highly attractive environmental scent that pets like cats and dogs respond to.
In times of stress or anxiety our pets can get over stimulated, which leads on to the many different signs of stress we see in them.
The special Pet Remedy blend of essential oils is valerian based and works by distracting pets from environmental stress.
Cats, dogs and other pets have highly developed olfactory systems and are particularly capable of detecting volatile scents.
The living environment of pets largely determines their quality of life and the importance of environmental scents is recognized as a key factor in helping anxious or stressed pets feel calmer and more relaxed.
Easy to use
Ideal for pets including dogs, cats, horses, rabbits, rodents and birds.
Plug-in and let the natural calming properties slow release into the surrounding area
Starts to help immediately
Helps calm pet without sedating
Helps pet become more attentive and receptive to you
Lasts up to 8 weeks so good value
Works for all pets in household Coverage up to 60m2 (650 sq ft) (large room)
Refill bottles available
USE ONLY WITH PET REMEDY DIFFUSER DUE TO DIFFERENT WORKING TEMPERATURES OF DIFFERENT DIFFUSER SETS

domain: psychology


Stop the Southpointe Development on Grand Island!
We, the undersigned, ask the Town Board of Grand Island, NY to stop the Southpointe Development. We know that this development is not a "done deal" and that the Board has the ability to protect the forest and wetlands on the 284-acre property. The community is virtually unanimous in its opposition to this project, and we call on the Board to hear our mandate and take the following steps:
(1) The Town Board needs to go on record opposing this project
(2) The Town Board needs to deny any requests for extension of the sewer district
(3) The Town of Grand Island needs to require a State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) supplemental and comprehensive Environmental Impact Statement of the project and site
(4) The Town Board needs to commission studies of the impacts of this project, including a four-season ecological baseline study of the Spicer Creek tributary system; a comprehensive traffic study to assess congestion, air quality impacts, and the potential to degrade future business opportunities on the Island; ambient light and noise studies to determine potential effects on wildlife and the surrounding community; and an assessment of the impact on our volunteer fire company’s ability to respond to emergencies, as well as the ability of off-Island first responders to meet our emergency needs given the expected population increase and the risk assessment and emergency care needs of the target population for the proposed Southpointe Development
Because we live on an island, the ecosystem is fragile and changes to it affect the land, water, air, birds, and other wildlife who live on the Island and around us. Grand Island has been called the “jewel of the Niagara,” and is such an important ecological location that the Niagara River Corridor, within which Grand Island resides, has been designated a Globally Significant Important Bird Area and is recognized as one of the most important and threatened bird habitats on Earth.
Grand Island recently engaged in a long-range planning process to define its cultural, social, and economic vision for the future. During the development of the master plan (or comprehensive plan, as it is sometimes called) the public was repeatedly polled in order to get a sense of what we want as a community. And the message was clear: we want to stop large-scale development and protect green spaces and the character of our Island. The Southpointe Development is inconsistent with our goals, our plans, our health and wellness, and our responsibility to protect and enhance our environment for future generations!
The people of Grand Island have successfully opposed this project for more than twenty years! We collectively recognize that it has the potential to change our community, our quality of life, our access to critical services, and our ecosystem, and we call on the Board to listen to the community and reject this development!


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Soul II Soul’s Caron Wheeler Supports Omar On The Delightfully Soulful Treat You (Video)
At the height of the “Hip-House” movement, Soul II Soul was seemingly in every Head’s Walkman, car stereo, or home music library. It was Caron Wheeler’s jaw-dropping notes (along with her songwriting) that made that music like “Back To Life” and “Keep On Movin'” time-pieces for an era of club-going, innocence, and most of all, great music.
Caron is back with Omar and Freestyle Records for “Treat You.” Some of those aspects from S.2.S.’s heyday are true of this video single. It feels good, feels innocent, and feels like music that you can easily set a memory to.
Interestingly enough, with acts like The Internet, SZA, and Jhene Aiko particularly popping right now, “dont’cha” kinda think this music is especially relevant, from a fusion pioneer?
Related: The Internet – Dontcha (Video)


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COLORADO SPRINGS — The Colorado Springs City Council made its final vote Tuesday that will require residents on the west side of the city to have bear-proof trash cans. Residents west of I-25 will be required to get bear-proof containers, keep trash or perishable waste inside, and limit times when trash is put out.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife said they expect to seek grants to help low-income residents buy the trash cans. The City Council made the first unanimous vote on the matter on Oct. 8 to help move this measure forward.
The ordinance was designed to decrease the number of human-bear interactions in Colorado Springs.
According to Colorado Parks and Wildlife, 30 bears were euthanized in El Paso County due to interactions with humans.The ordinance would take effect starting in March of next year.
There are too many bear verses human encounters happening in Colorado Springs. according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Area Wildlife Manger, Frank McGee.
The law requires anyone living west of I-25 to either use bear proof garbage cans or keep their garbage secured inside until 5:00 a.m. on their garbage day. "It's a hard one, said Colorado Springs City Council, President, Richard Skorman, “You know we don't want to be too prescriptive as a government, but a lot of communities have required bear proof garbage cans.”
Research and data shows garbage left out overnight is a major factor within the issue of bears attracted into urban areas. "Once they get habituated, then they start to behave a little bolder and maybe they enter the residence and once that happens that bear is going to be euthanized because they're considered a danger," said Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region, CEO, Jan McHugh-Smith. One of worst years was 2017 when 30 bears were euthanized.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife has done research on the issue by tracking bears. The watched activity in an area where the was an education only campaign trying to get people to better understand why they need to secure their garbage. They also tracked an area where bear proof garbage cans were required. The number of bears dropped in the area with requirements. “It’s a significant reduction in those conflicts,” said McGee. The area with education only, showed no change.
You can look at the bear management area map here .


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Crowne Plaza Hotel Sacramento Northeast
Sacramento(United States)Map (Access)
Located in Foothill Farms- this hotel is within 3 mi (5 km) of McClellan Conference Center- Discovery Museum Science and Space Center- and Aerospace Museum of California. Haggin Oaks Golf Complex and American River Parkway are also within 9 mi (15 km).
- 5321 Date Ave Sacramento USAMap
- No. of Rooms
- 15:00 -
- Hotel Features
- Airport transportation／
- Free Wi-Fi／
- Swimming pool
Please check the latest information before your trip.
General Information and Location
Below information may be changed. Please check the latest information before your trip.
Popular Attractions around the hotel
|Address||5321 Date Ave Sacramento USA|
|15:00 - /12:00|
|No. of Rooms||230||No. of Floors||6|
Facilities and Services
Please make sure you check your travel information again before your departure.
|Internet?||LAN, WLAN, Free Wi-Fi|
Advance booking and extra fees may be required. Please make sure to contact your hotel first.

domain: travel


text:
Derek Lowe (6-8, 4.02) vs. Tim Hudson (9-6, 3.19).
COMMENTS: "Hello, this is Captain Torre speaking. Thank you for flying Jet Blue. We hope you enjoyed your one-day layover in Firstplaceville. Originally we had planned on staying long enough for you to actually deplane and enjoy the city, but technical difficulties prevented that. The city is already occupied by another group from Phoenix, so you wouldn't have had it all to yourselves anyway. We were hoping they would have vacated Firstplaceville by now, but I guess they have nowhere better to go.
"As for our next destination, we're uncertain whether we're headed north or south. Control tells us conditions in the Hudson Bay may affect our direction, although there's a Lowe-pressure front that could push us the other way, but only if it gets enough support. Wherever we're headed, though, you should know our momentum won't take us far—apparently there's an upcoming All-Star Break in the weather that will ground our service for at least four days.
"Once again, thank you for flying Jet Blue. We realize you have a choice of carriers and want to assure you we're doing everything possible to provide the smoothest journey possible. In fact, we'd like to welcome First Officer Mattingly to the crew. Hopefully he'll give us the lift we need."


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The sister is a knife-thrower in a magician’s stage act, the brother an undertaker’s assistant. Neither orphan knows of the other’s existence. Until, that is, three terrible Aunts descend on the girl’s house and imprison her guardian, the Great Cardamom. His dying act is to pass the girl a note with clues to the secret he has carried to his grave. Cardamom was one of three explorers on an expedition to locate the legendary Amarant, a plant with power over life and death. Now, pursued by flesh-eating crow-like ghuls, brother and sister must decode the message and save themselves from its sinister legacy.
By Jon Mayhew


text:
The nation’s first pro-gay, pro-gun group, the Pink Pistols, joined forces with Operation Blazing Sword, a program dedicated to firearm education, training and support for the LGBTQ community.
The recently formed Trigger Warning Queer & Trans Gun Club has had inquiries from 10 additional cities.
After the horrific terrorist attack targeting homosexuals at a gay nightclub in Orlando in early June, The Pink Pistols, a … Continued
Firearms sales and membership in the Pink Pistols, a group advocating for LGBT self defense, are surging since the attack … Continued
The Pink Pistols, a national gun club that is geared toward the LGBT community, saw a spike in membership immediately … Continued


text:
[[WMG: The Houyhnhnms were just horses.]]
* A delirious Gulliver, now with [[WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief perpetually suspended belief]], is simply interpreting the random sounds of horses as words.
[[WMG: Gulliver may have found [[MyLittlePony a version of]] [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Equestria]]]]
It was such a utopia that he became a brony centuries before Season One. Too bad the humans in that land were so barbaric.
* Perhaps ancient Equestria, to be exact. The Houyhnhnms were prehistoric Earth ponies long before they began to live alongside pegasi and unicorns, and interbreeding with them gave Earth ponies colorful fur and cutie marks centuries after Gulliver left. And because HumansAreTheRealMonsters, the Yahoo were killed off.
** Perhaps the Yahoos fell victim to the Windigos and were frozen to death.
*** Actually, in the book the horses decide to exterminate the Yahoos... by castration.
[[WMG: Lilliput and Laputa have been wiped out.]]


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January 21, 2015
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- MATRIXX Software today announces that Telstra, Australia’s leading telecommunications provider, has deployed MATRIXX and its Convergent Charging solution to deliver real-time mobile data usage alerts to millions of Telstra customers.
MATRIXX Convergent Charging enables service providers to deploy a single real-time platform for rating, balance management and charging across all access networks, services, devices and payment methods. Telstra selected MATRIXX to enable the business to move to real-time data rating and notifications. By leveraging a convergent, real-time BSS platform across its mobile services portfolio Telstra has become the first operator in Australia to protect its consumer post-paid mobile customers with real-time mobile data usage alerts.
Scott McGibbony, Director of Mass Market Mobility at Telstra said the MATRIXX capabilities ensure Telstra can better protect customers from surprise data charges as Australians adopt high-speed 4G services. “Bill shock can be a real frustration for our customers. Mobile data usage alerts dispatched by mobile operators in Australia are typically delayed by up to 48 hours, meaning mobile users can receive an alert after they have exceeded their allowance.”
“We have worked with MATRIXX to take the worry out of using mobile data by offering our customers market-leading data usage SMS alerts that arrive in real time when they have used 50 percent, 85 percent and 100 percent of their monthly data allowance” said Mr. McGibbony.
The MATRIXX solution has also enabled Telstra to improve the timeliness of data usage information available on its Telstra 24x7 app (iOS and Android) Telstra One app, My Plan Manager and My Account tools.
Mr McGibbony said the MATRIXX platform would help support future bill shock prevention initiatives and allow Telstra to introduce innovative new mobile plans.
Dave Labuda, Founder, CEO and CTO, MATRIXX Software, commented, “The platform has enabled Telstra to provide a step-change in user experience for subscribers in terms of ability to control their mobile data usage, avoid excess charges and data usage queries, and will provide other new capabilities for Telstra in the future.”
“Telstra chose MATRIXX Software because our real-time processing offers the level of performance, flexibility, and reliability required to protect customers at scale.”
Telstra Corp. Ltd. (ASX: TLS; NZK: TLS)
Matrixx Software Inc.
Read more about:Asia
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Gigi was a dog living in absolute squalor; ridden with fractured bones as well as ailments in his fur, he truly had been through the most. One might think that he was a stray dog, but in fact, the opposite is true.
Gigi had parents, however, they simply didn’t want him anymore and so much neglect followed after. While on his last leg, Gigi was taken under the care of Sidewalk Specials who saw him through to his recovery.
Gigi’s story begins in Cape Town, South Africa, when he was given up to Sidewalk Specials he had a fractured pelvis, tick bite fever, and mange in its most gruesome stage. Mange is a common skin disease in dogs and puppies, more so ones that are stray, which effectively is what Gigi was. Despite having parents, his ailments went unchecked and contact was hardly made with him.
This neglect culminated when he was handed over with a handbag strap around his neck, helping paint a picture of his detestable home life. Thankfully, his care under Sidewalk Specials marked the end of his suffering and the start of a new chapter in his life.
Sidewalk Specials is a rescue organization that saves dogs from abusive situations and off euthanasia lists. As they have no shelter, they work on finding each dog a loving home.
This was Gigi’s fate, and so his transformation began. After weeks of nursing and visits to the organization’s vet, Gigi made a full recovery.
Soon after, he was adopted by a loving family who describe him as an active and caring dog.
Image Credit: YouTube

domain: pet


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Depolarisation will see IFAs winning over banks, which will struggle to increase their market share in pensions and savings products.
This is the news from analysts Datamonitor which believes that although banks are expecting to gain from depolarisation, product complexity and the banks' inherent inability to understand consumers' insurance needs will limit their infiltration of the market.
Datamonitor financial analyst Miikka Metsanvirta says after depolarisation IFAs will still dominate investment, savings and pensions products although banks will most likely make some headway into products that can be easily cross-sold such as term insurance, critical-illness cover and simple pensions such as stakeholder.
He says banks will require significant training and investment to get to the level of knowledge necessary to take customers away from experienced IFAs.
Aifa director of public affairs Tracey Mullins agrees that IFAs will cope well with depolarisation and the remuneration menu. She says the bancassurance channel is a salesforce which cannot compete with the skill of the IFA sector.
Mullins considers that IFAs who are worried about the forthcoming relaxation of polarisation need to remember that banks and other big high-street players will also have to operate within the menu.
She says: “IFAs will fare much better under the menu, which will also apply to the tied sector. A salesforce cannot compete with what IFAs provide.”
Metsanvirta believes that banks will only reach around 25 per cent of life distribution and less than 10 per cent the pension market while the IFA sector will account for almost 80 per cent of pensions and 60 per cent of single-premium life business by 2007.
The banks believe their big customer bases, highstreet branch networks and regular customer contact will suddenly give them the upper hand in life and pensions after depolarisation.
But Metsanvirta believes that banks will need to overcome a number of challenges if they are to increase their present 20 per cent market share of UK life distribution or the small 7 per cent annual pension distribution and 4 per cent of the single-premium pension market.
He says banks will gain some market share from direct salesforces and the tied agents but the perceived expertise and advice offered by IFAs will ensure they retain their market dominance.
Aegon, which has bought a number of IFAs which it intends to keep independent, believes that banks simply cannot offer the types of services that IFAs can.
UK distribution channel spokesman Adrian Cammidge says: “Banks have been the perennial underachievers ever since the first bancassurance products were launched in 1962. For more than 40 years, they have tried to provide the services of IFAs to no great success.”
He says consumers do not trust banks in the same way they trust IFAs. “High-net-worth and group customers are after a bespoke, tailored service from an adviser they can trust long term. Bank advisers do not have the depth of know-ledge nor the continuity to service these types of customers,” he says.
Cammidge points out that bank advisers often move between branches,meaning that customers would not have continuity of advice.
He also believes that accountants and lawyers are unlikely to make referrals to banks as they do to IFAs. “An accountant or a lawyer would rather send their own clients to someone he trusts and knows rather than a bank adviser that could be here one day and gone the next,” says Cammidge.
Metsanvirta says: “Banks must turn poorly trained staff who have little understanding of insurance products into a genuine salesforce.
“As yet, their staff are not able to provide the best advice to the customer from a panel of products, not just the bank's own products.”
HBOS head of customer management Tom Woolgrove agrees that banks face a challenge if they are to increase their profile in pensions and complex savings and investment products.
He says he broadly agrees with the sentiment of the Datamonitor report but points out there was a report released by the analysts in August 2003 which “stated exactly the opposite”.
Woolgrove says: “For a number of banks, this will be a great challenge and they will find it very difficult to rise to it. A number of them have not made a very good name for themselves in this marketplace.”
But Woolgrove believes HBOS is a case of the exception proving the rule saying the group is the fastest-growing life and pensions office in the sector and will continue to grow over the next year.
He agrees that banks will need to “gear up” on investment in customer service and product knowledge if they are to increase their goodwill with financial services customers.
Naturally the banks differ with Datamonitor's conclusions, as the research does not outline a particularly rosy future for their capital-intensive distribution methods. The banks believe they will be able to rely on their large customer bases and constant contact to bring in pensions and investment clients.
In one respect, this may be a good thing for IFAs. Cammidge says it would be nice to see the banks improving their service propositions when it came to basic pensions and investment because this would inevitably lead to greater levels of saving and awareness of financial products.
He says: “Eventually, this would lead to more business for IFAs because even if banks achieved a level of service good enough to hold less affluent clients, they still would not be able to achieve the sophistication necessary to keep high-net-worth clients. They are just not positioned for it.”

domain: finance


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The Smith-Cotton soccer Tigers showed off their soccer skills Wednesday afternoon at Susie Ditzfeld Memorial Soccer Field behind Skyline Elementary School with a Black & Gold Scrimmage under the direction of head coach Ethan Weller.
The S-C soccer Tigers will play this weekend in the S-C Soccer Tiger Invitational. Note that Saturday’s games have been moved up to avoid the extreme heat of the day. Next week, the soccer Tigers play at Moberly Monday, Aug. 25 and return home for a match with Center High School Thursday, Aug. 28, with JV starting at 5 p.m. followed by the varsity squad.
The “C” team plays Rock Bridge on Sept. 3 at 6 p.m. and Smithton on Sept. 5 at 5 p.m., both home games. Photo by Randy Kirby, Sedalia Weekly Observer.

domain: sports


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"Pivotal" by Nikki Vallance (English Edition)
Four lives. Three siblings. Two secrets. One Pivotal moment. When a mysterious bequest throws the lives of four women into chaos, they seek support from hypnotherapist, Dr Kath O' Hannon. Thorough a process of self-discovery, their new found knowledge weighs heavily, as they unpick four decades of life choices, and are forced about the next stage of their journeys. Pivotal is a split-narrative, relationship mystery portraying the impact of a life-changing moment on four women with seemingly unconnected lives.

domain: literature


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This research program investigates dysphagia characteristics and management for people with persistent critical illness. Specific studies address dysphagia diagnostics and treatment with the view to positively impact decannulation (removal of tracheostomy tube), healthcare outcomes and patient quality of life.
The specific studies addressed within the Swallowing Dysfunction after Intensive Care research include:
1. The evaluation (validity and reliability) of internationally established dysphagia rating scales, after translation into Swedish.
2. Description and characterization of dysphagia, for tracheostomized patients with persistent/chronic critical illness, following comprehensive swallowing assessments of patients at REMEO, Stockholm.
3. Evaluation of dysphagia treatment and impact on decannulation (removal of tracheostomy tube), swallowing and quality of life.


Excel Dryer Inc.
For over 50 years, Excel Dryer, Inc. has been manufacturing the finest American made hand dryers and invented the original, patented XLERATOR® Hand Dryer. The XLERATOR created the high-speed, energy-efficient hand dryer category and redefined the public perception of hand dryers by setting a new standard for performance, reliability and sustainability. Excel Dryer continues to lead the industry with its expanded and enhanced product line featuring adjustable sound, speed and heat controls, an externally visible service LED for streamlining maintenance and multi-voltage options. Combined with the most options and complete line of accessories including a HEPA Filtration System and custom covers, the best hand drying solution can be designed for any restroom environment.
See Excel Dryer's Special Offer for FMs


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Now syndicated on the Socialist Health Association blog
This week’s big news in Manchester is that the devolution of direct responsibility for significant areas public spending to the city-region will now be augmented by the devolution of the entire NHS budget for the city region with a view to integrating this with social care.
You can now see more of the detail about the deal (interesting term that) on the AGMA website.
I have already written, separately, in the last weeks on both the DevoManc model and on the integration of health and social care. The first piece, for Steady State Manchester argued that the model is flawed on two counts: it continues the city-region’s headlong pursuit of economic growth within the context of competition within the globalised economy, which we see as incompatible with ecological safety and with economic and social justice with its fetishisation of skills as supply-side ‘solution’ to economic stagnation, and its trickle-down economic model. The second piece, for the Socialist Health Association, based on my experience over 30 years of working at the interface of health and social care, and managing combined services, cautioned against optimistic technical fixes for reducing dependency and cutting costs. Instead, I argued, integration has to start from a clear ethical mandate to address the problems of persistent and structural disadvantage that characterise the lived realities of people that have to rely on social care and who have associated health problems. Furthermore it noted the risks of combining budgets under conditions of austerity and financial pressure: the raiding of one area of provision to prop up another.
Neither of these pieces suggested that the overall aims of devolving power and integrating arbitrarily separate care systems is wrong in itself. But we should be very concerned about the plans as they stand for the following reasons.
1. The indecent haste with which they are being agreed, together with
2. The secrecy of the deal, negotiated between the Tory Chancellor of the Exchequer and Manchester’s politician-bureaucrats. I’ve covered this in the previous piece on DevoManc so won’t repeat that here, other than to note that the NHS has a severe democratic deficit which will not be healed by this fix – as Lisa Nandy points out in a very good New Statesman article.
3. The context of extreme cuts to social care budgets in the region, following an almost inexorable trend to privatise and casualise provision.
It seems that the health and social care elements will remain distinct, organisationally and financially (although for how long?). This makes a certain amount of sense (I previously noted the value of aligning but not pooling finances) in that it will make it harder for out and out raiding of budgets and “burden shifting” leading to a generalised race to the bottom. So I think some of the more alarmist claims that have been made about the end of the NHS are misplaced – that’s happening anyway.
But the lopsided UK care system is going to be a very difficult thing to make work seamlessly and effectively, and tinkering with the interface between the health and social parts is a dangerous game under austerity.
4. The economic rationalism that underpins the whole DevoManc deal,together with the potential for more frenetic ‘deal-making’ with private health care and health technology companies. The Memorandum of Understanding on the Health and Social Care Devolution/Integration (MOU) explicitly cites the promotion of ‘growth’ and the opportunities with the that sector among the benefits:-
- To contribute to growth and to connect people to growth, e.g. supporting employment and early years services; and
- To forge a partnership between the NHS, social care, universities and science and knowledge industries for the benefit of the population.
5. The shaky governance arrangements with power over the City Region being concentrated in the hands of a mayor who will dominate, not a counter-balancing elected assembly, but a group of council leaders. Meanwhile the NHS and social care will continue to be run by technocratic managers, the more senior of whom will cook up further schemes for cost-cutting and service reductions – which people who have to rely on social care have already seen plenty of under this government’s austerity-scam regime. These schemes will continue to engage in fantasy about the quasi-magical reduction of dependency, along with the usual rhetoric about evidence-based policy and practice.
6. The lack of any very clear value-base – so different from the founding statements of the NHS, where a vision of meeting human need and liberation from want trumped narrow economic considerations.
Here is what the FAQ on the scheme offers for “why do it”:
GM has some of the worst health outcomes in the country and we want it to have thebest. People tell us all the time that the NHS and social care should be more joined up and this provides an opportunity to do this. We are also trying to solve the problem of decisions that directly affect GM being taken outside of GM because it’s important that decisions are taken as close to the patient as possible.
and the MOU, rather repetitively, says it is:
To improve the health and wellbeing of all of the residents of Greater Manchester (GM) from early age to the elderly, recognising that this will only be achieved with a focus on prevention of ill health and the promotion of wellbeing. We want to move from having some of the worst health outcomes to having some of the best;
To close the health inequalities gap within GM and between GM and the rest of the UK faster;
To deliver effective integrated health and social care across GM;
To continue to redress the balance of care to move it closer to home where possible;
To strengthen the focus on wellbeing, including greater focus on prevention and public health.
OK, there are some worthy aspirations here, but there is no mention of the determinants of those inequalities, and hence little hint of the theory of action for redressing them. The contrast with Bevan’s social justice agenda is striking: the technocrats in suits have taken over.
So, despite having worked for most of my career at the interface of health and social care, and indeed because of that experience, I have a four-fold problem with this deal.
1) It is not radical enough. To fix the problems of health and social inequalities, and to renew the health and care system so it works seamlessly to support people when and where they need it requires a radical re-engineering of not just those systems, but also of the socieconomic context within which they sit. As the New Economics Foundation has explained in a new and important report, those reforms amount to a New Social Settlement, a reinvention of the Welfare State for these times.
2) But under conditions of austerity, it is a dangerous recipe, since an underfunded and lopsided system will be prone to systemic crises where (only somewhat accountable) managers end up having to make unjustifiable choices over what to cut, however they dress it up as modernisation and efficiency.
3) The utter failure to consult on and to build in any public scrutiny and significant democratic oversight into these arrangements is just appalling, a testimony to the sham democracy that characterises both Westminster and local government in the corporate State called Britain.
4) Finally, this is fundamentally a neoliberal plot. It seeks to “lever” health and social need and provision to serve the city-region-boosterist accumulation model, and as such is parasitic on a fundamentally flawed and malign economic system that impairs the health and well-being of both the Manchester people, and the ecosystem we rely on.
Mark H Burton
Creative Commons: Share and share alike non-commercial licence.


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The versatility of the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, as not gone unnoticed he was recently awarded for his effort in positioning the Oil and Gas industry.
The Group Executive Council (GEC) of the Petroleum & Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), conferred its “Transformational Leadership Award” on Dr. Baru.
Also honoured by the PENGASSAN were the NNPC Group’s Chief Operating Officer, Corporate Services, Mallam Isa M. Inuwa and Chief Financial Officer, Alh. Isiaka Abdulrazak.
The event had some key players in the oil and gas industry in attendance with PENGASSAN’s National President, Comrade Francis Johnson, also in attendance.

domain: economics


text:
ABOUT EYE SPY LA
The local's Guide for events,
places to go, and things to do.
EDITOR: Andrea Kirk
SOFITEL LA KICKS OFF SUMMER WITH ANNUAL FETE DE LA MUSIQUE
|Music in Beverly Hills|
Time(s): 6-9 PM
Address: 8555 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048
Phone: (310) 278-5444
GO TO Website Link
TELL YOUR FRIENDS
Kick off the summer with music and entertainment at Sofitel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills! On Thursday, June 21 at 6 PM, Riviera 31 Lounge Bar welcomes you to the annual celebration of “Fete de La Musique,” a French tradition! Since 1982, France has celebrated the 1st day of Summer with concerts and musical performances of all kinds and styles happening in the streets of France. Now, the celebration has spread worldwide, encouraging all countries to celebrate music and its cultural importance. This year, Sofitel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills is partnering with the Harmony Project – a multi-awarded charity providing music classes to children in families in need – and their amazing band, the Advanced Funk Orchestra, for a night of Funk and Jazz. The Advanced Funk Orchestra is comprised of talented children ages twelve through sixteen who play a variety of instruments including: flute, clarinet, tenor saxophone, trumpet, electric bass, guitar, drums, and piano/keyboard. This year marks their first year as an ensemble, and they recently performed at the Leimart Park Jazz Festival.
And because a night of great entrainment could not happen without him, the incredible Ryan Cross and his band will close the celebration with a medley inspired by their famous Jazz Eclectic nights, happening every Monday at Riviera 31! Get ready to sing and dance! There is a $5 cover at the door, which will be given back to the Harmony Project Charity. Each entry includes one “Fete de La Musique” signature cocktail, the Summertime Happiness!
NOTE: It is always a good idea to verify date, time, location and other information prior to going.
Eye Spy LA is not responsible for the accuracy of this information.
Go To Website *** Get MAP ***
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ART THIS WEEK IN L.A.


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The May 20 tornado in Oklahoma devastated a town, including an elementary school. Children rely on parents and teachers to help them deal with their emotions related to traumatic events. Get tips to help them manage.
ADAA produces a short film showing how college students suffering from anxiety and depressive disorders find relief with help from counselors and other mental health professionals.
If you live on the East Coast and have an insect phobia, you might want to seek treatment before the next brood of cicadas emerges very soon.
Ms. Shannon, a licensed marriage and family therapist, describes effective treatments for social anxiety disorder in teens. Watch a video of a teen talking about her experience with the disorder and how she got help.

domain: medical